FEATURE NEWS:
Superconductivity moves close to commercial reality at Southwire
In the centre of Southwire’s superconducting cable is a flexible pipe carrying liquid nitrogen. Superconducting tapes wrap around the pipe, followed by a dielectric layer, then a second layer of superconducting tapes that act as a neutral conductor. A double-walled outer cryostat surrounds the cable core and provides a return path for the nitrogen.
Southwire says it brings advanced cable construction expertise to the superconducting system: "We designed and built machinery that reliably wraps the fragile superconducting tape around the inner pipe. The assembled cable is flexible and it accommodates contraction and expansion as the cable cycles from ambient temperature down to -321 °F."
Development of tapes and terminations continues steadily. Southwire claims it has driven costs down by more than 50%, and that its next goal is a commercial product.
Applications could include links from substations to customers or other substations, or distributing power at generated voltages. Superconductive medium-voltage distribution could also eliminate costly high-voltage transformer stations in dense urban areas.
In the more immediate future, a new American Department of Energy Superconductor Partnership Initiative intends to power a large section of the city of Columbus, Ohio, through a high-temperature superconductor link.
When duct banks fill up in a big city, the cost of enlarging or replacing them can be enormous. How about putting five to ten times more current density into the same duct space high-temperature superconductors?
Southwire is working to make that a practical reality: it has been running three factories in Carrollton, Georgia on a high-temperature superconducting link since the beginning of 2000. The 30-metre system can carry up to 3,000A at 12.4kV. And that, says Southwire, is just the beginning.
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Southwire Company |
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USA |
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+1 770 838 6600 |
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