European High Temperature Superconductors Receives Research Grant For Advanced Copper-HTS Conductors
European High Temperature Superconductors GmbH & Co. KG (EHTS), a division of Bruker Corp.’s Advanced Supercon business, announced that the German Federal Ministry of Commerce and Technology (BMWi) has approved a grant for a joint $3.0 million research project with Adelwitz Technologiezentrum (ATZ) in Arzberg, Germany. The three-year project for the development of advanced commercial superconductors is based on EHTS’ proprietary second generation YBCO wire technologies. EHTS expects to be reimbursed about $0.74 million (€0.48 million) under the grant for its approximately $1.5 million share of the overall project budget.
The funding to EHTS and ATZ has been granted within the framework of the German government’s technology initiative to meet the national and European goals for significant reductions in energy consumption and carbon emissions by the year 2020. High temperature superconductors (HTS) transport electricity virtually without losses, thus reducing energy consumption across many technology areas. Large machines and equipment used for propulsion, power generation, transmission and power grid protection are suitable applications for HTS conductors, allowing these devices to be smaller and more energy efficient.
The project partners state that they will develop advanced copper-HTS hybrid superconductors that can operate reliably under a wide range of demanding conditions and provide unprecedented protection under mechanical stresses and electrical fault conditions. It is claimed that the cooperation between EHTS and ATZ, which has been ongoing since 2005, has achieved several milestones in the development of advanced 2G conductors with copper shunts, including conductors that carry current upwards of 500A per cm width.
"EHTS has outstanding research expertise in the development and manufacturing scale-up of 1G and 2G high-temperature superconductors," said Dr. Burkhard Prause, Managing Director of EHTS. "Our 2G Copper-HTS hybrid conductor has world-leading electro-mechanical properties. We are very pleased and delighted to receive this grant, together with ATZ, for the further development of commercial conductors and production processes. It is a confirmation of our technology development program and the successful cooperation with ATZ."
