Emerging applications of high temperature superconductors in electric power

Abstract

As the 20th century draws near its end, electricity is now found to pervade virtually all human societies and cultures. That modern civilization could not exist without electricity has become self-evident. In 1911, at the very dawn of the commercialization of electricity, a discovery occurred which has since held great promise for the advancement of this technology. This discovery was superconductivity—the ability of certain materials, under appropriate conditions, to transmit electric power losslessly. In the spring of 1986 a new class of materials, copper oxide perovskites, were shown to exhibit superconductivity at substantially higher temperatures than any previously known. In this paper we discuss the renewed promise held out for electric power technology by these recent revolutionary discoveries. Central to the realization of this promise is the development of a practical wire technology, especially to address the need for cable and magnet wire operable at and above liquid nitrogen in fields greater than 1 T and critical currents above 10⁶ A/cm². We will focus on a new approach, oriented thick films of YBa₂Cu₃O_7−y deposited on flexible nickel alloy tape substrates, with potential to satisfy this need.