HTS impact case study

HTS low loss cable

Traditional superconductors can conduct DC electricity without any transmission loss, meaning they can carry higher power densities than conventional copper wires. However, they operate at extremely low temperatures of minus 270 Celsius. IRL research has focused on developing materials that have the properties of conventional superconductors but can operate at more easily achieved temperatures.

Industry need

There is intense interest in technologies that contribute to the world’s need for plentiful, reliable, low cost and clean electric power; HTS is one of the most promising.  It has significant advantages over conventional conducting materials (e.g. copper) – it is vastly more energy efficient, allowing equipment using HTS technology to be made smaller and lighter, with up to 50 per cent less electricity loss and lower maintenance requirements.

The market sectors for HTS over the next 10 years are in scientific, medical, and electric power applications.  The world-wide market for HTS machines is estimated to be $2.8B in 2020.

The research team

HTS research at IRL dates back to the 1980s when a material that could operate at the more practical temperature of minus 163 Celsius was discovered and patented. The original team of three researchers at IRL has grown to 15, with the focus shifting, in recent years, from researching new HTS materials to understanding the properties of existing materials and how they can be engineered for practical use. A key collaborator in the research has been the MacDiarmid Institute of Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology at Victoria University of Wellington, a Centre of Research Excellence in which IRL is a major partner.

The research

A project aiming to produce HTS cabling that conducts electricity in AC mode has  opened up a vast new range of potential applications. Other areas of focus include improving the current carrying capacity of HTS wire, applying HTS materials to specific products such as commercial magnets and improving manufacturing processes for HTS wire. In addition, research has gone into developing an effective low cost cooling system which is essential if HTS is to be widely applied within the market.

Economic benefits

In 1992, IRL and Electricity Corporation of New Zealand (ECNZ)  signed an intellectual property and research and development contract deal with United States company American Superconductor Corporation. The partnership’s first product was a new HTS magnet for a particle accelerator at GNS Science in Lower Hutt, one of the first superconducting products on the market anywhere in the world. IRL gained a key patent in the US in 2004 and Europe in 2007.

IRL spin out company HTS-110^[?] Ltd was formed in 2004 to leverage IRL R&D into a range of products. HTS-110 has focused on leading magnets for customers around the world in areas ranging from scientific instrumentation and minesweeping to marine motors and industrial processing. It is recognised worldwide as the only company capable of delivering high-field commercial HTS magnets, with 16 Tesla products now in development. HTS-110 has also produced stand-alone Nuclear Magnetic Resonance systems for industrial process control application, including in the oil industry. 

Another IRL innovation is the technology to produce HTS continuously Transposed Cable (CTC) which is used to minimise circulating current losses in the windings of electric machines such as generators and transformers. IRL and General Cable in Christchurch have a joint venture which is currently manufacturing and selling  commercial quantities of the cable.  General Cable will invest $2.4m over three years in this effort which is producing cable for Siemens and other major research organisations and manufacturers worldwide.

These HTS-based manufacturing enterprises are growing rapidly to take advantage of global markets ever hungrier for more powerful, more energy efficient products.  The turnover by 2015 for HTS magnet systems, cable and cooling technology is estimated at $250m. Early success is bringing wider benefits in New Zealand industry as local suppliers are engaged for fine engineering (Buckley Systems, Scott Technology, Agmar Tools and others), specialist capability in fine blanking (DC Ross), non-metallic composites (Fabrum Solutions), power systems (Vector), magnetic sensors (Group3 Technologies), and consultancies (EPEC, PB Power, arnold.co.nz, Designbrand, Strategia and others).  

IRL and New Zealand industry are taking the lead in creating high technology HTS products that will play a crucial role in the world’s energy future.