
New World Record For Superconducting Magnet Set
Date: Tuesday, August 07, 2007 @ 21:28:48 UTC Topic: Devices
A collaboration between the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory at
Florida State University and industry partner SuperPower Inc. has led
to a new world record for a magnetic field created by a superconducting
magnet.
The new record -- 26.8 tesla
-- was reached in late July at the magnet lab’s High Field Test
Facility and brings engineers closer to realizing the National Research
Council goal of creating a 30-tesla superconducting magnet. The
development of such a magnet could lead to great advances in physics,
biology and chemistry research, as well as significant reductions in
the operating costs of many high-field magnets.
The world-record magnet’s test
coil was wound by Schenectady, N.Y.-based SuperPower
(www.superpower-inc.com) with a well-known, high-temperature
superconductor called yttrium barium copper oxide, or YBCO. SuperPower
develops superconductors such as YBCO and related technologies for the
electric power industry. The magnet lab’s Applied Superconductivity
Center has worked with the company to determine the superconducting and
mechanical properties of YBCO and other materials.
“This test demonstrates what we had long hoped -- that YBCO
high-temperature superconductors being made now for electric utility
applications also have great potential for high-magnetic-field
technology,” said David Larbalestier, director of the Applied
Superconductivity Center and chief materials scientist at the magnet
lab. “It seems likely that this conductor technology can be used to
make all-superconducting magnets with fields that will soon exceed 30
tesla. This far exceeds the 22- to 23-tesla limit of all previous
niobium-based superconducting magnets.” (Niobium is the material used
to build most superconducting magnets.)
Venkat Selvamanickam, vice president and chief technology officer at
SuperPower, said the YBCO wire’s potential for application outside
the electric power industry has long been in the company’s sights.
“We are encouraged by the results of these tests at the magnet lab
and look forward to continuing our collaboration to more completely
explore the additional possibilities in high field applications,”
Selvamanickam said.
Scientists have been aware of
the amazing properties of YBCO and its potential for magnet technology
for 20 years, but only in the past two years has the material become
commercially available in the long lengths needed for magnets.
Scientists at the magnet lab are interested in the material because at
very low temperatures, the conductor is capable of generating very high
magnetic fields.
“In principle, YBCO is capable of producing the highest-field
superconducting magnets ever possible,” said W. Denis Markiewicz, a
scientist in the lab’s Magnet Science & Technology division. Based
on the potential of the material, he said, it’s even possible that it
could one day produce magnetic fields as high as 50 tesla.
“What we learned from this test really opens the door to imagining
that one day we could use superconducting magnets in place of our
resistive magnets,” he said.
Resistive magnets, primarily used for physics research, are more
costly to operate because they are powered by tremendous amounts of
electricity, while superconducting magnets require little or no
electrical power to run once they are brought up to full field. The
magnet lab’s annual utility costs to run the magnets are close to $4
million, and the lab consumes 10 percent of the city of Tallahassee’s
generating capacity.
The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory develops and operates
state-of-the-art, high-magnetic-field facilities that faculty and
visiting scientists and engineers use for research. The laboratory is
sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the state of Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.magnet.fsu.edu.
SuperPower is a world leader in developing commercially feasible
second-generation high-temperature superconductors and related devices
designed to enhance the capacity, reliability and quality of electric
power transmission and distribution.
Source: FSU Via: http://www.physorg.com/news105718161.html
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