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Real World High-Temperature Superconductor Engine

Posted by timothy on from the now-for-the-hybrid-cars dept.

wes33 writes "An amazing technological achievement deploying high-temperature superconductors is reported in Space Daily. American Superconductor Corporation (nice scifi-ish name) has built a 5MW electric ship motor using high-temp. superconductor technology. The Queen Elizabeth's 44 MW engines weigh 400 tons each (and she has two); a single comparable HST motor (36.5 MW) will weigh 75 tons!"

5 of 44 comments (clear)

  1. Re:disappointing article... by tmacc · · Score: 5, Informative

    http://www.amsuper.com/products/htsWire/ Here is a link that has some good specs on the wire they use.

  2. Re:More Power? by Cecil · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Or are there other limiting factors in the amount of power that is useable in such circumstances?

    For a boat? Sure, cavitation. Propeller blades can only spin so fast (that is, push a certain amount of fluid) before they begin to create destructive turbulence in the fluid that cripples their pushing power. The same basic problem exists in aviation, which is why propeller-engine planes can only go so fast regardless of how big and numerous the engines and blades are. Jet engines, rockets, or some other form of propulsion are needed to go any faster.

    --
    Random and weird software I've written.
  3. No, more efficiency. by the_twisted_pair · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's all about efficiency, and therefore running cost. Optimum cruising speed is set by considerations of wave drag for a given hull - there's a sharp curve, whereby faster cruises become *incredibly* inefficient. Big marine diesels providing this motive effort are far and away the most efficient prime movers on the planet, because economies of scale and the singular nature of the task lends itself very well to such optimisation - which the owners take advantage of.

    The bottom line is that every single %age point gained represents a huge saving to the owners in fuel cost. If it can be done with a lighter/more efficient propulsion package, so much the better - that's extra cargo that's free to carry, but the prime incentive is fuel cost - you may not realise we're talking *thousands* of tons for oil bunkers on big ships...

    I'm not at all surprised that marine propulsion is the first major application of high-temp superconductors in this regard.

  4. Generators aren't critical... yet. by Engineer-Poet · · Score: 4, Informative
    The Navy doesn't like diesels because they're too noisy for vehicles which chase submarines. The alternative is a gas turbine, which spins fast enough that you can make an acceptably small and light alternator without going to extreme materials; only when you need to drive a low-speed propellor do you really need the high-current capabilities of superconductors.

    The technical explanation is that you can transfer a lot of power with a small, rapidly-varying magnetic field (like the itty-bitty toroid in your computer's power supply, running at 100 KHz instead of the 60 Hz power line frequency), but to transfer the same amount of power with a slowly-varying field needs a much bigger field, bigger currents and bigger losses. Superconductors get rid of the losses and can sustain bigger fields in a smaller package.

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    Sustainability and energy independence essay
  5. what temp? by klossner · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The article is silent on exactly which temperature this high-temperature superconductor requires. Are we still at liquid-nitrogen temperatures or have we gone higher?