Superconducting Transmission Lines |
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| Since 10% to 15% of generated
electricity is dissipated in resistive losses in
transmission lines, the prospect of zero loss
superconducting transmission lines is appealing. In
prototype superconducting transmission lines at
Brookhaven National Laboratory, 1000 MW of power can be
transported within an enclosure of diameter 40 cm. This
amounts to transporting the entire output of a large
power plant on one enclosed transmission line. This could
be a fairly low voltage DC transmission compared to large
transformer banks and multiple high voltage AC
transmission lines on towers in the conventional systems.
The superconductor used in these prototype applications
is usually niobium-titanium, and liquid helium cooling is
required. Current experiments with power applications of high-temperature superconductors focus on uses of BSCCO in tape forms and YBCO in thin film forms. Current densities above 10,000 amperes per square centimeter are considered necessary for practical power applications, and this threshold has been exceeded in several configurations. |
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http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/solids/scapp.html |
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