Superconductor Technologies has introduced a superconducting wire under the name Conductus. The company is planning to unveil all the superconducting wire products under this brand name. The brand is intended to emphasise on the dual nature of the wire in being able to deliver clean and efficient power to countries across the world.
The technology of superconducting wires is useful in modern power distribution grids, which transmit and generate power. Recent introduction of the second generation (2G) high temperature superconducting (HTS) wires have revolutionised the concept of power generation and transmission by enhancing the power density and reducing the cost of installation. Such HTS wires are known to improve the reliability and efficiency of power grids at low costs.
2G HTS wires are essentially wires, which are manufactured by growing a thin crystalline film of rare-earth-barium-copper-oxide (RE-BCO) and are capable of carrying high values of current. The RE-BCO is grown on metal alloy substrates and enveloped by a metal layer for stabilization on all the sides. STI intends to focus on high power transmission lines and distribution cables, large industrial motors and generators for marketing the Conductus initially. The manufacturing process adopted by STI involves a simplified, layered architecture, which ensures performance beyond that of copper wires. The manufacturing process is divided into three stages, the first involves passing a stainless steel template through a solution deposition planarization process (SDP), and the second step is making the stainless steel template go through the Ion Beam Assisted Deposition (IBAD) process, which ensures that the surface of the template is right for the deposition of the superconducting material. The last step is the deposition of the HTS material on the template by the Reactive Co-evaporation Cyclic Deposition and Reaction (RCE-CDR) High Temperature Superconducting (HTS) deposition process. The RCE-CDR process is a comparatively shorter manufacturing process when compared to traditional methods. This method of manufacturing is much simpler and cost- effective as well.