The Silver Institute
The Indispensable Metal

Silver News


American Superconductor and Northrop Grumman Begin HTS Wire Product Push - Military Customers Targeted

American Superconductor Corporation and Northrop Grumman Marine Systems have begun a joint effort to develop, market and sell products for the U.S. military based on high temperature superconductor (HTS) wire. They will initially focus on HTS electric propulsion motors for the U.S. Navy.

Currently, the two companies are developing a 36.5-megawatt HTS ship propulsion motor under contract to the U.S. Navy's Office of Naval Research

The deal covers development of HTS propulsion systems, energy storage and conversion, transformers and pulse-power applications, as well as the sale of these products to all branches of the U.S. military. HTS technology offers significant advantages to the military in terms of power density and higher electrical efficiency, which means increased payloads and operational flexibility, according to James Hupton, vice president of Northrop Grumman Marine Systems.

“We have achieved impressive results to date on the 36.5-MW program,” he said. “We are confident that this effort will demonstrate the advantages of HTS technology for marine propulsion systems for the U.S. Navy, specifically high power density and high efficiency systems.”

Last year, ASC claimed in briefings to federal agencies that the electrical carrying capacity of its second generation (2G) high temperature superconductor (HTS) wire is twice that of

the best 2G HTS wires currently available and 50 percent higher than the company’s own previously reported results. These claims would indicate that the company’s wires are approaching a threshold where they could be widely used in commercial applications.

Second generation HTS wire is a different HTS wire than the multifilamentary HTS wire (also known as BSCCO or first generation). The 2G wire’s structure looks similar to “layered pieces of tape,” according to company officials. Silver is used in both types of wires, with estimates of silver consumption for 1G estimated at about 50 million ounces annually for the next decade. 2G, however, uses less silver – about 2 orders of magnitude less – but if 2G catches on for commercial applications overall silver consumption could be substantial.

Silver News - First Quarter 2005

 
 
©The Silver Institute 1200 G Street, NW Suite 800 Washington DC 20005 T: 202.835.0185 F: 202.835.0155 info@silverinstitute.org
The Silver Institute About the Silver Institute Our Members Publications Silver News Contact
 
Sign-up to receive Silver News