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New
Release -- Superconductor Week does not edit or endorse the following
news release:
American Superconductor Awarded New Government Contracts for High Temperature Superconductor Wire Development
Westborough, Mass., Oct. 19: American Superconductor Corporation
(NASDAQ:AMSC), a leading electricity
solutions company, today announced the company has been awarded three new government contracts for second generation
(2G) high temperature superconductor (HTS) wire and applications development. These
contracts, which have a total value of $1.35 million, were funded under the Department of
Defense's Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer Program (STTR), and are
expected to be completed during the next two years.
The contracts include a Phase II SBIR
contract through the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Air Force Research
Laboratory for basic development of coil technology using 2G HTS wire for military
applications such as rotating machines and magnets. For this project AMSC will be
working with the Francis Bitter Magnet Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. In a second Phase II contract under a STTR program through the Air Force
Office of Scientific Research, American Superconductor will work with Florida State
University to develop and test 2G wire for ac losses and quenching in a simulated coil
environment.
A third contract is a Phase I
STTR program, also through the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. This contract, in
collaboration with the Applied Superconductivity Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, focuses on enhancing the
current carrying capacity of 2G HTS wire. HTS wire offers high power density and high
efficiency compared to conventional copper wire, opening up a broad range of applications
in the military and commercial sectors. Military applications include ship propulsion motors,
air-borne generators and magnets for microwave power sources, while commercial applications include power transmission cables,
electric motors and generators, transformers, synchronous condensers and fault current
limiters. Electrical systems that incorporate 2G HTS wire are expected to be dramatically
smaller, lighter and more cost effective than systems based on copper wire because HTS
wire conducts more than 150 times the electrical current of copper wires of the same
size.
"These three contracts are synergistic in
accelerating the development of 2G HTS wire for applications and products," said Alex
Malozemoff, Chief Technical Officer at American Superconductor. "Development of wires with even higher current carrying
capacity, improved electrical stability, reduced ac losses and a robust coil winding technology,
are all essential for military and commercial applications of 2G wire."
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