The CSIC leads the greater project of superconducting of the EU
Eurotapes (Acronym of European development of Superconducting Cover), looks for to promote the European industry of the superconductivity. “It treats to achieve that the superconducting stravel, the cables, the generators and other superconducting components are sufficiently competitive and economic so that his use extend ”, explains the researcher of the CSIC Xavier Obradors, director of the Institute of Science of Materials of Barcelona and leader of the consortium.
The others partners participants of Spain are the Autonomous University of Barcelona, the technological centre Leitat and the companies Lafarga Lacambra and Oxolutia. This last is a ‘spin-off' of the Institute of Science of Materials of Barcelona and will be the manager to turn into innovation the scientific results that obtain in this centre.
Improve the provision, reduce the cost
“After more than 25 years of the discovery of the superconducting of high temperature, the perspectives of applications of these materials are diverse and promising. Nevertheless, the production to industrial level keeps on being costly, what prevents his application generalised”, adds the researcher of the CSIC.
Surpass this escollo is the main aim of Eurotapes. For this, the laboratories participants, pioneers in Europe in the development of the superconducting materials, will work to obtain superconducting materials with better electrical provision and to lower cost. They will do it by means of diverse strategies, like modifying the structure of the superconducting stravel or implement new methodologies of his production.
The conductive materials that will develop in Eurotapes use in diverse applications: cables for the distribution and efficient transport of the electrical power in networks safer and less invasivas; generators for the renewable electrical power (wind in particular); magnets of magnetic fields elevated for the biomedicine (diagnostic by means of magnetic resonance and molecular design) and for scientific installations (accelerators and electrical generation by fusion).
Such as it explains Obradors, “if they substituted the conventional generators by superconducting, with an alone wind mill would achieve the equivalent power to the one of two or three. Or, what is the same, in front of a conventional generator of 4 Megavatios of power, a similar superconducting generator in weight and size would achieve of 10 to 12 Megavatios”.
In the field of the distribution, the project pursues to increase the electrical provision, magnetic and mechanical of the superconducting stravel entering new scientific developments based in the nanotechnology. The aim is to achieve increase the electrical current that can transport , without losses, even under high magnetic fields.
