PERFORMANCE
OF
COMPLETED
PROJECTS
STATUS REPORT
NUMBER 1
NIST SPECIAL PUBLICATION 950-1
Economic Assessment Office
Advanced Technology Program
Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899
William F. Long
Business Performance Research Associates, Inc.
Bethesda, Maryland 20814
March 1999
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
Executive Summary
Introduction
CHAPTER 1 - Overview of Completed Projects
Characteristics
of the Projects
Timeline of Expected ATP Project
Activities and Impacts
Gains in Technical Knowledge
Dissemination of New Knowledge
Commercialization of the New Technology
Broad-Based Economic Benefits
CHAPTER 2 - Biotechnology
Aastrom
Biosciences, Inc.
Aphios Corporation
Molecular Simulations, Inc.
Thermo Trilogy Corporation
Tissue Engineering, Inc.
CHAPTER 3 - Chemicals and Chemical Processing
BioTraces,
Inc.
CHAPTER 4 - Discrete Manufacturing
Auto
Body Consortium (Joint Venture)
HelpMate Robotics, Inc.
PreAmp Consortium (Joint Venture)
Saginaw Machine Systems, Inc.
CHAPTER 5 - Electronics
Accuwave
Corporation
AstroPower, Inc.
Cree Research, Inc.
Cynosure, Inc.
Diamond Semiconductor Group, LLC
FSI International, Inc.
Galileo Corporation
Hampshire Instruments, Inc. (Joint Venture)
Illinois Superconductor Corporation
Light Age, Inc.
Lucent Technologies, Inc.
Multi-Film Venture (Joint Venture)
Nonvolatile Electronics, Inc.
Spire Corporation
Thomas Electronics, Inc.
CHAPTER 6 - Energy and Environment
American Superconductor Corporation
Armstrong World Industries, Inc.
E.I. duPont de Nemours & Company
Michigan Molecular Institute
CHAPTER 7 - Information, Computers, and Communications
Communication Intelligence
Corporation #1
Communication Intelligence Corporation #2
Engineering Animation, Inc.
ETOM Technologies, Inc.
Mathematical Technologies, Inc.
Torrent Systems, Inc.
CHAPTER 8 - Materials
AlliedSignal, Inc.
Geltech Incorporated
IBM Corporation
APPENDICES
Appendix
A: Development of New Knowledge and Early Commercial Products
and Processes
Appendix
B: Terminated Projects
END NOTES
End Notes
Click here
for PDF version of report.
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American Superconductor
Corporation
High-Temperature Superconducting Coils for Electric Motor Efficiency
| Large electric motors of
1,000 horsepower (hp) or more are used in many applications
across the U.S. economy. If more-efficient motors could be developed
and replace older ones, the savings would be substantial. The
new motors would consume less electricity than older motors.
In addition to cutting electricity bills, the switch to more-efficient
motors would decrease the need for electricity production, with
concomitant reductions in the burning of fossil fuels and in
the resulting air pollution. |
Harnessing Superconductivity
to Increase Electric Motor Efficiency
American Superconductor Corporation
(ASC), a young development-stage company, was eager to undertake
the long-term research and development needed to capture the advantages
offered by high-temperature superconductivity for large electric
motors. But it lacked the necessary financial resources to do it.
At the time of the ATP award in 1992, there was little competitive
pressure in the electric power-generation industry, so few incentives
existed to reduce costs. And, although the Department of Energy
followed the ATP award with a contract to ASC, that source of funding
was unavailable for the initial research the company proposed to
do. ASC reports that the ATP award made the research project possible.
Without the award, the company would have been unable to do the
research and development on the new technology, even on a delayed-development
schedule.
Superconductivity
Reduces Energy Losses
The most significant energy losses
in motors come from resistive heating in the windings, so superconducting
motors with almost no electrical resistance in the windings could
realize important efficiency gains. To be able to build such motors
required significant advances in the design, fabrication and winding
of HTS wires in geometries required for motor winding.
A 286 hp demonstration motor constructed by Reliance Electric
with HTS windings supplied by ASC.
In addition to industrial motors, the
new technology would be useful in generators, transmission cables
and superconducting magnetic energy storage systems. It also has
potential applications in x-ray lithography, ion implantation, medical
cyclotrons, magnetically levitated trains, magneto-hydrodynamic
ship propulsion systems, and magnetic separation for materials processing
and ore recovery. Indeed, opportunities abound for reducing electric
energy use via applications of the ATP-funded technology.
Larger and Larger
Motors
Researchers from ASC and its partner,
Reliance Electric Company (now part of Rockwell International),
built a 5-hp HTS motor as proof of concept. This team and researchers
at Oak Ridge National Laboratory then fabricated and tested a series
of racetrack-shaped HTS coils of a type needed for motors. This
effort included studies of mechanical and electrical properties
that affect performance, as well as the development of fabrication
techniques for producing flexible, durable wires in increasing lengths.
Soon after the project ended in June 1995, ASC built a 200-hp HTS
motor for testing and demonstration. The company is planning to
complete development work on a laboratory model 1,000-hp HTS motor
in late 1998 or early 1999 and then begin development of a 5,000-hp
motor. Each increment in motor size represents substantial advances
in the underlying technology.
A Long-Term Endeavor
on Track
ASC has viewed this endeavor from the
outset as requiring a long-term commitment and substantial infusions
of capital along the way to reach full commercial deployment of
the HTS technology in huge electric motors. The effort is on track.
In the meantime, ASC has launched its first commercial product related
to the ATP-funded technology, the CryoSaver current leads, which
carry power into HTS devices from external electricity supplies.
Although this is not the ultimate commercialization goal envisioned
for the technology, CryoSaver current leads provide revenue and
help maintain investor interest in the company.
The CryoSaver product has received
technical recognition as well as early commercial success. In 1996,
it won Industry Week magazine's Technology of the Year award and
the 100 Award from R&D magazine, which selects the 100 most
important innovations of the year.
An HTS motor of at least 1,000 hp is
needed to achieve efficiencies and cost savings in line with the
project goals. ASC is deliberately waiting until it proves the concept
at the 5,000-hp level before moving the HTS motor into commercialization.
The company expects to demonstrate a commercial-scale 1,000-hp motor
in 1999.
Placing 1000 horsepower HTS motor coils into a cryogenic cooling
system.
Following the ATP award, ASC received
funding from the Department of Energy as part of a $21 million motor
program with Reliance Electric and several other companies to complete
the development work. In addition, it raised $27 million via a second
public stock offering and attracted another $10 million in private
investment from the electric utility industry. It is actively protecting
its intellectual property position through patent filings.
Pole set and double pancacke HTS coils for 1000 horsepower
Reliance Electric motor
Potential for Huge
Benefits
Users of ASC's CryoSaver current leads
have achieved better operating efficiencies by improving the transmission
of electricity for cryogenic devices. In the future, users of large
electric motors (electric utilities, steel mills, water pumping
stations) will be able to have motors that are smaller, more reliable
and more efficient than today's motors.
This may be particularly important
when competition is introduced into the electric power industry,
which ASC has selected as its first commercial target. Companies
in that industry have generally operated as regulated monopolies.
With competition in the production of electricity, cost savings
will be far more important in the electric power generation marketplace.
Some of those cost savings are likely to be achieved by electric
power generation companies switching from conventional large electric
motors to HTS motors from ASC.
Lower costs for power generation companies,
together with pricing pressure as several companies compete for
the right to supply commercial and residential customers, is likely
to result in cost savings at the power generation level being passed
on, at least partially, to customers. The end result of this chain
of events, which is still in the future, is that electricity users
are likely to benefit from lower electricity costs enabled by electricity
producers' use of the new HTS motors.
The possibility exists for a large
return to the economy as a whole from the implementation of this
new technology, since even small gains in motor efficiency translate
into large energy savings to the companies and to the nation.
PROJECT:
To develop high-temperature superconducting (HTS) wire fabrication
and winding techniques that will enable the development of large
HTS electric motors with almost no electrical resistance. This
advance will reduce the motors' electricity consumption and
save the country hundreds of millions of dollars in energy costs
each year.
Duration: 7/1/1992 - 6/30/1995
ATP number: 91-01-0146
FUNDING (in thousands)::
| ATP |
$1,883 |
42% |
| Company |
2,579 |
58% |
| Total |
$4,462 |
|
ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
ASC achieved its goal of developing HTS wire fabrication and
winding techniques. It demonstrated the use of racetrack-shaped
HTS coils in a 5-hp motor early in the project and in a 200-hp
motor soon after project completion. The company also:
- received six patents for technologies
related to the ATP project:
"Current Limiters in Power
Utility Applications" (No. 5,390,064: filed 7/7/1992,
granted 2/14/1995),
"Superconducting Rotor"
(No. 5,482,919: filed 9/15/1993, granted 1/9/1996),
"Method of Making Superconducting
Wind-and-React Coils" (No. 5,531,015: filed 1/28/1994,
granted 7/2/1996),
"Superconducting Magnetic
Coil" (No. 5,525,583: filed 2/7/1994, granted 6/11/1996),
"Magnetostrictive Superconducting
Actuator" (No. 5,585,772: filed 1/11/1995, granted 12/17/1996),
and
"Variable Profile Superconducting
Magnetic Coil" (No. 5,581,220: filed 10/10/1995, granted
12/3/1996);
- applied for eight additional
patents for technologies related to the ATP project;
- won Industry Week magazine's
Technology of the Year Award in 1996;
- won the 100 Award in 1996
from R&D magazine, which selects the 100 most important
innovations of the year, for its development of CryoSaver
current leads, a spin-off product related to the ATP project;
- received (with partner Reliance
Electric) $10.2 million in Department of Energy Strategic
Partnership Initiative awards in 1996 for cost-shared development
of high-horsepower, commercial-scale motors;
- received a $10-million investment
from Électricité de France, the French power company,
in April 1997; and
- raised $27 million via a second
public stock offering in February 1994.
COMMERCIALIZATION STATUS:
Commercialization is in progress. A partnership with Reliance
Electric will help commercialize the large-motor technology
in the form of 1,000- and 5,000-hp motors. In the meantime,
ASC has introduced a related product, CryoSaver current leads,
in 1996. Users of this product have already achieved better
operating efficiencies in magnetic resonance imaging and commercial
energy storage systems.
OUTLOOK:
The project has progressed as planned, and the outlook for achieving
significant energy savings from HTS motors is excellent. Large
electric motors account for about 65 percent of all electricity
consumption in the United States, so even small efficiency gains
in this application are likely to translate into cost savings
of several hundreds of millions of dollars for the nation. In
the future, large users of electric power will be able to construct
new facilities with smaller, more-efficient and reliable motors
based on HTS technology. Other applications of the technology
could help residential electricity users in the United States
save millions of dollars in energy costs each year.
COMPANY:
American Superconductor Corporation (ASC)
2 Technology Drive
Westborough, MA 01581
Contact: Joe Sollecito
Phone: (508) 836-4200
Number of employees:
59 at project start, 146 at the end of 1997
Informal collaborators:
Reliance Electric Company (acquired by Rockwell International
in 1995), Oak Ridge National Laboratory
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Date created: March
1999
Last updated:
April 12, 2005
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