Various industries from energy industry to the transportation industry are beginning to weight the benefits of incorporating superconductivity into their respective technologies. For example, the Advanced Magnet Lab in Palm Bay, Florida is trying to making wind turbines more efficient with the application of superconductive wires in the wind turbines' generators. Because of a superconductive material exhibits zero electrical resistance, electrical energy transformed from the mechanical energy of the wind turbine's rotors will be maximized in the case superconductive wires replace the current wires in placed in the wind turbines.
The property of superconductors to exhibit zero electrical resistance can be explained through what is called the BCS theory. A result of a collaborative effort by three scientists John Bardeen, Leon Neil Cooper, and John Robert Schrieffer, the BCS theory attributes this property of superconductors to electron-pairings in the crystal lattice structures of superconductive materials referred to as Cooper pairs. In the lattice structures of materials that exhibit electrical resistance, impurities and vibrations scatter these electrons and make Cooper pairs too difficult to form (electrons remain separated because it takes less energy to remain in this state than to form cooper pairs).
These cooper pairs form when an electron moving through the lattice structure attracts the positively charged nuclei within the structure, creating a sort of bulge in the lattice. This bulge of positive nuclei in turn attracts another electron that was previously moving in an opposite direction towards the first electron, forming the Cooper pair. The formation of Cooper pairs allows for the electrons to avoid the impurities and vibrations within the crystal lattice and effective negate any resulting electrical resistance. The figure bellow illustrates the formation of Cooper pairs.
The inner workings of a wind turbine include a series of coils of wires around the turbine's rotor that spins in the presence of a strong magnetic field. This magnetic field is provided by stationary magnets. This produces a current which is collected in a battery or channeled via wires to an electrical power plant. However, the amount of induced current that results from this solenoid is limited to the resistance of the substance that the wires are made up of, which is usually copper. Replacing these wires for superconductive ones will boost efficiency and costs in the long run. The only problem as of now is implementing these wires into the turbines and maintaining the extremely low temperatures required for these superconductive materials to remain below their critical temperatures. The figure above shows the conventional wind turbine design with a gearbox and non-superconducting wires, and a revolutionary new design that replaces a gear-box with a direct-drive mechanism and high-temperature superconducting wires.
The property of superconductors to exhibit zero electrical resistance can be explained through what is called the BCS theory. A result of a collaborative effort by three scientists John Bardeen, Leon Neil Cooper, and John Robert Schrieffer, the BCS theory attributes this property of superconductors to electron-pairings in the crystal lattice structures of superconductive materials referred to as Cooper pairs. In the lattice structures of materials that exhibit electrical resistance, impurities and vibrations scatter these electrons and make Cooper pairs too difficult to form (electrons remain separated because it takes less energy to remain in this state than to form cooper pairs).
These cooper pairs form when an electron moving through the lattice structure attracts the positively charged nuclei within the structure, creating a sort of bulge in the lattice. This bulge of positive nuclei in turn attracts another electron that was previously moving in an opposite direction towards the first electron, forming the Cooper pair. The formation of Cooper pairs allows for the electrons to avoid the impurities and vibrations within the crystal lattice and effective negate any resulting electrical resistance. The figure bellow illustrates the formation of Cooper pairs.
The inner workings of a wind turbine include a series of coils of wires around the turbine's rotor that spins in the presence of a strong magnetic field. This magnetic field is provided by stationary magnets. This produces a current which is collected in a battery or channeled via wires to an electrical power plant. However, the amount of induced current that results from this solenoid is limited to the resistance of the substance that the wires are made up of, which is usually copper. Replacing these wires for superconductive ones will boost efficiency and costs in the long run. The only problem as of now is implementing these wires into the turbines and maintaining the extremely low temperatures required for these superconductive materials to remain below their critical temperatures. The figure above shows the conventional wind turbine design with a gearbox and non-superconducting wires, and a revolutionary new design that replaces a gear-box with a direct-drive mechanism and high-temperature superconducting wires.
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