25.09.2008
On the way to saving electric energy
At present a tenth of the worldwide consumption of electric energy gets lost in overhead cables due to their resistors. This is why high temperature super conductors are increasingly being installed in high voltage lines, motors and generators. These are able to transport electricity without loss in low, but also simple to generate, temperatures.
The mechanism of high temperature super conductors is something that physicists worldwide have been trying to understand. However, now scientists from the 1. Physikalischen Institut (Physical Institute) at the Universität Stuttgart, Stanford University (USA), the Laboratoire Léon Brillouin (France), the Pusan University (South Korea) and the Jilin University (China) have tackled these unsolved problems in a worldwide cooperation and have managed to refute theories so far. The results have been published in the magazine “Nature” in the edition dated 18th September 2008.
In order to utilise the enormous technical potential of super conductors, it is essential to understand the physical principles of the material. Something the international team got to grips with. With the aid of a model, scientists were able to measure high temperature super conductors thus allowing them to compile detailed results on the magnetic characteristics of this material.
The breakthrough in understanding now leaves the path open for scientists to use the new knowledge available to them and begin to save energy.
More:
www.uni-stuttgart.de
