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from the superconductor-in-Spanish-is-superconductor dept.
European researchers said Tuesday they had developed a cheaper and more efficient superconducting tape which could one day be used to double the potency of wind turbines.
Eurotapes, a European research project on superconductivity—the ability of certain materials to channel electricity with zero resistance and very little power loss—has produced 600 metres (1,968 feet) of the tape, said the coordinator of the project, Xavier Obradors, of the Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona.
"This material, a copper oxide, is like a thread that conducts 100 times more electricity than copper. With this thread you can for example make cables to transport much more electricity or generate much more intense magnetic fields than today," he told AFP.
"This new material could be used to make more potent and lighter wind turbines," he added, predicting it will make it possible to manufacture wind turbines one day with double the potency than existing ones.
No graphene was involved in this announcement.
(Score: 2) by Unixnut on Friday March 17 2017, @02:40PM (2 children)
> faster jet engines (the air intake turbine can spin faster now)
How would this help? Air intake compressors are mechanically linked to the rear turbines of the jet. There is no need for motor/generator setup there (you would just add reliability issues and energy losses)
(Score: 1) by sea on Wednesday March 22 2017, @05:13PM (1 child)
Huh? I thought they ran independently? How do you start the engine, then? Something has to start the compressor before the rear turbines can begin to spin..
(Score: 2) by Unixnut on Thursday March 23 2017, @09:23AM
> Huh? I thought they ran independently? How do you start the engine, then? Something has to start the compressor before the rear turbines can begin to spin..
Having the two turbines decoupled would be a loss of efficiency, because you are doing energy conversion (e.g. rotary to electric then back to rotary), while a fixed shaft just transmits energy without conversion. Also the motor/gen set would be a lot heavier than a shaft.
They have a dedicated starter, like a car engine. On airplanes, they tend to have a small engine (either reciprocating or turbine) called a "APU" (Auxiliary power unit). This is started by ground power (usually electric, like your car starter motor). Once this engine is running, it provides electricity, compressed air and hydraulic power to the rest of the aircraft while on the ground.
This allows the ground crew and pilots to check the environmental systems, hydraulic flaps, electrics all work as intended.
Then, this APU power is used to spin up the main engines, one at a time. On pretty much all passenger airlines, this is using air compressed by the APU. Compressed air is blasted against the exhaust turbine of the jet engine, causing it to spin. As it starts spinning the compression turbine spins at the front as well (as it is connected by the shaft) pushing more air in. Then you inject fuel and fire the spark plugs. Once the combustion chamber takes fire the reaction becomes self sustaining, et voila! Running jet engine.
Repeat the above for each other engine on the aircraft, wait for engines to reach operating temperature, turn off APU, and you are ready to fly!