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The 'new age' of super materials
American Superconductor has also developed an electric motor using coils of superconducting wire for use in the next generation of US Navy destroyers.
Electric motors are used by most commercial cruise liners, but are typically very bulky.
Using HTSC technology dramatically shrinks their size and also increases their efficiency.
The company is just about to start testing its latest 36.5-megawatt engine that is cooled by off-the-shelf liquid helium refrigerators and weighs 75 tonnes. By comparison, an engine based on copper wires would weigh 300 tonnes.
New superconductors have been found. For example, a new mercury-based compound has a transition temperature of 134K (-139C)
"When we applied pressure we raised it up to 164K (-109C) - that's a record," said Professor Chu.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6412057.stm
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