Southwire's Development of HTS Cable for Power Transmission

Abstract

With the development of high temperature superconducting (HTS) materials, Southwire initiated an R&D project in 1995, to develop a superconducting underground transmission cable. In collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), nine 1-m long, prototype HTS transmission cables were designed, built, and tested. Based upon the test results of 1-m cables, a decision was made by SW management to construct a 3-phase 30-m cable which will be installed between two overhead power lines bringing power to Southwire Company. The HTS cable will be designed to carry 1250-A at 12.5 kV to match with the overhead power supply. A 5-m cable of cryogenics design has been constructed to test the design of our 30-m cable. A suitable dielectric has been developed and tested to withstand high voltage at liquid nitrogen temperature. A versatile test facility has been designed and assembled at ORNL for the testing of 5-m cable. Design modifications for 30-m cables will be made based upon the test results of 5-m cable. In this paper, the test results of 1-m cables, 5-m cable and installation plans for 30-m cable will be discussed.

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Uday Sinha

Uday Sinha is technical director of the superconducting cable project at Southwire Company, Carrollton, Georgia, USA. He joined Southwire in 1974 and has been involved with several successful development projects that includes a high speed continuous casting of steel, conforming of various aluminium alloys, and research into copper rod quality improvements. He holds nine US patents related to his research. Dr Sinha is a 1960 Mettalurgical Engineering graduate from Bihar Institute of Technology, Sindri. He worked for nine years with Hindustan Steel and then went to US for higher studies. He has a Masters degree in Metallurgy from New Mexico Institute of Mining & Technology, Socorro, NM and PhD from lowa State University, Ames, Iowa.