Development of superconducting power transmission technology

Technical Report · Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1985

OSTI ID:5148949

Forsyth, E B

Superconducting power transmission cables are the latest innovation in a technology which is as old as electric power engineering. The construction of central electricity generating stations by Thomas Edison in the USA and Sebastian Ferranti in England in the 1880's immediately posed the problem of how customers could be connected to the power source. Distribution by means of wires suspended from poles was tried briefly but the densely populated areas chosen as sites for the early generators soon forced the distribution system underground. Edison's low voltage dc system was a technological dead-end but by 1890 Ferranti had built a 7 mile-long underground cable system from the generating plant at Deptford to central London which operated at the then unprecedented level of 10,000 V, alternating current. Ferranti was remarkably prescient in his choice of wrapped brown paper for the cable insulation, a material which has continued to be used in this application until the present day. Paper was chosen for the insulation because it gave good operating performance at low cost compared to other insulating materials then available, such as rubber and gutta percha. Economic considerations must be weighed carefully in the design of underground power transmission systems and they have been a compelling factor in the pattern of development from the turn of the century to the advanced superconducting systems under test in the 1980's.

• Research Organization: Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-76CH00016
• OSTI ID: 5148949
• Report Number(s): BNL-36743; ON: DE85016054
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION
POWER SYSTEMS
SUPERCONDUCTING CABLES
CABLES
DESIGN
ELECTRIC POWER
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
POWER TRANSMISSION
POWER TRANSMISSION LINES
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY
TEST FACILITIES
CONDUCTOR DEVICES
ELECTRIC CABLES
ELECTRIC CONDUCTIVITY
ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES
ENERGY SYSTEMS
EQUIPMENT
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
POWER
200303* - Power Transmission & Distribution- Superconducting & Cryogenic Systems- (-1989)