Properties of plastic tapes for cryogenic power cable insulation

Conference · Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1978

OSTI ID:6547164

Muller, A C

A superconducting ac power transmission cable is under development at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). This project was undertaken in 1972 in response to growing national power requirements. The goal of this program is to develop an underground power transmission system suitable for transferring bulk quantities of electricity over distances of 16 to 160 km. Both the capital investment and operating costs must be low enough to make the system attractive to the electric utilities. The superconducting cable shares the advantages with conventional underground cables of needing only a few feet of right-of-way width rather than the large tracts of increasingly expensive land required for conventional aerial transmission. Recent cost analysis studies show that superconducting cables, although more expensive than aerial transmission, will probably be competitive with other methods of underground transmission at loads greater than 2000 MVA. Initial design studies showed that a flexible, forced-cooled cable offered the best combination of technical and economic features. A helium cooled cable with Nb/sub 3/Sn superconductor was chosen as the BNL design. The present goal of the BNL program is the construction of a 100 meter outdoor three-phase ac cable rated at 138 kV and 1000 MVA. The refrigerator and the 100 m-long dewar are already installed. Terminations and cables are under design, and it is planned to begin installation of the first single phase cable in 1979. If the results on this model show promise for eventual commercial use, cables of higher voltage and power rating will be developed. One fundamental phase of this project; the development of the required insulating materials, is described.

• Research Organization: Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (USA)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: EY-76-C-02-0016
• OSTI ID: 6547164
• Report Number(s): BNL-24634; CONF-780751-2
• Resource Relation: Conference: Cryogenic materials conference, Munich, F.R. Germany, 10 Jul 1978
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION
SUPERCONDUCTING CABLES
ELECTRICAL INSULATION
DIELECTRIC PROPERTIES
PLASTICS
UNDERGROUND POWER TRANSMISSION
CABLES
CONDUCTOR DEVICES
ELECTRIC CABLES
ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES
EQUIPMENT
PETROCHEMICALS
PETROLEUM PRODUCTS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
POWER TRANSMISSION
200303* - Power Transmission & Distribution- Superconducting & Cryogenic Systems- (-1989)