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Superconductor Tesla Coil


I have been following with some interest the new development
concerning a flexible high temperature superconductor tape. This
tape consists of three separate layers that are bonded together
which produces a flexible conductor that superconducts at liquid
nitrogen temperatures. The reports I have seen indicate that this
tape is cheap and easy to manufacture, with mass production costs
possibly as low as, or lower than, 25 cents a foot in one
centimeter widths. 

The university people who developed the superconducting tape are
supposedly in negotiations with a manufacturing firm.

The specifications given on current handling are phenomenal: at
liquid nitrogen temperatures a one centimeter width of tape a few
mils thick is reported to handle 1,000,000 amps.

Liquid nitrogen is fairly inexpensive, and fairly easy to handle
and store. I have seen five gallon thermo casks in doctors
offices for freezing tissue. I have seen 55 gallon thermo casks
in the local universities physics and chemistry dept. I have also
seen tanker trucks full of liquid nitrogen crusing down the
highway.

Seems like all you would have to do to get a superconducting
primary coil would be to spiral wrap the existing pipe conductor
in this tape and pump some liquid nitrogen through the pipe. 

A superconducting secondary coil (where you really can use it)
would probably have to be designed with the tape conductor in
mind. It seems to me that Tesla's flat spiral wound secondary
design would be ideal for this superconductor. The width of the 
superconducting tape would not affect the inductance per unit
volume of secondary if the coil was a flat sprial; winding a wide
conductor on a tube form would drastically reduce the inductance. 
By winding a flat sprial coil, a reasonably sized tank could be
built to hold it, and the coil could be cooled down with only a
few gallons of liguid nitrogen. Properly designed, and con-
structed with reasonable care, the coil would only need to be as
tall as the tape is wide.

A secondary coil wound with a superconductor would have a Q
factor of many thousand, as opposed to the Q factor of most coils
which strive to reach 100.

Any thoughts? Did anybody else read about the superconducting
tape?

Richard Quick




... If all else fails... Throw another megavolt across it!
___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12