Compact High-Temperature Superconducting Cables Demonstrated At
NIST A researcher at the National Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST) has invented a method of making high-
temperature superconducting (HTS) cables that are thinner and
more flexible than demonstration HTS cables now installed in the
electric power grid while carrying the same or more current. The
compact cables could be used in the electric grid as well as
scientific and medical equipment and may enable HTS power
transmission for military applications. Described in a paper
just published online,* the new method involves winding multiple
HTS-coated conductors** around a multi-strand copper "former" or
core. The superconducting layers are wound in spirals in
alternating directions. One prototype cable is 6.5 millimeters
(mm) in outer diameter and carries a current of 1,200 amperes; a
second cable is 7.5 mm in diameter and carries a current as high
as 2,800 amperes. They are roughly one-tenth the diameter of
typical HTS cables used in the