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American Superconductor Achieves Important Benchmarks for Commercialization of Second Generation High Temperature Superconductor Wire

Posted on: Wednesday, 3 August 2005, 12:00 CDT

WASHINGTON, Aug. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- American Superconductor Corporation , a leading electricity solutions company, announced that it has achieved several significant benchmarks important to the commercialization of second generation (2G) HTS wire including record lengths of a new three-ply, 4.4-millimeter (mm) wide, 2G HTS wire, fabrication and testing of electromagnetic coils utilizing this wire, and new record 2G wire performance levels. The announcement was made at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Annual Superconductivity Peer Review meeting, a major annual industry event focused on the research and development of high temperature superconductor (HTS) technology. These technological achievements will advance the practicality of 2G wire by increasing its electrical and mechanical stability to meet commercial performance levels and contribute dramatically to the reduction of manufacturing costs, key to the commercialization of HTS wire products.

Dr. Greg Yurek, the company's chief executive officer, announced in a plenary speech at the DOE meeting that AMSC had successfully developed and demonstrated the first long lengths of 344 superconductor wire, a new 3-ply, 4.4-millimeter (mm) wide 2G HTS wire. Yurek introduced the term "344 superconductor wire" in his speech. The wire has industry standard dimensions, and when cooled with liquid nitrogen -- the coolant of choice for applications such as superconductor power transmission cables -- conducts more than 75 times the electrical current of copper wire with the same dimensions. Derived from the world's first 80- to 100-meter-long, 4-centimeter (cm) wide strips of 2G HTS material, the first 344 superconductor wire was produced using AMSC's continuous reel-to-reel deposition processes.

Previously, only 1-cm wide strips of 2G material had been produced in comparable lengths. AMSC's manufacturing method is based on a reel-to-reel process in which 4-cm wide strips are slit to produce 80- to 100-meter-long tape-shaped wires, which are then laminated in a wave soldering operation with copper, or other metals, to produce the 4.4-mm wide wires. The ability to manufacture wider strips of high performance 2G HTS material is important because it means that only a single pass of a 4-cm wide strip through each of the manufacturing steps is needed to produce eight HTS wires when the wide strip goes through a slitting operation.

The wire's "three-ply" architecture -- consisting of slit 2G tape sandwiched between thin copper strips -- is similar to that of AMSC's commercial first generation (1G) HTS wire. It utilizes technology, manufacturing equipment and expertise from the company's 1G manufacturing operation. A magnified transverse cross-section of the architecture of 344 superconductor wire can be found on AMSC's website at http://www.amsuper.com/.

These latest advances in the production of 344 superconductor wire mean AMSC is firmly on track to achieve its 2G wire manufacturing scale-up plan, which includes initiation of regular production runs of 100-meter long 344 superconductor wire in the current quarter. The company remains on plan to complete the demonstration of all aspects of its proprietary 2G HTS wire manufacturing technology by December 2005, and to begin ordering the remaining full-scale production equipment needed for its pilot wire manufacturing operation in early calendar 2006.

Yurek confirmed at the DOE Peer Review meeting that AMSC expects to ship approximately 10,000 meters of 344 superconductor wire to customers during the next 12 to 15 months, and to have a manufacturing capacity for this wire of 300,000 meters per year by December 2007.

FIRST ELECTROMAGNETIC COILS FABRICATED FROM 344 SUPERCONDUCTOR WIRE

Several long-length, 344 superconductor wires were utilized by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to produce the first electromagnetic coil made with this new wire. Electromagnetic coils are devices that are at the heart of most electrical applications, such as motors, and generators, the only significant exception being power transmission cables. The ORNL coil produced a magnetic field of 0.32 Tesla (18,042 Amp-turns) when cooled with liquid nitrogen, demonstrating both the mechanical robustness and the excellent electrical performance of the new 344 superconductor wires. This is the world's highest performance electromagnetic coil fabricated with 2G HTS wire -- a substantial step forward in the migration from 1G to 2G HTS wire.

In addition, AMSC's SuperMachines(TM) business unit wound an 87-meter length of the new 344 superconductor wire into a race-track-shaped motor coil. The coil produced 4,620 Amp-turns with liquid nitrogen cooling, sufficiently powerful enough to be utilized in production of a 50-horsepower electrical motor with liquid nitrogen cooling.

The SuperMachines business unit is currently manufacturing a 49,000- horsepower (36.5-megawatt) ship propulsion motor utilizing AMSC's first generation HTS wire. Yurek commented, "Based on our 14 years of experience designing, developing and making HTS motors, we see the rapid adoption of AMSC's new, lower cost 344 superconductor wire in the manufacture of motors, generators and synchronous condensers will give us an additional distinct advantage in the HTS rotating machines marketplace."

MATERIALS SCIENCE BREAKTHROUGHS CREATE PATH TO ULTRA-HIGH ELECTRICAL PERFORMANCE OF 344 SUPERCONDUCTOR WIRE

Utilizing an advanced version of AMSC's proprietary Metal-Organic Deposition, or "MOD", coating process to make the superconductor layer in 2G HTS wires, AMSC increased the HTS coating thickness in 4-cm wide strips by 75% from 0.8 microns to 1.4 microns. This advanced MOD process also utilizes AMSC's proprietary nanodot technology, which substantially improves the performance of 2G HTS wire in the presence of the magnetic fields that are typical of applications such as motors and generators.

The electrical current conducted by up to five-meter lengths of 344 superconductor wire produced using the advanced MOD process was 125 Amperes when cooled with liquid nitrogen. This record performance level for 2G HTS wires with industry standard dimensions meets commercial electrical performance specifications for HTS wires. Yurek commented that this substantial increase in wire performance was achieved with a very simple change in AMSC's proprietary manufacturing process. "The result is that our advanced MOD process adds very little manufacturing cost while yielding a substantial increase in commercial electrical performance specifications," he said.

AMSC also produced 4.4-mm wide wires consisting of two slit tapes made with the advanced MOD process, which were subsequently laminated together between copper tapes to produce prototype wires that conducted 240 Amperes of electrical current (545 Amperes/cm-width) when cooled with liquid nitrogen. "The outstanding electrical performance of these prototype wires with industry standard dimensions is far above current 1G performance levels and well beyond our expectations at this stage of development of 2G HTS wire technology," said Yurek. "This opens the door to achieving ultra-high electrical performance in 2G HTS wires, needed, for example, in certain military applications. We plan to integrate the advanced MOD technology into our 2G pilot line during the next year, which will further differentiate us in the marketplace."

DROP-IN REPLACEMENT FOR 1G HTS WIRE

AMSC's 344 superconductor wire has been developed as a drop-in replacement for its commercial, 1G HTS wire, today's workhorse for the emerging HTS industry. The company's 1G HTS wire has essentially the same dimensions as the new 344 superconductor wire, is produced in 1,000 meter lengths and transmits more than 150 times the electrical current of copper wire of the same size, but must be produced one wire at a time. AMSC has sold 1G HTS wire to customers in 20 countries around the world for a wide array of applications in order to seed the market for HTS applications that AMSC expects will migrate to 344 superconductor wire.

To see Dr. Yurek's slide presentation from his plenary session at yesterday's DOE Annual Superconductivity Peer Review meeting, please see the Learn More section of http://www.amsuper.com/.

To learn more about AMSC's 2G Wire technology, please see http://www.amsuper.com/products/htsWire/2GWireTechnology.cfm.

About American Superconductor Corporation

AMSC is the world's principal vendor of high temperature superconductor (HTS) wire and large rotating superconductor machinery, and it is a world- leading supplier of dynamic reactive power grid stabilization products. AMSC's HTS wire and power electronic converters are at the core of a broad range of new electricity transmission and distribution, transportation, medical and industrial processing applications, including dynamic reactive power grid stabilization solutions, large ship propulsion motors and generators, smart, controllable, superconductor power cables and advanced defense systems.

The company's products are supported by hundreds of patents and licenses covering technologies fundamental to Revolutionizing the Way the World Uses Electricity(TM). More information is available at http://www.amsuper.com.

American Superconductor and design, AMSC, POWERED BY AMSC, Revolutionizing the Way the World Uses Electricity, and SuperMachines are trademarks of American Superconductor Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Any statements in this release about future expectations, plans and prospects for the Company, including statements containing the words "believes,""anticipates,""plans,""expects,""will" and similar expressions, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. There are a number of important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include: uncertainties regarding the Company's ability to obtain anticipated funding from corporate and government contracts, to successfully develop, manufacture and market commercial products, and to secure anticipated orders; the risk that a robust market may not develop for the Company's products; the risk that strategic alliances and other contracts may be terminated; the risk that certain technologies utilized by the Company will infringe intellectual property rights of others; the competition encountered by the Company, including several large Japanese companies. Reference is made to these and other factors discussed in the "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operation" section of the Company's most recent quarterly or annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, the forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company's views as of the date of this release. While the Company anticipates that subsequent events and developments may cause the Company's views to change, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to the date this press release is issued.

American Superconductor

CONTACT: Wanda Whitson, +1-508-621-4454, wwhitson@amsuper.com, or KevinBisson, +1-508-621-4220, investor@amsuper.com, both of AmericanSuperconductor

Web site: http://www.amsuper.com/http://www.amsuper.com/products/htsWire/2GWireTechnology.cfm

Source: PRNewswire-FirstCall

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