Latest Levitation Stories

ROANOKE, Va., July 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Synchrony, an industry leader providing innovative solutions and engineering excellence in rotating machinery and power conversion systems, drew crowds in demonstration of its world-class product lines at the IGTI Turbo Expo in Orlando, Florida on June 8-11, 2009.(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090714/NE46148 )Magnetic bearing applications are increasing as traditional oil-lubricated, geared drive trains are replaced with direct-drive...

LITTLETON, Mass., July 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Magplane Technology, Inc. (Pink Sheets: MAGP) is pleased to announce today that it has reached a major milestone in the development of the MagPipe pipeline transportation system. The company has successfully demonstrated and verified the fundamental operation of the MagPipe system in Baotou, Inner Mongolia (IM) representing significant progress towards the installation of the first MagPipe commercial line in Inner Mongolia. With the...

More Than Seventy Years of Engineering and Industrial Sales Experience to Lead Sales Force for Magnetic Bearings Industry Leader ROANOKE, Va., June 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Synchrony, an industry leader providing innovative solutions and engineering excellence in rotating machinery and power conversion systems, has assembled a seasoned sales team over the last three months to meet rising demand for magnetic bearings and high-speed motors and generators. Applications of these products are...

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have discovered that a reduction in mechanical strain at the boundaries of crystal grains can significantly improve the performance of high-temperature superconductors (HTS). Their results* could lead to lower cost and significantly improved performance of superconductors in a wide variety of applications, such as power transmission, power grid reliability and advanced physics research.One of the main challenges in...

University of Texas at Austin physicists have created a superconducting lead sheet only two atoms thick, the thinnest such metal layer ever created. Professor Ken Shih and colleagues said the achievement lays the groundwork for future superconductor technologies. To be able to control this material -- to shape it into new geometries -- and explore what happens is very exciting, Shih said. My hope is that this superconductive surface will enable one to build devices and study new properties...

A superconducting sheet of lead only two atoms thick, the thinnest superconducting metal layer ever created, has been developed by physicists at The University of Texas at Austin.Dr. Ken Shih and colleagues report the properties of their superconducting film in the June 5 issue of Science.Superconductors are unique because they can maintain an electrical current indefinitely with no power source. They are used in MRI machines, particle accelerators, quantum interference devices and other...

Of the 92 naturally occurring elements, add another to the list of those that are superconductors.James S. Schilling, Ph.D., professor of physics in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, and Mathew Debessai "” his doctoral student at the time "” discovered that europium becomes superconducting at 1.8 K (-456 °F) and 80 GPa (790,000 atmospheres) of pressure, making it the 53rd known elemental superconductor and the 23rd at high pressure.Debessai, who receives his...

Physicists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory have experimentally demonstrated that the superconductivity mechanism in the recently-discovered iron-arsenide superconductors is unique compared to all other known classes of superconductors. These findings "“ combined with iron-arsenide's potential good ability to carry current due to their low anisotropy "“ may open a door to exciting possible applications in zero-resistance power transmission.The research, led by Ames...

Though a year has passed since the discovery of a new family of high-temperature superconductors, a viable explanation for the iron-based materials' unusual properties remains elusive. But a team of scientists working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) may be close to the answer.The team has found strong evidence that magnetism is a pivotal factor governing the physical properties of iron pnictides, a group of materials that conduct electricity without resistance at...

Scientists at the University of Liverpool and Durham University have developed a new material to further understanding of how superconductors could be used to transmit electricity to built-up areas and reduce global energy losses.The team has produced a material from a football-shaped molecule, called carbon60, to demonstrate how a superconductor "“ an element, compound or alloy that does not oppose the steady passage of an electric current "“ could work at temperatures suitable for...