COLLOQUIUM REPORT ON

ULTRACONDUCTORS

In partial fulfillment for the award of the degree

BACHELOR OF TECHONOLOGY

IN

ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING

At

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, DELHI

 SUBMITTED BY : RITESH BAHETI

ROLL NO. : 161230008

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I take this opportunity to remember and acknowledge the cooperation, good

will and support both moral and technical extended by several individuals out of which
this technical seminar has evolved. I shall always cherish our association with them.

I greatly thankful to Dr. PRAVEEN KUMAR, DIRECTOR of our college, for

extending his help. I shall forever cherish my association with him for his
encouragement. Perennial approachability, absolute freedom of thought and action.

I greatly thankful to Dr ANMOL RATNA SAXENA , In-Charge , Head Of

The Department, Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, for his
enthusiastic assistance.I have immense pleasure in expressing my thanks and deep
sense of gratitude for his guidance and assistance offered in an amiable and pleasant
manner through my technical seminar.

A lot of thanks to DR. VINAY KUMAR JADOUN , In charge of

INDUSTRIAL SEMINAR ,Assistant Professor ,Department of Electrical and
Electronics Engineering,

for his guidance in my technical seminar.

RITESH BAHETI

161230008

EEE 3rd year

CONTENT

1. ABSTRACT

2. INTRODUCTION
3. PROPERTIES OF ULTRACONDUCTORS

4. APPLICATIONS OF ULTRACONDUCTORS

5. CONCLUTION
Abstract

Superconductivity is the phenomenon in which a material losses all its electrical

resistance and allowing electric current to flow without dissipation or loss of energy.
The atoms in materials vibrate due to thermal energy contained in the materials: the
higher the temperature, the more the atoms vibrate.

An ordinary conductor's electrical resistance is caused by these atomic vibrations,

which obstruct the movement of the electrons forming the current. If an ordinary
conductor were to be cooled to a temperature of absolute zero, atomic vibrations
would cease, electrons would flow without obstruction, and electrical resistance
would fall to zero. A temperature of absolute zero cannot be achieved in practice,
but some materials exhibit superconducting characteristics at higher temperatures.

In 1911, the Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes discovered superconductivity in

mercury at a temperature of approximately 4 K (-269o C). Many other
superconducting metals and alloys were subsequently discovered but, until 1986,
the highest temperature at which superconducting properties were achieved was
around 23 K (-250o C) with the niobium-germanium alloy (Nb3Ge)

In 1986 George Bednorz and Alex Muller discovered a metal oxide that exhibited
superconductivity at the relatively high temperature of 30 K (-243o C). This led to the
discovery of ceramic oxides that super conduct at even higher temperatures. In 1988,
and oxide of thallium, calcium, barium and copper (Ti2Ca2Ba2Cu3O10) displayed
superconductivity at 125 K (-148o C), and, in 1993 a family based on copper oxide
and mercury attained superconductivity at 160 K (-113o C). These
"high-temperature" superconductors are all the more noteworthy because ceramics
are usually extremely good insulators.

New superconducting materials are being discovered on a regular basis, and the
search is on for room temperature superconductors, which, if discovered, are
expected to revolutionize electronics. Room temperature superconductors
(ultraconductors) are being developed for commercial applications by Room
Temperature Superconductors Inc.(ROOTS).Ultraconductors are the result of more
than 16 years of scientific research ,independent laboratory testing and eight years
of engineering development. From an engineering perspective, ultraconductors are a
fundamentally new and enabling technology. These materials are claimed to conduct
electricity at least 100,000 times better than gold, silver or copper.

Technical introduction

Ultraconductors are patented1 polymers being developed for commercial

applications.The materials exhibit a characteristic set of properties including
conductivity and current carrying capacity equivalent to superconductors, but
without the need for cryogenic support.

The Ultraconductor properties appear in thin (5 - 100 micron) films of certain

dielectric polymers following an induced, non-reversible transition at zero field and
at ambient temperatures >> 300 K. This transition resembles a formal insulator to
conductor (I-C) transition.

The transition is induced by mild ionization of the films by various methods. It occurs
in connection with a relatively slow (hours to days, depending upon the volume)
electronic phase separation of the materials. The separation produces two
components, a) a near-perfect dielectric bulk phase and b) a highly localized phase
having mean charge concentration about 1020 cm-3 or more. The charge-rich phase
of the polymer is highly organized and durable, and exhibits a characteristic set of
anomalous properties.

After ionization, the film initially exhibits a growing ferromagnetism (more correctly,
a superparamagnetism, as measured by magnetic susceptometer), which plateaus at
values corresponding to a spin polarized mean charge concentration (for the whole
polymer volume) as high as ~ 1018 to 1019 cm-3. This feature is considered to
indicate collective quantum mechanical behavior.

Subsequently, discrete microscopic structures - the localized phase - can be observed

and imaged (for example, by AFM and EFM) as randomly distributed in the bulk
material. A proportion of these structures, typically 1 - 2 microns diameter, extends
from substrate to film surface, and can also be electrically contacted. These
structures exhibit a characteristic set of measured properties, including highly
anisotropic conductivity > 1011 S/cm; current densities > 5 x 108 A/cm2; a zero
Seebeck coefficient over the temperature range 87 - 233K; a six orders of magnitude
violation of the Wiedemann Franz law; and a near-instantaneous transition to high
resistivity at a critical current. The polymers’ conductivity is not measurably
temperature dependent over the range 1.8 - 700K, and is stable in magnetic fields at
least as high as 9 Tesla.

IR spectroscopy of the post-transition films shows them to be chemically unchanged

from the base polymer; that is, the new structures are composed of the same
molecular material as the bulk, which remains insulating

Properties of Ultraconductors

Ultraconductors are the electrical conductors which have certain properties similar
to present day superconductors. They are best considered as a novel state of matter.
They are made by the sequential processing of amorphous polar dielectric
elastomers. They exhibit a set of anomalous magnetic and electric properties
including very high electrical conductivity very high electrical conductivity (> 1011
S/cm -1) and current densities (> 5 x 108 A/cm2) over a wide temperature range (1.8
to 700 K).

Additional properties established by experimental measurements include: the

absence of measurable heat generation under high current; thermal versus electrical
conductivity orders of magnitude in violation of the Wiedemann-Franz law; a
jump-like transition to a resistive state at a critical current; a nearly zero Seebeck
coefficient over the temperature range 87 - 233 K; no measurable resistance when
Ultraconductor(tm) films are placed between superconducting tin electrodes at
cryogenic temperatures.

The Ultraconductor properties are measured in discrete macromolecular structures

which form over time after the processing. In present thin films (1 - 100 micron)
these structures, called 'channels', are typically 1 - 2 microns in diameter, 10 - 1000
microns apart, and are strongly anisotropic in the Z axis. RTS was founded in 1993 to
develop the Ultraconductor(tm) technology, following 16 years of research by a
scientific team at the Polymer Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, led by Dr.
Leonid Grigorov, Ph.D., Dc.S. There have been numerous papers in peer-reviewed
literature, 4 contracts from the U.S. government, a landmark patent (US patent #
5,777,292). and a devices patent (US patent # 6,552,883.) Another patent is pending
and a fourth now is being completed. To date 7 chemically distinct polymers have
been used to create Ultraconductors(tm), including olefin, acrylate, urethane and
silicone based plastics.

The total list of candidate polymers suited to the process is believed to number in
the hundreds. In films, these channels can be observed by several methods,
including phase contrast optical microscope, Atomic Force Microscope (AFM),
magnetic balance, and simple electric contact. The channel structures can be moved
and manipulated in the polymer. Ultraconductor(tm) films may be prepared on
metal, glass, or semiconductor substrates. The polymer is initially viscose (during
processing). For practical application the channels may be "locked" in the polymer,
by cross linking, or glass transition. The channel's characteristics are not affected by
either mode.

A physics model of the conducting structures, which fits well with the experimental
measurements, and also a published theory, have been developed. The next step in
material development is to increase the percentage or "concentration" of
conducting material. This will lead to films with a larger number of conducting points
(needed for interposers and other applications) and to wire. Wire is essentially
extending a channel to indefinite length, and the technique has been demonstrated
in principle. Connecting to these conducting structures is done with a metal
electrode, and when two channels are brought together they connect.

From an engineering point of view, we expect the polymer to replace copper wire
and HTS in many applications. It will be considerably lighter than copper, and have
less electric resistance.

According to International Journal for Research in Applied Science & Engineering

Technology (IJRASET) The contribution of Bardeen, Cooper and Schrieffer explains
the superconductivity at a temperature close to the zero temperature and cooper
discovered that atomic lattice vibrations were responsible for unifying the entire
current; the electrons are forced to pair up in teams that could easily pass through
the hurdles which are responsible for resistance in conductor. This theory
successfully represents the attraction of electrons to one another through crystalline
lattice structure, although electrons have same charge. When the oscillation of
lattice takes place in positive and negative regions, the electron pair is pulled
together and pushed aside without collision. Here, the electron pairing is favorable
as it has the tendency of putting the element into lower energy state. Once they
combine together in pair, they move in well defined manner through ultra
conductors. Below critical temperature, the paired electrons form a macroscopically
occupied single quantum state. Figure below represents the complete procedure.
Here the electron pair is moving through the lattice containing positive ions
surrounding the cooper pair. There are three important factors which define the
superconducting state:-
A. Critical Temperature (T):-It is the maximum temperature at which
superconductivity occurs in a material. Below this transition temperature T the
resistance of a particular element becomes equal to zero.
B. B. Critical Magnetic Field (Hc):-It is the value of applied field above which the
superconducting state is changed to nonsuperconducting state.
C. C. Critical Current Density (Jc):-It is the highest value of current per unit
cross-sectional area that can be carried by superconductor without resistance.
APPLICATIONS

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR)

The biggest application for superconductivity is in producing the large-volume, stable,
and high-intensity magnetic fields required for MRI and NMR. This represents a
multi-billion-US$ market for companies such as Oxford Instruments and Siemens.
The magnets typically use low-temperature superconductors (LTS)
because high-temperature superconductorsare not yet cheap enough to
cost-effectively deliver the high, stable, and large-volume fields required,
notwithstanding the need to cool LTS instruments to liquid helium temperatures.
Superconductors are also used in high field scientific magnets.
Particle accelerators and magnetic fusion devices
Particle accelerators such as the Large Hadron Collider can include many high field
electromagnets requiring large quantities of LTS. To construct the LHC magnets
required more than 28 percent of the world's niobium-titanium wire production for
five years, with large quantities of NbTi also used in the magnets for the LHC's huge
experiment detectors.

A small number of magnetic fusion devices (mostly tokamaks) have used SC coils.
The current construction of ITER has required unprecedented amounts of LTS (e.g.
500 tonnes, causing a 7 fold increase in the world's annual production capacity).
Electric power transmission
Essen, Germany has the world's longest superconducting power cable in production
at 1 kilometer. It is a 10 kV liquid nitrogen cooled cable. The cable is smaller than an
equivalent 110 kV regular cable and the lower voltage has the additional benefit of
smaller transformers.

Holbrook Superconductor Project

The Holbrook Superconductor Project is a project to design and build the world's
first production superconducting transmission power cable. The cable was
commissioned in late June 2008. The suburban Long Island electrical substation is
fed by about 600-meter-long underground cable system consists of about 99 miles
of high-temperature superconductor wire manufactured by American
Superconductor, installed underground and chilled with liquid nitrogen greatly
reducing the costly right-of-way required to deliver additional power.

Tres Amigas Project

American Superconductor was chosen for The Tres Amigas Project, the United
States’ first renewable energy market hub. The Tres Amigas renewable energy
market hub will be a multi-mile, triangular electricity pathway of superconductor
electricity pipelines capable of transferring and balancing many gigawatts of power
between three U.S. power grids (the Eastern Interconnection, the Western
Interconnection and the Texas Interconnection). Unlike traditional powerlines, it will
transfer power as DC instead of AC current. It will be located in Clovis, New Mexico.
Magnesium diboride
Magnesium diboride is a much cheaper superconductor than
either BSCCO or YBCO in terms of cost per current-carrying capacity per length
(cost/(kA*m)), in the same ballpark as LTS, and on this basis many manufactured
wires are already cheaper than copper. Furthermore, MgB2 superconducts at
temperatures higher than LTS (its critical temperature is 39 K, compared with less
than 10 K for NbTi and 18.3 K for Nb3Sn), introducing the possibility of using it at
10-20 K in cryogen-free magnets or perhaps eventually in liquid hydrogen. However
MgB2 is limited in the magnetic field it can tolerate at these higher temperatures, so
further research is required to demonstrate its competitiveness in higher field
applications.
Trapped field magnets
Exposing superconducting materials to a brief magnetic field can trap the field for
use in machines such as generators. In some applications they could replace
traditional permanent magnets

OTHER APPLICATIONS

Military
Medicine
Transportation
Theoretical and Experimental Science
Power Production and Power Transmission

CONCLUSION

From an engineering perspective, ultraconductors are a fundamentally new and

enabling technology.
These materials are claimed to conduct electricity at least 1,00,000 times better than
gold, silver or copper.
If ultra conductors are fully commercialized it would enhance the contribution of its
predecessor.
Superconducting materials should see increasing deployment in High Value
Applications such as power grid system.

As the demand for power is continuously increasing; we have to select the conductor
which provides power with negligible losses. However Superconductivity is totally
dependent upon cooper pair formation, this cooper pair prevents the collision of
electrons into various imperfections which further results in a formation of resistance.
These cooper pairs are formed with the help of Superatoms. These Superatoms are
when properly arranged in the form of the long chain along a material substrate,
electricity can flow through it without any restrictions. So Superconductors or

Ultraconductors can be the conductor of the future. The research is going on to

produce superconductivity phenomenon even at high temperature, as there is a change
in the quantum state even in high temperature. So, finally, modification in
components of the power system will obviously improve its efficiency and this can
only be done by the application of Ultra conductors.