[tigershark]

I think it’s just a publicity stunt. There is no way that this wind turbine will be more profitable than a normal one given the pretty crazy cooling requirements. Also I don’t really understand why they chose that kind of superconductor that apparently has to be cooled to -240 when there are other superconductors that need to be cooled to just 150K...

[starbeast]

>There is no way that this wind turbine will be more profitable than a normal one given the pretty crazy cooling requirements.

As long as the insulation method for the superconductor is good, once it is cool, keeping it cool should use surprisingly little energy, especially compared to the output of one of these things.

>Also I don’t really understand why they chose that kind of superconductor that apparently has to be cooled to -240 when there are other superconductors that need to be cooled to just 150K...

They do the same for a lot of the SMES systems - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superconducting_magnetic_energ... - Apparently the difference in cooling costs isn't that much and there are a variety of benefits to using the low temp ones that more than offsets that cost.

*edited to correct brainfart

[Iv]

> Also I don’t really understand why they chose that kind of superconductor

The fact that it can be manufactured as a flexible cable is probably key there. You not only need superconducting materials, you need a coil of it.

[dagw]

here are other superconductors that need to be cooled to just 150K

Don't those very high temperature super conductors only work under under extremely high pressure?

Also most higher temperature super conductors are very tricky to produce in larger quantities.

[tigershark]

Honestly I don’t know about the 150K one, but if I remember correctly the cuprates didn’t need high pressures.

[londons_explore]

The ceramic ones aren't flexible, which is tricky when you're using it like a wire and need to wrap it around stuff...

Also, they can't be joined, so you have to do significant redesigns of the machine to be able to get the whole conductor in in one piece.

[tigershark]

It makes sense, thanks, I didn’t think about flexibility.

[jacobush]

Wait, are they saying 33 Kelvin is high temperature when it comes to super conductors?

[dagw]

Traditionally (or at least when I was at University ~20 years ago) anything above 30 Kelvin is considered a high temperature super conductor.

[tigershark]

Not really, I think that now superconductors that can be cooled down by just liquid nitrogen are considered high temperature. That’s 77k.

[tigershark]

I am not sure why they put the -240C figure in the article, but if their superconductor really needs that temperature then it’s not high temperature.

[TheSpiceIsLife]

We'd need to know how much energy is required to keep the system at that temperature.