Jan. 29 (Bloomberg) — Furukawa Electric Co., a Japanese
maker of wires and metal products, ran a record number of volts
through a superconducting cable as it seeks to reduce
transmission losses.
The company and its partners conducted tests on a 30-meter
(98-foot) cable at 275 kilovolts, according to a joint statement
today from Tokyo-based Furukawa, the International
Superconductivity Technology Center and the New Energy and
Industrial Technology Development Organization. The tests took
place at Furukawa’s plant in Shenyang, China, last month.
Superconductivity occurs when metals or alloys are cooled
to low temperatures, allowing electricity to flow with zero
resistance. Some conductors can reduce transmission loss by as
much as 77 percent compared with conventional copper or aluminum
cables, Furukawa said on its website.
Furukawa’s cable, developed with the help of Fujikura Ltd.,
SWCC Showa Cable Systems Co. and ISTEC, handled the highest
voltage achieved on superconducting wires in the world,
according to the statement. Development of superconductivity has
been mainly centered on 66-kilovolt cables.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Chisaki Watanabe in Tokyo at
cwatanabe5@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at
landberg@bloomberg.net
