UK-based Tokamak Energy has launched a new business division, TE Magnetics, to focus on the industrial deployment of high temperature superconducting (HTS) magnet technology. HTS magnets enable powerful and efficient magnetic fields for a wide range of applications and can also enable the efficient operation of fusion energy devices by confining the extremely hot plasma of fuels.
With more than a decade of advanced HTS magnet research, generating more than 200 patents, TE Magnetics is introducing its ultra-high field, robust and cost-effective technology at the Applied Superconductivity Conference (ASC) in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Compact HTS magnets generate far stronger fields and operate at higher temperatures than conventional low temperature superconductors (LTS). HTS magnets are therefore more energy efficient and easier to manage, removing the need for complex liquid helium infrastructure. By enabling more energy-efficient and robust, ‘quench-safe’ technologies, HTS magnets can contribute to reducing energy consumption and decarbonisation.
The magnets are wound in parallel from HTS tapes, multi-layered conductors typically 12mm wide and less than 0.1mm thick made mostly of strong and conductive metals, but with a crucial thin internal coating of rare earth barium copper oxide (REBCO) superconducting material. REBCO magnets use 99% less rare earth material than permanent magnets.
TE Magnetics offers a full suite of HTS solutions, from modelling and prototyping through to fully integrated magnet system development and delivery, including large scale manufacturing.
As well as applications for magnetic confinement fusion, HTS can enhance the efficiency and power density of renewable energy devices, including wind turbines, and could provide grid stabilisation and load levelling through energy storage. Potential propulsion applications include magneto hydrodynamic drive (MHD) and magnetic levitation, while ultra-high field (UHF) HTS magnet technology will enable high performance in areas such as physics research and materials analysis.
“TE Magnetics will commercialise our transformative fusion magnet technology and take it into new markets, said Warrick Matthews, Tokamak Energy CEO. “Launching this new business division allows us to focus on our core mission of delivering clean, secure and affordable fusion energy, while supporting our strategy for rapid growth across complementary markets.”
Dr Liam Brennan, TE Magnetics Director said TE Magnetics is “centred on opening new fields of performance in applications that will change the world in which we live today”. He added: “We’re taking our knowledge, skills and talent forward to disrupt existing and create new markets for magnet technologies over the next decade, including renewable energy, science, and land, water, air and space propulsion.”
In collaboration with key manufacturing partners, the aim is to become the leading supplier of HTS technology for applications including science, fusion, renewable energy and propulsion on land, in water, air and space, TE Magnetics says on its website. Due to the simpler cooling requirements, HTS magnets can be deployed in applications previously unavailable to LTS magnets, with the potential for vastly improved performance.
“With exceptional facilities and expertise and over ten years’ experience, we’ve invested over $50m to create HTS magnet technology that is ultra-high field, robust, quench-safe, tunable, scalable and cost-effective for fusion and exciting new applications.”
