BEST Announces $3 Million EUROTAPES Program Grant from European Union
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Bruker Energy & Supercon Technologies, Inc. (BEST) has announced that its wholly owned Bruker HTS GmbH subsidiary has received a 2.3 million Euro (approximately $3 million USD) grant from the European Commission's Directorate-General for Research & Innovation under the EUROTAPES project.
The project to further improve the performance of high temperature superconductor (HTS) tape includes a total of 20 consortium partners from eight European countries - including eight industrial companies, six universities, five institutes, and one technological center.
As the leading industrial partner for the project's scale-up efforts, Bruker HTS received the largest amount of funding on the program, which is coordinated by the Spanish National Research Council CSIC - ICMAB (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas - Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona).
The scheduled duration of the project is 54 months, beginning on September 1, 2012.
BEST is investing significant resources in the development and scale-up of its proprietary YBCO HTS tape, and plans to spend approximately 4.4 million Euro in the execution of its work tasks under the EUROTAPES program.
The overall EUROTAPES program has a budget of 20 million Euro, of which 13.5 million Euro is being funded by the European Union.
The objective of EUROTAPES is to identify the best HTS conductor design and most efficient processes for HTS YBCO coated conductors, utilizing a combination of physical and chemical methods while also using two types of substrates - IBAD/ABAD (Ion/Alternating Beam Assisted Deposition) coated stainless steel and RABiTS™ (Rolling Assisted Biaxial Textured Substrates).
The consortium partners will exchange tapes at different process stages for further processing using alternative methods.
Bruker HTS will focus on the assessment of new technologies and processes, as well as implementation and up-scaling of best layer and process combinations.
Dr. Klaus Schlenga, Senior Vice President and CTO of BEST, said: "We are very pleased that this project has been granted. It strengthens long-term partnerships, and it provides the basis for all of us to benefit from the vast experience that exists within this carefully composed consortium. This project matches up perfectly with our existing strategy to develop a cost and performance optimized HTS YBCO process."
Professor Dr. Xavier Obradors, EUROTAPES project coordinator and Director of ICMAB, added: "The project is an excellent opportunity to advance a very fruitful cooperation between European partners from academia and industry in the field of the development of advanced nanostructured second generation coated conductors. Certainly the know-how complementarities and the achieved critical mass will contribute to push European industry towards an international leadership position in high-tech sectors related to electrical power infrastructures and medical or biomedical equipment."
