Improved conductors that have a better amp/gm capacity can benefit many NASA applications where light weight power components are required such as generators, motors, transformers, inductors, power conditioning equipment, wiring for data transmission, actuators, MHD magnets, propulsion engines, magnetic shielding, and magnetic launch devices. The high performance (Amp/gm) carbon nanotube wires that can be developed in this SBIR Phase I and II will initially be more expensive than Cu and Al wires until the technology is fully developed and large scale manufacturing is put in place. The initial market applications will be where weight is at a premium and electrical wiring is needed. These include obvious industries like aircraft, outer space and military hardware, transportation (ships, trains, and autos), and wind turbine generators on tall towers. The secondary industries that are addressable include where high current densities are needed to obtain higher magnetic fields (above 2 tesla) which is similar to the market for superconductors that Hyper Tech is presently marketing and selling. Present superconductor wire applications are some of the early market applications where these high performance CNT wires could penetrate the marketplace. Such applications include motors, generators, fault current limiters, transformers, transmission cables, MRI, and High Energy Physics type applications.
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