ASSAM ENGINEERING INSTITUTE

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

REPORT ON
“SUPERCONDUCTOR”

SUB: PROFESSIONAL SKILLS – II

“Lacture by Guest Professional/ Industry Expert”

Submitted By ---

Name: Dipamjyoti Kashyap

Roll No: AEI/18/EL/007

Semester: 4th
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This report is based on the seminar lecture of our professor Miss Jumi
Bharali ma’am. Under her guidance, I have prepared and submitted this
report on 20/5/2020. I am deeply gratified for the support and
encouragement from our respected faculty without them the report would
not have been possible.
 CONTENTS

Page no
1. Introduction 1
2. The Meissner Effect 2
3. Superconductivity 3
4. Superconducting Material 5
5. Application 5
 INTRODUCTION

This report suggests a basic introduction to superconductors. A

superconductor is an element or metallic alloy which, when cooled below a
certain threshold temperature, the material dramatically loses all electrical
resistance i.e., Superconductors are materials that conduct electricity with no
resistances. They also have several other very important properties, such as
the fact that no magnetic field can exist within a superconductor.
In principle, superconductors can allow electrical current to flow without
any energy loss (although, in practice, an ideal superconductor is very hard to
produce). This type of current is called a supercurrent.

Superconductivity was discovered by Kamerlingh Onnes in 1911. For one

century superconductivity has been a great challenge to theoretical physics.
The first successful set of phenomenological equations for superconducting
metals was given by F. London in 1935. Yet, in 1950, almost 40 years after the
discovery of this phenomenon, there was not any adequate microscopic theory
of superconductivity. However, by 1935, single elements necessary to a
successful theory to explain superconductivity was known to theorists. The
peculiar condensation of a Bose-Einstein gas was predicted by Einstein in 1925.
The idea that pairs of fermions can combine to form bosons has been known
since 1931. In 1950 the most relevant ideas of superconductivity has been
summarized by F. London in his famous book “Superfluids”, volume 1. At last,
BCS theory (Bardeen et al., 1957) was the first successful theory to explain the
microscopic mechanisms of superconductivity in metals and alloys.

1
 THE MEISSNER EFFECT

Fig. The Meissner effect

In 1933, Walter Meissner and Robert Ochsenfeld discovered a magnetic

phenomenon that showed that superconductors are not just perfect
conductors. Figure illustrates a thought experiment that highlights this
difference. Imagine that both the ideal conductor and superconductor are
above their critical temperature, . That is, they both are in a normal conducting
state and have electrical resistance.

A magnetic field, , is then applied. This results in the field penetrating

both materials. Both samples are then cooled so that the ideal conductor now
has zero resistance. It is found that the superconductor expels the magnetic
field from inside it, while the ideal conductor maintains its interior field. Note
that energy is needed by the superconductor to expel the magnetic field. This
energy comes from the exothermic superconducting transition. Switching off
the field induces currents in the ideal conductor that prevent changes in the
magnetic field inside it – by Lenz’s law. However, the superconductor returns
to its initial state, i.e. no magnetic field inside or outside it.

2
 SUPERCONDUCTIVITY

Resistivity of most metals increases with increase in temperature and

vice-versa. There are some metals and chemical compounds whose resistivity
becomes zero when their temperature is brought near 00 Kelvin (-2730 C). At
this stage such metals or compounds said to have attained superconductivity.
For example, Mercury becomes superconducting at approximately 4.5 Kelvin (-
268.50 C). The transition from normal conductivity to superconductivity takes
place almost suddenly; it occurs over a very narrow range of temperature
about -0.050 K. The temperature at which the transition takes place from the
state of normal conductivity to that of superconductivity is called critical or
transition temperature.

There are two types of superconductors commonly known as Type I and

Type II superconductors.

Type I superconductors are soft superconductors.They are usually pure

specimens of some elements i.e.metals.They have very little use in technical
applications. Example: Hg, Pb, Al, Mo, Ti, W, In, etc.

Type II superconductors are hard superconductors. They are usually

alloys of metals with high value of resistivity in normal state. These are very
useful as compared to type I materials.
Experiments have shown that if a current is induced in a superconductor
at transition temperature, it will continue to flow for years without taking any
power from the source of supply.

3
 TYPE-I AND II SUPERCONDUCTORS

High magnetic fields destroy superconductivity and restore the normal

conducting state. Depending on the character of this transition, we may
distinguish between type I and II superconductors. The graph shown in Figure 4
illustrates the internal magnetic field strength, Bi, with increasing applied
magnetic field. It is found that the internal field is zero (as expected from the
Meissner effect) until a critical magnetic field, BC, is reached where a sudden
transition to the normal state occurs. This results in the penetration of the
applied field into the interior. Superconductors that undergo this abrupt
transition to the normal state above a critical magnetic field are known as type
I superconductors.
Type II superconductors; on the other hand, respond differently to an
applied magnetic field, as shown in Figure 5. An increasing field from zero
results in two critical fields, BC1 and BC2. At BC1 the applied field begins to
partially penetrate the interior of the superconductor. However, the
superconductivity is maintained at this point. The superconductivity vanishes
above the second, much higher, critical field, B C2. For applied fields between BC1
and BC2, the applied field is able to partially penetrate the superconductor, so
the Meissner effect is incomplete, allowing the superconductor to tolerate very
high magnetic fields.

4
 SUPERCONDUCTING MATERIALS

Superconductivity has been observed to occur in poorer metallic

conductors such as tin, lead and tantalum rather than in better conductors
such as gold, silver and copper. The highest temperature at which, until now,
superconductivity has been observed to occur is 20 K (-2530 C) for a compound
consisting of Niobium, Aluminium and Germanium.

APPLICATION

1. Elecrtical Machines

Efforts are being made at present to develop electrical machines and

transformers utilizing superconductivity. Calculations show that if we would
use superconductors as conducting material, in addition to superconducting
magnets which are already being produced, it is possible to manufacture
electrical generators and transformers in exceptionally small size having
efficiency as high as 99.99%.

2. Power Cables

Superconducting materials if used for power cables will enable

transmission of power over very long distances using a diameter of a few
centimetres without any significant power loss or drop in voltage.

3. Electromagnets

It has been possible to design electromagnets using superconductivity

for use in laboratories and for low temperature devices like the maser.

5
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

All the information and legendries mentioned under this report are taken from
the given below sources and does not contains any kind of Copyright claiming
content.

SOURCES:
1. Notes given by Guest Lecturer
2. Teacher’s Study Material Content
3. Internet