By offering a self-supporting composite conductor cable design, Advanced Ceramic Fibers is hoping that its innovation will have significant impact on the country’s power grid.
Located in the Idaho Innovation Center on North Yellowstone Highway, the company has received a $150,000 Phase I SBIR award from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.
The objectives of this project will be to determine the feasibility of enhancing the thermal and electrical conductivity of commercial metals for improved energy efficiencies. ACF’s unique “Fi-Bar“ fiber, integrated into conductor wire, creates a metal-matrix composite that reduces the weight of the wire while enhancing the thermal and electrical conductivity.
The project — “Reinforced Commercial Metals for Enhanced Electrical and Thermal Conductivity” — started in February and is scheduled to be finished in November this year. The company’s partners include ECK Industries, Inc., an aluminum casting company, and Future Science and Technology, which provides extrusion and material testing services.
ACF received letters of interest from the Bonneville Power Administration , Electric Power Research Institute, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
The Innovation Center has made available to ACF its fiber conversion production system and business offices.
For more information, the company’s Web site is www.acfibers.com.
