New Energy-Efficient Insulation for Electrical Wires

Engineers at the University of Southampton's School of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) are working to develop prototype insulation systems that could lead to new high-efficiency electrical generators.
www.sciencedaily.com...

New insulation will be thinner and dissipate heat better.

This is the parent article,
www.anastasia-project.eu...

The article states,"A polymer route based on polymer/inorganic nanoparticle blending including a novel mica paper structure involving dielectric nano-flakes.
." and,
"A polymer route based on in situ growth of dielectric nanoparticles. "
A rather vague description of what France is attempting to manufacture.
I can't say I blame them for not wanting to disclose there process, because, financially, it's discovery would be a gold mine.
Viva La Francias

hu? ok anyway sounds good and then use the wast heat to heat the buildings and save even more money and fule

That article is a bit misleading.

Their efficiency figures are based on the assumption that all other physical characteristics of the motor/transformer will stay the same with just the change of the insulation material. Design changes don’t happen in a vacuum. Motors/transformers are optimized as a complete system to achieve a specific efficiency/cost ratio.

When high silicon steel came out/ all transformers didn’t become “X” more efficient. What happened is… they could run them at a higher volts/turn without saturating. That led them to be able to make a tranny that could handle the same volt amps, with about the same efficiency, in a far smaller package, at a far lower price.

The main problem with large windings is heat build up deep in the winding. The outer layers have direct contact to air/oil and stay relatively cool. The ones deep in the core are the ones that overheat. That means that a winding conductor usually has to be oversized for the current it’s carrying in respect to how much it would be able to handle in open air. For example, a 12g wire is rated to handle 20+ amps in open air. But deep in a motor/transformer it may be derated down to 10 or even 5 amps.

The new insulation promises to allow better heat conduction from the center of the winding to the outside.

What will happen with this is, it will allow motor/transformer manufactures to use smaller wire, which will reduce the size of the winding, and allow them to use a smaller core for the same power capacity.

Over all efficiency probably won’t go up that much, because other things will take up the slack that the better cooling provides. Production price and size will probably go down, and efficiency will probably stay about the same.

reply to post by Mr Tranny


Thanks for informative post Mr Tranny.
The new insulation may result in using less copper and cooler smaller lighter, more robust transformers/motors, and thats a good thing.

Originally posted by Violater1
This is the parent article,
www.anastasia-project.eu...

The article states,"A polymer route based on polymer/inorganic nanoparticle blending including a novel mica paper structure involving dielectric nano-flakes.

The aim of the project is to replace the current insulation tapes with tapes integrating nanofillers in order to increase their field strength and thermal conductivity.

Originally posted by Mr Tranny
That article is a bit misleading.

The new insulation promises to allow better heat conduction from the center of the winding to the outside.

Yes, that's one of the two promises and the results of better thermal conductivity will probably be exactly as you described, a smaller size, lower cost winding with the same performance potential as what it replaced.

However the other promise you didn't mention, the increased field strength. While that's a promise I'm not sure they can deliver, if they are able to do so, then it might have other benefits like actually improving the efficiency as claimed, instead of just lowering size and cost from the thermal efficiency improvements as you explained.

Originally posted by Arbitrageur
However the other promise you didn't mention, the increased field strength. While that's a promise I'm not sure they can deliver, if they are able to do so, then it might have other benefits like actually improving the efficiency as claimed, instead of just lowering size and cost from the thermal efficiency improvements as you explained.

? I think you are miss interpreting the term “field strength” The term field strength they are referring to voltage standoff, not magnetic field. KV/M The higher standoff voltage, the thinner the tape they need to insulate two windings from shorting to other winding/or outside metal. Thinner tape means that there is less thickness for heat to cross, which equals less insulating effect. Thinner tape also means that less space is taken up by the finished winding. That means they can put more metal in the pole pieces, which will give a higher volt turns ratio. That would mean they could use fewer turns of a larger gauge wire. That would increase total power capability/efficiency. Or they can use the saved space by reducing the overall size of the stator/armature assembly and retain original power/efficiency.

What I was implying with my original post is that all the stuff they listed could improve efficiency if motor size remained the same for a given power. But my opinion is that the industry normally goes with the latter (reduce size) option more than the former (increase efficiency).

In general, there is no improvement that you can introduce to the design that you can guarantee it will be used to improve the efficiency. Efficiency/size/cost is a freely moving scale. Something may directly push up efficiency, but they can just use that improvement to reduce the size of the windings/stator to make the thing smaller. That will reduce the efficiency back to what it originally was. There is no way to make efficiency “stick” after the product is fully integrated.

They can make a more that only has 1/5 of the losses a run of the mill “high efficiency” motor has today. They could build one for you tomorrow. But the problem is….. It would be too big, and too heavy to use in it’s intended application.... Ow........ and it would cost a freaking lot!!!

[edit on 18-5-2010 by Mr Tranny]