HTS applications

Superconductivity has found many attractive applications in medicine, science, power systems, engineering, transport and electronics. One of the most prominent applications of superconductivity are superconducting magnets e.g. MRI magnets, NMR magnets, accelerator magnets, and magnets for fusion; most applications still use low temperature superconductors. Since the discovery of high temperature superconductivity (HTS) in 1986 there has been a tremendous progress in R&D of HTS material, wires and applications. Especially for power system applications, HTS offers considerable economic benefits. Many HTS demonstrator or prototype applications have been built and successfully tested, and some HTS applications like cables and superconducting fault current limiters seem very close to commercialisation. This paper gives an overview about the present and future HTS applications in power applications, high field magnets and current leads. In addition results of the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe program to develop HTS technology for magnet applications are presented. A special focus is set on the development of HTS magnets for fusion application.