Electrical power plays an increasingly important role in everyday life. In fact, we could not imagine modern society to work without electrical power. We depend on it for everything from food production to communication, transportation, health, finances, education, research, law enforcement and many more. The continuous increase in electrical power consumption as well as the electrification of traditionally non-electrical applications, require higher power densities, which are often not achievable with today’s technology and call for a paradigm shift. There are many emerging technologies with the potential to enable such a transition, which have in common that they need electrically insulating materials with unique properties. This research project is focusing on understanding the physics of a promising class of materials, called “supercritical fluids,†so that they can be tailored for their respective application. Furthermore, the fundamental understanding of the physical properties of supercritical fluids could fill knowledge gaps in other areas of natural sciences. This project fills an important gap for workforce in high-voltage engineering. Multiple activities to engage K-12 students, undergraduate and graduate students as well as post-docs are highlighted including curriculum development in the high-voltage engineering. The work will use an integrated approach to engage high school teachers, high school students, undergraduate students and graduate students building on established programs at the Georgia Tech.
Supercritical fluids show a dielectric behavior that is different from that of ideal gases and justify fundamental research to expand the knowledge in this area. While chemical and thermal properties of some SCFs have been investigated and documented in the literature, only very few dielectric studies exist. In particular, there is no theory known that describes the ionization, attachment, excitation, and avalanche processes, and even the breakdown behavior in uniform field is mostly unknown. Developing a thorough understanding of these processes and formulating a theory will be challenging. A combination of numerical methods and experimental techniques will be used to refine our models and further our understanding of this class of material. Fundamental understanding of the dielectric strength of supercritical fluids is expected to enable the design of DC circuit breakers, a crucial component of multi-terminal high voltage DC power transmission, enabling transcontinental exchange of renewable energy. Such switchgear is expected to be equally important for DC distribution systems on electric aircraft and ships. The electrification of the transportation sector will help reduce the reliance on fossil fuels and reduce the emission of carbon dioxide. SCFs could also make electrostatic motors and generators feasible with their ability to interface directly with the high voltage transmission grid, their much reduced electromagnetic signature, and their independence from rare earth magnets. Besides these applications in power and energy, supercritical fluids might enable more affordable particle accelerators for high energy physics and medical applications, with big benefits to accelerate research and lowering costs of medical treatment.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
