Brookhaven Lab's Eric Forsyth Honored by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
November 13, 2006
UPTON, NY - The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., (IEEE) has chosen Eric Forsyth, a retired electrical engineer and former chair of the Accelerator Development Department at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, to receive the 2007 Herman Halperin Electric Transmission and Distribution Award.
The $5,000 award is funded by Herman and Edna Halperin and administered by the IEEE Foundation, Inc. Herman Halperin, an award-winning IEEE member who had a 40-year career with Commonwealth Edison Company, was noted for his pioneering contributions to the design and operation of electric plant facilities and power cable systems.
"I am pleased to be recognized for this award," Forsyth said. "More than 20 years ago, my team and I at Brookhaven designed and built the most advanced, high-powered superconducting power transmission cables that have ever been developed to this day. I am glad to see the technology developed at BNL has found commercial application."
From 1972 to 1986, Eric Forsyth was in charge of Brookhaven Lab's Power Transmission Project, a program to develop a viable and cost-effective means of transmitting large amounts of electrical power underground. Brookhaven researchers fabricated a thousand feet of underground superconducting power transmission cable. Brookhaven's cables are made primarily of niobium-tin, a superconducting compound that has almost no electrical resistance when cooled to almost absolute zero - minus 459 degrees F. Cooling of the cable was accomplished with a helium refrigerator. Brookhaven's superconducting cable was able to carry about five times more current than conventional cable.
In eight test runs, the prototype superconducting cable proved to be extremely rugged and durable. Each 100-meter-long cable was capable of carrying over 600 megavolt amperes: the power output of a medium-sized nuclear reactor. No other project employing superconductors for power transmission has ever operated at the high power levels or for the length of time achieved in the Brookhaven project.
The Laboratory's pioneering project demonstrated that superconducting cable is a viable technology. Several comprehensive studies in cooperation with electric utility companies refined the technical design to optimize costs. A landmark study conducted by the Philadelphia Electric Company concluded that the Brookhaven design was the most cost-effective among sixteen options.
With funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA), AMSC - American Superconductor Corporation, and two European companies - Nexans and Air Liquide - have developed superconducting cable using a type of high-temperature superconductor discovered after the Brookhaven project was terminated, permitting the use of nitrogen as a refrigerant. Using this new technology, one of the world's first high-temperature superconductor power cables is now under construction in part of the LIPA transmission grid located in Holbrook, Long Island. The underground cable will be capable of powering 300,000 homes, and its commissioning is expected in 2007.
Eric Forsyth received bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering from Manchester University, England, and the University of Toronto, Canada, respectively. He joined Brookhaven Lab in 1960 as an assistant engineer, was promoted to electrical engineer in 1969, and was appointed manager of the Power Transmission Project in 1972. In 1986, he became chair of the newly formed Accelerator Development Department, which was responsible for various accelerator projects, including the pre-construction design and planning of the Laboratory's largest accelerator, the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC).
Forsyth took a leave of absence from Brookhaven in 1990 and returned on a part-time basis in 1992, working on RHIC design. After retiring in 1995, he has sailed extensively, including two circumnavigations around the world and cruises to the Arctic, Antarctic, and the Baltic. At present, he is in the middle of another cruise to Antarctica, which he plans to reach in January 2007.
NOTE TO LOCAL EDITORS: Eric Forsyth is a resident of Brookhaven, NY.
2006-10559 | INT/EXT | Newsroom
