Degaussing Coils

Degaussing coils are a vital part of today's military ships.  Since ships are mainly constructed of steel, they disturb the earth's natural magnetic field as they pass and this allows for detection by sensors and weapons such as naval mines.  Degaussing coils are used as a countermeasure to the threat of magnetic influenced mines, thereby increasing the ship's survivability.  Degaussing coils are composed of network of electrical cables installed around the circumference of a ship's hull, running from bow to stern on both sides.  Electrical current is passed through these cables to counteract the ship's inherent magnetic field.  The current is controlled so that the ship is magnetically invisible at any latitude/longitude and any ship's heading.

AMSC has designed a more efficient degaussing system that is constructed with high temperature superconductor (HTS) wire as a replacement for copper wire-based degaussing coils.  Technical specifications

HTS wire configured into degaussing coils can provide many benefits as a replacement for conventional copper wire-based systems.  Copper wire-based systems add a significant amount of weight to a ship.  The infrastructure necessary to install the copper-based system is complex and costly. HTS degaussing systems replace multiple copper cables with fewer, smaller and lighter weight cables.  The HTS technology can reduce the weight of the ship's degaussing system by up to 10 times that of a copper cable solution.  Because the size and weight of a superconductor degaussing system will both be much lower, the infrastructure needed to house the cable will be lower in cost, weight and complexity.

HTS degaussing coils also are more efficient than copper cables -- reducing the power supply requirements because HTS wire has zero resistance -- so there are no energy losses.

Benefits of Superconductor Degaussing Systems

Smaller and lighter weight

Lower cost to install than copper wire-based systems

Superconductor cables accommodate much higher currents and almost zero voltage in a much smaller space than copper wire-based cables

Conduit diameter required with superconducting cables is smaller than with copper wire-based cables

Off-the-shelf helium-based cooling and cryogenic system is environmentally safe