STI Provides an Update on Conductus Superconducting Wire Production Equipment
July 31 2014 - 6:30AM
- Completed two of three components for
proprietary 1 kilometer Reactive Co-evaporation Cyclic (RCE)
machine -
- Posted RCE machine photographs at
www.suptech.com -
Superconductor Technologies Inc. (STI) (Nasdaq:SCON), a world
leader in the development and production of high temperature
superconducting (HTS) materials and associated technologies,
provided an update on the status of its Conductus® superconducting
wire manufacturing assembly process. As previously announced, the
machines required for the first two steps of the Conductus process
are operational. The third and final machine, the 1 kilometer (km)
Reactive Co-evaporation (RCE) system, now is expected to be
operational late in the third quarter of 2014.
The 1 km RCE production equipment consists of the material
source chamber and the vacuum deposition chamber, which comprise
the hardware, and the automation software that runs the system
hardware and manages deposition process.
- The source chamber is installed; functioning and can be
operated independently of the vacuum deposition chamber to be used
for testing the majority of the software system.
- The software control components have been calibrated and
tested, meeting design specifications.
- The vacuum deposition chamber is nearing shipment from the
supplier.
Jeff Quiram, STI's president and chief executive officer,
stated, "While we had planned to have the 1 km RCE machine
operational at the end of the second quarter, to date we have
encountered several delays related to equipment failures at our
supplier's fabrication plant for the vacuum deposition chamber. We
are working closely with our supplier to attempt to reduce the
delays caused by these failures, but unfortunately, the vacuum
deposition chamber is currently scheduled for delivery to our
Austin facility in late August. We are prepared for final assembly:
the external infrastructure is in place to position the deposition
chamber and all internal assemblies are complete, onsite and ready
for installation into the deposition chamber."
The RCE machine as built is within the planned budget. STI
expects to have the system operational late in the third quarter of
2014 and projects a ramp in capacity during the fourth quarter of
2014. When the machine is fully operational in 2015, STI expects
this machine to produce an initial capacity of 750 kilometers of
Conductus® wire per year.
To produce Conductus wire there are three key manufacturing
processes: (1) Solution Deposition Planarization (SDP) of a
commercial-grade stainless steel or hastelloy template; (2) Ion
Beam Assisted Deposition (IBAD) to produce the right surface
conditions on the template; and (3) proprietary Reactive
Co-evaporation Cyclic Deposition and Reaction (RCE-CDR) of high
temperature superconducting (HTS) materials onto the template. The
SDP and IBAD machines are already complete and producing templates
that meet production requirements.
STI has posted photographs of the installation phase of the new
production RCE machine on the STI website. You can find them in the
"Superconducting Wire" section, at the bottom of "The Conductus
Process" page.
http://www.suptech.com/the_conductus_process_n.php
About Superconductor Technologies Inc.
(STI)
Superconductor Technologies Inc., headquartered in Austin, TX,
has been a world leader in HTS materials since 1987, developing
more than 100 patents as well as proprietary trade secrets and
manufacturing expertise. For more than a decade, STI has been
providing innovative interference elimination and network
enhancement solutions to the commercial wireless industry. The
company is currently leveraging its key enabling technologies,
including RF filtering, HTS materials and cryogenics to develop
energy efficient, cost-effective and high performance second
generation (2G) HTS wire for existing and emerging power
applications, to develop applications for advanced RF wireless
solutions and innovative adaptive filtering, and for government
R&D. Superconductor Technologies Inc.'s common stock is listed
on the NASDAQ Capital Market under the ticker symbol "SCON." For
more information about STI, please visit
http://www.suptech.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
Statements in this press release regarding our business that are
not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve
risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements are not
guarantees of future performance and are inherently subject to
uncertainties and other factors, which could cause actual results
to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. These
factors and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: the
ability of our suppliers, who we do not control, to produce and
deliver equipment on a timely basis; our ability to incorporate and
fully assemble new equipment effectively and on time into our
production processes; our ability to calibrate and use new
equipment to produce wire in accordance with our timetable; our
limited cash and a history of losses; the limited number of
potential customers; the limited number of suppliers for some of
our components and our HTS wire; there being no significant backlog
from quarter to quarter; our market being characterized by rapidly
advancing technology; overcoming technical challenges in attaining
milestones to develop and manufacture commercial lengths of our HTS
wire; customer acceptance of our HTS wire; fluctuations in product
demand from quarter to quarter; the impact of competitive filter
products, technologies and pricing; manufacturing capacity
constraints and difficulties; our ability to raise sufficient
capital to fund our operations (whether through registered direct
offerings or otherwise), and the impact on our strategic wire
initiative of any inability to raise such funds; the impact of any
such financing activity on the level of our stock price, which may
decline in connection with the sales under registered direct
offerings or otherwise; the dilutive impact of any issuances of
securities to raise capital; and local, regional, and national and
international economic conditions and events and the impact they
may have on us and our customers, such as the current worldwide
recession.
Forward-looking statements can be affected by many other
factors, including, those described in the "Business" and
"Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and
Results of Operations" sections of STI's Annual Report on Form 10-K
for the year ended December 31, 2013 and in STI's other public
filings. These documents are available online at STI's website,
www.suptech.com, or through the SEC's website, www.sec.gov.
Forward-looking statements are based on information presently
available to senior management, and STI has not assumed any duty to
update any forward-looking statements.
CONTACT: Investor Relations Contact
Cathy Mattison or Kirsten Chapman
LHA
+1-415-433-3777
invest@suptech.com
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