Superconductor Technologies Inc. Achieves Conductus Wire Performance Milestone
April 29 2014 - 6:30AM
- Attains critical current performance of 500
Amps with successful completion of target production run capacity
of pilot machine -
- Ships Conductus wire to five new customers in
first quarter -
Superconductor Technologies Inc. (STI) (Nasdaq:SCON), a world
leader in the development and production of high temperature
superconducting (HTS) materials and associated technologies,
successfully completed a full pilot production run of Conductus®
wire achieving a minimum current of 500 Amps per centimeter (A/cm)
width at 77k. The 100 meter equivalent of 4 millimeter wire was
achieved by processing 50 meters of 10 millimeter wide wire.
"We remain focused on our customers' commercial success with
Conductus wire performance and high yield manufacturing being a
critical part of our strategic plan," stated Adam Shelton, STI's VP
of marketing and product line management. "Achieving our pilot
production target of 500A/cm, in a run that yielded 100% of the
design capacity of the systems, is a significant milestone that
further demonstrates the effectiveness of STI's proprietary RCE-CDR
process. High performance 500A/cm wire is optimum for many of our
customers as they look to increase the value proposition of their
applications by either reducing size and weight, or substantially
increasing other functionality. High yield manufacturing ultimately
provides the critical path to reduce cost and increase capacity.
Conductus wire is uniquely positioned to address many of the market
needs as the industry continues to ramp the deployment of
superconducting solutions for problems unsolvable by conventional
means."
"The key remaining deliverable we need to address for our
customers is capacity. Customer projects utilize large volumes of
wire per device, ranging from 100s of meters for a small magnet to
100,000s of meters for a medium size transmission power cable
project. Our strategic plan is an initial capacity of 750km per
year. The production scale RCE-CDR equipment was designed and the
assemblies were ordered in late 2013. Our plan is to complete the
installation of our production machine capable of 1km lengths and
750km per annum at the end of the second quarter. Initial
production is scheduled to start in the third quarter, ramping to
full capacity throughout the remainder of 2014. We're very proud of
our team's accomplishments and look forward to meeting the demands
of our customers as they lock in projects for late 2014 and
beyond," Shelton concluded.
During the first quarter of 2014 STI shipped wire to nine
customers; six shipments were to Stage 1 customers for performance
evaluation and three shipments were to Stage 2 customers for more
rigorous testing in prototype devices. Of the nine total shipments,
five were new customers. Also, in the first quarter, the company
received purchase orders from three new customers; planned
fulfillment of the orders will utilize the existing pilot
production system. The backlog from purchase orders along with
other wire shipments that STI has committed to as of April 29, 2014
are expected to exhaust capacity until the new RCE-CDR production
system is delivering Conductus wire in the third quarter of
2014.
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: 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, 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, 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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