Waste and inefficiencies in the nation's electric grid could be dramatically reduced with the implementation of a magnetic amplifier being developed by a team led by Aleks Dimitrovski of Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Energy and Transportation Science Division. If successful, the electromagnetic-based amplifier-like device would provide low-cost regulation of power flow, a feat that until now was prohibitively expensive. ORNL's controller could provide a reliable cost-effective solution to the problem that plagues the outdated and inefficient grid. "Ordinarily, such a device would require expensive superconductive wire, but the ferromagnetic core design of our device could serve as a low-cost alternative that is equally adept at regulating power flow," Dimitrovski said.
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