NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A key administrator leading the national effort to secure and strengthen the national power grid visited the Vanderbilt School of Engineering last week to learn about the school’s pioneering diamond and carbon technology research program.
William P. Parks Jr., deputy director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Electric Transmission and Distribution, toured the facilities of Vanderbilt’s advanced carbon nanotechnology research program and learned about the school’s seminal work in applying diamond technology to power switches and related electronic devices.
Formerly a senior policy adviser to Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham, Parks manages the science and technology activities of the federal entity responsible for finding ways to modernize and expand the national power infrastructure. His division was created in response to the Aug. 14-15 power blackout–the worst in U.S. history–that affected some 50 million people in the northeastern U.S. and Canada.
Jimmy L. Davidson, professor of electrical engineering, engineering science and materials science engineering, and W. P. Kang, professor of electrical engineering, took Parks on a tour of the laboratories and presented an overview of the School of Engineering’s research into using diamond devices for controlling electric power.
"Diamond has incredible properties that make it a strong candidate material for replacing the mechanical power switches currently in use," Davidson says. "Diamond’s superior crystalline structure gives it maximum stability and reliability and allows diamond devices to operate at very high power and temperatures."
Faster, more reliable diamond power switches would also be easier to computer-control, rather than rely on manual operations, Davidson says.
"We have been working with TVA to develop these diamond switches," Davidson says. "We expect to have the devices in operation within a few years."
Media contact: David F. Salisbury, (615) 343-6803
David.f.Salisbury@vanderbilt.edu