Bruker Energy & Supercon Technologies (BEST), a division of Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ: BRKR), today announced that it has entered into a sponsored research agreement with the University of Houston (UH) focusing on the testing and characterization of its second-generation (2G, also referred to as YBCO) high-temperature superconductor tapes, with Professor Venkat Selvamanickam serving as principal investigator on behalf of UH.

Dr. Selvamanickam (‘Selva’), who was Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of SuperPower, Inc. before joining the UH faculty as the M. D. Anderson Chair Professor in Mechanical Engineering in September 2008, will lead and coordinate the testing and characterization efforts of two other UH researchers, and provide scientific reports and recommendations to BEST. The optimized coated conductors (2G tape) will be provided to UH by BEST, a leading developer and manufacturer of both first and second generation high temperature superconductors (HTS). Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Dr. Klaus Schlenga, the Chief Technology Officer of BEST, said: “Dr. Selvamanickam is very well known and highly respected in the HTS community, and we are delighted to be working together. We have retained the University of Houston and Selva to analyze and characterize our 2G wire, and we hope this collaboration leads to additional joint projects on HTS conductors and devices in the future. We expect the characterization and testing to be performed by UH to give us insights into how we can even further improve our 2G tape.”

Dr. Selvamanickam further commented: “The Texas Center for Superconductivity at the University of Houston (TCSUH) has recently created an Applied Research Hub to enhance industrial collaboration. We are very pleased to have BEST participate as one of the early collaborators with the Hub. TCSUH has excellent facilities for processing and characterization of coated conductors which we expect to be very beneficial for the superconductor industry in general.”

BEST also announced that it has extended a long-running consulting agreement with Dr. Herbert C. Freyhardt, a research professor at the Texas Center for Superconductivity at the University of Houston.

About Bruker Energy & Supercon Technologies:

The Bruker Energy & Supercon Technologies (BEST) division of Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ: BRKR), which was formerly known as Bruker Advanced Supercon, includes operations in Germany, the UK and the United States. Together with its majority-owned RI GmbH subsidiary, BEST is a world leader in the development and manufacturing of superconducting and normal conducting rf cavities and systems, linear accelerators, and special products for physics and energy research, as well as superconducting devices, specialty magnets, circular accelerators, vacuum systems, and x-ray and particle beamlines. BEST manufactures and sells over 20,000 miles of niobium-titanium (NbTi) and niobium-tin (Nb3Sn) LTS wire annually. BEST is also a leading manufacturer of both 1G BSCCO and 2G YBCO HTS materials and devices, based on its broad HTS technology platform. The BEST proprietary SuperFast™ inductive superconducting fault current limiter (iSFCL) has the potential to enhance power grid reliability, and BEST HTS current leads can dramatically reduce electrical losses in large industrial and research magnets. Conductors and components made by BEST are being used to build new generations of compact high power devices such as HTS motors, generators, cables and transformers, as well as high field magnets for medical and research applications. BEST also offers the light-weight Cuponal™ conductor for the aviation industry. For more information: www.advancedsupercon.com or www.bruker.com.

Bruker Energy & Supercon Technologies, Inc.
Tom Rosa, +1-978-901-7550
Senior Vice President and CFO
info@advancedsupercon.com
or
Texas Center for Superconductivity
University of Houston
Susan W. Butler, 713-743-8212
Associate Director for Public Affairs
sbutler@uh.edu