"General Electric" international award for technology developed at Bar-Ilan University

Prize value: one hundred thousand dollars. The system that limits the current and thus protects the electrical grid from sudden changes was developed at the National Laboratory for Magnetic Measurements in the Department of Physics in Bar-Ilan, in collaboration with the Ricor company, and commercialized by the Israeli Grid-On, is considered one of the five most important technologies for making the electrical grids smart and green

A system that limits the current and changes the magnetic resistance of the electrical grid according to the level of current in the grid, which was developed at Bar-Ilan University, is one of five technologies that won prizes worth $100 for each company this week in New York, on behalf of General Electric as developments that contributed the most to the transformation of the electrical grid greener and smarter and which the company sees as potential for changing the face of the global electricity sector.

The system, which is mounted on the high voltage network and protects against sharp changes in the current and against a possible short circuit, is currently being implemented by the start-up company Grid-On in Givatayim after its license was sold by the Bar-Ilan research and development company. According to Gabi Keinan, CEO of Bar-Ilan Research and Development, if and when the system leaves the development stage, the cost of each facility will be at least $300, and each electricity company will be required to have tens to hundreds or even more such devices, because it will prevent malfunctions that today cause heavy damage to the power grids .

The invention was developed at the National Laboratory for Magnetic Measurements in the Department of Physics in Bar-Ilan in collaboration with the Ein Harod "Recor" company. The development was led by the head of the laboratory, Prof. Yosef Yeshuron, who explains: "The new device is based on a magnetic core that automatically, immediately and passively changes the magnetic resistance according to the current level in the network. During normal network operation, the inductance of the device is negligible and does not practically affect the network, but in a short time the magnetic resistance of the device increases immediately and limits the increase in current" explain Dr. Shuki Wolfus and Dr. Alex Friedman, who lead the research in the laboratory. The new current limiter is much smaller and more economical than all other competing developments in the world and surpasses them in its physical and electrical properties. The award for exceptional innovation in the field of electricity on behalf of "General Electric" was given for these special features.

The new ideas of the laboratory in Bar-Ilan aroused interest in the "Recor" company, which deals in vacuum and deep cooling systems, and together the company and the laboratory entered into a joint project partially financed by the Ministry of the Ministry of Science and Technology. At the end of the project, a prototype was built to prove feasibility, which was successfully tested in the laboratories of the Electric Company at the "Urim" site in Nesher. The Bar-Ilan Research and Development Company, headed by Gabi Keinan, undertook the continuation of the commercialization process and connected the technology with private entrepreneurs who established a start-up company called "GridON" which builds, develops and distributes the technology in the world while maintaining On continuing the R&D process and continuing the flow of new ideas in Bar-Ilan.

Prof. Yeshuron: "The constant increase in the consumption and production of energy in the world regularly causes a serious problem of increasing short currents in the electricity networks around the world. The development born in Bar-Ilan will make it possible to continue to increase the production capacity and transmission of electricity in the networks while maintaining the existing infrastructures and improving the stability and reliability of the networks. "The new current limiter is also considered a necessary device that will enable the connection of renewable energy production technologies (such as solar, water and wind energies) to the existing networks. The technology is currently gaining wide international recognition and increasing interest from electricity and energy companies around the world, however, the availability of their electricity generation depends on the factor they rely on (sun, water, wind) and therefore the connection must be regulated when generating electricity in these systems, in order to avoid malfunctions arising from from a sudden load."