Patent ID: 7333309

Claim:
A superconducting fault current limiter having at least two superconductor elements, each superconducting element having two ends, one end at the top and the other end at the bottom, said superconductor fault current limiter comprising; at least two superconducting elements electrically coupled together are substantially parallel to and disposed a generally fixed distance away from each other, wherein said at least two superconducting elements are electrically coupled at one end, such that when quenching occurs the resulting magnetic fields generated are additive in said at least two superconductors; at least one shunt coil coupled to the other end of said at least two superconductor elements, wherein said at least one shunt coil, wound as single or multilayer windings, is disposed outside of the magnetic field generated by said at least two superconductors; wherein the fault current limiter is adapted to generate a sufficient magnetic field to assist in quenching when a fault current flows using only the magnetic field generated by said at least two superconducting elements and not by said at least one shunt coil; and wherein said at least two superconducting elements are disposed in a circular, elliptical, and alternatively a rectangular shape to generate a generally uniform magnetic field generally orthogonal to said at least two superconducting elements.