Patent ID: 6864430

Claim:
A cable employing an oxide superconductor, comprising: a flexible core member; a plurality of tape-shaped oxide superconducting wires being laid on said core member with tension of not more than 2 kgf/mm 2 wherein each tape-shaped superconducting wire consists essentially of an oxide superconductor and a stabilizing metal covering the same, said plurality of tape-shaped superconducting wires forming a plurality of layers each being formed by laying a plurality of said tape-shaped superconducting wires in a side-by-side manner, said plurality of layers being successively stacked on said core member without an insulating layer between the plurality of layers and the core member, said core member providing said superconducting cable with flexibility, said superconducting cable capable of maintaining a superconducting state at the temperature of liquid nitrogen, said wires having substantially homogeneous superconducting phases along the longitudinal direction of said wire, the c-axes of said superconducting phases being oriented substantially in parallel with the direction of thickness of said wire, said superconducting wires being formed by grains aligned in parallel extending along the longitudinal direction of said wire, said grains being stacked along the direction of thickness of said wire, further including at least two distinct groups of tape-shaped wire layers wherein the at least two distinct groups of tape-shaped wire layers carries approximately equal amounts of the current flowing through the cable.