Patent ID: 7342757

Claim:
A rotating electric machine, comprising: a rotor, comprising: a superconductive rotor coil; and a quench protection system operable to protect the superconductive rotor coil from a quench condition, comprising: a voltage detector secured to the rotor and electrically coupled across the superconductive rotor coil and operable to produce a signal representative of superconductive rotor coil voltage; a circuit coupled to the voltage detector to receive the signal representative of superconductive rotor coil voltage, wherein the circuit is operable to cancel electrical noise from the signal representative of superconductive rotor coil voltage to produce a signal representative of a rise in superconductor rotor voltage over time; and a control circuit communicatively coupled to the circuit, wherein the control circuit is configured to receive the signal representative of a rise in superconductor rotor voltage over time and to initiate a corrective action to protect the superconductive rotor coil from the quench condition when the signal representative of a rise in superconductor rotor voltage over time exceeds a predefined voltage.