Patent ID: 7283339

Claim:
A superconducting fault current limiter comprising; a superconducting element having an outer surface and electrically coupled in parallel with a trigger/shunt coil; wherein said trigger/shunt coil envelopes said superconducting element, said trigger/shunt coil having a plurality of coil turns disposed along the length of said superconducting element at an angle θ with respect to said superconducting element, wherein said angle θ is defined by a superconductor centerline along the length of said superconducting element having another orthogonal line perpendicular to said superconductor centerline, wherein the orthogonal line and a trigger/coil centerline define angle θ which is limited to a range from about five to about eighty-five degrees so as to generate a pre-fault circulating current I circ in said trigger/shunt coil when system current flows through said superconducting element; wherein any one of said trigger/shunt coil turns is a distance greater than 1 mm from the outer surface of said superconductor.