Patent ID: 8583202

Claim:
Method of managing thermal contraction of a superconductor cable having a cable body surrounded by an external screen made from mechanically strong wires or tapes wound with a certain pitch and installed between its ends in an enclosure or cryostat filled with a cryogenic liquid said method comprising the steps of: mechanically applying a locking force, loading only said screen at a so-called locking point in the vicinity of said ends of the cable, wherein the pitch of said wires or tapes remains constant spite of a resulting constant cooling contraction force tending to tighten said wound wires or tapes of the screen and to reduce their winding pitch between the two ends of the cable, and consequently a radial pressure resulting on all the other elements or layers of the superconductor cable constituting the cable body, which locks them, preventing longitudinal displacement caused by thermal contraction of the cable.