Patent ID: 7990247

Claim:
A conductor assembly, comprising: a length of continuous conductor positioned about an axis in a helical-like configuration to provide a sequence of interconnected and overlapping coil turns, each turn corresponding to a different segment of the conductor and extending a full turn about the axis, with a first coil turn in the sequence overlapping a second coil turn in the sequence and entirely displaced in one direction along the axis relative to the second turn, wherein: the configuration of the conductor being such that, when conducting current, a magnetic field is generated or, when the conductor is in the presence of a changing magnetic field, a voltage is induced therein, and the first and second coil turns are conductor segments each extending at least 360 degrees about the axis, with the first and second coil turns connected to one another in series without any intervening segment of conductor positioned between them, thereby forming two consecutive and continuous coil turns extending at least 720 degrees about the axis; and the assembly having an aperture region extending within and through open loops of the first and second coil turns and along the axis, wherein the configuration of the conductor enables generation of a transverse field along each of a plurality of planes passing through the axis and orthogonal to the axis, and wherein direction of the transverse field generated by two or more consecutive full turns about the axis rotates about the axis as a function of position along the axis.