Loading patent…
AssigneeWestinghouse Electric Corp.
InventorsGeorge T. Mallick, Jr., James R. Logan, Phillip W. Eckels
Estimating the term…
The present invention provides a straightforward sensor and method for quench detection in a superconducting coil, magnet or inductor. The superconducting sensor of the present invention consists of a probe having a twisted loop of superconducting wire in a protective sheath which is co-wound with the superconducting coil, and a readout device. A very small amount of energy is applied to the superconducting loop of wire in the probe by the readout device and its resistance is monitored by readout device. When joule heating occurs in the superconducting coil as a result of a portion becoming normal, the heat is transferred to a corresponding portion of the probe causing a portion of the superconducting wires therein to become normal. This causes the resistance in the superconducting wires to change and this change is detected or measured by the readout device which is magnetically coupled to the wires of the probe.
A quench detection sensor comprising a probe and a readout device, the probe capable of being placed in thermal contact with a turn of a superconducting coil and comprising a protective sheath surrounding two long twisted, insulated superconducting wires which are shorted at one end and form a sensor coil at the other end such that the sensor coil is magnetically coupled to a readout coil, the readout device comprising an energy source, the readout coil for magnetically providing energy to the probe and a detector for detecting a change in the amount of energy provided to the probe.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.