METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR SEGMENTING A MACHINE

• US 20150318751A1
• Filed: 05/05/2014
• Published: 11/05/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/05/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BWP Group
• Original Assignee: Boulder Wind Power, Inc.
• Inventors: Smith, James S., Jore, James D., Kvam, Michael A., Sullivan, Brian J., Eichinger, Marc W., Eisen, Stephane A.
• Granted Patent: US 10,177,620 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 11/049 Rectifiers associated with stationary parts, e.g. stator cores
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 11/27 Devices for sensing current, or actuated thereby overcurrent protection responsive to temperature of the machines or parts thereof, e.g. windings, H02K11/25
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 11/30 Structural association with control circuits or drive circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 21/24 with magnets axially facing the armatures, e.g. hub-type cycle dynamos
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 2213/12 Machines characterised by the modularity of some components
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 3/18 Windings for salient poles
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 3/26 consisting of printed conductors
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 3/28 Layout of windings or of connections between windings windings for pole-changing H02K17/06, H02K17/14, H02K19/12, H02K19/32
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 5/225 Terminal boxes or connection arrangements specially adapted for submersible motors H02K5/132

Abstract

In some embodiments, a system includes a machine segment that includes multiple coils. Each coil is electrically isolated from the other coils in the machine segment, and each coil is electrically coupled to at least one electrical terminal to provide electrical access to the coil. Each electrical terminal provides electrical access to the coil to which it is electrically coupled such that the coil can be removably electrically coupled to an electrical circuit. The machine segment is also configured to be removably mechanically coupled to a second machine segment to form at least a portion of a stator or a portion of a rotor.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a first machine segment having a plurality of coils and a plurality of electrical terminals, each coil from the plurality of coils being (1) electrically isolated from the remaining coils from the plurality of coils within the first machine segment and (2) electrically coupled to at least one electrical terminal from the plurality of electrical terminals to provide electrical access to that coil,

each electrical terminal from the plurality of electrical terminals providing access to a corresponding coil such that an electrical circuit can be removably electrically coupled to the first machine segment,

the first machine segment configured to be mechanically removably coupled to a second machine segment to define at least a portion of at least one of a stator or a rotor.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein each coil from the plurality of coils is associated with a different electrical phase from a plurality of electrical phases.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the electrical circuit is a power converter.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the electrical circuit is a load circuit.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the electrical circuit is a source circuit.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the electrical circuit is a source circuit when in a first configuration and the electrical circuit is a load circuit when in a second configuration.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first machine segment is configured to be removably electrically coupled to the electrical circuit such that the electrical circuit connects the plurality of coils to define one of a multi-phase star-connected stator segment or a multi-phase star-connected rotor segment.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first machine segment is configured to be electrically coupled to the electrical circuit such that the electrical circuit connects the plurality of coils to define one of a multi-phase delta-connected stator segment or a multi-phase delta-connected rotor segment.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein each coil from the plurality of coils is (1) associated with a different electrical phase from a plurality of electrical phases, (2) associated with a first electrical terminal from the plurality of electrical terminals and a second electrical terminal from the plurality of electrical terminals, and (3) configured to be electrically coupled to a different converter thread from a plurality of converter threads through its associated first electrical terminal and its associated second electrical terminal, the first electrical terminal having a first polarity and the second electrical terminal having a second polarity substantially opposite the first polarity.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein each coil from the plurality of coils is associated with a different electrical phase from a plurality of electrical phases, each coil from the plurality of coils is associated with a first electrical terminal from the plurality of electrical terminals and a second electrical terminal from the plurality of electrical terminals, the first electrical terminal having a first polarity and the second electrical terminal having a second polarity substantially opposite the first polarity.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein each coil from the plurality of coils is associated with (1) a different electrical phase from a plurality of electrical phases, (2) a first electrical terminal from a first set of electrical terminals having a first polarity from the plurality of electrical terminals, and (3) a second electrical terminal from a second set of electrical terminals having a second polarity from the plurality of electrical terminals and substantially opposite from the first polarity,

the first machine segment defining a first region including the first set of electrical terminals,

the first machine segment defining a second region including the second set of electrical terminals, the first region being mutually exclusive of the second region.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first machine segment includes a protective element disposed within a coil from the plurality of coils, the protective element being configured to protect the associated coil from at least one of an excess electrical current, an excess voltage, or an excess mechanical load.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the plurality of electrical terminals includes a first set of electrical terminals having a first polarity and a second set of electrical terminals having a second polarity substantially opposite the first polarity, the first set of electrical terminals being electrically coupled to a first converter thread, the second set of electrical terminals being electrically coupled to a second converter thread, the first set of electrical terminals including a number of electrical terminals equal to a number of electrical terminals from the second set of electrical terminals.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first machine segment is included in a stationary portion of an electromagnetic machine also having a moving portion configured to impose a time-varying magnetic field upon a region of the stationary portion.

15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first machine segment is included in a stator portion of an electromagnetic machine, the stator portion configured to be mechanically removably coupled to a rotor portion of the electromagnetic machine via a support structure such that the stator portion and the rotor portion can be removed as a unit from the electromagnetic machine using the support structure.

16. An apparatus, comprising:

a conductor forming a coil in a first machine segment of a multi-phase machine, the conductor being associated with an electrical phase in the multi-phase machine;

a first terminal in the first machine segment of the multi-phase machine (1) having a first polarity, (2) associated with the electrical phase, (3) electrically coupled to the conductor, and (4) accessible external to the first machine segment of the multi-phase machine; and

a second terminal in the first machine segment of the multi-phase machine (1) having a second polarity substantially opposite the first polarity, (2) associated with the electrical phase, (3) electrically coupled to the conductor, and (4) accessible external to the first machine segment of the multi-phase machine,

the first machine segment of the multi-phase machine configured to be mechanically removably coupled to a second machine segment of the multi-phase machine to define at least a portion of a stator of the multi-phase machine.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the conductor is a first conductor, the electrical phase is a first electrical phase, the first terminal is a first terminal from a first set of terminals having the first polarity, and the second terminal is a first terminal from a second set of terminals having the second polarity, the apparatus further comprising:

a second conductor forming a coil in the first machine segment of the multi-phase machine, the second conductor being (1) associated with a second electrical phase in the multi-phase machine and (2) electrically isolated from the first conductor;

a second terminal from the first set of terminals, the second terminal from the first set of terminals being (1) associated with the second electrical phase, (2) electrically coupled to the second conductor, and (3) accessible external to the first machine segment of the multi-phase machine; and

a second terminal from the second set of terminals, the second terminal from the second set of terminals being (1) associated with the second electrical phase, (2) electrically coupled to the second conductor, and (3) accessible external to the first machine segment of the multi-phase machine.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the first terminal and the second terminal are configured to be electrically removably coupled to a power converter.

19. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the first terminal and the second terminal are configured to be electrically removably coupled to a load circuit.

20. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the first terminal and the second terminal are configured to be electrically removably coupled to a source circuit.

21. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the first terminal and the second terminal are configured to be electrically removably coupled to an electrical circuit, the electrical circuit being a source circuit when in a first configuration and the electrical circuit being a load circuit when in a second configuration.

22. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the first terminal is configured to be electrically removably coupled to a first power converter and the second terminal is configured to be electrically removably coupled to a second power converter.

23. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the conductor is a first conductor and the electrical phase is a first electrical phase, at least one of the first terminal or the second terminal being configured to be removably electrically coupled and removably mechanically coupled to an electrical circuit such that the electrical circuit couples the first conductor to a second conductor associated with a second electrical phase and a third conductor associated with a third electrical phase to define one of a multi-phase star-connected stator segment or a multi-phase star-connected rotor segment.

24. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the conductor is a first conductor and the electrical phase is a first electrical phase, at least one of the first terminal or the second terminal being configured to be removably electrically coupled and removably mechanically coupled to an electrical circuit such that the electrical circuit couples the first conductor to a second conductor associated with a second electrical phase and a third conductor associated with a third electrical phase to define one of a multi-phase delta-connected stator segment or a multi-phase delta-connected rotor segment.

25. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the first machine segment includes a protective element disposed within the coil, the protective element being configured to protect the coil from at least one of an excess electrical current, an excess voltage, or an excess mechanical load.

26. An apparatus, comprising:

a machine segment having a plurality of coils and a plurality of electrical terminals, each coil from the plurality of coils (1) not intersecting the remaining coils from the plurality of coils within the machine segment and (2) electrically coupled to at least one unique electrical terminal from the plurality of electrical terminals to provide electrical access to that coil,

the machine segment configured to be removably electrically coupled and removably mechanically coupled to a first electrical circuit via the plurality of electrical terminals when the machine segment is in a first configuration,

the machine segment configured to be removably electrically coupled and removably mechanically coupled to a second electrical circuit via the plurality of electrical terminals when the machine segment is in a second configuration, the second electrical circuit being distinct from the first electrical circuit.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the first electrical circuit from the plurality of electrical circuits is a power converter.

28. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the first electrical circuit from the plurality of electrical circuits is a source circuit.

29. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the first electrical circuit from the plurality of electrical circuits is a load circuit.

30. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the first electrical circuit from the plurality of electrical circuits is a load circuit when in a first configuration and is a source circuit when in a second configuration.

31. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the plurality of coils is configured to be electrically coupled as one of a multi-phase star-connected stator segment or a multi-phase star-connected rotor segment when the machine segment is in the first configuration.

32. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the plurality of coils is configured to be electrically coupled as one of a multi-phase delta-connected stator segment or a multi-phase delta-connected rotor segment when the machine segment is in the second configuration.

33. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the machine segment is configured to be removably coupled to a second machine segment to define one of at least a portion of a stator or at least a portion of a rotor.

34. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the machine segment is included in a stator portion of an electromagnetic machine, the stator portion configured to be removably coupled to a rotor portion of the electromagnetic machine via a support structure such that the stator portion and the rotor portion can be removed as a unit from the electromagnetic machine.