High voltage generator stator with radially inserted cable windings and assembly method

• US 6,389,679 B1
• Filed: 06/18/2001
• Issued: 05/21/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Kliman, Gerald B., Shah, Manoj R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Arbes, Carl J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): LE, DANG D
• Application Number:
  US09/882,176
• Publication Number:
  US 20020047458A1
• Time in Patent Office: 337 Days
• Field of Search: 310/254, 310/52, 310/54, 310/57, 310/58, 310/60.A, 310/64, 310/65, 310/179, 310/196, 310/216, 310/259, 310/258, 310/42, 295/96, 296/05--06, 297/32
• US Class Current: 29/596
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 15/085 by laying conductors into slotted stators
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 2203/15 Machines characterised by cable windings, e.g. high-voltage cables, ribbon cables
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 3/48 in slots
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49009 Dynamoelectric machine
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49073 by assembling coil and core

Abstract

A stator for a high voltage generator has cable windings that are radially inserted into the stator slots. The stator is assembled as the cable windings are laid into the stator slots. The stator slots are left wide open to allow the cable windings and separator bars to be inserted in the slot as the stator is assembled. The open slots have sidewalls that are defined by stator teeth, which extend radially out from a rotor jig in the stator. As each coil section is laid in a slot, a separator bar is inserted over the coil so that another coil section can be laid into the stator. The coils are stacked in a slot and sandwiched between separator bars also in the slot. The separator bar is keyed to the sidewalls of the teeth to provide structural support for the cable windings.

Claims

1. A method of forming a stator in a dynamo electrical machine comprising the steps of:

a. arranging a cylindrical jig that has an outside diameter corresponding to an inside diameter of a rotor opening of the stator;

b. mounting inner edges of stator teeth on the jig to form a circular array of teeth, where the teeth extend radially out from the jig;

c. sliding a first separator bar into an axial end of a stator slot defined between adjacent stator teeth, where the separator bar has a lower surface adjacent the jig and an upper surface;

d. seating a cable winding on the upper surface of the first separator bar by inserting the cable winding radially into the stator slot;

e. sliding a second separator bar axially into the stator slot and over the seated cable winding, where the second separator bar has a lower surface seating on the already seated cable winding, and has an upper surface to seat another cable winding;

f. repeating steps (d) and (e) until a sequence of separator bars and cable windings are stacked in the stator slot.

2. A method of forming a stator as in claim 1 further comprising the step of (g) sliding an annular yoke over the outer peripheries of the teeth and slots.

3. A method of forming a stator as in claim 1 wherein the step of inserting separator bars includes sliding in an axial direction of the stator a key segment of the bar into a matching key segment of the sidewalls of the teeth.

4. A method as in claim 1 wherein the first separator bar comprises an insulating plastic.

5. A method as in claim 1 wherein the first separator bar comprises a magnetic material and a gap extending axially through each bar.

6. A method as in claim 5 wherein the first separator bar further comprises a powdered metal.

7. A method as in claim 1 wherein the upper surface of the first separator bar is a channel.

8. A method as in claim 1 wherein the first separator bar includes edges each having a key segment to engage one of the adjacent stator teeth.

9. A method as in claim 1 further comprising the step of applying a yoke around the stator teeth.

10. A method as in claim 9 wherein the yoke includes key segments that fit over opposite key segments on said teeth.

11. A method as in claim 1 further comprising the step of forming at least one cooling fluid conduit in a gap between one of said stator teeth and the cable winding.

12. A method as in claim 1 wherein the cable winding has an insulation sheath, and a thickness of the sheath is thinner for the cable winding near the rotor opening than is a thickness of the insulation sheath of the cable winding stacked above the cable winding adjacent the rotor opening.