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Axial gap electrical machine

  • US 7,839,047 B2
  • Filed: 07/24/2006
  • Issued: 11/23/2010
  • Est. Priority Date: 05/24/2001
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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1. An electrical machine with an axis of rotation between a magnetic field element (102/103 FIG. 1, FIG. 9) with a plurality of pairs of poles, each pair of poles arranged to provide a substantially axial magnetic field between members of said pairs of poles in a direction substantially parallel to the axis of rotation of said electrical machine, and wherein said plurality of pairs of poles are arranged to be around a circle about the axis of rotation of said electrical machine;

  • and at least one wound element (101 FIG. 1) comprising a working segment with a length, and a width (“

    w”

    FIG. 2C) and a thickness (“

    t”

    FIG. 2C) at each point along the length, oriented such that the width of the working segment lies substantially in the direction of the substantially axial magnetic field (FIG. 2M, 2T, 10C, 13C), and its length lies in the radial direction of the electrical machine, and wherein a space between each of the pairs of poles of the magnetic field element (102, 103), straddle the wound element, separated on each side by a width of a working airgap (139), and wherein the surface generated by the midpoints between each pair of poles in the direction of said substantially axial magnetic field is a central surface;

    and wherein relative movement during operation of the electrical machine between the pairs of poles of said magnetic field element and the working segment, cause the magnetic field of the magnetic field element relative to the working segment in the wound element to generate an electromotive force along the working-segment, and wherein conversely when there is an electromotive force applied to the ends of the working segment, the induced current in the working segment and thereby in the magnetic field of the magnetic field element, create a force on the magnetic field element to cause its relative movement in a predetermined direction of rotation;

    wherein change in the delivered torque of the machine under an applied electromotive force to the windings by changing the working airgap on at least one side of the wound element is enabled by means for substantially radial movement of the plurality of pairs of poles relative to the surface of the working segments.

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