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US 2014/0191626 A1Published application
Spherical Induction Motor
AssigneeCarnegie Mellon University, CTTEC
InventorsRalph L. Hollis, JR., Masaaki Kumagai
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Abstract
Systems and methods are provided for an induction motor. An induction motor includes a spherical rotor and a plurality of curved inductors positioned around the spherical rotor. The plurality of curved inductors are configured to rotate the spherical rotor continuously through arbitrarily large angles among any combination of three independent axes.
Claims26
An induction motor, comprising:
- a spherical rotor;
- and
- a plurality of curved inductors positioned around the spherical rotor, wherein the plurality of curved inductors are configured to rotate the spherical rotor through arbitrarily large angles among any combination of three independent axes.
A method of rotating a spherical rotor continuously among any combination of three independent axes, comprising:
- placing the spherical rotor within a plurality of curved inductors, wherein each of the curved inductors includes a plurality of windings;
- and
- individually varying a magnitude and frequency of current applied to each of the windings of each of the curved inductors to to induce a travelling magnetic wave in the spherical rotor to rotate the spherical rotor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.