Electric motor
AssigneeThe Hong Kong Polytechnic University
InventorsMing LIU, Hon Lung CHAN, Ka Wing CHAN, Junwei LIU, Wenzheng XU
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An electric motor comprising a stator and a rotor. The stator has at least one resonant circuit and the rotor has at least one resonant circuit rotatable with the rotor relative to at least one stator resonant circuit such that at least one rotor resonant circuit is angularly displaceable relative to at least one stator resonant circuit. At least one stator resonant circuit and at least one rotor resonant circuit are configured to have at least substantially the same self-resonant frequency. The electric motor uses magnetic resonant coupling between one or more stator resonant circuits and one or more rotor resonant circuits to produce usable torque.
Claims27
An electric motor comprising a stator and a rotor, wherein the stator comprises at least one resonant circuit and the rotor comprises at least one resonant circuit rotatable with the rotor relative to at least one stator resonant circuit such that at least one rotor resonant circuit is angularly displaceable relative to at least one stator resonant circuit, wherein at least one stator resonant circuit and at least one rotor resonant circuit are configured to have at least substantially the same self-resonant frequency.
An electric motor as claimed in 11, wherein the plurality of stator resonant circuits are divided into two or more sets which are interleaved, and wherein the two or more sets are alternately energised depending on the angular displacement of the rotor resonant circuits relative to the stator resonant circuits.
An electric motor system comprising an electric motor;
- a sensor arrangement;
- and a drive circuit arrangement;
- wherein the electric motor comprises a stator and a rotor, wherein the stator comprises at least one resonant circuit and the rotor comprises at least one resonant circuit rotatable with the rotor relative to at least one stator resonant circuit such that at least one rotor resonant circuit is angularly displaceable relative to at least one stator resonant circuit, wherein at least one stator resonant circuit and at least one rotor resonant circuit are configured to have at least substantially the same self-resonant frequency;
- the sensor arrangement is operable to measure the position of the rotor relative to the stator;
- and the drive circuit arrangement is operable to generate a drive signal based upon the measured position to drive the electric motor.
A method of operating an electric motor which comprises a stator having at least one resonant circuit and a rotor having at least one resonant circuit, wherein at least one stator resonant circuit and at least one rotor resonant circuit are configured to have substantially the same self-resonant frequency, the method comprising the steps of:
- energising a stator resonant circuit at a frequency to generate a resonant current in an adjacent rotor resonant circuit and varying the frequency depending on the angular displacement of the adjacent rotor resonant circuit relative to the stator resonant circuit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.