Homopolar bearingless slice motors
AssigneeMassachusetts Institute of Technology
InventorsMinkyun Noh, David L. Trumper
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Abstract
Described are homopolar bearingless slice motors which include an array arrangement of permanent magnets on stator teeth, and a magnet-free rotor having a unique surface geometry. Also described are related components of such motors. The permanent magnet arrays provide homopolar bias flux to the rotor, and salient features on the rotor surface route the bias flux toward paths desirable for force and torque generation. In an illustrative embodiment, two magnet arrays are placed at the tips of stator teeth, so as to provide the bias flux via relatively short flux paths. By modulating current through windings based upon the rotor radial and angular position measurements, the stator can levitate and rotate the rotor.
Claims20
A homopolar bearingless slice motor comprising:
- a stator armature having a plurality of stator teeth;
- a stator winding comprising a plurality of coils;
- an array of permanent magnets disposed on the stator teeth;
- and
- a magnet-free rotor comprising one or more salient features.
A homopolar bearingless slice motor comprising:
- a magnet-free rotor comprising one or more salient features.
A method of operating a homopolar bearingless slice motor, the method comprising:
- rotating a magnet-free rotor comprising one or more salient features within a stator bore defined by a stator armature having a plurality of stator teeth.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.