Composite rotor lamination for use in reluctance hompolar, and permanent magnet machines

A composite disk lamination for a rotor of a magnetic machine selected from the group consisting of homopolar and switched reluctance machines, comprising:

• a magnetic portion of uniform thickness and including an interior core portion with a plurality of pole pieces extended outwardly therefrom in a generally radial direction, each of said pole pieces having a pair of edges extending outward in a generally straight line and forming an interpole space between each adjacent pair of said pole pieces;
• a plurality of non-magnetic segments having a uniform thickness, a separate one of said segments being situated, respectively, within each of said interpole spaces, respectively, and abutting one edge of each pole piece of said adjacent pair, each of the abutting edges of the non-magnetic segments, respectively, being parallel to a corresponding one of the edges of the pole pieces, respectively, and being rigidly attached thereto so as to provide said disk lamination with high structural strength without increasing windage losses in said rotor;
• and
• each of said non-magnetic segments further being formed in a generally trapezoidal shape having two non-parallel edges abutting opposite edges of the adjacent pole pieces, respectively, and having an inner edge facing an outer circumferential edge of said interior core portion and having an outer edge forming a contiguous circumferential edge with outer edges of said pole pieces.