Rotating electrical machine with electromagnetic and permanent magnet excitation

An electrical machine comprising:

• a generally-annular stator;
• and
• a rotor rotatably mounted within said stator and defining an axis of rotation, said rotor having an axially-extending periphery, said rotor comprising a plurality of wound-field poles disposed about at least one portion of said periphery and a plurality of permanent magnet poles all disposed about at least one circumferentially-different portion of said periphery, said wound-field poles in general axial alignment with said permanent magnet poles, said permanent magnet poles each further having a magnetized surface of one polarity generally facing said stator and a magnetized surface of the opposite polarity generally facing away from said stator;
• wherein said wound-field poles are salient poles;
• wherein said permanent magnet poles are disposed in circumferentially-adjacent pairs, without an intervening wound-field pole;
• wherein each said circumferentially-consecutive pair of permanent magnet poles share a common radially-extending base;
• and
• wherein said wound-field poles are disposed in circumferentially-consecutive pairs, without an intervening permanent magnet pole.