Strain-matched hub for motor/generator

Abstract

A strain-matched hub for a motor/generator. The motor/generator preferably includes a cylindrical rotor surrounding a stator, and of larger diameter than a shaft. The hub, formed of a single material, connects the shaft to the rotor assembly, and contains a fastener circle whose expansion is matched to the rotor's expansion, in operation. Like the rotor, the hub's fastener circle expands uniformly around the fastener circle's circumference. Typically, a ring of keystone-shaped metal elements fits the hub to the rotor. The hub attaches to the keystone-shaped elements with a plurality of bolts or other fasteners, and the keystone-shaped elements fit to the rotor. The hub is formed of a single material and contains a plurality of spokes, each spoke positioned along a radius from the center of the hub to the center of a bolt. Each spoke is shaped to fit between two pairs of tangent-joined circles. For each pair of circles, the center of the circle that is formed in part by the inner curve of the hub rim is located radially outside the center of the circle that is formed by the outer curve of the hub's center region.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.