Interior permanent magnet motor and rotor

An electric machine comprising:

• a stator;
• a rotor core positioned adjacent the stator and rotatable about a longitudinal axis, the rotor core including a plurality of bar apertures, a plurality of elongated flux barriers separate from the bar apertures and positioned radially inward of the bar apertures, and a plurality of magnet slots separate from the bar apertures and positioned radially inward of a portion of the bar apertures;
• a plurality of magnets, each positioned in one of the magnet slots;
• a plurality of conductive bars each positioned in one of the bar apertures and including a first end and a second end;
• a first end ring coupled to the first end of each of the bars;
• and
• a second end ring coupled to the second end of each of the bars, wherein the rotor core defines an inter polar axis and a center pole axis that is positioned at about 90 electrical degrees to the inter polar axis, and wherein one bar aperture is positioned on each of the inter polar axis and the center pole axis and are different than the remaining bar apertures.

An electric machine comprising:

• a stator;
• a rotor core positioned adjacent the stator and rotatable about a longitudinal axis, the rotor core defining an inter polar axis and a center pole axis that is oriented at about 90 electrical degrees with respect to the inter polar axis;
• a plurality of first bars each positioned within one of a plurality of first bar apertures formed in the rotor core, each of the bars extending in a direction substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis and including a first end and a second end;
• a plurality of second bars different than the first bars, each bar positioned within one of a plurality of second bar apertures formed in the rotor core, a portion of the second bars positioned on one of the inter polar axis and the center pole axis, each of the bars extending in a direction substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis and including a first end and a second end;
• a plurality of magnet slots formed as part of the rotor core and positioned radially inward of the first bar apertures, the second bar apertures extending between adjacent magnet slots, the first bar apertures and the second bar apertures being separate from the magnet slots;
• and
• a plurality of magnets, each of the magnets disposed in one of the magnet slots, wherein the rotor core defines a plurality of elongated flux barriers separate from the first bar apertures, the second bar apertures, and the magnet slots and positioned radially inward of the first bar apertures.