Gm Global Technolgoy Operations, Inc.

Qiang Niu

Khwaja M Rahman

Sinisa Jurkovic

Xinyu Zhou

Xu Han

John C Morgante

Edward L Kaiser

Constantin C Stancu

Peter James Savagian

Christopher G Benson

Moussa Ndiaye

Daniel J Smith

Eric Thomas Carlson

Kurt James Johnston

An interior permanent magnet machine includes a stator including a plurality of electrical conductors. The interior permanent magnet machine further includes a rotor concentrically disposed in relation to the stator. The rotor is configured to rotate relative to the stator about a rotational axis and includes a plurality of polar pieces arranged annularly about the rotational axis. At least one of the polar pieces includes a magnetic layer configured to magnetically interact with the electrical conductors. The magnetic layer has a substantially conic section shape.

Interior permanent magnet machine

An electric machine is provided with a rotor configured to be rotatable within a stator. A first and second tooth are disposed circumferentially along an outer perimeter of the rotor and at least partially define a first slot. The first and the second tooth define a respective first and second outer edge extending between a respective tooth base and a respective tooth tip. An arc radius from the origin to the outer perimeter of the rotor varies along the first outer edge of the first tooth, thereby creating a first non-uniform gap between the rotor and the stator. The arc radius from the origin to the outer perimeter of the rotor varies along the second outer edge of the second tooth, thereby creating a second non-uniform gap between the rotor and the stator. The rotor geometry is configured to reduce torque ripple without skewing either the rotor or the stator.

Rotor geometry for reduction of torque ripple in a wound field machine

A permanent magnet machine is provided with a rotor positioned at least partially within a stator. The rotor includes first and second ring segments oriented axially around a central axis. The rotor defines first and second configurations in the first and second ring segments, respectively. The first configuration is sufficiently different from the second configuration such that torque ripple may be minimized. A first layer of slots, defining a slot outer edge, may be formed in the rotor. In one embodiment, a stator-to-slot gap varies between the first and second ring segments. In another embodiment, a stator-rotor gap varies between the first and second ring segments. In another embodiment, a bridge thickness varies between the first and second ring segments. Thus the rotor exhibits axial asymmetry.

Axially asymmetric permanent magnet machine

A magnetic linear position sensor includes an array of N number of magnets. The array of magnets is distributed along a line to form a magnetic field relay along the line. The sizes and positions of the magnets in the array of magnets are symmetric along the line, and the size of the magnets decreases from the sides of the array of magnets towards the center of the array of magnets. The magnetic linear position sensor further includes a magnetic field sensor spaced apart and positioned above the array of magnets. The magnetic field sensor moves back and forth over the array of magnets to sense the magnetic field of the array of magnets.

Magnetic linear position sensor

A permanent magnet motor includes a permanent magnet rotor, a stator surrounding the rotor having a plurality of teeth radially inwardly oriented toward a longitudinal axis of the stator wherein each tooth has a tooth length and a tooth tip surface geometry. An asymmetric air gap is defined by variations in the tooth lengths and tooth tip surface geometries.

Asymmetric stator teeth in an electric motor

A rotor for a permanent magnet electric machine includes an axis of rotation, an outer surface, and a cross-section orthogonal to the axis of rotation with a non-circular contour of the outer surface defined by a plurality of radii angularly distributed around the axis of rotation.

Rotor for a permanent magnet electric machine

An interior permanent magnet machine is provided with a rotor that includes a plurality of slots and at least one barrier defined by the plurality of slots. A plurality of first and second magnets are disposed within the barrier. The rotor is configured such that at least one of the first magnets is located at a different radial distance from the center of the rotor relative to at least one of the second magnets. The rotor may be configured to produce an averaging effect similar to that achieved through traditional skewing of rotor magnets. The rotor includes a plurality of poles defined by respective pole axes in the rotor and may be configured to reflect radial asymmetry between poles (pole-to-pole) and/or radial asymmetry within a pole.

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Novi, MI, United States of America

Qiang Niu