The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 06, 1999
Filed:
Oct. 04, 1996
Richard Kenneth Harris, Walled Lake, MI (US);
Michael Timothy York, Chelsea, MI (US);
Ford Motor Company, Dearborn, MI (US);
Abstract
In one embodiment of the present invention, a rotor for an electrical machine comprises a first pole piece and a second pole piece together defining an axis of rotation of the rotor, each pole piece comprising a generally disc-shaped body having a circumference. Each pole piece further has a plurality of angularly-spaced pole fingers extending axially from the circumference of the body of the pole piece. The rotor additionally includes a plurality of permanent magnets, each permanent magnet affixed to a body of a pole piece between two pole fingers of the pole piece. In a second embodiment, the present invention provides a method for manufacturing a rotor for an electrical machine, the rotor comprising a first pole piece and a second pole piece together defining an axis of rotation of the rotor, each pole piece comprising a generally disc-shaped body having a circumference, each pole piece further comprising a plurality of angularly-spaced pole fingers extending axially from the circumference of the body of the pole piece, each body of each pole piece further defining a plurality of radially-outwardly-opening recesses between adjacent pole fingers of the pole piece. The method comprises affixing permanent magnets into at least some of the recesses. In some embodiments, the present invention facilitates the use of generally-conventional Lundell electrical machine technology, but with considerably increased power output per unit volume of the machine.