Electromagnetic machine with independent removable coils, modular parts and self-sustained passive magnetic bearing

Abstract

A rotating electromagnetic machine has a tubular axle with mounting rings, a common ring, a coil input ring, and at least one bearing set mounted on it. A fitting is secured at a distal end of the tubular axle, and a commutator is secured at the proximal end. A housing is mounted on the bearing sets through adaptors. Connecting bars extend axially within the axle with lateral rods joined to the connecting bars at their distal ends, the bars commuting between segments of the commutator electromagnetic coils. A plurality of the electromagnetic coils are secured to the coil input ring. The coils are formed of spiral turns of a single flat strip electrically conductive material. A plurality of peripheral and sector magnets are mounted adjacent to the electromagnetic coils with electromagnetic interaction when relative motion occurs between the coils and the magnets.

Description

, and its magnetic bearing aluminum swept surface 10′, showing bearing sets 20, bearing securing fitting 15, commutator 80, mounting rings 30A and coil input ring 30C. In FIG. 1 it is seen that system housing plates 70 is are mounted on bearing sets 20 through adaptors 74. Either the system housing plates 70 or axle 10 may act as stator with the other member rotating. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of coil common ring 30B which is constructed in two pieces and is independently removable from axle 10, whereas mounting rings 30A are an integral part of axle 10. FIG. 4 is a perspective end view of axle 10 with the securing fitting 15 detached.

What is not depicted in FIG. 1, but is shown in FIG. 5; an end view from the securing fitting side, is proximal ends 92 of connecting bars 90 which extend axially within axle 10 as will be further shown. FIG. 6 is a perspective end view thereof as seen from the commutator end of the machine, showing distal ends 94 of connecting bars 90. FIG. 7 is a perspective view of one of the connecting bars 90, as detached, showing the proximal 92 and distal 94 ends. A lateral rod 96 joined to bar 90 at the distal end 94, commutes between bar 90 and one segment 82 of commutator 80 and is secured by screws 84 as shown in FIG. 6. The distal end 94 is joined with lateral plate 98 which is covered with an insulator wrap 99 and secured to coil input ring 30C through slots 12 in axle 10, as shown in FIG. 2, using tab 32 and screw 34. Screw 36 is available for securing coil wires as will be described presently. Bars 90, including rods 96, plates 98 and tabs 32 form the necessary electrical path between electromagnet coils of the machine (to be described), and the commutator 80. In the preferred embodiment, coils 110 are wired in parallel with current introduced from the commutator 80 through lateral rods 96, bars 90, plate 98 to insulated segments (tabs 32) mounted on input ring 30C. One end of each of the coils 110 are attached to each of tabs 32 respectively, at screws 36. The other end of each of the coils 110 are attached to the screws on common ring 30B which acts as a ground back to the commutator 80.

FIG. 8 shows two coil housings 100 mounted on the rings 30A by coil housing bolts 42 (FIG. 1) fastened into threaded holes. FIG. 9 is a close up showing the novel mounting interface between coil housings 100 and the mounting rings 30A. In this mounting it is noticed that the interfacing surfaces of the coil housings 100 abut rings 30A and are close to rings 30B and 30C. FIG. 10 shows part of the coil housing 100 removed revealing a portion of a coil 110 as mounted within the coil housing 100. FIG. 11 shows the coil 110 detached from the coil housing 100 and shows, too, coilform 120 upon which coil 110 is wound. In this embodiment coil 110 is wound with common insulated wire 112, however, coil 110 may also be wound with metal strip wherein such strip would have a thickness approximately equal to the diameter of wire 112 and a width W equal to the width of coil 110, or of the ferromagnetic housing cell's width as shown in FIG. 11. It is noticed that coil 110 has an axis 114 of the windings that is positioned tangential to the direction of rotation of the electromagnetic field of this machine when the coil is mounted within the coil housing 120 100. This may be best seen in FIG. 12 where coil 110 is shown mounted within coil housing 120 100, and housing 120 100 is shown in its mounted position on ring 30A Only two coil housings 120 100 are shown in the figures, but in the completely assembled machine, the coil housings 120 100 form a full circle around tubular axle 110 10.

FIGS. 13 and 14 show a commutator housing 85 positioned over the commutator 80. Housing 85 provides the wipers that frictionally contact the blades of commutator 80. FIGS. 15 and 16 are views of the system housing plates 70 which are shown in their assembled positions in FIG. 1. Plates 70 are engaged with the outer bearing races of bearing sets 20 through adaptors 74 shown in schematic representation in FIG. 1. FIG. 17 shows the finished machine as a side view with two peripheral plates 72, commonly known as “biscuits,” removed, to show the locations of peripheral magnets 50 and coil housings 100. The axis 5 of rotation of the rotating magnetic field is depicted in FIG. 17.

FIGS. 18-20 show an alternative embodiment of coil 110. Previously coil 110 was described as constructed by windings of common insulated electrical conductor wire 112 as is well known in the art, and alternatively using flexible insulated conductive metal strip stock. However, it has been discovered that coil 110 may also be advantageously constructed from a solid block of conductive metal. In FIG. 18 is shown a schematic diagram of such a coil 110 wherein the lines 110A represent conductive paths and the spaces between the lines represent material that is cut away from the solid block of conductive metal. This may be accomplished using electrical discharge machining, also known by the acronym EDM. In this process EDM is used to cut into the solid block of electrically conductive material such as copper, aluminum or steel, but most preferably, iron, and the cuts are directed as shown in FIG. 18. When the cutting is complete, the solid block has been reduced to a single continuous coil where the coil's windings are strips having the desired width W (FIG. 19), i.e., the width of the original solid block.

FIG. 19 shows the cut block in perspective with plus (+) and minus (−) electrodes attached for connecting the coil 110 into a circuit of the present machine. FIG. 20 shows the same cut block as FIG. 19, but partially cut-away to better illustrate the layers of the windings. In FIGS. 19 and 20 no space is shown separating the windings, however, these figures are conceptual diagrams where the spaces between adjacent windings are considerably less wide than the windings themselves, and the spaces may be filled with an electrical insulator using an electro-chemical process such as electroplating. The coil housing 100 may also be advantageously constructed in the same manner as the coil shown in FIGS. 18-20, that is, the housing 100 may be sectioned using EDM to establish a coil-like configuration while maintaining the housing in the form shown in FIGS. 8-12. The establishment of coil 110 and coil housing 100 in the above manner provide significant advantages including low eddy current loss, less resistance to AC and to DC current flow, and smaller size.

The enablements described in detail above are considered novel over the prior art of record and are considered critical to the operation of at least one aspect of one best mode embodiment of the instant invention and to the achievement of the above described objectives. The words used in this specification to describe the instant embodiments are to be understood not only in the sense of their commonly defined meanings, but to include by special definition in this specification: structure, material or acts beyond the scope of the commonly defined meanings. Thus if an element can be understood in the context of this specification as including more than one meaning, then its use must be understood as being generic to all possible meanings supported by the specification and by the word or words describing the element.

The definitions of the words or elements of the embodiments of the herein described invention and its related embodiments not described are, therefore, defined in this specification to include not only the combination of elements which are literally set forth, but all equivalent structure, material or acts for performing substantially the same function in substantially the same way to obtain substantially the same result. In this sense it is therefore contemplated that an equivalent substitution of two or more elements may be made for any one of the elements in the invention and its various embodiments or that a single element may be substituted for two or more elements.

Changes from the described subject matter as viewed by a person with ordinary skill in the art, now known or later devised, are expressly contemplated as being equivalents within the scope of the invention and its various embodiments. Therefore, obvious substitutions now or later known to one with ordinary skill in the art are defined to be within the scope of the defined elements. The invention and its various embodiments are thus to be understood to include what is specifically illustrated and described above, what is conceptually equivalent, what can be obviously substituted, and also what essentially incorporates the essential idea of the invention.

While the invention has been described with reference to at least one preferred embodiment, it is to be clearly understood by those skilled in the art that the invention is not limited thereto.

Claims

1. A rotating electromagnetic machine comprising:

a tubular axle defining a distal and a proximal ends thereof, and mounted medially thereon, a pair of mounting rings, a common ring, a coil input ring, and at least one bearing set; a fitting is secured at the distal end of the tubular axle, and a commutator is secured at the proximal end of the tubular axle;

a housing mounted on the bearing sets through adaptors; the common ring constructed in two pieces and independently removable from axle,

connecting bars extending axially within axle; lateral rods joined to connecting bars at distal end thereof, the lateral rods commuting between bars and segments of commutator with distal ends joined with lateral plates;

a plurality of electromagnetic coils secured to the mounting rings, the coils formed of spiral turns of a single flat strip electrically conductive material; and

a plurality of peripheral and sector magnets mounted adjacent to the electromagnetic coils.

2. The rotating electromagnetic machine of claim 1 assembled with a modular construction with coil housings of a ferromagnetic material separated into a plurality of magnetically isolated segments in mutual electrical continuity, whereby hysteresis is minimized.

3. The rotating electromagnetic machine of claim 1 wherein each of the peripheral and sector magnets has edges cut in a shape that enables a continuous magnetic pole face and avoids an alternating magnetic end effect at opposing ends of the magnet, whereby, induced eddy currents of the ferromagnetic segments are returned to the electrical circuit thereof.

4. A rotating electromagnetic machine comprising:

an axle;

a plurality of coil housings spaced about and coupled to the axle, each of the plurality of coil housings including ferromagnetic material;

a plurality of electromagnetic coils, each of the plurality of electromagnetic coils being disposed in a respective one of the plurality of coil housings; and

a plurality of magnet sets, each of the plurality of magnet sets being disposed adjacent to a respective one of the plurality of electromagnetic coils, each of the plurality of magnet sets having a first sector magnet, a second sector magnet, and a peripheral magnet, each sector magnet of each of the plurality of magnet sets having a front surface facing toward the respective one of the plurality of electromagnetic coils, the peripheral magnet of each of the plurality of magnet sets having (i) a front surface facing toward the respective one of the plurality of electromagnetic coils and perpendicular to the front surface of each sector magnet, (ii) first and second end surfaces, each end surface facing parallel to and opposed to the front surface of one of the sector magnets, and (iii) first and second angled surfaces, each angled surface positioned between and at an angle relative to the front surface and one of the opposing end surfaces, the first sector magnet and the second sector magnet being disposed in mutually opposing and facing positions, the peripheral magnet being positioned orthogonal to both the first sector magnet and the second sector magnet,

wherein each of the plurality of coil housings is disposed between a respective one of the plurality of electromagnetic coils and a respective one of the plurality of magnet sets, and

wherein a first wedge-shaped portion of each of the plurality of coil housings extends between (i) the front surface of the first sector magnet of the respective one of the plurality of magnet sets, and (ii) the first angled surface of the peripheral magnet, and

wherein a second wedge-shaped portion of each of the plurality of coil housings extends between (i) the front surface of the second sector magnet of the respective one of the plurality of magnet sets, and (ii) the first angled surface of the peripheral magnet.

5. The machine of claim 4, wherein the angle at which the first and second angled surfaces of each peripheral magnet are positioned is about 45 degrees.

6. The machine of claim 4, wherein each of the plurality of electromagnetic coils is formed of spiral turns of a single flat strip of electrically conductive material.

7. The machine of claim 4, wherein the plurality of coil housings is configured to capture eddy currents induced therein and to return the captured eddy currents to a power supply of the rotating electromagnetic machine.

8. The machine of claim 4, wherein each of the plurality of electromagnetic coils has a respective winding axis.

9. The machine of claim 8, wherein the respective winding axis of each of the plurality of electromagnetic coils is perpendicular to a central axis of the axle.

10. The machine of claim 8, wherein the respective winding axis of each of the plurality of electromagnetic coils is spaced apart from a central axis of the axle.

11. The machine of claim 4, further comprising:

at least one bearing set rotationally disposed about the axle, and;

a magnet housing having each of the plurality of magnet sets mounted therein, the magnet housing coupled to the at least one bearing set to allow relative rotation between the magnet housing and the axle.

12. The machine of claim 11, wherein the magnet housing acts as a stator of the rotating electromagnetic machine.

13. The machine of claim 4, wherein the axle acts as a stator of the rotating electromagnetic machine.

14. The machine of claim 4, wherein the plurality of electromagnetic coils are coupled together in an electrically parallel configuration.

15. The machine of claim 4, wherein the first sector magnet, the second sector magnet, and the peripheral magnet of each of the plurality of magnet sets are permanent magnets.

16. The machine of claim 4, wherein each of the plurality of coil housings is separated into a plurality of magnetically isolated segments in mutual electrical continuity, whereby hysteresis is minimized.

17. The machine of claim 4, further comprising a fitting being attached to a distal end of the axle and a commutator being attached to a proximal end of the axle.

18. The machine of claim 4, wherein each of the plurality of electromagnetic coils is mounted on a pair of mounting rings mounted to the axle.

19. The machine of claim 18, further comprising:

the pair of mounting rings;

a common ring mounted to the axle; and

a coil input ring mounted to the axle.

20. The machine of claim 19, wherein the common ring is constructed in two pieces, each of the two pieces of the common ring being independently removable from the axle.

21. The machine of claim 18, further comprising a commutator attached to a first end of the axle, the commutator being electrically coupled to each of the plurality of electromagnetic coils.

22. The machine of claim 21, further comprising:

a plurality of connecting bars extending generally axially within the axle, each of the plurality of connecting bars aiding in electrically coupling one of the plurality of electromagnetic coils to the commutator; and

a plurality of lateral rods extending in a radial direction, a first end of each of the plurality of lateral rods being coupled to a first end of a respective one of the plurality of connecting bars.

23. The machine of claim 22, wherein a second end of each of the plurality of lateral rods is coupled to the commutator and wherein a second end of each of the plurality of connecting bars is coupled to the coil input ring.

24. The machine of claim 23, wherein a first end of each of the plurality of electromagnetic coils is coupled to the coil input ring to thereby electrically couple each of the plurality of electromagnetic coils to the commutator.

25. The machine of claim 24, wherein a second end of each of the plurality of electromagnetic coils is coupled to the common ring to electrically ground each of the plurality of electromagnetic coils.

26. The machine of claim 4, wherein each respective coil housing is disposed between a respective one of the plurality of electromagnetic coils and a respective one of the plurality of magnet sets.

27. A rotating electromagnetic machine comprising:

an axle;

a plurality of electromagnetic coils, each of the plurality of electromagnetic coils being mounted on separate coil housings of ferromagnetic material, each of the coil housings being mounted on the axle, each of the plurality of electromagnetic coils having a winding axis tangential to a direction of rotation of the machine;

a plurality of sets of peripheral and sector magnets, the plurality of magnet sets positioned adjacent to the coils, each of the plurality of magnet sets having two of the sector magnets in mutually opposing and facing positions and at least one of the peripheral magnets positioned orthogonal to the sector magnets, each sector magnet of each of the plurality of magnet sets having a front surface facing toward the respective one of the plurality of electromagnetic coils, each peripheral magnet of each of the plurality of magnet sets having (i) a front surface facing toward the respective one of the plurality of electromagnetic coils and perpendicular to the front surface of each sector magnet, (ii) first and second end surfaces, each end surface facing parallel to and opposed to the front surface of one of the sector magnets, and (iii) first and second angled surfaces, each angled surface positioned between and at an angle relative to the front surface and one of the opposing end surfaces, and wherein the plurality of electromagnetic coils and the plurality of magnet sets are engaged for relative rotation between the electromagnetic coils and the magnet sets,

wherein each of the plurality of coil housings is disposed between a respective one of the plurality of electromagnetic coils and a respective one of the plurality of magnet sets, and

wherein a first wedge-shaped portion of each of the plurality of coil housings extends between (i) the front surface of the first sector magnet of the respective one of the plurality of magnet sets, and (ii) the first angled surface of the peripheral magnet, and

wherein a second wedge-shaped portion of each of the plurality of coil housings extends between (i) the front surface of the second sector magnet of the respective one of the plurality of magnet sets, and (ii) the first angled surface of the peripheral magnet.

28. The machine of claim 27, wherein the angle at which the first and second angled surfaces of each peripheral magnet are positioned is about 45 degrees.

29. The machine of claim 27, wherein the plurality of coil housings is configured to capture eddy currents induced therein and to return the captured eddy currents to a power supply of the rotating electromagnetic machine.

30. The machine of claim 27, wherein each of the plurality of electromagnetic coils has a respective winding axis.

31. The machine of claim 30, wherein the respective winding axis of each of the plurality of electromagnetic coils is perpendicular to a central axis of the axle.

32. The machine of claim 30, wherein the respective winding axis of each of the plurality of electromagnetic coils is spaced apart from a central axis of the axle.

33. The machine of claim 27, further comprising:

at least one bearing set rotationally disposed about the axle, and;

a magnet housing having each of the plurality of magnet sets mounted therein, the magnet housing coupled to the at least one bearing set to allow relative rotation between the magnet housing and the axle.

34. The machine of claim 33, wherein the magnet housing acts as a stator of the rotating electromagnetic machine.

35. The machine of claim 27, wherein the axle acts as a stator of the rotating electromagnetic machine.

36. The machine of claim 27, wherein the plurality of electromagnetic coils is coupled together in an electrically parallel configuration.

37. The machine of claim 27, wherein the first sector magnet, the second sector magnet, and the peripheral magnet of each the plurality of magnet sets are permanent magnets.