MULTISTAGE VARIABLE RELUCTANCE MOTOR/GENERATOR

摘要

A compact, rugged, variable reluctance, variable speed, electric motor capable of producing high torque at high electrical energy conversion efficiencies. The present invention provides for a multi-stage motor design consisting of a number of discreet rotor and stator elements on a common shaft. This configuration provided the simplest of magnetic structures and produced the means by which powerful magnetic flux modeling design techniques were developed and utilized to further optimize the motor design and subsequent control logic. Thermal mapping of the magnetic mass provided the means by which advanced cooling techniques could be employed to insure long in-service life in the most extreme of industrial applications. Inherent in the design is low vibration thereby greatly reducing noise; low turn to turn voltage potentials thereby eliminating costly phase to phase shorting potential; efficient motor operation through the reduction in switching and copper losses in both the machine and its control system. The control package which was developed as part of the invention package has the ability to instantly convert the machine from a motor to a generator making the device ideal for dynamically braking connected loads or converting "coast down" kinetic energy in order that the energy usually lost to mechanical friction from these operations may be recovered for use elsewhere on an electrical grid or stored for use later in the machine's motoring cycle.