Flexible rotor sequentially actuated motor/generator

摘要

This motor/generator produces rotational torque and/or electrical energy employing a flexible magnetically permeable circular band as a rotor that in operation is in physical contact with the stator, arching and curving forward in response to advancing magnetic fields along the stator surface. The stator may be comprised of either a typical three-phase winding, or a series of magnetic actuators arranged in a toroid for which the rotor band acts as a continuous armature. The rotor rotates as follows: an actuator to the left or right of an active actuator is activated to pull a rotor arch down to the stator surface; as this occurs, the previously active actuator is turned off and that part of the rotor springs away; the rotor moves clockwise or counterclockwise as the arches of the rotor are advanced forward or backward, respectively. Differential rotor movement provides speed reduction and torque enhancement without gears.

主权项

1. A rotary apparatus for an electric motor or a generator each having a rotor and a stator with a working surface comprising a flexible rotor having a circumference where: (1) said flexible rotor is a spring-like magnetically permeable band that circumscribes the working surface of the stator and said stator has a circumference and sets of stator windings, (2) said flexible rotor differs in circumference from the stator surface it circumscribes, having a smaller circumference than the stator circumference when the working stator surface facing the rotor is concave and a larger circumference than the stator circumference when the working stator surface facing the rotor is convex, (3) when current is directed through sets of stator windings to produce magnetic poles at equally-spaced locations around the stator surface, regions of the flexible rotor closest to these magnetic poles are attracted to and brought into solid contact with the stator surface, and each region of the flexible rotor between these contact locations springs away from and forms an arch above the stator surface as a result of the difference in rotor and stator circumferences, (4) when stator windings are driven in typical motor operation fashion by either an alternating current source or switching circuitry to advance the location of the stator's electromagnetic poles forward around the circumference of the stator surface, regions of rotor stator contact move forward around the stator surface following the advancing positions of the magnetic poles, and the flexible rotor is force-wrapped around the stator circumference, (5) as the rotor is force-wrapped around the stator, the rotor and stator circumferences difference causes all points of the rotor to rotate around its center by an incremental amount proportional to the circumference difference between the rotor and stator, (6) wherein a flexible rotor motor is produced by mechanically linking movement of the flexible rotor to either (a) a surrounding wheel or (b) a central rotating shaft, or (7) a flexible rotor generator is produced by (a) injecting a small seed current into stator windings to attract the flexible rotor to the stator surface, then (b) mechanical forces are applied to separate the rotor from the stator surface and convert the applied mechanical energy to increased magnetic field energy associated with the stator windings, and then (c) the increased magnetic energy is harvested from the stator windings, converting said magnetic field energy to electrical energy.