ELECTRIC MOTOR

摘要

Electric motor (10) includes a magnet (12) in the form of a cockcroft ring provided with a circumferential air gap (18) through which lines of magnetic flux extend. A planar disc (14) is provided that is capable of two dimension al motion relative to the magnet (12). Disc (14) is provided with a number of electrically conductive paths (C) each of which has a segment (16) that cuts across the lines of magnetic flux in the air gap (18). A multi-phase transformer (40) having a number of windows (42) is arranged so that each pa th (C) is linked with at least one of the windows (42). The multi-phase transformer (40) induces currents to flow in the respective conductive paths (C) and thus through respective segments (16) of each path (C). The current passing through the segments (16) interact with the lines of magnetic flux passing through the gap (18) to produce a thrust force that acts on the disc (14) in a direction as dictated by the "right hand rule". The magnitude and direction of the respective thrust forces and thus the motion of the disc (1 4) is controlled by varying the magnitude and/or phase relationship of the currents flowing through the segments (16). In this way the disc (14) can be controlled to move in any desired path in two dimensions.