Patents Examined by Dang Dinh Le
  • Patent number: 6744170
    Abstract: A brush assembly for an electric motor has a base which secures the brush assembly to a motor spider. A brush housing is associated with the base and has first and second open ends. A brush defining an axis is movably positioned in the housing between the first and second open ends. The brush extends from one of the open ends of the housing. The brush includes a surface which is at a desired angle with respect to the brush axis. A biasing member exerts a force on the brush to bias the brush into an electrical connection with a commutator. An electrical connector electrically couples the brush to provide an electrical connection between the commutator and a power supply.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 1998
    Date of Patent: June 1, 2004
    Assignee: Black & Decker Inc.
    Inventors: Hung T. Du, Todd A. Hagan
  • Patent number: 6700274
    Abstract: A rotor assembly includes at least one superconducting winding assembly positioned within a cryogenic region of the rotor assembly, and a cantilevered member, mechanically coupled between the at least one superconducting winding assembly and the shaft. The cantilevered member extends between the non-cryogenic region and cryogenic region of the rotor assembly. The at least one superconducting winding assembly, in operation, generates a magnetic flux linking the stator assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2001
    Date of Patent: March 2, 2004
    Assignee: American Superconductor Corporation
    Inventors: Bruce B. Gamble, Raymond T. Howard, John Mirageas, John P. Voccio, Dariusz Antoni Bushko, Peter M. Winn, Gregory L. Snitchler, Ronald A. Malzone
  • Patent number: 6657334
    Abstract: A high phase order induction machine drive system is disclosed. This has an inverter system for the synthesis of a plurality of phases of alternating current output, and a N-phase induction motor (N is greater than 3). The motor is connected to the inverter terminals so that each motor phase is electrically connected to a first inverter terminal and a second inverter terminal S+1 inverter terminals distant from the first inverter terminal in order of electrical phase angle (S in the skip number). The phase angle difference between the pair of inverter terminals to which each motor phase is connected is identical for each motor phase.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2000
    Date of Patent: December 2, 2003
    Assignee: Borealis Technical Limited
    Inventor: Jonathan Sidney Edelson
  • Patent number: 6630761
    Abstract: A combination mechanical and magnetic support system for a flywheel power supply for storing and retrieving energy in which said power supply includes a flywheel that spins about an axis of rotation inside an evacuated chamber, and an attached motor/generator for accelerating and decelerating the flywheel for storing and retrieving the energy. One or more rolling element bearings and at least one magnetic bearing are mounted in bearing housings attached to the chamber for providing radial and axial support for the flywheel in the chamber. A wire metal mesh spring damper between portions of the rolling element bearings and the bearing housings provide both radial damping and radial centering stiffness to the wheel. The support system has a radial stiffness that allows a cylindrical rigid body resonance of said flywheel to occur at a speed less 30% of the normal operating speed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2001
    Date of Patent: October 7, 2003
    Inventor: Christopher W. Gabrys
  • Patent number: 6628032
    Abstract: An electromagnetic device, specifically a linear or rotary single- or multi-phase motor or generator comprising, for each phase, at least two relatively-movable sets of teeth of soft magnetic material, one set of teeth being associated with the stator and the other with the rotor, the size of the device being such as to enable it to generate a maximum magnetic potential Umax of at least 1.7×10−4 J/&mgr;0 ampere turns. The width E of the minimum air-gap between teeth of the rotor and of the stator as measured in the direction perpendicular to the degree of freedom is approximately equal to or greater than 0.7 &mgr;0Umax/J where &mgr;0 is the permeability of free space, Umax is the maximum generated magnetic potential difference for causing the magnetic field to pass through the air-gap E, and where J is the maximum polarization of the soft magnetic material used for making the teeth.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 10, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 30, 2003
    Assignee: MMT S.A.
    Inventors: Claude Oudet, Jean-François Urwyler
  • Patent number: 6617731
    Abstract: A rotary pump for liquid having a housing, a shaft carrying a motor rotor, a motor stator fixed in the housing and surrounding the rotor to rotate the rotor and shaft about an axis. The shaft is mounted in the pump housing by axially spaced conical bearings, each bearing including a first element fixed on the shaft with a first conical bearing surface concentric with the axis, a coacting second element carried by the housing with a second conical bearing surface concentric with the axis and slidably engaging the first bearing surface and a spring forcing the elements together. This pump includes a wear indicator comprising: a first drive member on the shaft, an imbalance member carried with the second element of a bearing with a second drive member aligned with the first member and movable axially toward the first drive member as the bearing surfaces wear so the first and second drive members engage when the imbalance member moves axially a given distance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 9, 2003
    Assignee: Buffalo Pumps, Inc.
    Inventors: Douglas J. Goodnick, Patrick R. Linehan, Joseph D. Reasinger
  • Patent number: 6617739
    Abstract: A magnetic pole for facing an air gap with a stator is formed with a parallel quadrilateral shape or a quadrilateral shape having a skew effect and is obtained by a single iron core or plural iron cores. To make simply a winding structure of a stator and a rotor of an alternating current rotary electric machine, by a bobbin structure a magnetic field formation of a magnetic pole portion is formed. A magnetic pole structure having a projection portion is provided to form an overlap structure with another phase magnetic pole. An electromagnetic combination of each phase is strengthened and each phase magnetic poles is carried out a systematic separation, dispersion, and an arrangement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 5, 2000
    Date of Patent: September 9, 2003
    Inventor: Yukio Kinoshita
  • Patent number: 6617748
    Abstract: An electromechanical machine is disclosed which has a field producing assembly providing a cup-shaped air gap which is circumferentially disposed about an axis of rotation. The field assembly produces a circumferential distribution of magnetic flux in the cup-shaped air gap having n periodic extremes of flux density about the axis. A cup-shaped electrical assembly or armature is disposed in the air gap and the armature and field assembly are relatively rotatable. The armature has a circular array of C non-overlapping coils on each of its inner and outer faces with the coils on one face being angularly offset from the coils on the other face. Moreover, since the air gap and coils are cup-shaped, it is possible to achieve, for a machine of given diameter and form factor, a horsepower and torque which was previously possible only with substantially larger disk-type motors. That is because the total volume of the air gap and coils correspond to those of a much larger diameter disk-type motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 9, 2003
    Assignee: Rush Holdings, Inc.
    Inventor: Stanley E. Dunn
  • Patent number: 6617734
    Abstract: The magnetic bearing control device (1) has a motor drive circuit (13) provided with an inverter (13a) for driving the motor (4) capable of generating an electric power, the inverter being controlled by an inverter control circuit (14), and an over-speed detection circuit (17) for detecting the number of revolutions of the rotor (3) that is being rotated by the motor (4), the rotor being supported in non-contact manner by a magnetic bearing (5). When the over-speed detection circuit (17) detects that the rotor (3) is being rotated at a preset number of revolutions or more, the motor drive circuit (13) performs a switching operation of a switch portion 13c provided in the motor drive circuit (13) to separate the inverter (13a) from the motor (4) and connect the motor (4) to a regenerative circuit (13b), whereby the magnetic bearing (5) is driven and controlled, employing a regenerative electric power of the motor (4).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 9, 2003
    Assignee: Koyo Seiko Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Manabu Taniguchi, Yasukata Miyagawa
  • Patent number: 6617725
    Abstract: A small-engine vehicle including a plurality of wheels, an internal combustion engine having a drive shaft interconnected to drive at least one of the wheels, and a generator. The generator includes a stator having a core disposed next to the engine and a winding disposed on the core. The generator further includes a flywheel-rotor apparatus surrounding at least a portion of the stator and having an aperture that receives the drive shaft. The flywheel-rotor apparatus is operable to magnetically interact with the stator to produce a first high-voltage, alternating-current signal in the winding, and to provide an inertia to the internal combustion engine. The generator further includes power circuitry electrically connected to the winding. The power circuitry receives the high-voltage, alternating-current signal and controllably generates a second high-voltage, alternating-current signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 9, 2003
    Assignee: Briggs & Stratton Corporation
    Inventor: Robert E. Rose, Sr.
  • Patent number: 6617742
    Abstract: A star connected wound rotor has a shaft 12, a rotor core 14 fitted to the shaft, a commutator 16 fitted to the shaft adjacent one end of the rotor core and a star connector 18 fitted to the shaft adjacent the other end of the rotor core and a plurality of coils wound about the rotor core and connected to the commutator and the star connector, thereby forming a star connected rotor winding 20.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 9, 2003
    Assignee: Johnson Electric, S.A.
    Inventor: James Ching Sik Lau
  • Patent number: 6614207
    Abstract: A vehicular power generator control apparatus includes a switching transistor, a voltage control circuit, a high rotation speed detecting circuit, a leakage detecting circuit and a maximum conduction rate restricting circuit. The leakage detecting circuit detects leakage current flowing to a P-terminal. When the leakage current is detected, a maximum conduction rate set by the maximum conduction rate restricting circuit is changed from a small value at low rotation speeds to a large value. Thereby, field current flowing in a field coil is increased, a large voltage is generated at stator coils and current flows to a rectifying circuit to thereby reduce the leakage current which flows to the P-terminal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2003
    Assignee: Denso Corporation
    Inventors: Fuyuki Maehara, Keiji Takahashi, Toshinori Maruyama
  • Patent number: 6608409
    Abstract: A rotor is disclosed for a super-conducting synchronous machine having: a rotor core; a super-conducting coil extending around at least a portion of the rotor core, the coil having coil side sections on opposite sides of the rotor core; a vacuum housing covering at least one of the coil side sections, and a conductive shield over the vacuum housing and coil side sections.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 19, 2003
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Yu Wang, Konrad Roman Weeber, Kiruba Sivasubramaniam, Robert John Nygard, Xianrui Huang
  • Patent number: 6608415
    Abstract: There is provided a means for preventing wear caused by the contacting/sliding of a thrust hydrodynamic gas bearing surface when a spindle motor is started. A cylinder 4 of a radial hydrodynamic gas bearing that has radial hydrodynamic grooves in an outer circumferential surface thereof and a disk 3 of a thrust hydrodynamic gas bearing that has thrust hydrodynamic grooves in an upper face thereof are disposed on an upper end of an axial center of a stator core 2 having a stator 2a around which a motor coil 7 is wound, a hollow cylinder 6 whose inner surface facing the cylinder 4 of the radial hydrodynamic gas bearing is smooth and a rotor magnet 8 facing the motor coil 7 are disposed on a hub 5 acting as a rotational member, a load in a radial direction is supported by the radial hydrodynamic gas bearing, and a load in a thrust direction is supported by using the thrust hydrodynamic gas bearing together with a magnetic bearing consisting of the stator 2a and the rotor magnet 8.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 19, 2003
    Assignee: Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Osamu Komura, Hisao Takeuchi, Makoto Otsuki, Kaoru Murabe
  • Patent number: 6603227
    Abstract: A small-engine vehicle including a plurality of wheels, an internal combustion engine having a drive shaft interconnected to drive at least one of the wheels, and a generator. The generator includes a stator having a core disposed next to the engine and a winding disposed on the core. The generator further includes a flywheel-rotor apparatus surrounding at least a portion of the stator and having an aperture that receives the drive shaft. The flywheel-rotor apparatus is operable to magnetically interact with the stator to produce a first high-voltage, alternating-current signal in the winding, and to provide an inertia to the internal combustion engine. The generator further includes power circuitry electrically connected to the winding. The power circuitry receives the high-voltage, alternating-current signal and controllably generates a second high-voltage, alternating-current signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 5, 2003
    Assignee: Briggs & Stratton Corporation
    Inventor: Robert E. Rose, Sr.
  • Patent number: 6586857
    Abstract: A plurality of magnetic sensors are provided in a magneto motor to sense variations of rotating poles of rotor magnets. One of the magnetic sensors is provided to let the exciting current of stator coils and the rotating poles of the rotor interchange orthogonally, and the others are provided to let the exciting current of the stator coils and the rotating poles of the rotor interchange non-orthogonally. The magnetic sensor letting the stator coils and the rotor magnets orthogonally excite each other will let the magnetic flux density of the armature gap be highest, and the others letting the stator coils and the rotor magnets non-orthogonally excite each other will generate an effect similar to weak magnetic control.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2001
    Date of Patent: July 1, 2003
    Inventor: Chun-Pu Hsu
  • Patent number: 6583532
    Abstract: In a rotating electrical machine having a permanent-magnet rotor, the tubular, highly thermally conductive supporting body of the stator forms a thermal bridge to a cooling means. In order to allow the end windings of the stator windings to be cooled effectively as well, the end windings also each have an associated thermal bridge, which completely fills the space between the end windings and the supporting body of the stator. This thermal bridge is of solid construction having a solid ring, which is connected to the supporting body of the stator with a force fit, and a cast-resin body which is cast into this solid ring. The cast-resin body has a thermal conductivity of more than 1.6 W/mK and, for this purpose, contains a powdery, highly thermally conductive filler making up a proportion of 50 to 90% by weight, preferably an aluminum nitride coated with silicon dioxide.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2001
    Date of Patent: June 24, 2003
    Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Peter Hein, Juergen Huber, Juergen Lange, Christian Meyer, Wolfgang Rogler, Ingo Schuering
  • Patent number: 6580186
    Abstract: A balance correcting method, a dynamic pressure bearing, and an optical scanning apparatus. For balance correction a method of attaching weight to the rotatable body and another method of partly removing the rotatable body are jointly used. At the time of a first balance correcting process step, a balance correction is performed by applying adhesive agent to a recess portion formed on a circular circumference of a polygon mirror or a recess portion constructed with a rotor flange. At the time of a second balance correcting process step, the polygon mirror is partly removed or the rotor flange is partly removed. The method can be applied to a dynamic pressure bearing capable of stabilizing a rotation balance and an optical scanning apparatus having a structure capable of not changing the direction of the reflection surface of the rotatable polygon mirror. The rotating shaft is supported in the radial direction by sucking air existing between the fixing shaft and the rotating shaft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2000
    Date of Patent: June 17, 2003
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Mitsuo Suzuki, Yukio Itami
  • Patent number: 6577033
    Abstract: A stator has a pocket portion (8) of a notch type resin-made stator, in which strength of an outer corner R (12b) provided in the pocket portion (8) is increased to thereby prevent the resin-made stator body (1) from being broken from the outer corner R (12b). A stator has a pocket portion (8) encasing a strut 9 of a notch type one-way clutch (5). The pocket portion (8) is provided in a stator body (1) made of resin, and corner Rs (12a, 12b) are provided on both inner and outer sides of a strut engaging surface (13) in the pocket portion (8). The outer corner R (12b) is formed to be larger than the inner corner R (12a).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 1999
    Date of Patent: June 10, 2003
    Assignee: NOK Corporation
    Inventor: Katsumi Sekine
  • Patent number: 6573626
    Abstract: An apparatus for uninterruptedly supplying power includes an electrical machine including a rotor and being designed and arranged to be connected to a load to be supplied with alternating current. Coupling units include a differential transmission including three input/output shafts. A flywheel is designed and arranged to store kinetic energy and to be connected to the rotor by the coupling units. Control units include a controllable brake and at least one electrical auxiliary machine to be operated as a motor. The electrical auxiliary machine and the controllable brake engage the third input/output shaft. The control units keep the number of rotations of the electrical machine approximately constant when the electrical machine is operated as a generator by kinetic energy being stored in the flywheel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 6, 2001
    Date of Patent: June 3, 2003
    Assignee: Piller GmbH
    Inventors: Harald Gosebruch, Norbert Ueffing