Eric J. Erfourth has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
Abstract: An efficient and reconfigurable permanent magnet generator that comprises a permanent magnet subassembly and at least one exciter is disclosed. The permanent magnet generator may comprise a mainframe comprising at least one exciter, and a permanent magnet subassembly comprising a plurality of magnets that are arranged to form at least one air gap between facing magnetic poles in which the at least one exciter resides and that are reconfigurable for alternating current or direct current operation by inversion of respective magnetic poles. The at least one exciter may comprise a plurality of alternating layers of a first material and a second material, where the first material may comprise a superconductive material and the second material may comprise a non-superconductive material, and wherein the layers of the superconductive material are thin relative to the thickness of the layers of the non-superconductive material.
Abstract: An efficient and reconfigurable permanent magnet generator that comprises a permanent magnet subassembly and at least one exciter is disclosed. The permanent magnet generator may comprise a mainframe comprising at least one exciter, and a permanent magnet subassembly comprising a plurality of magnets that are arranged to form at least one air gap between facing magnetic poles in which the at least one exciter resides and that are reconfigurable for alternating current or direct current operation by inversion of respective magnetic poles. The at least one exciter may comprise a plurality of alternating layers of a first material and a second material, where the first material may comprise a superconductive material and the second material may comprise a non-superconductive material, and wherein the layers of the superconductive material are thin relative to the thickness of the layers of the non-superconductive material.