Abstract: Known electric machines having co-axial slot bars linked by added connecting conductors have a high number of junctures with small contact surfaces, so that their production costs and susceptibility to interference is increased. Connecting conductors (44-46) prefabricated as moldings without bending radii abut each other separated only by thin insulating layers, and their total surface area is used for current conduction by varying their rectangular conducting cross section. The conductor lanes (39, 40) run either in meander-shaped layers or figure-eight loops. The proportion of insulating material in the connector heads and the number of different connecting conductor designs (41-46) can be minimized by divided bars and the number of junctures can be reduced by half by prefabricating units (41, 42, 43) in a single piece.

Abstract: A sensorless active magnetic bearing suitable for use in rotating machinery and seals, contemplates a circuit and a process for actively controlling the position of an object using magnetic forces without mechanical contact between the object suspended 10 and the components of the magnetic positioner, and without the necessity for discrete sensors for determining the position of the object suspended. Electromagnets L.sub.1 and L.sub.2 are placed in an ordered coaxial array surrounding an object to be suspended, and impart magnetic forces while simultaneously detecting the position of the object in accurate registration with the position of the corresponding electromagnets. In one embodiment constructed according the principles of the present invention, the currents to the electromagnets are controlled by switching amplifiers 20 that switch the amplitudes of the supply voltages applied across the coils of electromagnets L.sub.1, L.sub.2.