1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to magnetic gears and more particularly relates to an apparatus, system and method for a multi-stage high gear ratio magnetic gear.
2. Description of the Related Art
Magnetic gears use permanent magnets to transmit torque between an input and output shaft. Unlike traditional gears that have teeth in physical contact, magnetic gears have no physical contact between the portions of the gear that transmit the torque. As such, compared to conventional gears, magnetic gears may have lower noise, higher efficiency, less required maintenance, and improved reliability.
A magnetic gear is presented. In one embodiment, the magnetic gear includes a stationary shutter assembly. The stationary shutter assembly may have a bearing supporting bracket and a shutter supporting bracket extending perpendicularly from the bearing supporting bracket. In some embodiments, an outer rotor assembly having an outer rotor magnetic assembly may be positioned circumferentially outside of the shutter supporting bracket. In addition, an inner rotor assembly having an inner rotor magnetic assembly may be positioned circumferentially inside of the shutter supporting bracket. In some embodiments, a first bearing may couple the stationary shutter assembly to the inner rotor assembly. In some embodiments, a second bearing may couple the inner rotor assembly and the outer rotor assembly.
In some embodiments, the magnetic gear may also include a lubrication inlet in a first stationary element on a first side of a magnetic gear. In addition, the lubrication inlet may be configured to allow a lubricant to enter a first bearing. In some embodiments, a first conduit may be configured to allow the lubricant to flow from the first bearing to the second bearing. In some embodiments, a second conduit may be configured to allow the lubricant to flow from the second bearing to a lubrication outlet. Furthermore, the lubrication outlet may be located on the first side of the magnetic gear. In some embodiments, flood oil may be in the conduits.
In some embodiments, the magnetic gear may include a first set of alignment holes in the stationary shutter assembly. In addition, the magnetic gear may include a second set of alignment holes in the outer rotor assembly. The first and second sets of alignment holes may be configured to allow a first plurality of assembling rods to hold the stationary shutter assembly and the outer rotor assembly in alignment.
In some embodiments, the magnetic gear may include a third set of alignment holes in the outer rotor assembly. In addition, the magnetic gear may include a fourth set of alignment holes in the inner rotor assembly. Furthermore, in some embodiments, the third and fourth sets of alignment holes may be configured to allow a second plurality of assembly rods to hold the outer rotor assembly and the inner rotor assembly in alignment.
In some embodiments, the magnetic gear may be coupled to a second magnetic gear to form a multi-stage magnetic gear system. In some embodiments, the magnetic gear may be coupled to additional magnetic gears to achieve a multi-stage magnetic gear system with any desired gear ratio. In some embodiments, the multi-stage magnetic gear system may have a gear ratio of about 100 to 1. Furthermore, the multi-stage magnetic gear system may be configured to operate at a torque of about 1.1 MNm at an input speed of 16 revolutions per minute. In some embodiments, the electric generator may be rated for multi Megawatts such as, for example, between 1 and 6 Megawatts and more particularly 1.5 or 2 Megawatts. In some embodiments, the electric generator may be rated in Kilowatts such as, for example, 150 kW.
In some embodiments, the multi-stage magnetic gear system may be coupled to a wind turbine. In some embodiments, the gear ratio may exceed 100 to 1. Furthermore, the multi-stage magnetic gear system may be coupled to an electric generator. In some embodiments, the generator may be rated for generating multi-Megawatt power with multi-Mega-Newton-meter torque transmission at low wind speeds.
In some embodiments, the magnetic gear may include a cover configured to attach to the stationary shutter assembly and substantially enclose the inner rotor assembly and outer rotor assembly. In some embodiments, the stationary shutter assembly may include feet that are configured to attach the magnetic gear assembly to a surface.
In some embodiments, the outer rotor magnetic assembly and the inner magnetic assemblies may each include permanent magnet blocks and electrical steel for providing a magnetic flux path.
A method for assembling a magnetic gear assembly is also presented. In some embodiments, the method may include attaching a first plurality of alignment rods to a stationary shutter assembly. Furthermore, in some embodiments, the stationary shutter assembly may have a bearing supporting bracket and a shutter supporting bracket extending perpendicularly from the bearing supporting bracket. In some embodiments, the method may include aligning the stationary shutter assembly with an outer rotor assembly having an outer rotor magnetic assembly positioned circumferentially outside of the shutter supporting bracket. In addition, the method may include attaching a second plurality of alignment rods to the outer rotor assembly. The method may further include aligning the outer rotor assembly with an inner rotor assembly having an inner rotor magnetic assembly positioned circumferentially inside of the shutter supporting bracket. In some embodiments, the method may include coupling the inner rotor assembly to the stationary shutter assembly with a first bearing. In some embodiments, the method may include coupling the inner rotor assembly to the outer rotor assembly with a second bearing. In addition, in some embodiments, the method may include removing the first plurality of alignment rods and the second plurality of alignment rods.
In some embodiments, the method may include the configuration where the first plurality of alignment rods is positioned circumferentially around the stationary shutter assembly. In addition, the second plurality of alignment rods may be positioned circumferentially around the inner rotor assembly.
A method for cooling a magnetic gear assembly is also presented. In some embodiments, the method may include inserting a lubricant into a lubrication inlet. For example, the lubricant may be flood oil. In some embodiments, the lubrication inlet may be in a first stationary element on a first side of a magnetic gear. In some embodiments, the method may include the step of causing the lubricant to enter a first bearing. In addition, the method may include the step of causing the lubricant to flow through a first conduit in an inner rotor assembly from the first bearing to a second bearing. The method may also cause the lubricant to flow through a second conduit in the inner rotor assembly from the second bearing to a lubrication outlet. In some embodiments, the lubrication outlet may be located on a second stationary element on the first side of the magnetic gear.
In some embodiments, the first stationary element may be the same element as the second stationary element. In some embodiments, the method may include altering the flow rate of the lubricant to control the temperature of the first and second bearings.
The term “coupled” is defined as connected, although not necessarily directly, and not necessarily mechanically.
The terms “a” and “an” are defined as one or more unless this disclosure explicitly requires otherwise.
The term “substantially” is defined as largely but not necessarily wholly what is specified (and includes what is specified; e.g., substantially 90 degrees includes 90 degrees and substantially parallel includes parallel), as understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art. In any disclosed embodiment, the terms “substantially,” “approximately,” and “about” may be substituted with “within [a percentage] of” what is specified, where the percentage includes 0.1, 1, 5, and 10 percent.
The terms “comprise” (and any form of comprise, such as “comprises” and “comprising”), “have” (and any form of have, such as “has” and “having”), “include” (and any form of include, such as “includes” and “including”) and “contain” (and any form of contain, such as “contains” and “containing”) are open-ended linking verbs. As a result, a method or device that “comprises,” “has,” “includes” or “contains” one or more steps or elements possesses those one or more steps or elements, but is not limited to possessing only those one or more elements. Likewise, a step of a method or an element of a device that “comprises,” “has,” “includes” or “contains” one or more features possesses those one or more features, but is not limited to possessing only those one or more features. Furthermore, a device or structure that is configured in a certain way is configured in at least that way, but may also be configured in ways that are not listed.
Any embodiment of any of the devices, systems, and methods can consist of or consist essentially of—rather than comprise/include/contain/have—any of the described steps, elements, and/or features. Thus, in any of the claims, the term “consisting of” or “consisting essentially of” can be substituted for any of the open-ended linking verbs recited above, in order to change the scope of a given claim from what it would otherwise be using the open-ended linking verb.
Other features and associated advantages will become apparent with reference to the following detailed description of specific embodiments in connection with the accompanying drawings.
The following drawings form part of the present specification and are included to further demonstrate certain aspects of the present invention. The invention may be better understood by reference to one or more of these drawings in combination with the detailed description of specific embodiments presented herein. The embodiments of the present magnetic gears, and their components shown in the figures, are drawn to scale for at least the embodiments shown.
Various features and advantageous details are explained more fully with reference to the nonlimiting embodiments that are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and detailed in the following description. Descriptions of well known starting materials, processing techniques, components, and equipment are omitted so as not to unnecessarily obscure the invention in detail. It should be understood, however, that the detailed description and the specific examples, while indicating embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, and not by way of limitation. Various substitutions, modifications, additions, and/or rearrangements within the spirit and/or scope of the underlying inventive concept will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.
The stationary shutter assembly 100 in
Turning to
Continuing with
The second bearing 610 couples the inner rotor 508 to the outer rotor assembly 302, while allowing the outer rotor assembly 302 to rotate relative to the inner rotor 508. As seen in this
Turning to
In some embodiments, the electric generator 1008 may be rated in the range of multi-Mega Watts (MW). In addition, the gear ratio of the magnetic gearbox 1006 may be in the range of about 1:100. For example, the magnetic gearbox 1006 may include two magnetic gears 600 with each having a gear ratio of 1:10. The magnetic gears 600 may be configured (including selecting appropriate magnets) to operate at a torque of about, or exceeding, 1.2 MNm. In addition, in some applications such as wind turbines, the input speed to the magnetic gear may be about 16 revolutions per minute.
The schematic flow chart diagrams in
The method 1100 continues with step 1108, aligning the outer rotor assembly with an inner rotor assembly. As seen in
The method continues to step 1206, causing the lubricant to flow through a first conduit in an inner rotor assembly from the first bearing to a second bearing. Referring back to
The above specification and examples provide a complete description of the structure and use of exemplary embodiments. Although certain embodiments have been described above with a certain degree of particularity, or with reference to one or more individual embodiments, those skilled in the art could make numerous alterations to the disclosed embodiments without departing from the scope of this invention. As such, the various illustrative embodiments of the present devices are not intended to be limited to the particular forms disclosed. Rather, they include all modifications and alternatives falling within the scope of the claims, and embodiments other than the one shown may include some or all of the features of the depicted embodiment. For example, components may be combined as a unitary structure, and/or connections may be substituted (e.g., the inner and outer rotors may be interchanged as input or output rotors). Further, where appropriate, aspects of any of the examples described above may be combined with aspects of any of the other examples described to form further examples having comparable or different properties and addressing the same or different problems. Similarly, it will be understood that the benefits and advantages described above may relate to one embodiment or may relate to several embodiments.
The claims are not intended to include, and should not be interpreted to include, means-Plus- or step-plus-function limitations, unless such a limitation is explicitly recited in a given claim using the phrase(s) “means for” or “step for,” respectively.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application 61/655,400, entitled “Apparatus, System, and Method for Multi-Stage High Gear Ratio Magnetic Gear” filed 4 Jun. 2012, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein without disclaimer.
Number | Date | Country | |
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61655400 | Jun 2012 | US |