Patent Application
20230327533
The present disclosure relates generally to magnetic systems, but not by way of limitation, to dual-rotor axial flux magnetic gear systems.
The section provides background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the disclosure. It should be understood that the statements in this section of this document are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
Magnetic gears perform the same task as their mechanical counterparts; however, they do so through the modulated interaction between the flux generated by magnets instead of through mechanical interaction between gear teeth. Mechanical gearing systems have been developed for a wide variety of applications. The present disclosure presents magnetic gearing systems that may be also be implemented in a variety of applications.
This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This summary is not intended to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it to be used as an aid in limiting the scope of the claimed subject matter.
In some aspects, a magnetic gear system includes a flux focusing magnet arrangement having a low-pole count rotor, a pair of modulator rotors disposed on either side of the low-pole count rotor, and a pair of high-pole count outer rotors disposed outside of the pair of modulator rotors.
In some aspects, a magnetic gear system includes a motor with a stator and a pair of low-pole count rotors disposed on either side of the stator. The magnetic gear system further includes a pair of modulator rotors disposed on either side of the motor, and a pair of high-pole outer rotors disposed on opposite sides of the pair of modulator rotors.
In some aspects, a magnetic gear system includes a motor, a pair of modulator rotors disposed on either side of the motor, and a pair of high-pole outer rotors disposed on opposite sides of the pair of modulator rotors.
A more complete understanding of the subject matter of the present disclosure may be obtained by reference to the following Detailed Description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying Drawings wherein:
It is to be understood that the following disclosure provides many different embodiments, or examples, for implementing different features of various embodiments. Specific examples of components and arrangements are described below to simplify the disclosure. These are, of course, merely examples and are not intended to be limiting. The section headings used herein are for organizational purposes and are not to be construed as limiting the subject matter described. Reference will now be made to more specific embodiments of the present disclosure and data that provides support for such embodiments. However, it should be noted that the disclosure below is for illustrative purposes only and is not intended to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter in any way.
A pair of modulator rotors 108, 110 are positioned on either side of central rotor 102. Modular rotors 108, 110 may be made of, for example, a ferromagnetic material and each is comprised of a plurality of radially extending members 109, 111, respectively. A pair of outer rotors 112, 114 is positioned on either side of modulator rotors 108, 110. Outer rotors 112, 114 include a plurality of poles. In some aspects, outer rotors 112, 114 are high-pole count rotors comprising a plurality of magnets 116, 118, respectively. “High-pole count” is used herein to describe a rotor having more poles than central rotor 102. In some aspects, outer rotors 112, 114 may have fewer poles than central rotor 102. In some aspects, magnets 116, 118 are arranged in a Halbach configuration. Back irons 120, 122 may be positioned on back sides of outer rotors 112, 114. As illustrated in
Low-speed shafts may be connected to outer rotors 112, 114 or modulator rotors 108, 110. “Low-speed” is used herein to denote relative speed compared to the external shaft connected rotor 104. In some aspects “low-speed” is a ratio less than 12:1 (e.g., “high-speed” is 15 times faster than outputs), with gear ratios in the 3:1 to 8:1 range. In some aspects, a “low-speed” shaft is an output shaft. In some aspects, two separate low-speed shafts are used. In some aspects, a single low-speed shaft that is connected to either outer rotors 112, 114 or modulator rotors 108, 110 is used. The low-speed shafts may be arranged coaxially with the external shaft that is coupled to central rotor 102. In some aspects, modulator rotors 108, 110 are fixed and outer rotors 112, 114 are free to rotate. In some aspects, modulator rotors 108, 110 are free to rotate and outer rotors 112, 114 are fixed. In either aspect, the low-speed shafts are connected to the rotating components. The external shaft connected to central rotor 102 may be an input shaft that rotate central rotor 102. Rotation of central rotor 102 imparts rotation to the rotating components, but at a different speed than the speed of central rotor 102. The speed of the rotating components is reduced relative to the speed of central rotor 102 due to the presence of the high-pole count of outer rotors 112, 114 and modulator rotors 108, 110. The speed reduction may be tuned by altering the number of magnetic poles of outer rotors 112, 114 and/or the number of soft magnetic pole pieces of modulator rotors 108, 110. In some aspects, outer rotors 112, 114 may be symmetric (i.e., rotors 112, 114 have the same number of poles) so that the low-speed shafts connected thereto rotate at equal speeds. In some aspects, outer rotors 112, 114 are not symmetric (i.e., rotors 112, 114 have a different number of poles) and the low-speed shafts turn at different speeds. Modulator rotors 108, 110 may similarly be symmetric (i.e., same number of members 109, 111) or not symmetric (i.e., different number of members 109, 111) to tune the speeds of the low-speed shafts.
In a variation of system 100 of
System 200 includes a pair of modulator rotors 210, 212, a pair of outer rotors 214, 216, and back irons 218, 220, each of which is similar to the components described above relative to
Some embodiments of system 200 do not include rotors 206 and 208, and the axial flux motor 202 may couple directly with the modulator rotors 210 and 212. In this configuration, the operating principle is the similar.
In one aspect of system 200, the pole counts on the high-speed rotors on each side are the same, but the pole counts on the high-pole count rotor of one axial flux magnetic gear (on the other side) are identical to the number of modulators on the other axial flux magnetic gear. For example, in
Electric current can be supplied to windings 307 to impart rotation on rotor 306. Rotation of rotor 306 in turn causes rotation of outer rotors 316 and 318, but at a different speed than the speed of rotor 306. The speed of the rotating components is reduced relative to the speed of rotor 306 due to the high-pole count configuration of outer rotors 316, 318 and modulator rotors 312, 314. The speed reduction may be tuned by altering the number of magnetic poles of outer rotors 316, 318 and/or the number of soft magnetic pole pieces of modulator rotors 312, 314. Similar to the discussions relative to
Although various embodiments of the present disclosure have been illustrated in the accompanying Drawings and described in the foregoing Detailed Description, it will be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments disclosed herein, but is capable of numerous rearrangements, modifications, and substitutions without departing from the spirit of the disclosure as set forth herein.
The term “substantially” is defined as largely but not necessarily wholly what is specified, as understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art. In any disclosed embodiment, the terms “substantially”, “approximately”, “generally”, 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 foregoing outlines features of several embodiments so that those skilled in the art may better understand the aspects of the disclosure. Those skilled in the art should appreciate that they may readily use the disclosure as a basis for designing or modifying other processes and structures for carrying out the same purposes and/or achieving the same advantages of the embodiments introduced herein. Those skilled in the art should also realize that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the disclosure, and that they may make various changes, substitutions, and alterations herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. The scope of the invention should be determined only by the language of the claims that follow. The term “comprising” within the claims is intended to mean “including at least” such that the recited listing of elements in a claim are an open group. The terms “a”, “an”, and other singular terms are intended to include the plural forms thereof unless specifically excluded.
Conditional language used herein, such as, among others, “can”, “might”, “may”, “e.g.”, and the like, unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understood within the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certain embodiments include, while other embodiments do not include, certain features, elements and/or states. Thus, such conditional language is not generally intended to imply that features, elements and/or states are in any way required for one or more embodiments or that one or more embodiments necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without author input or prompting, whether these features, elements and/or states are included or are to be performed in any particular embodiment.
While the above detailed description has shown, described, and pointed out novel features as applied to various embodiments, it will be understood that various omissions, substitutions, and changes in the form and details of the devices or algorithms illustrated can be made without departing from the spirit of the disclosure. As will be recognized, the processes described herein can be embodied within a form that does not provide all of the features and benefits set forth herein, as some features can be used or practiced separately from others. The scope of protection is defined by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. All changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope.
Although various embodiments of the method and apparatus of the present invention have been illustrated in the accompanying Drawings and described in the foregoing Detailed Description, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed, but is capable of numerous rearrangements, modifications and substitutions without departing from the spirit of the invention as set forth herein.
This patent application claims priority from, and incorporates by reference the entire disclosure of, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/327,795 filed on Apr. 6, 2022.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63327795 | Apr 2022 | US |
