Now, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail while referring to the accompanying drawings. Throughout respective figures, the same or corresponding members or parts are identified by the same reference numerals and characters.
Referring to the drawings and first to
This magneto generator is provided with a rotor (not shown) operatively connected with an internal combustion engine and a stator 1 disposed at an inner side of the rotor.
The rotor has a plurality of permanent magnets (not shown) fixedly attached to an inner peripheral wall surface of a bowl-shaped flywheel (not shown). The flywheel is fixedly secured to a rotation shaft (not shown) which is driven to rotate by the internal combustion engine.
The stator 1 mounted on an unillustrated fixing member has a hollow cylindrical stator core 2 and magneto coils 3. The stator core 2 is formed on its outer periphery with a plurality of radially outwardly extending teeth 4 arranged at equal intervals in a circumferential direction thereof.
A conductive wire 14 in the form of a copper wire is wound around the side surface of each tooth 4 through an insulating material 13 to form a corresponding magneto coil 3 mounted thereon. Each of the teeth 4 is composed of a straight portion 5 that extends to a radially outer side, and a flange portion 6 that protrudes in a circumferential direction from a tip end of the straight portion 5.
The stator core 4 having the plurality of teeth 13 formed on its outer peripheral portion is composed of a laminated iron core 7 which is formed of a multitude of thin magnetic steel plates in the form of hollow intermediate plates of cold rolled steel plates laminated one over another in a direction of the axis of rotation, and a first end plate 8 and a second end plate 9 arranged on the opposite side surfaces of the laminated iron core 7, respectively, in intimate contact therewith.
The intermediate plates, the first end plate 8 and the second end plate 9, which together constitute a part of the laminated iron core 7, are formed of plate materials having the same thickness, configuration and quality or property.
The first end plate 8 and the second end plate 9 have flange segments 10, respectively, which constitute the flange portion 6 and are bent so as to upstand toward the magneto coil 3, i.e., in a radially inner direction, to form bent portions 11, respectively.
A plurality of through holes 12, which penetrate the laminated iron core 7 and the first and second end plates 8, 9 in parallel to the axis of rotation thereof, are formed in the radially inner peripheral portions of the laminated iron core 7 and the first and second end plates 8, 9. The laminated iron core 7 and the first and second end plates 8, 9 arranged in intimate contact with the opposite side surfaces of the laminated core 7 are integrated with one another by bolts (not shown) penetrating through the through holes 12 and nuts (not shown) threaded over the end portions of the bolts.
In the magneto generator as constructed above, the unillustrated flywheel is rotated in association with the unillustrated rotation shaft which is driven to rotate by the internal combustion engine, whereby electric power is generated in the magneto coils 3 by the alternating fields which are brought about by the unillustrated permanent magnets at that time. An AC output thus generated is rectified by an unillustrated rectifier diode, and fed to loads such as a battery mounted on a vehicle.
According to the stator 1 of the magneto generator of this embodiment, the intermediate plates, the first end plate 8 and the second end plate 9 are formed of the same plate materials, so parts control becomes easy, and at the same time molds for molding the plate materials need only be of a single kind alone, thus making it possible to reduce the production cost.
In addition, the flange segments 10 of the first end plate 8 and the second end plate 9 are formed with the bent portions 11, respectively, which upstand in the radially inner direction, so the bent portions 11 serve to prevent the magneto coils 3 from collapsing in a radially outer direction.
Here, note that the bending height of each bent portion 11 may be about a half or more of the diameter of the conductor 14 in case where the winding form of the conductor 14 is formed in such a manner that the magneto coil 3 is of a so-called strawbag stacked form, as shown in
Further, even if the flange segments 10 temporarily return to their original states prior to bending thereof due to a reduction in the rigidity of the bent portions 11, the outer diameters of the end plates 8, 9 are the same as the outer diameter of the intermediate plates, and hence the end plates 8, 9 do not become impediments to the rotation of the rotor.
In this second embodiment, each of a first end plate 8 and a second end plate 9 has a pair of bent portions 15 which are formed by making opposite side portions of a flange segment 10 bent to upstand in a circumferential direction. The construction of this second embodiment other than the above is similar to that of the first embodiment.
According to the stator 1 of the magneto generator of this second embodiment, the bending height of the bent portions 15 is higher than that of the bent portions 11 of the first embodiment, so the magneto coils 3 are prevented from collapsing in a radially outer direction in a more reliable manner as compared with the first embodiment.
In addition, the rigidity in the radially outer direction of the bent portions 15, which are bent in a circumferential direction, is larger as compared with the rigidity in the radially outer direction of the bent portions 11 of the first embodiment which are bent in the radial direction. As a result, the reliability of the bent portions 15 with respect to a load from the magneto coils 3 is higher as compared with that of the bent portions 11 of the first embodiment.
In this third embodiment, a bent portion 16 including a first bent segment 16a and a pair of second bent segments 16b is formed in the following manner. That is, a flange segment 10 (see
According to the stator 1 of the magneto generator of this third embodiment, the bent portion 16 has, in addition to the first bent segment 16a, the second bent segments 16b which are formed by bending the opposite sides of the first bent segment 16a so as to upstand in a circumferential direction. With this construction, the bent portion 16 is larger in the rigidity in a radially outer direction as compared with each bent portion 15 of the first embodiment, and hence the reliability of the bent portion 16 with respect to a load from the magneto coils 3 is higher as compared with that of each bent portion 11 of the first embodiment.
In the above-mentioned respective embodiments, reference has been made to the case where the bent portions 11, 15, 16 are formed on both of the end plates 8, 9, respectively, which are in intimate contact with the opposite sides of the laminated iron core 7, but a bent portion may be formed on only one of the end plates 8, 9 in case where a conductor is wound around each tooth 4 in an aligned manner with little or no fear that a collapse of the magneto coils 3 might occur.
In addition, in order to raise the rigidity of the end plates 8, 9, a plurality of pieces of end plates may be used in a superposed or stacked manner.
While the invention has been described in terms of preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention can be practiced with modifications within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2006-218309 | Aug 2006 | JP | national |