Appeal No. 2005-2042 Page 3
Application No. 09/946,298
A further understanding of the invention can be achieved by reading the following
claims.
11. An apparatus for restoring a rotor to an equilibrium position having an
axis of rotational equilibrium comprising:
the rotor for rotating on an axis of rotation around a stator;
the rotor including a Halbach array of magnets;
the stator including conductive loops and lap windings, wherein said
lap windings are interleaved with said conductive loops;
a space in between the Halbach array and the stator;
the space being radially symmetrical when the axis of rotation is
collinear with the axis of equilibrium and being asymmetrical when the axis
of rotation is displaced from the axis of equilibrium; and
rotation of the Halbach array relative to the lap windings inducing a
net current in said conductive loops and in said lap windings and
generating a restorative force acting on the rotor when the spacing is
asymmetrical, tending to restore the axis of rotation to collinearity with the
axis of equilibrium.
12. The restoring apparatus as defined in Claim 11 wherein:
the lap windings include parallel lateral sections that lie parallel to
the axis of equilibrium;
the restorative force being reactive to an induced force acting on
the parallel lateral sections; and
the induced force being induced by rotation of the Halbach array
around the stator.
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Last modified: November 3, 2007