Patent ID: 9742335
Date: 2017-08-22
CPC Classifications: B60L,H02K,H02P,Y02T

Claim:
1. A multi-phase electric motor, comprising: a rotor; and a stator, wherein the rotor comprises a plurality of magnets directed towards the stator, wherein the stator comprises a plurality of phase windings arranged around a circumferential surface of the stator and directed towards the magnets, wherein the phase windings are connected to control units configured to selectively apply a current to the phase windings so as to induce an electromagnetic force which acts upon the magnets of the rotor to effect a rotation of the rotor, wherein the motor further comprises at least two control units, each control unit being configured to control the supply of current to three of the phase windings such that a different phase current is supplied to each of the three phase windings with a phase shift between the different phase currents being 120°, wherein each control unit utilizes a different current phase than the other control units, wherein the phase windings are driven by one of m different current phases, where m is a multiple of 3 and at least equal to 6, and wherein the phase shift between current phases is 360°/m, wherein the arrangement of phase windings around a circumferential surface of the stator is such that each phase winding is driven by a current that is shifted in phase by 180°+180°/m relative to the current in an adjacent phase winding, where m is the total number of phase currents.