Abstract:
A stator has a field winding, the winding comprising a plurality of axial conductors connected at their ends to form at least one circuit with a number of turns. Each axial conductor, or set of axial conductors having a common voltage, is disposed within an insulated channel member, the insulated channel member being disposed within a stack of laminations. The axial conductors and the tubular insulation members are radially distributed at equal angles.

Description:
[0001]    At the present electrical machines comprise one or more electrical conductor windings each of which has a polymeric insulation material. These electrical machines have a maximum operating temperature of the order of 200 C due to the polymeric insulation material applied to the electrical conductor windings. 
         [0002]    The use high temperature polymeric insulation material would enable the electrical machines to have a maximum operating temperature of the order of 250 C. However, it is believed that even this stable, oxidation resistant, polymeric insulation material will not have a maximum operating temperature above 300 C. 
         [0003]    There is a requirement for electrical machines with maximum temperatures of 500 C and above. These electrical machines for example are active electromagnetic bearings, electrical generators and electrical motors for use within gas turbine engines, particularly on the high-pressure shaft rotor of a gas turbine engine, in oil and gas wells, particularly in steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) type heavy oil wells. The use of active electromagnetic bearings may allow the simplification of the rotating machinery by the elimination of conventional bearings and oil systems. 
         [0004]    As discussed above polymeric insulation material cannot be used at temperatures above about 300 C. The use of an inorganic insulation material for the electrical conductors is a possibility. The inorganic insulation material may be based on ceramic cloths or ceramic coatings, applied to the electrical conductors. However, this is not desirable because the inorganic insulation material tends to be bulky, limiting the packing density of the electrical conductor, and the electrical conductors also require potting in an inorganic cement, and in addition the manufacturing process is very labour intensive. The use of an inorganic insulation material may be based on ceramic cloth and inorganic cement, however this is not desirable because these inorganic insulation materials have poor thermal conductivity and would make the thermal management of the electrical conductor difficult. Additionally the porous nature of the inorganic cement tends to allow the inorganic insulation material to soak up fluids, for example water, oil or other lubricant. The presence of moisture tends to degrade the electrical insulation by allowing leakage currents to earth or between turns of the electrical conductor. The presence of oil tends to degrade the electrical insulation by forming carbon also allowing leakage currents to earth or between turns of the electrical conductor. Also the thermal expansion mismatch may cause damage to the insulation material during thermal cycling of the electrical conductor. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0005]    According to the present invention, a component of an electric machine is provided according to claim  1 . 
         [0006]    Ceramic is ideally used to provide insulation for the copper conductor while in the lamination slots, the ceramic maybe a tube through which the copper conductor is threaded, or stackable wafers which sandwich the copper conductor, to enable the copper to bend at the end turn yet not crack the insulation, at each end turn the ceramic tube or sandwich is terminated and a ceramic lamination isolates the copper conductor to enable it to be “turned” to the next slot and then threaded or laid into the ceramic insulated slot. Once the machine is fully wound, the free space around the conductors and ceramic laminations may be filled with magnesium oxide insulation, in either case the windings are hermitically sealed. 
         [0007]    According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a configuration of windings and ceramic laminations. 
         [0008]    This allows the windings to be conveniently turned on the armature in a precise manner, since each conductor position is accurately constrained by the components. There is little of no movement, so wear is reduced. The arrangement is very easy to seal. Ceramic in particular is very suitable as a material, as it has excellent temperature resistance and is hard wearing and resistant to abrasion. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
         [0009]    The present invention will be more fully described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: 
           [0010]      FIG. 1 . is an isometric view of the motor technology 
           [0011]      FIG. 2 a,b    are isometric views of ceramic insulation lamination layer 
           [0012]      FIG. 3  is a similar view to  FIG. 1 , with the motor laminations and insulation laminations hidden, showing the perfect geometic arrangement of the copper winding end turn arrangement 
           [0013]      FIG. 4  is a side view of  FIG. 3   
           [0014]      FIG. 5 a,b    is a ceramic insulation arrangement for the lamination slots 
           [0015]      FIG. 6  is an end view of a lamination 
           [0016]      FIG. 7  is the same view as  FIG. 6  with the slots filled with insulation and copper conductors 
           [0017]      FIG. 8  is an end view of the ceramic insulation components 
           [0018]      FIG. 9  is an end view of the ceramic insulation components assembled and the copper conductors adjacent 
           [0019]      FIG. 10  is an isometric view of and end turn in a ceramic insulation lamination 
           [0020]      FIG. 11  is a similar view to  FIG. 10  with several of the ceramic insulation laminations hidden to highlight the routing of the copper conductors and where the different lengths of the insulation tubes terminate 
           [0021]      FIG. 12  is an end view of an alternative lamination 
           [0022]      FIG. 13  is a similar view to  FIG. 12  with the slots filled with copper conductors and a sandwich stack of ceramic insulation 
           [0023]      FIG. 13 a    is a detailed view of the a single slot shown in  FIG. 13   
           [0024]      FIG. 14  is an end view of an alternate motor construction 
           [0025]      FIG. 15  is a similar view of  FIG. 14 , showing the end jumper to join the conductors passing through the insulation tubes. 
           [0026]      FIG. 16  is an isometric view of the conductor wiring arrangement 
           [0027]      FIG. 17  is an end view of an alternate motor construction 
           [0028]      FIG. 17 a    is a detailed view of the a single slot shown in  FIG. 17   
           [0029]      FIG. 18  is a wiring diagram for a 48 slot 3 phase motor 
           [0030]      FIG. 19  is an end view cross section of further motor construction 
           [0031]      FIG. 20  is an end view of the rotor of the motor shown in  FIG. 19   
           [0032]      FIG. 21  is an end view of the stator of the motor shown in  FIG. 20   
           [0033]      FIG. 22  is an isometric view of the ceramic insulation laminations used in the motor shown in  FIG. 20   
           [0034]      FIG. 23  is an isometric view of the copper conductor end turns of the motor shown in  FIG. 20  with the laminations and ceramic end turn laminations hidden. 
           [0035]      FIG. 24  is an isometric view of a automatic winding machine for the motor shown in  FIG. 20 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION 
       [0036]    Referring to  FIG. 1  there is shown a stator construction consisting of a stack of motor laminations  1  with two stacks of ceramic insulated end turn laminations  2  located at both ends of the series conventional laminations  1 . 
         [0037]    Referring to  FIG. 6 , the motor laminations  1  are of a generally conventional one-piece arrangement, made for example from sheet steel, having an outer circumferential yoke  17 , with radially extending teeth  18 . In this embodiment, rather than conventional discreet tooth lips, the tooth lips meet to form a continuous inner annular barrier  19 . 
         [0038]    The conductors of the windings are then disposed in slots  6  and insulated in various ways. Referring to  FIG. 3 , each conductor is threaded through a ceramic tube  3 , and each ceramic tube is inserted into the slots  6  of  FIG. 6 . 
         [0039]    Alternatively, the ceramic tube may be formed of separate pieces. Referring to  FIGS. 8 and 9 , conductors  25  may be threaded through or encased in two part interlocking ceramic extrusions  4 ,  5 . These are then inserted into slots  6  of the lamination  1  of  FIG. 6 , as shown in  FIG. 7 . 
         [0040]      FIG. 12  shows another one piece lamination sheet  1 , here showing the slots  6  open to the bore, the teeth  18  having discreet tooth lips  13  which define gaps  11 . This allows each conductor wire to be dropped into the slot and sandwiched between ceramic insulated extrusions  12  as shown in  FIG. 13 . Referring to  FIG. 13 a   , firstly a curved ceramic insulator section  26  is inserted into the slot  6 . This could be by sliding it longitudinally, or it could be by orienting it so it can fir through the gap  11 , sliding it radially, and rotating it once it is in the slot  6 . Once the first curved ceramic insulator section  26 , a pair of conductors  27  may then be dropped into the slot  6  through the gap  11  to abut the curved ceramic insulator section  26 . A second curved ceramic insulator section  26 ′ is then inserted in the same manner, until the slot is filled with conductors interposed with ceramic insulator sections. 
         [0041]    This arrangement allows the winding process to be automated, although the packing arrangement may be magnetically less efficient and generate more losses. It is also worth noting that the sandwich ceramic layers join together in such a way as to have a tortuous path to minimize tracking or shorting to earth. For example, provided the insulation section retains its integrity, for the adjacent conductive pairs  27 ,  27 ′ to track, a conductive path would have to follow a path along the surface of the insulation section  26 ′ to the edge of the slot  6 . 
         [0042]    The winding path of the motor is provided by each longitudinally extending conductor being electrically connected at its end to another longitudinally extending conductor, to provide an electric path in the manner of a wound wire, the end connection between two conductor being termed an end turn. 
         [0043]    Referring again to  FIG. 1 , and also  FIGS. 10 and 11 , at each end of the motor laminations  1 , end turn ceramic insulation layers  2  are stacked to support each end turn. Referring to  FIGS. 2 a  and  b   , each end turn ceramic insulation layer is similar in shape to the motor lamination, of a generally annular form with a through bore for the rotor, and radial slots  39  which here are not open to the bore. Each of the radial slots includes a liner support  28 , these liner supports generally defining a circumferential recess  22  between the liner supports and a rim  32  of the end turn conductor  2 . 
         [0044]    At the termination of the straight ceramic liner  20 , the conductor  21  (which may for example be copper wire) extends radially outwardly, before extending in an arcuate section  31  situated in the circumferential recess  22 . In this case, two adjacent conductors  20  are both radially directed, before running side-by-side  31  along the recess  22 . These two conductors carry the same voltage, so there is no voltage difference between them and tracking is not an issue. 
         [0045]    Referring to  FIG. 11 , the conductor  31  turns radially inwards at  23  before leading into the appropriate return slot into which the copper wire is then fed back into the ceramic tube lining  20  in the lamination which then goes to the other end of the motor. This process is repeated until the wires complete the winding circuit show in  FIG. 18 , where the end turn arrangement for each insulation layer  2  is identified by the letter a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i,j,k,l,m,n, and o which correspond to the identifiers shown in  FIG. 4 . The slot identifiers of the top axis of  FIG. 18  correspond to the lamination slots in  FIG. 6  (or equally  FIG. 17  described below). In this embodiment, 24 slots are present in the motor laminations  1  and the ceramic insulation layers  2 ; each slot housing two pairs of conductors. The 24 slots are number 1 to 24 for conductors in the first position, and 25 to 48 for the second position. The ceramic layers of the conductors  20 ,  21 ,  22 ,  23  and the ceramic insulation lamination layer  2  both insulates the conductors from the other phases and from subsequent end turns. 
         [0046]      FIG. 3  shows a complete wired motor with both the motor laminations  1  and one set of insulation layer laminations  2  removed to show the end turn connection arrangement of the ceramic conductor layers of the completed wiring process.  FIG. 4  shows the same completed wired motor with both insulation layer laminations  2  removed. 
         [0047]    The winding arrangement shown in  FIG. 18  shows three separate winding circuits suitable for a three phase supply; single phase or other arrangements could be implemented in the same manner. 
         [0048]    Once the conductors and all the end turns are completed, the free space can may be left void and hermetically sealed, or the void space filled with magnesium oxide, to provide additional insulation and mechanical support for the external housing if it is subjected to very high external pressure as is would be the case if the winding were used in a motor and deployed in a well. 
         [0049]    Referring to  FIGS. 14 to 16 , there is shown an alternative construction with a conductor  80  having a stadium (or discorectangular) section, which fits inside a matching shaped ceramic insulated tube  81 . The clearance between the two is sufficient at room temperature, such that when it is at operating temperature the conductor is still loose, thereby not exerting any tensile force on the ceramic tube. At one end of the lamination stack the conductor is attached to a conductive linking member, formed into a U shape  82 , connected with a curved 90 degree dogleg clip  83  so that it may occupy the annular space  84 . The dogleg clip  83  may hook onto the insulation tube  81 , so that the U shape linking member is retained by the resilience of the linking member and clip  83 . At the opposite end, the conductor again is formed and in a similar shape  85  covered by a linking member which connects this U shaped conductor to the next and so on. The connection method could be welding. It will be appreciated that each U shape is specific to the slots it is connecting and the length has to match the layer it corresponds to. 
         [0050]    Referring to  FIGS. 17, and 19 to 23 , there is shown an alternative winding arrangement, know as an outside-in or outer-rotor motor. i.e. the inside is stationary or the stator and the housing with the magnets rotates, which is on the outside. The benefit of this arrangement is that the conductor wire is laid in from the outside, and lends itself more an automatic winding system. 
         [0051]    Referring first to  FIG. 17 , a generally cylindrical central mandrel  40  has a flat face  41  machined onto it along its length, which is used to orientate the laminations  42  (shown separate from the outer rotor in  FIG. 21 ) which are stacked onto the mandrel and retained. 
         [0052]    Referring to  FIG. 22 , this shows a stack of end turn insulation laminations on the mandrel  40 , which is placed at one end of the stack of laminations  42 , a similar stack of end turn insulation laminations being placed at the opposite end of the stack of laminations  42 . 
         [0053]    During assembly, a first insulation ceramic layer  43  which corresponds to end turn A, is placed against the stack of stack of laminations  42 . In the lower part (i.e. the radially innermost part) of the slots to have a length of conductor fitted in them, ceramic insulation horse shoe shaped extrusions  44  are placed. The horse shoe shaped extrusion  44  extend the length of the assembled stacks to the outer face of ceramic end lamination  43 . The first slots to have conductors fitted might be slots 2, 6 and 10 of lamination  42 . The conductors  45  are laid in the horse shoe extrusions  44  along the entire length of the stack that has been assembled at that point. At the end turn of the three conductors, each conductor is laid in the annular recess  46  of insulation ceramic layer  43  (the annular recess  46  of a later insulation ceramic layer being indicated as the recess of insulation ceramic layer  43  is not here visible) and then directed back through slots to return along the assembled stack. The first return slots could be slots 7, 11, and 15. 
         [0054]    Horse shoe shaped extrusions  44 ,  50 ,  51 ,  52  are laid along the length of each slot prior to a conductor being laid in that slot, so that each conductor is sealed between horse shoe shaped extrusions radially above and beneath the conductor, and the conductors are insulated from each other. 
         [0055]    As each new set of conductors is laid down in the slots, a further insulation ceramic layer  43 ,  47 ,  48  (corresponding to end turns A, B, C) is added to the end of the stack where the conductors are to have their end turns formed. The horse shoe shaped extrusions  44 ,  50 ,  51 ,  52  vary in length so that they extend the full length of the stacks assembled at the time when a particular horse shoe shaped extrusion is being installed. 
         [0056]    This process is continued until the circuit diagram in  FIG. 19  is achieved.  FIG. 24  has had all the components hidden, which the exception of the mandrel and conductors, to illustrate how the end turns are stacked and separated. 
         [0057]    Because the insulation around the conductor is a layered or sandwich construction, it is very important to prevent tracking. Referring to  FIG. 17 a   , this is achieved by the providing that the ends  52  of the horseshoe shape section are pointed V-shape, the apex of the point being spaced away from the surface  52  of the wall of the slot, while the lower surface of the next horseshoe shape section  53  has a corresponding V-shaped recess  53 . This creates a torturous path between adjacent conductors, which reduces the likelihood of tracking. In addition, ceramic adhesive may also be used to seal these faces. 
         [0058]    Once the winding process has been completed, a thin wall non magnetic tube  60  maybe placed over lamination assembly and swaged onto the assembly to form a snug fit, at each end forming a metal to metal seal on bearing supports. This hermetically seals the laminations. If additional insulation is required or the void space needs to be filled, then magnesium oxide powder is metered into this area via sealable filling ports (not shown) 
         [0059]    The outer surface of this tube  60  may also be machined with small raised surfaces along its length, then the entire tube is coated in a diamond bearing material which in effect provides distributed bearing surface along the entire lamination stack length. 
         [0060]    Referring to  FIG. 24 , there is shown an automatic winding machine which automates the process described above. The mandrel  40  is on the central axis of the machine. The 3 phase conductors  70  are mounted at the appropriate angular position on a rotating disc  71  which fits around the mandrel. This rotating head sits on a saddle  72  which is moved along the mandrel axis by a belt  73  powered by a motor  74  via a gear drive  77 . When the end turn wiring is being arranged in the ceramic end lamination to form the length of conductor that connects two longitudinal lengths of conductor, the rotating head  70  is rotated the required angle by the electric motor  75  via a gear or belt arrangement  76 . 
         [0061]    Referring to  FIGS. 26 and 27 , the lamination stack  99  is shown after being coated with a ceramic layer  100 , this provides an electrical insulation layer on all surfaces. In addition, the electrical wire  101  is ceramic coated and installed in the slots as described earlier. 
         [0062]    The use of ceramics for the end turn laminations, axial channels and other members, in all the embodiments, is particularly suitable for their insulating and temperature resistant properties. Nevertheless, other materials, such as composite materials and polymers, may also be suitable, provided they adequate provide insulating and temperature resistant properties. Both components may be formed by injection moulding. The axial channels could be provided by stiffened insulting paper.