Patent ID: 8482181

Claim:
An alternating current motor system comprising: a stator assembly comprising: an even number of magnetically conductive salient poles, each salient pole comprising a pole face; a winding for generating magnetic flux within at least one of the salient poles; and wherein the salient poles are arranged in pairs located on opposite sides of a central axis and positioned to form a stator cavity with a substantially uniform circumference; a rotor assembly comprising: a shaft mounted to rotate about the central axis; a magnetically conductive element mounted to the shaft and shaped so that when rotated about the central axis the magnetically conductive element directs a flux zone along the face of a salient pole in a substantially periodic motion, so that the length of the magnetic flux path formed by the magnetically conductive element and the salient pole varies with the substantially periodic motion of the flux zone; and wherein the magnetically conductive element comprises an outer edge that when rotated about the central axis circumscribes a path within the stator cavity that is substantially uniformly spaced from each salient pole face thereby forming a substantially uniform air gap between the outer edge of the magnetically conductive element and each salient pole face.