Patent ID: 8860281

Claim:
A multiple-gap electric rotating machine comprising: a rotating shaft; a rotor arm coupled to the rotating shaft; a rotor having an annular shape and cantilever-supported by the rotor arm at a first axial end thereof; an outer stator disposed radially outside the rotor with a gap therebetween; and an inner stator disposed radially inside the rotor with a gap therebetween, the rotor including a laminated core of core sheets made of soft magnetic material and an end-surface core disposed on a surface of the laminated core on a second axial end of the rotor, the laminated core being held between the rotor arm and the end-surface core and fixed to the rotor arm by coupling members penetrating through the rotor arm, the laminated core and the end-surface core, wherein the laminated core includes segments each formed with a salient pole structure at each of radially inner and outer peripheries thereof, the segments are coupled to one another in a ring by inner and outer bridge members disposed at radially inner and outer peripheries of the laminated core, respectively, inter-segment space sections are formed between respective circumferentially adjacent two of the segments, each of the segments is formed with at least one coupling hole for axially passing the coupling member therethrough, the end-surface core includes soft magnetic sections made of steel and disposed circumferentially corresponding to the segments and non-magnetic sections made of stainless steel and disposed circumferentially corresponding to the inter-segment space sections, each of the soft magnetic sections being formed with a salient pole structure at each of radially inner and outer peripheries thereof, and the soft magnetic sections and the non-magnetic sections are joined together so that the end-surface core contributes to transmission of magnetic flux between the inner and outer stators in cooperation with the laminated core.