Patent ID: 8120224

Claim:
At least one permanent-magnet switched-flux (PMSF) device comprising: a shaft about a central axis extending axially through the PMSF device; an outer rotor carried by the shaft; a plurality of rotor poles carried by the outer rotor and disposed around an inner surface of the outer rotor in a rotor pole circle; and an inner stator encircling the shaft and comprising: a stator core having a core axis co-axial with the central axis; a first plurality of permanent magnets mounted in a first permanent magnet circle radially outwardly in a first transverse plane extending transversely from the stator core axis in the first transverse plane; and a second plurality of permanent magnets mounted in a second permanent magnet circle radially outwardly in a second transverse plane extending transversely from the stator core axis in the second transverse plane, the first and second pluralities of permanent-magnets each comprising permanent magnets of alternating polarity from one permanent magnet to an adjacent permanent magnet in the corresponding plurality of permanent magnets.