Patent ID: 8471425

Claim:
A rotor-stator structure for an electrodynamic machine comprising: a stator assembly comprising: field pole members arranged about an axis of rotation and including pole faces at the ends of the field pole members, a subset of the pole faces including pole face portions coextensive with a boundary of a conically-shaped space; and one or more rotor assemblies arranged on the axis of rotation, each of the one or more rotor assemblies comprising: magnetically permeable structures positioned radially about the axis of rotation, the magnetically permeable structures comprising: confronting surfaces oriented at an angle to the axis of rotation to form air gaps with at least the pole face portions, and non-confronting surfaces; one or more groups of magnetic structures including magnetic material, the one or more groups of the magnetic structures comprising: a first group of the magnetic structures interleaved with the magnetically permeable structures; a second group of the magnetic structures; and a flux conductor shield disposed adjacent to the second group of the magnetic structures, the flux conductor shield configured to provide return flux paths for the second group of the magnetic structures.