Patent ID: 8179008

Claim:
An axial gap rotary electric machine, comprising: a field element capable of rotating in a circumferential direction about a rotation axis and generating a magnetic field flux; an armature opposed to said field element from one side in a rotation axis direction parallel to said rotation axis, including an armature coil interlinked with said magnetic field flux, in which an armature current flows; and a stator comprising a magnetic body and being opposed to said field element from another side in said rotation axis direction, wherein said field element includes: a first magnetic ring disposed around said rotation axis and supplying said magnetic field flux of a first polarity; a second magnetic ring disposed on a side closer to said rotation axis compared with said first magnetic ring and supplying said magnetic field flux of a second polarity; a first magnetic plate circularly disposed in said circumferential direction so as to be opposed to said armature, magnetically separated from said second magnetic ring, and magnetically coupled to said first magnetic ring; and a second magnetic plate circularly disposed so as to be opposed to said armature with positions thereof in said circumferential direction alternating with the first magnetic plate, magnetically separated from said first magnetic ring and said first magnetic plate, and magnetically coupled to said second magnetic ring.