Patent ID: 7462968

Claim:
An electric wheel comprising: a wheel rotatably supported by a wheel suspension system of a vehicle; and a wheel-in motor at least a part thereof is housed in said wheel to drive said wheel; said wheel-in motor including: a stator coupled to said wheel suspension system, and including an armature core having slots with tooth pieces formed therein at a predetermined pitch in a circumferential direction with respect to a rotation axis of said wheel-in motor, and armature coils fitted into said slots, wherein each of said armature coils is formed by a U shaped segment conductor having two leg portions, a distance between said two leg portions being equal to said predetermined pole pitch, a plurality of said two leg portions of said armature coils being connected to one another at a side of one of end surfaces of said armature core with respect to said rotating axis so as to form a three-phase winding, a rotor coupled to a torque transmission system for transmitting torque between said wheel-in motor and said wheel, and including a field generator facing an outer surface of said stator across from an electrical gap, wherein said field generator includes pole magnets magnetized in a radial direction with respect to said rotation axis, adjacent two of said pole magnets having opposite directions of magnetization so that magnet polarity of said field generator alternates at a predetermined pole pitch along said circumferential direction, yoke magnets magnetized in said circumferential direction each of which is put between corresponding adjacent two of said pole magnets to strengthen magnetic field formed by said pole magnets, and a field generator support member to which said field generator is fixed, said field generator support member being fixed to a rotary shaft which is rotatably supported by said wheel suspension system.