Patent ID: 7253546

Claim:
An electric motor driven by three-phase electric power, comprising: a rotor including a rotation shaft and a plurality of permanent magnets arranged circumferentially on an outer periphery of said rotation shaft; and armature windings disposed adjacent to an outer periphery of said rotor, said armature windings being connected in series, via an armature-winding connecting line, for each of a plurality of groups of three or N circumferentially-adjoining poles, to thereby provide three-phase armature windings, wherein N is an arbitrary number equal to a multiple of three, wherein the armature-winding connecting line, connecting in series said armature windings, is positioned so as not to substantially straddle a relatively great part of an outer periphery of any of adjoining ones of the armature windings, and wherein the armature-winding connecting line connects the adjoining armature windings of each of the three phases at one longitudinal end of the adjoining armature windings.