Patent ID: 8089175

Claim:
A direct drive generator for a wind turbine, comprising: a ring-shaped stator; a stator element of the stator for generating a power; a front ring-shaped supporting element of the stator; a rear ring-shaped supporting element of the stator; a stator segment of the ring-shaped stator attached to the front and the rear ring-shaped supporting elements of the stator; a ring-shaped rotor rotatable around a center axis of the generator, the ring-shaped rotor comprising rotor segments; a rotor element of the rotor for generating the power; a front and a rear supporting element of the rotor; a junction of the stator between the front and the rear ring-shaped supporting elements of the stator and the stator segment located substantially at a radius in relation to the center axis of the generator that is equal to or smaller than a radius of an air gap between the stator element and the rotor element; a junction of the rotor between the front and rear supporting elements of the rotor and each of the rotor segments located substantially at a radius in relation to the center axis of the generator that is equal to or smaller than a radius of an air gap between the stator element and the rotor element; and wherein the junction of the stator and the junction of the rotor are located substantially at the same radius in relation to the center axis of the generator.