Patent ID: 7034427

Claim:
A method for operating an axial air-gap machine system, comprising: (a) providing an axial air-gap electric machine comprising a first stator having a plurality of teeth and a first set of windings positioned thereon; a second stator having a plurality of teeth and a second set of windings positioned thereon; and a rotor disposed for rotation about an axis, the rotor being disposed axially between the stators, and wherein the stators comprise toroidal cores having laminated layers composed of a material selected from the group consisting of amorphous and nanocrystalline metals and optimized Fe-based alloy; (b) providing a power electronics means for interfacing and controlling the machine; (c) operably connecting the power electronics means to the machine; (d) selectively aligning the second stator with respect to the first stator such that the teeth of the second stator are offset by an offset amount from the teeth of the first stator; (e) wherein the machine further comprises misalignment means for adjusting the offset amount, and the method further comprises selecting the offset amount to reduce the torque ripple of the machine and adjusting the offset amount using the misalignment means to maintain a substantially constant voltage characteristic and adaptively controlling the adjustment of the offset amount using a signal transmitted from the power electronics means to the misalignment means.