Patent ID: 8247943

Claim:
A brushless electric DC motor/generator, the improvement comprising: a) a stator having an outer surface, b) a cylindrical induction structure juxtaposed the outer surface of the stator, the induction structure comprising at least one wire wound coil segment, c) a rotor having a cylindrical inner surface, d) a cylindrical permanent magnet structure juxtaposed the inner surface of the rotor and disposed proximate the induction structure, the magnetic structure including at least two spaced apart annular rings, e) means for mounting the rotor and stator to one another for relative coaxial rotation about a center axis and in a manner such that there is at least two spaced apart radial gaps, the first gap between the first annular ring and the induction structure and the second gap between the second annular ring and the induction structure, the stator being disposed between the gaps and separating the induction structure from the magnet structure, and wherein: i) the induction structure is a cylindrical annular induction structure juxtaposed in encircling relation around the outer surface of the stator, the induction structure comprising first and second sets of wire wound coil segments disposed in respective cylindrical planes with successive coil segments of the first set being angularly offset from and juxtaposed with pairs of successive adjacent pairs of coil segments of the second set, the coil segments having a long dimension disposed axially and the overlapped portions forming a succession of angularly separated axial recesses, ii) the inner surface of the rotor is a cylindrical inner surface, and iii) the permanent magnet structure is a cylindrical annular permanent magnet structure comprising a plurality of magnets juxtaposed in encircling relation around the inner surface of the rotor with the respective North and South poles of the magnets adjacent one another and disposed proximate the induction structure in reversing polarities.