Patent ID: 8129880

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: stator teeth having distal ends extending from respective stator segments, each stator segment having a radial end, the stator teeth arranged in an annular fashion about an axis to define stator slots between adjacent teeth and slot openings between the distal ends of the adjacent teeth, the stator segments annularly positioned to fixedly contact the radial ends of adjacent stator segments to prevent relative movement between adjacent teeth; and magnetic slot wedges structured to be inserted between the distal ends of the adjacent teeth to close the slot openings, wherein the magnetic slot wedges are asymmetric about planes that contain the axis and that lie equidistant between the ends of the corresponding magnetic slot wedge; wherein each of the magnetic slot wedges comprises at least two protrusions structured to engage respective grooves in the distal ends of adjacent teeth at different radial positions relative to the axis, and wherein the radial positions of the grooves partially overlap such that they are intersected by a single arc that is located at a fixed distance from the axis.