Patent ID: 8093776

Claim:
An electric motor comprising: a rotor arranged to rotate about an axis of a rotating shaft, the rotor including a plurality of permanent magnets; and a stator arranged so as to oppose the rotor, the stator including a plurality of stator sections each including a winding; wherein each of the plurality of the stator sections is divided into at least two stator sections including a first stator section including a first end portion arranged to oppose the plurality of permanent magnets and a second end portion opposite to the first end portion, and a second stator section; one of the first stator section and the second stator section is movable relative to the other of the first stator section and the second stator section to change a magnetic resistance between the first stator section and the second stator section; a relative movement of the first stator section and the second stator section changes a magnetic flux flowing through the rotor and the stator between a first magnetic flux flow state and a second magnetic flux flow state; the first magnetic flux flow state is defined by a magnetic resistance between adjacent first end portions of adjacent ones of the first stator sections being larger than a magnetic resistance between the second end portion of the first stator section and the second stator section such that a magnetic flux between adjacent permanent magnets flows through the adjacent ones of the first stator sections via adjacent ones of the second stator sections so as to hardly allow the magnetic flux to flow through a space between the adjacent first end portions of the adjacent ones of the first stator sections; and the second magnetic flux flow state is defined by a magnetic resistance between the adjacent first end portions of the adjacent ones of the first stator sections being smaller than a magnetic resistance between the second end portion of the first stator section and the second stator section such that a magnetic flux between the adjacent permanent magnets flows through the adjacent first end portions of the adjacent ones of the first stator sections so as to hardly allow the magnetic flux to flow through the first stator sections via the second stator sections.