Patent ID: 7876062

Claim:
A brushless electric machine comprising: a first member with a magnet assembly that includes at least one permanent magnet pair, each magnet of the magnet pair having a first magnetic pole and a second magnetic pole, the two magnets of each magnet pair being held such that the first magnetic poles contact one another; a second member including a electromagnetic coil, the first and second members being changeable in position relative to one another; and a control circuit that controls supply of to the electromagnetic coil or regeneration of power from the electromagnetic coil; wherein the permanent magnet pair generates strongest magnetic field along a magnetic field direction lying in a homopolar contact plane at which the first magnetic poles contact one another, and outward from a center of the permanent magnet pair along the magnetic field direction; the electromagnetic coil is positioned such that current will flow in a direction intersecting the magnetic field direction; and the control circuit performs at least one of: (i) drive control to operate the brushless electric machine in a prescribed driving direction, by supplying the electromagnetic coil with driving current in a prescribed first current direction without changing the direction of current supplied to the electromagnetic coil; and (ii) regeneration control to regenerate DC power generated by the coil caused by relative movement of the first and second members along a prescribed direction.