Eccentric motion motor

Claim 2

An eccentric-motion motor for driving a utilization mechanism comprising a stator defining a continuous closed surface pathway, an armature composed at least in part of an electroattractable material and rollably disposed on the closed surface pathway, said armature having an exterior surface which maintains contact with the pathway as the armature rolls, a series of electroattractive elements disposed in the stator at the closed surface, said elements being successively energizable to attract and cause the armature to roll along the closed surface pathway, means for successively energizing the electroattractive elements, and means for coupling the armature to the utilization mechanism.

Claim 3

A motor as in claim 1 wherein said electroattractive elements comprise electrical conductors disposed in the stator at spaced-apart locations along the pathway for successively receiving electrical charges, and wherein said energizing means comprises commutator means for successively supplying electrical charges to said electrical conductors.

Claim 4

A motor as in claim 2 wherein at least the outside portion of said armature is made of electrically conductive material, coated with a film of non-conductive material to prevent contact between the electrical conductors and the conductive material of the armature.

Claim 5

A motor as in claim 2 wherein at least the outside portion of said armature is made of electrically conductive material, and wherein said stator further comprises electrical insulator material disposed over said electrical conductors to prevent contact between the armature and the conductors.

Claim 6

A motor as in claim 2 wherein said armature is made of a dielectric material.

Claim 7

A motor as in claim 2 wherein said armature includes electrets having a net charge of one polarity.

Claim 8

A motor as in claim 2 wherein said electrical conductors comprise strips of conductive material arranged to be generally parallel with one another and perpendicular to the direction of the pathway.

Claim 9

A motor as in claim 1 wherein said stator comprises a casing having a hollow with a generally concave sidewall, said continuous closed surface pathway coinciding with the sidewall of the hollow, and wherein said armature comprises a body having a generally convex outer surface.

Claim 10

A motor as in claim 8 wherein the cross-sectional dimension of the armature is marginally smaller than the cross-sectional dimension of the hollow of the stator.

Claim 11

A motor as in claim 9 wherein the cross-sections of the hollow and the body are generally circular.

Claim 12

A motor as in claim 9 wherein the cross-sections of the hollow and the body are generally oval.

Claim 13

A motor as in claim 1 wherein said stator comprises a casing having a hollow with a polygonal cross-section, and wherein said armature comprises a body having a polygonal cross-section with the same number of sides or less than that of the hollow and with smaller dimensions.

Claim 14

A motor as in claim 12 wherein said hollow has a polygonal cross-section with n sides, and wherein said armature has a polygonal cross-section with n-1 sides.

Claim 15

A motor as in claim 12 wherein the electroattractive elements are disposed at the corners of the hollow.

Claim 16

A motor as in claim 12 wherein the electroattractive elements are disposed at the sides of the hollow.

Claim 17

A motor as in claim 1 wherein said stator comprises a casing having a hollow whose sidewalls is formed with undulations arranged generally parallel to one another and perpendicular to the direction of the pathway, and wherein said armature comprises a body having a generally convex exterior surface with undulations formed to mesh with the undulations of the sidewall of the hollow as the armature rolls.

Claim 18

A motor as in claim 16 wherein said undulations of the sidewall of the hollow comprises alternating splines and grooves extending perpendicularly to the direction of the pathway, and wherein said undulations on the exterior surface of the body comprise gear teeth formed to mesh with the splines and grooves of the hollow as the armature rolls.

Claim 19

A motor as in claim 1 wherein said stator comprises a casing having a cavity with a generally circular cross-section, and wherein said armature comprises a body having a generally circular cross-section, smaller in dimension than the cross-section of the cavity.

Claim 20

A motor as in claim 18 wherein the diameter of the armature is marginally smaller than the diameter of the cavity.

Claim 21

A motor as in claim 1 further comprising a second stator, a second armature, a second series of electroattractive elements disposed in the second stator, and a second means for successively energizing the second series of electroattractive elements, all arranged together in substantially the same manner as the corresponding elements of claim 1, and wherein said second armature is coupled axially to the first-mentioned armature to roll in unison with the first-mentioned armature in a series relationship.

Claim 22

A motor as in claim 1 wherein said coupling means comprises an elongate arm, one end of which is coupled to the armature to be generally parallel with the axis of rotation of the armature, and the other end of which is coupled to the utilization mechanism, wherein said arm is substantially rotationally nonflexible and laterally flexible.

Claim 23

A motor as in claim 18 wherein said coupling means comprises a crank means having a pair of generally parallel axles offset from one another, and a connecting arm connecting the two axles together in the offset condition, where one of the axles is coupled to the armature at a location generally coincident with the axis of rotation of the armature, and the other axle is coupled to the utilization mechanism such that as the armature rolls and thus rotates said one axle, the other axle is caused to rotate about its own longitudinal axis.

Claim 24

A motor as in claim 1 wherein said coupling means comprises a generally rigid annulus, a first axle coupled to the armature at a location generally coincident with the axis of rotation of the armature, a bracket joining the annulus to the first axle, a second axle coupled to the utilization mechanism, and three or more flexible spokes, each formed with a bend near its longitudinal center and each joined at one end to the annulus at a location spaced from the locations at which the other spokes are joined to the annulus, and joined at the other end to the second axle so that as the armature rolls and thus rotates the first axle, the second axle is caused to rotate about its own longitudinal axis.

Claim 25

A motor as in claim 1 wherein said coupling means comprises an Oldham type coupler.

Claim 26

A motor as in claim 1 wherein said means for energizing comprises means responsive to an armature location signal for energizing the electroattractive elements when the armature is a predetermined distance from the elements in the direction in which the armature is rolling, said motor further comprising sensing means for determining the location of the armature on the stator pathway and for supplying a location signal to the means for energizing to cause it to energize the electroattractive elements when the armature is said predetermined distance therefrom.

Claim 27

An eccentric motion motor comprising a stator arm fixed at least at one end, a plurality of electroattractive elements disposed at spaced-apart locations peripherally about the stator arm at its outer surface, an armature body having a hollow, said body being disposed about the stator arm so that the stator arm extends into the hollow adjacent to and in contact with the wall of the hollow, said armature being made at least in part of an electroattractable material, and means for successively energizing the electroattractive elements to produce an attractive force between the elements and the armature to cause relative movement between the stator arm and the armature and thereby cause the armature to rotate.

Claim 28

An eccentric motion motor comprising a stator arm fixed at least at one end, a plurality of electroattractive elements disposed at spaced-apart locations peripherally about the stator arm at its outer surface, an armature body having a hollow, said body being disposed about the stator arm so that the stator arm extends into the hollow adjacent to and in contact with the wall of the hollow, said armature being made at least in part of an electroattractable material, and means for successively energizing the electroattractive elements to produce an attractive force between the elements and the armature to cause relative movement between the stator arm and the armature and thereby cause the armature to rotate.

Claim 29

A motor as in claim 26 wherein said electroattractive elements comprise conductive electrodes for successively receiving voltages, and wherein said energizing means comprises commutator means for successively supplying voltages to said conductive electrodes.

Claim 30

A motor as in claim 27 wherein at least that portion of said armature surrounding the hollow is made of electrically conductive material, said armature including a layer of non-conductive material overlying the wall of the hollow.

Claim 31

A motor as in claim 27 wherein at least that portion of said armature surrounding the hollow is made of electrically conductive material, said motor further including a layer of non-conductive material overlying the conductive electrodes.

Claim 32

A motor as in claim 27 wherein said armature is made of a dielectric material.

Claim 33

A motor as in claim 27 wherein said armature includes electrets having a net charge of one polarity.

Claim 34

A motor as in claim 26 wherein said stator arm is generally laterally flexible and rotationally inflexible, wherein the hollow of the body is generally cylindrical, wherein said body is mounted to rotate about the hollow's cylindrical axis which is in line with a fixed end of the stator arm, and wherein the attractive force between the electroattractive elements and the armature causes the stator arm to circulate inside the hollow in a confined pathway and thereby cause the armature to rotate.

Claim 35

A motor as in claim 32 further comprising additional stator arms, each fixed at least at one end and arranged with the first-mentioned stator arm in an n 1 by n 2 rectangular array, where n 1 and n 2 are odd numbers, additional pluralities of electroattractive elements, each plurality disposed at spaced apart locations peripherally about a different one of the additional stator arms, additional armature bodies, each having generally cylindrical hollows and each disposed over a different one of the additional stator arms, said additional armature bodies being made of an electroattractable material, a hollow cylindrical casing disposed to circumscribe the stator bodies and contact some of the bodies positioned on the corners of the n l by n 2 array, means for successively energizing the electroattractive elements of each of the stator arms to produce attractive forces between the elements and the corresponding armatures to cause the stator arms to move generally in circles inside their respective armature bodies and thereby cause the armatures to rotate in the same direction as the movement of the respective stators, with each armature rotating in the opposite direction from that in which the adjacent armatures rotate.

Claim 36

A motor as in claim 26 wherein the sidewall of the armature is generally concave, and wherein the stator arm comprises a generally laterally flexible and rotationally inflexible elongate body having a generally convex outer surface, so that the stator arm is caused to circulate inside the hollow of the body in a confined pathway.

Claim 37

A motor as in claim 34 wherein the cross-sectional dimension of the stator arm is marginally smaller than the cross-sectional dimension of the hollow of the armature.

Claim 38

A motor as in claim 35 wherein the cross-sections of the hollow and the stator arm are generally circular.

Claim 39

A motor as in claim 35 where the cross-sections of the hollow and the stator arm are generally oval.

Claim 40

A motor as in claim 26 wherein said armature hollow has a polygonal cross-section, and wherein said stator arm has a polygonal cross-section with the same number of sides or less than that of the hollow and with smaller dimensions.

Claim 41

A motor as in claim 26 wherein the sidewall of the armature hollow is formed with undulations arranged generally parallel to one another and perpendicular to the direction of the pathway, and wherein said stator arm comprises an elongate body having a generally convex exterior surface with undulations formed to mesh with the undulations of the sidewall of the hollow as the stator arm circulates.

Claim 42

A motor as in claim 39 wherein said undulations of the sidewall of the hollow comprise alternating splines and grooves extending perpendicularly to the direction of the pathway, and wherein said undulations on the exterior surface of the stator arm comprise gear teeth formed to mesh with the splines and grooves of the hollow as the stator arm circulates.

Claim 43

A motor as in claim 26 wherein said stator arm is substantially fixed so that the attractive force between the electroattractive elements and the armature causes the armature to rotate eccentrically about the stator arm.

Claim 44

A motor as in claim 26 wherein said means for energizing comprises means responsive to an armature location signal for energizing the electroattractive elements when the location of armature contact with the stator arm is a predetermined distance from the elements in the direction in which the armature is moving, said motor further comprising sensing means for determining the location of armature contact with the stator arm and for supplying a location signal to the means for energizing to cause it to energize the electroattractive elements when the location of armature contact is said predetermined distance therefrom.

Claim 45

A motor as in claim 26 further comprising means for coupling the armature to a utilization mechanism.

Claim 46

A motor as in claim 26 wherein said armature is constrained to rotate about a fixed axis.

Claim 47

A motor as in claim 26 wherein said stator arm is laterally flexible and is fixed at both ends.