Personal Care Motor Spacer for Stable Rotor-Stator Airgap
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing personal care device motors face challenges in maintaining a consistent airgap between the rotor and stator, which is crucial for proper operation, as closure of the airgap due to magnetic attraction, user loading, or inadequate fixation can lead to motor failure.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating a spacer that projects between the stator and rotor surfaces to define a minimum airgap, ensuring that the rotor and stator do not come into direct contact, thereby preventing airgap closure and maintaining the desired distance between the components.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If no spacer is provided between rotor and stator, then the motor structure is simpler, but the airgap cannot be maintained and rotor-stator contact occurs causing motor failure
Solution Approach 1:
A spacer is introduced as an intermediary component between the rotor and stator to maintain the airgap. The spacer projects from one component and engages with the other, preventing direct contact while maintaining the necessary magnetic coupling distance.
Solution Approach 2:
The spacer is pre-positioned on either the rotor or stator before assembly, establishing the minimum airgap distance in advance. This preliminary positioning ensures that when the motor is assembled, the airgap is automatically maintained without requiring additional adjustment procedures.
2Reliability
If additional shimming procedures are used to maintain airgap, then the airgap can be maintained, but the assembly process becomes more complex and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The spacer is designed to automatically maintain the airgap without requiring external shimming procedures. The spacer's geometry and engagement mechanism provide self-aligning and self-maintaining properties that eliminate the need for additional manual adjustment steps during assembly.
Solution Approach 2:
The airgap maintenance function is merged into the spacer component itself, which is already part of the motor assembly. This integration eliminates the need for separate shimming components and procedures, simplifying the overall manufacturing and assembly process.
3Power
If the airgap is reduced to increase magnetic coupling, then the motor efficiency improves, but the risk of rotor-stator contact and motor failure increases
Solution Approach 1:
The spacer allows optimization of the airgap dimension as a critical parameter. By carefully selecting the spacer projection length, the minimum airgap can be set to achieve optimal magnetic coupling while maintaining a safety margin that prevents contact under all operating conditions including magnetic attraction and user loading.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The spacer effectively sets and maintains the minimum airgap, preventing motor failure by ensuring relative motion between the rotor and stator, and eliminating the need for additional shimming procedures during assembly.
Implementation Method 1
closure of the airgap due to magnetic attraction, user loading, or inadequate fixation can lead to motor failure
Data Source
AI summary
According to an aspect there is provided a motor (1) for a personal care device (10). The motor (1) comprises: a stator (2) comprising a stator surface; a rotor (3) comprising a rotor surface disposed opposite the stator surface; and a spacer (4) projecting between the stator surface and the rotor surface so as to define a minimum airgap between the stator (2) and the rotor (3). The spacer (4) is disposed on or at one of the rotor surface and the stator surface, and has a contact surface configured to engage with the other one of the rotor surface and the stator surface.