Motor

1. A motor comprising:

a stator including a magnetic stator core and a stator winding;

a rotor including a rotor core and a plurality of permanent magnets arranged to form north(N) and south (S) poles of the rotor;

a plurality of low permeability layers arranged in sequential rows with each of the low permeability layers being positioned at a different radial distance from a center of the rotor core such that at least one of the magnets is positioned along a path that extends between two directly adjacent low permeability layers and at a different radial distance from the center of the rotor than the directly adjacent low permeability layers, and each of the low permeability layers has a lower magnetic permeability than the rotor core and extends between respective ones of the N and S poles in a direction generally parallel to the magnetic flux paths of the permanent magnets, such that the permanent magnets and the low permeability layers are arranged to obstruct the magnetic flux between the N and S poles to provide a forward salient pole characteristic; and

a current control device configured to produce a current whose phase is shifted such that the magnetic flux of the permanent magnets intensifies.

2. The motor as recited in claim 1 , wherein

the rows are arranged in a perpendicular direction to magnetic flux paths of the permanent magnets.

3. The motor as recited in claim 1 , wherein

one of the permanent magnets is sandwiched between an adjacent pair of the low permeability layers in each of the rows.

4. The motor as recited in claim 2 , wherein

at least three of the low permeability layers are arranged in the sequential rows; and

the permanent magnets are arranged with respect to the low permeability layers such that a rotor core area free of the permanent magnets is formed between adjacent ones of the low permeability layers.

5. The motor as recited in claim 1 , wherein

the permanent magnets are arranged on an outer circumferential surface of the rotor arranged in rotor core areas between the low permeability layers.

6. The motor as recited in claim 1 , wherein

the stator winding is a distributed winding provided with a phase having two or more slots per one pole.

7. The motor as recited in claim 1 , wherein

the low permeability layers comprise layers of air.

8. The motor as recited in claim 1 , wherein

the low permeability layers comprise layers of an adhesive material.

9. The motor as recited in claim 1 , wherein

each of the low permeability layers between each of the N and S poles extends along a direction of the magnetic flux paths of the permanent magnets; and

the permanent magnets are arranged inside the low permeability layers, with the permanent magnets being magnetized along a direction perpendicular to the direction along which the low permeability layer extend.

10. The motor as recited in claim 9 , wherein

the stator winding is a distributed winding provided with a phase having two or more slots per one pole.

11. The motor as recited in claim 9 , wherein

each of the low permeability layers comprises a layer of air.

12. The motor as recited in claim 9 , wherein

each of the low permeability layers comprises a layer of an adhesive material.

13. The motor as recited in claim 1 , wherein

each of the N and S poles are formed by a pair of the permanent magnets.

14. The motor as recited in claim 1 , wherein

the low permeability layers are positioned to avoid intersecting any directions of the magnetic flux paths of the permanent magnets.

15. The motor as recited in claim 1 , wherein

at least one of the magnets is positioned between two directly adjacent low permeability layers.