Electric machines, such as motors and generators, typically include a stator that is mounted inside a housing and a rotor that is supported for rotation relative to the stator. Some brushless permanent magnet electric machines include a segmented stator with a plurality of stator segment assemblies. The stator segment assemblies typically include a stator core, an end cap assembly, and winding wire. Some switched reluctance electric machines also include a segmented stator.
The winding wires of the stator segment assemblies are wound around the stator core and the end cap assembly. Opposite ends of the winding wire are connected to insulation displacement connectors (IDC) or wound around terminals that are integrated with the end cap assembly. Additional wire connects the IDC or wiring terminals to form phases of the electric machine.
One phase wiring approach involves manually interconnecting the stator segment assemblies using insulated winding wire. This approach has a relatively high cost. In addition, loose phase wires laying randomly on top of coils of the electric machine may cause degradation of the electrical characteristics of the electric machine. Lack of adequate strain relief for jumper wires and lead wires may cause reliability problems. Solutions include resin potting the phase wiring and/or using single or multi-strand insulated phase wires. Other solutions include using a printed circuit board instead of phase wires, which has a relatively high cost.