Patent 7626298 was granted and assigned to Honda on December, 2009 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
This electric motor of the present invention is formed by an inner circumferential side rotor, an outer circumferential side rotor, and a planetary gear mechanism that are placed coaxially. The planetary gear mechanism is a single pinion type that includes a first planetary gear train and a second planetary gear train that are each single gear train. A first planetary carrier that supports the first planetary gear train is able to pivot around an axis of rotation, and a second planetary carrier that supports the second planetary gear train is fixed to a stator. The electric motor is further provided with an actuator that pivots the first planetary carrier by a predetermined pivot amount around the axis of rotation.