Patents Examined by Charles S Laughlin
  • Patent number: 11424700
    Abstract: A Hall sensor circuit includes a first Hall element and a second Hall element, first and second Analog-to-Digital Converter (“ADC”) channel inputs passively coupled to first and second output nodes of the first Hall element, third and fourth ADC channel inputs passively coupled to the first and second output nodes of the second Hall element, a first ADC output for providing a first digital output signal, and a second ADC output for providing a second digital output signal. The Hall element outputs can be directly coupled to the ADC or coupled through a passive resistor-capacitor filter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 24, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2022
    Assignee: INFINEON TECHNOLOGIES AUSTRIA AG
    Inventor: Wei Wu
  • Patent number: 11418126
    Abstract: An inrush current suppression device is an inrush current suppression device that suppresses an inrush current flowing from a DC power supply through a mechanical switch, and includes: a first capacitor having one end connected to a positive terminal of the DC power supply through the mechanical switch; a semiconductor switching element connected to the other end of the first capacitor and a negative terminal of DC power supply between the other end of the first capacitor and the negative terminal of the DC power supply; a resistance element connected in parallel to the semiconductor switching element; and a control circuit for controlling the semiconductor switching element. The control circuit has a first output port, and controls ON time and OFF time of the semiconductor switching element by outputting a PWM signal from the first output port to the semiconductor switching element after the mechanical switch is closed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2022
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Toshiki Tsubouchi, Mineaki Isoda
  • Patent number: 11402139
    Abstract: The invention relates to a control apparatus for a refrigerator compressor having at least one two-phase AC asynchronous motor (K1, K2), having mains connection means (10) for connection to a preferably public voltage supply network which nominally provides a mains AC voltage of between 85 V and 264 V, in particular between 100 V and 230 V, first voltage converter means (14) which are connected downstream of the mains connection means and are intended to generate an intermediate voltage, in particular an intermediate DC voltage, from the mains AC voltage, second voltage converter means (16-1, 16-2) which are connected downstream of the first voltage converter means and are intended to generate an output signal which is independent of a level and a mains frequency of the mains AC voltage, in particular has a constant voltage and/or frequency in periods, and is intended to control the refrigerator compressor with an AC voltage of a plurality of differently predefinable voltage levels, wherein the mains connecti
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: EPPENDORF AG
    Inventors: Rüdiger Uhlendorf, Gary Poole, George Mason, Ted Kao
  • Patent number: 11404968
    Abstract: A thyristor bridge of an electrical converter is connected to at least one DC link and including at least one phase leg for each output phase and each phase leg being composed of two series-connected thyristor arms. The thyristor arms of a thyristor bridge are cyclically switched by: determining an upper bound for a firing angle of a thyristor arm, wherein the upper bound is determined from voltage and current measurements; and determining a firing angle for the thyristor bridge, which firing angle determines a switching time of the thyristor arm, wherein the firing angle is determined, such that it is less or equal to the upper bound.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: ABB SCHWEIZ AG
    Inventors: Thomas Besselmann, Pieder Jörg
  • Patent number: 11390378
    Abstract: The present invention relates to an actuator in a landing gear system of an aircraft, comprising: an electric drive for driving the actuator and first drive electronics for controlling the electric drive that are connected to the drive via an electric line, with second drive electronics for controlling the electric drive that are connected to the drive via an electric line, with the first drive electronics and the second drive electronics being redundant with respect to one another.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2022
    Assignee: Liebherr-Aerospace Lindenberg GmbH
    Inventors: Manfred Hinderhofer, Christian Schilling
  • Patent number: 11394330
    Abstract: A current command module is configured to, based on a direct current (DC) bus voltage for an electric motor of the vehicle, generate a d-axis current command for the electric motor and a q-axis current command for the electric motor. A voltage command module configured to generate voltage commands based on the d-axis current command and the q-axis current command. A battery switching control module is configured to: determine a voltage operating state of a battery based on the voltage commands; compare a battery parameter to at least one of a predetermined voltage parameter and a predetermined current parameter during a dwell time when a plurality of switches of the battery are open; and generate a switch control signal to transition at least one switch of the plurality of switches to cause the battery to operate in the voltage operating state based on the comparison.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2022
    Assignee: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC
    Inventors: Yue-Yun Wang, Lei Hao, Alireza Fatemi, Thomas W. Nehl, Chandra S. Namuduri
  • Patent number: 11387759
    Abstract: A rotation electric machine controller includes: a torque command value acquisition section that acquires a torque command value for a rotation electric machine; and a setting section that sets a negative limit value limiting a d-axis current command value. The setting section sets the limit value having a larger absolute value in a case where the torque command value is large, in comparison to a case where the torque command value is small.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2022
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hiroyasu Otake, Takashi Suzuki
  • Patent number: 11387765
    Abstract: A system and method for controlling a DC midpoint terminal voltage of a three level inverter is provided. The method includes receiving an input power signal at a three level motor control system that includes a three level inverter, the three level inverter powering an electric motor, determining, in the three level motor control system, a speed value of the electric motor, and adjusting a zero-sequence inverter output voltage to adjust a midpoint voltage at the DC midpoint based on the determined speed value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2022
    Assignee: HAMILTON SUNDSTRAND CORPORATION
    Inventors: Jordan K. Vanevenhoven, Curtis J. Plude, Gary L. Miles
  • Patent number: 11387758
    Abstract: A motor controller estimates an initial position of a magnetic pole of a rotor of a brushless DC motor in an inductive sensing scheme. The motor controller controls a drive circuit to apply an AC voltage to a stator winding at a first energization angle, and subsequently to apply an AC voltage to the stator winding at a second energization angle before a residual current flowing through the stator winding returns to zero. At each energization angle, the motor controller corrects a peak value of a current in the stator winding based on the residual current detected immediately before a voltage is applied to the stator winding or at a time when voltage application to the stator winding is started. Based on the corrected peak value, the control circuit estimates the initial position of the magnetic pole of the rotor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2022
    Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Yoshikawa, Yuta Tachibana, Daichi Suzuki
  • Patent number: 11368113
    Abstract: A generator system includes a generator including terminals, a generator circuit breaker coupled to the terminals and that couples and decouples the generator from a power grid, multiple sensors, and a controller that operates the generator system. The controller determines whether an active power is less than a reverse active power threshold and whether one or more turbine valves are closed, and determines that a breaker failure has occurred based on the active power being less than the reverse active power threshold and the one or more turbine valves being closed. If the active power remains less than the reverse active power and the turbine valves remain closed after a threshold time period after the trip command, and if a reactive power is less than a reverse reactive power threshold, then a breaker failure has occurred. In response, the controller may transmit another trip command to the generator circuit breaker to initiate the breaker failure protection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2022
    Assignee: Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventor: Matchyaraju Alla
  • Patent number: 11362564
    Abstract: A linear actuator includes a casing that contains a moveable shaft moved by a motor in response to a drive signal and coupled to an encoder that determines an actual instantaneous position of the shaft and forms part of a control loop that adjusts the drive signal so as to ensure accurate positioning of the shaft. A temperature sensor mounted on the shaft produces a temperature signal indicative of instantaneously measured temperature, and a temperature compensator responsive to the measured temperature for generating a negative or positive offset for correcting the drive signal so as to move the shaft to a positon that is corrected for instantaneous expansion or contraction of the shaft owing to departures of the shaft's actual temperature from a known baseline temperature.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2022
    Assignee: Kappasense Ltd.
    Inventors: Michael Driker, Boris Kilunov, Stanislav Podlisker
  • Patent number: 11362602
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are a motor control apparatus and method. The motor control apparatus includes a compensation signal generator configured to apply a DC-Link voltage (VLink) for driving a motor to a parameter map preset in order to estimate a gain and phase of a motor torque ripple generated when the motor is driven according to a motor command current and a motor rotation speed, and to generate a compensation signal (icomp) for compensating for the motor torque ripple corresponding to a current input motor command current (iq*), motor rotation speed (?m), and DC-Link voltage (VLink), and a current controller configured to control the current of the motor by controlling an inverter such that a compensation command current (iq*_comp), generated by reflecting the compensation signal (icomp), in the motor command current (iq*), coincides with a motor drive current (iq) supplied to the motor from the inverter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2022
    Assignee: HYUNDAI MOBIS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hyeon Hee Jeong, Kyu Ha Kim, In Hyuk Kim, Jeong Hoon Seo
  • Patent number: 11358476
    Abstract: A drive device includes a motor, an inverter, an electric power storage device, and an electronic control unit. The electronic control unit is configured to generate a first pulse width modulation (PWM) signal of the switching elements by comparison of a voltage command of each phase according to a torque command of the motor and a carrier wave voltage, as a first PWM control. The electronic control unit is configured to generate a second PWM signal of the switching elements based on a modulation factor and a voltage phase of a voltage according to the torque command and a pulse count per unit cycle of an electric angle of the motor, as a second pulse width modulation control. The electronic control unit is configured to limit execution of the second PWM control when high controllability of the motor is requested rather than when the high controllability is not requested.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2022
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kiyotaka Matsubara, Kenji Yamada, Toshihiro Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 11342819
    Abstract: A method for preventing a frequency component of a voltage from occurring in an electrical machine including the steps of: obtaining, either by measuring a voltage signal or a current signal from the electrical machine in time domain and transforming the measured signal into frequency domain, by simulating or deducing a first frequency component present in the electrical machine in absence of a grounding, the first frequency component representing a first undesired frequency higher than a limit frequency of 500 Hz; and providing the electrical machine with a first grounding at a grounding location, the first grounding including a resonant circuit resonating at the first undesired frequency. In order to get rid of harmful shaft voltages in the form of sharp voltage peaks at high frequencies, it is first necessary to determine at which undesired frequency or frequencies these voltage peaks occur.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2022
    Assignee: ABB Schweiz AG
    Inventors: Pedro Rodriguez, Subrat Sahoo, Cajetan Pinto, Klaus Vänskä
  • Patent number: 11323051
    Abstract: A fluid sprayer includes a housing, a pump, a nozzle, a high voltage direct current (HVDC) brushed electric motor that drives the pump, and a motor controller electrically connected to the motor. The motor controller drives the motor with a high speed pulse width modulated (PWM) drive signal that switches current through the motor on and off. The motor controller varies the PWM signal as a function of a spray setting input and sensed current through the motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2022
    Assignee: Graco Minnesota Inc.
    Inventor: Tyler J. Kruzel
  • Patent number: 11309558
    Abstract: A control method and system for driving of a motor and a control method of driving of an air compressor of a fuel cell system using the same include calculating an electrical rotation frequency of a motor, calculating a driving torque frequency of the motor based on the calculated electrical rotation frequency of the motor, and controlling torque of the motor to be repeatedly turned on/off at the calculated driving torque frequency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2022
    Assignees: HYUNDAI MOTOR COMPANY, KIA MOTORS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Dong Hun Lee, Keun Bong Ham, Chang Seok You, Min Su Kang, Sung Do Kim
  • Patent number: 11296634
    Abstract: A method and system for sensorless determination of the orientation of the rotor of an ironless PMSM motor from a known rotor angle is described. The method and system include: specifying a rotor system according to the rotor angle; applying voltage pulses to the phases of the motor in the torque-forming direction of the rotor system; measuring the current in the phases of the motor; determining the expected back EMF along the flux-forming axis, based on the measured current; forming an integral of the expected back EMF by time integration of the expected back EMF along the flux-forming axis and/or a filter-based accumulation function; and determining the orientation of the rotor from the algebraic sign of the integral of the expected back EMF and/or the accumulation function.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2022
    Assignee: MAXON INTERNATIONL AG
    Inventors: Damian Frick, Sébastien Mariéthoz, Marko Tanaskovic, David Lehmann
  • Patent number: 11286983
    Abstract: An electrical drive includes an electrical machine, a first converter stage connected to terminals of stator phase-windings of the electrical machine, and a second converter stage connected to intermediate points of the stator phase-windings. A control device determines first component currents and second component currents so that torque is generated in accordance with electrical machine control and magnetic levitation force is directed to a rotor of the electrical machine in accordance with levitation control when portions of the phase-windings between the terminals and the intermediate points carry both the first and second component currents and the other portions of the phase-windings carry the first component currents. The reference currents for the first converter stage are determined based on the first and second component currents, and the reference currents for the second converter stage are determined based on the second component currents.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 11, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2022
    Assignee: LAPPEENRANNAN TEKNILLINEN YLIOPISTO
    Inventors: Rafal Jastrzebski, Pekko Jaatinen
  • Patent number: 11289987
    Abstract: A motor module includes a motor and a rotation angle detector including a rotation angle calculator that calculates a rotation angle based on a voltage and an electric current of the motor, a first signal generator that generates a first signal based on a ripple component included in the electric current, an operation part that corrects the rotation angle based on the first signal and the rotation angle, and a rotation information calculator that calculates information on rotation of the motor based on an output from the operation part. The operation part outputs, to the rotation angle calculator, a command to correct the rotation angle when the first signal is generated for the first time while the rotation angle is within a predetermined angle range, and ignores the first signal that is generated for the second or subsequent time while the rotation angle is within the predetermined angle range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2022
    Assignee: ALPS ALPINE CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Ikuyasu Miyako, Tsutomu Abe
  • Patent number: 11256228
    Abstract: An electronic device has a method capable of automatically executing angle rotation. A second body is rotatably connected to a first body of the electronic device. A hinge mechanism is disposed between the first body and the second body. The hinge mechanism includes a hinge component, a motor unit, a coupling component and an angle detecting unit. The first body and the second body are connected to the hinge component. The motor unit is electrically connected to a controller of the electronic device. The coupling component is connected between the hinge component and the motor unit. The angle detecting unit is connected to the hinge component or the coupling component to read its rotary angle. The controller drives the motor unit to rotate the hinge component via the coupling component, and the second body can be moved relative to the first body and be fixed at a predetermined position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 22, 2022
    Assignee: Wistron Corporation
    Inventors: Chen-Yi Liang, Cheng-Wei Chang, Che-Wen Liu