Patents Examined by Erick Glass
  • Patent number: 9906174
    Abstract: Provided are a power steering device and a control device for a power steering device, which are capable of reducing power consumption. The power steering device includes a current detection number setting circuit configured to set the number of times of detection of a DC bus current value by a current detecting circuit to a first predetermined number over a first predetermined cycle of a PWM period when the steering-state signal indicative of a steering operation state is received, and to set the number of times of detection so that the number of times of detection becomes smaller than the first predetermined number over the first predetermined cycle of the PWM period when a steering-state signal indicative of a non-steered state is received.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2018
    Assignee: HITACHI AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS, LTD.
    Inventors: Yoshitaka Sugiyama, Masaki Kashima, Hiroyuki Ota
  • Patent number: 9906179
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a motor drive control device includes a PWM control circuit that generates PWM signals corresponding to a predetermined exciting current pattern, an H bridge circuit that is constituted of switch transistors whose on/off is controlled by the PWM signals, a coil to which an exciting current is supplied from the H bridge circuit, and a current detection circuit that detects a current flowing into the coil. A value of a parameter of the exciting current pattern is corrected by using the detection result of the current detection circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2018
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventor: Hideki Kimura
  • Patent number: 9896882
    Abstract: A roll shade system is disclosed. The roll shade system includes a motor configured to remain stationary during operation of the motor, a support shaft supporting the motor wherein the support shaft is configured to remain stationary during operation of the motor, and a roll shade tube configured to be rotatable about the motor and the support shaft during operation of the motor. The roll shade system further includes stationary components including a wiring connector, an input wiring system, a bearing, an antenna, a coaxial cable, a motor controller, a counterbalance spring. The roll shade system also includes rotatable components including a bearing housing and one or more O-rings.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2018
    Assignee: THE WATT STOPPER
    Inventors: Willis Jay Mullet, William Ashton Lee Cutts Lucas, Darrin W. Brunk
  • Patent number: 9899951
    Abstract: A motor driving apparatus including a motor including a stator and a rotor rotating in the stator, an inverter configured to supply a driving voltage to a stator coil wound on the stator so as to rotate the rotor, and a control unit configured to, when a target command value is received, change a predetermined reference start-up time point to a start-up time point corresponding to an electrical angle position of the rotor in correspondence with the target command value per rotation of the rotor and to control the inverter to supply the driving voltage at the start-up time point.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 11, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2018
    Assignee: LG ELECTRONICS INC.
    Inventors: Gilsu Lee, Naechun Park, Kyunghoon Lee, Sungbae Song
  • Patent number: 9899946
    Abstract: A control system for a switched reluctance (SR) machine having a rotor and a stator is provided. The control system may include a converter circuit in electrical communication between the stator and a common bus, and a controller configured to monitor a bus voltage of the converter circuit and a phase current of the SR machine. The controller may be configured to determine a phase voltage based on one or more of main pulses and any diagnostic pulses, determine an estimated flux based on the phase voltage and an associated mutual voltage, determine a rotor position based at least partially on the estimated flux, and control the SR machine based on the rotor position and a desired torque.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 10, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2018
    Assignee: Caterpillar Inc.
    Inventors: Seok-hee Han, Jackson Wai, Ahmed Khalil, Ernesto Inoa, Sangameshwar Sonth, Jesse Gerdes, James Michael Thorne
  • Patent number: 9893659
    Abstract: A circuit includes a driver circuit having a high side switch device and a low side switch device coupled to a load voltage node and a motor winding output. A controller operates the high side switch device and the low side switch device. The controller operates in a normal mode to supply current to the motor winding output for driving a motor winding when an external power supply is available to supply the load voltage node. In response to detecting a loss of the external power supply, the controller operates the high side switch device and the low side switch device in a boost mode to utilize a back electromotive force (BEMF) voltage from the motor winding to supply current to the load voltage node.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2018
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventors: Seil Oh, Tuan V. Tran, David R. Street, Juergen Luebbe, Quang Dieu An, John K. Rote
  • Patent number: 9890585
    Abstract: An architectural covering is provided. The architectural covering includes: shade material; the shade material operatively connected to a motor unit such that movement of the motor unit causes movement of the shade material; the motor unit comprising a DC motor and a shaft connected to the DC motor; a power supply unit electrically connected to the motor unit; a controller unit electrically connected to the motor unit, the controller unit having a microprocessor; and a rotation detector configured to detect rotation of the motor unit and upon detection of rotation of the motor unit transmit a signal to the microprocessor, wherein the microprocessor of the controller unit is configured to power an encoder unit in response to determination of manual movement of the shade material. A motor and control unit for an architectural covering may be provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2018
    Assignee: The Watt Stopper
    Inventors: Willis Jay Mullet, Darrin W. Brunk, Christopher Lee Wysoczynski, Harry Edward Asbury, Richard Scott Hand, Yan Rodriguez, Benjamin Bruckner
  • Patent number: 9887659
    Abstract: A safety system has higher user design flexibility. Motor controllers (20, 30) include a motor drive circuit (207) that outputs a motor voltage command signal for driving motors (90, 100) in accordance with a motor drive command value, an inverter (211) that supplies power for driving the motors (90, 100) by switching based on the motor voltage command signal, a safety control unit that outputs a drive permission signal for driving the motors (90, 100) in accordance with communication data received through a communication circuit (213), a cut-off circuit (209) that receives the drive permission signal and the voltage drive command signal and cuts off the voltage drive command signal to an inverter (211) when receiving no drive permission signal, and a safety input unit (205) that receives redundant safety input signals. The cut-off circuit (207) receives a logical AND of the safety input signal and the drive permission signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2018
    Assignee: OMRON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Ryuichi Jimbo, Takao Ushiyama, Masakazu Matsugami
  • Patent number: 9887660
    Abstract: A motor control device of the present invention is a control device for a motor for driving a feed shaft of a machine tool, and includes: a power outage detector for detecting a power outage of a power source for supplying power to drive the motor; a forcible decelerator for forcibly decelerating the motor in response to a torque command when a power outage is detected; a DC link voltage monitor for monitoring a DC link voltage applied to an amplifier for driving the motor; a determination unit for determining whether the value of the DC link voltage is greater than a first threshold, or whether the change ratio of the DC link voltage is greater than a second threshold; and, a torque command limiter for limiting the torque command to a predetermined torque command limiting value, in accordance with the result of determination at the determination unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2018
    Assignee: FANUC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shoutarou Hashimoto, Tadashi Okita
  • Patent number: 9866154
    Abstract: Disclosed is a drive system for induction motor, including a two-phase induction motor, a power source filter circuit, an H-bridge power drive circuit and a controller MCU. The power source filter circuit is configured to filter out harmonic components of a DC power source, and generate a power source midpoint voltage required for driving; the controller MCU is configured to generate a switch control signal required for operation of the H-bridge power drive circuit; the H-bridge power drive circuit is configured to generate a drive current and transfer the drive current to the two-phase induction motor; and the two-phase induction motor is configured to receive the drive current generated by the H-bridge power drive circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 19, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2018
    Assignee: FORTIOR TECHNOLOGY (SHEN-ZHEN) CO., LTD
    Inventors: Chao Bi, Lei Bi
  • Patent number: 9859826
    Abstract: A motor control circuit for controlling an electric motor may include at least one switching device configured to receive, from a pulse modulation device, a pulse modulated signal and output, based on the pulse modulated signal and to the electric motor, a current. In some examples, a frequency of the pulse modulated signal is below a threshold frequency. The motor control circuit may also include a transient detection circuit configured to detect a current transient, and responsive to detecting the current transient, output a pulse. The motor control circuit may further include a pulse counter configured to update, based on the pulse, a value indicative of a position of a rotor of the electric motor; and output the value indicative of the position of the rotor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 3, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2018
    Assignee: INFINEON TECHNOLOGIES AG
    Inventor: Martin Barth
  • Patent number: 9859834
    Abstract: A slack compensator includes a stator fixedly attachable to a base and a shuttle. The shuttle is selectably movable from a first position on the stator to a second position on the stator. The shuttle is selectably releasably attached to the stator in the first position. The shuttle is to be permanently captured upon reaching the second position. The slack compensator is attachable to an SMA wire for removing slack that develops in the SMA wire during a plurality of break-in cycles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2018
    Assignee: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC
    Inventors: Xiujie Gao, Christopher B. Churchill, Guillermo A. Herrera, Andrew C. Keefe, Paul W. Alexander
  • Patent number: 9853588
    Abstract: A control circuit for a motor of a compressor includes an inverter control module configured to control power switching devices of an inverter to generate output voltages from a DC power supply. The output voltages are applied to windings of the motor. A current control module is configured to generate voltage signals based on a torque demand. The inverter control module controls the power switching devices according to the voltage signals. A selector is configured to output one of an open loop torque value and a closed loop torque value as the torque demand. An open loop torque module is configured to generate the open loop torque value. The open loop torque module is configured to apply an upper limit to the open loop torque value. The upper limit is based on a voltage of the DC power supply.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2017
    Assignee: Emerson Climate Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Charles E. Green, Joseph G. Marcinkiewicz
  • Patent number: 9847779
    Abstract: In a dead time adjusting circuit, a switch voltage appearing at a connection node between a first output switch and a second output switch, which are connected in series between two different potentials, is monitored to detect a first dead time, which is from a time at which the second output switch is turned off to a time at which the first output switch is turned on, and a second dead time, which is from a time at which the first output switch is turned off to a time at which the second output switch is turned on, each of the first and second dead times being feedback-controlled to be identical to a predetermined target value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2017
    Assignee: Rohm Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Keisuke Kadowaki
  • Patent number: 9837940
    Abstract: A method for determining the state of a brushless motor having first, second and third phases, in some embodiments, comprises: decoupling said motor from a power source; determining whether said motor is rotating or non-rotating; if the motor is rotating, determining a first phase voltage state relative to a common voltage and a second phase voltage state relative to the common voltage, said first phase and second phase voltage states determined when a third phase voltage is within a predetermined range of said common voltage; and if the first phase voltage state and the second phase voltage state are the same, repeating said determination as to whether the motor is rotating or non-rotating.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2017
    Assignee: SEMICONDUCTOR COMPONENTS INDUSTRIES, LLC
    Inventor: Fumio Kumazawa
  • Patent number: 9837948
    Abstract: A power supply system includes a first power supply, a second power supply, a first voltage converter, a second voltage converter, and circuitry. The circuitry is configured to control the first voltage converter to boost a first output voltage when the first power supply and the second power supply electric power to the load such that first passing power and second passing power are within a passing power range. The circuitry is configured to control the second voltage converter to stop boosting the second output voltage so as to supply the electric power from the second power supply directly to the load when the first power supply and the second power supply the electric power to the load such that the first passing power and the second passing power are within the passing power range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2017
    Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Shuichi Kazuno
  • Patent number: 9825565
    Abstract: A motor controller coupled to a motor is provided. The motor controller is configured to transmit a first instruction to the motor to perform a first start attempt utilizing at least one parameter in a first set of parameters, wherein the first set of parameters are not preconfigured for a specific application in which the motor is being installed. The motor controller is additionally configured to receive feedback associated with the first start attempt from the motor, and transmit, in response to the feedback, a second instruction to the motor to perform a second start attempt utilizing at least one parameter in a second set of parameters, wherein the second set of parameters differ from the first set of parameters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2017
    Assignee: Regal Beloit America, Inc.
    Inventors: Gregory P. Sullivan, Bryan J. Stout, Brian L. Beifus, Aldo Sebastian Bertoncini, Michael R. Koller
  • Patent number: 9825564
    Abstract: A motor controller includes a square wave voltage generator and adding circuitry for adding the square wave voltage to a first drive voltage that is connectable to the stator windings of a motor. A current monitor for monitoring the input current to the motor as a result of the square wave voltage. A device for determining the position of the rotor based on the input current.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 19, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2017
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: David P. Magee, Shih-Chin Yang
  • Patent number: 9825577
    Abstract: A drive control device of a motor includes a comparison unit for comparing a first voltage value, which increases or decreases depending on a current value obtained in an inverter unit of the motor, with a reference voltage value, and an arithmetic processing unit for determining presence or absence of an overcurrent based on a comparison result of the comparison unit. The arithmetic processing unit includes a first terminal and a second terminal. The comparison result of the comparison unit is inputted to the first terminal. The second terminal receives the input of the first voltage value and outputs an operation confirmation signal to the comparison unit at predetermined timings. The arithmetic processing unit determines an overcurrent state based on the first voltage value and determines a state of the first terminal based on an output timing of the operation confirmation signal from the second terminal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 3, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2017
    Assignee: NIDEC SERVO CORPORATION
    Inventor: Masatomo Ishikawa
  • Patent number: 9819290
    Abstract: A power tool and a motor drive circuit thereof are provided. The motor drive circuit includes an inverter, a controller and a current sensor. The inverter includes a plurality of semiconductor switches and configured to convert a voltage from a power supply into an alternating current for an electric motor. The controller is configured to output detecting signals and drive signals for the inverter. The current sensor is configured to sample a current flowing through the motor, the current comprising a plurality of driving current portions corresponding to the drive signals and a plurality of position detecting current portions corresponding to the detecting signals. The controller determines the drive signals at least based on the position detecting current portions of the current so as to control power modes of the semiconductor switches in the inverter in a starting stage of the motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2017
    Assignee: JOHNSON ELECTRIC S.A.
    Inventors: Hai Bo Ma, Yong Gang Li, Yong Sheng Gao, Jin Yun Gan, Yuk Tung Lo, Wei Long Lan