Patents by Inventor Thomas A. Nondahl

Thomas A. Nondahl has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 9294019
    Abstract: Power converters and methods are presented for driving an AC load connected through an intervening filter circuit, in which at least one filter current or voltage signal or value is determined according to feedback signals or values representing an output parameter at an AC output of the power converter, and AC electrical output power is generated at the AC output based at least partially on the at least one filter current or voltage signal or value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 22, 2016
    Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Jingbo Liu, Thomas Nondahl, Peter Schmidt, Semyon Royak, Jingya Dai, Ehsan Al-Nabi
  • Patent number: 9287812
    Abstract: Motor drives and control methods are presented for sensorless motor speed control in which inverter output currents are sampled from the inverter output and a frequency modulation value is determined based on the current feedback. A speed or frequency setpoint is adjusted at least partially according to the frequency modulation value to provide an adjusted frequency or speed setpoint value that is then used in controlling the inverter to provide stability control to mitigate hunting or motor stoppage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2016
    Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Thomas Nondahl, Jingbo Liu, Peter Schmidt, Semyon Royak, Timothy M. Rowan
  • Publication number: 20160056740
    Abstract: Motor drive control apparatus and methods are presented for sensorless control of a driven motor using open loop current regulated control during low-speed operation and an EMF-based position observer for position estimation during higher speed operation, with zero feedback speed during low-speed open-loop operation and feedback speed estimated by the EMF-based observer during high-speed operation and with velocity mode control over the full speed range and mode control hysteresis for smooth transitions between open loop and EMF-based observer control.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 10, 2014
    Publication date: February 25, 2016
    Applicant: ROCKWELL AUTOMATION TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventors: Thomas Nondahl, Jingbo Liu, Peter Schmidt, Semyon Royak, Jingya Dai, Ehsan Al-Nabi
  • Patent number: 9124209
    Abstract: Power converters and methods are presented for driving an AC load connected through an intervening filter circuit, in which at least one filter current or voltage signal or value is determined according to feedback signals or values representing an output parameter at an AC output of the power converter, and AC electrical output power is generated at the AC output based at least partially on the at least one filter current or voltage signal or value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 16, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 1, 2015
    Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Jingbo Liu, Thomas Nondahl, Peter Schmidt, Semyon Royak
  • Patent number: 9083274
    Abstract: Precharging and dynamic braking circuits are presented for multilevel inverter power stages of a power converter with a shared resistor connected to charge a DC bus capacitor with current from the rectifier circuit in a first operating mode and connected in parallel with the capacitor to dissipate power in a dynamic braking mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 14, 2015
    Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Jingbo Liu, Thomas Nondahl
  • Publication number: 20150194901
    Abstract: A power converter, control apparatus and methods are presented for driving a permanent magnet motor or other load through a sine wave filter and a transformer, in which inverter output current is controlled using a current-frequency relationship to convert a desired frequency or speed value to a current setpoint, and the inverter output current is regulated to the current setpoint using a control algorithm with a bandwidth below the resonant frequency of the sine wave filter.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 24, 2015
    Publication date: July 9, 2015
    Applicant: ROCKWELL AUTOMATION TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventors: Jingbo Liu, Thomas Nondahl, Peter Schmidt, Semyon Royak
  • Publication number: 20150180369
    Abstract: Cascade H-Bridge inverters and carrier-based level shift pulse width modulation techniques are presented for generating inverter stage switching control signals, in which carrier waveform levels are selectively shifted to control THD and to mitigate power distribution imbalances within multilevel inverter elements using either complementary carrier or complementary reference modulation techniques.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 3, 2015
    Publication date: June 25, 2015
    Applicant: Rockwell Automation Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Thomas Nondahl, Jingbo Liu, Zhongyuan Cheng, Navid Zargari
  • Patent number: 9054611
    Abstract: Motor drives and control methods are presented for sensorless motor speed control in which inverter output currents are sampled from the inverter output, and a frequency modulation value is determined based on the current feedback and either one or more voltage commands or one or more voltage feedback signals. A speed or frequency setpoint is adjusted at least partially according to the frequency modulation value to provide an adjusted frequency or speed setpoint value that is then used in controlling the inverter to provide stability control to mitigate hunting or motor stoppage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2015
    Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Jingbo Liu, Thomas Nondahl, Peter Schmidt, Semyon Royak
  • Patent number: 9054621
    Abstract: A power converter, control apparatus and methods are presented for driving a permanent magnet motor or other load through a sine wave filter and a transformer, in which inverter output current is controlled using a current-frequency relationship to convert a desired frequency or speed value to a current setpoint, and the inverter output current is regulated to the current setpoint using a control algorithm with a bandwidth below the resonant frequency of the sine wave filter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2015
    Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Jingbo Liu, Thomas Nondahl, Peter Schmidt, Semyon Royak
  • Publication number: 20150123579
    Abstract: Power converters and methods are presented for driving an AC load connected through an intervening filter circuit, in which at least one filter current or voltage signal or value is determined according to feedback signals or values representing an output parameter at an AC output of the power converter, and AC electrical output power is generated at the AC output based at least partially on the at least one filter current or voltage signal or value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 28, 2014
    Publication date: May 7, 2015
    Applicant: ROCKWELL AUTOMATION TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventors: Jingbo Liu, Thomas Nondahl, Peter Schmidt, Semyon Royak, Jingya Dai, Ehsan Al-Nabi
  • Patent number: 8982593
    Abstract: Cascade H-Bridge inverters and carrier-based level shift pulse width modulation techniques are presented for generating inverter stage switching control signals, in which carrier waveform levels are selectively shifted to control THD and to mitigate power distribution imbalances within multilevel inverter elements using either complementary carrier or complementary reference modulation techniques.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 7, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2015
    Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Thomas Nondahl, Jingbo Liu, Zhongyuan Cheng, Navid Zargari
  • Publication number: 20150002067
    Abstract: Motor drives and control methods are presented for sensorless motor speed control in which inverter output currents are sampled from the inverter output and a frequency modulation value is determined based on the current feedback. A speed or frequency setpoint is adjusted at least partially according to the frequency modulation value to provide an adjusted frequency or speed setpoint value that is then used in controlling the inverter to provide stability control to mitigate hunting or motor stoppage.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 28, 2014
    Publication date: January 1, 2015
    Applicant: ROCKWELL AUTOMATION TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventors: Thomas Nondahl, Jingbo Liu, Peter Schmidt, Semyon Royak, Timothy M. Rowan
  • Publication number: 20150002059
    Abstract: Motor drives and control methods are presented for sensorless motor speed control in which inverter output currents are sampled from the inverter output, and a frequency modulation value is determined based on the current feedback and either one or more voltage commands or one or more voltage feedback signals. A speed or frequency setpoint is adjusted at least partially according to the frequency modulation value to provide an adjusted frequency or speed setpoint value that is then used in controlling the inverter to provide stability control to mitigate hunting or motor stoppage.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 29, 2013
    Publication date: January 1, 2015
    Applicant: ROCKWELL AUTOMATION TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventors: Jingbo Liu, Thomas Nondahl, Peter Schmidt, Semyon Royak
  • Publication number: 20140312811
    Abstract: A power converter, control apparatus and methods are presented for driving a permanent magnet motor or other load through a sine wave filter and a transformer, in which inverter output current is controlled using a current-frequency relationship to convert a desired frequency or speed value to a current setpoint, and the inverter output current is regulated to the current setpoint using a control algorithm with a bandwidth below the resonant frequency of the sine wave filter.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 23, 2013
    Publication date: October 23, 2014
    Applicant: ROCKWELL AUTOMATION TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventors: Jingbo Liu, Thomas Nondahl, Peter Schmidt, Semyon Royak
  • Publication number: 20140300298
    Abstract: Precharging and dynamic braking circuits are presented for multilevel inverter power stages of a power converter with a shared resistor connected to charge a DC bus capacitor with current from the rectifier circuit in a first operating mode and connected in parallel with the capacitor to dissipate power in a dynamic braking mode.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 8, 2013
    Publication date: October 9, 2014
    Applicant: ROCKWELL AUTOMATION TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventors: Jingbo Liu, Thomas Nondahl
  • Publication number: 20140285230
    Abstract: A method of estimating stator resistance of an induction motor is provided. The method includes applying voltage pulses through two phase paths of the motor for a plurality of electrical cycles to inject current in the motor, wherein the voltage pulses are applied until rotor flux of the motor is substantially stabilized and measuring stator voltage and stator current in response to the applied voltage pulses for each of the plurality of electrical cycles. The method also includes calculating the stator resistance based upon the measured stator voltages and the stator currents.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 3, 2014
    Publication date: September 25, 2014
    Inventors: David M. Messersmith, Douglas J. Bader, Haihui Lu, Thomas A. Nondahl, Zhenhuan Yuan
  • Publication number: 20140197774
    Abstract: Power converters and methods are presented for driving an AC load connected through an intervening filter circuit, in which at least one filter current or voltage signal or value is determined according to feedback signals or values representing an output parameter at an AC output of the power converter, and AC electrical output power is generated at the AC output based at least partially on the at least one filter current or voltage signal or value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 16, 2013
    Publication date: July 17, 2014
    Applicant: Rockwell Automation Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Jingbo Liu, Thomas Nondahl, Peter Schmidt, Semyon Royak
  • Patent number: 8742767
    Abstract: A method of estimating stator resistance of an induction motor includes applying voltage pulses through two phase paths of the motor for a plurality of electrical cycles to inject current in the motor, wherein the voltage pulses are applied until rotor flux of the motor is substantially stabilized and measuring stator voltage and stator current in response to the applied voltage pulses for each of the plurality of electrical cycles. The method also includes calculating the stator resistance based upon the measured stator voltages and the stator currents.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 3, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 3, 2014
    Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: David M. Messersmith, Douglas J. Bader, Haihui Lu, Thomas A. Nondahl, Zhenhuan Yuan
  • Publication number: 20140036557
    Abstract: Cascade H-Bridge inverters and carrier-based level shift pulse width modulation techniques are presented for generating inverter stage switching control signals, in which carrier waveform levels are selectively shifted to control THD and to mitigate power distribution imbalances within multilevel inverter elements using either complementary carrier or complementary reference modulation techniques.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 7, 2013
    Publication date: February 6, 2014
    Applicant: Rockwell Automation Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Thomas Nondahl, Jingbo Liu, Zhongyuan Cheng, Navid Zargari
  • Patent number: 8619446
    Abstract: Cascade H-Bridge inverters and carrier-based level shift pulse width modulation techniques are presented for generating inverter stage switching control signals, in which carrier waveform levels are selectively shifted to control THD and to mitigate power distribution imbalances within multilevel inverter elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2013
    Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Jingbo Liu, Thomas Nondahl, Zhongyuan Cheng, Navid Zargari