Magnetic Field Sensor Or Responsive Device (e.g., Hall Element, Magneto-resistance, Etc.) Patents (Class 318/400.38)
  • Patent number: 8193748
    Abstract: An integrated brushless DC motor and controller including a brushless DC motor having a rotating shaft with a 2 pole permanent magnet affixed to the shaft for rotation thereby in a plane orthogonal to the axis of rotation of the shaft. An X-Y Hall Effect Sensor is carried by a controller mounted on a circuit board attached to the motor and the Hall Effect Sensor is positioned proximate the magnet with the Hall Effect Sensor producing the Sine and Cosine components of the magnetic field as the magnet is rotated by the motor shaft. The electronic controller includes software for determining the motor angle and commutation logic from the Sine and Cosine components generated by the Hall Effect Sensor response to the rotating magnetic field.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2008
    Date of Patent: June 5, 2012
    Assignee: SMI Holdings, Inc.
    Inventors: Robert W. Deller, Robert C. Heagey
  • Patent number: 8174220
    Abstract: Apparatus controlling a permanent magnet rotary electric machine. After the apparatus controls a current control portion, when a rotor of the machine rotates at a constant speed, to supply a predetermined current to an armature, the apparatus performs a dq vector control process by determining a predetermined temporarily set value as a magnetic pole position correction quantity while a d-axis current command value and a q-axis current command value in the dq vector control process performed on a dq coordinate system that has a d-axis extending in the direction of a magnetic field of the permanent magnet of the rotor and a q-axis extending in a direction perpendicular to the d-axis. Then, the apparatus obtains the magnetic pole position correction quantity based on a predetermined operation expression using the d-axis voltage command value and the q-axis voltage command value from the dq vector control process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 8, 2012
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd
    Inventors: Hideki Inoue, Kota Kasaoka, Hisayoshi Takahashi
  • Publication number: 20120091936
    Abstract: A motor controller controlling a rotational speed of a motor and including a thermal detector, a capacitor, an operational amplifier (OP), a charging/discharging circuit, a flip-flop and a logic circuit. The thermal detector detects environmental temperature of the motor to set a first reference voltage. The capacitor has one terminal coupled to a second reference voltage while another terminal thereof is charged/discharged by the charging/discharging circuit, controlled by a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal, to provide a third reference voltage. The OP compares the first and third reference voltages and outputs the comparison result to a ‘set’ terminal of the flip-flop. The flip-flop further uses a ‘reset’ terminal to receive a clock signal and the output signal thereof is utilized in generating the PWM signal. The PWM signal is further provided to the logic circuit for setting a duty cycle of a driving current of the motor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 12, 2011
    Publication date: April 19, 2012
    Inventor: Chi-Lin HSU
  • Patent number: 8143830
    Abstract: A blushless direct current (BLDG) motor apparatus includes: a stator which is provided with a plurality of windings corresponding to N phases and wound in parallel independently of each other; a rotor which has a plurality of poles corresponding to the plurality of windings and rotates with respect to the stator by excitation of the windings; a switching unit which is provided in the form of a full H-bridge with respect to each phase, comprises a pair of upper switching devices corresponding to a (+) side of the winding and a pair of lower switching devices corresponding to a (?) side of the winding, and performs a switching operation to supply or not to supply driving power to the winding; a first sensing device which senses the phase of the rotor with respect to the stator to determine whether to turn on or off the upper switching device; a second sensing device which is provided in the latter part than the first sensing device and senses the phase of the rotor with respect to the stator to determine whethe
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2012
    Assignee: Creation & Motor Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Byung Gil Ha, Ji Seok Park
  • Publication number: 20120062162
    Abstract: The brushless electric machine includes a first drive member (30U) having a plurality of permanent magnets (32U); a second drive member (10) having a plurality of electromagnetic coils and capable of movement relative to the first drive member (30U); and a third drive member (30L) disposed at the opposite side from the first drive member (30U) with the second drive member (10) therebetween. The second drive member (10) has magnetic sensors (40A, 40B) for detecting the relative position of the first and second drive members. The third drive member (30L) has at locations facing the permanent magnets of the first drive member (30U) a plurality of magnetic field strengthening members (32L) for strengthening the magnetic field at the location of the second drive member (10) in conjunction with the permanent magnets.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 18, 2011
    Publication date: March 15, 2012
    Applicant: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Kesatoshi TAKEUCHI, Mamoru SUGIMOTO, Yojiro OKAKURA
  • Patent number: 8125168
    Abstract: A controllable motor includes a rotor. A first stator winding set is operable, upon being energized, to generate and apply a first torque to the rotor. A second stator winding set independent of the first stator winding set is operable, upon being energized, to generate and apply a second torque to the rotor. A motor control is coupled to the first and second stator winding sets. The motor control is operable to selectively energize one of the first or second stator winding sets to thereby generate and apply one of the first or second torques to the rotor, and simultaneously energize both the first and second stator winding sets to thereby generate and apply a third torque greater than the first or the second torque.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 2007
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2012
    Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
    Inventors: Andrew T. Johnson, Casey Hanlon
  • Patent number: 8089233
    Abstract: A first sensor element outputs a first output signal in correspondence to a direction of the magnetic flux lines acting from the outside. A second sensor element outputs a second output signal associated with the first output signal in correspondence to a direction of the magnetic flux lines acting from the outside. A first conversion processing section converts the first output signal output from the first sensor element and the second output signal output from the second sensor element into the second physical quantity. A second conversion processing section converts the first output signal output from the first sensor element and the second output signal output from the second sensor element into a signal representing the rotation angle of the motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2012
    Assignee: HItachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Nobuyasu Kanekawa, Masamichi Yamada, Shoji Sasaki, Katsuaki Fukatsu, Kenji Nakabayashi, Daisuke Terada
  • Publication number: 20110304291
    Abstract: A brushless motor includes a two-phase winding stator having 4×n winding poles and auxiliary poles provided between the winding poles, and a rotor constituted by 6×n permanent magnet rotating poles having divided angle. The two-phase brushless motor can be driven by a control device for the two-phase motor which can transform electric power and rectify electronically. The two-phase brushless DC motor can increase a permeance coefficient of the rotor, improve the efficiency and the starting of the motor, and reduce torque ripple and noise thereof.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 22, 2011
    Publication date: December 15, 2011
    Applicant: SNTECH INC.
    Inventor: Young-Chun Jeung
  • Patent number: 8078425
    Abstract: A device for detecting the angular position of a rotor of a polyphase rotary electrical machine contains a stator and a plurality of magnetic field sensors (200) delivering first signals (2001-2003) representing a magnetic field. The device includes means (201) for generating, from linear combinations of the first signals, first (2010) and second (2011) sinusoidal signals, phase-shifted by a determined value ? representing an angular position of the rotor, referred to as real. The device includes means for detecting a value for an angular position of the rotor referred to as estimated (221) by locking between the real and the estimated angular positions using a feedback loop known as a “tracking” loop (214-216, 215-207). The device may relate to a polyphase rotary electrical machine containing such a device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2011
    Assignee: Valeo Equipements Electriques Moteur
    Inventors: François-Xavier Bernard, Christophe Louise, Hugues Doffin
  • Patent number: 8076885
    Abstract: A power management module for a winch system comprises an overload and low voltage interrupt module within a housing. The overload interrupt determines operating current for the winch system and provides an interrupt signal when the current is greater than a threshold. The low voltage interrupt determines voltage of a power source and provides an interrupt signal when the voltage is less than a threshold. A method of operating the power management module comprises determining operating current of the winch system with an overload interrupt module and voltage of a vehicle power source with a low voltage interrupt module. The overload and low voltage interrupt modules are located within a housing. The overload interrupt provides an interrupt signal when the operating current is greater than a threshold. The low voltage interrupt provides an interrupt signal when the voltage is less than a threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2008
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2011
    Assignee: Warn Industries, Inc.
    Inventors: Oliver Heravi, Kip E. Clohessy, Fred L. Ewer
  • Publication number: 20110285338
    Abstract: A torque amplifying apparatus mounted to a non-driven component of a vehicle comprises a plurality of permanent armature magnets and a plurality of electromagnets, the permanent armature magnets arranged to interact with the plurality of electromagnets. The interaction of the electromagnets and the permanent armature magnets causes a repulsion force, which creates a force in the direction of the motion of the vehicle to reduce fuel consumption.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 20, 2010
    Publication date: November 24, 2011
    Inventors: Peter Andrew John May, Jo-Ann May, Denver May, Billie May
  • Patent number: 8058834
    Abstract: A control device for an automatic transmission includes a current detecting unit for detecting motor current. The current detecting unit has a counter for counting variation number of a rotational position signal output from a rotational position detecting unit for detecting the rotational position of a motor, and an electrical angle 180° judging unit for judging rotation of electrical angle 180° of the motor. A voltage occurring in a current detecting resistor is sampled at a timing of each integral multiple of the electrical angle of 180° judged in the electrical angle 180° judging unit, and rotation of the motor is controlled in accordance with the difference between motor target current calculated in the motor target current calculating unit and motor current.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2011
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Takeru Okabe, Shiro Yonezawa, Nozomu Kamioka, Tomohisa Shoda, Masaki Horii, Yasufumi Ogawa, Osamu Ishikawa
  • Patent number: 8049446
    Abstract: A motor control device includes a dq-axis current control unit for generating a dq-axis voltage reference based on a dq-axis current reference and a dq-axis current signal, an initial magnetic pole position estimation unit for estimating a magnetic pole position of the motor upon power-on to generate a magnetic pole position signal, and a magnetic pole position estimation precision confirming unit for supplying a current in a d-axis direction after generation of the magnetic pole position signal with the initial magnetic pole position estimation unit, and checking an error of the magnetic pole position signal based on an angle of movement of the motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 8, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2011
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Yaskawa Denki
    Inventor: Junichi Watanabe
  • Patent number: 8040085
    Abstract: A brushless motor apparatus includes a fixedly arranged stator 14, a rotor 12 rotated in a manner sequentially excited by a plurality of excitation patterns, a magnetic-pole-position detecting magnet 16 fixed to the rotor and having twice the number of poles of the rotor, and a position detecting element 18 arranged opposite to the magnetic-pole-position detecting magnet and detecting the position of magnetic poles of the rotor, and further includes a motor drive circuit serving as a control such that when the stator is excited with a different excitation pattern between regular excitation patterns on normal operation at the time of phase matching carried out upon actuation of a power source, the rotation angle of the rotor is one-half the rotation angle corresponding to the regular excitation pattern.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2011
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Satoshi Kawamura, Masayuki Yokoyama, Kazuaki Shinya
  • Patent number: 8030866
    Abstract: A motor drive circuit comprising: first and second transistors connected in series, a voltage of a connection-point therebetween being a drive-voltage applied to one end of a motor coil; an operational amplifier for controlling the transistors such that the drive-voltage is a voltage according to a difference between first and second control voltages; a switch circuit for driving the transistors such that the motor coil is in an undriven state regardless of control by the operational amplifier when a pulse-signal is at one logic level, and driving the transistors based on the control when the pulse-signal is at the other logic level; and an auxiliary drive circuit for driving the transistors to increase the drive-voltage for a predetermined time period shorter than a time period of the pulse signal being at the other level regardless of the control, when the pulse-signal changes from the one level to the other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2011
    Assignees: Sanyo Semiconductor Co., Ltd., Semiconductor Components Industries, LLC
    Inventor: Toshiyuki Imai
  • Patent number: 7994745
    Abstract: A power supply device for vehicles, output units (10a, 10b) thereof are connected to a motor (5), includes a fuel cell (1) which is connected to the output units (10a, 10b), a capacitor (2) which is connected in parallel to the fuel cell (1), a lithium ion battery (21) which is connected in parallel to the capacitor (2) through a DC/DC converter (20), and a current control means (32) which limits an output current of the lithium ion battery (21) to at most an output upper-limit current (Ibout_lmt) when power is supplied to the motor (5) from the lithium ion battery (21) during a power running operation of the motor (5), and limits an input current into the lithium ion battery (21) to at most an input upper-limit current smaller than the output upper-limit current (Ibin_lmt) through the DC/DC converter (20) when regenerative power of the motor (5) is recovered into the lithium ion battery (21) during a regenerative operation of the motor (5).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2011
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Takeshi Fujino, Mitsuaki Hirakawa, Minoru Noguchi, Eisuke Komazawa
  • Patent number: 7973502
    Abstract: A drive unit includes a rotating electrical machine; a rotation sensor that detects a rotational position of a rotor of the rotating electrical machine, and a storage medium. In an inspecting step of measuring a counter electromotive force by mechanically driving the rotating electrical machine after the rotating electrical machine and the rotation sensor are assembled together, positional error information of the rotation sensor obtained based on information of the counter electromotive force and output information from the rotation sensor is stored in the storage medium. The storage medium is integrally provided to the drive unit in such a state that the storage medium is readable upon assembling a control device that controls the rotating electrical machine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2008
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2011
    Assignee: Aisin Aw Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yoshinari Nakagawa, Tomoo Atarashi, Takafumi Koshida
  • Patent number: 7973503
    Abstract: A system has a sensor assembly mounted adjacent to a moving magnetic member such as a motor rotor to sense its position. The sensor assembly includes Hall-effect sensors each having a binary output, configured such that distinct positions of the moving magnetic member correspond to distinct digital patterns of the outputs of the Hall-effect sensors. Encoding circuitry is coupled to the outputs of the Hall-effect sensors to generate a multi-valued analog output, distinct values of the multi-valued analog output representing corresponding distinct digital patterns of the outputs of the Hall-effect sensors. The encoding circuitry may employ a ladder network with weighted-value resistors contributing different components of an analog current sensed by the controller. The sensed current can be converted to digital position information using suitable analog-to-digital conversion circuitry.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2011
    Assignee: Wooward HRT, Inc.
    Inventors: Raymond Y. Liu, Estella C. Chung
  • Patent number: 7973500
    Abstract: A normal revolution number calculation unit calculates a normal revolution number of a driving motor generator in every control period, based on a signal from a rotational position sensor. A moving average calculation unit calculates a moving average revolution number of the normal revolution number given in every control period. A predicted revolution number calculation unit determines whether or not the revolution number of the motor generator is in an increasing state, from the locus of the moving average revolution number. Determining that the revolution number of the motor generator is in the increasing state, the predicted revolution number calculation unit calculates a predicted revolution number based on respective moving average revolution numbers in the present and preceding control periods. The calculated predicted revolution number is set to be used as a control revolution number and output to a motor control unit and a torque command calculation unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 5, 2006
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2011
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaishi
    Inventors: Kenji Yamada, Hideaki Saida, Takuo Watanabe
  • Publication number: 20110140645
    Abstract: An apparatus is disclosed for simultaneously measuring the rotational speed and/or direction of a shaft, and providing control power in accordance with the shaft rotation. The apparatus includes a permanent magnet machine (PMM) having a multipole rotor and a stator. The rotor has a plurality of permanent magnet poles and connection to the rotating shaft; the stator includes a winding and electrical connections, so that motion of the rotor with respect to the stator causes a voltage signal at the electrical connections. The apparatus also includes a circuit including a power conversion portion and a speed/direction sensing portion. The circuit receives the voltage signal from the PMM, and simultaneously outputs control power from the power conversion portion and a signal indicating the rotational speed and/or direction of the shaft from the sensing portion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 15, 2009
    Publication date: June 16, 2011
    Inventor: Steven D. Meyer
  • Patent number: 7956562
    Abstract: Provided is a motor having a combination of a plurality of coil pairs and a permanent magnet, wherein these coil pairs are supplied with an excitation signal from a drive circuit so as to be excited at alternate opposite poles, and the permanent magnet is constituted such that the plurality of polar elements is disposed to become alternating opposite poles; the drive circuit is constituted to supply an excitation signal having a prescribed frequency to the coil pairs, and relatively move the coil pairs and permanent magnet with the magnetic attraction—repulsion between the coils and permanent magnet; and the drive circuit is constituted to supply to the coil pairs a waveform signal corresponding to the pattern of the back electromotive voltage to be generated in accordance with the relative movement between the coil pairs and permanent magnet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2007
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2011
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Kesatoshi Takeuchi
  • Patent number: 7940019
    Abstract: A control module adapted to brush and brushless motors essentially applies a magnetic sensor to generate detecting signals in response to the status of the motor and deliver those signals to a control unit. The control unit further converts the signals into discrete diverting signals for driving the rotating direction, phase commands for controlling the motor phase, and a pulse width modulation (PWM) for adjusting the motor speed. A phase refining circuit thence receives those transformed signals and confirms merely a selected phase command attendant with the diverting and PWM signals for assisting a stable operation of the motor. Therefore, such control module not only applies to different types of motors but uses the separate transmissions of the signals responsible for designated instructions to attain facile controls and appropriate adjustments to the errors of the motor phase or motor velocity and efficiently decrease the occurrence of breaking the motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2011
    Assignee: STL Technology Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shing-Jung Wu, Kuei-Hsing Liu
  • Publication number: 20110062900
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes an engine unit to perform an image forming job, an engine control unit to control operation of the engine unit, a plurality of brushless direct current (BLDC) motors to operate the engine unit, a communication interface unit to receive a digital control command for the plurality of brushless DC motors from the engine control unit, a sensor unit to sense operation information of the plurality of brushless DC motors, an operation signal unit to generate an operation signal to control the plurality of brushless DC motors, and a speed control unit to control operation of the operation signal unit according to the received digital control command and sensing result of the sensor unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 26, 2010
    Publication date: March 17, 2011
    Applicant: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Seong-ho Shin, Young-jung Yun
  • Patent number: 7906925
    Abstract: The motor according to one aspect of the present invention has an output waveform correcting unit for correcting the waveform of the output signal of a magnetic sensor during operation of the electric motor. ID codes for identification purposes are assigned respectively to a plurality of magnetic sensors. The output waveform correcting unit receives, from an external device, output waveform correction values for the magnetic sensors together with the ID codes, and stores the output waveform correction values for the magnetic sensors in memory. The drive system according to another aspect of the present invention has a plurality of electric motors, and a system controller connected to the plurality of motors via a shared communication line. Each electric motor has an identification code register that stores an identification code for identifying each electric motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2007
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2011
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Kesatoshi Takeuchi
  • Publication number: 20110056716
    Abstract: The present invention relates to an electric saw (1) being powered by an external power supply (200) through a multicore cable (6). The multicore cable (6) includes electrical wires (24, 25, 27) for supplying power to the motors (5, 12, 13) of the electric saw (1) and communication wires (26) for data communication between the electric saw (1) and the power supply (200). Two motors (12, 13) of the electric saw are three phase permanent magnet motors (12, 13), with an outer rotor (31) and an inner stator (30). Each of the two motors (12, 13) has three Hall Effect sensors (H1, H2, H3) located around the outer rotor (31).
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 29, 2008
    Publication date: March 10, 2011
    Applicant: HUSQVARNA AB
    Inventors: Andreas Jönsson, Magnus Lundgren, Bengt-Allan Bergvall
  • Patent number: 7885044
    Abstract: A cooling system is provided with a motor drive device, a fan motor, and a Hall element. The motor drive device includes a lock protection circuit and a lock controller. When a control signal instructing rotation of the fan motor that is to be driven instructs stoppage of the motor for a predetermined time-period or longer, the lock controller has the lock protection circuit inactive. At an occasion when the control signal has continued to instruct stoppage of the fan motor for a first time-period or longer, a standby controller starts time measurement, and after a further predetermined second time-period has elapsed, makes at least a part of the motor drive device transition to a standby mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 8, 2011
    Assignee: Rohm Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Tomofumi Mishima
  • Patent number: 7868572
    Abstract: This seatbelt apparatus includes: a belt reel around which a belt is wound; a motor which rotationally drives the belt reel; a transmitting device which transmits a driving power between the belt reel and the motor; a controller which drives the motor while controlling an electricity to be supplied to the motor; a rotation-detection device which detects a rotation status of the belt reel. The rotation-detection device outputs, in accordance with a rotation of the belt reel, a plurality of outputs including signals indicating a first state in which a current consumption by the rotation-detection device is larger than a predetermined value, and a second state in which the current consumption by the rotation-detection device is smaller than the predetermined value. The controller executes a first motor-driving process in which the motor is driven based on an output from the rotation-detection device until reaching the second state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2011
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Shotaro Odate
  • Patent number: 7859105
    Abstract: To provide a power converter equipped with a current detector which is small and can carry out highly accurate current detection, in the power converter equipped with a power module 16 having a power controlling semiconductor element 7 disposed on the power module base 27 with a ceramic substrate 28 interposed, and a control unit 26 for controlling the operation of the power controlling semiconductor element 7, a current detector 40 having a magnetic detecting unit 47 which is disposed in the detection conductor 11, electrically connected to the power controlling semiconductor element 7 and disposed on the power module base 27 with the ceramic substrate 28 interposed, and has a magnetic detecting semiconductor element 43 electrically connected to the control unit 26 is provided in the power module 16; and relative distance between the detection conductor 11 and the power module base 27 is larger than the relative distance between the current detection electrode 42 and the power module base 27.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2003
    Date of Patent: December 28, 2010
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kinya Nakatsu, Koichi Yahata, Masato Takahashi, Mitsufumi Iwanaka, Ryuichi Saito, Haruki Hamada
  • Publication number: 20100289442
    Abstract: A brushless motor position detection device has a set of first Hall elements (main Hall ICs 18 for detecting magnetic pole positions) and a set of second Hall elements (sub-Hall ICs 19 for detecting magnetic pole positions) mounted on a plane facing a magnetic pole position detecting magnet 16 for detecting the position of a rotor 12. They are subjected to offset adjustment and are mounted in such a manner that the difference between the maximum value of the magnetic flux density at the mounting positions of the first Hall elements and the maximum value of the magnetic flux density at the mounting positions of the second Hall elements is held within a prescribed limit (mounted in such a manner as to have the offset of a prescribed machine angle in the circumferential direction) to bring the detection accuracy of the plurality of sets of the Hall elements into agreement.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 16, 2009
    Publication date: November 18, 2010
    Inventors: Kenta Hatano, Toshiyuki Umemoto, Naoki Miyamoto, Satoshi Fujimura
  • Patent number: 7830104
    Abstract: The brushless motor includes a coil array, a magnet array, a magnetic sensor, a drive control circuit for driving the coil array, and a temperature sensor for detecting a detection target temperature associated with either the coil temperature or the driving element temperature. The drive control circuit reduces the effective value of driving voltage supplied to the coil array when coil temperature detected by the temperature sensor has exceeded a prescribed threshold value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 2007
    Date of Patent: November 9, 2010
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Kesatoshi Takeuchi
  • Patent number: 7830106
    Abstract: A controller for a motor that can set an induced voltage constant of a motor of a double rotor type according to an operational state of the motor and expand the controllable range of the motor. The controller may include a command calculator that calculates a command value of the induced voltage constant of a motor based on the output voltage of a direct-current power supply, the number of revolutions Nm of the motor and a torque command in such a manner that the magnitude of a vector sum of a d-axis current and a q-axis current that have to be supplied in order to produce the torque according to the torque command is minimized, and a phase difference controller that calculates a command value of a rotor phase difference according to the command value and outputs the command value to an actuator to change the rotor phase difference.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 2, 2007
    Date of Patent: November 9, 2010
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd
    Inventors: Masanari Fukuchi, Hirofumi Atarashi, Kenji Tsukamoto
  • Patent number: 7808200
    Abstract: A technique can recover from motor stalls caused by misalignment of motor position sensors such as Hall-effect sensors. In a normal operating mode, a motor controller provides motor drive current to the motor windings based on the sensor signals according to a normal commutation sequence, and monitors for occurrence of a motor stall condition. Upon detecting the motor stall condition, the motor controller first momentarily drives the windings according to one of an advanced commutation state and a delayed commutation state each adjacent to the given commutation state in the normal commutation sequence, and determines whether the motor stall condition persists. If the stall condition persists, then the motor controller next momentarily drives the windings according to the other of the advanced commutation state and the delayed commutation state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 6, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2010
    Assignee: Woodward HRT, Inc.
    Inventors: Raymond Y. Liu, Estella C. Chung, William K. Morita, Jr.
  • Publication number: 20100237818
    Abstract: A driving circuit feeds driving current to a coil in a brushless motor, and feeds bias current to a Hall element that senses the rotational position of the motor. The driving current and bias current are supplied from the same power supply, but the bias current passes through a load element that reduces power dissipation by the Hall bias circuit by causing some of the power to be dissipated by the load element instead. The Hall bias circuit can therefore be combined with the other driving circuitry into a single integrated circuit, even if the brushless motor is driven at a comparatively high voltage.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 11, 2010
    Publication date: September 23, 2010
    Applicant: OKI SEMICONDUCTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yuichi Ohkubo, Hiroyuki Kikuta, Norihiro Kawagishi, Kazuyoshi Asakawa
  • Patent number: 7791302
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method for measuring a current that flows through a motor, in which a power switch that supplies the motor with electric energy is controlled by a control unit via a pulse width-modulation signal. The pulse width-modulation signal comprises a cycle of operation and the motor current is determined in a feeder to the power switch or a feeder to the motor. Since exactly one measured value representing the motor current is sampled in each cycle of operation, this permits the provision of a method for measuring the motor current, which determines the motor current in a more rapid, more cost-effective manner than in prior art. The method is used for the motor control of direct current motors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 17, 2006
    Date of Patent: September 7, 2010
    Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Uwe Krause, Heinz Ludwig, Uwe Nolte, Guido Sonntag
  • Patent number: 7768219
    Abstract: A device controller system incorporates an inexpensive Hall element to detect motion of a brushless DC motor. A magnet, which is part of a motor rotor, passes by the Hall element producing a Hall voltage each rotation. The Hall voltage is coupled through an interface port to a comparator within a process controller. A microprocessor within the process controller calculates a control response based on a comparator output signal. The interface port is rapidly configured to provide signals produced from the control response as output to device drivers on the same input-output pins that receive the Hall voltage. The device drivers produce a current through fan coils producing an update in the magnetic field of each motor phase which updates the speed of the fan according to programming within the process controller. Rapid configuring and reconfiguring of the interface port allows all necessary components of the controller system to be used with a single rotational commutation cycle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 19, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 3, 2010
    Assignee: Atmel Corporation
    Inventor: Marvin L. Kausch
  • Patent number: 7764033
    Abstract: A controller for a motor driving apparatus switches a direction of electricity flowing through a first coil according to a first lead angle signal obtained based on a first magnetic pole detecting signal and a second magnetic pole detecting signal. The controller switches a direction of electricity flowing through a second coil according to a second lead angle signal obtained based on the first magnetic pole detecting signal and the second magnetic pole detecting signal. Thus, a motor driving apparatus can be configured such that the angle of the rotation center of the rotor with respect to two magnetically sensitive poles can freely be selected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 10, 2008
    Date of Patent: July 27, 2010
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Hiromu Yasuda
  • Patent number: 7733040
    Abstract: In the m phase brushless motor, n (n<m) phase magnet coil groups are provided with magnetic sensors, while the remaining (m?n) phase magnet coil groups are not provided with magnetic sensors. The drive control circuit utilizes the sensor outputs of the n magnetic sensors to generates n sets of drive signals for the n phase magnet coil groups. The drive control circuit further generates (m?n) sets of drive signals for the (m?n) phase magnet coil groups not associated with the n magnetic sensors, using one or more of the sensor outputs of the n magnetic sensors in generation of each of the (m?n) sets of drive signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 24, 2007
    Date of Patent: June 8, 2010
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Kesatoshi Takeuchi
  • Publication number: 20100134059
    Abstract: A blushless direct current (BLDG) motor apparatus includes: a stator which is provided with a plurality of windings corresponding to N phases and wound in parallel independently of each other; a rotor which has a plurality of poles corresponding to the plurality of windings and rotates with respect to the stator by excitation of the windings; a switching unit which is provided in the form of a full H-bridge with respect to each phase, comprises a pair of upper switching devices corresponding to a (+) side of the winding and a pair of lower switching devices corresponding to a (?) side of the winding, and performs a switching operation to supply or not to supply driving power to the winding; a first sensing device which senses the phase of the rotor with respect to the stator to determine whether to turn on or off the upper switching device; a second sensing device which is provided in the latter part than the first sensing device and senses the phase of the rotor with respect to the stator to determine whethe
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 22, 2008
    Publication date: June 3, 2010
    Applicants: CREATION & MOTOR INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Byung Gil Ha, Ji Seok Park
  • Patent number: 7714529
    Abstract: A low-cost sine-wave drive for a 3-phase permanent magnet synchronous AC machines (PMSM) in open-loop control is based on the measurements of two linear Hall sensors. The two Hall sensors are excited by a magnetic ring with the same pole number as the PMSM rotor magnet and sinusoidal flux distributions. The output signals of the Hall sensors are unified through a two-phase-type phase-lock-loop in order to reduce the impact of the sensor mounting non-uniformity during mass production. The peak torque and speed of motor is simply controlled by adjusting the amplitude of pulse-width-modulation carrier. Smooth torque control is achieved due to sinusoidal 3-phase currents. Such a simple sine-wave drive can be achieved with or without the assistance of a micro-controller unit (MCU). No current sensor is required for the motor phase current detection. This motor can be used in industrial applications where there is no strict requirement on torque response and constant speed control of PMSM machines.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 4, 2005
    Date of Patent: May 11, 2010
    Assignee: Aisin Seiki Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Xiaojiang Chen, Adam Pride, Shinichiro Iwasaki
  • Publication number: 20100109578
    Abstract: A motor control device for controlling rotation of a brushless DC motor of a ceiling fan includes a receiver unit that receives an input signal and outputs a command signal, a magnetic sensor unit for detecting a magnetic pole variation of the brushless DC motor so as to generate a position signal, a processing unit that is electrically connected to the receiver unit and the magnetic sensor unit and that generates a control signal, a motor drive unit that is electrically connected to the processing unit and the brushless DC motor and that generates a drive signal for driving the brushless DC motor, an AC to DC converter unit that rectifies and filters a grid power to generate a first DC power for the motor drive unit, and a DC to DC converter unit that is electrically connected to the aforementioned units and that generates a second DC power.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 20, 2009
    Publication date: May 6, 2010
    Applicant: PAN-WORLD CONTROL TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventors: Wen-Bin Tsai, Yu-Neng Chou
  • Patent number: 7705550
    Abstract: A method and apparatus is provided for processing signals from a Hall-effect device arrangement coupled to a monolithic brushless DC motor where the motor is driven by a PWM circuit providing PWM drive signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 26, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 27, 2010
    Inventors: Jade H. Alberkrack, Robert Alan Brannen, Thomas Peter Bushey
  • Publication number: 20100097026
    Abstract: In order to track the position of a component driven by an electric motor, wherein rotational movements of the electric motor are detected and used for a position count, deviations from an anticipated position count are determined and added to the position given by the position count as an uncertainty region.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 27, 2007
    Publication date: April 22, 2010
    Inventors: Stefan Holzmann, Roman Morawek, Alexandre Pozzer
  • Publication number: 20100098563
    Abstract: A surface motor direct-drive sucker-rod screw pump device is driven by a vertical three-phase permanent magnet brush-less DC motor, and comprises a motor controller (6), a rectifying circuit, an inversion circuit, a CPU and a driving circuit. The motor controller (6) is used to adjust the voltage and frequency of the motor by the rectifying circuit, the inversion circuit, the CPU and the driving circuit. Thus, the speed of the motor can vary from zero to the maximum. The device is easy to operate and has a higher efficiency.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 4, 2006
    Publication date: April 22, 2010
    Inventors: Jun Liu, Songbo Gou, Yongjian Tang, Hingli Cong
  • Patent number: 7683562
    Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a chattering preventing circuit, a waveform shaping circuit, and a motor drive control circuit including the chattering preventing circuit or the waveform shaping circuit, to provide an FG signal free from noise caused by chattering, without using a hysteresis comparator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 6, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 23, 2010
    Assignee: Rohm Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Takashi Fujimura
  • Patent number: 7675256
    Abstract: Taught herein is a controller for a direct current brushless motor connected to a high voltage control system, comprising a microprocessor and an input/output interface circuit connected between the high voltage control system and the microprocessor; wherein the input/output interface circuit is a step-down circuit for transforming a high voltage control signal into a low-voltage control signal. The controller enables the high voltage control system to cooperate with motor, therefore a user is not necessary to design a new high voltage control system when replacing the conventional AC motor with the DC brushless motor, which saves time, and reduces cost.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 17, 2007
    Date of Patent: March 9, 2010
    Assignee: Zhongshan Broad-Ocean Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Aiqian Peng, Maosen Zeng
  • Publication number: 20100045219
    Abstract: A position detecting device which can increase accuracy in detecting the pole position of a motor used to perform quick acceleration and deceleration over the range from a zero speed to a high rotation speed, and a synchronous motor driving device using the position detecting device. A position detector detects basic-wave component signals in sensor signals and executes position calculation. A correcting unit calculates signal information representing at least one of a gain, an offset and a phase by a phase detector from the basic-wave component signals detected by an error calculator, and makes correction based on the calculated signal information such that a position detection error is zero.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 2, 2009
    Publication date: February 25, 2010
    Applicant: Hitachi, LTD.
    Inventors: Toshiyuki AJIMA, Hideki MIYAZAKI, Masataka SASAKI, Bunji FURUYAMA, Tokihito SUWA
  • Patent number: 7665914
    Abstract: An iris diaphragm actuator includes a magnetic position sensing structure, at least one driving element and a light intercepting element. The magnetic position sensing structure includes a magnetic element and a magnetic sensor relatively disposed. The driving element connects and drives the magnetic element or the magnetic sensor to perform a rotating motion with respect to a rotation center such that the distance and angle between the magnetic element and the magnetic sensor are changed so as to obtain a substantially linear relation between a magnetic flux sensed by the magnetic sensor and the position of the magnetic element. Also, an arrangement method of a magnetic position sensing structure is disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2010
    Assignee: Delta Electronics, Inc.
    Inventor: Chii-How Chang
  • Patent number: 7667420
    Abstract: A position sensor system for detecting an absolute angular position of a rotor axle of an electric motor at a predetermined angular resolution W. The position sensor system include, a first Hall sensor device having a first sensor magnet set-up, set up on the rotor axle, and two first Hall sensors, which are set up at an angular offset with respect to the rotor axle so as to achieve a position angle resolution of 90°, and having a second sensor magnet set-up, set up on rotor axle, having n pole pairs and a number m of second Hall sensors, which are set up at an angular offset to one another with respect to the rotor axle, the set-up and the number n of pole pairs and the set-up and the number m of the second Hall sensors being selected so as clearly to detect angular segments at the predetermined angular resolution W within the angular range of the angular offset of 90°.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2010
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventors: Tero Jaervelaeinen, Gilles Schmitt
  • Publication number: 20090322165
    Abstract: A motor including an outside rotor having a rotor disc with plural magnets alternating polarities flush mounted in the disc, an inside stator assembly with a ring of pole pieces forming a channel to house a transversely wound stator windings, and a controller coupled with feedback electronics for monitoring a timing, speed and direction and coupling a signal to a processing unit for adjusting the drive electronics driving the phase windings. A u-shaped gap above the channel to receive the rotor disc and focus the captured magnetic flux in the pole pieces toward the magnets. In an embodiment the molded magnetic flux channel pole pieces of the inside stator are sets of molded magnetic flux channel pole pieces, each set forming a channel and corresponding to one phase of the motor; and a section of each one of the transverse windings passing through one channel, the remaining section folding back outside the set in close proximity to the outer base of the set of molded magnetic flux channel pole pieces.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 18, 2009
    Publication date: December 31, 2009
    Inventor: Norman P. Rittenhouse
  • Publication number: 20090322270
    Abstract: There is provided a vehicle motor control apparatus that alternately switches a first ON state in which one of the stator winding terminals is energized through an upper switch element group and another stator winding terminal is energized through a lower switch element group and a second ON state in which one of the stator winding terminals is energized through one of the upper switch element group and the lower switch element group and two other stator winding terminals are energized through the other switch element group, in one cycle period of an electric angle that changes as the rotor rotates.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 8, 2008
    Publication date: December 31, 2009
    Applicant: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventor: Masahiko FUJITA