Abstract: A wiper controller which detects the raindrops adhered onto the windshield glass G of the vehicle to control the wiper based on the detected result is provided with a wiped water measurement unit for calculating an amount of water wiped by the wiper, a wiper operation time counter for counting the actual wiper operation time based on the ON/OFF signal of the wiper motor for driving the wiper, a delay time calculation unit which obtains the wiper operation delay time by comparing the actual wiper operation time with the reference wiper operation time, and an operation change determination unit for determining with respect to the need for changing the wiper operation based on the wiper operation delay time and the amount of water wiped by the wiper. The change in the rainfall state is derived from the wiper operation delay time and the amount of water wiped by the wiper to appropriately control the wiper in response to the change in the rainfall state.

Abstract: Disclosed is a circuit arrangement for electrically controlling and/or regulating the movement of an electrically driven unit (2), especially a window lifter or sliding roof of a motor vehicle, and to a method for operating said circuit arrangement. According to the invention, a jamming protection System is characterized in that a correlation variable (K) for the adjusting force of the unit (2) is measured and the adjusting movement is stopped or reversed in order to prevent jamming if the correlation variable (K) for the adjusting force exceeds a threshold value that corresponding to a predetermined jamming force. A filter (140) is used for temporally filtering the correlation variable (K) for the adjusting force of the unit. The invention is characterized in that the filter parameters (142, 143), especially the cutoff frequency (fg) and/or the order of the filter (140), can be controlled.

Abstract: A control system and a method of using the same for an electric machine having a random number generating module generating a random number ranging from a first value to a second value, a multiplying module multiplying the random number and a sample rate to generate an random delay value; and a delay limiter module limiting the random delay value as a function of speed of the electric machine and generating a limited delay value.

Abstract: A method of generating pulses includes setting a cycle based on a frequency of reference clock, determining a total number of the pulses to be generated during the cycle, calculating the number of one or more first reference clocks used to determine a width of one or more first pulses, the number of one or more second reference clocks used to determine a width of one or more second pulses, a first pulse number for the first pulses and a second pulse number for the second pulses on the basis of the cycle and the total number of the pulses, and generating the first pulse number of the first pulse and the second pulse number of the second pulses during the cycle. A motor control system employs the above pulse generating method and a pulse generator using the method to improve accuracy of controllability of a motor by generating the total number of the pulses during a cycle, and decrease a manufacturing cost.

Abstract: A direct current motor drive circuit comprises: a hall element; an H-bridge drive circuit which receives an input of a sinusoidal signal outputted from the hall element and outputs rectangular wave signals corresponding to the sinusoidal signal; a dead time circuit which carries out rectangular wave signal processing for the rectangular signals; and an H-bridge circuit which receives the output signals of the dead time circuit, in that the H-bridge circuit includes a first series circuit in which a second switching element connected to a positive power supply voltage and a first FET connected to the ground are connected in series via a first node, a second series circuit in which a first switching element connected to the positive power supply voltage and a second FET connected to the ground are connected in series via a second node, and a coil of the direct current motor connected to the first node and the second node.

Abstract: An electrical rotating apparatus comprises an inverter system that outputs more than three phases. The apparatus further includes a stator electrically coupled to the inverter system, and a rotor electromagnetically coupled to a magnetic field generated by the stator. A signal generator generates a pulse modulated drive waveform signal, that has a frequency synchronized with the rotational frequency of the rotor, and the pulse modulated drive waveform signal drives the inverter system. The pulse modulated drive waveform signal has a pulsing frequency. Additionally, the inverter system may be fed by a pulse modulated drive waveform signal that is fed through at least one signal delay device. Alternatively, the system may also be fed selected harmonic components, such as the third harmonic, up until the number of phases in the apparatus.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method for overload-free driving of an actuator, in which an activation counter is incremented or decremented each time an activation request signal occurs, in which, depending on each occurrence of an activation request signal, a drive signal for the actuator is generated if the counter reading of the activation counter is less than or greater than a predetermined maximum or minimum counter reading, in which the counter reading is in each case decremented or incremented if the time since the last generation of a drive signal or since the deactivation of the drive signal is greater than or equal to a predetermined or predeterminable interval time or if the time since the last decrementing of the activation counter is greater than or equal to the interval time.

Abstract: A pressing device includes a pressing tool, an electric motor for driving the tool, and a rechargeable battery for supplying energy to the electric motor. A control device has a voltage comparison element that performs a voltage comparison between the battery voltage and a limit voltage. The control device generates an attention signal and/or limits activation of the electric motor if the voltage comparison element indicates that the battery voltage is equal to or less than the limit voltage. The control device includes an interval element with at least one storable interval. A load element acts upon the battery so that it generates a varying voltage curve. The interval element is activated when the load element is on and voltage comparison is made during a predetermined interval.

Abstract: A circuit for operating an electric motor (11) includes a monitoring arrangement (24) for ascertaining an increased load state of the electric motor (11). The monitoring arrangement (24) compares an rpm difference (ND) between a predetermined nominal rpm value (NSOLL) and an actual rpm value signal (NIST) with a predetermined limit value. If the limit value is exceeded, the monitoring arrangement (24) emits an overload signal (25) that reduces the nominal rpm value (NSOLL) or a control variable (SN) supplied to a drive stage (18), or drops it to zero. The circuit is particularly suited for use with a fan, in which instance the ventilator (22) cools the electric motor (11) and/or the drive stage (18).

Abstract: An electronic device has a heat producing component thermally coupled to a heat dissipation structure. The electronic device further has control circuitry connected to a temperature sensor that senses the component temperature of the heat producing component. The control circuit is further connected to a cooling device also thermally coupled to the heat dissipation structure. The control circuit varies the cooling rate in a manner that cancels out a lag time which occurs during a change from a steady state condition of the component temperature. The cooling rate of the cooling device is varied by the control circuit in proportion to variation in sensed component temperature from the temperature sensor.

Abstract: A system and device for insuring the integrity of an automatic door has a sensor to determine the status of the door with respect to a predetermined position and a programable actuator which provides a positive signal for automatically moving the door to the predetermined position when the programmable actuator is activated and the sensor indicates that the door is at other than the predetermined position. Preferably the programmable actuator is a timer and the predetermined position is closed. The timer can be remotely programmable. The actuator can also be triggered by a sensor of an event such as darkness.

Abstract: A motor control apparatus which comprises: a central processing unit which executes general control of processing of the motor control apparatus, a timer portion which generates predetermined pulses from a reference clock signal, a plurality of registers provided corresponding to control signals of respective phases in which data can be reloaded by the central processing unit, shift registers which are able to store the data having the same number of bits as the number of the registers and the values of plurality of registers can be reloaded to the shift registers by the predetermined pulses output from the timer portion, and a control signal generator means which generates control signals of respective phases of a polyphase motor.

Abstract: An apparatus (10) and a method for controlling a power window drive motor (12). A first RC circuit (110, 106) is used to provide a first time limit and a second RC circuit (114, 106) is used to provide a second time limit. A switch (28) is actuatable to provide a signal having a time duration. A logic circuit (132) determines whether the time duration of the signal from the switch (28) exceeds the first time limit. The motor (12) is operated to move a window (14) through a predetermined range of movement responsive to the time duration of the signal from the switch (28) exceeding the first time limit. The logic circuit (132) determines whether the time duration of operation of the motor (12) exceeds the second time limit. The motor (12) is stopped responsive to the time duration of operation of the motor exceeding the second time limit. The second time limit is set independent of the first time limit using two exchangeable resistors (110, 114).

Abstract: A tool with a battery, an electrical motor, and a control system. The control system has a trigger control that connects the battery to a timer and a voltage monitor. The trigger control has a user actuated switch and a timer actuated switch. At the end of a tool operational cycle, when the user is not actuating the user actuated switch, the timer actuated switch can supply electricity to the control system. After a predetermined period of time, the timer actuated switch can then automatically electrically disconnect the control system from the battery to conserve battery power.

Abstract: A brushless dc motor unit has 3-phase armature windings, a permanent-magnet rotor, a dc power supply having a motor drive voltage and a midpoint voltage that is one half of the motor drive voltage, and an electronic commutation circuit. Back emf voltages at armature winding terminals are individually delayed by less than 90.degree. and the delayed voltages are individually provided to the positive input terminals of voltage comparators. To the negative input terminals of the comparators is commonly provided a sawtooth-wave comparator reference voltage having a frequency proportional to a current rotor speed and an amplitude whose center voltage is the midpoint voltage. Outputs of the comparators cause a control circuit to transmit signals to control the electronic commutation circuit so as to provide 3-phase dc power to the armature windings.

Abstract: A frequency to be monitored is taken to a counter for the continuous measurement of its cycle time. The counter is so set that, when this frequency drops, i.e. when its cycle time increases, it reaches a certain condition and issues error signals (flags) as long as the condition lasts. The first flag actuates a flip-flop which in turn actuates a timer (alarm counter) which, after a short time, triggers an alarm unless it has previously been stopped by the resetting of the flip-flop. The flags are also continuously sent to a second counter which is so arranged that it cannot reach a certain (high) condition in the interval between two successive flags for a continued condition of the first counter. If the frequency to be monitored becomes normal again, the flags disappear and the last flag occurring once again starts this second counter so that it rises to the preset (high) position and emits a reset signal.

Abstract: A full-bridge driver, and especially an entirely integrated bridge driver, for driving DC motors in either direction is capable of automatically braking the motor when the motor direction is to be reversed. The bridge circuit is of "H" configuration and has four transistor switches connected in bridge configuration and has two bridge output terminals to which a motor may be connected. A differential window comparator has the input connected to the two bridge output terminals, producing a high level binary signal only when the voltage across the two output terminals is within a small voltage range centered at about zero volts. A pulse-width filter circuit having an input connected to the window comparator produces a high binary output signal only when the comparator-produced binary signal remains high for greater than a predetermined time.

Abstract: A frequency to be monitored is taken to a counter for the continuous measurement of its cycle time. The counter is so set that, when this frequency drops, i.e. when its cycle time increases, it reaches a certain condition and issues error signals (flags) as long as the condition lasts. The first flag actuates a flip-flop which in turn actuates a timer (alarm counter) which, after a short time, triggers an alarm unless it has previously been stopped by the resetting of the flip-flop. The flags are also continuously sent to a second counter which is so arranged that it cannot reach a certain (high) condition in the interval between two successive flags for a continued condition of the first counter. If the frequency to be monitored becomes normal again, the flags disappear and the last flag occurring once again starts this second counter so that it rises to the preset (high) position and emits a reset signal.

Abstract: The present invention is suitable for examination of the rotating state of a Polygonal mirror motor in an image forming apparatus. It is judged whether or not the rotational speed of the motor is a target speed until a first time period has elapsed since the supply of power to the motor for rotating a Polygonal mirror was started every other second time period sufficiently shorter than the first time period and continuously checked over a third time period which is sufficiently shorter than the second time period. If it is judged that the rotational speed of the motor is the target speed continuously for the third time period, it is judged again whether or not the rotational speed of the motor is the target speed after an elapse of a fourth time period since the judgment. If the rotational speed of the motor is the target speed, the motor outputs a signal indicating that the motor is stabilized at the target speed.

Abstract: The invention concerns a phase locked loop speed control circuit for controlling the speeds of two or more objects. It includes pulse generators for generating reference pulses, first counters for counting each of these reference pulses, encoders for detecting relative travelling distances of the objects, second counters for counting encoder pulses from the encoders, first subtracters for subtracting the outputs of the second counters from those of the first counters, second subtractors for subtracting the encoder pulses from the reference pulses, corrector sections for correcting the differences output by the first and the second subtractors, and adjusting sections for adjusting the movements of the objects based on the corrected differences.

Abstract: A control computation unit includes a delay element in addition to an integrating element and a proportional element. The delay time of this delay element is selected, following the time necessary for due settling (namely, the time required for rendering a controlled variable to follow changes in a control variable command), or the time necessary to restore the controlled variable to the control variable command when a controlled object involved has incurred a certain external disturbance. In case there exist a computation delay time, a dead time, and/or a detection delay time, respectively in the control computation unit, controlled system, and/or a control variable detector, then the delay time is selected equal to one of the computation delay time, dead time, and the detection delay time, or the sum of these times.

Abstract: A manual power assist control employs a magnetic encoder which is mounted to a shaft of the door operator. The encoder generates pulse trains which are indicative of an attempt to open the door in a given direction. The pulses are processed to generate a signal for opening the doors in the event a manual attempt to open the doors is detected.

Abstract: In a circuit arrangement for the timed control of semiconductor switches (1-4) to each of which a freerunning diode (D1-D4) is connected in parallel and which are arranged in branches of a bridge, an ohmic-inductive load (5) of low loss power which lies in the diagonals of the bridge is to be acted on by a controlled average current value. For this purpose two semiconductor switches (for instance 1, 4) lying diagonally opposite each other in the bridge are closed in a current-application phase while in the following freerunning phase a freerunning current flows through the load. For the reduction of the loss power, at the start of the freerunning phase only one (1) of the two diagonally opposite semiconductors (1,4) is opened and a semiconductor switch (3) which lies in the bridge alongside the conductive semiconductor switch (4) is then closed.

Abstract: The invention provides a speed controller which detects the period of an AC signal containing information of the rotational speed of a motor and controls the rotational speed based on the detected period value and a reference speed value. More particularly, the speed controller computes the amount of the deviation of the AC signal based on continuously detected period values and the reference speed value, and then stores the computed deviation amount in a memory as a correction value. Using the correction value stored in the memory, the speed controller corrects the deviation of the period, and thus, the speed of the rotation of the motor can be controlled with extremely high precision.

Abstract: A circuit for controlling the speed of a DC motor provides delay and sampling means in the feedback loop to delay the triggering of the SCRs driving the DC motor and measured the motor armature voltage during the period of the delay, thereby eliminating errors in the armature motor voltage caused by the SCR motor excitation.Alternatively, the current to the motor is measured to generate a pulse output for initiating an interval during which the measured armature voltage is sampled and transmitted to a summator for generating an error signal controlling application of power to the DC motor whereupon the aforesaid interval is terminated upon receiving a pulse indicative of power application to the DC motor.

Abstract: A current limiting control circuit for a d.c. motor, wherein compensation is provided for the inherent voltage drop across the armature of the d.c. motor with a first dedicated amplifier, while a second dedicated amplifier provides current limit control. In providing a separate and dedicated amplifier for the current limiting function, the limitations inherent in the current/resistance compensation circuit, such as lag in response time, are avoided.

Abstract: The speed of a DC motor is stabilized to correspond to a reference speed by a motor driving control that is instantaneously responsive to the interval between reference pulses corresponding to the reference speed and actual observed pulses corresponding to the actual motor speed.

Abstract: A digital motor control system includes a flip-flop latch for receiving motor circuit drive data from a microprocessor, a counter for counting to a predetermined value representing the total duration of a motor drive pulse, a comparator for comparing the incrementing counter value with the motor circuit drive data stored in the latch to provide a pulse width modulated signal, delay circuitry for preventing overlapping of motor brake and motor drive signals, a drive gate controlled in part by said pulse width modulated signal for applying a drive signal for motor control, and a brake gate for applying a brake signal for motor control.

Abstract: A fail-safe circuit is disclosed for use with an intermittently operated d.c. motor connected by means of a circuit breaker to a power supply, wherein a control circuit provides control pulses intermittently to the motor. The fail-safe circuit includes a capacitor which is charged when the drive pulses are being applied to said motor, and is discharged when the drive pulses are not being applied to said motor. A reference voltage is generated and compared with the voltage stored on said capacitor. When the voltage on the capacitor exceeds the reference voltage, the circuit breaker is caused to interrupt the power supply to the motor.

Abstract: An electronic control for regulating the operation of a two-speed motor in a heat transfer system such as a heat pump or air conditioner. The control receives high and low demand signals from a thermostat and a motor unit operates at high and low speeds in response to, respectively, high and low speed signals. The control includes an initial timer, high and low speed operators, and a speed change delay. The initial timer detects the occurrence of a demand signal from the thermostat, counts a predetermined period of time, and responsively issues an initial timing completion signal. The high and low speed operators detect the timing completion signal as well as either a high or low thermostat demand signal. One of the operators then responsively issues either a high or low speed signal to the motor unit. The motor unit accordingly operates at a high or low speed. The speed change delay detects the change in a thermostat demand signal from a high to a low state or a low to a high state.

Abstract: A slow start motor control circuit for applications wherein extremely accurate speed control is required, such as, in a centrifugal blood separator application is disclosed. In a blood separator, the degree of separation of cellular components, such as red blood cells and platelets, from the blood plasma is a function of the rotational speed of the centrifuge and the spin time. The control circuit controls the spin time and the rotational speed of the drive motor by controlling the voltage applied to the motor. The control circuit allows the drive motor to start relatively slowly to avoid cell breakage which can contaminate the plasma. After the centrifuge attains its desired operational speed, the speed of the motor is regulated and is relatively uninfluenced by ambient temperature variations.