Patents Assigned to Nidec Elesys Corporation
  • Patent number: 11870375
    Abstract: A motor apparatus is provided. The motor apparatus includes a motor having a rotor and a stator, an inverter used to covert an input voltage into a three-phase alternating current (AC) voltage and provide the three-phase AC voltage to the motor, an inverter controller used to control the inverter, and a rotation angle sensor. The rotation angle sensor is fixed to the motor and is used to detect a rotation angle of the motor. The inverter controller includes a calculator. The calculator calculates an offset angle of an installation position of the rotation angle sensor according to a difference between a measured value and a theoretical value of a voltage phase of the motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 6, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2024
    Assignee: NIDEC ELESYS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Takashi Koikegami, Satoshi Shimazu, Yuhi Nakada
  • Patent number: 11807315
    Abstract: Both responsiveness and stability of a power assist control system are satisfied. A processor executes, in accordance with a program, determining base assist gain based on steering torque and base assist torque, generating stabilizing compensation torque based on the base assist torque, with use of a stabilizing compensator that has a second-order or higher transfer function in which a frequency characteristic is variable in accordance with the base assist gain and which is expressed using a responsiveness parameter ? and a damping parameter ?, and generating a current command value for use in control of the motor based on the stabilizing compensation torque.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2023
    Assignees: NIDEC CORPORATION, NIDEC ELESYS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shuji Endo, Hiroyuki Ishimura
  • Patent number: 11791758
    Abstract: An inverter device is provided. The inverter device converts power from a power source and drives a motor. The inverter device includes an inverter circuit having a switch, a driver circuit that switches the switch on and off, and a controller that controls the driver circuit. The controller has a speed calculator used to calculate a minimum speed of the motor based on a power source voltage. After the controller performs fail-safe control, when a speed of the motor is less than the minimum speed, the fail-safe control is ended.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 6, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2023
    Assignee: NIDEC ELESYS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Satoshi Shimazu, Yuhi Nakada
  • Patent number: 11588430
    Abstract: A motor control device includes a motor drive circuit including an upper arm and a lower arm, an arithmetic processor to control the motor drive circuit, an alternative circuit that can operate as a substitute to replace the arithmetic processor, and a mode switch to switch a control mode between a first control mode, in which the arithmetic processor controls the motor drive circuit, and a second control mode, in which the alternative circuit controls the motor drive circuit, based on a state of the arithmetic processor. The mode switch switches the control mode from the first control mode to the second control mode when a state of the arithmetic processor changes from a normal state to an abnormal state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2023
    Assignee: NIDEC ELESYS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Naoki Iwagami, Hisashi Takahashi
  • Publication number: 20220385207
    Abstract: The disclosure provides an inverter device for driving an electric motor, including: an inverter circuit including a plurality of switching elements; and a control circuit controlling the inverter circuit. When a rotation speed of the electric motor is equal to or less than a preset rotation speed threshold and a torque of the electric motor is equal to or greater than a preset torque threshold, the control circuit changes a temperature estimation logic of the switching elements of the inverter circuit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 25, 2022
    Publication date: December 1, 2022
    Applicant: NIDEC ELESYS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hirotaka YOSHIOKA, Jun KATSUMATA, Toshiyuki WATANABE
  • Publication number: 20220385206
    Abstract: The disclosure relates to an inverter device, including: an inverter circuit including a plurality of switching elements and a capacitor; an active discharge circuit including a first discharge resistor and a discharge switch connected in series, and connected between a positive electrode and a negative electrode of the capacitor; and a control circuit including a controller respectively connected to the switching elements and the discharge switch. The controller controls the switching elements and the discharge switch. The controller turns on the discharge switch to discharge the capacitor when the controller receives a discharge command from outside the inverter device and an electric motor is rotating.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 25, 2022
    Publication date: December 1, 2022
    Applicant: NIDEC ELESYS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kazuhiro SAKAI, Satoshi Shimazu, Yuhi Nakada
  • Publication number: 20220329185
    Abstract: A motor apparatus is provided. The motor apparatus includes a motor having a rotor and a stator, an inverter used to covert an input voltage into a three-phase alternating current (AC) voltage and provide the three-phase AC voltage to the motor, an inverter controller used to control the inverter, and a rotation angle sensor. The rotation angle sensor is fixed to the motor and is used to detect a rotation angle of the motor. The inverter controller includes a calculator. The calculator calculates an offset angle of an installation position of the rotation angle sensor according to a difference between a measured value and a theoretical value of a voltage phase of the motor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 6, 2022
    Publication date: October 13, 2022
    Applicant: NIDEC ELESYS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Takashi Koikegami, Satoshi Shimazu, Yuhi Nakada
  • Publication number: 20220329192
    Abstract: An inverter device is provided. The inverter device converts power from a power source and drives a motor. The inverter device includes an inverter circuit having a switch, a driver circuit that switches the switch on and off, and a controller that controls the driver circuit. The controller has a speed calculator used to calculate a minimum speed of the motor based on a power source voltage. After the controller performs fail-safe control, when a speed of the motor is less than the minimum speed, the fail-safe control is ended.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 6, 2022
    Publication date: October 13, 2022
    Applicant: NIDEC ELESYS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Satoshi Shimazu, Yuhi Nakada
  • Patent number: 11296637
    Abstract: A control device includes angular velocity detecting circuitry, feedback circuitry, torque command calculation circuitry, a limiter, a drive controller, and correction circuitry. The angular velocity detecting circuitry detects an angular velocity of a motor. The feedback circuitry obtains a feedback value from the angular velocity. The torque command calculation circuitry obtains a torque command value according to a superordinate torque command value supplied from a superordinate device and the feedback value. The limiter limits the torque command value obtained by the torque command calculation circuitry so as not to exceed a preset torque upper limit value. The drive controller performs a drive control of the motor according to the limited torque command value. The correction circuitry corrects the superordinate torque command value or the torque command value according to the feedback value and the superordinate torque command value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 3, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2022
    Assignees: NIDEC CORPORATION, NIDEC ELESYS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Linfeng Lan, Tomonari Mori, Ryo Itaba, Tokuji Tatewaki
  • Patent number: 11205986
    Abstract: An inverter device includes a motor, a power supply that supplies the motor with electric current, an inverter that, during regenerative operation of the motor, performs switching between a first state in which regenerative current generated in the motor is returned to the motor again and a second state in which the regenerative current is supplied to the power supply, a first detector that detects a first condition electrically acting on the inverter, a second detector that detects a second condition electrically acting on the power supply, and a determiner that performs a first determination to perform switching between the first state and the second state, based on a detection result by the first detector or the second detector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 20, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 21, 2021
    Assignees: NIDEC CORPORATION, NIDEC ELESYS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yuhi Nakada, Ryo Tachibana, Koji Mukaiyama
  • Patent number: 11139766
    Abstract: A technique for reducing an operation noise even when a high-pass filter is used for controlling a motor is provided. A controller is used in a motor control system for driving a motor by using a drive circuit and an inverter. The controller includes a current control block. The controller performs feedforward control by using a current value, compensates for a term of a self-inductance of the motor included in a current control block by an inverse model, compensates for a phase characteristic of a transfer function of the inverse model by an advance component, and corrects a gain characteristic of the transfer function of the inverse model by a function of a physical quantity obtained based on an angular velocity of the motor, thereby compensating for a phase delay and a gain reduction of a torque output generated by the self-inductance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2021
    Assignees: NIDEC CORPORATION, NIDEC ELESYS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shuji Endo, Hajime Nakane, Takuya Yokozuka, Mikio Morishima, Tokuji Tatewaki
  • Patent number: 10926790
    Abstract: A vehicle-mounted electronic controller includes a motor case that accommodates an electric motor, a lid body of the motor case, power circuitry including switching circuits that supply driving signals to the electric motor, and control circuitry including a control circuit that controls the switching circuits. The case further accommodates the power circuitry and the control circuitry. The lower surface of the lid body contacts the power circuitry. Each of the case and the lid body has a heat radiation property. The upper surface of the lid body is exposed. A vehicle-mounted mechanically/electrically integrated electric motor includes the vehicle-mounted electronic controller and the electric motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2021
    Assignee: NIDEC ELESYS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Eiji Wada, Kazuki Harada, Hitoshi Kuroyanagi
  • Patent number: 10924054
    Abstract: A failure diagnosis method for an inverter circuit includes a first monitoring step of monitoring an inter-terminal voltage between a high-potential-side terminal and a low-potential-side terminal of each of a plurality of driving devices included in the inverter circuit, and a second monitoring step of monitoring a power supply voltage of the inverter circuit. A determination step of determining whether there is a failure in each of the driving devices from a value of the inter-terminal voltage and a value of the power supply voltage is included.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2021
    Assignee: NIDEC ELESYS CORPORATION
    Inventor: Osamu Maeshima
  • Patent number: 10886865
    Abstract: A motor controller that controls a motor including two windings includes a calculator to compute a current instruction value to drive the motor, a first motor driver to supply a first current to one of the windings based on the current instruction value, a second motor driver to supply a second current to the other of the windings based on the current instruction value, a first current detector to detect the first current supplied to the motor from the first motor driver, and a second current detector to detect the second current supplied to the motor from the second motor driver. The calculator supplies a first forced current to the first motor driver, and a second forced current in opposite phase of the first forced current to the second motor driver to determine an abnormality of the first current detector and/or the second current detector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 5, 2021
    Assignee: NIDEC ELESYS CORPORATION
    Inventor: Takeshi Arai
  • Patent number: 10862415
    Abstract: A motor controller includes an inverter that drives a motor, an operation controller that controls the inverter according to a current command value, and a torque ripple compensation generator that adds a compensation value to compensate for a torque ripple in the motor to the current command value. The operation controller uses, as the current command value, a q-axis current command value indicating a q-axis current in a rotational coordinate system of the motor, and also uses, as the current command value, at least temporarily a d-axis current command value indicating a d-axis current in the rotational coordinate system, and the torque ripple compensation generator calculates a phase difference of the compensation value with respect to the q-axis current command value according to an equation using the q-axis current command value and the d-axis current command value as variables.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 8, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2020
    Assignees: NIDEC CORPORATION, NIDEC ELESYS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Masanori Watahiki, Tomonari Mori, Tomoya Ueda, Shuji Endo, Tokuji Tatewaki
  • Publication number: 20200307527
    Abstract: An actuator includes a control part, a first rotation sensor, and a second rotation sensor able to detect rotation of an output shaft. The control part performs a first rotation angle acquisition control for acquiring a target rotation angle of the output shaft when a movable part is moved from the second position to the first position as a first rotation angle. The first rotation angle is a rotation angle of the output shaft that is closer to the second position side than when the movable part abuts the first wall part. In the first rotation angle acquisition control, the control part causes the movable part abuts the first wall part, acquires a rotation angle of the output shaft when the movable part has abutted the first wall part, and calculates the first rotation angle based on the rotation angle of the output shaft that has been acquired.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 16, 2020
    Publication date: October 1, 2020
    Applicants: NIDEC TOSOK CORPORATION, NIDEC ELESYS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kazuhiro SAITO, Seiji HASHIMOTO, Agato UENO
  • Patent number: 10742096
    Abstract: A circuit board includes a power supply terminal connection assembly supplied with current from an external power supply, a first motor circuit that generates current to be supplied to a first winding, a first motor terminal connection assembly that supplies the current to the first winding from the first motor circuit, a second motor circuit that generates current to be supplied to a second winding, a second motor terminal connection assembly that supplies the current to the second winding from the second motor circuit, a first region, and a second region, in which the power supply terminal connection assembly is in the first region or the second region on a side of one end portion of a border line between the first and the second region, and the first and second motor terminal connection assemblies are on a side of another end portion of the border line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2020
    Assignee: NIDEC ELESYS CORPORATION
    Inventor: Osamu Maeshima
  • Patent number: 10651708
    Abstract: A motor control device includes a resin cover, a control board on which at least a computer is mounted, a power board on which at least an inverter circuit and electrolytic capacitors are mounted, and a heat sink that radiates heat generated by the control board and heat generated by the power board, and controls a motor. The motor control device is electrically connected to the motor, and the resin cover, the control board, the power board, and the heat sink are disposed in order of the power board, the heat sink, the control board, and the resin cover in an axial direction of the motor from a motor side of the motor control device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2020
    Assignee: NIDEC ELESYS CORPORATION
    Inventor: Akihiro Iwasaki
  • Patent number: 10615708
    Abstract: An inverter control device to drive a motor includes high-voltage circuitry that receives a power supply current and a power controller that supplies a driving current to a motor. The inverter control device further includes a first input terminal on a front surface portion of a casing of the high-voltage circuitry, a second input terminal on a power module in the power controller, and a first output terminal on a front surface portion of a casing of the power controller. Out of bus bars that electrically connect the first input terminal and the second input terminal to each other, a thickness of a bus bar on the first input terminal side is thicker than a bus bar on the second input terminal side.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2020
    Assignee: NIDEC ELESYS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Naoki Iwagami, Hitoshi Kuroyanagi
  • Patent number: 10615707
    Abstract: An inverter control device to drive a motor includes a power module that supplies a driving current to the motor. The inverter control device further includes a power module board that outputs a driving signal to the power module, a control board that outputs a control signal to the power module board, and a smoothing capacitor. The power module, the power module board, the capacitor, and the control board are sequentially stacked and accommodated in a single casing made of a metal material, the power module being a bottommost layer. An input terminal of a power supply current is located on one side surface of the casing and an output terminal of a driving current of the motor is located on another side surface of the casing orthogonal to the one side surface, and the output terminal and a bus bar connected to the power module are directly connected to each other in a same plane.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2020
    Assignee: NIDEC ELESYS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Naoki Iwagami, Hitoshi Kuroyanagi