Patents Examined by Antony M. Paul
  • Patent number: 11108225
    Abstract: A mobile application including a motive power circuit including a power storage device and an electrical load electrically coupled through a power bus; a power distribution unit (PDU) electrically interposed between the power storage device and the electrical load; wherein the breaker/relay includes: a fixed contact electrically coupled to the power bus; a movable contact selectively electrically coupled to the fixed contact; an armature operationally coupled to the movable contact; a first biasing member biasing the armature into a position; a contact force spring operationally interposed between the armature and the movable contact, such that in response to the armature being in the second position, the contact force spring is at least partially compressed; and a means for adjusting an opening velocity of the moveable contact, wherein the opening velocity comprises an initial velocity of the moveable contact away from the fixed contact in response to a physical opening response.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2021
    Assignee: Eaton Intelligent Power Limited
    Inventor: Brandon William Fisher
  • Patent number: 11101639
    Abstract: An integrated inverter assembly including a main cover and an opposing back cover, a coolant channel, wherein power electronics of the inverter assembly are thermally coupled to the coolant channel, and wherein at least one of a coolant inlet or a coolant outlet of the coolant channel comprises a quick connector without a locking element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 24, 2021
    Assignee: Eaton Intelligent Power Limited
    Inventors: Justin Keith Griffiths, Dennis Dukaric, Matt Haylock
  • Patent number: 11095243
    Abstract: Pulsating current (ripple) is generated in a zero-phase current to increase a loss. A motor control system includes an inverter which drives a motor which includes windings separately wound around each phase and an inverter control unit which generates an output voltage pulse corresponding to each phase to control the inverter on the basis of a torque command value and a rotor position of the motor. The inverter control unit divides the output voltage pulse of at least one phase of the output voltage pulses into several pulses during one period of the output voltage pulse such that a zero-phase voltage of only one of positive and negative polarities is output several times from the motor in the one pulse period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 17, 2021
    Assignee: Hitachi Automotive Systems, Ltd.
    Inventors: Takahiro Araki, Hideki Miyazaki, Toshisada Mitsui
  • Patent number: 11095116
    Abstract: A system includes a vehicle including a motive electrical power path; a power distribution unit having a current protection circuit disposed in the motive electrical power path, the current protection circuit comprising a fuse; a controller, comprising: a fuse status circuit structured to determine a fuse event value; a fuse management circuit structured to provide a fuse event response based on the fuse event value; and a fuse life description circuit structured to determine a fuse life remaining value, wherein the fuse event value comprises a representation that the fuse life remaining value is below a threshold value, and wherein the fuse management circuit is further structured to provide the fuse event response further based on the fuse life remaining value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 17, 2021
    Assignee: Eaton Intelligent Power Limited
    Inventor: Robert Stephen Douglass
  • Patent number: 11095115
    Abstract: A system includes a housing; and a breaker/relay device positioned in the housing, wherein the breaker/relay device is configured to interrupt a motive power circuit for an electrical vehicle system, where the housing is disposed on the electrical vehicle system, where the breaker/relay device includes a physical opening response portion responsive to a first current value in the motive power circuit, and a controlled opening response portion responsive to a second current value in the motive power circuit, where the physical opening response portion is structured to be adjustable to at least one adjustment operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 17, 2021
    Assignee: Eaton Intelligent Power Limited
    Inventor: Brandon William Fisher
  • Patent number: 11088533
    Abstract: A system includes a vehicle having a motive electrical power path; a power distribution unit comprising a current protection circuit disposed in the motive electrical power path, the current protection circuit comprising a thermal fuse and a contactor in a series arrangement; a current source circuit electrically coupled to the thermal fuse and structured to determine that a load power throughput of the motive electrical power path is low, and to inject a current across the thermal fuse in response to the load power throughput of the motive electrical power path being low; a voltage determination circuit electrically coupled to the thermal fuse and structured to determine at least one of an injected voltage amount and a thermal fuse impedance value; and wherein the current source circuit determines the load power throughput of the motive electrical power path is low in response to the vehicle being in a shutdown state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 10, 2021
    Assignee: Eaton Intelligent Power Limited
    Inventor: Brandon William Fisher
  • Patent number: 11081991
    Abstract: A system includes a motor operating with an angular velocity and an operational current, a motor controller circuit to issue control signals to the motor, and a stator resistance calculation circuit. The calculation circuit is to introduce a perturbation signal to the motor through the control signals issued by the motor controller circuit, observe operations of the motor in response to the perturbation signal, estimate stator resistance of the motor based upon the observations of the operations of the motor in response to the perturbation signal, adjust operation of the motor based upon a changed stator resistance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 3, 2021
    Assignee: MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY INCORPORATED
    Inventor: Joel Steenis
  • Patent number: 11081988
    Abstract: A data storage device is disclosed comprising a head actuated over a disk, and a spindle motor configured to rotate the disk. A pulse width modulated (PWM) control signal is generated having a frequency based on a PWM clock, the spindle motor is controlled using the PWM control signal, and a frequency of the PWM clock is swung between a minimum frequency and a maximum frequency at a swing rate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 3, 2021
    Assignee: Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: Jaesoo Byoun
  • Patent number: 11081874
    Abstract: A mobile application including a motive power circuit including a power storage device and an electrical load electrically coupled through a power bus; a power distribution unit (PDU) electrically interposed between the power storage device and the electrical load, wherein the PDU comprises a breaker/relay positioned on one of a high side and a low side of the power storage device; wherein the breaker/relay comprises: a fixed contact electrically coupled to the power bus; a movable contact selectively electrically coupled to the fixed contact; an armature operationally coupled to the movable contact; a first biasing member biasing the armature into one of the first position or the second position; and a means for adjusting a down force value of the movable contact during run-time operations of the motive power circuit, wherein the down force value biases the moveable contact into electrical coupling with the fixed contact.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 3, 2021
    Assignee: Eaton Intelligent Power Limited
    Inventor: Brandon William Fisher
  • Patent number: 11081875
    Abstract: A system including a vehicle having a motive electrical power path; a power distribution unit including a current protection circuit comprising a breaker/relay including: a fixed contact; a movable contact; a physical opening response portion responsive to a current value in the motive power circuit; a current source circuit electrically coupled to the breaker/relay and structured to inject a current across the fixed contact; and a voltage determination circuit electrically coupled to the breaker/relay and structured to determine at least one of an injected voltage amount and a contactor impedance value, wherein the voltage determination circuit comprises a high pass filter having a cutoff frequency selected in response to a frequency of the injected current.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 3, 2021
    Assignee: Eaton Intelligent Power Limited
    Inventor: Brandon William Fisher
  • Patent number: 11075514
    Abstract: A multi-port power converter including a housing including a plurality of ports structured to electrically interface to a plurality of loads; a plurality of solid-state components configured to provide selected electrical power outputs and to accept selected electrical power inputs; a plurality of solid-state switches configured to provide selected connectivity between the plurality of solid-state components and the plurality of ports; and a controller, the controller including: a component bank configuration circuit structured to interpret a port electrical interface description of the multi-port power converter from an external tool communicatively coupled to the controller, the port electrical interface description comprising a description of at least a portion of distinct electrical characteristics; and a component bank implementation circuit structured to provide solid switch states in response to the port electrical interface description, and wherein the plurality of solid-state switches are responsive
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 27, 2021
    Assignee: Eaton Intelligent Power Limited
    Inventors: Jalpa Shah, Meng Wang, Damrongrit Piyabongkarn
  • Patent number: 11070161
    Abstract: An electric-motor driving device includes an inverter connected to terminals connected to windings of an electric motor including the windings, the inverter applying an alternating-current voltage to the electric motor, a switching unit connected to the terminals and capable of switching a connection state between the terminals, a detecting unit that detects at least one of a voltage and an electric current of the inverter, and a control unit that determines on the basis of a detection value detected by the detecting unit that an abnormality occurs in the switching unit and controls the inverter to short-circuit at least two of the terminals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 20, 2021
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventor: Kazunori Hatakeyama
  • Patent number: 11070049
    Abstract: A mobile application includes a motive power circuit having a power storage device and an electrical load, where the power storage device and the electrical load are selectively electrically coupled through a power bus. The application includes a power distribution unit (PDU) electrically interposed between the power storage device and the electrical load, where the PDU includes a breaker/relay positioned on one of a high side and a low side of the power storage device. The breaker/relay includes a fixed contact and a moveable contact selectively electrically coupled to the fixed contact, where the moveable contact allows power flow through the power bus when electrically coupled to the fixed contact, and prevents power flow through the power bus when not electrically coupled to the fixed contact. The breaker/relay includes an armature coupled to the moveable contact, and capable to open or close the motive power circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 20, 2021
    Assignee: Eaton Intelligent Power Limited
    Inventors: Martin Wayne Mensch, Brandon William Fisher, Robert Stephen Douglass, Austin Robert Zurface, Jeff Howard Urian, James David, Bharath Suda, Asheesh Soni, Karsten Gerving, Guido Völlmar, Gerd Schmitz, Christoph Bausch, Ute Molitor, Lutz Friedrichsen, Kai Schroeder, Julia Otte, Madeline Philipsohn, Norbert Roesner, Volker Lang, Johannes Meissner, Paolo D'amico, Jalpa Shah, Meng Wang, Damrongrit Piyabongkarn, Niles Stephen Ramseyer, Dennis Dukaric, Matt Haylock, Justin Keith Griffiths
  • Patent number: 11070155
    Abstract: A method of determining angular position (?) of a rotor of an N-phase permanent magnet motor (PMM). A processor having an associated stored angular position determination (APD) algorithm is programmed to implement the algorithm to cause an associated motor controller to execute steps including forcing one vector at a time a phase vector set of current or voltage vectors to stator terminals of windings for the N-phases a positive and negative magnitude vector, wherein the vector magnitude is sufficiently small to not move the rotor, and a time duration for the forcing current or voltage vectors is essentially constant. The resulting stator current or voltage levels are measured for each current or voltage vector. An N-dimension current vector or voltage vector is generated from superposition of the resulting stator current levels or resulting stator voltage levels. The N-dimension current vector or voltage vector is used to determine angular position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 13, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 20, 2021
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Eric James Thomas, David Patrick Magee
  • Patent number: 11063421
    Abstract: An integrated inverter assembly including a main cover and an opposing back cover, a coolant channel separating body interposed between an upper coolant channel and a lower coolant channel. The upper coolant channel may be thermally coupled to a first plurality of electronic components of the integrated inverter assembly. The lower coolant channel may be thermally coupled to a second plurality of electronic components of the integrated inverter assembly. The first plurality of electronic components include at least one gate driver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 13, 2021
    Assignee: Eaton Intelligent Power Limited
    Inventor: Justin Keith Griffiths
  • Patent number: 11051898
    Abstract: A torque transducer for mounting a motor includes a mounting flange, a motor flange, a body, and a strain gauge. The mounting flange is configured to secure the torque transducer to a fixed structure. The motor flange is configured to secure to a motor. The body interconnects the mounting and motor flanges. The body defines a channel about a longitudinal axis of the body and is configured to flex in response to the mounting flange and the motor flange rotating relative to one another in response to torque of the motor. The strain gauge is positioned on the body to measure flexation of the body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 6, 2021
    Assignee: COVIDIEN LP
    Inventors: Michael Zemlok, Chi Min Seow, Jaimeen Kapadia, Richard Lech, Mark MacLeod
  • Patent number: 11050241
    Abstract: A system includes a vehicle including a power distribution unit comprising a current protection circuit disposed in a motive electrical power path with a thermal fuse and a contactor in a series arrangement; a current source circuit electrically coupled to the thermal fuse to determine that a load power throughput is low, and to inject a current across the thermal fuse in response to the load power throughput being low; a voltage determination circuit electrically coupled to the thermal fuse to determine an injected voltage amount and/or a thermal fuse impedance value; where the power distribution unit further includes a plurality of fuses, and where the current source circuit is structured to inject the current across each fuse in a selected sequence; and where the current source circuit injects the current across a first and second fuse of the plurality of fuses at a first shutdown event.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 29, 2021
    Assignee: Eaton Intelligent Power Limited
    Inventor: Brandon William Fisher
  • Patent number: 11034018
    Abstract: An estimation device includes a memory and at least one processor. The at least one processor is configured to acquire information regarding a target object. The at least one processor is configured to estimate information regarding a location and a posture of a gripper relating to where the gripper is able to grasp the target object. The estimation is based on an output of a neural model having as an input the information regarding the target object. The estimated information regarding the posture includes information capable of expressing a rotation angle around a plurality of axes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 15, 2021
    Assignee: PREFERRED NETWORKS, INC.
    Inventors: Hitoshi Kusano, Ayaka Kume, Eiichi Matsumoto
  • Patent number: 11031889
    Abstract: A drive device, having a first electric machine operable as a generator and a second electric machine operable as a motor, which are electrically connected to one another, so that the second electric machine is operable using electric energy provided by the first electric machine, wherein an energy accumulator for temporarily storing electric energy is electrically connected to the first electric machine and the second electric machine. It is provided in this case that the first electric machine and the second electric machine are electrically directly connected to one another via an intermediate circuit, wherein the energy accumulator is electrically connected to the intermediate circuit via a switch arrangement both directly and also indirectly via a voltage converter. The disclosure furthermore relates to a method for operating a drive device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 20, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 8, 2021
    Assignee: AUDI AG
    Inventors: Matthias Hartmann, Stefan Maiwald
  • Patent number: 11018615
    Abstract: A motor drive device includes an inverter to apply power to a motor, and a plurality of relays to switch a connection state of the motor by each switching its state between a first state and a second state. A timing at which at least one of the plurality of relays switches from the first state to the second state is different from a timing at which the other relays switch from the first state to the second state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 25, 2021
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Yuta Tokuda, Kazunori Hatakeyama