Patents Examined by Devon A Joseph
  • Patent number: 10732583
    Abstract: An apparatus for starting operation of a motor of an implantable blood pump including a memory storing one or more default parameters for at least one of controlling and monitoring the startup operation. A processor operatively coupled to the motor is included, the processor is configured to: commence the startup operation based on the one or more default parameters; detect an error during the startup operation; adjust at least one of the one or more default parameters in response to the detected error; store the at least one adjusted parameter in the memory; and commence subsequent startup operations based at least in part on the at least one adjusted parameter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2020
    Assignee: HeartWave, Inc.
    Inventor: John Rudser
  • Patent number: 10734912
    Abstract: A linear motor comprises a stator, the stator comprising multiple drive coils and an intermediate circuit electrically conductively connected to each drive coil, the intermediate circuit being configured to exchange energy with each drive coil. The drive coils are arranged along the running rail, where at least one slide comprising a magnet acting as a rotor of the linear motor is movably arranged on the running rail. A controller is configured to independently control each drive coil, so that electrical energy is fed from the intermediate circuit into the drive coils, if a measured intermediate circuit voltage is greater or equal to a predetermined intermediate circuit voltage threshold value, where those drive coils are excluded from the feed-in of the electrical energy which are instantaneously being used for driving or braking the at least one slide and/or have a thermal load which exceeds a predetermined thermal load threshold value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2020
    Assignee: Beckhoff Automation GmbH
    Inventors: Tim Kaulmann, Uwe Pruessmeier, Thomas Vorbohle
  • Patent number: 10727775
    Abstract: To provide a motor drive device that suppresses voltage fluctuation of a DC link capacitor, as well as enabling for low cost and size reduction. A motor control unit sets a threshold of voltage at which to start regeneration to a first threshold in a case of an increased amount per unit time of a DC voltage value detected by a voltage detection part being less than a certain amount, and sets the threshold of voltage at which to start regeneration to a second threshold that is larger than the first threshold, in a case of the increased amount per unit time of the DC voltage value detected by the voltage detection part being at least a certain amount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 5, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2020
    Assignee: FANUC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tomokazu Yoshida, Kiichi Inaba, Shigeki Hanyuu
  • Patent number: 10712153
    Abstract: Provided is a method for controlling an ultrasonic motor to reduce deterioration of automatic tracking performance, and a surveying instrument for the same. The present invention provides a method for controlling an ultrasonic motor in a surveying instrument including a rotary shaft, an ultrasonic motor that drives a rotary shaft, a tracking unit that includes a light emitting unit and a light receiving unit and tracks a target, and a clock signal oscillation unit that outputs a clock signal, wherein at the time of low-speed rotation of the ultrasonic motor, based on the clock signal, a ratio of an acceleration period in which a drive signal is applied and a deceleration period in which the drive signal is stopped in a drive cycle of the drive signal of the ultrasonic motor is set, and the light emitting unit is made to emit light in the deceleration period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 3, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 14, 2020
    Assignee: TOPCON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kaoru Kumagai, Satoshi Yanobe, Tetsutaro Kouji
  • Patent number: 10710220
    Abstract: A power tool is provided including a brushless DC (BLDC) motor, a rectifier that receives an alternative current from a power supply and outputs a rectified signal supplied to a DC power bus, and an inverter circuit having motor switches connected electrically between the DC power bus and the motor. A control module controls a switching operation of the power switches to regulate supply power from the power supply to the motor. The control module controls the switching operation so as to, within a half cycle of the AC power supply voltage waveform, increase current draw from the power supply from a first threshold at or after a first zero-crossing of the half cycle up to a second threshold, and reduce current draw from the power supply from the second threshold up to a third threshold at or prior to a second zero-crossing of the half cycle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 14, 2020
    Assignee: Black & Decker Inc.
    Inventors: Alexander Manasseh, Scott J. Eshleman, Robert A. Usselman, John D. Cox
  • Patent number: 10700626
    Abstract: An air conditioner includes: a power generating unit that generates drive power for driving the air conditioner; an output unit that drives a motor; a detecting unit that detects a DC voltage applied to the output unit; a motor drive control unit that controls the output unit based on a detection result from the detecting unit; a drive power supply unit that supplies an operating power source to the output unit and the motor drive control unit; a main body control unit that outputs a motor drive command or a motor drive stop command to the supply unit; a power circuit unit that supplies operating power to the main body control unit and the supply unit; and an input changeover switch that inputs the detection result to the motor drive control unit as the motor is driven, and cuts off input of the detection result as the motor stops.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2020
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventor: Yoshihito Ono
  • Patent number: 10675104
    Abstract: A surgical assembly includes an electromechanical instrument and an instrument drive unit. The electromechanical instrument includes a housing portion and a shaft. The instrument drive unit includes an outer shell, an inner hub, a first motor, and a second motor. The outer shell is configured to be selectively coupled to a robotic arm. The inner hub is rotatably disposed within the outer shell and configured to be non-rotatably coupled to the housing portion of the electromechanical instrument. The second motor is disposed within the outer shell and includes an outer stator fixedly coupled to the outer shell, and an inner rotor rotatably disposed within the outer stator. The inner rotor has an inner surface that defines a longitudinal channel having the inner hub non-rotatably disposed therein. Actuation of the second motor rotates the inner hub to effect rotation of the electromechanical instrument along a longitudinal axis thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2020
    Assignee: Covidien LP
    Inventor: Jaimeen Kapadia
  • Patent number: 10669112
    Abstract: To control a winding drive current of a motor based on a command phase representing a target phase of a rotor of the motor, a motor control apparatus includes a filter circuit, a phase determiner, and a controller. A current value of the drive current flowing through the winding is obtained at a predetermined period. The filter circuit reduces a harmonic component in a fundamental frequency of the drive current included in a signal indicated by the obtained current value. The phase determiner determines a rotation phase of the rotor based on a filter processed signal. The controller controls the winding drive current to reduce a deviation between the command phase and the determined rotation phase. The filter circuit reduces a harmonic component from a signal indicated by current values of which a number is not greater than a number of the current values obtained at the predetermined period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 2, 2020
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Shingo Kitamura
  • Patent number: 10666181
    Abstract: The invention provides a system for creating a prescribed vibration profile on a mechanical device comprising a sensor for measuring an operating condition of the mechanical device, a circular force generator for creating a controllable rotating force vector comprising a controllable force magnitude, a controllable force phase and a controllable force frequency, a controller in electronic communication with said sensor and said circular force generator, the controller operably controlling the controllable rotating force vector, wherein the difference between the measured operating condition and a desired operating condition is minimized.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 26, 2020
    Assignee: LORD Corporation
    Inventors: Mark R. Jolly, Russell E. Altieri, Askari Badre-Alam, Jonathan M. Owens, Anthony Gray Hunter, Bradley N. Jones, Brian Carr, Ben Holton, Eric Cady
  • Patent number: 10644634
    Abstract: An electric power tool in one aspect of the disclosure comprises an operation unit, a bridge circuit having a plurality of switching elements, and a control unit. The control unit is configured to select from the plurality of switching elements a pair of switching elements forming a current path of a motor. The control unit selectively executes one of non-complementary PWM in which one of the selected switching elements is turned on and the other turned on/off, and complementary PWM in which, in addition to the same control as that of the non-complementary PWM, a switching element connected to the same terminal of the motor as the other of the selected switching elements is turned on/off so that an on/off state of the switching element is reversed to that of the other of the selected switching elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2020
    Assignee: MAKITA CORPORATION
    Inventor: Yoshitaka Ichikawa
  • Patent number: 10637383
    Abstract: A system and method is provided to monitor wear on a power factor correction capacitor in a motor system. The system and method obtains a baseline inductance angle, reactive power or power factor corresponding to a baseline power factor correction by the capacitor in the circuit; monitors a current supplied to the motor at a location upstream of the capacitor; monitors a voltage supplied to the motor, and determines a present inductance angle, reactive power or power factor based on the monitored current and voltage. The present inductance angle, reactive power or power factor corresponds to a present power factor correction by the capacitor. The system and method can then determine when the power factor correction of the capacitor has degraded to an unsatisfactory level based on a change in the inductance angle, reactive power or power factor from the baseline values, and take appropriate action.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2020
    Assignee: SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC USA, INC.
    Inventors: Richard K. Weiler, Benjamin W. Edwards, Alan E. Freeman, Kevin M. Jefferies, Julius M. Liptak, Matthew L. White
  • Patent number: 10637385
    Abstract: A motor drive device includes a motor drive circuit which drives a stepping motor provided with three coils; a switching element for controlling a path through which a current for driving at least one of the coils flows; and a driving pulse generator which outputs a driving pulse to the switching element. The driving pulse generator outputs the driving pulse to the switching element so that the current for driving at least one of the coils flows through one path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2020
    Assignee: CASIO COMPUTER CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Yuta Saito
  • Patent number: 10622859
    Abstract: The invention relates to an electronically commutated electric machine (2) comprising: a rotor (21); an exciting winding (6) that is located at the rotor (21) in order to generate or alter a direct magnetic field in the rotor (21); a stator (22) comprising a three- or multi-phase stator winding (23) with phases that can be controlled via phase lines (8). The exciting winding (6) is connected to the stator winding (23).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2020
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventors: Martin Neuburger, Kurt Reutlinger
  • Patent number: 10608569
    Abstract: A control device of an AC rotating electrical machine includes: a midpoint potential detection unit 12 that detects, for respective phases, midpoint potentials 43, 44, 45 of upper switching elements 41 and lower switching elements 42 of an inverter circuit 20; a phase current detection unit 23 that detects a phase current of each phase of an AC rotating electrical machine 3; and a CPU 11 that calculates a current estimated value Idc of DC current that is input from a DC power supply 2 to the inverter circuit 20, on the basis of the detected midpoint potential of each phase and the phase current of each phase.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2020
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Daisuke Matsumuro, Keiichi Enoki, Yoshimasa Nishijima, Masutaka Watanabe, Shingo Harada, Yasukazu Murata
  • Patent number: 10594246
    Abstract: A motor control system for selectively controlling power from a power source to a load is provided. The motor control system includes at least one PCB structure and a plurality of protection and control components mounted onto the at least one PCB structure so as to be electrically coupled therewith. The plurality of protection and control components includes a power converter operable to provide a controlled output power to the load, a plurality of switching devices operable to selectively control power flow from the power source into the power converter and to bypass the power converter, and one or more protection devices configured to selectively interrupt current flow from the power source to the power converter during a fault condition. The motor control system also includes a housing enclosing the at least one PCB structure and the plurality of protection and control components.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 26, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2020
    Assignee: Eaton Intelligent Power Limited
    Inventors: Huaqiang Li, Joshua B. Gross, Joseph Paul Uphaus, Thomas M. Ruchti, Kaijam M. Woodley
  • Patent number: 10570740
    Abstract: An axial fan includes a fan frame, an impeller and a motor. The fan frame has a frame body, a base and plural connecting members. The base is disposed at the center of a side of the frame body. The connecting members connect the frame body to the base. The impeller is accommodated in the frame body and disposed on the base. The impeller has a rotating shaft, a hub and plural blades disposed around the hub. The motor is disposed on the base and connects with the rotating shaft to drive the impeller to rotate. When the impeller rotates forwardly, the airflow is induced to flow through the connecting members, blades, and one side of the frame body away from the base. When the impeller rotates reversely, the airflow is induced to flow through the side of the frame body, blades and connecting members.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 9, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2020
    Assignee: DELTA ELECTRONICS, INC.
    Inventors: Chien-Ming Lee, Chia-Ming Hsu, Jung-Yuan Chen, Ching-Sen Hsieh, Jian-Cun Lin, Shih-Yu Lai
  • Patent number: 10574163
    Abstract: Current control section 2 performs PI control based on deviation between d-axis command current Id_cmd and d-axis detected current Id_det and deviation between q-axis command current Iq_cmd and q-axis detected current Iq_det. Neutral point potential control section 4 calculates corrected command voltage V_cmd? by addition of neutral point control compensation quantity V_cmp to three-phase command voltage V_cmd. Limiter LMT3 outputs limiter processed command voltage V_cmd? by liming the output of corrected command voltage V_cmd?. Three-phase to two-phase converter 5 outputs feedback quantities Vd_back, Vq_back by three-phase to two-phase conversion of the limiter processed command voltage V_cmd?. Current control section 2 performs integral control in accordance with quantities resulting from addition of the feedback quantities Vd_back, Vq_back to the deviations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 7, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2020
    Assignee: MEIDENSHA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shizunori Hamada, Kenji Kobori
  • Patent number: 10536104
    Abstract: In a variable speed generator-motor apparatus, a power converter includes six two-terminal arms each formed by serially connecting k unit converters that can output arbitrary voltage, an AC rotating electric machine includes an armature winding with 60-degree phase zone formed from a double layer coil, the armature winding being divided into first and second pole sides to form double star connection by binding neutral points and to be drawn out as two sets of three-phase terminals; three-phase terminals on the first pole side are connected to first terminals of three arms, and second terminals of the three arms are star-connected to a first terminal of a DC power supply; three-phase terminals on the second pole side are connected to second terminals of remaining three arms, and first terminals of the three arms are star-connected to a second terminal of the DC power supply.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2020
    Assignee: HITACHI MITSUBISHI HYDRO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Akira Bando, Osamu Nagura
  • Patent number: 10532734
    Abstract: A control method of a hybrid vehicle capable of increasing regenerative braking efficiency by controlling an operating point of an electric motor includes steps of determining, by a hybrid control unit (HCU), a first torque for an generation mode operation of an electric motor, determining, by the HCU, whether the first torque and a speed of the electric motor correspond to an operating point for achieving charge of a battery through the generation mode operation, and, upon determining that the first torque and the speed of the electric motor correspond to an operating point at which the charge of the battery is disabled, changing, by the HCU, the first torque into a second torque that corresponds to an operating point at which the charge of the battery is achieved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2020
    Assignees: Hyundai Motor Company, Kia Motors Corporation
    Inventors: Jae Sang Lim, Young Un Kim
  • Patent number: 10528023
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to an electric motor drive system for driving a low-voltage motor. The low-voltage motor includes a rotor and a stator that comprises a number of single-turn coils. A motor drive controller can control the low-voltage motor. The motor drive controller includes a current source inverter. The current source inverter includes driver circuitry configured to generate switching commands, a variable current source and motor commutation circuitry. The variable current source can generate a variable current that regulates power in the low-voltage motor. The motor commutation circuitry receives the variable current and switching commands, and commutates phase currents that are output to the low-voltage motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2020
    Assignee: General Dynamics-OTS. Inc.
    Inventor: Russell Steinbach