Patents Examined by Erick D Glass
  • Patent number: 11390316
    Abstract: A control device for an AC rotary machine includes: a DC power supply; an inverter; a magnetic flux generator; an angle detector; and a control arithmetic unit; wherein the control arithmetic unit is configured to: calculate, based on a positional relationship between a current path and the angle detector, a correction signal for correcting signal errors of a cosine signal and a sine signal, which are caused by a noise magnetic flux component due to at least one of a DC current flowing between the DC power supply and the inverter and multi-phase AC currents flowing between the inverter and armature windings; and control the inverter by using angle information obtained from values after the correction by the correction signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2022
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventor: Akira Furukawa
  • Patent number: 11387760
    Abstract: A motor control device includes: a second setting unit configured to set an armature current command value and a current phase angle command value based on a rotation speed and a motor torque command value; and a current vector setting unit configured to set a d-axis current command value and a q-axis current command value based on the armature current command value and the current phase angle command value. The second setting unit is configured to set the armature current command value and the current phase angle command value such that an armature current vector which is set based on the d-axis current command value and the q-axis current command value is included in an area surrounded by an armature current vector locus in maximum torque/current control and a vertical axis in a d-q coordinate system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2022
    Assignee: JTEKT CORPORATION
    Inventor: Yuta Iwai
  • Patent number: 11374526
    Abstract: The present disclosure is related to ensuring a period for detecting a phase current from a DC bus current of an inverter. A motor control circuit of the present disclosure includes: a voltage command generator and a PWM signal generator. The voltage command generator detects a phase current from a DC bus current of an inverter driving an AC motor, and generating three-phase voltage commands. The PWM signal generator generates three-phase PWM signals to the inverter according to a comparison result of the three-phase voltage commands and a triangular wave signal with a predetermined frequency and outputs the three-phase PWM signals to the inverter. The PWM signal generator corrects a maximum or minimum voltage command by synchronizing the maximum or minimum voltage command with an intermediate command in a first period of multiple consecutive PWM periods.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2022
    Assignee: Rohm Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Takashi Esumi
  • Patent number: 11368116
    Abstract: A motor system can include a bearingless stator having a plurality of magnetic windings including rotation windings and suspension windings; a dipole interior permanent magnet (IPM) rotor positioned within the stator, the rotor having a plurality of permanent magnets disposed within a cylindrical structure; one or more position sensors to measure radial and angular position of the rotor; and a controller configured to receive measurements from the one or more position sensors and to generate current commands for the stator to excite the rotation windings to generate torque and to excite the suspension windings to stabilize the rotor within the stator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2022
    Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Inventors: David L. Trumper, Benjamin Weinreb
  • Patent number: 11362601
    Abstract: A device for driving a plurality of motors, including an inverter connected to a DC terminal; a multi-phase motor connected to the inverter; and a single-phase motor serially connected to the multi-phase motor, wherein a number of frequency of current input to the multi-phase motor when driving the single-phase motor and the multi-phase motor at the same speed is smaller than the number of frequency of current input to the multi-phase motor when driving the single-phase motor and the multi-phase motor at different speeds. Accordingly, a plurality of motors can be simultaneously driven at different speeds, by using a single inverter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2022
    Assignee: LG Electronics Inc.
    Inventors: Sunku Kwon, Chaseung Jun, Sehwa Choe, Wookjin Lee
  • Patent number: 11362605
    Abstract: A method of driving a three-phase motor includes, while a first phase is energized, driving a second phase using a first drive function which is sinusoidal. The first phase is switched to a non-energized state and a back electromotive force (BEMF) voltage of the first phase is detected. For at least a portion of a time when the first phase is non-energized the driving of the second phase depends on the output of a second drive function different from the first drive function. The second drive function may be non-sinusoidal and may be a cosine function. The second drive function may drive the second phase when the output of the second drive function is a modulation ratio less than 1. When the output of the second drive function is a modulation ratio greater than or equal to 1 the second phase may be driven to a modulation ratio of 1.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2022
    Assignee: SEMICONDUCTOR COMPONENTS INDUSTRIES, LLC
    Inventors: Kazumasa Takai, Fumio Kumazawa, Masaki Yamashita
  • Patent number: 11351874
    Abstract: An apparatus includes a multi-channel DC bus assembly comprising a first channel and a second channel, a first electromechanical device coupled to a positive DC link of the first channel, and a second electromechanical device coupled to a positive DC link of the second channel. A first DC-to-AC voltage inverter is coupled to the positive DC link of the first channel and a second DC-to-AC voltage inverter is coupled to the positive DC link of the second channel. The apparatus further includes a bi-directional voltage modification assembly coupled to the positive DC link of the second channel and a first energy storage system electrically coupled to the first electromechanical device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2022
    Assignee: GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY
    Inventors: Robert Dean King, Zhihao Li
  • Patent number: 11356044
    Abstract: The present invention provides a method for detecting motor initial phase and phase sequence and a system for controlling a permanent-magnet synchronous motor. The method is applied to the system and comprises sequentially acquiring, through an encoder, first displacement data which register the encoder's reading when a rotor spins to a Q-axis, second displacement data which register the encoder's reading when the rotor spins from the Q-axis to a D-axis, third displacement data which register the encoder's reading when the rotor spins from the D-axis to a negative Q-axis and fourth displacement data which register the encoder's reading when the rotor spins from the negative Q-axis to the D-axis; obtaining an initial phase of the motor to be detected according to the second displacement data, the fourth displacement data and the encoder's CPR; and determining the phase sequence of the motor based on the first displacement data, the second displacement data and the encoder's CPR.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2022
    Assignee: QKM TECHNOLOGY (DONG GUAN) CO., LTD
    Inventors: Bin Wang, Chi Sha, Lihui Chen, Rongkui Zheng, Hui Du, Yu Lei, Jiang Liu
  • Patent number: 11349422
    Abstract: A power detecting device includes a vehicle driving system, a battery detecting module and a controlling module. A first stator winding and a second stator winding are synchronized and connected in parallel with each other. A first end of a first current sensor is coupled to a first-phase winding end of the first stator winding for measuring a first-phase current. A first end of a second current sensor is coupled to a second-phase winding end of the first stator winding for measuring a second-phase current. The battery detecting module is coupled to a first power supply for measuring a current signal and a voltage signal. A controller generates a first power according to the current signal and the voltage signal and generates a second power according to a plurality of data from a database. The controller compares the first power with the second power to generate a detecting result.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 24, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2022
    Assignee: Universal Scientific Industrial (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Chih-Huang Chen, Su-Hui Wang, Chih-Hung Huang, Lee-Han Lin, Chien-Lin Liu
  • Patent number: 11345242
    Abstract: A vehicle drive system includes: a power supply in which a battery and a capacitor are connected in series; a primary drive motor to which a voltage of the battery is provided; secondary drive motors to each of which a total voltage (Vin) of the battery and the power supply capacitor is provided; a charging circuit; and a control circuit that controls charging/discharging of the power supply. The control circuit operates switches SW1, SW2 of the charging circuit so as to control charging/discharging of the battery and the capacitor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 26, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2022
    Assignee: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Akihiro Furukawa, Seiyo Hirano, Hideki Sanai
  • Patent number: 11345243
    Abstract: A method for operating an electrical circuit, wherein the electrical circuit includes a DC converter, an inverter and an electric machine, wherein the inverter is connected on the direct current side to the output of the DC converter and on the alternating current side to the electric machine, wherein the electric machine is operated using a torque specification and/or a rotational speed specification, wherein the level of the output voltage of the DC converter is set as a function of a current torque specification and/or a current rotational speed specification.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 13, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2022
    Assignee: AUDI AG
    Inventors: Franz Honkomp, Bastian Heidler
  • Patent number: 11349416
    Abstract: A method for compensating parameter imbalance induced current harmonics in a synchronous motor drive includes reading an output current signal and extracting, based on the output current signal, a signature of a parameter imbalance corresponding to the synchronous motor drive. The method also includes compensating, based on the signature, for the current harmonics induced by parameter imbalance in a closed loop using a feedback path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2022
    Assignee: Steering Solutions IP Holding Corporation
    Inventor: Prerit Pramod
  • Patent number: 11342868
    Abstract: A method for identifying the magnetic anisotropy of an electric rotary field machine comprising a rotor and a stator is described, the method comprising the steps of setting injection pulses of equal absolute values during an injection interval, detecting a respective current response in form of current difference vectors, and determining the anisotropy from the voltage vectors and current difference vectors. Such a method should allow identifying of magnetic anisotropy in a simple way. To this end, injection pulses in the three-phase domain are used.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2022
    Assignee: Danfoss Power Electronics A/S
    Inventor: Stefan Erb
  • Patent number: 11342872
    Abstract: A system and method for reliable control of a high rotor pole switched reluctance machine (HRSRM) utilizing a sensorless reliable control system. The method comprising: energizing at least one of the plurality of stator phases; measuring a first current value and time taken by the first current value to reach a first peak value or preset threshold value of current; determining a self-inductance value; measuring a second current value and time taken by an adjacent un-energized stator phase to reach a second peak value of current; determining a mutual inductance value; and estimating a rotor position utilizing the self-inductance and mutual inductance values; and controlling the HRSRM based on the estimated rotor position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2022
    Assignee: Turntide Technologies Inc.
    Inventors: Mahesh Krishnamurthy, Trevor Creary
  • Patent number: 11329580
    Abstract: A motor control apparatus includes: an excitation unit configured to excite a plurality of excitation phases of a motor; a measurement unit configured to measure a physical amount that changes according to an inductance of a plurality of coils that make up the plurality of excitation phases when the plurality of excitation phases are excited; and a control unit configured to control the excitation unit to excite the plurality of excitation phases sequentially, determine a first excitation phase by comparing a measurement value measured by the measurement unit in excitation of each of the plurality of excitation phases with a first threshold, and determine that a rotational position of a rotor of the motor is a rotational position at which the rotor stops when the first excitation phase is excited. The first excitation phase is determined, the control unit stops excitation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2022
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kalsha
    Inventors: Yasukazu Maeda, Eijiro Ohashi, Takuya Miyashita
  • Patent number: 11329584
    Abstract: A control device applies voltages to an AC rotating machine based on voltage command values on stationary coordinates. Currents in a plurality phases flowing the rotating machine are detected as detection currents. Coordinate conversion is applied to those detection currents based on any phase in the rotating machine, for generate detection currents on rotational coordinates. Voltage command values on the rotational coordinates are generated based on current command values on the rotational coordinates and the detection currents. Coordinate conversion is applied to those voltage command values based on the any phase, for generate first voltage command values on the stationary coordinates. Phases of one of the first voltage command values and generated second voltage command values on the stationary coordinates are corrected to generate the second voltage command values. One of the second and the first voltage command values are selected as the voltage command values on the stationary coordinates.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2022
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Cornoration
    Inventor: Akira Furukawa
  • Patent number: 11325478
    Abstract: A control apparatus controls an inverter which outputs electric power to an electric motor. The control apparatus calculates a magnitude of a drive current at a one-pulse control time based on an electric motor drive torque, a rotation number of the electric motor, and a DC voltage of the electric motor and thereby determines which one of a one-pulse control and a pulse-width modulation control is employed as a control method of the inverter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2022
    Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Masaki Tanaka
  • Patent number: 11323054
    Abstract: A motor control device includes a driving circuit, a generator configured to generate a pulse-width modulation (PWM) signal, a resistor, an amplifier, a detector configured to detect a driving current flowing through a winding based on the signals output from the amplifier, a phase determiner configured to determine a rotational phase using the driving current detected by the detector and a control value set in advance, a controller configured to control the driving current based on a torque current component so that a deviation between the rotational phase and an instruction phase becomes small, and a setting unit configured to set the control value based on both a local maximum value and a local minimum value of the driving current flowing through the winding by a voltage applied to the winding based on the PWM signal of which a duty cycle is set to a predetermined value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2022
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Yuta Nito
  • Patent number: 11323056
    Abstract: To provide a controller for AC rotary electric machine which can reduce an electromagnetic exciting force in the execution region of the magnetic flux weakening control. A controller for AC rotary electric machine, in a specific operating region which is set in an operating region of the magnetic flux weakening control, increases a maximum value of amplitude of fundamental wave components of applied voltages applied to windings more than a normal operating region other than the specific operating region; and calculates dq-axis current command values by the magnetic flux weakening control, in a condition in which the maximum value of amplitude of the fundamental wave components of the applied voltages is increased.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2022
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Kengo Kumagai, Shinsuke Kayano, Hitoshi Isoda
  • Patent number: 11323058
    Abstract: The drive controller for the electric motor according to the present invention comprises two drive control systems for two winding sets of the electric motor, each drive control system includes a control circuit, an inverter, a power supply connector and a ground connector, the two control circuits are connected to an internal common ground, each rectifying element that passes a current from the common ground to each ground connector is provided in a line that connects the ground connector and the common ground, each current detection element is provided in a line that connects each positive power supply and a line between the rectifying element and the ground connector, and whether an open fault has occurred in the ground connector is diagnosed based on the voltage that is applied to the current detection element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2022
    Assignee: HITACHI ASTEMO, LTD.
    Inventors: Tomonobu Koseki, Mamoru Ogura