Patents Examined by Karen Masih
  • Patent number: 11187035
    Abstract: The method comprises determining that the clear day exists in response to the apparent diameter of the solar disc being similar to the expected diameter of the solar disc on the clear day and determining that an overcast condition exists in the camera image in response to the apparent diameter of the solar disc being distorted. The method may further include receiving a camera image of a sky section from a camera at a first location; segmenting the camera image into a first portion around a known position of a solar disc and a second portion of the remainder of the sky section containing an horizon; determining that the solar disc is obstructed by the horizon; and establishing that the first location is experiencing shadow conditions based on the determining.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 30, 2021
    Assignee: MECHOSHADE SYSTEMS, LLC
    Inventors: Stephen P. Hebeisen, Alex Greenspan
  • Patent number: 11183964
    Abstract: Provided is a control device for an AC rotating electric machine, which includes: a temperature detection unit configured to detect a temperature of a protection unit provided in an object to be protected when a current is supplied from a power conversion circuit including a switching element to the AC rotating electric machine and output, as a detected temperature, one of the temperature and a temperature of the object to be protected that is estimated from the temperature; a temperature compensation unit configured to calculate, through use of the detected temperature output from the temperature detection unit, a compensated temperature equal to or higher than the detected temperature; and a torque limiting unit configured to limit, through use of the compensated temperature calculated by the temperature compensation unit, a torque command value input thereto.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 23, 2021
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Shingo Harada, Keiichi Enoki, Tomohisa Shoda, Nozomu Kamioka, Ryosuke Shigematsu, Kazuhiko Otsuka
  • Patent number: 11177760
    Abstract: An apparatus for controlling an electric motor having a controller, a torque demand limit generator, and a drive stage. The controller may be arranged to receive as an input a torque demand signal indicative of the amount of torque demanded from the motor and to produce as an output a set of motor current demand signals. The drive stage may receive the motor current demand signals and is arranged to cause currents to flow in each phase of the motor as required to meet the demanded torque. The torque demand limit generator may be arranged to output a torque demand limit signal indicative of a torque demand limit above which the battery current would exceed one or more limits.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 16, 2021
    Inventor: Vasile Coroban-Schramel
  • Patent number: 11173781
    Abstract: An electric powertrain includes a first electric motor that has an uninterrupted connection with a drive shaft of a vehicle. The electric powertrain further includes a second electric motor that has an interruptible connection with the drive shaft. In one form, this interruptible connection includes a clutch. The electric powertrain further includes a first gear train in the form of a first planetary gear and a second gear train in the form of a second planetary gear. To provide a compact configuration, the first electric motor and second electric motor are arranged in a longitudinal orientation with the drive shaft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 16, 2021
    Assignee: Allison Transmission, Inc.
    Inventors: Isaac Mock, James Allen Raszkowski, Jeremy Turner
  • Patent number: 11171592
    Abstract: In a method for operating an electric machine a first test signal is fed into the electric machine and a first response signal of the electric machine is measured. A first state variable for a rotor of a synchronous reluctance motor of the electric machine is determined as a function of the first response signal, and a second state variable for the rotor of the synchronous reluctance motor is determined. The first state variable and the second state variable are evaluated together.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 9, 2021
    Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Sven Ludwig Kellner, Luca Silvio Rattaro, Thilo Weigel, Ingo Geier
  • Patent number: 11171591
    Abstract: A control apparatus sets a value of the field current command and a value of the armature related command in accordance with drive information and the setting information stored in the storage unit; the value of the field current command and the value of the armature related command correspond to the obtained drive information. The control apparatus controls a field current flowing through the field winding to the set value of the field current command, and controls a current flowing through the armature winding or a voltage applied to the armature winding to the set value of the armature related command.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 2, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 9, 2021
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Akeru Ishikawa, Takuya Kawamura, Hideaki Nakayama, Koji Irie
  • Patent number: 11164704
    Abstract: A motor assembly for a switch drive of an electric switch. The motor assembly has a brushless three-phase motor and an electronic control device for controlling the three-phase motor. The control device has a rectifier unit for rectifying a supply voltage of the motor assembly if the supply voltage is an AC voltage, and for reverse polarity protection if the supply voltage is a DC voltage. The control device also has a voltage measuring unit for detecting a rectifier output voltage of the rectifier unit, a switch unit for generating a pulse width-modulated drive AC voltage for the three-phase motor from the rectifier output voltage, and a control unit for actuating the switch unit according to the rectifier output voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 5, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 2, 2021
    Assignee: Siemens Energy Global GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventor: Thomas Hilker
  • Patent number: 11159116
    Abstract: The present invention improves performance of a motor control device. A slave device (90) includes: an inverter (73) configured to drive a motor (74); and a control section (10) configured to control the motor (74) via the inverter (73). The control section (10) includes: a feedback signal obtaining section configured to obtain a feedback signal indicative of a predetermined physical quantity corresponding to an operating state of the motor (74); a communication section (120) configured to communicate with a PLC (100); and a PWM signal output section (130) configured to supply a motor driving signal to the inverter (73). The control section (10) is implemented by a single IC chip.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 26, 2021
    Assignee: OMRON Corporation
    Inventor: Takeshi Kiribuchi
  • Patent number: 11152879
    Abstract: In a motor control device, when estimating an initial position of a magnetic pole of a rotor of a motor, a drive circuit continuously or intermittently applies a voltage to a stator winding at each of a plurality of energization angles while sequentially changing the energization angles, and at a voltage value and for an energization time period, the voltage value and the energization time period being set such that the rotor does not rotate. An initial position estimation unit calculates an estimated initial position of the magnetic pole of the rotor based on a phase angle of a trigonometric function curve that approximates a change of a ?-axis current I? with respect to each of the energization angles. The trigonometric function curve has a cycle equal to one electrical cycle of the motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2021
    Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.
    Inventors: Yuta Tachibana, Hiroyuki Yoshikawa, Daichi Suzuki
  • Patent number: 11133769
    Abstract: Provided is a motor control device that can detect an abnormality of a motor at an early stage. A motor control device includes: a control unit that calculates a voltage command value based on an input current command value and controls drive of the motor by using the calculated voltage command value; a virtual motor unit that simulates the value of a current flowing through the motor, based on the voltage command value calculated by the control unit and a plurality of parameters related to specifications of the motor; and a determination unit that determines whether or not the motor is in an abnormal state by comparing the current command value input to the control unit and the current value simulated by the virtual motor unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 28, 2021
    Assignee: OMRON Corporation
    Inventors: Hitoshi Fukuhara, Satoshi Miyagawa
  • Patent number: 11131971
    Abstract: A rotating equipment system with in-line drive-sense circuit (DSC) electric power signal processing includes rotating equipment, in-line drive-sense circuits (DSCs), and one or more processing modules. The in-line DSCs receive input electrical power signals and generate motor drive signals for the rotating equipment. An in-line DSC receives an input electrical power signal, processes it to generate and output a motor drive signal to the rotating equipment via a single line and simultaneously senses the motor drive signal via the single line. Based on the sensing of the motor drive signal via the single line, the in-line DSC provides a digital signal to the one or more processing modules that receive and process the digital signal to determine information regarding one or more operational conditions of the rotating equipment, and based thereon, selectively facilitate one or more adaptation operations on the motor drive signal via the in-line DSC.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 28, 2021
    Assignee: SIGMASENSE, LLC.
    Inventors: Patrick Troy Gray, Gerald Dale Morrison, Daniel Keith Van Ostrand, Richard Stuart Seger, Jr.
  • Patent number: 11128244
    Abstract: A rotation direction detecting device has a current detector detecting the direction of current flowing through a motor, a voltage detector detecting voltages before and after the motor in a power supply line, and a rotation direction detector detecting the rotation direction of the motor based on the direction of the current and the voltages before and after the motor. The current detector is connected to points A, B before and after a shunt resistor, and detects the direction of the current flowing in the power supply line to form current direction information. The voltage detector is connected to points A, C before and after the motor, and detects the voltage at each position to form motor terminal voltage information. The rotation direction detector detects the rotation direction of the motor using a logical combination of the current direction information and the motor terminal voltage information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 18, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 21, 2021
    Assignee: MITSUBA Corporation
    Inventors: Yuichi Yanagita, Takuya Uchida
  • Patent number: 11121654
    Abstract: Dynamic stability control for electric motors is provided. The system determines, for an electric motor of the electric vehicle, a slip frequency indicating a difference between a synchronous speed of a magnetic field of the electric motor and a rotating speed of a rotor of the electric motor. The system compares the slip frequency with a threshold. The system activates, responsive to the slip frequency greater than or equal to the threshold, a slip limiter to adjust a current command to generate an adjusted current command that causes a reduction in the slip frequency. The system deactivates, responsive to an external torque command less than a subsequent current command received subsequent to transmission of the adjusted current command, the slip limiter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 14, 2021
    Assignee: SF MOTORS, INC.
    Inventors: Apoorva Athavale, Ruonan Zhou, Chen-Yen Yu, Yifan Tang
  • Patent number: 11121652
    Abstract: A method for determining an interrupted motor phase of an electric motor having at least three windings by means of a control unit is disclosed, wherein voltages induced in the windings are determined on outer conductors of the electric motor by means of at least one measuring unit, wherein the measuring unit is connected to at least one outer conductor of the electric motor via at least one resistor, the induced voltages of the outer conductors of the electric motor are compared with one another, and an interrupted motor phase is registered if the induced voltage differs or if a frequency of the induced voltage differs. A control unit, a computer program and a machine-readable storage medium are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 14, 2021
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventors: Dominik Denz, Haithem Fkaier
  • Patent number: 11114992
    Abstract: Motor drive with a T-type filter with at least two three-phase differential mode reactors and three capacitors, wherein at least one of the three-phase differential mode reactor comprises an auxiliary coil (6) wound around three wound core elements (2.1, 2.2, 2.3) such that the common mode current is induced in the auxiliary coil (6).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 7, 2021
    Assignee: Schaffner EMV AG
    Inventors: Andrew Cecil Tucker, Luca Dalessandro, Jari Tapani Heininen
  • Patent number: 11101758
    Abstract: A motor control device drives a motor provided as a drive source of an electric actuator by performing vector control using d-q rotational coordinates, and sets a d-axis current command value so as to weaken field flux of the motor when torque is applied to the motor from the exterior in a direction that is the same as a rotation direction of the motor. When the rotational speed of the motor exceeds the predetermined upper rotational speed limit, the motor control device calculates a correction amount of the d-axis current command value so as to make a rotational speed of the motor converge to a predetermined upper rotational speed limit, and corrects the d-axis current command value by this correction amount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 24, 2021
    Assignee: Hitachi Astemo, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yuya Shinozaki, Masaki Hano
  • Patent number: 11097621
    Abstract: In a power source system, a high-voltage battery and a low voltage battery are configured to store electric powers to be supplied to a traveling motor and an accessory, respectively. A step-up unit is interposed between the low-voltage battery and the traveling motor, and is configured to step up a voltage of the low-voltage battery and apply the stepped-up voltage to the traveling motor. A controller is configured to perform switching to a normal-time electric power supply circuit, in which the high-voltage battery and the traveling motor are coupled to each other, when the high-voltage battery is in a normal state and perform switching to an abnormal-time electric power supply circuit, in which the low-voltage battery and the traveling motor are coupled to each other via the step-up unit, when the high-voltage battery is in an abnormal state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 24, 2021
    Assignee: SUBARU CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shinichiro Masaki, Takashi Inoue
  • Patent number: 11101760
    Abstract: Provided is an electric motor control device including: a speed controller configured to calculate an operation amount directed to an electric motor, and output the operation amount; a first filter configured to use the operation amount as an input to calculate a first correction amount in accordance with a first transfer function from the operation amount to the first correction amount, and output the first correction amount; a second filter configured to use a rotational speed as an input to calculate a second correction amount in accordance with the second transfer function from the rotational speed to the second correction amount, and output the second correction amount; and a control command calculator configured to add the first correction amount and the second correction amount to one another, to thereby calculate a control command, and output the control command.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 24, 2021
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tetsuya Kimura, Yasushi Otsuka, Eiji Yokoyama
  • Patent number: 11088639
    Abstract: A motor driving device includes a first hysteresis comparator, a second hysteresis comparator, a logic circuit, a control unit, and an inverter circuit. The logic circuit receives a start signal or a start completion signal to output the first output signal as a commutation signal according to the start signal, or to output the second output signal as the commutation signal according to the start completion signal, clamps the second output signal by the first output signal, stops outputting the commutation signal after the potential state of the commutation signal is changed, and unclamps the second output signal with the first output signal and outputs the commutation signal in response to a difference voltage between the first input signal and the second input signal being greater than a positive value of the first hysteresis voltage or less than a negative value of the first hysteresis voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 10, 2021
    Assignee: ANPEC ELECTRONICS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kun-Min Chen, Ching-Shan Lu, Shih-Hai Chien
  • Patent number: 11088644
    Abstract: A variety of methods, controllers and electric machine systems are described that facilitate pulsed control of electric machines to improve the energy efficiency of the electric machine when conditions warrant. Selected transitions between pulsing output levels are controlled to provide a cubic or higher order transition torque profile. In various implementations, cubic, quintic or higher order transition profiles are use. The use of such transition torque profiles can improve NVH characteristics of the electric machine while providing energy efficient pulse transitions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 10, 2021
    Assignee: Tula eTechnology, Inc.
    Inventor: Paul Carvell