Patents Examined by Karen Masih
  • Motor drive apparatus having input power supply voltage adjustment function
    Patent number: 10924055
    Abstract: A motor drive apparatus includes an AC stabilized power supply configured to convert AC voltage of a commercial AC power source into input power supply voltage according to a received voltage command value and output the input power supply voltage, a converter configured to convert the input power supply voltage into DC voltage and output the DC voltage to a DC link, an inverter configured to convert the DC voltage at the DC link into AC voltage for driving a motor, and an input power supply voltage control unit configured to control the input power supply voltage that is output by the AC stabilized power supply.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2021
    Assignee: FANUC CORPORATION
    Inventor: Wataru Kuroki
  • Actuator with stroke displacement setting via a stroke limiting attachment
    Patent number: 10921013
    Abstract: An actuator includes an actuator housing having a first engagement feature and a motor located within the actuator housing and configured to rotate a driver. The actuator also includes a stroke limiting component coupled to the driver and has a second engagement feature. One of the first and second engagement features is a channel and another of the first and second engagement features is a protrusion. The protrusion is configured to fit within the channel to define a stroke of the actuator based at least in part on a length of the channel or a length of the protrusion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2021
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventor: Russell T. Jenks
  • Device for isolated fan control and fan system and control method
    Patent number: 10910969
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a fan motor control device comprising a control signal input for applying a rotational speed control voltage as the control signal input signal and a control signal output for picking off a control signal output signal for connecting to a fan motor, where modulation means are connected downstream from the control signal input, said modulation means being designed to convert the control signal input signal into a digital and/or pulsed modulation input signal, and isolated transmission means are connected downstream therefrom, which transfer the digital and/or pulsed modulation input signal into a digital and/or pulsed modulation output signal isolated from the control signal input, which is converted into the control signal output signal that can be picked off on the control signal output by means of demodulation means connected downstream from the transmission means.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2021
    Assignee: ebm-papst St. Georgen GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Mark Göhring, Harald Schmid
  • Method and device for driving motors
    Patent number: 10910976
    Abstract: A method and device for diving a motor by synchronously calculating reconstructed phase current and phase voltage for a motor driver, including: sampling a direct current (DC) bus current and performing phase current reconstruction according to the DC bus current to acquire a three-phase current of a motor; during the phase current reconstruction, acquiring two sampled currents of each pulse width modulation (PWM) cycle as a two-phase current of the motor and acquiring a command voltage or a sampled voltage; and performing synchronous conversion on the two sampled currents and the command voltage or the sampled voltage to keep a current vector and a voltage vector synchronous, wherein the current vector and the voltage vector are input to a flux observer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2021
    Assignee: MIDEA GROUP CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yi Liu, Jie Sun
  • Rotary electrical machine control device, rotary electrical machine, and rotary electrical machine control method
    Patent number: 10903769
    Abstract: Provided is a rotary electrical machine, which is reduced in size of a motor through use of reluctance torque being a feature of an IPM motor, and in which, in driving in times other than a rated time, a current phase angle is shifted from an angle at which a total torque is maximized so that an increase in torque ripple is suppressed even when the current phase angle changes, to thereby provide characteristics of small size, high output, and low torque ripple.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 16, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 26, 2021
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Yuji Takizawa, Yu Hirotani, Masafumi Okazaki, Satoru Akutsu
  • Multigroup-multiphase rotating-electric-machine driving apparatus
    Patent number: 10903772
    Abstract: When the connection between a DC power source and a multigroup-multiphase electric-power conversion apparatus is cut off, a control apparatus controls switching devices so that the respective states of the two or more groups of electric-power conversion apparatuses included in the multigroup-multiphase electric-power conversion apparatus are each switched stepwise from all-phase short-circuiting state to an all-phase cutoff state at different timings.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 26, 2021
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Masutaka Watanabe, Keiichi Enoki, Yoshimasa Nishijima, Shingo Harada
  • Vehicle control apparatus
    Patent number: 10903777
    Abstract: When one of two winding systems fails, an ECU transitions from a first state in which a target assist torque is produced using winding groups of the two winding systems to a second state in which using the remaining normal winding system. When the failed winding system has recovered to normal during an operation in the second state, the ECU carries out initial check that is inspection of the winding system recovered to normal prior to starting the power supply as follows. The ECU omits, from items of the initial check of the winding system recovered to normal, a specific item that is set as an item susceptible to an induced voltage generated in the winding group of the winding system recovered to normal as the motor is driven using the winding group of the normal winding system and carries out only the remainder items of the initial check.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 26, 2021
    Assignee: JTEKT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tomohiro Niwa, Satoru Mikamo, Masashi Fuji
  • Motor controller with inductor mounted transverse to control board
    Patent number: 10886866
    Abstract: A motor control assembly is configured to operate an electric motor and includes a control housing and a controller. The control housing presents a controller chamber. The controller includes a control board mounted within the controller chamber. The controller further includes an inductor attached to the control housing and positioned within the controller chamber adjacent the control board. The inductor defines maximum first and second inductor dimensions measured along corresponding first and second directions parallel to a board plane and orthogonal to one another. The inductor further defines a maximum third inductor dimension measured along a third direction transverse to the board plane, with at least one of the first and second inductor dimensions being less than the maximum third inductor dimension.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 5, 2021
    Assignee: Nidec Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Michael L. Largent, Steven R. Palmer
  • Servo motion control method and apparatus and robot using the same
    Patent number: 10882184
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides a servo motion control method and apparatus, as well as a robot using the same. The method includes: obtaining position parameters of a plurality of control vertices of a servo in a constant speed motion; creating a first smooth trajectory equation of the servo to move from the starting point to the ending point based on the position parameters of the plurality of control vertices; and controlling the servo to move based on the first smooth trajectory equation. The present disclosure is capable of realizing the smooth control of the motion of the servo from a starting position to an ending position, and avoiding the severe impacts during starting and stopping which affect the stability of the servo while the servo is in a constant high-speed motion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 5, 2021
    Assignee: UBTECH ROBOTICS CORP.
    Inventors: Youjun Xiong, Lifu Zhang, Hanyu Sun, Xi Bai, Jianxin Pang
  • Motor driving device and control method for motor driving device
    Patent number: 10886864
    Abstract: A motor driving device according to embodiments includes a driving circuit, a controller, and a mask processor. The driving circuit switches, a voltage applied to a motor, according to a switching operation by plural switching elements, for a first switching operation and a second switching operation, and to control driving of the motor. The controller controls the driving circuit on the basis of timing when an electric current flowing to the motor exceeds a predetermined current value. The mask processor sets a predetermined mask time in the switching operation by the control of the driving circuit and enables a change of the predetermined mask time on the basis of at least one of a power supply voltage and the predetermined current value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 5, 2021
    Assignees: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation
    Inventor: Katsumasa Tanaka
  • Control device for brushless DC servo motor
    Patent number: 10879820
    Abstract: A control device for a brushless DC servo motor which uses a MR sensor unit and controls the motor with high precision by a closed loop. The motor control device comprises a control unit for controlling power supplied to three pairs of stator coils of U, V and W phases. The control unit generates phase information for each of the U, V and W phases and obtains an absolute origin position of the rotary shaft with respect to the driving signal, when the brushless DC servo motor is driven, based on the synchronization relationship of: a driving signal rising phase from zero; an integrated value peak phase of counter electromotive force to the phase stator coil obtained by driving the motor; and a rising phase of the output signal of the A phase or the B phase output from the MR sensor unit corresponding to zero of the driving signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2020
    Assignee: IGARASHI ELECTRIC WORKS LTD.
    Inventor: Junichi Tada
  • Rotor position estimation
    Patent number: 10879821
    Abstract: A motor controller includes current measurement circuitry and estimation circuitry. The current measurement circuitry is adapted to be coupled to a motor, and configured to measure current in the motor. The estimation circuitry is coupled to the current measurement circuitry, and includes a memory, current computation circuitry, and summation circuitry. The memory stores coefficients of a function for estimating current related to variation of inductance of the motor. The current computation circuitry is coupled to the memory, and is configured to compute a compensation current value based on the coefficients. The summation circuitry is coupled to the current compensation circuitry, and is configured to generate a position error signal by subtracting the compensation current value from a measured current value generated by the current measurement circuitry.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2020
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Rajan Lakshmi Narasimha, David Patrick Magee
  • Apparatus for reducing belt slip
    Patent number: 10879827
    Abstract: An apparatus for reducing belt slip of a vehicle, in which the vehicle includes an engine as a vibration source and an electric motor connected to the engine through a belt to transmit torque of the engine, includes: a signal generator configured to generate a reference signal with a frequency corresponding to vibration of the engine; an adaptive filter configured to calculate a filter coefficient to remove an error value between a rotational speed of the engine and a rotational speed of the electric motor and apply the filter coefficient to the reference signal to generate a reference torque signal; and a torque compensator configured to generate a belt slip compensation torque signal by changing an amplitude of the reference torque signal, and apply the belt slip compensation torque signal to determine a final torque command of the electric motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2020
    Assignees: HYUNDAI MOTOR COMPANY, KIA MOTORS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tae Young Chung, Jun Mo An, Byung Hoon Yang
  • Method and system for real-time anomaly detection in a motor drive
    Patent number: 10879831
    Abstract: A system and method for real-time detection of anomalies in a motor drive includes a controller receiving one or more signals corresponding to real-time operation of a controlled system. The controller samples the real-time signal during operation of the controlled system and maintains a moving window of the sampled data. A signature of the sampled data within the moving window is then generated. Each signature corresponds to operation of the controlled system within the period of time defined by the moving window. An identifier and a number of occurrences of each signature may be stored with the signature. An initial table of expected signatures may be generated, for example, by executing a training, or learning, period within the control system. The controller compares each real-time signature against the table of expected signatures to detect the occurrence of an anomaly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2020
    Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Gerry M. Nagel, Robert H. Schmidt, Joachim Thomsen, Jon P. Vanderpas, Vincent Bourrelly, Aderiano M. da Silva, Jonathan D. Hoffman
  • Method for aligning a three-phase machine having soft start and three-phase machine
    Patent number: 10862416
    Abstract: In order to achieve the energy efficiency class IE4 defined in the IEC standard 60034, it is necessary to operate permanently excited synchronous machines directly on the mains. Because this is not readily possible, soft start devices may be considered as cost-efficient solutions. A method is described by which the initial rotor angle is defined, which can then be used by an encoderless start process. The fundamental concept is based on energizing in a defined direction. This is achieved in that solely two actuator phases are fired. A current space vector is thereby applied to the machine in a fixed direction and the machine is then aligned thereto. The successful alignment and a blocked motor can thus be recognized based on the profile of the stator current space vector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 17, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2020
    Assignee: SIEMENS AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT
    Inventors: Hauke Nannen, Heiko Zatocil
  • Electric machine, motor vehicle with electric machine, and method for operating an electric machine
    Patent number: 10854397
    Abstract: An electric machine, to a motor vehicle with such an electric machine, and to a method for operating such an electric machine. The electric machine includes at least one sliding contact which is formed by a slip ring connected to a rotor and by at least one brush and via which an operating current flows during an operation of the electric machine. A control unit is configured to control the operation of the electric machine. The control unit is configured to verify a predetermined operating criterion of the electric machine and, if said operating criterion is met, to inject a cleaning current according to a predetermined scheme, which then flows independently of the operating current via the sliding contact and cleans said sliding contact in order to maintain or improve a current transfer capability of the sliding contact.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2020
    Assignee: AUDI AG
    Inventor: Roman Strasser
  • Variable-flux memory motor and methods of controlling a variable-flux motor
    Patent number: 10848014
    Abstract: In one aspect, embodiments of the invention are directed to a multi-pole rotor of a variable-flux memory motor (VFMM) that includes: a rotor core; and a plurality of poles. Each of the poles includes: one or more soft rotor magnets; a first ferrous wedge; and a second ferrous wedge. The one or more soft rotor magnets are disposed between the first and second ferrous wedges in a circumferential direction of the rotor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2020
    Assignee: Jacobi Motors LLC
    Inventors: Nicolaus Radford, Mohammadreza Barzegaranbaboli, Akhila Bachapalli, Takashi Nakachi, Chaitanya Ravipalli, Brian Wightman, Shriya Bhatnagar
  • Control arrangment for a generator
    Patent number: 10848087
    Abstract: Provided is a control arrangement for controlling an electrical machine, including: a fundamental current controller, at least one harmonic flux controller related to a harmonic of an electrical frequency of the electrical machine, a summation system for adding voltage commands to obtain a summed voltage command based on which the electrical machine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2020
    Assignee: SIEMENS GAMESA RENEWABLE ENERGY A/S
    Inventors: Heng Deng, Nuno Miguel Amaral Friere, Zhan-Yuan Wu
  • Controller for rotary electric machine
    Patent number: 10840844
    Abstract: To provide a controller for a rotary electric machine capable of suppressing occurrence of an angle interval when the rotary electric machine cannot output torque, even if the ON angle interval of the switching devices is set smaller than 120 degrees in the rectangular wave control. A controller for a rotary electric machine performs a rectangular wave control to a rotary electric machine which has 2 groups of three-phase windings, with a phase difference between groups; and switches a first control mode and a second control mode according to a switching condition; wherein the first control mode is a mode which sets an ON angle interval to an angle within a range from 120 degrees to 180 degrees; and wherein the second control mode is a mode which sets the ON angle interval to an angle within a range from 90 degrees to 120 degrees.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 17, 2020
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Kenichi Akita, Masahiko Fujita, Norio Matsumoto, Toshiyuki Yoshizawa, Mitsunori Tabata
  • Constant duty ratio high frequency voltage injection-based resolver offset detection
    Patent number: 10819197
    Abstract: A vehicle power system includes an electric machine, an inverter electrically connected with the electric machine, and a controller. The controller, while injecting AC voltage output by the inverter into the electric machine as a DC voltage input to the inverter changes, drives a duty ratio of the inverter toward a constant value to obtain resolver offset information associated with the electric machine from a current response of the electric machine to the AC voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 27, 2020
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Silong Li, Jiyao Wang, Wei Xu