Patents Examined by Paul Ip
  • Patent number: 9855859
    Abstract: An electric vehicle accomplishes speed changes through the use of electronically controlled, multiple electric motor configurations that are coupled to an output drive shaft instead of a speed change transmission. A parallel-coupled motor configuration includes at least two motors that are each coupled to the output drive shaft through respective gear arrangements, each gear arrangement having a respective gear ratio. In a serially-coupled motor configuration, the stator of the second motor is coupled to the rotor of the first motor, where the rotor of the second motor is coupled to the output drive shaft. The required torque to reach or maintain a desired vehicle speed can be obtained by selective energization of either one or both of the motors (in both multi-motor configurations). Two motors are also coupled to a differential gear so that the rotational speed contributed by both motors are additive at the output shaft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2018
    Assignee: Superior Electron, LLC
    Inventors: Christopher P. Zing, Joachim H. Wiest, Henry T. Fung
  • Patent number: 9847746
    Abstract: A motor control device is provided with a control circuit and a driving circuit. The control circuit switches over a current supply phase of the motor in a predetermined angular rotation of the rotor a first switching number of times in an acceleration range. The control circuit switches over the current supply phase of the motor in the predetermined angular rotation of the rotor a second switching number of times in a stationary rotation range in a specific condition that the rotation speed of the rotor is between a predetermined first threshold value and a predetermined second threshold value. The control circuit sets the second switching number to be smaller than the first switching number. In the acceleration range, the switching number is relatively large and hence a sufficient driving torque is applied to the rotor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 16, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2017
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kazuhiro Yoshida, Seiji Nakayama
  • Patent number: 9847741
    Abstract: A circuit arrangement is configured to supply an electromagnetic holding brake of an electric motor with an operating voltage for releasing the holding brake, and a voltage that is reduced relative to the operating voltage for holding the holding brake in the released position. The operating voltage is supplied from a higher-level control system disposed separately from the motor and the holding brake. The circuit arrangement is disposed in or on the motor or in or on the holding brake and includes a voltage regulator adapted to regulate, independently of the operating voltage, the reduced voltage to a fixed value after the holding brake is released.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 11, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2017
    Assignee: DR. JOHANNES HEIDENHAIN GMBH
    Inventors: Markus Schoenlinner, Christian von Le Suire
  • Patent number: 9847744
    Abstract: A control unit applied to a motor that includes a rotor having a field winding and a rotor having armature winding groups to control a field current passed through the field winding. Each of the armature winding groups is applied with a prescribed voltage. The field current is controlled so as to be a minimum field current value If_min with which a deviation between an amplitude of an induced voltage generated in the armature winding groups by rotation of the rotor, and an amplitude of the voltage applied to the armature winding groups becomes equal to or smaller than a prescribed value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2017
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kiyoshi Fujii, Hideaki Nakayama
  • Patent number: 9846444
    Abstract: A method for controlling and adjusting fans of the electronic apparatus is disclosed and comprises following steps: controlling a fan to operate according to a default value after an electronic apparatus is booted; obtaining operating watt value of a CPU after detecting that the temperature of the CPU reaches a set-point; inquiring one of a learning table and a pre-established neural-network data array for obtaining a PWM value and P,I,D parameters corresponding to the operating watt value; performing an error adjustment process to the obtained PWM value through a PID controller; controlling the operation of the fan according to the adjusted PWM value; storing the adjusted PWM value to the learning table if the temperature of the CPU equals the set-point; and, continuing to obtain, adjust and store the PWM value to continuously control the operation of the fan before the electronic apparatus is powered off.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2017
    Assignee: AIC INC.
    Inventor: Yi-Rong Yang
  • Patent number: 9843278
    Abstract: Aspects of a power conversion system can include a capacitor which stores direct current power, an inverter, and a pair of direct current terminals of which are connected to two ends of the capacitor and to the alternating current terminals of which an alternating current motor acting as a load is connected. Also included can be an upper and lower arm portion of which the connection point of semiconductor switches connected in series is connected to the neutral point of the motor, a direct current power source connected in parallel to the upper and lower arm portion and a switch connected between one of the direct current terminals of the inverter and one end of the upper and lower arm portion. The other direct current terminal of the inverter can be connected to the other end of the upper and lower arm portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2017
    Assignee: FUJI ELECTRIC CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Akio Toba
  • Patent number: 9837952
    Abstract: Embodiments herein relate to a drive system for an electric motor. The drive system including a DC bus having a positive terminal and a ground terminal, an inverter connected to the DC bus configured to provide a plurality of motor excitation signals, and an interface cable operably connected to the inverter, and configured to transmit the plurality of motor excitation signals. The drive system also includes a motor remote from and connected to the inverter via the interface cable, the motor responsive to the motor excitation signals and a plurality of snubber circuits, each of the snubber circuits having a first terminal connected to a winding of the motor, and a second terminal operably connected to a first end of a transmission line and a second end of the transmission line is connected to the positive terminal of the DC Bus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2017
    Assignee: HAMILTON SUNDSTRAND CORPORATION
    Inventors: Francis A. Carcia, Christopher J. Jonke
  • Patent number: 9836040
    Abstract: A motor control device includes circuitry which reads a command value in synchronization with a control period, reads an output of an encoder connected to a motor, controls an output current to the motor based on the command value and the output of the encoder, and offsets a timing for reading the output of the encoder with respect to a timing for reading the command value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2017
    Assignee: KABUSHIKI KAISHA YASKAWA DENKI
    Inventors: Tadashi Okubo, Isamu Matsumura, Go Yamazaki
  • Patent number: 9831816
    Abstract: Erroneous mounting of a semiconductor power module can be more easily detected. A semiconductor power module (9) according to the present invention includes: a status signal generation unit (90) configured to detect a status in the semiconductor power module (9) and generate and output a status signal indicating the detected status; an identification information storage unit (91) configured to preliminarily store identification information for identifying the semiconductor power module (9) and output an identification signal indicating the identification information; and a switching unit (92) configured to select one of the status signal output from the status signal generation unit (90) and the identification signal output from the identification information storage unit (91) and output the selected signal to an outside of the semiconductor power module (9).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2017
    Assignee: RENESAS ELECTRONICS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Toshiya Nozawa, Yoshitaro Kondo, Yusuke Sugawara, Shoichi Kamimura, Masatoshi Maeda, Yasuhiro Shirai
  • Patent number: 9823647
    Abstract: A servo control apparatus includes a sensor unit for detecting a motor speed; an amplifier for driving a motor and feeding back a current; a magnetic pole position detector; a position controller for outputting a speed command; a speed controller for outputting a current command; a current controller for outputting a voltage command; a speed estimator for calculating an estimated speed from the voltage command; a magnetic pole position estimator for calculating an estimated magnetic pole position from the estimated speed; a sensor malfunction detector; a stop position command generator; and a first switch for switching from the position command to the stop position command, a second switch for switching from the magnetic pole position to the estimated magnetic pole position, and a third switch for switching from the detected speed to the estimated speed, when the sensor malfunction detector has detected a malfunction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 10, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2017
    Assignee: FANUC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kouki Kameta, Naoto Sonoda
  • Patent number: 9825561
    Abstract: Mechanisms are provided to control the operation of a motor. In particular, a variable frequency drive motor controller is described which resides within a motor housing. Additionally, the speed at which the motor operates is based on a signal received from a Hall Effect switch or from a communication device in communication with a remote interface. The Hall Effect switch is also described; in particular, the Hall Effect switch features a magnet rotatably connected with one side of a motor housing. A Hall Effect sensor, located on the opposite side of the motor housing, detects the position of the magnet and outputs a signal to the motor controller, located within the motor housing, indicating the detected magnet position. Additional operating features are described relating to the safe operation and control of the motor in potentially hazardous environments.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2017
    Assignee: Shaw Dixon, LLC
    Inventor: Randy J. Dixon
  • Patent number: 9825567
    Abstract: A controller is provided for driving a stepper motor with a magnetic rotor and at least one coil. The controller has a power stage for supplying the at least one coil with current, at least one analog Hall sensor for providing a signal as a function of the position of the magnetic rotor with respect to the Hall sensor, and a feedback line connecting the Hall sensor with the power stage to feed the signal of the Hall sensor back to the power stage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2017
    Assignee: Johnson Electric S.A.
    Inventors: Miha Furlan, Yvan Bourqui, Maxime Bruelhart
  • Patent number: 9819293
    Abstract: A voltage sensor abnormality diagnosis apparatus is applied to a motor controller operating switching of inverter by a switching signal for complementary on and off and diagnoses abnormality of input voltage sensor. An input voltage estimated value calculation section calculates input voltage estimated value by multiplying voltage command amplitude deviation by conversion coefficient, the voltage command amplitude deviation being obtained by subtracting theoretical voltage command amplitude, which is amplitude of theoretical voltage command calculated by using a motor model expression, from a control voltage command amplitude, which is an amplitude of a control voltage command calculated by feedback control and has been corrected by the dead time correction amount. An abnormality determination section determines that the input voltage sensor is abnormal if an absolute value of a difference between an input voltage sensor value and the input voltage estimated value is larger than a voltage threshold value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2017
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Ryuji Omata, Yuri Murata
  • Patent number: 9816743
    Abstract: An electric motor drive device including a drive controller configured to control an operation of an inverter, the drive controller including a frequency setting unit configured to set an operating frequency of an electric motor, a frequency determining unit configured to determine whether or not the operating frequency set in the frequency setting unit is equal to or lower than a set frequency threshold value, a voltage determining unit configured to determine whether or not a value of a DC voltage is equal to or larger than a set voltage threshold value, and an inverter controller configured to control the inverter based on the operating frequency set in the frequency setting unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2017
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Shusaku Nakase, Shigeo Takata
  • Patent number: 9806654
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are a motor driving apparatus and a home appliance including the same. The motor driving apparatus includes a direct current (DC) link capacitor, an inverter, a DC link voltage detector, and a controller. The controller controls rheostatic braking to be performed in order to stop the motor, performs bootstrap operation of gate terminals of the upper arm switching elements of the inverter during a first period for starting the motor, and determines whether the motor stops during the first period based on the DC voltage detected by the DC link voltage detector or the output current detected by the output current detector. Accordingly, it is possible to conveniently determine whether the motor stops in the sensorless type motor driving apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2017
    Assignee: LG ELECTRONICS INC.
    Inventors: Hansu Jung, Hoyong Jang, Seokhee Cho
  • Patent number: 9806664
    Abstract: When electric power supply is started, an initial driving operation is performed to switch over a power supply phase of a motor in open-loop control. Initial learning processing is performed to learn a phase deviation correction value for the power supply phase relative to a count value of a pulse signal of an encoder. As a restraint caused by a shape of a detent mechanism, the motor need be rotationally driven so that a detent lever does not move in a negative direction beyond a bottom position of a P-range in the initial driving operation. In a case of performing the initial learning processing in the P-range in consideration of this restraint, the initial learning processing is performed by setting a rotation direction of the motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2017
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kazuhiro Yoshida, Jun Yamada, Masaaki Shinojima
  • Patent number: 9806646
    Abstract: In a control apparatus, a fundamental voltage generator generates, based on a target rotational speed, a fundamental voltage command for a fundamental voltage. A property storage stores a natural vibration property of a rotor when the rotor is rotating as a rotating vibration property. A rotating state detector detects a rotating position and a rotational speed of the rotor as a rotating state of the rotor. A harmonic voltage generator generates, based on the rotating state of the rotor and the rotating vibration property, a harmonic voltage command to be superimposed on the fundamental voltage command generated by the fundamental voltage generator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2017
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Ryunosuke Akimatsu, Tatsuya Tonari, Toshihiro Uchida
  • Patent number: 9806663
    Abstract: A motor-generator control part controls driving of a motor-generator, which is a drive power source of a vehicle. A torque limitation part of the MG control part limits a torque of the motor-generator when an element temperature indicating a system temperature increases to be higher than a limitation starting temperature. The torque limitation part continues the torque limitation, which was performed when the element temperature was at a peak temperature, until a limitation continuation period elapses, when the element temperature changes from increasing to decreasing as a result of limiting the torque of the motor-generator. Thus torque variation is suppressed while also suppressing overheating of a motor-generator driving system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 12, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2017
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Xuezhi He, Masaki Nishiyama, Hirofumi Yamashita
  • Patent number: 9806635
    Abstract: A SiC Schottky-barrier diode and a SiPiN diode are connected in parallel. Due to a difference in their thermal properties, a relatively large current flows in the SiPiN diode at a high temperature in which electro migration progresses easily in a solder layer, and the progression of the electro migration is suppressed. At a low temperature in which the electro migration does not progress so much, only a relatively small current flows in the SiPiN diode, and a loss suppression by the SiC Schottky-barrier diode is achieved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2017
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Toshikazu Sugiura
  • Patent number: 9804593
    Abstract: Methods and systems for teaching positions to components of devices are described. An example method includes providing instructions to a robotic device or robotic manipulator to place the robotic manipulator into a fine-tuning teach mode, in which the robotic manipulator is in a given position and is configured to move based on application of a manual contact in one or more step movements having a preset amount of distance. The method also includes determining that a given manual contact is applied to the robotic manipulator, and causing the robotic manipulator to incrementally move in the one or more step movements having the preset amount of distance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2017
    Assignee: X Development LLC
    Inventors: Benjamin Davis, Anthony Sean Jules