Patents Examined by Thai Dinh
  • Patent number: 8054022
    Abstract: A disk drive is disclosed comprising a disk, a head actuated over the disk, and a spindle motor for rotating the disk, wherein the spindle motor comprises a plurality of windings. During a spin-up operation of the disk, a sinusoidal driving signal is applied to each winding of the spindle motor for a spin-up interval, wherein during at least eighty percent of the spin-up interval the sinusoidal driving signals are applied to the windings of the spindle motor open loop.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2008
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2011
    Assignee: Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Robert P. Ryan, Brett A. Henne, Steven Nemshick
  • Patent number: 8049451
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus are provided for a near field detection system. The apparatus comprises a glass plate, the glass plate having a first edge and comprising a first electrode, the first electrode disposed along the first edge of the glass plate, adapted to detect the presence of an object in near proximity to the glass plate, and adapted to transmit a signal in response to the presence of the object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 2008
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2011
    Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC
    Inventors: Derek L. Patterson, Scott A. Niemiec, Craig A. Kollar, Edward M. Sanocki, Jr., Thomas A. Wilson
  • Patent number: 8049449
    Abstract: In a brushless motor for an electric power steering device having a configuration of 2 poles and 3 slots, or of an integral multiple thereof, a stator coil is supplied with current containing a higher harmonic component. A difference of 0.5% to 1.5% is provided between the higher harmonic component content rate of the stator coil current and the higher harmonic component content rate of the induced electromotive force generated in the stator coil with rotation of a permanent magnet, thereby mitigating the influence by an armature reaction generated in the induced electromotive force to reduce torque ripples. The difference between the higher harmonic component content rates is set on the basis of a change that occurs in the induced electromotive force due to the armature reaction at a time of supplying electricity to the armature coil.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2007
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2011
    Assignee: Mitsuba Corporation
    Inventors: Masayuki Okubo, Takeshi Yamazaki, Youichirou Shikine
  • Patent number: 8049445
    Abstract: A motor controller that outputs a drive signal to a direct-current motor to drive the motor is provided. The motor controller includes a drive circuit that generates the drive signal. The drive circuit superimposes on a direct-current voltage an alternating-current component having a frequency in the audible frequency range of the human ear, thereby generating the drive signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2008
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2011
    Assignee: Asmo Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hidenori Ishihara, Hiroaki Yamamoto, Nakatsune Shirai, Katsumi Endo, Tomoki Yamashita
  • Patent number: 8044631
    Abstract: Control systems, methods and power conversion systems are presented for controlling harmonic distortion, in which multi-sampling space vector modulation (SVM) is employed for controlling power converter switching devices, with a reference vector being sampled two or more times during each SVM period to update the SVM dwell times more than once during each SVM cycle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 25, 2011
    Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Jingya Dai, Yongqiang Lang, Bin Wu, Dewei Xu, Navid R. Zargari
  • Patent number: 8040088
    Abstract: A power inverter comprises a power module connected at least to a rotating electric machine, a gate drive circuit board which supplies switching power to the power module, and a rotating electric machine control circuit board which supplies a signal for controlling the waveform of the switching power to the gate drive circuit board. A noise reduction board is formed on a board different from the rotating electric machine control circuit board. The configuration of the noise reduction board is such that various signals for forming a signal for controlling the waveform of the switching power by means of the rotating electric machine control circuit board are inputted through the noise reduction board to the rotating electric machine control circuit board.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2011
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Katayama, Koichi Yahata, Masashige Tsuji, Takashi Fujimoto, Hiroaki Igarashi
  • Patent number: 8018185
    Abstract: In an apparatus, a norm setter sets, based on a request torque for a rotary machine and a rotational velocity of a rotor, a norm of a vector of an a output voltage in a two-phase rotating coordinate system defined in the rotor. A phase setter sets, based on a deviation between a generated torque and the request torque, a phase of the vector of the output voltage of the power converter in the two-phase rotating coordinate system. A drive signal determiner determines, based on the norm set by the norm setter and the phase set by the phase setter, a drive signal, and applies the drive signal to a switching member to thereby drive the switching member such that the generated torque is adjusted to the request torque.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2009
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2011
    Assignee: Denso Corporation
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi Yamamoto, Takahiro Yamada
  • Patent number: 8018194
    Abstract: When application software running on a PC is in the state of being terminated, a switch unit is turned OFF with the control of a CPU and individual motors, and in this state, a light source is not supplied with a motor/lamp-use power source. In this state, however, the CPU and individual I/Fs are supplied with a logic-use power source. Therefore, the switch unit is turned ON when the application software is started, and an initialization process for an individual electrically driven unit is no longer required.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2009
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2011
    Assignee: Olympus Corporation
    Inventor: Hiroshi Watanabe
  • Patent number: 8004223
    Abstract: An electric bike includes a wheel driving apparatus. The wheel driving apparatus includes an electric wheel drive motor which drives a wheel, a gap changer which changes a gap length in the wheel drive motor, and a motor control unit which controls the wheel drive motor and the gap changer. The motor control unit calculates a target gap length for the gap changing motor in the gap changer based on an accelerator opening-degree signal, a rotation speed, a q-axis electric-current command value, a power source voltage, and a voltage utilization rate. Then, a feedback control is provided to the gap changer based on a difference value between the target gap length and the actual gap-length. A good vehicle characteristic is obtained without being affected by individual variability or operating environment of the electric motor through efficient drive of the electric motor from a low-speed range through a high-speed range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 20, 2009
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2011
    Assignee: Yamaha Hatsudoki Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Hiroaki Yagi, Hideki Matsueda, Mikio Saitou
  • Patent number: 7999485
    Abstract: The present invention is directed to a power control wiring device that includes an electronic switch circuit that energizes the electrical load in accordance with a timing regulation signal. A timing regulation circuit includes a primary timing regulation circuit and an auxiliary timing regulation circuit. The circuit is adjustable between a minimum power setting and a maximum power setting to thereby generate an adjustable primary timing regulation signal. The timing regulation circuit also generates an auxiliary timing regulation signal to thereby reduce power consumption. A primary manual power control mechanism is configured to adjust the primary timing regulation circuit between the minimum power setting and the maximum power setting. An auxiliary manual power control mechanism is configured to trim the maximum power setting in accordance with the selectable trim adjustment, the at least one auxiliary manual power control mechanism being user accessible.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2011
    Assignee: Pass & Seymour, Inc.
    Inventors: Jeffrey C. Richards, Gary O. Wilson, David A. Finlay, Sr.
  • Patent number: 7999499
    Abstract: A rotating electrical machine control system includes a rotating electrical machine, a frequency conversion portion, a voltage conversion portion, a torque limitation portion, and an abnormality detection portion. The torque limitation portion limits generation of a positive torque in a region of less than a rotational speed lower limit threshold value where a rotational speed of the rotating electrical machine is less than zero, and sets a region in which the positive torque is generated to a region of the rotational speed lower limit threshold value or greater, and the torque limitation portion limits generation of a negative torque in a region of greater than a rotational speed upper limit threshold value where the rotational speed of the rotating electrical machine is greater than zero, and sets a region in which the negative torque is generated to a region of the rotational speed upper limit threshold value or less.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2009
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2011
    Assignee: Aisin AW Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kazuhiro Tanaka, Jin Izawa, Yoshinori Oono, Kazuo Aoki
  • Patent number: 7990087
    Abstract: A device comprising a fan controller, an encoder, a driver, a resistor/capacitor filter, and a baseboard management controller. The fan controller is configured to output a cooling fan status signal, and to output a cooling fan information data signal. The encoder is configured to encode the cooling fan status signal and the cooling fan information data signal together into a combined signal. The driver is configured to invert the combined signal and to output an inverted signal. The resistor/capacitor filter is configured to filter out the cooling fan information data signal from the inverted signal, and to output a filtered signal. The baseboard management controller is configured to determine a status of a cooling fan in response to the filtered signal, and to output a control signal to the fan controller module for the cooling fan based on the cooling fan information data signal within the inverted signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2011
    Assignee: Dell Products, LP
    Inventors: Paul T. Artman, Sandor Farkas
  • Patent number: 7990086
    Abstract: Seat-assembly movement system, for collecting up and deploying rows of seats (1) at the installation site, by means of sliding on guides (2) arranged in the floor, the movement of the rows of seats (1) being managed by means of a control system comprising a master PLC or a computer unit, for governing the installation, in combination with respective slave PLCs arranged on the carriages (3) carrying the rows of seats and in connection with devices for controlling the position of said carriages (3) on the mounting guides (2).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2011
    Assignee: Figueras International Seating, S.A.
    Inventor: Jose Figueras Mitjans
  • Patent number: 7986117
    Abstract: In an apparatus, a phase setter sets, based on a deviation between a generated torque and a request torque for a rotary machine, a phase of a vector of a variable output voltage of a power converter in a two-phase rotating coordinate system defined in a rotor of the rotary machine. A norm setter sets, based on the phase set by the phase setter and a rotational velocity of the rotor, a norm of the vector of the output voltage in the two-phase rotating coordinate system. A drive signal determiner determines, based on the phase set by the phase setter and the norm set by the norm setter, a drive signal, and applies the drive signal to the switching member to thereby drive the switching member such that the generated torque is adjusted to a request torque.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 26, 2011
    Assignee: Denso Corporation
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi Yamamoto, Takahiro Yamada
  • Patent number: 7982425
    Abstract: A position control apparatus includes a reverse displacement calculation unit configured to calculate a reverse displacement that represents an amount of movement made from a preceding reverse point to a current reverse point by an axis that performs a reversing motion; a reversing-time segmenting number calculation unit configured to compare the reverse displacement to a predetermined value, and, when the reverse displacement is less than the predetermined value, increase a value of a reversing-time segmenting number, which is a coefficient indicating a number of segments per unit time during a reversing motion, and, when the reverse displacement is greater than or equal to the predetermined value, decrease the value of the reversing-time segmenting number; and a quadrant inversion compensation unit configured to automatically adjust a quadrant inversion compensation amount according to the reversing-time segmenting number and perform the quadrant inversion compensation based on the automatically adjusted co
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2011
    Assignee: Okuma Corporation
    Inventor: Masaya Minamide
  • Patent number: 7973506
    Abstract: The invention discloses a method for controlling a power car window lift. The method includes the following steps: detecting an operation state signal of the car window with a detection element; inputting the detection signal of the detection element into the controller; and the controller sending a control signal to an actuator, which controls the operation state of the car window lift. The main control element of the controller is a thyristor or an equivalent functional element. The car window lift's operation state signal includes a car window closed obstacle signal, a car window closed-in-place signal, a car window opened-in-place signal, and a car window opened obstacle signal. The invention further discloses a device for implementing the method for controlling the power car window.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 2008
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2011
    Inventor: Yuanhong Wen
  • Patent number: 7965051
    Abstract: A user selectable optional power tinting system. A typical OPTS includes a user selection interface operable to allow a user to select a tinting option from a plurality of tinting options, a panel selection assembly coupled to the user selection interface and operable to engage a window panel corresponding to an option selected by the user selection interface, an actuator motor operable to engage the panel selection assembly when an option is selected from the user selection interface, and a plurality of differently tinted panels operable to be engaged by the panel selection assembly when an option is selected from the user selection interface, each differently tinted panel corresponding to one of the plurality of tinting options.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 13, 2007
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2011
    Inventors: Wayne Walker, Earnie Lee Walker
  • Patent number: 7960932
    Abstract: Disclosed is a method for controlling an electrical door drive by means of which the door drive is switched off if the maximum torque is overshot and/or a defined nominal closing rate of the door is undershot as a result of the door drive being obstructed. In order to reliably prevent injuries and damage to people and objects in the event of a functional failure of the safety control system, and in order to nevertheless reliably block or reverse the door, it is proposed that pulse monitoring be carried out on the door drive, for redundant obstruction identification.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2008
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2011
    Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Heinz Ludwig, Guido Sonntag, Hans-Wilhelm Wilken
  • Patent number: 7956561
    Abstract: A rotor position detecting circuit includes a first position detecting circuit having a low-pass filter that shapes up phase voltage induced in a phase coil and a first comparator that compares the output voltage of the low-pass filter with a threshold level to form a first rotor position signal, and a second position detecting circuit having a second comparator that compares the phase voltage with a threshold voltage and a control unit that digitally processes the output voltage of the second comparator to form a second rotor position signal. The control unit corrects the first rotor position signal by the second rotor position signal to provide a final rotor position signal when the rotation speed of the brushless DC motor is in a measurable range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 2008
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2011
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Atsushi Kanamori, Satoshi Yoshimura
  • Patent number: 7952315
    Abstract: The system includes a plurality of vertically spaced medication trays with a base assembly and a motor, responsive to computer commands, mounted on the base assembly. A drive shaft case member extends vertically from the base assembly. A cam assembly includes a plurality of spaced cam members, each cam member having concave portions and lobe portions on a peripheral surface thereof. A first drive clutch selectively engages the motor with both the drive shaft case member and the cam assembly for rotation of both in one direction, while a second drive clutch selectively engages the motor with just the cam assembly for rotation thereof in an opposing direction. The drive shaft case member has a cam follower assembly associated with each cam member, wherein one portion of the cam follower assembly engages the cam element and another portion engages an associated tray when the cam follower engages a selected concave portion on the cam element associated with the tray.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 8, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2011
    Assignee: Sabal Medical, Inc.
    Inventor: William C. Park, IV