Patents Examined by Zemenay Truneh
  • Patent number: 9616753
    Abstract: Disclosed is an electric power conversion control device, in which when an overvoltage abnormality of an electric power system is detected, and it is detected that a vehicle is not in collision, a switching control unit stops the switching of an inverter, whereby an element of the inverter is prevented from being subjected to an overvoltage. In a case where an overvoltage abnormality of the electric power system is detected, and when it is detected that the vehicle is in collision, the switching control unit performs the switching of the inverter, whereby electrical energy of the electric power system is rapidly consumed by a motor generator. Accordingly, it is possible to properly control the switching of an electric converter depending on whether an overvoltage abnormality occurs and a vehicle is in collision.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2017
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Shohei Oi, Tomoko Oba
  • Patent number: 9610972
    Abstract: An inverter device includes a source current calculator and an inverter circuit, wherein: the source current calculator calculates an average value of the DC bus current Ical during a PWM cycle through arithmetic operation executed based upon instantaneous values of the DC bus current Idc of the inverter circuit; and the source current calculator provides an estimated value by designating the average current value Ical during the PWM cycle as an input source current Isrc during the PWM cycle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2017
    Assignee: HITACHI AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS, LTD.
    Inventors: Toshiyuki Ajima, Kimihisa Furukawa, Tohma Yamaguchi, Hiroki Takeda
  • Patent number: 9614461
    Abstract: The present invention provides a bidirectional high frequency speed drive configured to connect to a utility grid and an electrical machine. The bidirectional high frequency variable speed drive comprises a plurality of inductors each configured to connect to respective phase outputs of the electrical machine, a first plurality of power switches connected to the plurality of inductors, a second plurality of power switches connected to the plurality of inductors, and a controller connected to the first and second plurality of power switches. The controller can generate control signals based on an operating status and a predetermined operating status of the electrical machine. The first output of the first plurality of power switches can be interleaved to a second output of the second plurality of power switches. The present invention also provides methods for the bidirectional high frequency speed drive and apparatuses used to perform the methods of the present invention.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2017
    Assignee: Princeton Power Systems, Inc.
    Inventor: Martin Gerhard Becker
  • Patent number: 9614207
    Abstract: A battery pack includes a plurality of compartments filled with an inert gas and sealed in a thermally conductive casing, a plurality of battery units each comprising rechargeable batteries and each stored in one of the plurality of compartments, internal heat-exchange systems each of which can circulate the inert gas to exchange heat with the rechargeable batteries in the one of the plurality of compartments, and an external heat-exchange system positioned outside the thermally conductive casing which can exchange heat with the thermally conductive casing surrounding the one of the plurality of compartments.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2017
    Inventor: Yuebin Wu
  • Patent number: 9602033
    Abstract: The motor control apparatus controlling rotation of a brushless motor includes a controller to control an angular velocity of the motor, and a load torque calculator to calculate a load torque at which the motor drives a driven member, by using a detection signal output from a rotation detector to output the detection signal in response to the rotation of the motor. When the motor drives the driven member toward a target stop position, the controller calculates a deceleration rotation amount, which is a remaining rotation amount of the motor at start of deceleration of the motor from its drive state that is one of an acceleration state and a constant velocity state, and controls the angular velocity of the motor on a basis of the deceleration rotation amount. The controller calculates the deceleration rotation amount by using the load torque calculated in the drive state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2017
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Junki Yoshimuta
  • Patent number: 9592737
    Abstract: The invention relates to a drive system (1). The drive system (1) has at least two inverters (3, 31, 32, 33) and at least two motors (2). Each of the motors (2), each of which has a stator and a rotor, has at least one first coil system (21) and a second coil system (22) in the stator. Each first coil system (21) is connected to a first inverter (31) in an electrically conductive manner, and each second coil system (22) is connected to a second inverter (32) in an electrically conductive manner. The invention further relates to a method for the redundant operation of a drive system (1), wherein at least one motor exchanges electric energy with the second inverter (32) and/or one or more additional inverters (33) if the first inverter (31) fails.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2017
    Assignee: SIEMENS AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT
    Inventor: Hans Friedrich Steffani
  • Patent number: 9590552
    Abstract: A motor drive device drives a multi-phase synchronous motor in an electric compressor. The multi-phase synchronous motor includes a rotor that is provided with a permanent magnet and a stator having coils of different phases. The motor drive device includes an inverter that supplies current to the coils and a control unit that controls the inverter. The control unit executes an initial angular position calculation processing of detecting a d-axis and a q-axis as an initial angular position of the rotor, a rotating processing of rotating the d-axis and the q-axis in a direction opposite to rotation of the rotor, an acceleration processing of accelerating the rotation of the rotor, and a sensorless control processing of controlling the rotation of the rotor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2017
    Assignee: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOYOTA JIDOSHOKKI
    Inventors: Yoshiki Nagata, Takuya Naruse, Akimitsu Ichihara
  • Patent number: 9590538
    Abstract: An electrodynamic braking device for a universal motor includes a field winding configured to be fed from a grid during a braking operation, and an armature that is configured to be directly short-circuited. A braking process is performed by means of control electronics. Good braking is achieved with relatively low brush wear. Such an electrodynamic braking device can be used effectively for a power tool.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2017
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventor: Hans Hermann Rottmerhusen
  • Patent number: 9584053
    Abstract: A SBW-ECU prohibits driving of an electric motor by turning off power supply to the motor by a drive prohibition device, when a diagnosis part of a by-wire control circuit determines that a shift-by-wire system is abnormal or a monitor circuit determines that the by-wire control circuit is abnormal. In this case, the motor is stopped from rotating by execution of power supply phase fixation processing, by which a power supply phase of the motor is fixed without switchover, when the motor is driven to rotate at the time of determination of abnormality of the shift-by-wire system. Then the prohibition device prohibits driving of the motor by stopping the power supply to the motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2017
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kiyoshi Kimura, Jun Yamada, Masaaki Shinojima
  • Patent number: 9571016
    Abstract: A motor control system is disclosed. The motor control system includes a level-shifting unit, a motor unit and a control unit. The level-shifting unit receives an original pulse width modulation (PWM) signal to generate an output PWM signal. When a first high level of the original PWM signal is larger than a first reference value, the level-shifting unit shifts a second high level of the output PWM signal to a set high level. When a first low level of the original PWM signal is lower than a second reference value, the level-shifting unit shifts a second low level of the output PWM signal to a set low level. The control unit controls the speed of the motor according to the output PWM signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 14, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2017
    Assignee: DELTA ELECTRONICS, INC.
    Inventors: Chia-Hao Chang, Yueh-Lung Huang, Yen-Hung Chen, Shih-Yuan Chiang, Feng-Ying Lin
  • Patent number: 9562792
    Abstract: An angle detector includes an intersection phase detector to compare each pair of multiple sensor signals or multiple sensor processed signals generate and output each intersection phase detection signal indicating a phase at which the signal level difference of the each pair is a first maximum hysteresis error after signal levels of signals of the each pair match, an intersection level detector to detect each intersection level and generate and output multiple intersection level signals indicating the detected intersection level, a signal selector to single out a selection signal of the either of the multiple sensor signals or the multiple sensor processed signals; a phase detector to detect that a signal level of the selection signal selected by the signal selector has reached a threshold level and a threshold level adjuster to adjust the threshold level based on the intersection level signal and the first maximum hysteresis error.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2017
    Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventors: Shinichi Kojima, Katsuhisa Furuse
  • Patent number: 9550425
    Abstract: An upper chamber and a lower chamber are provided in a housing of an electric storage device for vehicle deployment by a middle base plate. The lower chamber is sealed with respect to the upper chamber by the middle base plate. A battery module is disposed in the lower chamber. A control device, such as a cell controller, and electrical parts, such as a junction box and a service disconnect switch, are mounted in the upper chamber. Strong and weak current system wiring that connect the battery module and the electrical parts respectively penetrate strong and weak current system openings of the middle base plate, and are routed to the upper chamber. The openings, which are penetrated by the strong and the weak current system wiring, are each provided with a sealing member, and thus the lower chamber is sealed with respect to the upper chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 13, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2017
    Assignee: Hitachi Automotive Systems, Ltd.
    Inventor: Tatsuo Sugawara
  • Patent number: 9547305
    Abstract: The operation state of a servo motor is monitored and output to a user before automatic termination of power to the motor. A servo system includes a servo motor and a safety unit. The safety unit cuts off electric power to the servo motor when at least one of a speed, a position, acceleration, an amount of movement, a movement direction, and torque of the servo motor is outside a first operation range. Furthermore, the safety unit outputs a warning when at least one of the speed, the position, the acceleration, the amount of movement, the movement direction, the torque is within the first operation range, but is outside a second operation range that is narrower than the first operation range. User controls allow reduced operation when outside the second operation range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2017
    Assignee: OMRON Corporation
    Inventors: Takao Ushiyama, Akihiko Morikawa, Toshinori Sato, Junichi Ueno
  • Patent number: 9525378
    Abstract: A motor control device of the present invention includes a position detector (107), a feedforward controller, a predistorter, a feedback controller, a vibration suppression controller, a torque controller, a torque estimator, and an adjustment calculator. The vibration suppression controller receives a manipulation-quantity command value derived by addition of a feedforward manipulation quantity and a feedback manipulation quantity, and outputs an actual manipulation-quantity command value corresponding to the received manipulation-quantity command value. The torque controller controls a manipulation quantity generated by the motor so that the manipulation quantity matches the actual manipulation-quantity command value. The adjustment calculator adjusts a transfer characteristic of the predistorter such that the transfer characteristic becomes equal to a transfer characteristic from the manipulation-quantity command value to the manipulation quantity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 3, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Hiroshi Fujiwara
  • Patent number: 9525367
    Abstract: A fan motor braking apparatus and a method of controlling the same provide a braking protection before the fan motor revolves. The fan motor braking apparatus includes a conversion circuit, a braking enable circuit, a braking release circuit, and a fan motor startup circuit. The conversion circuit has a plurality of power switch elements electrically connected to the fan motor. The braking enable circuit is connected to the conversion circuit and the braking release circuit is connected to the braking enable circuit. The fan motor startup circuit receives an external DC voltage. The braking enable circuit generates a braking control signal to turn on the power switch elements when the braking enable circuit receives the external DC voltage, thus braking the fan motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: DELTA ELECTRONICS, INC.
    Inventors: Wei-Shuo Tseug, Chia-Feng Wu, Ming-Lung Liu, Yu-Jen Liang
  • Patent number: 9515595
    Abstract: The embodiments described herein include one embodiment that provides a motor drive that includes driver circuitry that controls operation of an inverter in the motor drive to output power to a motor, control circuitry that controls operation of the driver circuitry, and a switched mode power supply that supplies electrical power to the driver circuitry, the control circuitry, or both. The switched mode power supply includes a primary coil, in which a primary controller stores electrical energy in the primary coil by selectively connecting the primary coil to a power source, and a secondary coil electrically isolated from the primary coil, in which the secondary coil outputs electrical power based at least in part on the electrical energy stored in the primary coil, in which a secondary controller controls the electrical power supplied to the driver circuitry, the control circuitry, or both by selectively connecting the secondary coil to a power output of the switched mode power supply.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 14, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2016
    Assignee: Rockwell Automation Asia Pacific Business Center Pte. Ltd.
    Inventor: Clare Siew Ling Loke
  • Patent number: 9503003
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus drives and rotates at least one of a photosensitive drum and a transport roller with use of a stepping motor in a multi-phase excitation mode. The image forming apparatus includes: a constant-voltage control unit controlling the stepping motor by applying a constant voltage for each phase; a constant-current control unit controlling the stepping motor by regulating an amount of current for each phase by a chopping control; a measuring unit measuring a chopping count of each phase on a per-step basis; a chopping count determination unit determining whether the chopping count of each phase is less than or equal to a predetermined count; and a control switching unit causing the constant-voltage control unit to control the stepping motor when the chopping count determination unit determines affirmatively, and causing the constant-current control unit to control the stepping motor when the chopping count determination unit determines negatively.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 16, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2016
    Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.
    Inventors: Takahiro Tsujimoto, Hideki Nakamura, Takeshi Ishida, Naoto Sugaya, Akimasa Ishikawa
  • Patent number: 9496810
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method for controlling an electrical machine (10) by means of an inverter (12), in particular for use in a motor vehicle, wherein the inverter (12) has a plurality of controllable circuit breakers (14) which are designed to convert a DC voltage from a voltage source (22), which is coupled to the circuit breakers (14), into an AC voltage for supplying electrical energy to the electrical machine (10), wherein the electrical machine (10) is then switched to a freewheeling mode (32) by opening all the circuit breakers (14) of the inverter (12), wherein a phase current of the electrical machine (10) is detected, wherein the electrical machine (10) is switched from the freewheeling mode (32) to a short-circuit mode (36) as a function of a comparison (34) of the phase current, or of a first variable which is derived from the phrase current, with a first reference value, wherein the circuit breakers (14) which are associated with a first potential of the voltage source (22) are closed in th
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2016
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventors: Daniel Raichle, Markus Merten
  • Patent number: 9487105
    Abstract: Disclosed are a power system for an electric vehicle and a control method of a power system for an electric vehicle. The power system may include a first motor and a second motor configured as a power source, first and second reduction gears connected to the first and second motors and having different deceleration ratios, a driving shaft transmitting outputs of the first and second reduction gears, and a motor controller configured to determine a first driving point where the first motor responds according to a demand torque of a driver and a driving condition of the vehicle and a second driving point where the second motor responds according to the demand torque of the driver and the driving condition of the vehicle, and control driving by using at least one of an output torque of the first motor and/or an output torque of the second motor according to the determined driving point.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2016
    Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company
    Inventors: Yong Gi Kim, Tal Chol Kim, Ryong Choe
  • Patent number: 9479101
    Abstract: An apparatus for diagnosing motor performance of a vehicle and a method thereof are provided. The apparatus for diagnosing motor performance includes calculating magnetic flux of the motor under a predetermined diagnosis condition using a magnetic flux calculator. The apparatus further includes determining whether the calculated magnetic flux of the motor is included in a normal range using a validity determiner.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 25, 2016
    Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company
    Inventors: Joo Young Park, Byung Hoon Yang