Patents by Inventor Eric James Thomas
Eric James Thomas has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
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Patent number: 11527978Abstract: A method of determining angular position (?) of a rotor of an N-phase permanent magnet motor (PMM). A processor having an associated stored angular position determination (APD) algorithm is programmed to implement the algorithm to cause an associated motor controller to execute steps including forcing one vector at a time a phase vector set of current or voltage vectors to stator terminals of windings for the N-phases a positive and negative magnitude vector, wherein the vector magnitude is sufficiently small to not move the rotor, and a time duration for the forcing current or voltage vectors is essentially constant. The resulting stator current or voltage levels are measured for each current or voltage vector. An N-dimension current vector or voltage vector is generated from superposition of the resulting stator current levels or resulting stator voltage levels. The N-dimension current vector or voltage vector is used to determine angular position.Type: GrantFiled: June 15, 2021Date of Patent: December 13, 2022Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATEDInventors: Eric James Thomas, David Patrick Magee
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Publication number: 20210313916Abstract: A method of determining angular position (?) of a rotor of an N-phase permanent magnet motor (PMM). A processor having an associated stored angular position determination (APD) algorithm is programmed to implement the algorithm to cause an associated motor controller to execute steps including forcing one vector at a time a phase vector set of current or voltage vectors to stator terminals of windings for the N-phases a positive and negative magnitude vector, wherein the vector magnitude is sufficiently small to not move the rotor, and a time duration for the forcing current or voltage vectors is essentially constant. The resulting stator current or voltage levels are measured for each current or voltage vector. An N-dimension current vector or voltage vector is generated from superposition of the resulting stator current levels or resulting stator voltage levels. The N-dimension current vector or voltage vector is used to determine angular position.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 15, 2021Publication date: October 7, 2021Inventors: Eric James Thomas, David Patrick Magee
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Patent number: 11070155Abstract: A method of determining angular position (?) of a rotor of an N-phase permanent magnet motor (PMM). A processor having an associated stored angular position determination (APD) algorithm is programmed to implement the algorithm to cause an associated motor controller to execute steps including forcing one vector at a time a phase vector set of current or voltage vectors to stator terminals of windings for the N-phases a positive and negative magnitude vector, wherein the vector magnitude is sufficiently small to not move the rotor, and a time duration for the forcing current or voltage vectors is essentially constant. The resulting stator current or voltage levels are measured for each current or voltage vector. An N-dimension current vector or voltage vector is generated from superposition of the resulting stator current levels or resulting stator voltage levels. The N-dimension current vector or voltage vector is used to determine angular position.Type: GrantFiled: January 13, 2020Date of Patent: July 20, 2021Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATEDInventors: Eric James Thomas, David Patrick Magee
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Publication number: 20200153374Abstract: A method of determining angular position (?) of a rotor of an N-phase permanent magnet motor (PMM). A processor having an associated stored angular position determination (APD) algorithm is programmed to implement the algorithm to cause an associated motor controller to execute steps including forcing one vector at a time a phase vector set of current or voltage vectors to stator terminals of windings for the N-phases a positive and negative magnitude vector, wherein the vector magnitude is sufficiently small to not move the rotor, and a time duration for the forcing current or voltage vectors is essentially constant. The resulting stator current or voltage levels are measured for each current or voltage vector. An N-dimension current vector or voltage vector is generated from superposition of the resulting stator current levels or resulting stator voltage levels. The N-dimension current vector or voltage vector is used to determine angular position.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 13, 2020Publication date: May 14, 2020Inventors: Eric James Thomas, David Patrick Magee
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Patent number: 10574165Abstract: A method of determining angular position (?) of a rotor of an N-phase permanent magnet motor (PMM). A processor having an associated stored angular position determination (APD) algorithm is programmed to implement the algorithm to cause an associated motor controller to execute steps including forcing one vector at a time a phase vector set of current or voltage vectors to stator terminals of windings for the N-phases a positive and negative magnitude vector, wherein the vector magnitude is sufficiently small to not move the rotor, and a time duration for the forcing current or voltage vectors is essentially constant. The resulting stator current or voltage levels are measured for each current or voltage vector. An N-dimension current vector or voltage vector is generated from superposition of the resulting stator current levels or resulting stator voltage levels. The N-dimension current vector or voltage vector is used to determine angular position.Type: GrantFiled: February 28, 2019Date of Patent: February 25, 2020Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATEDInventors: Eric James Thomas, David Patrick Magee
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Patent number: 10498268Abstract: A method of determining the angular position (?) of a rotor of an N-phase permanent magnet motor (PMM) includes providing a processor having an associated memory, wherein the memory stores an angular position determination (APD) equation or hardware is included implementing the APD equation. The APD equation determines the angular position from N-phase measurements obtained from the stator windings associated with each of the N-phases. A voltage or a current is forced upon the stator terminals of the stator windings for each of the N-phases, a resulting stator current or stator voltage is sensed to provide the N-phase measurements responsive to the forcing of the voltage or current, and the APD equation is used to determine the angular position from the N-phase measurements.Type: GrantFiled: June 6, 2017Date of Patent: December 3, 2019Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATEDInventors: David Patrick Magee, Eric James Thomas
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Patent number: 10340821Abstract: Low speed and high speed estimates of rotor angle and speed relative to the stator are received from a low speed estimator and a high speed estimator, respectively. LS_?_EST and a subset of torque-controlling I_Q trajectory curve (“IQTC”) parameter values appropriate to low speed rotor operation are selected for rotor speeds below a low speed threshold value ?_LOW_THRS. HS_?_EST and a subset of IQTC curve parameter values appropriate to high speed rotor operation are selected for rotor speeds above a high speed threshold value ?_HIGH_THRS. LS_?_EST and the low speed subset of IQTC parameter values remain selected for rotor speeds less than ?_HIGH_THRS after accelerating to a rotor speed greater than ?_LOW_THRS. HS_?_EST and the subset of high speed IQTC parameter values remain selected for rotor speeds greater than ?_LOW_THRS after decelerating to a rotor speed less than ?_HIGH_THRS.Type: GrantFiled: September 12, 2017Date of Patent: July 2, 2019Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATEDInventors: David Patrick Magee, Eric James Thomas
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Publication number: 20190199259Abstract: A method of determining angular position (?) of a rotor of an N-phase permanent magnet motor (PMM). A processor having an associated stored angular position determination (APD) algorithm is programmed to implement the algorithm to cause an associated motor controller to execute steps including forcing one vector at a time a phase vector set of current or voltage vectors to stator terminals of windings for the N-phases a positive and negative magnitude vector, wherein the vector magnitude is sufficiently small to not move the rotor, and a time duration for the forcing current or voltage vectors is essentially constant. The resulting stator current or voltage levels are measured for each current or voltage vector. An N-dimension current vector or voltage vector is generated from superposition of the resulting stator current levels or resulting stator voltage levels. The N-dimension current vector or voltage vector is used to determine angular position.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 28, 2019Publication date: June 27, 2019Inventors: Eric James Thomas, David Patrick Magee
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Patent number: 10263555Abstract: A method of determining angular position (0) of a rotor of an N-phase permanent magnet motor (PMM). A processor having an associated stored angular position determination (APD) algorithm is programmed to implement the algorithm to cause an associated motor controller to execute steps including forcing one vector at a time a phase vector set of current or voltage vectors to stator terminals of windings for the N-phases a positive and negative magnitude vector, wherein the vector magnitude is sufficiently small to not move the rotor, and a time duration for the forcing current or voltage vectors is essentially constant. The resulting stator current or voltage levels are measured for each current or voltage vector. An N-dimension current vector or voltage vector is generated from superposition of the resulting stator current levels or resulting stator voltage levels. The N-dimension current vector or voltage vector is used to determine angular position.Type: GrantFiled: March 9, 2018Date of Patent: April 16, 2019Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATEDInventors: Eric James Thomas, David Patrick Magee
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Publication number: 20180198397Abstract: A method of determining angular position (0) of a rotor of an N-phase permanent magnet motor (PMM). A processor having an associated stored angular position determination (APD) algorithm is programmed to implement the algorithm to cause an associated motor controller to execute steps including forcing one vector at a time a phase vector set of current or voltage vectors to stator terminals of windings for the N-phases a positive and negative magnitude vector, wherein the vector magnitude is sufficiently small to not move the rotor, and a time duration for the forcing current or voltage vectors is essentially constant. The resulting stator current or voltage levels are measured for each current or voltage vector. An N-dimension current vector or voltage vector is generated from superposition of the resulting stator current levels or resulting stator voltage levels. The N-dimension current vector or voltage vector is used to determine angular position.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 9, 2018Publication date: July 12, 2018Inventors: Eric James Thomas, David Patrick Magee
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Patent number: 9917542Abstract: A method of determining angular position (?) of a rotor of an N-phase permanent magnet motor (PMM). A processor having an associated stored angular position determination (APD) algorithm is programmed to implement the algorithm to cause an associated motor controller to execute steps including forcing one vector at a time a phase vector set of current or voltage vectors to stator terminals of windings for the N-phases a positive and negative magnitude vector, wherein the vector magnitude is sufficiently small to not move the rotor, and a time duration for the forcing current or voltage vectors is essentially constant. The resulting stator current or voltage levels are measured for each current or voltage vector. An N-dimension current vector or voltage vector is generated from superposition of the resulting stator current levels or resulting stator voltage levels. The N-dimension current vector or voltage vector is used to determine angular position.Type: GrantFiled: August 29, 2016Date of Patent: March 13, 2018Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATEDInventors: Eric James Thomas, David Patrick Magee
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Patent number: 9912275Abstract: A method of normalizing phase measurements for a motor using a normalizing phase measurements (NPM) algorithm that a processor implements to cause a motor controller coupled to stator terminals of the phases to execute forcing a set of input current or voltage vectors (set of input vectors) including repeating the forcing after rotating the rotor through a full mechanical cycle to generate resulting current or voltage samples (resulting samples) of non-normalized phase A and phase B waveforms. The magnitude of the input vectors are sufficiently small to not move the rotor. A maximum value (x_max) and a minimum value (x_min) are determined for each of the non-normalized phase A and phase B waveforms. An offset value and normalization scale factor (NSF) are determined from the max and min values. The offsets and NSFs are applied to the non-normalized phase waveforms to generate normalized phase A and phase B waveforms.Type: GrantFiled: August 29, 2016Date of Patent: March 6, 2018Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATEDInventors: Eric James Thomas, David Patrick Magee
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Publication number: 20180006588Abstract: Low speed and high speed estimates of rotor angle and speed relative to the stator are received from a low speed estimator and a high speed estimator, respectively. LS_?_EST and a subset of torque-controlling I_Q trajectory curve (“IQTC”) parameter values appropriate to low speed rotor operation are selected for rotor speeds below a low speed threshold value ?_LOW_THRS. HS_?_EST and a subset of IQTC curve parameter values appropriate to high speed rotor operation are selected for rotor speeds above a high speed threshold value ?_HIGH_THRS. LS_?_EST and the low speed subset of IQTC parameter values remain selected for rotor speeds less than ?_HIGH_THRS after accelerating to a rotor speed greater than ?_LOW_THRS. HS_?_EST and the subset of high speed IQTC parameter values remain selected for rotor speeds greater than ?_LOW_THRS after decelerating to a rotor speed less than ?_HIGH_THRS.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 12, 2017Publication date: January 4, 2018Inventors: David Patrick Magee, Eric James Thomas
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Publication number: 20170272012Abstract: A method of determining the angular position (?) of a rotor of an N-phase permanent magnet motor (PMM) includes providing a processor having an associated memory, wherein the memory stores an angular position determination (APD) equation or hardware is included implementing the APD equation. The APD equation determines the angular position from N-phase measurements obtained from the stator windings associated with each of the N-phases. A voltage or a current is forced upon the stator terminals of the stator windings for each of the N-phases, a resulting stator current or stator voltage is sensed to provide the N-phase measurements responsive to the forcing of the voltage or current, and the APD equation is used to determine the angular position from the N-phase measurements.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 6, 2017Publication date: September 21, 2017Inventors: David Patrick Magee, Eric James Thomas
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Patent number: 9762155Abstract: Low speed and high speed estimates of rotor angle and speed (LS_?_EST/LS_?_EST and HS_?_EST/HS_?_EST) relative to the stator are received from a low speed estimator and a high speed estimator, respectively. LS_?_EST and a subset of torque-controlling I_Q trajectory curve (“IQTC”) parameter values appropriate to low speed rotor operation are selected for rotor speeds below a low speed threshold value ?_LOW_THRS. HS_?_EST and a subset of IQTC curve parameter values appropriate to high speed rotor operation are selected for rotor speeds above a high speed threshold value ?_HIGH_THRS. LS_?_EST and the low speed subset of IQTC parameter values remain selected for rotor speeds less than ?_HIGH_THRS after accelerating to a rotor speed greater than ?_LOW_THRS. HS_?_EST and the subset of high speed IQTC parameter values remain selected for rotor speeds greater than ?_LOW_THRS after decelerating to a rotor speed less than ?_HIGH_THRS.Type: GrantFiled: May 24, 2016Date of Patent: September 12, 2017Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATEDInventors: David Patrick Magee, Eric James Thomas
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Patent number: 9705437Abstract: A method of determining the angular position (?) of a rotor of an N-phase permanent magnet motor (PMM) includes providing a processor having an associated memory, wherein the memory stores an angular position determination (APD) equation or hardware is included implementing the APD equation. The APD equation determines the angular position from N-phase measurements obtained from the stator windings associated with each of the N-phases. A voltage or a current is forced upon the stator terminals of the stator windings for each of the N-phases, a resulting stator current or stator voltage is sensed to provide the N-phase measurements responsive to the forcing of the voltage or current, and the APD equation is used to determine the angular position from the N-phase measurements.Type: GrantFiled: May 26, 2015Date of Patent: July 11, 2017Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATEDInventors: Eric James Thomas, David Patrick Magee
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Publication number: 20160373041Abstract: A method of determining angular position (?) of a rotor of an N-phase permanent magnet motor (PMM). A processor having an associated stored angular position determination (APD) algorithm is programmed to implement the algorithm to cause an associated motor controller to execute steps including forcing one vector at a time a phase vector set of current or voltage vectors to stator terminals of windings for the N-phases a positive and negative magnitude vector, wherein the vector magnitude is sufficiently small to not move the rotor, and a time duration for the forcing current or voltage vectors is essentially constant. The resulting stator current or voltage levels are measured for each current or voltage vector. An N-dimension current vector or voltage vector is generated from superposition of the resulting stator current levels or resulting stator voltage levels. The N-dimension current vector or voltage vector is used to determine angular position.Type: ApplicationFiled: August 29, 2016Publication date: December 22, 2016Inventors: Eric James Thomas, David Patrick Magee
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Publication number: 20160373042Abstract: A method of normalizing phase measurements for a motor using a normalizing phase measurements (NPM) algorithm that a processor implements to cause a motor controller coupled to stator terminals of the phases to execute forcing a set of input current or voltage vectors (set of input vectors) including repeating the forcing after rotating the rotor through a full mechanical cycle to generate resulting current or voltage samples (resulting samples) of non-normalized phase A and phase B waveforms. The magnitude of the input vectors are sufficiently small to not move the rotor. A maximum value (x_max) and a minimum value (x_min) are determined for each of the non-normalized phase A and phase B waveforms. An offset value and normalization scale factor (NSF) are determined from the max and min values. The offsets and NSFs are applied to the non-normalized phase waveforms to generate normalized phase A and phase B waveforms.Type: ApplicationFiled: August 29, 2016Publication date: December 22, 2016Inventors: Eric James Thomas, David Patrick Magee
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Patent number: 9431947Abstract: A method of determining angular position (A) of a rotor of an N-phase permanent magnet motor (PMM). A processor having an associated stored angular position determination (APD) algorithm is programmed to implement the algorithm to cause an associated motor controller to execute steps including forcing one vector at a time a phase vector set of current or voltage vectors to stator terminals of windings for the N-phases a positive and negative magnitude vector, wherein the vector magnitude is sufficiently small to not move the rotor, and a time duration for the forcing current or voltage vectors is essentially constant. The resulting stator current or voltage levels are measured for each current or voltage vector. An N-dimension current vector or voltage vector is generated from superposition of the resulting stator current levels or resulting stator voltage levels. The N-dimension current vector or voltage vector is used to determine angular position.Type: GrantFiled: May 26, 2015Date of Patent: August 30, 2016Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATEDInventors: Eric James Thomas, David Patrick Magee
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Patent number: 9431945Abstract: A method of normalizing phase measurements for a motor using a normalizing phase measurements (NPM) algorithm that a processor implements to cause a motor controller coupled to stator terminals of the phases to execute forcing a set of input current or voltage vectors (set of input vectors) including repeating the forcing after rotating the rotor through a full mechanical cycle to generate resulting current or voltage samples (resulting samples) of non-normalized phase A and phase B waveforms. The magnitude of the input vectors are sufficiently small to not move the rotor. A maximum value (x_max) and a minimum value (x_min) are determined for each of the non-normalized phase A and phase B waveforms. An offset value and normalization scale factor (NSF) are determined from the max and min values. The offsets and NSFs are applied to the non-normalized phase waveforms to generate normalized phase A and phase B waveforms.Type: GrantFiled: May 26, 2015Date of Patent: August 30, 2016Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATEDInventors: Eric James Thomas, David Patrick Magee