Patents by Inventor Howard James Slater

Howard James Slater 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).

  • Rotor position determination in a switched reluctance machine
    Patent number: 6979974
    Abstract: A switched reluctance drive is controlled without using a physical rotor position detector. The control method causes current to flow continuously in a single winding when the rotor is turning and detects position by finding either the peak of the current waveform or some other feature which can be uniquely related to the position of the rotor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2004
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2005
    Assignee: Switched Reluctance Drives Limited
    Inventors: Howard James Slater, James Douglas Alexander Chambers
  • Rotor position detection of a switched reluctance drive
    Patent number: 6853163
    Abstract: A switched reluctance drive is controlled without using a physical rotor position detector. The control method estimates the standing flux-linkage associated with the phase and uses this estimate to improve its estimate of rotor position. The method works robustly regardless of whether the current is continuous or discontinuous.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2002
    Date of Patent: February 8, 2005
    Assignee: Switched Reluctance Drives Ltd.
    Inventor: Howard James Slater
  • Rotor position determination in a switched reluctance machine
    Publication number: 20040212359
    Abstract: A switched reluctance drive is controlled without using a physical rotor position detector. The control method causes current to flow continuously in a single winding when the rotor is turning and detects position by finding either the peak of the current waveform or some other feature which can be uniquely related to the position of the rotor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 23, 2004
    Publication date: October 28, 2004
    Applicant: SWITCHED RELUCTANCE DRIVES LIMITED
    Inventors: Howard James Slater, James Douglas Alexander Chambers
  • Method and system for determining rotor position in a switched reluctance machine
    Patent number: 6608462
    Abstract: A switched reluctance machine is controlled without using a physical rotor position detector. The rotor position at start-up is determined by simultaneously injecting a current of known magnitude into two phases. The rise times of the currents are measured and used to interrogate a stored table of rise time against rotor angle for the known current level. This produces two possible rotor positions from each rise time. Comparisons of the pairs of angles yield the actual position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 9, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 19, 2003
    Assignee: Switched Reluctance Drives Ltd.
    Inventors: Howard James Slater, Rosemary Anne Norman
  • Rotor position detection of a switched reluctance drive
    Publication number: 20030111975
    Abstract: A switched reluctance drive is controlled without using a physical rotor position detector. The control method estimates the standing flux-linkage associated with the phase and uses this estimate to improve its estimate of rotor position. The method works robustly regardless of whether the current is continuous or discontinuous.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 11, 2002
    Publication date: June 19, 2003
    Applicant: SWITCHED RELUCTANCE DRIVES LIMITED
    Inventor: Howard James Slater
  • Method and system for determining rotor postion in a switched reluctance machine
    Publication number: 20020089301
    Abstract: A switched reluctance machine is controlled without using a physical rotor position detector. The rotor position at start-up is determined by simultaneously injecting a current of known magnitude into two phases. The rise times of the currents are measured and used to interrogate a stored table of rise time against rotor angle for the known current level. This produces two possible rotor positions from each rise time. Comparisons of the pairs of angles yield the actual position.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 9, 2002
    Publication date: July 11, 2002
    Applicant: SWITCHED RELUCTANCE DRIVES LIMITED
    Inventors: Howard James Slater, Rosemary Anne Norman
  • Control of line harmonics
    Patent number: 6297613
    Abstract: A switched reluctance drive is supplied from a supply. The excitation applied to the phase winding(s) has one or more gaps inserted so that, when the phase currents are summed, the resulting supply current has a reduced harmonic content. The supply may be alternating or direct.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2000
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2001
    Assignee: Switched Reluctance Drives Limited
    Inventors: Patricia Mary Elliott, Howard James Slater