Patents by Inventor Jesse Gerdes
Jesse Gerdes 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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Publication number: 20160087570Abstract: A control system for a switched reluctance (SR) machine is disclosed. The SR machine may have a rotor and a stator. The control system may have a converter circuit operatively coupled to the stator and including a plurality of gates in selective communication with each phase of the stator, and a controller in communication with each of the stator and the converter circuit. The controller may be configured to command a fixed dwell of a theta-on angle and a theta-off angle and a varying current command to the plurality of gates when the SR machine is in a continuous conduction mode.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 22, 2014Publication date: March 24, 2016Applicant: CATERPILLAR INC.Inventors: Jackson Wai, Carlos Nino Baron, Jesse Gerdes, Ahmed Khalil
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Publication number: 20150381087Abstract: A method for determining rotor position of a switched reluctance (SR) machine having a rotor and a stator is provided. The method may include injecting a test pulse into one or more idle phases of the SR machine, determining a decoupled flux value based at least partially on a total flux value corresponding to the test pulse and a mutual flux value, and determining the rotor position based at least partially on the decoupled flux value.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 25, 2014Publication date: December 31, 2015Inventors: Seok-hee Han, Carlos Nino Baron, Jackson Wai, Ahmed Khalil, Ernesto Inoa, Jesse Gerdes, James Michael Thorne
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Publication number: 20150318806Abstract: A method of controlling an electric motor may include determining a desired torque at the electric motor. A current at a first phase of the electric motor may be calculated at a controller. The calculated current may be a current that results in supplying the desired torque at the electric motor. The controller may compare the calculated current to a predetermined threshold current, and when the calculated current is greater than the predetermined threshold current, the controller may reduce the calculated current to the predetermined threshold current and adjust a current in a second phase adjacent to the first phase of the electric motor to continue to supply the desired torque at the electric motor.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 30, 2014Publication date: November 5, 2015Applicant: CATERPILLAR INCInventors: Jackson Wai, Carlos Nino Baron, Jesse Gerdes, Ernesto Inoa, Ahmed Khalil
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Patent number: 9099954Abstract: A method of controlling a motor is provided. The method may determine one of a switching period, a fundamental cycle, and a current target per phase leg of the motor having at least one high voltage transition point; determine a dwell period to be enforced at the transition point between an engagement of a first switch of the phase leg and an engagement of a second switch of the phase leg where each of the first switch and the second switch may be selectively engageable between a first state and a second state; engage the first switch from the first state to the second state at the transition point; and engage the second switch from the first state to the second state after the transition point and upon expiration of the dwell period.Type: GrantFiled: July 25, 2013Date of Patent: August 4, 2015Assignee: Caterpillar Inc.Inventors: Jackson Wai, Ahmed Khalil, Carlos Nino Baron, Jesse Gerdes, Brad A Kough
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Publication number: 20150127207Abstract: A control system for a generator of an electric drive is provided. The control system may include a converter circuit configured to communicate with one or more phases of a stator of the generator, and a controller in communication with the converter circuit and an engine associated with the electric drive. The controller may be configured to determine an operational state of the electric drive based on at least engine speed, and engage one of a map-lookup control scheme and a fixed-theta off control scheme for operating the generator based on the operational state of the electric drive.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 14, 2015Publication date: May 7, 2015Inventors: Jackson Wai, Thuong Le, Adam Braun, Jesse Gerdes, James Siegle, Mark Hartman
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Patent number: 8975878Abstract: A method of controlling a generator (110) of an electric drive (104) associated with an engine (102) is provided. The method may determine an operational state of the electric drive (104) based on a speed of the engine (102), and selectively engage one of a map-lookup control scheme (150) and a fixed-theta off control scheme (152) for operating the generator (110) based on the operational state of the electric drive (104).Type: GrantFiled: December 23, 2010Date of Patent: March 10, 2015Assignee: Caterpillar Inc.Inventors: Jackson Wai, Thuong Le, Adam Braun, Jesse Gerdes, James Siegle, Mark Hartman
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Patent number: 8975855Abstract: A control system for compensating a hysteresis band of a switched reluctance (SR) machine having a rotor and a stator is provided. The control system may include a converter circuit and a controller. The converter circuit may be operatively coupled to the stator and include a plurality of switches in selective communication with each phase of the stator. The controller may be in communication with each of the stator and the converter circuit, and configured to monitor at least one phase current of the SR machine relative to a current threshold of the hysteresis band, determine an adjustment value based on a difference between the phase current and the current threshold if the phase current exceeds the current threshold, and compensate the current threshold by the adjustment value.Type: GrantFiled: July 23, 2012Date of Patent: March 10, 2015Assignee: Caterpillar Inc.Inventors: Jesse Gerdes, Jackson Wai, Ahmed Khalil
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Publication number: 20150028788Abstract: A method of controlling a motor is provided. The method may determine one of a switching period, a fundamental cycle, and a current target per phase leg of the motor having at least one high voltage transition point; determine a dwell period to be enforced at the transition point between an engagement of a first switch of the phase leg and an engagement of a second switch of the phase leg where each of the first switch and the second switch may be selectively engageable between a first state and a second state; engage the first switch from the first state to the second state at the transition point; and engage the second switch from the first state to the second state after the transition point and upon expiration of the dwell period.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 25, 2013Publication date: January 29, 2015Applicant: Caterpillar, Inc.Inventors: Jackson Wai, Ahmed Khalil, Carlos Nino Baron, Jesse Gerdes, Brad A. Kough
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Patent number: 8901869Abstract: A method of controlling speed of an electric machine having a rotor and a stator is provided. The method may comprise the steps of monitoring a desired speed and a measured speed of the rotor, generating a torque command based on the desired speed and the measured speed, and controlling phase current to the stator based on a hybrid closed loop analysis of the torque command, the measured speed and an estimated position of the rotor. The estimated rotor position may be derived at least partially from the desired speed.Type: GrantFiled: July 31, 2012Date of Patent: December 2, 2014Assignee: Caterpillar Inc.Inventors: Jackson Wai, Jesse Gerdes, James Michael Thorne
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Patent number: 8866433Abstract: A method of estimating an initial rotor position of a switched reluctance (SR) machine having a rotor and a stator is provided. The method may comprise the steps of driving a phase current in each of a plurality of phases of the SR machine to a predefined limit, performing an integration of a common bus voltage associated with each phase, determining a flux value for each phase based on the integrations, and determining the initial rotor position based on the flux values.Type: GrantFiled: October 31, 2012Date of Patent: October 21, 2014Assignee: Caterpillar Inc.Inventors: Jesse Gerdes, Jackson Wai, Mark Hartman, Ahmed Khalil, Carlos Nino Baron
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Patent number: 8773056Abstract: A control system for a switched reluctance (SR) machine is provided. The control system may include a converter circuit that is operatively coupled to the SR machine, and a controller in communication with the converter circuit. The controller may be configured to execute two or more processes in parallel, wherein the processes include generating a torque command based on one or more of bus voltage, machine current, rotor speed and rotor position, determining a first set of current control parameters based on the torque command and the rotor speed, determining a second set of current control parameters based on one or more of the torque command, the rotor speed and the rotor position, selecting one of the first and second sets of current control parameters based on the rotor speed, and operating the gates according to the selected set of current control parameters.Type: GrantFiled: June 11, 2012Date of Patent: July 8, 2014Assignee: Caterpillar Inc.Inventors: Jesse Gerdes, James Siegle, Mark Hartman, Aaron Luther Thomas, Jackson Wai
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Publication number: 20140117901Abstract: A method of estimating an initial rotor position of a switched reluctance (SR) machine having a rotor and a stator is provided. The method may comprise the steps of driving a phase current in each of a plurality of phases of the SR machine to a predefined limit, performing an integration of a common bus voltage associated with each phase, determining a flux value for each phase based on the integrations, and determining the initial rotor position based on the flux values.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 31, 2012Publication date: May 1, 2014Applicant: CATERPILLAR INC.Inventors: Jesse Gerdes, Jackson Wai, Mark Hartman, Ahmed Khalil, Carlos Nino Baron
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Publication number: 20140035505Abstract: A method of controlling speed of an electric machine having a rotor and a stator is provided. The method may comprise the steps of monitoring a desired speed and a measured speed of the rotor, generating a torque command based on the desired speed and the measured speed, and controlling phase current to the stator based on a hybrid closed loop analysis of the torque command, the measured speed and an estimated position of the rotor. The estimated rotor position may be derived at least partially from the desired speed.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 31, 2012Publication date: February 6, 2014Applicant: CATERPILLAR, INC.Inventors: Jackson Wai, Jesse Gerdes, James Michael Thorne
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Publication number: 20140021889Abstract: A control system for compensating a hysteresis band of a switched reluctance (SR) machine having a rotor and a stator is provided. The control system may include a converter circuit and a controller. The converter circuit may be operatively coupled to the stator and include a plurality of switches in selective communication with each phase of the stator. The controller may be in communication with each of the stator and the converter circuit, and configured to monitor at least one phase current of the SR machine relative to a current threshold of the hysteresis band, determine an adjustment value based on a difference between the phase current and the current threshold if the phase current exceeds the current threshold, and compensate the current threshold by the adjustment value.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 23, 2012Publication date: January 23, 2014Applicant: CATERPILLAR, INC.Inventors: Jesse Gerdes, Jackson Wai, Ahmed Khalil
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Patent number: 8624564Abstract: A method of estimating rotor speed of a generator 106 having a rotor 110 and a stator 112 is provided. The method may provide a source current to the stator 112, determine a relative rotor speed based on a sensor signal provided by a rotor speed sensor 130, determine a relative rotor position corresponding to the relative rotor speed, determine an absolute rotor position based on the sensor signal and phase currents, and calibrate the sensor signal based on an offset between the relative rotor position and the absolute rotor position.Type: GrantFiled: May 31, 2011Date of Patent: January 7, 2014Assignee: Caterpillar Inc.Inventors: Mark Hartman, Robert Lindsey, Jackson Wai, Jesse Gerdes
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Patent number: 8624543Abstract: A method of controlling a motor is provided. The method may determine a speed of the motor, and engage a soft chopping routine on a first switch and a second switch of each phase if the motor speed is relatively low. The first switch may be driven by a first pulse width modulated PWM signal and the second switch being driven by a second PWM signal. The first and second PWM signals may be alternatingly configured such that at least one of the first switch and the second switch is closed at any point during the distributed soft chopping routine and both the first switch and the second switch are never simultaneously open.Type: GrantFiled: December 9, 2011Date of Patent: January 7, 2014Assignee: Caterpillar Inc.Inventors: Ahmed Khalil, Jackson Wai, Jesse Gerdes, James Siegle, Mark Hartman, Joshua Williams
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Publication number: 20130328517Abstract: A control system for a switched reluctance (SR) machine is provided. The control system may include a converter circuit that is operatively coupled to the SR machine, and a controller in communication with the converter circuit. The controller may be configured to execute two or more processes in parallel, wherein the processes include generating a torque command based on one or more of bus voltage, machine current, rotor speed and rotor position, determining a first set of current control parameters based on the torque command and the rotor speed, determining a second set of current control parameters based on one or more of the torque command, the rotor speed and the rotor position, selecting one of the first and second sets of current control parameters based on the rotor speed, and operating the gates according to the selected set of current control parameters.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 11, 2012Publication date: December 12, 2013Applicant: CATERPILLAR, INC.Inventors: Jesse Gerdes, James Siegle, Mark Hartman, Aaron Luther Thomas, Jackson Wai
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Publication number: 20130154535Abstract: A protection circuit includes a first switch, a second switch and a third switch. The first switch, the second switch and the third switch are configured to generate lock signals indicative of an electrical voltage transition on the respective phases of a multi-phase power signal. A control circuit is configured to prevent the first switch from changing state if the second switch or third switch is changing state.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 14, 2011Publication date: June 20, 2013Applicant: CATERPILLAR INC.Inventors: Jackson Wai, Mark Hartman, Thuong Le, Jesse Gerdes
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Publication number: 20130147416Abstract: A method of controlling a motor is provided. The method may determine a speed of the motor, and engage a soft chopping routine on a first switch and a second switch of each phase if the motor speed is relatively low. The first switch may be driven by a first pulse width modulated PWM signal and the second switch being driven by a second PWM signal. The first and second PWM signals may be alternatingly configured such that at least one of the first switch and the second switch is closed at any point during the distributed soft chopping routine and both the first switch and the second switch are never simultaneously open.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 9, 2011Publication date: June 13, 2013Applicant: CATERPILLAR, INC.Inventors: Ahmed Khalil, Jackson Wai, Jesse Gerdes, James Siegle, Mark Hartman, Joshua Williams
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Switched Reluctance Machine Natural Transition between Current Regulation and Single Pulse Operation
Publication number: 20130134912Abstract: A method of controlling a motor is provided. The method may monitor a plurality of operational characteristics of the motor, determine an optimum transition speed of the motor based on the operational characteristics, and engage a transition of the motor between a current regulation mode of operation and a single pulse mode of operation at the optimum transition speed.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 30, 2011Publication date: May 30, 2013Applicant: CATERPILLAR, INC.Inventors: Ahmed Khalil, Jackson Wai, Jesse Gerdes