Patents by Inventor Matej Pacha

Matej Pacha 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).

  • Patent number: 12224692
    Abstract: An electric motor controller having fault detection comprises: a driver circuit configured to drive an electric motor in response to a received speed demand signal; a measurement circuit configured to measure current through windings of the electric motor, the measurement circuit comprising a back emf, BEMF, observer configured to determine an estimated BEMF value, a BEMF error threshold and an estimated rotor angular speed value from the measured currents; a detector circuit configured to receive the rotor speed demand signal, the estimated BEMF value, the BEMF error threshold, the estimated rotor angular speed value and a measured rotor speed from a rotor speed sensor on the electric motor and to detect a fault in the electric motor controller if the estimated BEMF value lies outside the BEMF error threshold and the measured rotor speed is within a defined rotor speed error threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2025
    Assignee: NXP USA, Inc.
    Inventor: Matej Pacha
  • Publication number: 20230170835
    Abstract: The disclosure relates generally to the field of electric motors, and in particular to fault detection in an electric motor controller.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 28, 2022
    Publication date: June 1, 2023
    Inventor: Matej Pacha
  • Patent number: 11575336
    Abstract: A method and apparatus are provided for controlling a sensorless multi-phase permanent magnet (PM) motor by sensing induced motor terminal voltages from the PM motor while the rotor is spinning, generating an input voltage vector signal from the plurality of induced motor terminal voltages, projecting the input voltage vector signal to a transformed voltage vector signal which does not include DC-offset components by using a Clarke transformation without a zero component that is applied to the input voltage vector signal, and estimating an initial rotor position of the rotor from the transformed voltage vector signal, wherein said sensing, projecting, and estimating are performed while a power converter for the sensorless multi-phase PM motor is disabled.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2023
    Assignee: NXP USA, Inc.
    Inventors: Matej Pacha, Simon Zossak, Lukas Gorel
  • Publication number: 20200382035
    Abstract: A method and apparatus are provided for controlling a sensorless multi-phase permanent magnet (PM) motor by sensing induced motor terminal voltages from the PM motor while the rotor is spinning, generating an input voltage vector signal from the plurality of induced motor terminal voltages, projecting the input voltage vector signal to a transformed voltage vector signal which does not include DC-offset components by using a Clarke transformation without a zero component that is applied to the input voltage vector signal, and estimating an initial rotor position of the rotor from the transformed voltage vector signal, wherein said sensing, projecting, and estimating are performed while a power converter for the sensorless multi-phase PM motor is disabled.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 31, 2019
    Publication date: December 3, 2020
    Applicant: NXP USA, Inc.
    Inventors: Matej Pacha, Simon Zossak, Lukas Gorel
  • Patent number: 10615737
    Abstract: A system for a power switch of a multiphase power converter coupled to an inductive load including a test controller, a voltage sampling circuit, a processing circuit, and a converter. A test pulse is applied to power switches of the converter to generate a test current through the inductive load, which forward biases a body diode of a power switch during a freewheel portion after the test pulse is completed. The voltage across the body diode is sampled during the freewheel portion, and the voltage samples are converted to a voltage value and a slope value. The voltage and slope values are converted to an estimated temperature value based on a characterization of the inductive load and the body diode. The conversion may be performed by a lookup table that stores an estimated temperature value for each unique combination of the voltage and slope values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 24, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2020
    Assignee: NXP USA, Inc.
    Inventors: Matej Pacha, Branislav Zigmund, Carlos Vazquez Goyarzu, Hubert Martin Bode, Patrik Varecha, B{hacek over (r)}etislav Zuczek
  • Publication number: 20200099330
    Abstract: A system for a power switch of a multiphase power converter coupled to an inductive load including a test controller, a voltage sampling circuit, a processing circuit, and a converter. A test pulse is applied to power switches of the converter to generate a test current through the inductive load, which forward biases a body diode of a power switch during a freewheel portion after the test pulse is completed. The voltage across the body diode is sampled during the freewheel portion, and the voltage samples are converted to a voltage value and a slope value. The voltage and slope values are converted to an estimated temperature value based on a characterization of the inductive load and the body diode. The conversion may be performed by a lookup table that stores an estimated temperature value for each unique combination of the voltage and slope values.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 24, 2018
    Publication date: March 26, 2020
    Inventors: Matej Pacha, Branislav Zigmund, Carlos Vazquez Goyarzu, Hubert Martin Bode, Patrik Varecha, Bretislav Zuczek