Balanced Patents (Class 236/71)
  • Patent number: 8698438
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a motor control apparatus includes a timer to measure a period in which a job is not executed, a sensor to detect a temperature of a physical object, an acquisition part to acquire time information measured by the timer and temperature information detected by the sensor, and a drive control part that determines a current value of a motor provided in the physical object based on the time information and the temperature information acquired by the acquisition part, and controls the motor current value by applying a voltage level corresponding to the determined current value to a drive element of the motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2014
    Assignees: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Toshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Shinya Mori
  • Patent number: 8482237
    Abstract: A vehicle includes a power source, a motor, and a computing device. The power source provides electrical energy to the motor, and the motor generates rotational motion from the electrical energy received. The computing device is configured to estimate a temperature of the motor in real time based at least in part on a thermal model of the motor. The thermal model includes a plurality of nodes and at least one thermal resistance. Each node represents a region of the motor and each thermal resistance represents a heat transfer path between at least two of the nodes. A method includes solving one or more energy balance equations to determine a temperature change at each node and estimating the temperature of the motor in real time based at least in part on the temperature change at each node and at least one of the thermal resistances in the thermal model.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 9, 2013
    Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC
    Inventors: Daniel J. Berry, Pankaj Mithal, Paul F. Turnbull, Peter J. Savagian, Chia-Chou Yeh, Steven E. Schulz