Phase Shifted As Function Of Speed Or Position Patents (Class 318/400.14)
  • Patent number: 8937450
    Abstract: A motor driving system including command value output means configured to output an analog value according to a rotation speed command; a first power line having first switching means; a drive circuit, to which power is supplied via the first switching means and the first power line, driving a motor supplying rotation based on the analog value; and switching control means configured to make the first switching means nonconductive when the analog value is smaller than a first predetermined value, and independent of the command value output means.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 20, 2015
    Assignee: Daikin Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Shin Higashiyama, Satoshi Yagi
  • Patent number: 8922155
    Abstract: In various implementations, a condition of a motor may be monitored based at least partially on time required to achieve a change in speed. A notification may be transmitted based on the condition of the motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 30, 2014
    Assignee: Lennox Industries Inc.
    Inventors: Joe Powell, Randall L. Lisbona
  • Patent number: 8922144
    Abstract: Methods and systems of processing sensor signals to determine motion of a motor shaft are disclosed. This disclosure relates to the processing of sequences of pulses from a sensor for computing the motion of an electric motor output shaft. Furthermore, this disclosure relates to the processing of two sequences of pulses from sensor outputs, which may be separated by only a few electrical degrees, to compute the motion of an electrical motor output shaft while using a limited bandwidth controller. Motor shaft direction, displacement, speed, phase, and phase offset may be determined from processing the sensor signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 30, 2014
    Assignee: Chrysler Group LLC
    Inventors: Feisel Weslati, Behrouz Ashrafi, Chandan Lakshmanaiah
  • Patent number: 8917041
    Abstract: A phase-shift detection circuit detects a phase shift in motor driving, using pulse-shaped position detection signal Rd and measurement signal Ms. The position detection signal is based on sensor signal Hs from a position sensor disposed in a motor. The measurement signal is based on the induced voltage from windings. The phase-shift detection circuit includes a level difference calculator and a phase-shift calculator. The level difference calculator calculates a level difference between the level of measurement signal Ms at a rising timing of position detection signal Rd and the level of measurement signal Ms at a falling timing thereof. The phase-shift calculator calculates the amount of phase shifts based on the level difference.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 23, 2014
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Kenichi Kishimoto, Mineaki Isoda, Daisuke Sato, Ryuta Sasaki
  • Publication number: 20140368141
    Abstract: A method of controlling a brushless permanent-magnet motor. The method includes commutating a winding of the motor at times relative to zero-crossings of back EMF in the winding. Commutation is then advanced when the motor operates over a first speed range, and commutation is retarded when the motor operates over a second speed range higher than that of the first speed range.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 13, 2014
    Publication date: December 18, 2014
    Inventors: Libo ZHENG, Yongji ZHOU, Tuncay CELIK
  • Patent number: 8896258
    Abstract: A method for starting an electric motor having a rotor, comprising the following steps:—driving the rotor with a first torque in a first rotational direction, wherein a maximum value of the first torque is not higher than a maximum countertorque acting counter to the rotation of the rotor, so that the rotor comes to a standstill in a first stationary position;—driving the rotor starting from the first stationary position in a second rotational direction that is counter to the first rotational direction until the rotor comes to a standstill in a predefined second stationary position; and—starting from the rotor in the first rotational direction starting from the second stationary position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2011
    Date of Patent: November 25, 2014
    Assignee: BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausgeraete GmbH
    Inventors: Falko Abel, Eberhard Weidner
  • Publication number: 20140340011
    Abstract: The present invention is a high efficiency permanent magnet machine capable of maintaining high power density. The machine is operable over a wide range of power output. The improved efficiency is due in part to copper wires with a current density lower than traditional designs and larger permanent magnets coupled with a large air gap. In a certain embodiment wide stator teeth are used to provide additional improved efficiency through significantly reducing magnetic saturation resulting in lower current. The machine also has a much smaller torque angle than that in traditional design at rated load and thus has a higher overload handling capability and improved efficiency. In addition, when the machine is used as a motor, an adaptive phase lag compensation scheme helps the sensorless field oriented control (FOC) scheme to perform more accurately.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 1, 2014
    Publication date: November 20, 2014
    Inventors: Xinzhang Wu, Hanzhou Liu, Yang Hu, Louis Chow, Jon Harms, Martin Epstein, Wei Wu
  • Patent number: 8866433
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 21, 2014
    Assignee: Caterpillar Inc.
    Inventors: Jesse Gerdes, Jackson Wai, Mark Hartman, Ahmed Khalil, Carlos Nino Baron
  • Patent number: 8866423
    Abstract: An electric motor in an appliance and a method of controlling the motor to achieve speeds greater than a base speed of the motor is provided. To achieve speeds above the base speed of the motor, field weakening can be implemented by applying a field weakening angle to a phase advance angle between a desired stator flux and a rotor flux. The field weakening angle can be based on the current speed of the motor. The field weakening angle can be a fixed angle and can be determined by comparing the current speed of the motor with a predetermined threshold. In addition, the magnitude of the electrical signal applied to the motor can be adjusted during field weakening based on a desired speed of the motor where the electrical signal can be a voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 21, 2014
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Richard D. Suel, II, Abhijeet A. Bhandwale
  • Patent number: 8847541
    Abstract: A motor inverter is provided with switching elements for each phase of a 3-phase motor, and driving the motor by turning on and off the switching elements. In an example of a control device of the motor inverter, the control device includes: a stationary phase determination unit for defining a phase in a plurality of phases provided with switching elements for each area as a stationary phase in which a switching operation is not performed, based on current command value of each phase acquired from d-axis current command value and q-axis current command value of the motor, with one rotation in electrical angle of a rotor of the motor divided into a plurality of areas; and a drive unit for performing the switching operation of switching elements of the phases other than the stationary phase determined for each area to perform, and realizing 2-phase modulation control.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 30, 2014
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toyota Jidoshokki
    Inventors: Daiki Mizuguchi, Shigeki Ikeda, Seiki Sakata
  • Patent number: 8836262
    Abstract: In a method for the determination of a current initial rotational position of a rotor and in an arrangement for carrying out same, an incremental position encoder outputs an output signal. The output signal is produced by superposition of a chronologically random and systematically fluctuating signal interference on a basic signal, and composed of at least two component signals which change periodically in accordance with the rotational position of the rotor and are in a fixed angular relationship to one another. To determine the position, the output signal is used exclusively. The current initial rotational position of the rotor relative to a reference initial rotational position is determined by comparing the time profile of the portion of the systematically fluctuating signal interference of a current measured value sequence of the signal and the measured values of a signal sequence acquired starting from the reference initial rotational position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 16, 2014
    Assignee: Dr. Fritz Faulhaber GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Andreas Wagener, Achim Haag
  • Patent number: 8836255
    Abstract: A control device that controls an electric motor drive device including a DC/AC conversion section that converts a DC voltage into an AC voltage using a detected angle detected by a resolver provided in an AC electric motor to supply the resulting AC voltage to the AC electric motor. The control device includes a correction information acquisition section that acquires first correction information on the basis of the rotational speed, and that acquires the second correction information on the basis of the modulation rate at the angle acquisition time point in the case where the rotational speed at the angle acquisition time point is less than the rotational speed threshold. A detected angle correction section corrects the detected angle on the basis of the correction information acquired by the correction information acquisition section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2011
    Date of Patent: September 16, 2014
    Assignee: Aisin AW Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Keisuke Nishimura, Takeshi Aoki
  • Patent number: 8836261
    Abstract: A detection control system includes a sensing unit, a control module and a driving module for a motor including a rotor and a stator. The sensing unit electrically connects the motor to sense a first and a second magnetic pole of the rotor cross a chip disposed between the rotor and the stator; a third magnetic pole is alternated to a forth magnetic pole of the stator to generate a sensing signal. A detection unit of the control module detects a kickback voltage value generated by a first current value changing to a second current value to calculate a minimum current value to generate a detecting signal. A timing unit receives the sensing and the detecting signal to calculate a first and a second period of time, and a discharging time. The driving module drives the rotor by receiving a control signal the control unit generates by controlling an alternating time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 13, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 16, 2014
    Assignee: Feeling Technology Corp.
    Inventors: Sheng-Hsiang Yen, Hsuan-Chuan Chen
  • Patent number: 8836268
    Abstract: A pulse signal output unit sends three-phase pulse signals according to movement of the movable member. A counter unit adds a first predetermined value or a second predetermined value to a count value or subtracts the first predetermined value or the second predetermined value from the count value, according to a combination of the pulse signals appearing when all the pulse signals are normal and a combination of the pulse signals appearing when one of the pulse signals malfunctions. A position detection unit detects the position of the movable member according to the count value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 16, 2014
    Assignee: Denso Corporation
    Inventor: Takuya Yoshida
  • Patent number: 8823314
    Abstract: A system and method are provided for reducing the energy consumed by a pump jack electric motor by reducing the supply voltage to the motor when the motor would be generating energy in open loop mode. By substantially eliminating the energy generation mode, the braking action of the utility grid in limiting the acceleration of the motor and system that would otherwise occur is substantially removed. The motor and system will speed up, allowing the natural kinetic energy of the cyclic motion to perform part of the pumping action. A closed loop controller in electrical connection with the motor computes the necessary information from the observed phase angle between the voltage and current supplied to the motor. By reducing the supply voltage to the motor, the observed phase angle may be reduced to a target phase angle value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 2010
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2014
    Assignee: The Powerwise Group, Inc.
    Inventors: John L. Lumsden, Paul H. Kelley, Vasan Venkataraman
  • Publication number: 20140239860
    Abstract: A motor control system comprising a motor configured to operate at a rotational velocity and a control module in communication with the motor is provided. The control module is configured to receive a torque command indicating a desired amount of torque to be generated by the motor, obtain a rotational velocity of the motor, receive a desired phase advance angle for driving the motor; and generate a voltage command indicating a voltage magnitude to be applied to the motor based on the rotational velocity of the motor, the motor torque command, and the desired phase advance angle by using a plurality of dynamic inverse motor model equations that (i) allow the desired phase advance angle to exceed an impedance angle of the motor and (ii) specify that the voltage magnitude is a function of a voltage magnitude of a previous voltage command.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 26, 2014
    Publication date: August 28, 2014
    Applicant: STEERING SOLUTIONS IP HOLDING CORPORATION
    Inventor: Julie A. Kleinau
  • Patent number: 8803454
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention permit the optimization of torque control of a permanent magnet machine including obtaining instantaneous terminal voltages of the machine, transforming the instantaneous terminal voltages to a zero direct axis voltage and a non-zero quadrature axis voltage, using a mathematical transformation, regulating the electrical frequency of the permanent-magnet machine such that the zero direct-axis voltage is adjusted to have a value of zero, determining a non-final electrical angle of the permanent-magnet machine by applying an integrator to the regulated electrical frequency of the machine, determining a final electrical angle of the of the machine by integrating the non-final electrical angle and an electrical angle from a previous calculation cycle, and regulating the current vector of the machine such that the current vector is perpendicular to the final electrical angle of the machine, thereby optimizing the torque of the machine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2014
    Assignee: AeroVironment, Inc.
    Inventors: Zaher Abdallah Daboussi, Scott Garrett Berman
  • Patent number: 8796979
    Abstract: Disclosed is an apparatus for driving a BLDC motor, the apparatus including: a BLDC motor having a single sensing coil therein; a position/speed calculation unit for calculating a current position and a current speed of a rotor by using voltages at both ends of the sensing coil; a control unit for comparing the current speed of the rotor calculated by the position/speed calculation unit with a command speed and then outputting a control signal through a Proportional Integral (PI) control; a motor driving unit for generating a PWM signal based on the current position of the rotor calculated by the position/speed calculation unit and the control signal output by the control unit; and a power device unit for controlling the BLDC motor according to the PWM signal generated by the motor driving unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 9, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 5, 2014
    Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
    Inventor: Jimin Oh
  • Publication number: 20140203743
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a drive apparatus that drives a brushless motor with a square wave, and relates to a drive method thereof. The drive apparatus limits a duty cycle of once in N times of pulse width modulation periods so that the duty cycle does not fall below a set value, and increases the N value according to a rotation speed of the brushless motor, and then obtains position information in a period in which the duty cycle is limited to the predetermined duty cycle. Then, when the rotation speed cannot be decreased to a target rotation speed even when an average duty cycle is decreased to a limit, electric angles of a switching period of an energization pattern are switched from 60 degrees to 120 degrees.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 27, 2013
    Publication date: July 24, 2014
    Applicant: HITACHI AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS, LTD.
    Inventor: Naoki OKAMOTO
  • Patent number: 8779712
    Abstract: A motor control device including: a following control unit that calculates a pre-correction torque command based on a difference between an operation command signal for commanding an operation of a motor and a detection signal resulting from detecting an operation of the motor; an adder that outputs a post-correction torque command by adding the pre-correction torque command to a correction torque command; and an electric-current control unit that outputs a drive current driving the motor based on the post-correction torque command, wherein the motor control device executes control so that the detection signal matches the operation command signal, and further including: a reference-periodic-signal computation unit; an amplitude/phase estimation unit; and a correction-torque computation unit, so that the correction torque command is updated such that a difference between the correction torque command and the post-correction torque command becomes smaller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 15, 2014
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Akira Tanabe, Hiroyuki Sekiguchi, Hidetoshi Ikeda
  • Patent number: 8773051
    Abstract: A synchronization detection PLL section generates an ON synchronized signal formed as a result of synchronization control based on a diode ON synthesized signal. The synchronization detection PLL section also generates an OFF synchronized signal formed as a result of synchronization control based on a diode OFF synthesized signal. A stator gate instruction generator PWM section generates a gate instruction signal for controlling the switching of a switching element on the basis of the ON synchronized signal and the OFF synchronized signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 8, 2014
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventor: Hiroshi Gokan
  • Patent number: 8773052
    Abstract: A method of controlling a brushless motor that includes exciting a winding of the motor in advance of predetermined rotor positions by an advance period. The length of the advance period is defined by a waveform that varies periodically with time. Additionally, a control system that implements the method, and a motor system that incorporates the control system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 8, 2014
    Assignee: Dyson Technology Limited
    Inventors: Andrew Charlton Clothier, Stephen Greetham, Tuncay Celik
  • Patent number: 8766574
    Abstract: A method and a control device operate a three-phase brushless direct current motor with phase windings that are fed by an inverter connected to a voltage source having a high potential and a low potential. The semiconductor switches of the inverter are arranged in a bridge circuit and are controlled such that current always flows through two phase windings during motor operation. The motor is operated with normal commutation when the rotational speed is greater than or equal to a minimum rotational speed, wherein the angles are shifted by 60°. During start-up operation, up to the minimum rotational speed, a high-potential-side commutation angle of a phase winding is shifted toward a low-potential-side commutation angle of the phase winding by an angle greater than 0° and less than or equal to 60° with respect to the normal commutation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 6, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 1, 2014
    Assignee: Brose Fahrzeugteile GmbH & Co. KG, Hallstadt
    Inventors: Thomas Dorner, Juergen Groth, Heiko Engelhardt
  • Publication number: 20140176031
    Abstract: There are provided a back electromotive force detection circuit and a motor driving control apparatus using the same. The back electromotive force detection circuit includes a duty determining unit and a delay compensation unit. The duty determining unit outputs a differential level according to a duty of a driving control signal of a motor. The delay compensation unit performs delay compensation differently on each differential level to compensate for a delay in back electromotive force of the motor regardless of a variation in a duty of the driving control signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 23, 2013
    Publication date: June 26, 2014
    Applicant: SAMSUNG ELECTRO-MECHANICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hyun PAEK, Joo Yul KO
  • Publication number: 20140167664
    Abstract: A method for synchronizing a rotation speed of a permanently excited rotor of an electric motor with a frequency of a rotation field of a sensorless commutated stator of the electric motor during a run-up procedure of the electric motor includes determining a phase position of the rotation field and a phase position of a countervoltage that is induced by the rotor in the stator in order to obtain a phase offset between the rotation field and the countervoltage. The method further includes adjusting a prevailing amplitude of one component of the rotation field using the phase offset to synchronize the rotation speed with the frequency. The amplitude of the component is increased if the rotor is lagging behind the rotation field or the amplitude of the component is reduced if the rotor is running ahead of the rotation field.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 12, 2013
    Publication date: June 19, 2014
    Applicant: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventors: Matthias Schneider, Tibor Takacs, Andras Mersich
  • Publication number: 20140152215
    Abstract: An electric drive unit includes an electric motor, an inverter supplying electricity to the motor, a continuous current stage supplying electricity to the inverter, a controller including a modulator for driving the inverter controlled by a first digital signal representing the amplitude of the phase voltages to be applied to the motor and by a second digital signal representing the electrical frequency of the phase voltages. An analogue/digital stage calculates the optimum value of the advance angle (?opt) of the voltage applied to the motor relative to the counter-electromotive force (“CEMF”) as a linear function of the peak value of the phase current and an analogue/digital stage for measuring the angle (100 act) between the voltage applied to the electric motor and the phase current. The controller is programmed for estimating the angle (?act) between the phase current and the CEMF as the difference between ?opt and ?act.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 13, 2012
    Publication date: June 5, 2014
    Applicant: Spal Automotive S. r. I.
    Inventor: Pietro DeFilippis
  • Patent number: 8742707
    Abstract: A method of controlling a brushless motor that includes rectifying an alternating voltage to provide a rectified voltage, and exciting a winding of the motor with the rectified voltage. The winding is excited in advance of predetermined rotor positions by an advance period that is updated in response to a zero-crossing in the alternating voltage. Additionally, a control system that implements the method, and a motor system that incorporates the control system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 2011
    Date of Patent: June 3, 2014
    Assignee: Dyson Technology Limited
    Inventors: Yu Chen, Tuncay Celik, Stephen Greetham
  • Patent number: 8729843
    Abstract: To suppress torque variation including various frequency components, a lot of measuring and adjusting operations are necessary, and this takes much time and trouble. An electronic apparatus includes a selection unit configured to select, on the basis of a threshold value relating to speed variation of the mechanism and threshold values relating to a plurality of frequencies that constitute the speed variation, a frequency to be measured and a frequency to be suppressed, from the plurality of frequencies, a generation unit configured to generate a periodic signal including the frequency to be suppressed that is selected by the selection unit, and an acquisition unit configured to output the periodic signal generated by the generation unit to the control unit and to acquire a parameter relating to the frequency included in the periodic signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2014
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Yasuhiro Iwadate
  • Patent number: 8729841
    Abstract: An electronic circuit and an associated method used to drive an electric motor provide a user selectable relationship between rotational speed of the electric motor and phase advances of signals used to drive the electric motor. By selecting the relationship, efficiency of the electric motor drive can be improved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2014
    Assignee: Allegro Microsystems, LLC
    Inventors: Timothy Reynolds, Chee-Kiong Ng
  • Patent number: 8723463
    Abstract: A motor control apparatus includes a phase sensing circuit, a current sensing circuit, a controller and a driving circuit. The driving circuit receives a first driving signal and then controls a phase switching state of the magnetic pole of the motor so as to drive the motor in accordance with the first driving signal. The phase sensing circuit detects the phase switching state of the magnetic pole to generate and output a phase switching signal to the controller during the motor is operating. The current sensing circuit detects a current flowing through the motor to generate and output a current phase signal to the controller. The controller compares a phase difference between the phase switching signal and the current phase signal to generate and output a second driving signal to the driving circuit. The driving circuit controls the phase switching state of the magnetic pole for driving the motor in accordance with the second driving signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 13, 2014
    Assignee: Delta Electronics, Inc.
    Inventors: Chien-Sheng Lin, Zong-Hong Tang, Wen-Chuan Ma
  • Patent number: 8710778
    Abstract: A method of controlling an electric machine that includes sequentially exciting and freewheeling a winding of the electric machine. The winding is excited by an excitation voltage and is freewheeled over a freewheel angle. The method then includes varying the freewheel angle in response to changes in the excitation voltage. Additionally, a control system for an electric machine, and a product incorporating the control system and electric machine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 29, 2014
    Assignee: Dyson Technology Limited
    Inventors: Andrew Charlton Clothier, Tuncay Celik
  • Patent number: 8710788
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a drive apparatus and drive method for switching an energization mode when a voltage of a non-energized phase of a brushless motor crosses a threshold. In threshold learning, first, the brushless motor is stopped at an initial position. The brushless motor is then rotated by performing phase energization based on the energization mode from the stopped state. The voltage of the non-energized phase at an angular position of switching the energization mode is detected from a maximum value or a minimum value of the voltage of the non-energized phase during the rotation, and the threshold is learned based on the detected voltage. Alternatively, the brushless motor is positioned at the angular position of switching the energization mode by maintaining one energization mode, and then the energization mode is switched to the next energization mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 29, 2014
    Assignee: Hitachi Automotive Systems, Ltd.
    Inventors: Masaki Hano, Yoshitaka Iwaji, Shigehisa Aoyagi
  • Patent number: 8710779
    Abstract: The invention relates to an electric motor having at least two stators disposed coaxially to each other and a rotor, wherein each stator has 2*n poles, with n=1, 2, 3, . . . , wherein each stator has at least one common coil or winding for all poles, wherein each stator has a first and second partial shell, wherein each partial shell has a shell bottom and n poles, wherein each pole is formed as a tooth extending in axial direction or substantially in axial direction and beginning on the shell bottom, wherein with assembled partial shells of a stator the tooth or the teeth of the first partial shell is or are disposed in alternating manner in circumferential direction with the tooth or the teeth of the second partial shell, and wherein with assembled partial shells or a stator, the at least one coil) or winding is received between the partial shells.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 29, 2014
    Inventor: Hans-Peter Wyrembra
  • Patent number: 8704479
    Abstract: A system and method for determining the start position of a motor. According to an embodiment, a voltage pulse signal may be generated across a pair of windings in a motor. A current response signal will be generated and based upon the position of the motor, the response signal will be greater in one pulse signal polarity as opposed to an opposite pulse signal polarity. The response signal may be compared for s specific duration of time or until a specific integration threshold has been reached. Further, the response signal may be converted into a digital signal such that a sigma-delta circuit may smooth out glitches more easily. In this manner, the position of the motor may be determined to within 60 electrical degrees during a startup.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 22, 2014
    Assignees: STMicroelectronics, Inc., STMicroelectronics S.r.l.
    Inventors: Frederic Bonvin, Davide Betta, Agostino Mirabelli, Andrea Di Ruzza
  • Patent number: 8698447
    Abstract: A system and method are provided for reducing the energy consumed by a pump jack electric motor by reducing the supply voltage to the motor when the motor would be generating energy in open loop mode. By substantially eliminating the energy generation mode, the braking action of the utility grid in limiting the acceleration of the motor and system that would otherwise occur is substantially removed. The motor and system will speed up, allowing the natural kinetic energy of the cyclic motion to perform part of the pumping action.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2014
    Assignee: The Powerwise Group, Inc.
    Inventors: John L. Lumsden, Paul H. Kelley, Vasan Venkataraman
  • Patent number: 8698446
    Abstract: A system and method are disclosed for turning off the voltage to a pump jack electric motor during predetermined periods of time to save energy. In the method, the motor's response to closed-loop control may be evaluated over several pump strokes. The periods of the pump stroke when it is feasible to turn off the motor may be identified. The consistency of the measurements over several strokes may be evaluated. The motor may be turned off during predetermined periods on subsequent pump strokes when each pump stroke shows sufficiently similar behavior to that predicted during the closed-loop control process. The system may return to the closed-loop control process after a predetermined period of time to adjust to any changes in the system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2014
    Assignee: The PowerWise Group, Inc.
    Inventor: Vasan Venkataraman
  • Patent number: 8692492
    Abstract: A method for setting a lead-angle value of a motor drive control circuit is disclosed. The motor drive control circuit energizes and drives the windings of a motor with an energizing timing based on a stored lead-angle value. The method includes the steps of: rotating a rotor at a given rpm (step S102), energizing and driving the windings during the rotation at the given rpm with the lead-angle value being switched (step S110); calculating an average value of current amount that energizes and drives the windings (step S114); calculating a total value of consecutive multiple average values for each lead-angle value (step S120); finding a smallest total value among the total values, and setting a lead-angle value corresponding to the smallest total value as a stored lead-angle value (step S122).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 29, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 8, 2014
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventor: Daisuke Sato
  • Patent number: 8686674
    Abstract: A method for controlling a brushless DC motor, comprising transmitting a phase-inversion signal to a motor control unit by a rotor position detecting unit after a motor enters a stable state, advancing or delaying phase shift by the motor control unit at an offset electrical angle, recording and comparing phase current values In at different offset electrical angles whereby obtaining an optimum offset angle ?m corresponding to the minimum phase current value Imin, and advancing or delaying phase shift by the motor at the optimum offset angle ?m. As the motor enters a stable state, the motor advances or delays phase shift at the optimum offset angle ?m, at this time operating current of a coil winding of the motor is the minimum, which saves power and reduces cost.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 1, 2014
    Assignee: Zhongzshan Broad-Ocean Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Ronghua Bi, Yong Zhao
  • Patent number: 8680805
    Abstract: A control device that drives one driven object by a first motor and a second motor. A first processor has a first correction amount calculation unit configured to calculate an amount of correction for a torque command to the first motor based on a speed value difference between a speed value of the first motor and a speed value of the second motor in order to suppress vibrations. A second processor has a second correction amount calculation unit configured to calculate an amount of correction for a torque command to the second motor based on a speed value difference between a speed value of the first motor and a speed value of the second motor in order to suppress vibrations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 13, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 25, 2014
    Assignee: Fanuc Corporation
    Inventors: Naoto Sonoda, Yasusuke Iwashita
  • Patent number: 8680799
    Abstract: To achieve peak acoustic and power performance, the coil or applied current should be in phase or substantially aligned with the back electromotive force (back-EMF) voltage. However, there are generally phase differences between the applied current and back-EMF voltage that are induced by the impedance of the brushless DC motor (which can vary based on conditions, such as temperature and motor speed). Traditionally, compensation for these phase differences was provided manually and on an as-needed basis. Here, however, a system and method are provided that automatically perform a commutation advance by incrementally adjusting a drive signal over successive commutation cycles when the applied current and back-EMF voltage are misaligned.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 25, 2014
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventors: John K. Rote, Seil Oh, Brian L. Schmidt
  • Publication number: 20140062360
    Abstract: A motor control device includes an energization pattern output portion and an inverter circuit. The energization pattern output portion cyclically outputs a plurality of energization patterns. The inverter circuit selectively connects respective coils provided in a motor to a rectifier circuit according to the output energization pattern. The energization pattern output portion delays the output timing of the energization pattern according to a rotation speed of the motor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 28, 2013
    Publication date: March 6, 2014
    Applicant: SANYO DENKI CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yo Muramatsu, Takahisa Toda
  • Patent number: 8664899
    Abstract: To present a motor drive control device capable of realizing high speed driving by a simple power feeding control method. The motor drive control device of the invention has a three-phase full bridge circuit for adjusting the feeding phase so as to invert the terminal voltage in feeding-off time, by cyclically repeating positive direction feeding period, non-feeding period, negative direction feeding period, and non-feeding period. In high speed driving, the phase is adjusted so as to invert the terminal voltage right after feeding-off, and if not reaching the desired rotating speed, the feeding time is shortened. As a result, the phase angle to the actual applied voltage can be advanced, and high seed rotation by weak-field system driving is realized.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 4, 2014
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshiaki Doyama, Yoshinori Takeoka, Hidehisa Tanaka
  • Publication number: 20140055065
    Abstract: An electric motor in an appliance and a method of controlling the motor to achieve speeds greater than a base speed of the motor is provided. To achieve speeds above the base speed of the motor, field weakening can be implemented by applying a field weakening angle to a phase advance angle between a desired stator flux and a rotor flux. The field weakening angle can be based on the current speed of the motor. The field weakening angle can be a fixed angle and can be determined by comparing the current speed of the motor with a predetermined threshold. In addition, the magnitude of the electrical signal applied to the motor can be adjusted during field weakening based on a desired speed of the motor where the electrical signal can be a voltage.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 21, 2012
    Publication date: February 27, 2014
    Applicant: GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY
    Inventors: Richard D. Suel, II, Abhijeet A. Bhandwale
  • Publication number: 20140049200
    Abstract: A motor control device includes a drive unit configured to rotate a rotor by supplying a drive signal with periodical changes to a coil; a detection unit configured to output a signal that is changed in association with a rotation of the rotor; and a control unit configured to control the drive signal supplied by the drive unit in accordance with the signal output from the detection unit, wherein the control unit performs a first control and a second control so as to achieve a target rotation velocity of the rotor, and wherein the first control is a control for controlling the rotation velocity of the rotor by controlling an advance angle of the drive signal with periodical changes and the second control is a control for controlling the rotation velocity of the rotor by controlling a voltage for supplying the drive signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 13, 2013
    Publication date: February 20, 2014
    Applicant: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Teruhiko Ueyama
  • Patent number: 8649887
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to methods, systems and apparatus for implementing dithering in motor drive system for controlling operation of a multi-phase electric machine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2014
    Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC
    Inventors: Steven E. Schulz, Michael J. Grimmer, Konstantin S. Majarov, William R. Cawthorne
  • Patent number: 8648558
    Abstract: A method of controlling a brushless motor that includes exciting a winding of the motor for a conduction period over each electrical half-cycle of the motor. The length of the conduction period is defined by a waveform that varies periodically with time. Additionally, a control system that implements the method, and a motor system that incorporates the control system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 6, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2014
    Assignee: Dyson Technology Limited
    Inventors: Andrew Charlton Clothier, Stephen Greetham
  • Publication number: 20140035494
    Abstract: There is provided a motor driving apparatus capable of optimizing driving efficiency by adjusting a phase difference between current applied to a motor and voltage detected from the motor and performing the adjustment of the phase difference when a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal has a set duty. The motor driving apparatus includes: a driving unit driving a motor according to driving control; a driving controlling unit controlling the driving of the motor by the driving unit, based on an adjusted phase correction signal; and a phase correcting unit correcting a phase difference between a motor detection signal having motor rotation speed information and a current detection signal having detection information regarding current flowing in the motor when a duty of a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal driving the motor satisfies a preset reference duty, and providing the phase correction signal to the driving controlling unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 25, 2012
    Publication date: February 6, 2014
    Applicant: SAMSUNG ELECTRO-MECHANICS CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Joo Yul KO
  • Patent number: 8643319
    Abstract: A method of controlling a brushless motor that includes rectifying an alternating voltage to provide a rectified voltage, and exciting a winding of the motor with the rectified voltage. The winding is excited in advance of predetermined rotor positions by an advance period and is excited for a conduction period over each electrical half-cycle of the motor. The length the advance period and/or the conduction period is defined by a waveform that varies periodically with time. The method then includes adjusting the phase of the waveform relative to the alternating voltage in response to a change in one of motor speed and RMS value of the alternating voltage. Additionally, a control system that implements the method, and a motor system that incorporates the control system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2014
    Assignee: Dyson Technology Limited
    Inventor: Tuncay Celik
  • Patent number: 8638053
    Abstract: Motor control circuits and associated methods to control an electric motor provide an ability to synchronize a rotational speed of the electric motor with an external clock signal, resulting in reduced jitter in the rotational speed of the electric motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 28, 2014
    Assignee: Allegro Microsystems, LLC
    Inventor: Chee-Kiong Ng
  • Patent number: 8618755
    Abstract: A control device is for a motor, especially a brushless DC motor. The control device contains a bridge circuit for generating a rotating field for the motor and a sensor system for detecting a position of a rotor of the motor, a control signal for the bridge circuit being derivable from the signal representing the rotor position. The sensor system includes an absolute value transmitter which detects the absolute position of the rotor and which is configured to derive at least one incremental signal from the absolute position and to make it directly available to a control component for controlling the bridge circuit for commuting the motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 23, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2013
    Assignee: Continental Automotive GmbH
    Inventors: Thomas Maier, Christoph Schikora, Thomas Wiercioch