Voltage Injection Detection (e.g., Voltage Injected At Startup To Determine Position, Etc.) Patents (Class 318/400.33)
  • Publication number: 20100171455
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus are provided for aligning a control reference axis with a magnetic north of a permanent magnet motor. The method includes the steps of injecting a predetermined stator current on an estimated reference axis of the permanent magnet motor and introducing predetermined error on the estimated reference axis. The method further includes the steps of determining if a speed of the permanent magnet motor is greater than a predetermined threshold speed and setting the control reference axis to 180° added to the estimated reference axis if the speed of the permanent magnet motor is greater than the predetermined threshold speed or setting the control reference axis to the estimated reference axis if the speed of the permanent magnet motor is less than or equal to the predetermined threshold speed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 5, 2009
    Publication date: July 8, 2010
    Applicant: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS, INC.
    Inventors: STEVEN E. SCHULZ, CONSTANTIN C. STANCU, YO CHAN SON
  • Publication number: 20100156333
    Abstract: A hybrid drive device includes a first motor; an operative mechanism that drivingly connects the first motor to an engine of a vehicle; a second motor that is drivingly connected to a drive wheel; an engine rotation speed sensor that detects a rotation speed of the engine; a magnetic pole position sensor that detects a magnetic pole position of the second motor; a current sensor that detects a current flowing to the first motor; a sensorless motor control device that estimates a magnetic pole position of the first motor based on the current detected by the current sensor, and drivingly controls the first motor; and a second motor control device that drivingly controls the second motor based on the magnetic pole position detected by the magnetic pole position sensor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 3, 2009
    Publication date: June 24, 2010
    Applicant: AISIN AW CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Zhiqian Chen, Keisuke Nishimura
  • Publication number: 20100156334
    Abstract: A sensorless motor control device includes a magnetic pole position estimating unit that does not use a sensor to detect a magnetic pole position of a motor having a salient rotor, and overlays a high-frequency current on the motor to estimate the magnetic pole position of the rotor of the motor; and a high-frequency current control unit for changing a magnitude of the high-frequency current based on a magnitude of one of a torque and a current of the motor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 4, 2009
    Publication date: June 24, 2010
    Applicant: AISIN AW CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Keisuke Nishimura, Zhiqian Chen
  • Publication number: 20100141192
    Abstract: The present invention there is provides a method of determining the rotor position in an electric motor comprising the steps of: superimposing one or more alternating signals on to the driving waveform so as to generate one or more oscillating currents in the stator coils; monitoring the variation in magnitude of the oscillating currents and thereby determining the rotor position. Typically, two alternating signals are applied in opposition so as to have no net effect on the torque applied by the driving waveform. Using this technique rotor position estimation can be obtained at start-up from stand-still and at low to medium speeds. The method can be used in applications where a fast motor start is needed under unknown load conditions and can be used to detect when the rotor has passed a certain position that coincides with the commutation instance.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 10, 2009
    Publication date: June 10, 2010
    Applicant: MELEXIS TESSENDERLO NV
    Inventors: Christian Paintz, Thomas Freitag
  • Publication number: 20100141191
    Abstract: A system for determining a commutation state for a brushless DC motor includes flyback detection circuitry that detects a flyback condition for each of a plurality of motor commutation states for the multiphase motor. The flyback detection circuitry provides a detection signal indicative of the detected flyback condition for each of a plurality of motor commutation states for the substantially stationary multiphase motor. A timer provides a time value based on the detection signal, the time value indicating a duration for the flyback condition for each respective motor commutation state. Logic is determines the commutation state for the multiphase motor based on the time value for each of the plurality of motor commutation states.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 4, 2008
    Publication date: June 10, 2010
    Inventors: LIYONG CHEN, Robert Edward Whyte, JR.
  • Publication number: 20100109589
    Abstract: A brushless motor control system according to the present invention detects a rotor stop position when activating the brushless motor including a stator having coils of three phases U, V, and W, and controls a phase voltage for energizing the coils of the respective phases U, V, and W, and the brushless motor includes the stator having coils of phases U, V, and W of N (N?2) poles, in which any one phase coil among the coils of the phases U, V, and W is removed in one of the N poles, and the brushless motor control system includes: a current rise detecting circuit that, when the brushless motor is in a stop state, sequentially selects coils of two phases from the coils of the respective phases U, V, and W, applies a predetermined direct current voltage between the selected coils of the two phases, and detects a value of an electric current flowing to the selected coils of the two phases; and a rotor stop position detecting unit that determines a rotor stop position of the brushless motor based on information o
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 28, 2008
    Publication date: May 6, 2010
    Inventor: Tomomi Harada
  • Publication number: 20100102768
    Abstract: A control system includes a position control module, a power control module, and a diagnostic module. The position control module applies a driving current for positioning a rotor of a motor at one of first and second positions. The power control module applies a first voltage to one of first and second phases of the motor to generate a first current after the position control module applies the driving current to position the rotor at the first position. The power control module applies a second voltage to one of the first and second phases to generate a second current after the position control module applies the driving current to position the rotor at the second position. The diagnostic module determines when the rotor is restricted from rotating based on the first and second currents.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 3, 2009
    Publication date: April 29, 2010
    Inventors: Foo Leng Leong, Edy Susanto, Cheng Yong Teoh
  • Publication number: 20100097022
    Abstract: A location system is configured for determining a magnetic pole position of a motor. The location system includes a motor driver, a current control module, a current feedback apparatus, a speed feedback apparatus, and a magnetic pole position location module. The current control module is configured for set current of the motor via the motor driver. The current feedback apparatus is configured for sensing an actual current of the motor. The speed feedback apparatus is configured for sensing an actual speed of the motor. The magnetic pole position location module is configured for inputting a magnetic pole position of the motor, receiving the actual current from the current feedback apparatus, receiving the actual speed from the speed feedback apparatus, and processing the actual current and the actual speed to obtain an initial magnetic pole position.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 11, 2008
    Publication date: April 22, 2010
    Applicant: FOXNUM TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Rong-Hwang Horng, You-Ren Lin, Rong-Cong Hung, Shih-Chang Chen, Shen-an Chen, Yaw-Shen Lai
  • Publication number: 20100090632
    Abstract: A motor magnetic pole position detecting device includes a detection current command generation unit generating a detection AC current command, a current detection section detecting a current flowing into the motor, a coordinate conversion unit vector-converting the current detected by the current detection section into an excitation component and a torque component both represented by a d-q orthogonal coordinate system based on a phase angle obtained at any rotational frequency, a current control unit delivering a voltage command to current-control the motor based on the detection current command and the current converted by the coordinate conversion unit, an inductance calculation unit calculating motor inductance based on the voltage command and the current converted by the coordinate conversion unit, and a magnetic pole position detection section calculating a frequency and phase of the inductance calculated by the inductance calculation unit, converting the inductance phase into a motor magnetic pole pos
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 6, 2009
    Publication date: April 15, 2010
    Applicant: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
    Inventor: Sari MAEKAWA
  • Publication number: 20100090631
    Abstract: A sensorless method for starting a three-phase brushless direct-current motor includes generating a start-up control signal, a start mode selection signal, and a control signal commutation period; switching to a start mode according to the start mode selection signal; implementing a position aligning procedure according to the start-up control signal and the control signal commutation period; detecting a zero crossing point of back electromotive forces during each control signal commutation period; outputting a sensorless mode selection signal while detecting the zero crossing points of the back electromotive forces during consecutive control signal commutation periods; switching to a sensorless mode according to the sensorless mode selection signal; and detecting a zero crossing point of back electromotive forces in the sensorless mode to determine a starting result of the three-phase brushless direct-current motor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 4, 2008
    Publication date: April 15, 2010
    Inventors: Chia-Tai Yang, Ching-Sheng Li, Kun-Min Chen, Tzu-Cheng Teng
  • Publication number: 20100045218
    Abstract: To estimate an initial magnetic pole position in a short time, estimated axes for control that correspond to the d-axis and the q-axis are set as the ?-axis and the d-axis, and a high frequency rotation voltage or alternating voltage on the ?? coordinate system is applied to the motor. A high frequency current ih that flows in the motor due to the application of the high frequency voltage is extracted from a detected motor current (armature current) and a direct current component (ih?×ihd)DC of a product of the ?-axis and d-axis components of the high frequency current ih is derived. On the other hand, the ??-axis component ich? and the ??-axis component ichd of the high frequency current ih that are shifted by p/4 in electric angle from the ?-axis and the d-axis are obtained and a direct current component of their product (ich?×ichd)DC is obtained. Thereafter, the magnetic pole position is estimated by computing the axial error ?? between the ?-d axes utilizing the two direct current components.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 19, 2009
    Publication date: February 25, 2010
    Applicant: SANYO ELECTRIC CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Yoshio TOMIGASHI
  • Publication number: 20100045222
    Abstract: A flux regulated permanent magnet brushless motor has a stator having an inner peripheral bore. A permanent magnet rotor is mounted within the inner peripheral bore. A control winding is supplied to a DC current to regulate flux of the machine. A small AC current is also supplied and an output is sensed to determine a position of the permanent magnet rotor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 20, 2008
    Publication date: February 25, 2010
    Inventors: Gregory I. Rozman, Jacek F. Gieras
  • Publication number: 20100026223
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for determining rotor position in a stationary rotor of a sensor-less permanent magnet synchronous machine that employs a rotating magnetic field to identify a magnetic axis of the stator without a magnetic direction and then determines magnetic direction by applying pulses along the magnet axis in two polarities.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 31, 2008
    Publication date: February 4, 2010
    Inventors: Jingbo Liu, Thomas Nondahl, Peter Schmidt, Semyon Royak, Mark Harbaugh
  • Patent number: 7652441
    Abstract: A motor drive system for a sensorless motor includes a catch start sequencer that controls the motor drive system to robustly start the motor in the event the motor rotor is rotating in forward or reverse direction prior to activating the motor drive system. In particular, the catch start sequencer causes the motor drive system to initially find and track the rotor position, and then determines the speed and possibly the direction of rotation of the rotor. If the rotor is rotating in the reverse direction, the catch start sequencer controls the motor drive system to slow the speed of rotation and to then start the rotor rotating in the forward direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2006
    Date of Patent: January 26, 2010
    Assignee: International Rectifier Corporation
    Inventor: Eddy Ying Yin Ho
  • Publication number: 20090278485
    Abstract: The invention relates to a device and a method for determining the rotational position of the rotor of an electric machine that has star-connected pole winding phases. The device is equipped with a unit for applying voltage pulses (14-16) to at least one of the phases (1-3) and a unit that evaluates the neutral point potentials generated by the voltage pulses (14-16). The invention is characterised by the provision of the aforementioned unit for applying time-delayed voltage pulses (14-16) to different phases (1-3) and the unit for producing at least one differential between the neutral point potentials generated by said voltage pulses.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 9, 2006
    Publication date: November 12, 2009
    Inventor: Rolf Strothmann
  • Publication number: 20090261765
    Abstract: The invention relates to a synchronous motor (12) with a number of stator coils (15), with a rotor (16) with at least one permanent magnet (17), which induces a rotor magnetic field in a useful flux direction and with at least one coil winding (20), which is fitted on the rotor in order to induce a resultant magnetic field as a result of an alternating magnetic fields which is applied with the aid of the stator coils, in the direction of a winding axis of the coil winding, so that a resultant inductance of the stator coils (15) with respect to a direction of the winding axis is different given different positions of the rotor (16).
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 26, 2007
    Publication date: October 22, 2009
    Applicant: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Dietmar Stoiber, Bernd Wedel
  • Publication number: 20090254301
    Abstract: Methods and systems for detecting an angular position of a rotating device are disclosed, including sensing and counting high-resolution transitions of a high-resolution digital sensor in response to the rotating device rotating; sensing low-resolution transitions of a low-resolution digital sensor in response to the rotating device rotating, the low-resolutions transitions being spaced apart at uneven angles; determining an angular position of the rotating device in response to determining a number of high-resolution transitions between pairs of low-resolution transitions.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 2, 2008
    Publication date: October 8, 2009
    Applicant: Temic Automotive of North America, Inc.
    Inventors: Patrick A. O'Gorman, Rene Vivanco, Alex Kurnia
  • Publication number: 20090251089
    Abstract: Methods and systems for detecting an angular position of an electric motor are disclosed, including sending an electrical pulse through a stator coil of the electric motor, determining an approximate angular position of a rotor of the electric motor in response to detecting an timing of a returning electrical pulse from the stator coil, the timing of the returning electrical pulse being indicative of the angular position of the rotor; and determining an accurate position of the rotor in response to sensing a transition of a digital sensor in response to the rotor rotating relative to the stator, the transition being indicative of the accurate position.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 2, 2008
    Publication date: October 8, 2009
    Applicant: Temic Automotive of North America, Inc.
    Inventors: Patrick A. O'Gorman, Rene Vivanco, Alex Kurnia
  • Publication number: 20090200974
    Abstract: A sensorless control apparatus of a rotary machine includes an inverter 05 to invert DC power and AC power from one to another, a permanent-magnet synchronous machine 07 whose rotor has magnetic saliency and which receives power from the inverter and is driven thereby, a PWM modulate means 04 to determine an output voltage of the inverter according to a command for controlling the permanent-magnet synchronous machine, a current detect means 06 to detect a current passed to the permanent-magnet synchronous machine, a high-frequency component calculate means 10 to calculate high-frequency components of current changes caused by voltages that have been determined by the PWM modulate means and have been output from the inverter, and a rotational phase angle estimate means 08 to estimate a rotational phase angle of the permanent-magnet synchronous machine according to a spatial distribution of the high-frequency components on rotating coordinate axes synchronized with the rotation of the permanent-magnet synchrono
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 13, 2007
    Publication date: August 13, 2009
    Applicant: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
    Inventor: Kazuya Yasui
  • Publication number: 20090179603
    Abstract: An apparatus for starting a direct current brushless motor and a method thereof are provided. The direct current brushless motor comprises a plurality of windings. The control apparatus comprises a sense amplifier, a differential circuit, and a control circuit. The sense amplifier is configured to detect a first back electromotive force of a non-electrified first winding. The differential circuit is configured to calculate a differential value of the first back electromotive force. The control circuit is configured to provide a current to two of the windings and to switch the current to another two of the windings to start the direct current brushless motor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 29, 2008
    Publication date: July 16, 2009
    Applicant: FEELING TECHNOLOGY CORP.
    Inventors: Hsuan-Chuan Chen, Teng-Tsai Lin
  • Publication number: 20090174355
    Abstract: A starting apparatus for a direct current (DC) brushless motor and a method thereof are provided. The DC brushless motor comprises a plurality of windings presenting a joint connection via a common connection. The starting apparatus provides current to two of the three windings and rotates the DC brushless motor to obtain a Back Electro-Motive Force (BEMF) from the floating winding. Then, the starting apparatus provides a current to another two windings to operate the motor according to the variation of BEMF induced by the swing of the motor when it rotates to a static equilibrium point.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 2, 2009
    Publication date: July 9, 2009
    Applicant: FEELING TECHNOLOGY CORP.
    Inventors: Wen-Jung Su, Hsuan-Chuan Chen
  • Publication number: 20090174188
    Abstract: An aircraft starting and generating system includes a starter/generator that includes a main machine, an exciter, and a permanent magnet generator. The system also includes an inverter/converter/controller that is connected to the starter/generator and that generates AC power to drive the starter/generator in a start mode for starting a prime mover of the aircraft, and that converts AC power, obtained from the starter/generator after the prime mover have been started, to DC power in a generate mode of the starter/generator. The exciter includes a stator and a rotor, and wherein the exciter rotor includes a three-phase AC winding.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 16, 2009
    Publication date: July 9, 2009
    Inventors: Hao Huang, David Karipides, Mohamed Abbas, David Tsui
  • Publication number: 20090146597
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method for determining the position of a rotor (11) of an electric motor (9) comprising several stator blocks, in particular an EC motor (10), whereby several magnetic axes (d, q) are assigned to said rotor. According to the invention, a voltage is applied alternately to the stator blocks (U, V, W), the resultant currents are measured and an assignment of at least one stator block (U, V, W) to at least one magnetic axis (d, q) is determined. The invention also relates to a corresponding device (1).
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 3, 2006
    Publication date: June 11, 2009
    Inventor: Volker Bosch
  • Publication number: 20090128074
    Abstract: A method for detecting an initial rotor angular position and starting a dynamoelectric machine having a stator and a rotor includes the steps of driving the dynamoelectric machine into partial magnetic saturation to determine the initial rotor angular position of the dynamoelectric machine, and starting the dynamoelectric machine utilizing the initial rotor angular position previously determined.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 16, 2007
    Publication date: May 21, 2009
    Inventor: Jun Hu
  • Publication number: 20090108783
    Abstract: In order to determine the orientation of the rotor of a brushless DC motor 100, a sequence of current pulses may be applied to the stator phases U, V, W by the respective drivers HS0, LS0, HS1, LS1 HS2, LS2. The current generated in the stator phases U, V, W in turn generates a current in a shunt resistor 110. The current in this shunt resistor 110 is monitored by use of a current voltage converter 120 and a comparator 130 to determine when it exceeds a predetermined threshold. The rise time until the threshold current is exceeded is recorded in capture unit 140. A processor unit 150 then calculates a scalar parameter SU, SV, SW for each respective stator phase U, V, W from the recorded rise times associated with each pulse.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 18, 2008
    Publication date: April 30, 2009
    Applicant: MELEXIS NV Microelectronic Integrated Systems
    Inventors: Christian Paintz, Thomas Freitag, Detlef Klose
  • Publication number: 20090096396
    Abstract: A method is specified for determining the rotor position of a separately excited rotating electrical machine which machine has a stator winding set and a rotor winding set and in which method the stator winding set is fed from an associated converter unit, and the rotor winding set is fed from an associated exciter unit. First of all, the stator winding set is short-circuited by means of the converter unit. An exciter voltage signal is then applied to the rotor winding set by means of the exciter unit, which exciter voltage signal has a change from a variable first voltage value to a variable second voltage value: Furthermore, the stator current (Isa, Isb, Isc) is determined in each winding of the stator winding set, and a rotor position angle (?) is calculated.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 15, 2008
    Publication date: April 16, 2009
    Applicant: ABB SCHWEIZ AG
    Inventors: Marco Sieber, Thorsten Harder, Patrick Bohren
  • Publication number: 20090085505
    Abstract: Electric drive units comprising a common active part having a stator and a rotor, which has windings and/or permanent magnets for a drive function and an energy transmission function, enable the rotor winding that is provided for energy transmission to be used to allow position detection at a low additional cost. For this purpose, a power converter in the rotor, which provides the output of electrical energy for the energy transmission function, impresses an alternating voltage into the rotor winding, said voltage being detected in the stator and allowing the rotor position to be determined.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 11, 2008
    Publication date: April 2, 2009
    Inventor: Jan Weigel
  • Patent number: 7405527
    Abstract: A method for controlling an electronically commutated DC motor is provided, the DC motor including at least one particularly permanent magnetic rotor and a wound stator, which is a drive motor for an adjuster device on a pneumatically operated disc brake. The rotor position is determined from electrically measured parameters without sensing of the rotor position. The invention is characterized in that two determination methods for determining the rotor position from electrically measured parameters are combined with each other, whereby one is an inductive measurement and a further one of the determination methods is a measurement of the inducted voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 9, 2004
    Date of Patent: July 29, 2008
    Assignee: Knorr-Bremse Systeme fuer Nutzfahrzeuge GmbH
    Inventors: Johann Baumgartner, Guenther Gschossmann