Abstract: A mechanism for assigning unique addresses to identical devices attached to a serial bus is presented. Each device has at least one output and is provided with a storage device to provide a configurable portion of a bus address having a fixed portion and a configurable portion. The device is further provided with circuitry, coupled to the storage device and the output, to determine a state of the output and use the state to configure the configurable portion. Once the configurable portion is configured, the bus address uniquely identifies the device. Such configuration allows more than one such device to be coupled to the same serial bus, e.g., an I2C bus.

Abstract: An electrical load controller that controls the starting sequence for a plurality of electrical loads includes a start demanding unit that generates a demand to start at least one of the plurality of electrical loads. A first electrical load is started immediately if the time between when a second electrical load start and when the second electrical load receives a signal indicating that the first electrical load will start (second prescribed time) is longer than the time required to send the signal between the first and second electrical loads (third prescribed time), and the time required for an inrush current to decrease to a prescribed value (first prescribed time) is less than the difference between the second prescribed time and the third prescribed time. Thus, there is sufficient time for the inrush current of the first electrical load to decrease before starting the second electrical load.

Abstract: A starting apparatus is disclosed for at least two synchronous machines, which starting apparatus includes an exciter unit which is provided for each synchronous machine and is associated with the respective synchronous machine. Each exciter unit can be connected to the field winding of the associated synchronous machine. A superordinate control unit is provided, with the superordinate control unit being connected via a communication link to each exciter unit. Furthermore, the starting apparatus includes at least one stator feed unit and at least one switching device, which is provided for each stator feed unit and is associated with the respective stator feed unit, in which case the respective switching device can be connected to the associated stator feed unit, the respective switching device can be connected to at least one synchronous machine, and the switching devices can be connected to one another when there are a plurality of switching devices.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a motor drive is provided that includes a control board and one or more option boards coupled to the control board via one or more serial interfaces such that data from the one or more option boards is communicated via one or more synchronous interrupts on the one or more serial interfaces. A method of operating a motor drive that includes transmitting one or more signals from an option board to a control board via one or more synchronous interrupts, wherein the option board is coupled to the control board via a serial interface. A tangible machine-readable medium implementing the method is also provided.

Abstract: A control device for a plurality of rotating electrical machines has a single current control device with an inverter, gate driver, and a motor controller, which supplies a control current to each rotating electrical machine allowing rotation control in response to the rotational phase of the rotor. In this control device, the current control device determines the control current of each rotating electrical machine based on the target torques and rotational angular velocities of all rotating electrical machines, and supplies a composite current obtained by combining the determined control currents for each rotating electrical machine to all rotating electrical machine. In this control device for a plurality of rotating electrical machines, the required voltage does not exceed the voltage of the power source and the peak value of the composite current does not exceed the permitted range of the inverter.

Abstract: A system and method for supplying power to stator sections of a long-stator magnetic levitation railway system, where the stator winding is subdivided into several stator sections that can be controlled individually along a route for a magnetically levitated vehicle, where the stator sections can be connected to at least one feeder cable system running along the stator sections via at least one section switch, and at least one converter is provided for each feeder cable system, where one or more converters are provided in at least one substation along the stator sections, and each converter creates a voltage supply system for the stator sections, where the operating voltage in the feeder cable systems is not the same as the operating voltage of the stator sections, and at least one matching transformer is connected between the feeder cable systems and the stator sections so the operating voltage of the feeder cable systems can be transformed to the operating voltage of the stator sections.

Abstract: The drive system connects a servomotor via a clutch to a shaft after the motor has started up from a standstill to a speed in synchronism with the supply frequency to the servomotor. The clutch may also be actuated to disengage the servomotor from the shaft when the servomotor is slowed to a predetermined speed during stopping of the servomotor. A transmission is employed between the servomotor and the shaft to compensate for any shocks to the motor when engaging the clutch.