With Signals, Meters, Recorders Or Testing Devices Patents (Class 318/490)
  • Patent number: 12237788
    Abstract: A rotary electric machine control apparatus is provided which controls energization of a rotary electric machine having a plurality of winding sets. The apparatus includes an energization control circuit that is provided for each of the winding sets and has a switching element related to switching of energization to the winding set, a driver circuit that outputs a drive signal to the switching element through a signal line connected to the switching element, and a protection element that is connected to the signal line and in parallel with the switching element. When combinations of the winding sets and electronic components including the energization control circuit provided for each of the winding sets are regarded as systems, in at least one of the systems, performance of the protection element is differentiated from that in the other system to make noise resistance different from noise resistance in the other system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 2023
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2025
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventor: Toru Oiwa
  • Patent number: 12170496
    Abstract: A motor control device includes: a power source device including a DC-output power conversion device having a first mode for outputting first voltage and a second mode for outputting second voltage higher than the first voltage; a power supply device; and a control device, and controls a motor. When a flying object takes off, the control device controls the power conversion device in the second mode. When the control device judges that flight information which is one or both of information of a motor parameter obtained along with control for the motor and information of an environmental factor relevant to the flight altitude satisfies a predetermined condition, or when the control device has received an operation mode signal for which the first mode is selected on the basis of the flight information during control for the motor, the control device controls the power conversion device in the first mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2024
    Assignees: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION, JAPAN AEROSPACE EXPLORATION AGENCY
    Inventors: Kenji Fujiwara, Hisatoshi Fukumoto, Tomoki Takegami, Tetsuya Kojima, Akihiko Iwata, Masahiro Sugahara, Hiroshi Kobayashi, Mari Nishiyama, Akira Nishizawa
  • Patent number: 12160193
    Abstract: Included are a drive control signal generation unit configured to generate a drive control signal for a motor in accordance with a target rotation speed of the motor and a rotation speed of the motor calculated in response to a rotation position detection signal of the motor; a rotation speed signal generation unit configured to generate a rotation speed signal having a frequency corresponding to the rotation speed of the motor, in response to the rotation position detection signal of the motor; an abnormality determination processing unit configured to determine whether a condition value for abnormality determination of the motor has reached a predetermined threshold value, for each predetermined abnormality determination period, and generate an abnormality determination signal distinguishable from the rotation speed signal when the abnormality determination processing unit determines that the condition value has reached the predetermined threshold value; and a signal output unit configured to output the rot
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2023
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2024
    Assignee: MINEBEA MITSUMI In.
    Inventor: Tomotaka Sakuma
  • Patent number: 12130200
    Abstract: A failure diagnosis apparatus includes a controller to control drive of a motor, a wear estimator to estimate an amount of wear of a bearing of the motor based on a current that flows in the motor, and a failure notification unit to diagnose a failure of the motor based on the amount of wear of the bearing of the motor estimated by the wear estimator and to notify a user. When the wear estimator estimates the amount of wear of the bearing of the motor, the controller controls drive of the motor such that the motor is driven in a constant state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 13, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2024
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Yasuhiko Wada, Kazunori Sakanobe
  • Patent number: 12126278
    Abstract: An apparatus and a method for controlling an inverter are disclosed. A method, according to one embodiment of the present disclosure, receives an operation command for an inverter, outputs a first PWM control signal, to an inverter unit, such that the inverter unit outputs at least one among a plurality of valid vectors for the diagnosis of a short circuit of the output of the inverter, and blocks the output of the inverter if a short circuit current of the inverter is detected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2024
    Assignee: LS ELECTRIC CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Chengde Xu
  • Patent number: 12084127
    Abstract: The disclosure relates to a steering system and a method for controlling the same. According to an embodiment, a steering system comprises an electric power steering (EPS) steering motor connected to a first inverter and a second inverter, an additional motor connected to the second inverter and providing a steering-related additional function, a main electric control unit (ECU) including the first inverter and controlling the EPS steering motor through the first inverter, and a sub ECU including the second inverter and controlling at least one of the EPS steering motor or the additional motor based on at least one of main ECU state information or vehicle driving state information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2023
    Date of Patent: September 10, 2024
    Assignee: HL MANDO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Du Han Lee, Su-Min Lee
  • Patent number: 12078680
    Abstract: A method for detecting an electrical fault in the stator of an electric machine is provided, wherein the stator includes multiple groups of windings, wherein the windings of each group are assigned to a respective phase of the electric machine, including the steps of: determining a respective current firstly between a subgroup of one of the groups of windings and a distinct further subgroup of the same group of windings and/or secondly between a subgroup of one of the groups of windings and a neutral point, and/or thirdly between a neutral point and either a further neutral point or to a common neutral point connected to at least the neutral point and the further neutral point, evaluating a fault condition, wherein the fulfilment of the fault condition depends on the respective determined current, and outputting a fault signal to personal and/or a device when the fault condition is fulfilled.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2022
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2024
    Assignee: Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy A/S
    Inventors: Ravindra Bhide, Nuno Miguel Amaral Freire, Rahul R Pillai, Ireneusz Grzegorz Szczesny
  • Patent number: 12068707
    Abstract: An electrical propulsion system includes an electrical motor configured to drive one or more propellers of the aircraft, a capacitor configured to stabilize a direct current (DC) bus voltage, a first inverter circuit coupled to the capacitor and configured to convert the DC bus voltage to alternate current (AC) voltages to drive a first set of stator windings of the electrical motor, in response to a first pulse width modulation (PWM) vector, and a second inverter circuit coupled to the capacitor and configured to convert the DC bus voltage to AC voltages to drive a second set of stator windings of the electrical motor, in response to a second PWM vector. The first PWM vector and the second PWM vector are substantially equal and opposite vectors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 1, 2023
    Date of Patent: August 20, 2024
    Assignee: ARCHER AVIATION, INC.
    Inventor: Stephen Spiteri
  • Patent number: 12061236
    Abstract: This power conversion device has: a current measurement unit for measuring phase current; a current vector calculation unit for calculating a current vector by performing 3-phase to 2-phase conversion on the phase current; an amount-to-be-analyzed calculation unit for calculating, on the basis of the current vector, an amount to be analyzed; and a feature amount waveform extraction unit for extracting a waveform in a specific frequency range on the basis of the amount to be analyzed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2024
    Assignee: Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kohji Maki, Yoshitaka Iwaji, Hironori Ohashi, Atsuhiko Nakamura
  • Patent number: 12032026
    Abstract: A measuring circuit (100) is described, for the voltage of an electric machine comprising a first operational amplifier (20), at least one second operational amplifier (30), a third operational amplifier (40); a system and a process for estimating the temperature of the magnets of electric machines using such circuit (100) are further described.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 9, 2024
    Assignee: MAVEL EDT S.P.A.
    Inventor: Denny Chiono
  • Patent number: 12009671
    Abstract: An electrical system for an aircraft includes an AC electric power source electrically connected to a rotary electric motor via a plurality of AC contactors. An AC/DC inverter is electrically connected to the rotary electric motor, a DC power bus is electrically connected to the AC/DC inverter, and a plurality of sensors are arranged to monitor electric currents between the AC electric power source and the rotary electric motor. A first controller is arranged to control the AC/DC inverter; and a second controller is arranged to monitor the sensors and are operatively connected to the AC contactors. The second controller is operable to monitor, via the sensors, the electric currents between the AC electric power source and the rotary electric motor, and detect a fault based upon the electric currents, and deactivate the AC contactors in response to the fault.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 17, 2022
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2024
    Assignee: The Boeing Company
    Inventors: Frederic Lacaux, Shengyi Liu, Eugene V. Solodovnik, Vyacheslav Khozikov, Kamiar J. Karimi
  • Patent number: 11993479
    Abstract: An electrical converter unit and a method for reducing thermal stress of a power semiconductor switch, such as an IGBT, of an electrical converter unit, the electrical converter unit comprising at least a gate control circuit wherein the electrical converter unit controls an electrical motor. The method comprises determining load and estimating required motor current based on the determined load and/or a predetermined speed profile. The electrical converter unit has at least a first operating state and a second operating state. The second operating state is used if predetermined criteria is fulfilled, the predetermined criteria relating to at least one of the following: estimated required current, measured motor speed, temperature of the power semiconductor switch and/or electrical converter unit, temperature model of the power semiconductor switch and/or electrical converter unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2022
    Date of Patent: May 28, 2024
    Assignee: KONE Corporation
    Inventors: Mikko Paakkinen, Lauri Stolt, Tuukka Kauppinen
  • Patent number: 11949225
    Abstract: A control system that detects loosening of a vibrator component in a spreader system. As the vibrator loosens over time, it draws more current. Eventually, this excess current causes the vibrator motor to burn out. The control system detects the loosening of the vibrator to indicate a fault condition by measuring current increase in the vibrator, and then indicating a fault condition that the bolts must be tightened, which results in lowering of the current draw, thereby protecting the vibrator motor from burnout. The system has a “learning mode” capable of establishing and memorizing a baseline of current draw suitable for a vibrator. In this way, a current threshold is exceeded over time, which indicates loosening of the vibrator. The baseline level can be selectively changed adapted with changing conditions, or adapted to other types of systems besides spreader vibrators.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 4, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2024
    Assignee: BUYERS PRODUCTS COMPANY
    Inventor: Philip Sandler
  • Patent number: 11909199
    Abstract: A method may include receiving, by respective processing circuitry of one or more power modules of an industrial automation device, a control signal from a controller of the industrial automation device. The power modules may include driver circuitry and a power converter that may provide power to a motor based on the signal. The method may also include, detecting, by the respective processing circuitry, a lack of communication from the controller based on the signal, and, in response to detecting the lack of communication from the controller, transmitting, by the respective processing circuitry, a first command to gating signal enable circuitry to disable the driver circuitry, and transmitting, by the respective processing circuitry, a second command to driver power circuitry to prevent power from being provided to the driver circuitry.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2024
    Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Al J. Campbell, John David Allan, Marius G. Chis, Reginald A. Drake, Scott D. Braun
  • Patent number: 11898932
    Abstract: A device for diagnosing a fault in a bearing of a motor is provided. If the device operates in a fault diagnosis mode, a current signal acquisition unit acquires a real-time current signal of the motor, a residual signal acquisition unit extracts harmonic signals from the real-time current signal of the motor acquired by the current signal acquisition unit and remove a fundamental signal and a harmonic signal from the real-time current signal of the motor to acquire a residual signal, a fault feature extraction unit analyzes the residual signal in both time domain and frequency domain to extract a fault feature index of the bearing, and a fault diagnosis model unit performs, by using a bearing fault diagnosis model obtained through training, pattern recognition on the fault feature index to diagnose a fault state of the bearing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2024
    Assignee: ZHUZHOU CRRC TIMES ELECTRIC CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Wenlong Zhu, Yong Liu, Jisheng Dai, Zongshuai Li, Jiawei Yang, Ping Jiang, Yanhao Zhan, Zhongjing Zhang, Hailong Xu
  • Patent number: 11866187
    Abstract: An assembly of an electric propulsion system with power harvesting system and a method of manufacturing the electric propulsion system are disclosed. The electric propulsion system may include a propulsor configured to generate thrust. The electric propulsion system may include an electric motor configured to power the propulsor. The electric motor may include a stator configured to produce a magnetic field, wherein the stator may include a winding comprising an electrically conductive material. The electric motor may further include a rotor configured to be rotated by the magnetic field from the stator, wherein the rotor may include a coil attached to the rotor configured to induce an electric potential and an airgap between the stator and the coil.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2024
    Assignee: BETA AIR, LLC
    Inventor: Chenjie Lin
  • Patent number: 11841389
    Abstract: An apparatus and battery system for estimating insulation resistance including an insulation resistance measurement circuit connected to a first electrode of a battery, a first switch connected to the first resistor, a second resistor connected to the first switch, a third resistor connected to the second resistor and a second electrode of the battery, and a second switch connected between a first contact point between the first switch and the second resistor and a chassis ground, a voltage measurement part measuring a voltage of a second contact point between the second resistor and the third resistor, and a controller controlling the first and second switches and calculating an insulation resistance value based on the voltage measured at the second contact point the first and second switches are ON, and the voltage measured at the second contact point while the first switch is OFF and the second switch is ON.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2023
    Inventors: Jangsoo Ock, Jae Wook Yu
  • Patent number: 11788867
    Abstract: An interpolated position of an incremental encoder is provided. A first signal and a second signal having a quadrature relationship are received from the incremental encoder. A coarse position of the incremental encoder at a first time is produced using the quadrature relationship between the first signal and the second signal. An arcsine or arccosine value based on the first signal at the first time is determined using a lookup table and a fine position of the incremental encoder is calculated using the determined value. The interpolated position of the incremental encoder, based on both the coarse position and the fine position, is then provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2023
    Assignee: e1ectr0n, Inc.
    Inventor: Scott L. Baker
  • Patent number: 11757390
    Abstract: A motor inductance measurement device comprises an energization control circuitry to perform energization control of the motor such that an AC voltage is applied to at least one axis on two-axis orthogonal rotation coordinates of the motor to cause the AC current to flow, and an inductance calculation circuitry to generate the characteristic regarding the instantaneous value of the AC magnetic flux corresponding to the instantaneous value of the AC current as the inductance information by calculating the instantaneous value of the AC magnetic flux by integrating a residual voltage which is obtained by subtracting a resistance voltage from the AC voltage, the resistance voltage being obtained from the AC current based on a detection current detected from the motor, and from resistances of the motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2023
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shinichi Furutani, Shoji Adachi
  • Patent number: 11740683
    Abstract: Methods might include determining whether a particular die of a plurality of dies is expected to initiate a next phase of an operation, setting an expected peak current magnitude of the particular die to the present expected peak current magnitude in response to the expected peak current magnitude of the next phase being less than a present expected peak current magnitude, and setting the expected peak current magnitude of the particular die to the expected peak current magnitude of the next phase in response to the expected peak current magnitude of the next phase being greater than the present expected peak current magnitude if a sum of the expected peak current magnitude of the next phase, and expected peak current magnitudes for each die of the plurality of dies other than the particular die, is less than a particular value. Apparatus might be configured to perform similar methods.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 2022
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2023
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventor: Xiaojiang Guo
  • Patent number: 11722079
    Abstract: A detection system and method for rotor dynamic turn-to-turn short circuit fault of synchronous generator are disclosed. The system includes a motor, a synchronous generator, a current transformer, an acquisition card, an infrared temperature sensor, a temperature acquisition instrument and a control terminal. The rotor winding dynamic turn-to-turn short circuit fault of synchronous generator is detected and located by measuring the double judgment standards of the temperature signal of rotor winding and the three-phase current signal of stator winding. The method is easy to operate and has high sensitivity. The detection and location process of the fault is efficient and reliable. The dynamic turn-to-turn short circuit fault can be detected in the early stage of the formation of rotor static turn-to-turn short circuit, so as to reduce the loss of power plant fault shutdown and better meet the needs of practical application.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 2022
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2023
    Inventors: Yuling He, Minghao Qiu, Chenkai Sun, Mengya Jiang, Xinghua Yuan, Xiaolong Wang
  • Patent number: 11693382
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus to adjust operation of a fluid flow control assembly are disclosed. An example safety valve controller apparatus includes comparator circuitry to compare a current measurement to at least one of a first threshold associated with a first flow setting of a fluid flow control assembly or a second threshold associated with a second flow setting of the fluid flow control assembly, and determine a first drive signal associated with the first flow setting or a second drive signal associated with the second flow setting in response to satisfying a respective one of the first or second thresholds, and current modulating circuitry to determine a third drive signal based on the current measurement, the third drive signal to modulate the flow setting of the fluid flow control assembly between the first and second flow settings.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2023
    Assignee: Fisher Controls International LLC
    Inventors: Stanley Felix Amirthasamy, Gregory W. Jacobs, Eric William Strong
  • Patent number: 11677309
    Abstract: An inverter device is provided which is capable of effectively eliminating or suppressing common mode noise in consideration of the influence of a dead time by using the function of a PWM signal generating unit. A control device 21 includes a phase voltage command calculating unit 33 which calculates three-phase modulation voltage command values for generating voltages to be applied to respective phases of a motor 8, and a PWM signal generating unit 36 which, based on the three-phase modulation voltage command values and a single carrier signal, generates a PWM signal to PWM-control an inverter circuit 28. The PWM signal generating unit 36 corrects the three-phase modulation voltage command values output by the phase voltage command calculating unit 33 to thereby cancel a change in the phase voltage applied to the motor 8 by a change in another phase voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2023
    Assignee: SANDEN CORPORATION
    Inventor: Tatsuki Kashihara
  • Patent number: 11658659
    Abstract: A signal transmission device includes a signal transmission chip, and a first lead frame supporting the signal transmission chip. A first inductor spiral ring is on a surface of the signal transmission chip, a second inductor spiral ring is inside the signal transmission chip, a first bonding pad is electrically coupled between the first and second inductor spiral rings, a guard ring covers the first and second inductor spiral rings in a plan view, and bonding pads are outside of the guard ring. A direction of rotation between the first and second inductor spiral rings are different from each other. The signal transmission device further includes a semiconductor chip and a second lead frame supporting the semiconductor chip, wherein the signal transmission chip and the semiconductor chip face each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 23, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2023
    Assignee: Rohm Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Daiki Yanagishima, Toshiyuki Ishikawa, Hirotaka Takihara
  • Patent number: 11579198
    Abstract: An inverter system includes a converter, an inverter, a first switch SW1 that connects between the converter and an AC power source, a capacitor that smooths a DC power in a DC bus, a resistor Rr connected from a positive voltage side of the DC bus to ground, a second switch SW2 that connects between the resistor Rr and ground, and a controller that controls drive of the inverter system. The controller is configured to: after charging the capacitor, while the first switch SW1 is in an OFF state, turn on the second switch SW2 and obtain a first across voltage ER1 of the resistor Rx; turn on an element, among semiconductor elements of the inverter, that is connected to the negative voltage side of the DC bus, and then obtain a second across voltage ER2 of the resistor Rx; and inspect insulation resistance of a motor based on the across voltages ER1, ER2.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2023
    Assignee: OKUMA CORPORATION
    Inventor: Motozumi Yura
  • Patent number: 11555719
    Abstract: An actuator assembly comprises: a rotatable shaft, a magnet mounted to the rotatable shaft, non-magnet material positioned between the magnet and the shaft, a rotary sensor configured to be responsive to rotation of the magnet for generating a signal, and a housing comprising a magnetic shield surrounding at least a part of the rotary sensor and at least a part of the magnet mounted to the shaft to shield the sensor and the magnet from an external magnetic field. The actuator assembly further comprises a magnet holder fixing the magnet to the shaft. The magnetic shield encompasses the magnetic flux from the magnet to the rotary sensor and also shields the rotary sensor from any external magnetic field such as stray field or magnetic field from the outside of the housing. The non-magnetic material may reduce leakage magnetic flux from the magnet to the shaft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2023
    Assignee: HL MANDO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Mohammad Islam, Christian Ross, Mazharul Chowdhury
  • Patent number: 11515819
    Abstract: A method for stabilizing a DC link voltage of an electrical converter, the method including: determining a DC link voltage signal for the DC link voltage of the electrical converter; determining a fluctuation signal of the DC link voltage by applying a high pass filter to the DC link voltage signal; determining a torque offset by multiplying the fluctuation signal with a gain value; and modifying a reference torque with the torque offset for controlling the electrical converter. The gain value is adjusted by: determining a DC link voltage ripple from the DC link voltage signal; and comparing the DC link voltage ripple with a threshold and, when the DC link voltage ripple is higher than the threshold, increasing the gain value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2022
    Assignee: ABB SCHWEIZ AG
    Inventors: Samuli Kallio, Erno Pentzin, Mikko Vertanen
  • Patent number: 11509254
    Abstract: In a method for detecting a motor phase fault of a motor arrangement, the motor phases of which are connected to a drive circuit having a DC voltage intermediate circuit and an inverter. A motor phase voltage at at least one of the motor phases with respect to a reference potential is captured while the inverter is switched off; and a voltage profile of the captured motor phase voltage is used to determine whether there is a motor phase fault on one of the motor phases of the motor arrangement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2022
    Assignee: Diehl AKO Stiftung & Co. KG
    Inventors: Martin Weinmann, Andreas Schmid, Sebastian Tinius
  • Patent number: 11499985
    Abstract: Systems and methods for measuring rotational frequency in rotating machines use variable sliding windows of measurement. The systems and methods count and store the number of internal clock cycles between the start of a measurement interval and each pulse signal from a pulse generator. Rotational frequency is determined by taking a difference between the count for a most recent pulse signal and the count for some previous pulse signal within the measurement interval. The number of pulse signals that have occurred between the most-recent pulse signal and the previous pulse signal represents a window of measurement. This window of measurement, or the size thereof, may then be used along with the count difference to determine the rotational frequency. The window of measurement may then be slid to the counts for next most recent pulse signal and the next previous pulse signal to obtain a new count difference, and so on.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2022
    Assignee: Schneider Electric Systems USA, Inc.
    Inventors: Anupam Saurabh, Ajay Mishra, Shahid Ansari
  • Patent number: 11459996
    Abstract: Provided is an electronic control unit capable of performing a high-accurate failure diagnosis in a short time as an electronic control unit having a failure diagnosis function. A load drive circuit that drives a load, a control circuit that controls the load drive circuit, and a diagnosis circuit that diagnoses an output state of the load drive circuit and outputs a diagnostic result to the control circuit are provided. The diagnosis circuit outputs a diagnosis completion flag indicating whether or not there is a diagnosis opportunity to the control circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 8, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2022
    Assignee: HITACHI ASTEMO, LTD.
    Inventors: Yuri Ohara, Yasuo Shima, Masahiro Doi, Takeo Yamashita
  • Patent number: 11391788
    Abstract: A power-conversion device and a ground-fault-location-diagnosis method for determining ground-fault locations on a motor and a cable are disclosed. The power-conversion device includes a ground-fault-current-measurement unit, an interphase short-circuit current-measurement unit, and a ground-fault-location-determination unit. The ground-fault-current-measurement unit turns on all switches of either upper arms or lower arms of three half-bridge circuits, and measures output current values of a plurality of phases generated during the ON period. The interphase short-circuit-current-measurement unit turns on a switch of an upper arm of one phase of the three half-bridge circuits and a switch of a lower arm of a phase different from the one phase, and measures output current values of a plurality of phases generated during a period of time both switches are ON.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2022
    Assignee: Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Hiroshi Kageyama
  • Patent number: 11387766
    Abstract: A control circuit for an electric power converter includes an abnormality determiner, a voltage determiner and an abnormality-handling controller. The abnormality determiner determines whether an abnormality has occurred in at least one of the electric power converter and a multi-phase rotating electric machine. The voltage determiner determines whether a line-to-line voltage between phase windings of the rotating electric machine is higher than a voltage of a DC power source. The abnormality-handling controller performs, when it is determined by the abnormality determiner that an abnormality has occurred and it is determined by the voltage determiner that the line-to-line voltage is higher than the voltage of the DC power source, an all-phase short circuit control of turning on all of switches of one of an upper-arm switch group and a lower-arm switch group and turning off all of switches of the other of the upper-arm switch group and the lower-arm switch group.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2022
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventor: Koichi Nishibata
  • Patent number: 11387757
    Abstract: A method for estimating a magnet temperature of a rotor magnet within a rotary electric machine includes, while a rotor of the electric machine is stationary, injecting a high-frequency voltage component onto a control voltage of the electric machine, via a controller, to generate an adjusted voltage command, and extracting a high-frequency component of a resulting current as an extracted high-frequency component. The method also includes calculating an inductance value of the electric machine using the extracted high-frequency component of the resulting current. The magnet temperature is estimated using the calculated inductance value and an angular position of the rotor. The method includes controlling an operation of the electric machine using the estimated magnet temperature. An electric powertrain uses the electric machine and controller noted above.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2022
    Assignees: GM Global Technology Operations LLC, Seoul National University R & DB Foundation
    Inventors: Daniel J. Berry, Anno Yoo, Seung Ki Sul, Hyun-Sam Jung
  • Patent number: 11323058
    Abstract: The drive controller for the electric motor according to the present invention comprises two drive control systems for two winding sets of the electric motor, each drive control system includes a control circuit, an inverter, a power supply connector and a ground connector, the two control circuits are connected to an internal common ground, each rectifying element that passes a current from the common ground to each ground connector is provided in a line that connects the ground connector and the common ground, each current detection element is provided in a line that connects each positive power supply and a line between the rectifying element and the ground connector, and whether an open fault has occurred in the ground connector is diagnosed based on the voltage that is applied to the current detection element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2022
    Assignee: HITACHI ASTEMO, LTD.
    Inventors: Tomonobu Koseki, Mamoru Ogura
  • Patent number: 11307563
    Abstract: To provide an observation apparatus, an observation method, and an observation program capable of presenting a point of interest for finding a wasteful waiting time of a machine. The observation apparatus includes an observation data acquisition unit configured to acquire observation data on an operation status of a machine along with time information, an extraction unit configured to extract, on the basis of a first condition relating to the observation data, a time range of the observation data corresponding to an operation of the machine, the operation having a possibility of generating a waiting time, and an output unit configured to output information on the extracted time range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2022
    Assignee: FANUC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Wei Luo, Junichi Tezuka, Tadashi Okita
  • Patent number: 11287801
    Abstract: A control device includes: a machine learning unit that machine-learns a control parameter that determines operating characteristics of a driving unit of a machine serving as a driving target of a motor and sets the control parameter to a motor control device; a health check operation instruction unit that outputs an instruction for a health check operation of driving the motor control device; an operation evaluation unit that acquires information indicating the operating characteristics of the driving unit, calculates an evaluation value on the basis of an evaluation function, and stores the evaluation value in a storage unit; and a deterioration estimation operation unit that estimates deterioration in the operating characteristics of the driving unit of the machine on the basis of the evaluation value stored in the storage unit and the evaluation value calculated by the operation evaluation unit when the health check operation was performed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2022
    Assignee: FANUC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yusaku Oho, Ryoutarou Tsuneki, Shinji Okuda
  • Patent number: 11224961
    Abstract: An electric power tool includes a motor, an output shaft, a drive force transmission configured to reduce drive speed of the motor and transmit drive force of the motor to the output shaft; a trigger that can be pulled by a user; a rotation speed changing circuitry configured to change a rotation speed of the output shaft that corresponds to a maximum pulled amount of the trigger to a limited rotation speed that is lower than a maximum rotation speed of the output shaft in a non-limited rotation speed mode; and a rotation speed control circuitry configured to control a rotation speed of the motor in correspondence with a pulled amount of the trigger to obtain the rotation speed of the output shaft that is changed by the rotation speed changing circuitry.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 18, 2022
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Fumiaki Sawano, Masaaki Okada, Hidekazu Yuasa
  • Patent number: 11221613
    Abstract: Methods and systems for noise detection and removal in a motor are disclosed. An example system for monitoring a plurality of components of a motor in an industrial environment may include a data acquisition circuit to interpret a plurality of detection values, each detection value corresponding to a plurality of input sensors operationally coupled to the motor; a data processing circuit to utilize at least one of the detection values to perform at least one noise processing operation on at least a portion of the detection values; a signal evaluation circuit to determine a motor performance parameter in response to the noise processed portion of the of detection values; and a response circuit structured to perform at least one operation in response to the motor performance parameter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2022
    Assignee: Strong Force IoT Portfolio 2016, LLC
    Inventors: Charles Howard Cella, Gerald William Duffy, Jr., Jeffrey P. McGuckin, Mehul Desai
  • Patent number: 11211891
    Abstract: A motor control device that detects a motor current through ?? AD conversion includes a stop signal generator and a stop signal controller. When a difference between a maximum value and a minimum value of three phase voltage command values to be applied to a motor is smaller than or equal to a predetermined threshold, a stop signal that causes the ?? AD conversion to stop is output with a delay by the time corresponding to a delay in current detection while a leakage current caused by on and off of a power conversion element is occurring.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 28, 2021
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Takahiro Masuda, Taro Kishibe
  • Patent number: 11209487
    Abstract: A rotor diagnostic apparatus includes a parameter selection part that calculates evaluation values indicating how much sensor values of a rotor at a given time point deviate from a reference value at which the rotor is known to be in a normal state, the given time point being after the rotor is known to be in the normal state and before the rotor is to be diagnosed, and selects a plurality of parameters to be used for abnormality diagnosis of the rotor from the sensor values based on the calculated evaluation values. A diagnosis part outputs an abnormality value which is indicative of how abnormal the rotor is and which is obtained based on a distance, in a multidimensional space having the selected parameters as coordinate axes, between a figure represented by sensor values in the normal state and a figure represented by sensor values targeted for diagnosis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 28, 2021
    Assignee: HITACHI, LTD.
    Inventors: Tetsuji Kato, Kohji Maki, Minori Nagata
  • Patent number: 11199487
    Abstract: An information processing apparatus includes: a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory and configured to: select, by referring to the memory that stores a plurality of correlations between a second mass concentration of particles in a gas and a second number concentration of the particles in the gas with respect to second humidity of the gas, two correlations from the plurality of correlations; and calculate a first mass concentration of particles in a gas based on the two correlations, a first number concentration of the particles in the gas measured by a first number concentration measuring instrument, and first humidity of the gas measured by a first hygrometer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 17, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 14, 2021
    Assignee: FUJITSU LIMITED
    Inventor: Ryozo Takasu
  • Patent number: 11199888
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and computer programs encoded on computer storage medium, for detecting, across a resistive sense circuit proximate to a venting system of an IHS, a first voltage at a first time, wherein the first voltage includes a state-steady voltage and a nominal voltage; comparing the first voltage to a voltage threshold, and determining that the first voltage is less than or equal to the voltage threshold and in response, maintaining a power state of the IHS; detecting, across the resistive sense circuit, a second voltage at a second time after the first time, wherein the second voltage includes the steady-state voltage and a low-voltage; comparing the second voltage to the voltage threshold, and determining that the second voltage is greater than the threshold voltage, and in response preparing a computer-implemented response to mitigate damage to the IHS from liquid contacting one or more computing components of the IHS.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 14, 2021
    Assignee: Dell Products L.P.
    Inventors: Christopher M. Helberg, Philip Joseph Grossmann, Timothy Ray Graham
  • Patent number: 11187558
    Abstract: An interpolated position of an incremental encoder is provided. A first signal and a second signal having a quadrature relationship are received from the incremental encoder. A coarse position of the incremental encoder at a first time is produced using the quadrature relationship between the first signal and the second signal. An arcsine or arccosine value based on the first signal at the first time is determined using a lookup table and a fine position of the incremental encoder is calculated using the determined value. The interpolated position of the incremental encoder, based on both the coarse position and the fine position, is then provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 30, 2021
    Inventor: Scott L. Baker
  • Patent number: 11156666
    Abstract: A system and system for motor fault detection are provided. The system includes a data collection sensor electrically coupled to a motor, and a processor functioning as a Motor Current Signature analyzer (MCSA) detecting performance conditions of the motor based on a measured power draw current data captured by the sensor and providing condition information indicative of a fault in the motor based on the detected performance conditions. The method includes measuring, by a data collection sensor, power draw current data from the motor, detecting, by a processor functioning as a Motor Current Signature analyzer (MCSA), performance conditions of the motor based on the measured power draw current data, and providing condition information indicative of a fault in the motor based on the detected performance conditions to a user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 26, 2021
    Assignee: Verdigris Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Jacques Kvam, Danny Serven
  • Patent number: 11084383
    Abstract: A control system includes a current sensor and one or more processors. The current sensor is configured to be disposed onboard a vehicle and to monitor a measured current conducted into a resistor leg of the vehicle. The resistor leg has a braking chopper and one or more resistive elements, and is connected with a traction bus of the vehicle. The one or more processors are configured to receive the measured current from the current sensor and, in response to the measured current differing from an expected current through the resistor leg, the one or more processors are configured to generate a control signal configured to one or more of increase an engine speed of an engine of the vehicle, increase cooling to the one or more resistive elements of the resistor leg, restrict movement of the vehicle, or schedule maintenance for the resistor leg.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 10, 2021
    Assignee: TRANSPORTATION IP HOLDINGS, LLC
    Inventors: Edward Thomas Petrak, Henry Todd Young, Jeffrey Wolff
  • Patent number: 11031880
    Abstract: A power converter to convert power from a power supply into power supplied to a motor including n-phase windings, where n is an integer of 3 or more, in which first ends thereof are Y-connected and includes an inverter connected to second ends of the n-phase windings, a phase separation relay circuit to switch connection and disconnection between the power supply and the n-phase windings for each phase, a neutral point leg connected to a neutral point node of the motor, in which the first ends of the n-phase windings are Y-connected, and a neutral point separation relay circuit to switch connection and disconnection between the power supply and the neutral point node.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 8, 2021
    Assignee: NIDEC CORPORATION
    Inventor: Ahmad Ghaderi
  • Patent number: 11031893
    Abstract: A motor control device includes a first control unit performing feedback control on a motor with a command value; one or plural second control units performing feedback control on the motor with a limit value; a control switching unit selecting, based on a deviation between the limit value and a measured value, one of the first and the one or plural of second control units as control unit. The first control unit has a first calculation unit calculating a control value, based on a deviation between the command value and a measured value of the motor related to the command value. Each second control unit has a second calculation unit calculating a control value, based on a deviation between the limit value and a measured value of the motor related to the limit value. The first and second calculation units share terms of a calculation expression of the control value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 8, 2021
    Assignee: NIDEC TOSOK CORPORATION
    Inventor: Kei Sato
  • Patent number: 10971993
    Abstract: A vehicle includes an inverter having a supply bus including a contactor operable to conduct current through a resistive element connected to a capacitive element having a voltage supplied by a battery. The vehicle includes a controller configured to energize a first gate of the inverter. The energization is responsive to the voltage exceeding a threshold. The controller is configured to detect current flow between a first phase associated with the gate and the bus based on a voltage drop associated with the voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2021
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Shuitao Yang, Yan Zhou, Baoming Ge, Lihua Chen, Fan Xu, Mohammed Khorshed Alam
  • Patent number: 10951140
    Abstract: A synchronous motor drive device drives a plurality of synchronous motors, and includes a power converter that converts power to supply power to the plurality of synchronous motors, a first switch device that electrically connects or disconnects between the power converter and each of the plurality of synchronous motors, and a controller that, based on a higher order command, performs stability judgment processing of the plurality of synchronous motors, determines the number of synchronous motors to be driven and a drive speed from among the plurality of synchronous motors, selects a synchronous motor corresponding to the number of the synchronous motors from among the plurality of synchronous motors, controls the first switch device corresponding to the selected synchronous motor to electrically connect the power converter to the synchronous motor and to supply the power, and instructs, to the power converter, the drive speed of the synchronous motor to be driven.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 5, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 16, 2021
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Tsukasa Masumura, Kenji Takahashi, Yasuhiko Wada
  • Patent number: 10948891
    Abstract: A motor driver system. Implementations may include: a motor driver configured to couple with a motor where the motor driver comprises a multipurpose pin. A controller may be included coupled with the motor driver through at least the multipurpose pin. The motor driver during an enable mode, may be configured to receive serial data from the controller and to send serial data to the controller using the multipurpose pin during a normal operation mode of the motor driver. The motor driver may be configured to output a frequency generator (FG) signal to the controller using the multipurpose pin during the normal operation mode of the motor driver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 16, 2021
    Assignee: SEMICONDUCTOR COMPONENTS INDUSTRIES, LLC
    Inventor: Fumio Kumazawa