Armature Winding Circuits Patents (Class 318/720)
  • Patent number: 11539251
    Abstract: An electrical machine that is an outer runner motor having a rotor mounted rotatably about a machine axis, with the rotor rotatively attached to a shaft. A stator assembly having a stator core with a non-ferromagnetic material. An axial-flux yoke with an inner wall rigidly attached on an outer surface of a first edge wall of the stator core, or a radial-flux yoke with a continuous inner wall rigidly attached on a continuous outer wall of the stator core. Wherein the axial-flux yoke or the radial-flux yoke, include laminated sheets and slots. Windings can be positioned in the slots of either the axial-flux stator yoke or the radial-flux stator yoke. Wherein the stator core and the shaft include a spline coupling feature adapted to selectively couple and mate the stator core to the shaft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2022
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Hongyu Wang, Lei Zhou, Bingnan Wang
  • Patent number: 11482894
    Abstract: An axial-flux and radial-flux motor including a rotor mounted rotatably about a machine axis, with the rotor rotatively attached to a shaft. A stator assembly having a core with a non-ferromagnetic material and including a first axial-flux stator yoke with an inner wall rigidly attached on an outer surface of a first edge wall of the core. A second axial-flux stator yoke having an inner wall rigidly attached on an outer surface of a second edge wall of the core. The first and the second axial-flux stator yokes each include an outer wall with slots. A radial-flux stator yoke with slots includes an inner wall rigidly attached on a continuous outer wall of the core. The radial-flux stator yoke and the first and the second axial-flux stator yokes include laminated sheets. Windings positioned in the slots of the first and the second axial-flux stator yokes and the radial-flux stator yoke.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 25, 2022
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Lei Zhou, Bingnan Wang, Hongyu Wang
  • Patent number: 11299062
    Abstract: MCU (2001) determines whether at least one of double three-phase inverter (2030) or battery (2002) has a failure, or battery (2002) is fully charged, and switches control to be performed in inverter (2030) between all-phase shut off and three-phase short circuit based on a motor rotation speed of double three-phase motor (2050) when MCU (2001) determines that any one of inverter (2030) and battery (2002) has a failure, or battery (2002) is fully charged. Battery (2002) and inverter (2030) can be protected when current is inhibited from flowing from motor (2050) to battery (2002) due to a failure of inverter (2030) or battery (2002).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2022
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Yasukazu Murata, Keiichi Enoki, Masutaka Watanabe, Shingo Harada, Yoshimasa Nishijima
  • Patent number: 11199887
    Abstract: A utility power regulation system includes a power converter configured to regulate one or more of a voltage and a power factor at the primary side of a step-up transformer, or at a load electrically connected to a load feeder line, based on an estimated primary-side line voltage signal. The system includes a voltage estimation circuit configured to estimate the primary-side line voltage signal from one or more signals received from a secondary-side voltage sensor, regulator line current signal, and a primary-side load feeder-line current sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 14, 2021
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Power Products, Inc.
    Inventors: Shyam Sunder Ramamurthy, Christopher Joseph Lee, Michael James Fleming
  • Patent number: 11011965
    Abstract: A permanent magnet synchronous motor includes a stator, a rotor rotatable relative to the stator, and a magnetic structure with a low coercive force magnet and a high coercive force magnet that are arranged magnetically in series with respect to each other to define a pole-pair of the permanent magnet synchronous motor. A magnetization level of the low coercive force magnet is changeable by a stator current pulse such that a stator magnetomotive force at a rated current is equal to or larger than a product of a magnetic field strength for fully magnetizing the low coercive force magnet and a thickness of the low coercive force magnet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 18, 2021
    Assignees: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation
    Inventors: Kensuke Sasaki, Takashi Fukushige, Takashi Katou, Apoorva Athavale, Robert D. Lorenz
  • Patent number: 10797629
    Abstract: A permanent magnet motor controller injects a periodic signal into a field oriented controller of the brushless motor. Phase currents in stator windings of the brushless motor are measured. A d-axis current and a q-axis current are determined with a transform of the phase currents. The d-axis current and the q-axis current are demodulated to extract an angle dependent current signature that includes a sine component of a rotor angle estimate and a cosine component of the rotor angle estimate. The rotor angle estimate is determined by processing the sine component and cosine component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 23, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 6, 2020
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Rajan Lakshmi Narasimha, David Patrick Magee
  • Patent number: 10637381
    Abstract: A device according to an embodiment including a command generator that generates a current command value; a detector that detects a current value to be outputted from an inverter to an motor; a generator that generates a gate command to the inverter, and obtains an output voltage target vector of the inverter based on the gate command; an estimator that obtains a rotary phase angle estimated value of the motor based on the detected current value and the output voltage target vector; and a polarity determination part that, with supply of a current in synchronism with a rotor frequency of the motor, performs determination of a magnet magnetic pole using a generated magnetic flux or voltage in synchronism with the generated rotor frequency or both of them, and outputs a correction value for the rotary phase angle estimated value based on a result of the determination.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2020
    Assignees: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA, Toshiba Infrastructure Systems & Solutions Corporation
    Inventors: Tomoaki Shigeta, Shun Taniguchi, Kentaro Suzuki, Kazuaki Yuuki
  • Patent number: 10498276
    Abstract: An apparatus for controlling a motor of a vehicle includes: a current controller generating a voltage instruction for driving the motor; a signal generator generating a magnetic pole discrimination reference signal that is combined with the voltage instruction; an inverter driving the motor on the basis of a corrected voltage instruction obtained by comparing the voltage instruction and the magnetic pole discrimination reference signal; and a processor including a control logic for deriving a response component to the magnetic pole discrimination reference signal from a driving current transferred to the motor from the inverter, and for determining a polarity of the rotor of the motor on the basis of the response component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2019
    Assignees: HYUNDAI MOTOR COMPANY, KIA MOTORS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Chae Duck Chon, Heon Young Kwak, Ho Joon Shin
  • Patent number: 10411630
    Abstract: The apparatus according to the present invention comprises a command voltage determination circuit section configured to determine a predetermined first compensation voltage as a command voltage upon initial startup and provide the command voltage to an inverter; a conversion circuit section configured to convert an output current of the inverter into a q-axis current on a synchronous reference frame; and a compensation voltage determination circuit section configured to determine a second compensation voltage based upon the q-axis current and to provide the second compensation voltage to the command voltage determination circuit section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 5, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 10, 2019
    Assignee: LSIS CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Sunghoon Byun
  • Patent number: 10135373
    Abstract: An apparatus and a method for controlling a permanent magnet motor are provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 20, 2018
    Assignee: Korea Institute of Industrial Technology
    Inventors: Myung Bok Kim, Sung Ho Lee, Bong Woo Kwak
  • Patent number: 9948220
    Abstract: A rotation angle estimation apparatus includes: a high-frequency voltage setting unit that sets high-frequency voltages; a circuit operating unit that operates an electric power conversion circuit to apply each of the high-frequency voltages to a corresponding one of winding groups of a rotating electric machine; and a rotation angle estimating unit that estimates a rotation angle of the rotating electric machine based on at least one of high-frequency currents that flow in the winding groups upon application of the high-frequency voltages to the winding groups. Moreover, the high-frequency voltage setting unit sets the high-frequency voltages based on the spatial phase difference between the winding groups so that in a fixed coordinate system of the rotating electric machine, the magnitude of a resultant vector of a plurality of high-frequency voltage vectors, which are respectively applied to the winding groups, becomes smaller than the magnitude of each of the high-frequency voltage vectors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2018
    Assignee: Denso Corporation
    Inventors: Kiyoshi Fujii, Atsuyuki Hiruma
  • Patent number: 9748883
    Abstract: A rotating electrical machine has a rotor having a field winding and a stator having an armature winding. A control device adjusts a field current flowing in the field winding and an armature current flowing in the armature winding. The armature current flowing in the armature winding is expressed by using a current vector having a d-axis current and a q-axis current in a d-q coordinate system. In a case in which the control device increases the d-axis current to generate a magnetic flux in a direction which is opposite to a direction to generate a magnetic flux by a field current, the control device gradually reduces the d-axis current during a predetermined period of time after increasing the d-axis current in the direction opposite to the direction to generate the magnetic flux by the field current.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2017
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kazutoshi Shiomi, Hideaki Nakayama, Kiyoshi Fujii
  • Patent number: 9419555
    Abstract: A synchronous machine control apparatus for correcting a rotor position error that is a difference between a rotor position of a synchronous machine and a rotor position detected by a position detection unit is provided with a current control device for performing control in such a way that respective current command values and respective current detection values in a generation direction (? axis) of an armature interlinked magnetic flux and in a direction perpendicular (? axis) to the generation direction of the armature interlinked magnetic flux coincide with each other and with a magnetic flux calculation device for calculating a phase of an armature interlinked magnetic flux, based on an armature current detection value of the synchronous machine and an armature voltage command value therefor; the rotor position error is corrected based on the ??-axis current command values and a phase of the armature interlinked magnetic flux.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2016
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Daiki Matsuura, Takahiko Kobayashi, Noriyuki Wada, Kiyoharu Anzai
  • Patent number: 9407188
    Abstract: A sensor-less vector control apparatus for induction motor enhanced in performance of sensor-less vector control by estimating changes in parameters in real time is provided, the apparatus including a current controller, a first phase converting unit, a second phase converting unit, a rotor speed and position estimator configured to measure a rotor speed of a rotor and a rotor flux using an output value of the first phase converting unit and to estimate a rotor position using the output value, and a stator resistance and angle error estimator configured to calculate a stator resistance and an angle error of the induction motor by receiving d, q axis current commands on the synchronous reference frame inputted from the current controller and d, q voltages on the synchronous reference frame outputted from the current controller, and to provide the stator resistance to the rotor speed and position estimator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2016
    Assignee: LSIS CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Anno Yoo
  • Patent number: 9379655
    Abstract: A method for field weakening control of a three phase permanent magnet AC motor in a VFD drive. The VFD drive calculates the three phase voltages to be supplied to the AC motor via a three phase inverter using feedback and feed-forward calculations of quadrature and direct demand currents.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 11, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2016
    Assignee: CANRIG DRILLING TECHNOLOGY
    Inventor: Gary Pace
  • Patent number: 9024559
    Abstract: A converter module for a variable speed drive having a semiconductor device for precharge is described. The precharge circuit includes switching modules, one switching module with a first semiconductor switch connected in parallel or series with a second semiconductor switch. The second semiconductor switch is switched on and off during the precharge operation in order to limit the inrush current into the DC Link. After the precharge operation, the second semiconductor switch is turned on all the time and acts like a diode. The second semiconductor device may have a lower maximum current rating than the main semi-conductor devices. The lower current rated semiconductor device experience the same short circuit current as the higher current rated semiconductor device. The lower current rated semiconductor device can be supplied with a larger gate to emitter voltage than the higher current rated semiconductor device to equalize current between semiconductor devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 4, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2015
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventors: Shreesha Adiga-Manoor, Michael S. Todd, Ivan Jadric
  • Publication number: 20140184134
    Abstract: A system and process includes continuously determining an applied armature voltage supplied to a polyphase synchronous machine for which a maximum mechanical load is characterized by a pull-out torque. The armature voltage is supplied from a power source via one of many taps of a regulating transformer. The armature voltage being supplied from the power source to the machine is changed by selecting one of the voltage levels from the taps of the regulating transformer. The tap voltage levels are selected based on the determined applied armature voltage to minimize power consumption of the machine while ensuring based on a predetermined confidence level that the pullout torque of the machine will not be exceeded.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 23, 2013
    Publication date: July 3, 2014
    Applicant: UTILIDATA, INC.
    Inventor: David Gordon Bell
  • Patent number: 8674649
    Abstract: A high acceleration rotary actuator motor assembly is provided comprising a plurality of phase motor elements provided in tandem on a shaft, each phase element including a rotor carrying magnets which alternate exposed poles, the rotor being connected to the shaft and surrounded by a stator formed of a plurality of interconnected segmented stator elements having a contiguous winding to form four magnetic poles, the stator being in electrical communication with a phase electric drive unit, wherein each of the poles exert a magnetic force upon the magnets carried by the rotor when the poles are electrically charged by the phase electric drive unit. The rotors and magnets of each phase motor element are offset about the shaft from one another. In addition, the phase motor elements are electrically isolated from one another.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2014
    Inventor: Gerald K. Langreck
  • Patent number: 8618765
    Abstract: In an apparatus for controlling a sensorless electric motor that drives an electric oil pump, in a case where a rotational speed of the motor deviates from a first range defined between a first upper limit value and a first lower limit value, a rotational speed limiting section generates a current command signal acting for controlling the rotational speed of the motor to suppress deviation of the rotational speed of the motor from the first range, and in a case where deviation of the rotational speed of the motor from the first range is continued for a predetermined time or more, the rotational speed limiting section sets a second range defined between a second upper limit value and a second lower limit value which are respectively displaced from the first upper limit value and the first lower limit value in a direction in which the deviation is continued.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2013
    Assignee: Jatco Ltd
    Inventors: Yukihiro Sano, Yuukou Nojiri, Ippei Suzuki, Jyunichi Noda
  • Patent number: 8604739
    Abstract: A controller for an axial gap-type motor (3) comprises a rotor (11) having a permanent magnet and a first stator (12a) and a second stator (12b) opposed to each other with the rotor (11) interposed therebetween in the axial direction of revolution of the rotor (11). The controller further includes an electrification control portion which supplies a torque current (Iq) for generating a magnetic field to revolve the rotor (11) to an armature winding (13a) of the first stator (12a) and supplies a field current (+Id) for reinforcing the magnetic flux by the permanent magnet of the rotor (11) or a field current (?Id) for weakening the magnetic flux to an armature winding (13b) of the second stator (12b). Consequently, the controllable range of the motor is increased and the axial gap-type motor can be operated at higher velocity and higher torque.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2008
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2013
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Hirofumi Atarashi
  • Patent number: 8575880
    Abstract: An apparatus and method are provided for adjusting torque and speed of a motor, while remaining within the voltage limit of a power supply. The invention provides a brushless direct current motor with independently driven and switchable stators. In an aspect, each stator and the rotor is structured to function as an independent motor separate from another stator and the rotor. A first power electronics directs energy to a first stator, and a second power electronics directs energy to a second stator. A rotor rotates relative to the stators. In an aspect, a commutation electronics determines electrical position of the rotor relative to the stators, and synchronizes current pulses directed to a sequentially selected phase of the stators, to generate a rotating magnetic field that communicates with the rotor. A controller sets the connection of the first power electronics in series or in parallel with the second power electronics.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2011
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2013
    Inventor: Alan L. Grantz
  • Publication number: 20130241462
    Abstract: A system and process includes continuously determining an applied armature voltage supplied to a polyphase synchronous machine for which a maximum mechanical load is characterized by a pull-out torque. The armature voltage is supplied from a power source via one of many taps of a regulating transformer. The armature voltage being supplied from the power source to the machine is changed by selecting one of the voltage levels from the taps of the regulating transformer. The tap voltage levels are selected based on the determined applied armature voltage to minimize power consumption of the machine while ensuring based on a predetermined confidence level that the pull-out torque of the machine will not be exceeded.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 4, 2013
    Publication date: September 19, 2013
    Applicant: PROGRAMMABLE CONTROL SERVICES, INC.
    Inventor: David Gordon Bell
  • Patent number: 8508179
    Abstract: In a separately excited electrical synchronous machine, and a method for operating a synchronous machine, coil windings, in particular in the form of excitation coils, are disposed on the rotor, the electrical supply of the coil windings being achieved with the aid of an inductive rotation transmitter, whose secondary winding is connected to the rotor and whose primary winding, which is inductively coupled to the secondary winding, is stationary, especially connected to the stator of the synchronous machine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2009
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2013
    Assignee: Sew-Eurodrive GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Josef Schmidt, Matthias Hauck, Marek Lewandowski
  • Patent number: 8482243
    Abstract: A high acceleration rotary actuator motor assembly is provided comprising a plurality of phase motor elements provided in tandem on a shaft, each phase element including a rotor carrying magnets which alternate exposed poles, the rotor being connected to the shaft and surrounded by a stator formed of a plurality of interconnected segmented stator elements having a contiguous winding to form four magnetic poles, the stator being in electrical communication with a phase electric drive unit, wherein each of the poles exert a magnetic force upon the magnets carried by the rotor when the poles are electrically charged by the phase electric drive unit. The rotors and magnets of each phase motor element are offset about the shaft from one another. In addition, the phase motor elements are electrically isolated from one another.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 9, 2013
    Inventor: Gerald K. Langreck
  • Patent number: 8466639
    Abstract: A motion control system including components such as an accelerometer for detecting zero force positions and for self-calibrating the motion control system. The motion control system may be implemented in an active seat suspension.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 18, 2013
    Assignee: Bose Corporation
    Inventors: James A. Parison, Jr., Tyson Curtis Coey, Antonio Sangermano, II, Yongkai Xu
  • Patent number: 8427096
    Abstract: A rotating electrical machine including a first member (10) capable of generating a magnetic field which rotates relative to the first member, and a second member (6) which is provided with a winding through which a current can flow, such that the rotating magnetic field drives the second member in rotation. An electrical value which is at least related to the current is measured (18) and the generation of the rotating magnetic field is started (12) at a time which is determined as a function of the electrical value which is measured. A method of controlling the machine is also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2008
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2013
    Assignee: Valeo Equipements Electriques Moteur
    Inventors: Ludovic Bodin, Michaël Chemin
  • Patent number: 8405341
    Abstract: The present invention aims to provide a synchronous motor drive system that is capable of suppressing ripples in current while reducing switching loss. The system includes three-phase inverters 201-203, a control circuit 400 for controlling the operations of the three-phase inverters and a synchronous motor 300 including a plurality of three-phase coils. To control the operations of the three-phase inverters, the control circuit 400 causes the three-phase inverters 201 and 203 and the three-phase inverter 202 to use different carrier frequencies to generate three-phase AC power, and each of the three-phase inverters supplies a different one of the three-phase coils with three-phase AC power.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2013
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventor: Masaki Tagome
  • Patent number: 8378617
    Abstract: Disclosed herein is a method of controlling the current of a high-speed Switched Reluctance Motor (SRM) using an inverter circuit including a first switching element, a second switching element, a first diode, a second diode and a reactor, wherein the first switching element and the first diode, the second diode and the second switching element are connected to a bridge circuit, and one end of the reactor is connected to the junction of the first switching element and the first diode, and the remaining end of the reactor is connected to the junction of the second diode and the second switching element; and excitation mode, free-wheeling mode-1, the excitation mode, and free-wheeling mode-2 are sequentially performed in a unit period T, and, when the control is terminated, demagnetization is performed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2013
    Assignee: Kyungsung University Office of Industry-Academy Cooperation
    Inventors: Jin-Woo Ahn, Dong-Hee Lee
  • Patent number: 8324856
    Abstract: In the hybrid vehicle, a boost converter is controlled to make a post-boost voltage or a voltage on the side of an inverter become a target post-boost voltage corresponding to a target operation point of a motor in accordance with a target post-boost voltage setting map that divides an operation region of the motor into a non-boost region and a boost region when a operation point of the motor is included in the boost region. The target post-boost voltage setting map is prepared so that the non-boost region includes a region in which a loss produced by driving the motor when not boosting the post-boost voltages becomes smaller than the loss produced when boosting the post-boost voltage and the boost region includes a region in which the loss produced when boosting the post-boost voltage becomes smaller than the loss produced when not boosting the post-boost voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2008
    Date of Patent: December 4, 2012
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Toshifumi Yamakawa, Hideto Hanada, Kazuhito Hayashi, Masayoshi Suhama, Masaki Okamura
  • Patent number: 8138701
    Abstract: Disclosed is a method for detecting the current position of a rotor, in particular the angle of rotation of the rotor, an electromotor and a method for detecting the speed and/or the angle of rotation of an electromotor. The speed of the electromotor is hereby implied inter alia from the number of zero crossings of a comparison signal of the armature resistances or respectively conductances determined continuously in time and the average values of the armature resistances or respectively conductances determined continuously in time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 20, 2012
    Assignee: Conti Temic Microelectronic GmbH
    Inventors: Jovan Knezevic, Wolfgang Schulter, Gernot Etzlstorfer, Erich Liepold
  • Patent number: 8129931
    Abstract: A motor control device includes a magnetization control unit energizing a motor winding to change magnetic flux content of permanent magnet motor, a current detector detecting current supplied to the motor, a vector control unit including a speed/position estimation unit carrying out an operation to estimate a motor rotational speed and rotational position, the vector control unit carrying out a vector control of the motor, an induced voltage detector detecting an induced voltage of the motor based on the rotational speed, motor currents obtained by the vector control unit, output voltages of the drive unit, a winding inductance or the motor constant and a winding resistance, an induced voltage command determining unit determining an induced voltage command based on the motor rotational speed and output torque, and a magnetization current determining unit determining an amount of energization based on the induced voltage of the motor and the induced voltage command.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 6, 2012
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Sari Maekawa, Kazunobu Nagai, Isamu Nitta
  • Patent number: 8080970
    Abstract: A system and apparatus that allows the use of a 3-phase AC motor in a vehicle by associating a series capacitor with each phase winding. The capacitor can be charged through the motor winding and then switched to discharge through the winding in a resonant oscillatory mode. The capacitor values can be chosen so that the winding and capacitor in series resonates at approximately 60 Hz. Oscillations in each phase can be staggered by around 120 degrees. The charging and discharging is controlled by electronic SPDT switches that switch around 300 VAC/500 VDC at around 15 amps for each phase. With an average DC current of 20 amps from a 48 volt battery pack (four 12 volt batteries connected in series) and 75% discharge of the capacitors, the present invention can run a 7.5 HP, 3-phase, 240 VAC motor for approximately 3.5 hours or longer. A simple oscillator circuit can drive the switches at the resonant frequency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2011
    Inventor: Larry Seever
  • Publication number: 20110273128
    Abstract: Disclosed are a synchronous motor having reduced torque ripple while having a high torque and system for driving the synchronous motor. The synchronous motor comprises a rotor (2) and a stator (3), and U-phase coils (91; 91a, 91b, and the like), V-phase coils (92; 92ab, and the like), and W-phase coils (93; 93ac and the like) are wound around sections of the yoke each located between two adjacent stator teeth (7; 7a, 7ab, and the like). The number of turns in each coil and the direction in which each coil is wound are set to compensate for a difference between a timing at which a magnetic field produced at each stator tooth is at a maximum value and a timing at which a point between magnetic poles (10, 11, 11, and the like) passes by the stator tooth as the rotor (2) rotates, the difference in timing being caused by a difference between the interval between the magnetic poles and the interval between the stator teeth.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 5, 2010
    Publication date: November 10, 2011
    Inventor: Noriyoshi Nishiyama
  • Patent number: 8049446
    Abstract: A motor control device includes a dq-axis current control unit for generating a dq-axis voltage reference based on a dq-axis current reference and a dq-axis current signal, an initial magnetic pole position estimation unit for estimating a magnetic pole position of the motor upon power-on to generate a magnetic pole position signal, and a magnetic pole position estimation precision confirming unit for supplying a current in a d-axis direction after generation of the magnetic pole position signal with the initial magnetic pole position estimation unit, and checking an error of the magnetic pole position signal based on an angle of movement of the motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 8, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2011
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Yaskawa Denki
    Inventor: Junichi Watanabe
  • Publication number: 20110234145
    Abstract: A high acceleration rotary actuator motor assembly is provided comprising a plurality of phase motor elements provided in tandem on a shaft, each phase element including a rotor carrying magnets which alternate exposed poles, the rotor being connected to the shaft and surrounded by a stator formed of a plurality of interconnected segmented stator elements having a contiguous winding to form four magnetic poles, the stator being in electrical communication with a phase electric drive unit, wherein each of the poles exert a magnetic force upon the magnets carried by the rotor when the poles are electrically charged by the phase electric drive unit. The rotors and magnets of each phase motor element are offset about the shaft from one another. In addition, the phase motor elements are electrically isolated from one another.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 25, 2011
    Publication date: September 29, 2011
    Inventor: Gerald K. Langreck
  • Patent number: 7999501
    Abstract: A motor controller (2) for an axial-gap motor (1), which has a rotor (3), two stators (4, 5) disposed on both sides of the rotor (3) in the axial direction, and armature windings (6, 7) wrapped around the stators (4, 5), includes a field current controller (43, 44) which adjusts the field current in the current supplied to the armature windings (6, 7) of at least one of the stators (4, 5) so as to restrain a thrust force acting on the rotor (3) in the axial direction of the rotor (3). This restrains the thrust force acting on the rotor (3) of the axial-gap motor (1).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 23, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2011
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Hirofumi Atarashi
  • Patent number: 7915852
    Abstract: The invention includes a motor controller and method for controlling a permanent magnet motor. In accordance with one aspect of the present technique, a permanent magnet motor is controlled by, among other things, receiving a torque command, determining a normalized torque command by normalizing the torque command to a characteristic current of the motor, determining a normalized maximum available voltage, determining an inductance ratio of the motor, and determining a direct-axis current based upon the normalized torque command, the normalized maximum available voltage, and the inductance ratio of the motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2011
    Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Semyon Royak, Mark M. Harbaugh, Robert J. Breitzmann, Thomas A. Nondahl, Peter B. Schmidt, Jingbo Liu
  • Patent number: 7911166
    Abstract: A machine comprising a rotor, a stator (12), a control bridge (10) with controlled switches, and a control device (20, 30) supplying control signals (C) to the control bridge (10), wherein the control device comprises means (30) for applying to at least one switch of the control bridge a control signal with a phase-lead relative to a signal representing the position of the rotor relative to the stator. According to the invention, the applying means comprise means (30) for adjusting the phase lead (d) from a plurality of values for a given rotational speed of the rotor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 11, 2007
    Date of Patent: March 22, 2011
    Assignee: Valeo Equipements Electriques Moteur
    Inventors: Julien Masfaraud, Hugues Doffin, Farouk Boudjemai
  • Patent number: 7893649
    Abstract: A method and circuit arrangement for determining position of the rotor of an electronically commutated motor, wherein the rotor has magnetic axes having different permeances. Voltage is applied to stator phases, and resultant phase currents are monitored for purpose of determining rotor position in the standstill state of the motor. First and second rise times of phase currents are determined until predetermined limit values are reached in unsaturated state. The assignment of a magnetic axis to a stator phase is determined from first rise times of the currents in unsaturated state of the rotor core, and the polarization of the rotor is determined from second rise times of currents upon energization with saturation effects. After run-up of the motor, initial energization of the stator can be determined comparing levels of the magnet wheel voltages and corrected by changing the commutation of stator energization.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 22, 2011
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventor: Dirk Lamprecht
  • Patent number: 7888904
    Abstract: An axial flux electric motor comprising a rotor and a first and second stator. The first and second stators have a first and second air gap located between the first and second stators and the rotor, respectively, and the second air gap is greater than the first gap. In one embodiment, the coils of the first stator and the coils of the second stator are in parallel. The motor further comprises switches which alternatingly energize the coils of the first stator and of the second stator based upon required torque and required speed of the motor. In a second embodiment, the coils of the first stator and the coils of the second stator are in series and the motor further comprises switches which selectively bypass the coils of the second stator in order to reduce the back EMF of the motor and increase the maximum speed of the motor at a given input voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 2007
    Date of Patent: February 15, 2011
    Assignee: The Timken Company
    Inventor: Bradley S. Mularcik
  • Patent number: 7880424
    Abstract: A rotary electric apparatus comprise a synchronous machine of field winding type, an inverter, a DC power supply, a current flow regulator, and a controller. The DC power supply outputs first voltage of a first voltage value and second voltage of a second voltage value higher than the first voltage value. The current flow regulator regulates directions of currents flowing through a field winding by rotor exciting currents into one way, the current flow regulator being electrically connected to the field winding. The controller controls the inverter such that the inverter produces armature currents consisting of synchronized currents producing rotating fields depending on a rotating position of a rotor and rotor exciting currents different in waveforms from the synchronized currents and superposed on the synchronized currents. At least the rotor exciting currents are powered on a second voltage from the DC power supply.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2007
    Date of Patent: February 1, 2011
    Assignee: Denso Corporation
    Inventor: Masahiro Seguchi
  • Patent number: 7863852
    Abstract: A control circuit of a motor includes at least two sensor chips and at least two winding sets. The sensor chips are electrically connected to each other, and each of the winding sets has a first winding and a second winding. The first end of the first windings and the first end of the second windings are electrically connected to each other, and the second end of the first windings and the second end of the second windings are electrically connected to the sensor chips correspondingly. In addition, a motor having the control circuit is also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 11, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 4, 2011
    Assignee: Delta Electronics, Inc.
    Inventors: Lee Long Chen, Chi-Chen Shen
  • Patent number: 7852039
    Abstract: A control apparatus is for controlling an AC rotary machine which includes a first and second stator elements and a rotor, in which the first stator element can be turned, or offset, in a circumferential direction relative to the second stator element. The control apparatus includes an actuator for adjusting a voltage induced in a stator coil due to rotation of the rotor by driving the first stator element, a magnetic flux command calculator for calculating a desired magnetic flux amplitude command based on rotating speed of the AC rotary machine, a magnetic flux estimator for estimating magnetic flux amplitude of the AC rotary machine, a speed command calculator for calculating an actuator speed command to be given to the actuator so that the estimated magnetic flux amplitude follows the magnetic flux amplitude command, and an actuator controller for controlling the actuator according to the actuator speed command.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2007
    Date of Patent: December 14, 2010
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshihiko Kinpara, Kouki Naka
  • Patent number: 7834574
    Abstract: In various embodiments, a phase current sampling apparatus (300, 600, FIGS. 3, 6), an electric motor drive system (100, FIG. 1), and a motor vehicle (1200, FIG. 12) include switching circuitry adapted to receive first and second phase current waveforms. The switching circuitry provides the first phase current waveform during at least two offset sampling instants, and provides the second phase current waveform during a reference sampling instant. An analog-to-digital converter is adapted to sample the first phase current waveform at the offset sampling instants, and to sample the second phase current waveform at the reference sampling instant. An embodiment of a method for regulating phase current waveforms includes an analog-to-digital converter generating samples of a first phase current waveform at sampling instants that occur before and after a reference sampling instant, and generating a sample of a second phase current waveform at the reference sampling instant.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 26, 2007
    Date of Patent: November 16, 2010
    Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations, Inc.
    Inventors: Stephen T. West, Brian A. Welchko, Steven E. Schulz, Silva Hiti
  • Publication number: 20100283422
    Abstract: One embodiment of the invention includes a disk-drive spindle motor power regulator system. The system includes a switching system comprising at least one power transistor for each of a plurality of phases of a disk-drive spindle motor. The system also includes a switching controller configured to generate a plurality of switching signals configured to control the at least one power transistor for each of the plurality of phases of the disk-drive spindle motor. The system further includes a current monitor configured to measure a magnitude of an individual phase current through at least one of the plurality of phases of the disk-drive spindle motor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 5, 2009
    Publication date: November 11, 2010
    Inventors: Wenxiao Tan, Gregory Swize
  • Publication number: 20100213885
    Abstract: In a magnet-exciting rotating electric machine system, a rotor surface has magnetic salient poles and island-shaped magnetic poles alternately in circumferential direction, and the island-shaped magnetic poles are constituted so that magnetic flux coming from an external source does not flow through. A magnetic excitation part magnetizes the island-shaped magnetic poles and the magnetic salient poles collectively in the same direction, and then control a flux amount flowing through an armature. The armature has armature coils that face the magnetic salient pole and the island-shaped magnetic pole simultaneously so that driving torque fluctuation or power generation voltage waveform distortion is controlled. The magnetic excitation part changes magnetization state of a field magnet irreversibly, or changes an excitation current to an excitation coil to control a flux crossing the armature.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 24, 2009
    Publication date: August 26, 2010
    Applicant: Kura Laboratory Corporation
    Inventor: Yoshikazu ICHIYAMA
  • Publication number: 20100201303
    Abstract: The control system comprises a switch (TR) in series with a stator winding (W) between two terminals (A, B) connected to an alternating supply voltage source (V), a first detector circuit (2) capable of providing a signal (Voi) indicating when the current (I) in that winding (W) is zero, a second detector circuit (1) capable of providing a signal (Vw) indicating the magnitude of the supply voltage (V), and a control unit (MC) connected to the first and second detection circuits (2; 1) and designed to control the switch (TR) in such a way as to cause an alternating current (I) of the same frequency as the supply voltage (V) and having alternating positive and negative phases (11, 12) to pass through the winding (W), separated by intervals during which it remains at zero, of a duration (tp) which varies according to an increasing function of the magnitude of the supply voltage (V).
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 23, 2008
    Publication date: August 12, 2010
    Applicant: Askoll P & C S.r.l.
    Inventor: Sebastiano Acquaviva
  • Patent number: 7768226
    Abstract: Problems with accuracy reading position detection signal peaks and minute phase differences in the detection current make motor drive control easily susceptible to differences in motor characteristics. The rotor position is determined based on whether or not a terminal difference voltage, which is the difference voltage between the motor terminal voltage and the pseudo-neutral-point voltage when the motor phases are selectively energized, exceeds a specific threshold value. The phase energized to start the motor is determined based on this determination and the motor is energized accordingly to start. Instead of switching directly from the search step at the initial rotor position to the back-EMF voltage mode, a search and start mode that creates initial rotor speed sufficient to start the motor is executed before entering the back-EMF voltage mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 8, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 3, 2010
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Shingo Fukamizu, Yasunori Yamamoto, Hideaki Mori, Shinichi Kuroshima
  • Publication number: 20100180645
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a fabric treating apparatus and method for controlling the same. A fabric treating apparatus according to the present invention includes a treating space within which fabrics are treated; a heating unit configured to supply heated air, or steam, or heated air and steam to the treating chamber; a motor to generate a rotational power; a device receiving the rotational power from the motor, the device configured to move a rack disposed within the treating space; and a control unit adapted to: control the motor according to a sensed electric current of the motor, and drive the motor to rotate at a speed defined by a target number of rotations per minute.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 15, 2010
    Publication date: July 22, 2010
    Applicant: LG ELECTRONICS INC.
    Inventors: Jong Seok Kim, Dong Won Kim, Sog Kie Hong, Hea Kyung Yoo
  • Publication number: 20100085004
    Abstract: A system and process includes continuously determining an applied armature voltage supplied to a polyphase synchronous machine for which a maximum mechanical load is characterized by a pull-out torque. The armature voltage is supplied from a power source via one of many taps of a regulating transformer. The armature voltage being supplied from the power source to the machine is changed by selecting one of the voltage levels from the taps of the regulating transformer. The tap voltage levels are selected based on the determined applied armature voltage to minimize power consumption of the machine while ensuring based on a predetermined confidence level that the pull-out torque of the machine will not be exceeded.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 13, 2009
    Publication date: April 8, 2010
    Applicant: PROGRAMMABLE CONTROL SERVICES, INC.
    Inventor: David Gordon Bell