Responsive To Rotor Shaft Position Or Speed Patents (Class 318/721)
  • Patent number: 8125170
    Abstract: A system and technique for measuring the mutual inductance in a switched reluctance machine (SRM). In a first example embodiment of the technique, a voltage pulse is applied to primary coil when the machine is stationery. By measuring current in the primary coil and measuring induced voltages in adjacent open circuited coils mutual inductance may be determined. In another example embodiment, a voltage pulse is applied to the primary coil when the machine is stationery. The secondary coil is allowed to freewheel current through the phase. By measuring time taken by the primary phase to reach a preset value, the mutual inductance for the known position of a rotor can be determined.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2012
    Assignee: Board of Regents, The University of Texas System
    Inventors: Babak Fahimi, Umamaheshwar Krishnamurthy
  • Patent number: 8106611
    Abstract: A switching regulation circuit for a dual-winding motor apparatus is provided. The switching regulation circuit comprises a gate-controlled device and a driving circuit. When one of the two windings generates an induced voltage signal greater than a threshold value, the driving circuit generates an output signal for turning on the gate-controlled transistor. Thereby, a parasitic diode of the gate-controlled device will not be turned on and damage the entire circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2012
    Assignee: Feeling Technology Corp.
    Inventors: Hsuan-Chuan Chen, Teng-Tsai Lin
  • Publication number: 20120019187
    Abstract: A method, which is efficient and cost-effective to implement, for controlling, at steady-state, a synchronous electric motor comprising a permanent magnet rotor and a stator provided with windings connected to an electrical grid by means of a switch controlled by a processing unit, said method comprising the following steps: periodically switching on said switch by means of a PWM output of said processing unit; continuously verifying the shift with respect to an ideal operating condition of the motor; and modifying the switched on period of the switch in feedback to approach said ideal operating condition of the motor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 22, 2011
    Publication date: January 26, 2012
    Applicant: Askoll Holding S.r.l.
    Inventor: Elio Marioni
  • Patent number: 8076895
    Abstract: A method wherein the signals (SW1, Sw2, Sw3) controlling the power supply (10) of the phase windings (4) of the motor consist of signals (So1, So2, So3) that are out-of-phase by a phase angle (f) which is continuously variable in relation to synchronization signals (Si1, Si2, Si3) generated by sensors (1) detecting the position of the rotor. According to the method, a processing unit (5) comprises inlets (8) for receiving the synchronization signals and outlets (6, 7) for transmitting the out-of-phase signals. The synchronization signals are binary signals presenting synchronization fronts and the rising and falling fronts of the out-of-phase signals are generated, following a level switching time depending at least on the phase angle, from at least one reference front selected from the synchronization fronts such that the switching time is minimum.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2007
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2011
    Assignee: Valeo Equipment Electriques Moteur
    Inventor: Oussama Rouis
  • Publication number: 20110260673
    Abstract: Disclosed herein is a motor control apparatus and a method thereof. The operation efficiency of a compressor may be maintained by using a sensorless algorithm, sampling a current applied to a motor more than twice within a period of the triangular carrier wave for performing pulse width modulation to calculate a reference voltage, driving the motor according to the calculated reference voltage to improve control resolution, and performing a high-speed operation while reducing a volume of the compressor, without adding a separate hardware when controlling the operation of the motor provided in the compressor at a high speed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 21, 2011
    Publication date: October 27, 2011
    Inventors: Mingi KIM, Jongwon Heo, Kyunghoon Lee
  • Publication number: 20110254498
    Abstract: A speed-control circuit for a BLDC motor is provided. The speed-control circuit includes a pulse generator, a current source circuit, a filter circuit, an error amplification circuit and a PWM circuit. The pulse generator detects a speed signal of the BLDC motor to generate a pulse signal. The filter circuit is coupled to the current source circuit to generate an average signal. The error amplification circuit receives the average signal and a speed-reference signal for generating a speed-control signal. The PWM circuit generates a switching signal to drive the BLDC motor in response to the speed-control signal. A pulse width of the switching signal is determined by the speed-control signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 7, 2010
    Publication date: October 20, 2011
    Applicant: SYSTEM GENERAL CORPORATION
    Inventors: Ta-Yung Yang, Ta-Hsu Huang, Chung-Hui Yeh, Pei-Sheng Tsu, Yi-Min Hsu, Shih-Jen Yang
  • Patent number: 8035330
    Abstract: The synchronous motor driving apparatus including position sensors provided in the synchronous motor, a current polarity detection circuit for detecting the polarities of the currents in the respective phase windings of the synchronous motor, an inverter driving the synchronous motor, a motor speed calculation unit calculating the rotational speed of the synchronous motor depending on the output signals from the position sensors, a speed control unit outputting a first voltage adjusting component (q-axis current command value Iq*) to cause the rotational speed of the synchronous motor to approach a speed command value and a phase control unit outputting a second voltage adjusting component (d-axis current command value Id*) to cause the phase differences between the phases of the position sensor signals and of the currents in the respective phase windings of the synchronous motor to become a predetermined value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2011
    Assignees: Hitachi, Ltd., Hitachi Information & Control Solutions, Ltd.
    Inventors: Daisuke Maeda, Tsunehiro Endo, Hidefumi Shirahama, Kenji Sakurai, Hiroyuki Hasegawa, Mitsuhiro Mishima
  • Patent number: 8013554
    Abstract: A diagnostic system for a hybrid vehicle comprises a motor control module and a fault diagnostic module. The motor control module controls torque output of an electric motor having a predetermined number of phases. The fault diagnostic module determines a position of a rotor of the electric motor, aligns the rotor with a phase angle of one of the phases, selectively diagnoses a fault based on a current of at least one of the phases, and selectively disables the electric motor based on the diagnosis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2008
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2011
    Inventors: Stephen T. West, Wei D. Wang
  • Publication number: 20110193507
    Abstract: A method for controlling a multi-phase motor includes withholding energization of a first phase of the motor for a non-zero period when the first phase's dwell time begins. Energization of the first phase is activated upon the expiration of the non-zero period. Energization of the first phase is deactivated for the remainder of the dwell time at a deactivation time occurring before or at the expiration of the dwell time.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 13, 2008
    Publication date: August 11, 2011
    Inventor: Krishnan Ramu
  • Patent number: 7977899
    Abstract: A motor control device is disclosed which is arranged so as to perform a PWM control for a permanent magnet motor including a rotor having a permanent magnet and a stator with a multiphase winding. The motor control device includes a position detection unit which executes an analog computation process for induced voltages of respective phases of the motor based on a phase voltage equation having, as operation terms, respective phase voltages, respective phase currents, winding inductance, winding resistance and a neutral point voltage, the winding inductance and the winding resistance being motor constants of the motor, thereby generating and delivering a rotational position signal of the rotor based on a phase relation of the induced voltages, and a digital processing unit which has a function of generating and delivering a sinusoidal PWM signal based on the rotational position signal, thereby controlling the motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2008
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2011
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Yukihisa Hasegawa, Kazunobu Nagai
  • Patent number: 7977910
    Abstract: A starting method and system for a motor where the motor may be started as an induction motor by applying a magnetizing current to build flux through the stator, with the field current set at the maximum permissible exciter stator current (i.e., the current that will cause rated no-load current in the main field at the transition speed). The motor stator currents will be maintained at a value that allows the motor to generate sufficient breakaway torque to overcome any stiction. At a specific transition speed or after a period of time, the drive will initiate a transition from induction motor control to synchronous motor control by removing the initial magnetizing current, and a field current is then applied to the motor through the DC exciter. Once this transition is completed, the drive may ramp up to the desired speed demand.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 2008
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2011
    Assignee: Siemens Industry, Inc.
    Inventors: Richard H. Osman, Kinjal Patel, Mukul Rastogi
  • Patent number: 7956562
    Abstract: Provided is a motor having a combination of a plurality of coil pairs and a permanent magnet, wherein these coil pairs are supplied with an excitation signal from a drive circuit so as to be excited at alternate opposite poles, and the permanent magnet is constituted such that the plurality of polar elements is disposed to become alternating opposite poles; the drive circuit is constituted to supply an excitation signal having a prescribed frequency to the coil pairs, and relatively move the coil pairs and permanent magnet with the magnetic attraction—repulsion between the coils and permanent magnet; and the drive circuit is constituted to supply to the coil pairs a waveform signal corresponding to the pattern of the back electromotive voltage to be generated in accordance with the relative movement between the coil pairs and permanent magnet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2007
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2011
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Kesatoshi Takeuchi
  • Publication number: 20110115424
    Abstract: A method for determining the position at rest of a rotor of a machine having at least one excitation winding. The invention provides a technique for detecting the position of the rotor at rest, from information contained in the voltages produced at the terminals of the stator windings, when the voltage applied to the rotor winding undergoes variations. The invention thus makes it possible to detect the rest position of the wound-rotor machine in the absence of ordinary position sensors such as magnetic, optical, resolving, mechanical, capacitive or other sensors.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 14, 2006
    Publication date: May 19, 2011
    Inventors: Jean-Paul Vilain, Luc Kobylanski, Ferhat Chabour
  • Patent number: 7944159
    Abstract: In order to determine the orientation of the rotor of a brushless DC motor 100, a sequence of current pulses may be applied to the stator phases U, V, W by the respective drivers HS0, LS0, HS1, LS1, HS2, LS2. The current generated in the stator phases U, V, W in turn generates a current in a shunt resistor 110. The current in this shunt resistor 110 is monitored by use of a current voltage converter 120 and a comparator 130 to determine when it exceeds a predetermined threshold. The rise time until the threshold current is exceeded is recorded in capture unit 140. A processor unit 150 then calculates a scalar parameter SU, SV, SW for each respective stator phase U, V, W from the recorded rise times associated with each pulse.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2011
    Assignee: Melexis NV
    Inventors: Christian Paintz, Thomas Freitag, Detlef Klose
  • Patent number: 7944168
    Abstract: A device for determining the position of the rotor of a rotating electrical machine. The invention is characterized in that the device comprises a plurality of magnetic field sensors stationary relative to the stator and adapted to deliver multiphase electric signals representing a magnetic field detected by the sensors, and means for processing the multiphase electric signals by an operator capable of providing diphase signals depending on the position of the rotor. The invention is applicable to rotating electrical machines used in the automotive industry.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2005
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2011
    Assignee: Valeo Equipements Electriques Moteur
    Inventors: Michaël Chemin, Frédéric Leroux, Gilbert Konan
  • Publication number: 20110109185
    Abstract: A magnetic core electrical machine includes a plurality of “U”-shaped stator yokes arranged circumferentially with respect to a rotor and either staggered to form a continuous flux return path or displaced relative to permanent magnets of the rotor in order to reduce cogging. Various mechanisms and/or circuits are provided to limit an output of the electrical machine at high speeds, and boost the voltage output at low speeds.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 9, 2009
    Publication date: May 12, 2011
    Inventors: John T. Sullivan, Steve Parks
  • Patent number: 7932693
    Abstract: A motor drive for conditioning power to be delivered to a non-motor load includes a voltage feedback circuit that monitors a DC bus voltage and, based on changes in the DC bus voltage, adjusts a power conditioning scheme such that near steady-state load conditions are maintained in response to a transient load condition. The voltage feedback circuit has a voltage sensor that provides voltage feedback to a controller that determines what changes in power conditioning are needed in response to a transient load condition that manifests itself in a change in DC bus voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 2005
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2011
    Assignee: Eaton Corporation
    Inventors: Kevin Lee, Jyrki K. Ahlgren, Ian T. Wallace, Thomas M. Doring
  • 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
  • Publication number: 20110050153
    Abstract: The present invention is a propulsion apparatus that is magnetically maintained and accelerated. The apparatus comprises a rotor rotating in a stator, the rotor magnetically maintained for rotation without friction by magnets situated in and on the rotor and stator. The rotor is rotated by pairs of magnets fixed to the rotor and stator. The first magnet of each magnet pair is fixed at a rotor placement point and the second magnet of each magnet pair is fixed on the stator at a fixed stator point. The second magnet of each magnet pair is an electromagnet that is activated by a control device. A vertical axis is defined such that the vertical axis passes through the center of rotation of the rotor. Each stator placement point is a point on a first line defined by k?, where ? is a divisor of 360 degrees. Each rotor placement point is a point on a second line that is rotated ? with respect to the first line. The control device selects m?1 pairs of second magnets for activation to cause rotation of the rotor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 25, 2009
    Publication date: March 3, 2011
    Inventor: Randal David Stewman
  • Patent number: 7898210
    Abstract: After an AC motor generates a three-phase current, modulate the three-phase current to generate an original voltage space vector, and add three detecting vectors with a sum of zero after the original voltage space vector. While adding the three detecting vectors, sample the current to generate a sampling result. Then adjust the width of pulses generated by a pulse width modulator according to the sampling result.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 15, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2011
    Assignee: Prolific Technology Inc.
    Inventors: Tung-Chin Hsieh, Kuang-Yao Cheng
  • Patent number: 7898207
    Abstract: A method of controlling a motor to cause it to execute a move toward a target position including calculating a deceleration position, wherein when the deceleration position is reached, the motor will be caused to execute a deceleration in a manner that will result in the motor stopping short of the target position, and determining whether the requested move is a first move type after the motor has reached the deceleration position and the deceleration is complete. If the requested move is a first move type, the method includes causing the motor to move toward the target position at a first velocity, and if the requested move is a second move type, the method includes causing the DC motor to move toward the requested target position at a second velocity, wherein the second velocity is greater than the first velocity. Settling time is also varied depending on move type.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2007
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2011
    Assignee: Pitney Bowes Inc.
    Inventors: Gary S. Jacobson, Wesley A. Kirschner, Michael M. Chen
  • Patent number: 7893639
    Abstract: A motor control device that includes a first speed estimator estimating the rotation speed of the rotor of a permanent-magnet synchronous motor and that controls the motor so that a first estimated rotation speed estimated by the first speed estimator follows the specified speed value further includes a second speed estimator that estimates the rotation speed of the rotor by an estimation method different from that used by the first speed estimator. The motor control device detects synchronization failure based on a comparison between a second estimated rotation speed estimated by the second speed estimator and the first estimated rotation speed or the specified speed value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2009
    Date of Patent: February 22, 2011
    Assignee: Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Yoshio Tomigashi
  • 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: 7880416
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus are provided for providing a torque boost in an electric motor system at low speeds. The electric motor system comprises an alternating current (AC) synchronous electric motor, an inverter and a controller. The inverter is coupled to the AC synchronous electric motor and provides electric control therefore. The controller is coupled to the inverter and provides operational control signals thereto for operation of the electric motor. The controller includes a torque command gain block which modifies a torque command to generate a boosted torque signal in response to a detected speed of the electric motor, the torque command modified to define the boosted torque signal defined in accordance with a torque dependent scaling factor calculated in response to the torque command.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2007
    Date of Patent: February 1, 2011
    Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC
    Inventors: Steven E. Schulz, Goro Tamai, Scott Thompson
  • Patent number: 7880417
    Abstract: In a motor controller, in the case that occurrence of a failure of electric current flow is detected in any phase of a motor, a phase electric current command value changing in accordance with a secant curve or a cosecant curve with an asymptotic line at a predetermined rotation angle corresponding to the phase in which the failure of electric current flow has occurred is calculated. The calculated phase electric current command value is limited in such a manner as to become within a predetermined range. In the case that a rotation angle of the motor exists in a range in which the phase electric current command value is limited, the execution of an anomaly detection of a control system utilizing an electric current deviation of a d/q coordinate system is inhibited.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 13, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 1, 2011
    Assignee: JTEKT Corporation
    Inventor: Hiroshi Suzuki
  • Publication number: 20110018485
    Abstract: The synchronous motor driving apparatus including position sensors provided in the synchronous motor, a current polarity detection circuit for detecting the polarities of the currents in the respective phase windings of the synchronous motor, an inverter driving the synchronous motor, a motor speed calculation unit calculating the rotational speed of the synchronous motor depending on the output signals from the position sensors, a speed control unit outputting a first voltage adjusting component (q-axis current command value Iq*) to cause the rotational speed of the synchronous motor to approach a speed command value and a phase control unit outputting a second voltage adjusting component (d-axis current command value Id*) to cause the phase differences between the phases of the position sensor signals and of the currents in the respective phase windings of the synchronous motor to become a predetermined value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 5, 2010
    Publication date: January 27, 2011
    Inventors: Daisuke MAEDA, Tsunehiro ENDO, Hidefumi SHIRAHAMA, Kenji SAKURAI, Hiroyuki HASEGAWA, Mitsuhiro MISHIMA
  • Publication number: 20110001441
    Abstract: A motor control unit controls a motor including a rotor and a stator facing the rotor. A current drive unit drives the motor at an axis current value of a rotating coordinate system that rotates in accordance with a control angle that is a rotational angle used in a control. An addition angle calculation unit calculates an addition angle to be added to the control angle. A control angle calculation unit obtains, at every predetermined calculation cycle, a present value of the control angle by adding the addition angle that is calculated by the addition angle calculation unit to an immediately preceding value of the control angle. An angular speed calculation unit calculates an angular speed of the rotor. An addition angle correction unit corrects the addition angle based on the angular speed calculated by the angular speed calculation unit. A filtering unit filters the angular speed calculated by the angular speed calculation unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 25, 2010
    Publication date: January 6, 2011
    Applicant: JTEKT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yuji KARIATSUMARI, Hayato Komatsu
  • Publication number: 20100327797
    Abstract: A motor control apparatus for controlling a DC motor includes a first detection unit configured to detect an angular velocity of the DC motor, a driven member configured to be driven by the DC motor, a control unit configured to perform, during start-up of the DC motor, feed forward control for changing a control value used for controlling drive of the DC motor from a first control value corresponding to an angular velocity smaller than a target angular velocity to a second control value corresponding to the target angular velocity, and to change the feed forward control to feedback control for controlling the control value based on a detection result by the first detection unit to keep the DC motor at the target angular velocity, and a second detection unit configured to detect whether the driven member has been replaced.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 16, 2010
    Publication date: December 30, 2010
    Applicant: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Yoritsugu Maeda
  • Publication number: 20100313609
    Abstract: Provided is a method of operating a motor at a low speed. The method includes sensing an event corresponding to an angular position of the motor. If the event occurs between a first time threshold and a second time threshold, the method includes slowing the motor. If the event has not occurred by the first time threshold, the method includes increasing driving power to the motor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 5, 2008
    Publication date: December 16, 2010
    Inventor: David Charles Rhodes
  • Patent number: 7839113
    Abstract: The synchronous motor driving apparatus including position sensors provided in the synchronous motor, a current polarity detection circuit for detecting the polarities of the currents in the respective phase windings of the synchronous motor, an inverter driving the synchronous motor, a motor speed calculation unit calculating the rotational speed of the synchronous motor depending on the output signals from the position sensors, a speed control unit outputting a first voltage adjusting component (q-axis current command value Iq*) to cause the rotational speed of the synchronous motor to approach a speed command value and a phase control unit outputting a second voltage adjusting component (d-axis current command value Id*) to cause the phase differences between the phases of the position sensor signals and of the currents in the respective phase windings of the synchronous motor to become a predetermined value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2008
    Date of Patent: November 23, 2010
    Assignees: Hitachi, Ltd., Hitachi Information & Control Solutions, Ltd.
    Inventors: Daisuke Maeda, Tsunehiro Endo, Hidefumi Shirahama, Kenji Sakurai, Hiroyuki Hasegawa, Mitsuhiro Mishima
  • Patent number: 7839114
    Abstract: It is determined which of six continuous sections having different magnitude correlation of signal amplitude of each phase of an input three-phase signal a section is. Predetermined subtraction is performed between respective phases in the section, to obtain a normalized amplitude value normalized in the section, using the subtraction result. The normalized amplitude value is converted to a vector phase for one cycle based on a predetermined phase and output corresponding to the determined section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2008
    Date of Patent: November 23, 2010
    Assignee: Fujitsu General Limited
    Inventors: Satoshi Ichiki, Naoki Kawaguchi
  • Patent number: 7808203
    Abstract: A motor control device that includes a first speed estimator estimating the rotation speed of the rotor of a permanent-magnet synchronous motor and that controls the motor so that a first estimated rotation speed estimated by the first speed estimator follows the specified speed value further includes a second speed estimator that estimates the rotation speed of the rotor by an estimation method different from that used by the first speed estimator. The motor control device detects synchronization failure based on a comparison between a second estimated rotation speed estimated by the second speed estimator and the first estimated rotation speed or the specified speed value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 3, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2010
    Assignee: Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Yoshio Tomigashi
  • Publication number: 20100244764
    Abstract: A device and a method for determining the current position of a rotor, particularly the angle of rotation of the rotor, of an electric motor, wherein said device determines the current position of the rotor using the fluctuations of the armature current or the armature voltage of the electric motor. The fluctuations of the armature current or the armature voltage are separated from the fluctuations of the motor current or the motor voltage with the help of an amplifier unit dependent on a controllable offset value. The offset value is changed according to the motor current or the motor voltage. By virtue of the device and the method, the fluctuations of the armature current or the armature voltage can be separated from the fluctuations of the motor current or the motor voltage over the full measurement range of the motor current or the motor voltage.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 17, 2008
    Publication date: September 30, 2010
    Applicant: Conti Temic Microelectronic GmbH
    Inventors: Wolfgang Schulter, Stefan Rau, Helmut Weber, Thomas Gründer, Carsten Sensche
  • Patent number: 7795836
    Abstract: A motor control device includes: an operation amount setting unit that sets an operation amount of a motor for driving a driving target according to a predetermined driving signal; and a control unit that generates the driving signal. The control unit generates an initial driving signal such that a velocity of the driving target follows an external velocity command, generates a cyclic signal having a cycle according to an angular velocity of a motor shaft of the motor, and generates the driving signal by multiplying the initial driving signal and the cyclic signal, based on at least one of a position and a velocity of the driving target.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 14, 2010
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Kazushige Muroi
  • Publication number: 20100219787
    Abstract: A motor drive system is provided with a plurality of axis control parts for outputting PWM commands using a position command, a plurality of current supply parts which supply current to the respective windings based on the PWM commands of the respective axis control parts, and which are connected to the respective windings, a motor position detector for outputting a signal of a rotor position of the motor, a first signal supply part for supplying the output signal to one current supply part of the plurality of current supply parts, and a second signal supply part for supplying the signal supplied through the first signal supply part to an axis control part corresponding to one current supply part, and the corresponding axis control part outputs a PWM command based on the signal supplied from the one current supply part through the second signal supply part to the corresponding axis control part and the position command, and the remaining axis control part outputs the PWM command based on the signal supplied f
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 21, 2009
    Publication date: September 2, 2010
    Applicant: FANUC LTD
    Inventors: Yasusuke IWASHITA, Tadashi OKITA, Yukio TOYOZAWA, Kazuomi MAEDA
  • Patent number: 7787970
    Abstract: A position-measuring device having integrated function testing includes a position-recording unit, a processing unit, and a control-word generator. In a positional-data request, a positional-data word is first generated in the position-recording unit and output to the processing unit. There, the position data word is processed into a position value. Subsequently, a control-data word is generated in the position-recording unit according to the specification of the control-word generator and output to the processing unit. The processing unit processes the control-data word into a control value which has a defined mathematical relationship to the position value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2005
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2010
    Assignee: Dr. Johannes Heidenhain GmbH
    Inventors: Erich Strasser, Elmar Mayer
  • Patent number: 7781996
    Abstract: In a speed control device including a speed instruction generating unit, an addition computing unit, a speed control unit, a current controlling unit, an inertia estimating unit, an inertia setting unit, a switching unit and a constant setting unit, when it is possible to perform accelerating or decelerating operation of the electric motor to estimate the inertia moments of the electric motor and a driving target thereof, an operation is carried out to derive an inertia moment estimation value. The proportional gain of the speed control unit is set through the switching unit and the constant setting unit on the basis of the inertia moment estimation value. When it is impossible to perform the above operation, the proportional gain of the speed control unit is set through the switching unit and the constant setting unit on the basis of the inertia moment manual set value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 24, 2010
    Assignee: Fuji Electric Systems Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Hirokazu Tajima
  • 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: 20100188037
    Abstract: The control system comprises: a switch (TR) in series with a winding (W) of the motor (M) between two terminals (A, B) which are connected to a supply of an alternating voltage (V), a first detector circuit (1) suitable for providing a signal (Vzc) indicative of the sign and of the zero-crossings of the alternating supply voltage (V), a second detector means (2, 3) suitable for providing signals indicative of the sign and of the zero-crossings of the BEMF which is developed in the stator winding (W), and a control unit (MC) arranged to bring about the starting of the rotation of the rotor (R), starting from an initial position (?0), in accordance with a procedure comprising the steps of: a) driving the switch (TR) in a manner such as to bring about the passage through the winding (W) of a first current pulse (I1) which starts with a first delay (t1) relative to the immediately preceding zero-crossing of the supply voltage (V), b) checking if the BEMF (E) consequently developed in the winding (W) has a first z
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 24, 2008
    Publication date: July 29, 2010
    Applicant: Askoll P & C S.r.l.
    Inventors: Sebastiano Acquaviva, Piergiorgio Ricco
  • Patent number: 7764033
    Abstract: A controller for a motor driving apparatus switches a direction of electricity flowing through a first coil according to a first lead angle signal obtained based on a first magnetic pole detecting signal and a second magnetic pole detecting signal. The controller switches a direction of electricity flowing through a second coil according to a second lead angle signal obtained based on the first magnetic pole detecting signal and the second magnetic pole detecting signal. Thus, a motor driving apparatus can be configured such that the angle of the rotation center of the rotor with respect to two magnetically sensitive poles can freely be selected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 10, 2008
    Date of Patent: July 27, 2010
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Hiromu Yasuda
  • Patent number: 7759897
    Abstract: A method for sensorless estimation of rotor speed and position of a permanent magnet synchronous machine, when the permanent magnet synchronous machine is fed with a frequency converter, the method comprising the steps of forming a stator voltage reference for the permanent magnet synchronous machine, injecting a high frequency signal (uc) into the stator voltage reference, measuring a DC-link current (idc) of the frequency converter when the permanent magnet synchronous machine (4) is fed with a voltage (us,ref) corresponding to a sum of the stator voltage reference and the injected signal, calculating a stator current estimate (îs), calculating a current error (?s) as a difference between the stator current estimate and the measured DC-link current, and estimating a rotor speed ({circumflex over (?)}m) and position ({circumflex over (?)}m) of the permanent synchronous machine based on the current error.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 11, 2008
    Date of Patent: July 20, 2010
    Assignee: ABB Oy
    Inventor: Antti Piippo
  • Patent number: 7755317
    Abstract: This invention provides methods for electric vehicle motor control and rotor position detection and fault-tolerant processing. The rotor position signal sampled by the system is compared with the previous rotor position ?0. When there is a sudden change, the current position signal acquired is discarded. Instead, a fault-tolerant processing strategy for use during an error condition is employed where the previous sampled rotor position ?0 is used as a base to determine the corrected current rotor position angle ?1?. Then the correcting value is used to control the electric motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 5, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 13, 2010
    Assignee: BYD Company Limited
    Inventors: Ming Yu, Xiaohua Tang, Nan Liu, Jian Gong, Yingwu Xu, Ting Luo, Kai Liu, Xianhong Jiang, Qiaoqiao Wu, Xuguang Zhou, Guangming Yang
  • Patent number: 7746023
    Abstract: A position detecting device which can increase accuracy in detecting the pole position of a motor used to perform quick acceleration and deceleration over the range from a zero speed to a high rotation speed, and a synchronous motor driving device using the position detecting device. A position detector detects basic-wave component signals in sensor signals and executes position calculation. A correcting unit calculates signal information representing at least one of a gain, an offset and a phase by a phase detector from the basic-wave component signals detected by an error calculator, and makes correction based on the calculated signal information such that a position detection error is zero.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 29, 2010
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Toshiyuki Ajima, Hideki Miyazaki, Masataka Sasaki, Bunji Furuyama, Tokihito Suwa
  • Patent number: 7667427
    Abstract: Presence/absence of a failure in a feedback control system of a motor is monitored. When a failure is detected in the feedback control system, the motor is driven by switching to an open-loop control. During the open-loop control, the motor is rotated by sequentially switching the motor current supply phase without feeding back encoder count information. The position count is incremented or decremented every time the current supply phase is switched. When the position count has reached a target count, it is determined that the rotor has reached a target position, whereupon the open-loop control is finished.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2010
    Assignees: Denso Corporation, Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Shigeru Kamio, Kenichi Fujiki, Sumiko Amamiya, Yasushi Kobiki, Yuji Inoue
  • Patent number: 7667419
    Abstract: A motor driving apparatus includes a virtual difference voltage detecting unit operable to detect a difference voltage between a virtual neutral point of a resistor circuit connected in parallel to motor coils and a terminal of a motor coil in non-conduction state, a rotor position detecting unit operable to detect a position of the rotor based on the difference voltage, and a controller operable to control commutation of an inverter based on the rotor position. The motor driving apparatus has a searching start mode for detecting the rotor position and energizes the coils, and a back electromotive voltage feedback mode for controlling commutation based on the back electromotive voltage. In the searching start mode, a rotor position searching process and a rotation start torque applying process are alternately performed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2007
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2010
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Shingo Fukamizu, Yasunori Yamamoto, Hideaki Mori, Shinichi Kuroshima
  • Publication number: 20100019716
    Abstract: A motor controller is provided with a first PWM circuit that repeatedly outputs an on-signal at a first carrier frequency, a second PWM circuit that repeatedly outputs an on-signal at a second carrier frequency that is lower than the first carrier frequency, an AND circuit that receives both the on-signal outputted from the first PWM circuit and the on-signal outputted from the second PWM circuit and outputs a third on-signal which is a logical product of the received on-signals, and a voltage apply circuit that applies a voltage to the motor intermittently in synchronization with the third on-signal outputted from the AND circuit. At least one of the first carrier frequency and the second carrier frequency is equal to or lower than 1 kHz or equal to or higher than 3 kHz. As a result, generation of an unpleasant noise by a motor controller using two PWM circuits may be suppressed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 22, 2008
    Publication date: January 28, 2010
    Applicant: Makita Corporation
    Inventors: Takashi Matsunaga, Hirokatsu Yamamoto, Takuya Kusakawa
  • Patent number: 7646164
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method of adjusting motor parameters in a variable speed drive intended for controlling a synchronous electric motor with permanent magnets M. The method comprises a step of determining the deviations ?ID and ?IQ between references and measurements of the flux current and motor torque current, a step of calculating a correction value ?RS of the stator resistance, a correction value ?L of the inductance and a correction value ?KE of the flux constant of the motor, on the basis of the integral terms of the deviations ?ID and ?IQ, a step of adjusting the values of the parameters of the motor model on the basis of ?RS, ?L and ?KE, a step of formulating the control voltages UD and UQ to be applied to the motor M by using the said adjusted values of the motor parameters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2010
    Assignee: Schneider Toshiba Inverter Europe SAS
    Inventors: Francois Malrait, Stefan Capitaneanu
  • Patent number: 7638965
    Abstract: A velocity control loop of a motor control apparatus including a notch filter. The notch filter attenuates a signal component at a central frequency from a motor driving command, and outputs the attenuated motor driving command. The driving of a motor is controlled based on the attenuated motor driving command. The central frequency of the notch filter is set equal to a frequency at which a phase of open loop frequency characteristics of the velocity control loop that does not include a notch filter is a value obtained by subtracting 180 degrees from a preset phase margin. An attenuation factor of the notch filter by which the signal component at the central frequency is attenuated is set so that a gradient of a phase diagram of the open loop frequency characteristics of the velocity control loop including the notch filter is substantially zero.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2006
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2009
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventor: Tomohiro Miyazaki
  • Patent number: 7638960
    Abstract: A positioning device for positioning a positioning element has a motor (18) that drives the positioning element (10) and has a measuring device that directly measures the positioning travel of the positioning element for controlling the motor (18). For this, a traction cable (32) is joined to the positioning element and is wound onto a drum (36). For measuring the positioning travel of the positioning element, the rotational position of the drum (36) is measured by means of an encoder (42).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2006
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2009
    Assignee: Sick Stegmann GmbH
    Inventors: Josef Siraky, Rolf Hartlieb, Josef Maier
  • Patent number: 7637353
    Abstract: A control apparatus for an elevator has a speed command issuing portion, a movement control portion, and an acceleration limiting portion. The speed command issuing portion calculates a speed command for controlling a speed of a car. The movement control portion controls a movement of the car based on the speed command. The acceleration limiting portion compares drive information corresponding to an output of a drive device during the movement of the car with a preset limit value to determine whether or not an acceleration of the car can be increased. The speed command issuing portion calculates, based on information from the acceleration limiting portion, a speed command to stop the acceleration from increasing when the drive information reaches the limit value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2006
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2009
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventor: Masunori Shibata