| Class / Patent application number | Description | Number of patent applications / Date published |
| 318400370 | With sensor structure (e.g., tachometer, reed switch, cam-controlled switching, etc.) | 41 |
| 20110175561 | MOTOR-POSITION DETECTING METHOD, MOTOR DRIVING UNIT, AND PUMP - It is an object to detect the axial position of a rotor without using a sensor. A method for detecting the position of a motor including a rotor and a stator around which armature windings of a plurality of phases are wound is provided, wherein a position detecting coil is disposed on one axial end face of a stator core, an induced voltage generated in the position detecting coil is detected, and the axial position of the rotor is detected on the basis of the detection result. | 07-21-2011 |
| 20090195202 | Electric Motor, Method for Correcting Sensor Output for the Same, and Control Circuit - The electric motor includes a coil array having a plurality of magnetic coils; a magnet array having a plurality of permanent magnets; a magnetic sensor outputting an output signal that changes in analog fashion depending on relative location of the magnet array and the coil array; a drive control circuit; and an output waveform correcting unit. The output waveform correcting unit corrects the waveform of the output signal of the magnetic sensor based on the voltage level of the output signal of the magnetic sensor, in such a way that the output signal of the magnetic sensor is shaped to prescribed waveform shape during operation of the electric motor. | 08-06-2009 |
| 20090026992 | PRINTER AND DC MOTOR SPEED CONTROL DEVICE - In speed control that is performed within a single operating cycle of a printer, three-level control of ON control, OFF control, and chopper control, is performed in place of the two-level control of ON control and OFF control, to effectively suppress speed variations due to load variations within a single operating cycle, even in small printers provided with DC motors having small output torques. In a printer comprising a DC motor | 01-29-2009 |
| 20120139465 | ASYMMETRICAL RELUCTANCE MACHINE - A reluctance machine is disclosed. The reluctance machine includes a stationary member including a housing, a plurality of windings disposed in the housing, a plurality of electrical connections each electrical connection coupled to a corresponding winding of the plurality of windings, and a plurality of teeth coupled to the housing, a rotating member having a center including a mechanical coupling member formed about the center, and a plurality of outwardly protruding poles centrally located within the stationary member each outwardly protruding pole having a continuous outer surface adjacent to at least one tooth of the plurality of teeth, wherein each outer surface of each outwardly protruding pole having a first portion being a first distance away from the center and a second portion being a second distance away from the center. | 06-07-2012 |
| 20110266990 | Drive unit, image forming apparatus incorporating same, peripherals incorporating same, and control method therefor - A drive unit, which can be included in an image forming apparatus with peripherals disposed thereto and use a control method therefore, includes an inner rotor brushless DC motor, a driver, a rotation detector, and a controller. The driver supplies power to drive the brushless DC motor. The rotation detector detects an amount and direction of rotations of an output shaft. The controller controls the rotations of the brushless DC motor and obtains a target drive signal of the brushless DC motor externally and a detection signal from the rotation detector and outputs a signal to the driver. The controller controls a speed of rotation of the brushless DC motor by varying the signal output to the driver based on the target drive signal and the detection signal. | 11-03-2011 |
| 20090072776 | Apparatus and Method for Controlling Hybrid Motor - The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for controlling a hybrid motor, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for controlling a hybrid motor, which uses a permanent magnet instead of a field coil for a rotor, winds a coil round a stator in a multi-phase independent parallel manner, fixes a rectifying type encoder to the rotor and connects a sensor to a driving circuit to smoothly start and rotate the hybrid motor, simplifies the configuration of the hybrid motor and reduce the manufacturing cost of the hybrid motor The apparatus for controlling a hybrid motor having a multi-phase independent parallel stator coil comprises: an encoder attached to a rotor of the hybrid motor and operated in cooperation with a sensor in order to sense the pole of the rotor; the sensor for outputting a sensor signal indicating the polo of the rotor, sensed by the encoder; a speed input unit for generating a speed instruction signal for driving the motor; a power switching circuit for generating signals for driving the motor; a drive module for receiving the speed instruction signal and the sensor signal and outputting the speed instruction signal synchronized with the sensor signal as a signal for driving the motor; a power supply for applying a DC voltage to the power switching circuit; and a logic power supply for converting the DC voltage received from the power supply into a logic voltage and applying the converted logic voltage to the drive module. When the motor has n phases, the motor includes n power switching circuits and n drive modules. | 03-19-2009 |
| 20110109256 | FIBER OPTICALLY COMMUNICATED MOTOR TEMPERATURE AND POSITION SIGNALS - Methods and apparatus are provided for a controlling an electric motor that is at least partially disposed within a motor housing. The rotational speed and position of the electric motor are sensed, and a temperature of the electric motor is sensed. The sensor signals are converted to optical signals and are propagated in a fiber optic cable. The electric motor is controlled based, at least in part, on the propagated optical signals. | 05-12-2011 |
| 20110037423 | INVERTER CONTROLLER, COMPRESSOR, AND ELECTRIC HOME APPLIANCE - An inverter controller reduces a conduction angle of inverter circuit ( | 02-17-2011 |
| 318400380 | Magnetic field sensor or responsive device (e.g., Hall element, magneto-resistance, etc.) | 25 |
| 20090302793 | BRUSHLESS MOTOR DEVICE - An n-phase brushless motor device includes: a magnet | 12-10-2009 |
| 20090009118 | DRIVE CONTROL CIRCUIT FOR ELECTRIC MOTOR - The drive control circuit for an electric motor is provided. The drive control circuit includes: an original drive signal generator that generates an original drive signal; an excitation interval setter that is able, for each half cycle of respective length π in each 2π excitation cycle of the original drive signal, to arbitrarily set excitation intervals during which to excite coils of the electric motor to any one of a plurality of intervals which include at least either one of a symmetrical interval centered on a center of each half-cycle and an unsymmetrical interval; and a drive signal shaping circuit that generates a drive signal for driving the electric motor, by validating the original drive signal during the excitation intervals and invalidating the original drive signal during non-excitation intervals other than the excitation interval. | 01-08-2009 |
| 20110285338 | TORQUE AMPLIFIER APPARATUS - A torque amplifying apparatus mounted to a non-driven component of a vehicle comprises a plurality of permanent armature magnets and a plurality of electromagnets, the permanent armature magnets arranged to interact with the plurality of electromagnets. The interaction of the electromagnets and the permanent armature magnets causes a repulsion force, which creates a force in the direction of the motion of the vehicle to reduce fuel consumption. | 11-24-2011 |
| 20090108785 | AC-INPUT TYPE BRUSHLESS DC MOTOR AND ELECTRIC APPLIANCE MOUNTING THE SAME - In an AC-input type brushless DC motor, a current control circuit controls an average current of an inverter circuit, a current indication circuit makes addition or subtraction, with respect to a reference current value, to the average current to be supplied to the inverter circuit such that the average current falls into a correlation indicated by a correlation indication circuit. The foregoing structure allows setting speed-torque characteristics of the brushless DC motor such that the torque increases at a higher rpm of the motor. The characteristics are good for driving a fan. | 04-30-2009 |
| 20090102406 | Motor Control Circuit, Fan Motor, Electronic Device, and Notebook Personal Computer - A motor control circuit comprising: a rotation control circuit configured to control rotation of a motor based on a rotation control signal for controlling rotation of the motor and a rotational position detection signal from a Hall element for detecting a rotational position of the motor; a determining circuit configured to determine whether the rotation control signal has been generated for a predetermined time period; and a Hall element control circuit configured to apply a Hall element source voltage to the Hall element when the determining circuit determines that the rotation control signal has been generated for the predetermined time period, and to stop applying the Hall element source voltage to the Hall element when the determining circuit determines that the rotation control signal has not necessarily been generated for the predetermined time period. | 04-23-2009 |
| 20090189558 | Actuator Position Homing Method and Apparatus - An electric actuator motor drives an actuator leg between inner and outer limits of an actuator stroke relative to an actuator base. A controller detects when the actuator leg is at one of the inner and outer stroke limits by monitoring and comparing actuator motor power draw to known actuator motor power draw values associated with the operation of an electric actuator when its leg has reached an actuator leg stroke limit. A position sensor senses changes in the position of a monitored actuator component and provides corresponding signals to the controller. The controller calculates the position of the monitored actuator component relative to the position that the monitored actuator component was in when the actuator leg was in a predetermined home position. The controller recognizes and records the concurrent position of the monitored actuator component as indicating that the actuator leg is in the home position whenever the leg reaches a stroke limit. | 07-30-2009 |
| 20090284201 | MOTOR WITH MAGNETIC SENSORS - Disclosed is an electric motor that includes a stator with a plurality of main poles, each of which includes a coil, and a rotor rotatable about an axis and having a magnet with magnetic poles in which N and S poles are alternating. The motor further includes a first sensor group of a plurality of magnetic sensors fixed relative to the stator, and a second sensor group of a plurality of magnetic sensors fixed relative to the stator. When operating the motor, the first sensor group can be selected so as to rotate the rotor in a first direction. The second sensor group can be selected so as to rotate the rotor in a second direction opposite to the first direction. | 11-19-2009 |
| 20090128075 | MOTOR - A stator of a motor includes a stator core formed of a plurality of teeth and an annular yoke connecting the teeth to each other, and windings wound on the teeth. A rotor of the motor confronts the stator while supported rotatably, and includes a rotor magnet, a rotor core, and a position sensing magnet. The motor further includes a position sensor for sensing a rotational position of the rotor and a circuit board for supplying an electric current to the windings in response to the rotational position of the rotor. The rotor magnet, the rotor core, and the position sensing magnet are integrated into one unit, which is mounted on a shaft of the rotor. | 05-21-2009 |
| 20110140645 | DUAL PURPOSE PERMANENT MAGNET SPEED SENSOR AND GENERATOR - An apparatus is disclosed for simultaneously measuring the rotational speed and/or direction of a shaft, and providing control power in accordance with the shaft rotation. The apparatus includes a permanent magnet machine (PMM) having a multipole rotor and a stator. The rotor has a plurality of permanent magnet poles and connection to the rotating shaft; the stator includes a winding and electrical connections, so that motion of the rotor with respect to the stator causes a voltage signal at the electrical connections. The apparatus also includes a circuit including a power conversion portion and a speed/direction sensing portion. The circuit receives the voltage signal from the PMM, and simultaneously outputs control power from the power conversion portion and a signal indicating the rotational speed and/or direction of the shaft from the sensing portion. | 06-16-2011 |
| 20100237818 | DRIVING CIRCUIT FOR BRUSHLESS MOTOR USING HALL ELEMENT - A driving circuit feeds driving current to a coil in a brushless motor, and feeds bias current to a Hall element that senses the rotational position of the motor. The driving current and bias current are supplied from the same power supply, but the bias current passes through a load element that reduces power dissipation by the Hall bias circuit by causing some of the power to be dissipated by the load element instead. The Hall bias circuit can therefore be combined with the other driving circuitry into a single integrated circuit, even if the brushless motor is driven at a comparatively high voltage. | 09-23-2010 |
| 20090322270 | VEHICLE MOTOR CONTROL APPARATUS - There is provided a vehicle motor control apparatus that alternately switches a first ON state in which one of the stator winding terminals is energized through an upper switch element group and another stator winding terminal is energized through a lower switch element group and a second ON state in which one of the stator winding terminals is energized through one of the upper switch element group and the lower switch element group and two other stator winding terminals are energized through the other switch element group, in one cycle period of an electric angle that changes as the rotor rotates. | 12-31-2009 |
| 20120062162 | BRUSHLESS ELECTRIC MACHINE - The brushless electric machine includes a first drive member ( | 03-15-2012 |
| 20110304291 | TWO-PHASE BRUSHLESS DC MOTOR - A brushless motor includes a two-phase winding stator having 4×n winding poles and auxiliary poles provided between the winding poles, and a rotor constituted by 6×n permanent magnet rotating poles having divided angle. The two-phase brushless motor can be driven by a control device for the two-phase motor which can transform electric power and rectify electronically. The two-phase brushless DC motor can increase a permeance coefficient of the rotor, improve the efficiency and the starting of the motor, and reduce torque ripple and noise thereof. | 12-15-2011 |
| 20080309269 | MICROCONTROLLER INTERFACE WITH HALL ELEMENT - A device controller system incorporates an inexpensive Hall element to detect motion of a brushless DC motor. A magnet, which is part of a motor rotor, passes by the Hall element producing a Hall voltage each rotation. The Hall voltage is coupled through an interface port to a comparator within a process controller. A microprocessor within the process controller calculates a control response based on a comparator output signal. The interface port is rapidly configured to provide signals produced from the control response as output to device drivers on the same input-output pins that receive the Hall voltage. The device drivers produce a current through fan coils producing an update in the magnetic field of each motor phase which updates the speed of the fan according to programming within the process controller. Rapid configuring and reconfiguring of the interface port allows all necessary components of the controller system to be used with a single rotational commutation cycle. | 12-18-2008 |
| 20100289442 | BRUSHLESS MOTOR POSITION DETECTION DEVICE - A brushless motor position detection device has a set of first Hall elements (main Hall ICs | 11-18-2010 |
| 20120176073 | WIPER MOTOR - In a wiper motor including a motor unit having a rotating shaft, and a gear unit having a speed reduction mechanism for reducing and outputting the speed-reduced rotation, a first speed reduction gear forming a speed reduction mechanism is provided to one end side of a rotating shaft, a sensor magnet is fixed to the other end side of the rotating shaft, a control board is provided so as to face the other end side of the rotating shaft from the axial direction of the rotating shaft, a MR sensor for detecting a rotational state of the rotating shaft is provided to a facing portion of the control board to the sensor magnet, and coil end portions of coils configured to generate an electromagnetic force for rotating the rotating shaft on the basis of supply of drive current from the control board is electrically connected to the control board. | 07-12-2012 |
| 20120319633 | DRIVE APPARATUS - A drive apparatus includes a magnet rotor having a plurality of magnetic poles that are magnetized, a stator having a magnetic pole portion that opposes each pole of the magnet rotor, a coil configured to excite the magnetic pole portion, a position detector configured to detect a position of the magnet rotor, a first driver configured to switch an electrification state of the coil in accordance with a preset time interval, a second driver configured to switch an electrification state of the coil in accordance with an output of the position detector, and a controller configured to select the first driver when the output of the position detector is less than a first threshold, and to select the second driver when the output of the position detector is equal to or larger than the first threshold. | 12-20-2012 |
| 20120091936 | MOTOR CONTROLLER - A motor controller controlling a rotational speed of a motor and including a thermal detector, a capacitor, an operational amplifier (OP), a charging/discharging circuit, a flip-flop and a logic circuit. The thermal detector detects environmental temperature of the motor to set a first reference voltage. The capacitor has one terminal coupled to a second reference voltage while another terminal thereof is charged/discharged by the charging/discharging circuit, controlled by a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal, to provide a third reference voltage. The OP compares the first and third reference voltages and outputs the comparison result to a ‘set’ terminal of the flip-flop. The flip-flop further uses a ‘reset’ terminal to receive a clock signal and the output signal thereof is utilized in generating the PWM signal. The PWM signal is further provided to the logic circuit for setting a duty cycle of a driving current of the motor. | 04-19-2012 |
| 318400390 | Rotating sensor component separate from motor structure (e.g., resolver, magnetically sensed rotating disk, etc.) | 7 |
| 20100090633 | INTEGRATED BRUSHLESS DC MOTOR AND CONTROLLER - An integrated brushless DC motor and controller including a brushless DC motor having a rotating shaft with a 2 pole permanent magnet affixed to the shaft for rotation thereby in a plane orthogonal to the axis of rotation of the shaft. An X-Y Hall Effect Sensor is carried by a controller mounted on a circuit board attached to the motor and the Hall Effect Sensor is positioned proximate the magnet with the Hall Effect Sensor producing the Sine and Cosine components of the magnetic field as the magnet is rotated by the motor shaft. The electronic controller includes software for determining the motor angle and commutation logic from the Sine and Cosine components generated by the Hall Effect Sensor response to the rotating magnetic field. A controller on the board positioned over the rotating shaft contains the highly integrated functions of internal analog digital converters, pulse width modulation registers for driving the power amplifier, internal communication ports and all of the random excess memory and FLASH non-volatile memory that is typically required for motor control. | 04-15-2010 |
| 20130099708 | ANGLE DETECTION DEVICE, MOTOR DRIVING DEVICE, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - Disclosed is an angle detection device including plural sensors that output corresponding sinusoidal signals, wherein each of the sinusoidal signals varies sinusoidally depending on a rotational angle of a rotor of a motor, and each of the sinusoidal signals has a phase that depends on a position of the corresponding sensor; a vector generating unit that generates a vector represented by a result of mutually operating at least two of the sinusoidal signals; a vector rotation unit that rotates the vector by operating the vector and reference sine waves having corresponding phases; and an angle search unit that causes the vector rotation unit to sequentially rotate the vector until a phase of the vector becomes a predetermined phase, and that detects an angle between the vector prior to being rotated and the predetermined phase as the rotational angle of the rotor of the motor. | 04-25-2013 |
| 20120235616 | POSITION SENSING SYSTEM FOR A THREE (3) PHASE ELECTRIC MOTOR - A multi-phase electric motor including a housing, a stator mounted to the housing, a rotor rotatably mounted relative to the stator, and a position sensing system configured and disposed to output a signal representing a position of the rotor relative to the stator. The position sensing system includes a rotating member mounted relative to the rotor and a plurality of digital sensors mounted relative to the rotating member. At least two of the plurality of digital sensors are configured and disposed to generate a quadrature output signal. The plurality of digital sensors being configured and disposed to sense discrete portions of the rotating member to detect a position of the rotor relative to the stator. | 09-20-2012 |
| 20110127940 | Motor - There is provided a motor. The motor may include a rotor case including a driving magnet formed on an inner circumferential surface thereof and providing a driving force by interacting with a coil of a stator, a low-speed control magnet formed on an outer circumferential surface of the rotor case and generating a frequency allowing for low-speed rotation enabling label printing as the rotor case rotates at a low speed; and a sensing part sensing an analog signal generated from the low-speed control magnet. | 06-02-2011 |
| 20080272723 | Absolute Encoder and Method for Generating an Absolute Value for a Angle of Rotation - An electric motor ( | 11-06-2008 |
| 20120112676 | ROATRY POSITION ENCODING METHOD AND UNIT - A unit of absolute rotary position encoding, where the angular range of encoding is matched to the number of poles of an electrical motor it is intended that the encoder is to be attached to. The electrical motor is suitably a brushless DC motor. This provides unique rotational position values only through an angle corresponding to an angle between two consecutive poles to enable control/drive electronics to accurately and smoothly turn the rotor from standstill and at low speeds with varying loads applied to the motor. | 05-10-2012 |
| 20110181221 | MOTOR - A motor includes a sensor magnet having a non-circular contour and a magnet cover fixed to an end portion of a shaft to cover the end portion of the shaft. The magnet cover includes a support portion positioned outside the end surface of the end portion of the shaft. In the support portion, a magnet hole having a non-circular cross section as the sensor magnet and extending in the direction of the rotation axis is provided. The sensor magnet is inserted into the magnet hole and fixed to the magnet hole. | 07-28-2011 |
| 318400400 | Optical sensor (e.g., encoder, photodetector, etc.) | 8 |
| 20090267548 | SWITCHED RELUCTANCE MOTOR AND CONNECTION METHOD FOR SENSOR SHUTTER THEREOF - The present invention relates to a switched reluctance motor and a connection method for a sensor shutter thereof. The switched reluctance motor in accordance with the present invention includes a stator; a rotor rotating with respect to the stator centering around a rotational shaft; and a sensor shutter having a sensing part through which a light can be passed and connected to an end portion of the rotational shaft, and a stopping ring is connected to the end portion of the rotational shaft so as to prevent the sensor shutter from being separated. Accordingly, the sensor shutter can be quickly and easily connected and the length of the rotational shaft can be decreased. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090289584 | Ultra-compact, high-performance motor controller and method of using same - Featured is a controller for a motor that is ultra-compact, with a power density of at least about 20 watts per cubic cm (W/cm | 11-26-2009 |
| 20090295317 | Ultra-compact, high-performance motor controller and method of using same - Featured is a controller for a motor that is ultra-compact, with a power density of at least about 20 watts per cubic cm (W/cm | 12-03-2009 |
| 20120104982 | ROTOR LAMINATION SHAPING FOR MINIMUM CORE LOSS IN SRMs - An electrical machine rotor includes a flux-conducting portion and a flux-inhibiting portion. The flux-conducting portion is conducive to conveying an electromagnetic flux and has a plurality of salient rotor poles and a portion of back material. The flux-inhibiting portion is less conducive to conveying an electromagnetic flux than the flux-conducting portion and is disposed entirely outside the boundaries of the rotor poles. | 05-03-2012 |
| 20110227518 | OPTICAL ENTIRE-CIRCUMFERENCE ENCODER AND MOTOR SYSTEM - An optical entire-circumference encoder includes a plurality of rotation slits provided to transmit light at an equal pitch radially around a rotation axis as a center in a rotation track. A plurality of fixed slits is provided to transmit light at an equal pitch in a plurality of regions radially around the rotation axis as the center in a fixed track. A plurality of light receivers is disposed in a vicinity of the rotation axis to receive a light guided by the light guide in the regions respectively. The fixed slits in one of the regions and the fixed slits in another region adjacent to the one of the regions among the regions in the fixed track are formed so that a phase difference by which a rotation direction of the rotor is determined occurs between light reception signals of the plurality of light receivers. | 09-22-2011 |
| 20110001443 | SYSTEM FOR MEASURING FAN ROTATIONAL SPEED - A system is used to measure a fan rotational speed. The system includes a main controller, a first socket coupled to the linear fan, a second socket connected to the main controller, and an optical fiber amplifier connected to the main controller. A PWM (pulse width module) fan is coupled to the second socket, the PWM fan sends a first rotational speed signal, which represent a rotation speed of the PWM fan, to the main controller via the second socket. The optical fiber amplifier is capable of radiating light on fan blades of the linear fan, and sensing light reflected by the fan blades to count a rotational speed of the linear fan, and generating a second rotational speed signal which represents a rotational speed of the linear fan. The optical fiber amplifier sends the second rotational speed signal to the main controller. | 01-06-2011 |
| 20120013279 | CODE DISK, OPTICAL ENCODER, AND MOTOR SYSTEM - An optical encoder includes a light source, a light sensor array, and a code disk having a data track and a commutation pattern. The commutation pattern includes first, second, and third commutation tracks, each including a series of apertures configured to allow light to continuously pass from the light source to a respective light sensor of the light sensor array as the series of apertures passes over the first light sensor. The relative positions of the first, second, and third commutation tracks correspond to a commutation sequence of a brushless motor. | 01-19-2012 |
| 20100315028 | PHOTON MOTOR CONTROL - A motor having an alternating current electrical source, a light power circuitry, a stationary transcutaneous energy transmission coil spaced from a rotatable transcutaneous energy transmission coil, a plurality of phototransistor arrays positioned on a rotatable platform and each phototransistor array corresponds to and rotates in conjunction with an armature winding used in the motor. Each phototransistor array (i) receives an alternating current from the rotatable transcutaneous energy transmission coil, and (ii) charges (a) each armature winding to a constant high voltage when the motor is operating and (b) each phototransistor/MOSFET power source to a desired power level. When the light from the light power circuitry contacts a phototransmitter, the phototransistor array is turned on so the armature winding associated with that phototransmitter generates an instantaneous maximum magnetic field. | 12-16-2010 |