Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080284385 | HIGH EFFICIENCY GENERATOR - A generator system that includes a three-phase AC machine and an active rectifier bridge employing low on-resistance MOSFET switches for converting the AC current from the machine to a DC current. The system also includes a switch control circuit to switch the MOSFET switches in synchronization with the three-phase current flow. The system determines the phase-to-ground voltages of the machine as inputs to the switch control circuit. The control circuit calculates the phase-to-phase voltages from the phase-to-ground voltages. The control circuit then determines if each of the phase-to-phase voltages is above or below first and second predetermined threshold voltages, where if the phase-to-phase voltage is above the first threshold voltage, the control circuit closes the switch, and if the phase-to-phase voltage is below the second threshold voltage, the control circuit opens the switch. | 11-20-2008 |
20100244610 | Optimized Electric Machine for Smart Actuators - A single stator electric machine includes a plurality of magnets for generating a first magnetic field. Each respective magnet represents a respective rotor pole. A magnet holder retains the plurality of magnets. A stator is disposed radially outward from the plurality of magnets for generating a second magnetic field. The stator includes a plurality of stator poles separated by slots with each of the stator poles having a concentrated winding with a respective number of turns formed around each respective stator pole. Each respective concentrated winding within the stator comprises non-overlapping phases which increase an active length of the windings of the stator and reduce an overhang of each respective winding with respect to each stator pole for improving torque efficiency. A number of rotor poles is at least eight and the number of rotor poles and a number of stator slots have a least common multiple of at least 36. | 09-30-2010 |
20100244613 | OPTIMIZED ELECTRIC MACHINE FOR SMART ACTUATORS - An electric machine includes a plurality of magnets for generating a first magnetic field. A magnet holder retains the plurality of magnets. A first stator is disposed radially outward from the magnet holder for generating a second magnetic field. The first stator includes a plurality of stator poles separated by slots with each of the stator poles having a concentrated winding with a respective number of turns formed around each respective stator pole. A second stator is disposed radially inward from the magnet for generating a third magnetic field. The second stator has a plurality of stator poles separated by slots with each of the stator poles having a concentrated winding with a respective number of turns formed around each respective stator pole. The magnet holder and magnets retained therein are rotatable between the first stator and second stator. | 09-30-2010 |
20100259208 | ELECTRIC MACHINE AND CONTROL METHOD - A method for controlling an electric machine includes measuring a motor control parameter or parameters and selectively positioning an adjustable member within the electric machine in response the motor control parameters. Selective positioning of the adjustable member varies the geometry of a flux path within the electric machine, thereby inducing a predetermined voltage output in the electric machine. An electric machine includes a rotor, a shaft operatively connected to the rotor to rotate in conjunction therewith, and a stator. An adjustable member is positioned between the rotor and the stator, and has a variable offset position that can be selected by an electronic control unit (ECU) and applied by an actuator to thereby vary the geometry of a flux path within the electric machine. The adjustable member can include a non-magnetic annular hub and magnetic radial arms and axial extensions. | 10-14-2010 |
20100326070 | ACTUATOR SYSTEM INCLUDING AN ACTIVE MATERIAL - A linear actuator associated with an actuator system for a device includes a wire cable fabricated from an active material. The linear actuator couples to the device and to the moveable element. The active material induces strain in the linear actuator in response to an activation signal. The linear actuator translates the moveable element relative to the device in response to the induced strain. An activation controller electrically connects to the linear actuator and generates the activation signal. A position feedback sensor monitors a position of the moveable element. | 12-30-2010 |
20100330894 | SHAPE MEMORY ALLOY ACTIVE HATCH VENT - A vent assembly is disposed within an interior space of a vehicle for opening and closing fluid communication between the interior space and an exterior of the vehicle. The vent assembly includes a housing defining a plurality of openings and a plurality of vanes disposed in the openings. An actuator mechanism moves the vanes between an open position and a closed position, and includes a shaped memory alloy (SMA) member for actuating the vanes between the open and closed positions. The SMA member is activated when a hatch of the vehicle is open to move the vanes into the open position and thereby open fluid communication between the interior space and the exterior to alleviate excessive air pressure buildup during closure of the hatch. | 12-30-2010 |
20100332035 | METHOD FOR POSITION FEEDBACK BASED CONTROL FOR OVERLOAD PROTECTION - A method for executing mechanical overload protection to prevent commanding a control signal to a linear actuator that may mechanically overload the linear actuator when an overload condition of the linear actuator is detected, the linear actuator utilized for controlling a movable element associated with the linear actuator responsive to the control signal, includes monitoring an overload condition based on position change of the movable element associated with the linear actuator during an integration period and excess energy during the integration period, de-energizing the linear actuator when an overload condition has been detected, monitoring an overload retry counter based on the number of cycles the overload condition is detected, comparing the overload retry counter to an overload retry threshold, an reenergizing the linear actuator when the overload retry counter is less than the overload retry threshold and maintaining de-energizing of the linear actuator when the overload retry counter is at least the overload retry threshold. | 12-30-2010 |
20100332151 | METHOD FOR OVERLOAD PROTECTION OF SMA DEVICE - A method for detecting a mechanical overload condition of an energized linear actuator to prevent commanding an activation signal to the linear actuator that may mechanically overload the linear actuator includes monitoring feedback variation of a movable element associated with the linear actuator including monitoring a present feedback signal of the movable element, monitoring a previous feedback signal of the movable element, comparing the present feedback signal and the previous feedback signal and determining the feedback variation based on the comparing. The feedback variation is compared to a feedback variation threshold. An input signal associated with the activation signal for controlling the linear actuator is monitored and the input signal compared to an input signal threshold. The electrical overload condition is detected when the feedback variation is less than the feedback variation threshold and the input signal is greater than the input signal threshold. | 12-30-2010 |
20110050148 | ACTIVE MATERIAL ACTUATOR REGULATION UTILIZING PIEZOELECTRIC AND PIEZORESISTIVE EFFECT - An active material actuator adapted for use in a circuit includes an active material member, and a piezoelectric or piezoresistive element or otherwise force sensing device, wherein the element or device is communicatively coupled to the member and operable to vary the current within the circuit when the member is caused to achieve a predetermined stress, such that, in one aspect, the element presents an overload protection mechanism. | 03-03-2011 |
20110101817 | VARIABLE GEOMETRY ELECTRIC MACHINE - A variable geometry electric machine that includes a moveable magnetic member that varies the flux path between a rotor and a stator of the machine depending on the machine speed to control the flux between the rotor and the stator. As the speed of the machine increases, the magnetic member is selectively withdrawn in an axial direction from between the rotor and the stator so that at higher machine speeds, the back EMF of the machine is reduced so that the speed of the machine can be increased. The magnetic member includes spaced apart magnetic strips mounted to a non-magnetic hub. In one embodiment, the magnetic strips are positioned within an air gap between the rotor and the stator and against ends of teeth of the stator, where stator coils are positioned between the teeth. In another embodiment, the magnetic strips are positioned within the teeth of the stator. | 05-05-2011 |
20110116291 | HIGH EFFICIENCY MULTI-PHASE GENERATOR - A generator system that includes a six-phase AC machine and an active rectifier bridge employing low on-resistance switches, such as MOSFET switches, for converting the AC current from the machine to a DC current. The system also includes a switch control circuit to switch the MOSFET switches in synchronization with the six-phase current flow. The system determines the phase-to-ground voltages of the machine for inputs to the switch control circuit. The control circuit calculates the phase-to-phase voltages from the phase-to-ground voltages. The control circuit uses a specific control scheme to determine if each of the phase-to-phase voltages is above or below first and second predetermined threshold voltages, where if the phase-to-phase voltage is above the first threshold voltage, the control circuit closes the switch, and if the phase-to-phase voltage is below the second threshold voltage, the control circuit opens the switch. | 05-19-2011 |
20120109573 | METHOD OF DETERMINING A HEAT TRANSFER CONDITION FROM A RESISTANCE CHARACTERISTIC OF A SHAPE MEMORY ALLOY ELEMENT - A method of sensing an ambient heat transfer condition surrounding a shape memory alloy element includes heating the shape memory alloy element, sensing the resistance of the shape memory alloy element, and measuring the period of time taken to heat the shape memory alloy element to a pre-determined level of a resistance characteristic. The ambient heat transfer condition surrounding the shape memory alloy element is calculated by referencing a relationship between the period of time taken to heat the shape memory alloy to the pre-determined level of the resistance characteristic and the ambient heat transfer condition. | 05-03-2012 |
20120181854 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ELECTRIC POWER MANAGEMENT IN A VEHICLE - An on-vehicle DC/DC converter transforms high-voltage electric power originating from an on-vehicle high-voltage source to low-voltage electric power at a regulated voltage level. The low-voltage electric power is distributed by a low-voltage bus. A method for operating the DC/DC converter includes monitoring a state of charge and a temperature of a low-voltage battery connected to the low-voltage bus, setting a DC/DC converter command to a nominal voltage level as a function of the state of charge and temperature of the low-voltage battery, monitoring a total low-voltage electric load, and adjusting the DC/DC converter command to a minimum low-voltage reference voltage when the vehicle is operating below a predetermined speed and the total low-voltage electric load is greater than a predetermined load. | 07-19-2012 |
20120194040 | High Torque Density and Low Torque Ripple Actuator System - A permanent magnet electric machine drive system that includes a plurality of magnets for generating a first magnetic field and a stator is disposed radially outward from the plurality of magnets for generating a magnetic field. The stator includes a plurality of stator poles separated by slots with each respective stator pole having a concentrated winding with a respective number of turns formed around each respective stator pole. Each respective concentrated winding within the stator comprising non-overlapping phases. The concentrated windings form a dual three-phase winding configuration that includes a first set of three-balanced phase windings and a second set of three-balanced phase windings. The first set of three-balanced phase windings is phase shifted in the range of 15 to 45 electrical degrees from the second set of three-balanced phase windings for reducing the torque ripple. | 08-02-2012 |
20120223727 | METHOD OF CONTROLLING ACTIVE MATERIAL ACTUATION UTILIZING AN OPERATIONAL ENVELOPE - A method of controlling and/or predicting the remaining useful life of an active material actuator, such as a shape memory alloy wire, includes obtaining historical actuation data of an inherent system variable, such as electrical resistance, over a secondary variable, such as time, determining a normal operating envelope having upper and lower bounds based on the data, determining a current profile for a given actuation cycle, and comparing the shape of the current profile to the envelope to determine an out-of-bounds event. | 09-06-2012 |
20120306422 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR THERMALLY MONITORING A PERMANENT MAGNET ELECTRIC MOTOR - A method for determining a temperature of an electric motor including stator windings includes injecting an AC current into a D-axis current of a stator winding at a frequency that is synchronized with a control frequency of the electric motor, determining a DC-phase current, determining a resistance of the stator winding corresponding to the DC-phase current and an applied voltage, and determining a temperature of the electric motor as a function of the resistance of the stator winding. | 12-06-2012 |
20120306424 | ELECTRIC DRIVE WITH ELECTRONICALLY SCALABLE RECONFIGURABLE WINDING - A stator phase circuit for an electric machine includes a phase winding circuit including a plurality of series coupled sub-winding circuits, each sub-winding circuit includes a respective sub-winding coupled in parallel across a respective first controllable switch. | 12-06-2012 |
20130026875 | FIELD COIL FOR AN ELECTRIC MACHINE - A field coil segment for an electric machine including a rotor and a stator includes a first wire element having a first cross sectional area electrically connected in parallel with a second wire element having a second cross sectional area greater than the first cross sectional area. | 01-31-2013 |
20130081493 | METHOD OF REDUCING THE EFFECT OF PREHEAT TIME VARIATION DURING SHAPE MEMORY ALLOY ACTUATION - A system for and method of reducing the effects of preheat period variation in shape memory alloy actuation, include sensing the removal of motion delay due to slack, backlash, and/or compliance in the actuator and drive-train of the system, and determining actuator activation, as a result thereof. | 04-04-2013 |
20130116950 | EQUIVALENT POWER METHOD OF REDUCING THE AFFECTS OF VOLTAGE VARIATION DURING ACTIVE MATERIAL ACTUATION - An equivalent power method for reducing the effects of voltage variation during at least one active material actuation event, includes determining an applied real output based on the ideal voltage of a voltage source, the corresponding ideal output of a controller, and a measured real voltage, and for providing voltage out of bounds compensation, by further determining a difference based on the maximum available power output of the controller during said at least one event, and applying the difference to determine the applied real output during subsequent event(s). | 05-09-2013 |
20130127399 | CELL BALANCING SYSTEM AND METHOD - A system and method may identifying an overcharged cell from among a plurality of cells of a battery pack. An undercharged cell may be identified from among any of the plurality of cells of the battery pack. A switch may be operated to connect the overcharged cell to the undercharged cell via a direct current (DC)-DC converter. The DC-DC converter may be operated to transfer charge from the overcharged cell to the undercharged cell. | 05-23-2013 |
20140167547 | ELECTRIC MACHINE WITH FRACTIONAL SLOT WINDINGS - An electric machine includes a stator core defining a number of stator slots (Z). A rotor assembly is positioned at least partially within the stator core. The rotor assembly includes at least one permanent magnet and defines a number of poles (M). A plurality of stator windings are positioned in the number of stator slots and define a number of phases (M). The machine defines a non-integer slots per pole per phase value (X), which is expressed as a mixed fraction in the form of A.(B/C), where A, B and C are integers. Optimal configurations for the electric machine are specified that maximize torque while minimizing torque ripple, noise and manufacturing complexity. In one embodiment, the slots per pole per phase value (X) is 2½. In another embodiment, the slots per pole per phase value (X) is 3½. | 06-19-2014 |
20140191697 | STATOR WINDING DIAGNOSTIC SYSTEMS AND METHODS - Systems and methods are provided for diagnosing stator windings in an electric motor. An exemplary method for diagnosing stator windings in an electric motor involves determining an input energy imbalance across phases of the stator windings for an electrical period of the electric motor and identifying a fault condition when the input energy imbalance is greater than a first threshold value. In some embodiments, an input energy ratio across phases of the stator windings is also determined for the electrical period, wherein the fault condition is identified as a phase-to-phase short circuit fault condition when the input energy ratio is greater than a second threshold value and the input energy imbalance is greater than the first threshold value, or alternatively, as an in-phase short circuit fault condition when the input energy ratio is less than the second threshold value. | 07-10-2014 |
20140236501 | METHOD OF MONITORING PERFORMANCE OF AN ELECTRIC MOTOR - A method of monitoring performance of an electric motor includes calculating an actual input power and an expected input power of the electric motor. A power difference between the actual input power and the expected input power is recursively calculated over at least one period of an electrical cycle of the electric motor to determine a variance in the power difference during the at least one period of the electrical cycle. The variance in the power difference is compared to a threshold value to determine if the variance in the power difference is greater than the threshold value or less than the threshold value. The control module may signal that the electric motor is not operating within allowable operating parameters when the variance in the power difference is less than the threshold value. | 08-21-2014 |
20140239876 | ELECTRIC DRIVE WITH RECONFIGURABLE WINDING - An electric drive system for a PM electric machine, where the machine includes a stator, a rotor and an inverter. Each phase of the machine includes a stator winding separated into a first winding section and a second winding section and two switches in the inverter electrically coupled to the winding sections. The drive system includes a switch assembly for each phase electrically coupled to the inverter switches and the first and second winding sections, where the switch assembly includes at least two switch states. A first switch state of the switch assembly electrically couples the first winding section and the second winding section in series to the inverter switches and a second switch state electrically couples the second winding section to the inverter switches and electrically disconnects the first winding section from the inverter switches. | 08-28-2014 |
20140306624 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING AN ACTIVE MATERIAL ACTUATOR - A system for controlling an active material actuator includes an active material actuator configured to actuate when energized, a power supply configured to supply electrical power, and a control circuitry including a plurality of circuits and configured to selectively establish an electrical connection between the active material actuator and the power supply upon receipt of an activation signal. The control circuitry is configured to de-energize at least one of the circuits when no activation signal is received by the control circuitry in order to minimize parasitic current drawn from the power supply. | 10-16-2014 |
20140319957 | LOW TORQUE RIPPLE ELECTRIC DRIVE SYSTEM FOR BAS APPLICATION - A BAS machine that includes a specific combination of the number of stator slots to the number of rotor bars to reduce torque ripple without the need for skewing the rotor bars. Particularly, the ratio of the number of stator slots to the number of rotor bars is selected to prevent first and second order harmonics between the stator slots and the rotor bars, where the ratio includes 36/26, 54/44, 72/56, 72/58 or 72/62 for a six pole machine, 48/36, 72/52, 72/58 or 84/86 for an eight pole machine, and 60/44 or 60/46 for a ten pole machine. | 10-30-2014 |
20140349560 | SHAPE MEMORY ALLOY ACTIVE HATCH VENT - A vent assembly is disposed within an interior space of a vehicle for opening and closing fluid communication between the interior space and an exterior of the vehicle. The vent assembly includes a housing defining a plurality of openings and a plurality of vanes disposed in the openings. An actuator mechanism moves the vanes between an open position and a closed position, and includes a shaped memory alloy (SMA) member for actuating the vanes between the open and closed positions. The SMA member is activated when a hatch of the vehicle is opened to move the vanes into the open position and thereby open fluid communication between the interior space and the exterior to alleviate excessive air pressure buildup during closure of the hatch. | 11-27-2014 |