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US 10,938,331 B2Granted
Method and apparatus for operating an electric motor
AssigneeArm Limited
InventorDavid Victor Pietromonaco
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Apparatus and methods are provided for operating an electric motor, comprising selectively energising the coils of a stator having a plurality of stator teeth, each stator tooth having a said coil mounted thereon. The stator coils of a subset of the stator teeth are energised during a given time period to attract a corresponding rotor tooth into alignment with each of the stator teeth in the subset over the given time period. The stator coil of at least one stator tooth in the subset is energised during a portion of the given time period before the at least one stator tooth overlaps the corresponding rotor tooth.
Claims20
An electric motor comprising:
- a stator to comprise a plurality of stator teeth, at least some of the stator teeth to have a stator coil mounted thereto;
- a rotor to comprise a plurality of rotor teeth, the rotor to be rotatable relative to the stator during operation of the electric motor such that one or more of the rotor teeth periodically overlap with one or more of the stator teeth;
- driver circuitry to generate pulse signals to energize stator coils of a first subset of the stator teeth in pairs during a first time period to attract one or more of the plurality of rotor teeth into alignment with one or more of the stator teeth in the first subset over the first time period;
- and
- control circuitry to control power to be supplied to the stator coils from the driver circuitry so that power is supplied to a first stator coil of a respective pair of stator coils in a boost mode while power is supplied to a second stator coil of the respective pair of coils in a buck mode, the control circuitry to:
- commence energization of a stator coil of at least one stator tooth in the first subset during a portion of the first time period prior to the at least one stator tooth completely overlapping a first corresponding rotor tooth;
- and
- suspend energization of the stator coil of the at least one stator tooth during a portion of the first time period while the at least one stator tooth at least partially overlaps the corresponding rotor tooth.
5 more elements
Circuitry for an electric motor comprising:
- driver circuitry to generate pulse signals to selectively energise a plurality of stator coils of a stator having a plurality of stator teeth in pairs, at least one stator tooth of the plurality of stator teeth having one of the plurality of stator coils mounted thereon;
- and
- control circuitry to cause the driver circuitry to energise stator coils of a subset of the stator teeth during a given time period to attract a corresponding rotor tooth into alignment with at least one of the stator teeth in the subset over the given time period, the control circuitry to cause the driver circuitry to energize the stator coils of the subset of the stator teeth so that:
- power is supplied to a first stator coil of a respective pair of coils in a boost mode while power is supplied to a second stator coil of the respective pair of coils in a buck mode;
- and
- a stator coil of the at least one of the stator teeth in the subset is energized during a portion of the given time period before the at least one of the stator teeth in the subset completely overlaps the corresponding rotor tooth.
3 more elements
A method of operating an electric motor, comprising:
- selectively energizing coils mounted on a plurality of stator teeth of a stator, the selective energizing comprising:
- generating pulse signals to energize stator coils of a first subset of the stator teeth in pairs during a first time period to attract corresponding rotor teeth into alignment with the stator teeth in the first subset over the first time period, wherein:
- power is supplied to a first stator coil of a respective pair of coils in a boost mode while power is supplied to a second stator coil of the respective pair of coils in a buck mode;
- and
- a stator coil of at least one stator tooth in the first subset is energized during a portion of the first time period prior to the at least one stator tooth at least partially overlapping a rotor tooth corresponding with the at least one stator tooth.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.