# US 11,077,759 B1 · Pulsed electric machine control > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 11,077,759 B1 - Document ID: US11077759B1 - Status: Granted - Kind: B1 - Application number: 17/188,509 - Filed: 2021-03-01 - Granted: 2021-08-03 - Earliest claimed: 2021-01-26 - Assignees: Tula eTechnology, Inc. - Applicants: Tula eTechnology, Inc. - Inventors: Vijay Srinivasan - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11077759B1 ## CPC - B60L 15/20: for control of the vehicle or its driving motor to achieve a desired performance, e.g. speed, torque, programmed variation of speed - B60L 15/08: using pulses - H02P 27/08: with pulse width modulation - B60L 2240/26: Vehicle weight - B60L 2240/423: Torque - B60L 2240/48: related to transmissions - B60L 2260/28: Four wheel or all wheel drive - B60L 2270/14: of noise - B60L 2270/142: acoustic - B60L 2270/145: Structure borne vibrations - B60L: PROPULSION OF ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES (arrangements or mounting of electrical propulsion units or of plural diverse prime-movers for mutual or common propulsion in vehicles B60K1/00, B60K6/20; arrangements or mounting of electrical gearing in vehicles B60K17/12, B60K17/14; preventing wheel slip by reducing power in rail vehicles B61C15/08; dynamo-electric machines H02K; control or regulation of electric motors H02P); SUPPLYING ELECTRIC POWER FOR AUXILIARY EQUIPMENT OF ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES (electric coupling devices combined with mechanical couplings of vehicles B60D1/64; electric heating for vehicles B60H1/00); ELECTRODYNAMIC BRAKE SYSTEMS FOR VEHICLES IN GENERAL (control or regulation of electric motors H02P); MAGNETIC SUSPENSION OR LEVITATION FOR VEHICLES; MONITORING OPERATING VARIABLES OF ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES; ELECTRIC SAFETY DEVICES FOR ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES - H02P: CONTROL OR REGULATION OF ELECTRIC MOTORS, ELECTRIC GENERATORS OR DYNAMO-ELECTRIC CONVERTERS; CONTROLLING TRANSFORMERS, REACTORS OR CHOKE COILS ## Abstract Pulsed control of electric motors, and more particularly, to selectively adjusting one or more of a pulsing frequency, an amplitude of the pulses and/or a duty cycle of the pulses for reducing Noise, Vibration and Harshness (NVH) while maintaining high levels of operating efficiency. ## Claims ### Claim 1 An electric machine controller for controlling pulsing of an electric machine onboard a vehicle, the electric machine controller arranged to: determine a torque demand for operating the electric machine; determine an amplitude for pulsed operation of the electric machine; determine a duty cycle for the pulsed operation of the electric machine; and determine a pulsing frequency for the pulsed operation of the electric machine, wherein the vehicle includes a gearbox and the pulsing frequency is determined based at least in part on a current operational gear of the gearbox the; and direct pulsed operation of the electric machine at the determined amplitude, duty cycle and pulsing frequency to deliver the torque demand. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The electric machine controller of claim 1, wherein the gearbox has a plurality of gears and each gear of the gearbox is characterized by a different resonant frequency, and the determining of the pulsing frequency further involving avoiding different resonant frequencies for each of the gears of the gearbox respectively. ### Claim 3 An electric machine controller for controlling pulsing of an electric machine onboard a vehicle, the electric machine controller arranged to: determine a torque demand for operating the electric machine; determine an amplitude for pulsed operation of the electric machine; determine a duty cycle for the pulsed operation of the electric machine; and determine a pulsing frequency for the pulsed operation of the electric machine, wherein the pulsing frequency is determined at least in part based on a wheel-drive status of the vehicle; and direct pulsed operation of the electric machine at the determined amplitude, duty cycle and pulsing frequency to deliver the torque demand. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The electric machine controller of claim 3, wherein the wheel-drive status of the vehicle includes is selected from the group consisting of Front Wheel Drive (FWD), Rear Wheel Drive (RWD), and All Wheel Drive (AWD) and the ascertained frequency is adjusted for the vehicle operating in FWD, RWD and AWD respectively. ### Claim 5 An electric machine controller for controlling pulsing of an electric machine onboard a vehicle, the electric machine controller arranged to: determine a torque demand for operating the electric machine; determine an amplitude for pulsed operation of the electric machine; determine a duty cycle for the pulsed operation of the electric machine; and determine a pulsing frequency for the pulsed operation of the electric machine, wherein the pulsing frequency is determined at least in part based on a weight of a load carried by the vehicle; and direct pulsed operation of the electric machine at the determined amplitude, duty cycle and pulsing frequency to deliver the torque demand. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The electric machine controller of claim 5, wherein the vehicle and the weight of the load are characterized by a resonant frequency and the ascertained frequency is adjusted so as to avoid the resonant frequency. ### Claim 7 An electric machine controller for controlling pulsing of an electric machine onboard a vehicle, the electric machine controller arranged to: determine a torque demand for operating the electric machine; determine an amplitude for pulsed operation of the electric machine; determine a duty cycle for the pulsed operation of the electric machine; and determine a pulsing frequency for the pulsed operation of the electric machine; and direct pulsed operation of the electric machine at the determined amplitude, duty cycle and pulsing frequency to deliver the torque demand; and wherein the pulsing frequency is selected based at least in part on at least one selected from the group consisting of: (a) an operating gear of a gearbox; (b) a wheel drive status; (c) a weight of a load carried by the vehicle; (d) a selectable economy mode; (e) a selectable sport mode: (f) a selectable NVH controller that allows the driver to select different levels of acceptable NVH; (g) a determination of whether the vehicle is occupied or not occupied; (h) a sensed temperature; (i) a first model that models NVH characteristics of the vehicle as the vehicle ages; (j) a second model that models NVH characteristics of the vehicle following a cold start of the vehicle; (k) an operational status of an active noise control system; (l) an operational status of an active vibration control system; (m) a road surface conditions; or (n) any combination of (a) through (m). ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The electric machine controller of claim 7, wherein the vehicle includes a user selectable NVH controller that allows for selectable levels of acceptable NVH and the pulsing frequency is lowered when a higher level of acceptable NVH is selected. ### Claim 9 (depends on 7) The electric machine controller of claim 7, wherein the vehicle includes a powertrain mount to mitigate transmission of the NVH and the pulsing frequency decreases or increases as the capability of the powertrain mount to mitigate the transmission of the NVH increases or decreases respectively. ### Claim 10 (depends on 7) The electric machine controller of claim 7, wherein the pulsing frequency is based at least in part on vehicle occupancy as measured by an occupancy sensor and the pulsing frequency is lowered when no occupant is sensed in the vehicle relative to when an occupant is sensed in the vehicle. ### Claim 11 (depends on 7) The electric machine controller of claim 7, wherein the pulsing frequency is based at least in part on a temperature as measured by a temperature sensor and the pulsing frequency is increased for cold sensed temperatures and decreased for warm sensed temperatures. ### Claim 12 (depends on 7) The electric machine controller of claim 7, wherein the vehicle includes a model that models NVH characteristics of the vehicle as the vehicle ages and the pulsing frequency is increased when the model indicates that the NVH characteristics of the vehicle are increasing. ### Claim 13 (depends on 7) The electric machine controller of claim 7, wherein the vehicle includes a model that models NVH characteristics of the vehicle following a cold start and the pulsing frequency is decreased as the vehicle warms up following the cold start. ### Claim 14 (depends on 7) The electric machine controller of claim 7, wherein the vehicle includes an active noise controller and the pulsing frequency is adjusted when the active noise control system is actively reducing noise or adding noise. ### Claim 15 (depends on 7) The electric machine controller of claim 7, wherein the vehicle includes an active vibration control system and the ascertained frequency is decreased when the active vibration control system is actively reducing vibration. ### Claim 16 (depends on 7) The electric machine controller of claim 7, wherein the pulsing frequency is selected by using one of the following: (a) a look up table; (b) a multi-dimensional look up table; (c) a sliding scale; (d) a multiplier; (e) a processor; (f) a logic unit; (g) a trained neural network; or (e) any combination of (a) through (g). ### Claim 17 (depends on 7) The electric machine controller of claim 7, further configured to operate the electric machine as either the motor or a generator. ### Claim 18 (depends on 7) The electric machine controller of claim 7, further configured to operate the electric machine either in continuous operation when the determined torque demand is below a threshold or the pulsed operation when the determined torque demand exceeds the threshold. ### Claim 19 An electric machine controller for controlling pulsing of an electric machine onboard a vehicle, the electric machine controller arranged to: determine a torque demand for operating the electric machine; determine an amplitude for pulsed operation of the electric machine; determine a duty cycle for the pulsed operation of the electric machine; and determine a pulsing frequency for the pulsed operation of the electric machine, wherein the pulsing frequency is determined at least in part based on an operating mode of the vehicle; and direct pulsed operation of the electric machine at the determined amplitude, duty cycle and pulsing frequency to deliver the torque demand. ### Claim 20 (depends on 19) The electric machine controller of claim 19, wherein the operating mode of the vehicle is a selectable economy mode for operating the vehicle and the pulsing frequency is lower when the vehicle is operating in the economy mode relative to when the vehicle is operating in a non economy mode. ### Claim 21 (depends on 19) The electric machine controller of claim 19, wherein the operating mode of the vehicle is a selectable sport mode and the pulsing frequency is lower relative to when the vehicle is operating in the sport mode relative to when the vehicle is not operating in the sport mode.