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US 11,774,936 B2Granted
Stepper motor
AssigneeTexas Instruments Incorporated
InventorsRakesh Raja, Sudhir Nagaraj, Sooping Saw
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for electrically producing a stalled state in a stepper motor having a first coil and a second coil is provided. The method includes driving a first sinusoidal current through the first coil, and driving a second sinusoidal current through the second coil, wherein the first and second sinusoidal currents are in phase.
Claims13
A method for determining electrical characteristics of stepper motor, the method comprising:
- driving a first sinusoidal current through a first coil;
- and
- driving a second sinusoidal current through a second coil;
- wherein the first and second sinusoidal currents are in phase;
- wherein the stepper motor stalls while driving the first sinusoidal current through the first coil and while driving the second sinusoidal current through the second coil;
- and
- determining the electrical characteristics of the stepper motor while the stepper motor is stalled.
4 more elements
A motor control circuit for determining electrical characteristics of a stepper motor, comprising:
- power transistor elements in a half-bridge arrangement coupled to first and second terminals of first and second coils, configured to selectively switch current for the first and second coils of the stepper motor according to control signals applied to corresponding gate terminals;
- and
- control circuitry coupled to the gate terminals of the power transistor elements, configured to produce the control signals to control the power transistor elements, wherein the control signals are configured to cause the power transistor elements to drive a first sinusoidal current through the first coil and a second sinusoidal current through the second coil;
- wherein the first and second sinusoidal currents are in phase;
- wherein the stepper motor stalls while driving the first sinusoidal current through the first coil and while driving the second sinusoidal current through the second coil;
- and
- wherein the electrical characteristics of the stepper motor are determined while the stepper motor is stalled.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.