System for damping unwanted motor movement

A flight control surface movement and damping control system, comprising:

• a flight control surface coupled to receive a drive torque and, in response to the drive torque, to move to a flight control surface position;
• and
• an electric motor system coupled to the flight control surface, the electric motor system configured to selectively supply the drive torque to the flight control surface and including:
• a multi-phase motor having a multi-phase stator and a rotor, each phase of the multi-phase stator configured to be selectively energized to thereby generate a rotating magnetic field that causes the rotor to rotate and supply the drive torque;
• a multi-phase inverter circuit coupled to each phase of the multi-phase stator, the multi-phase inverter circuit adapted to be coupled to a high-side voltage node and a circuit common node, the multi-phase inverter circuit configured to selectively couple each phase of the multi-phase stator in series between the high-side voltage node and the circuit common node;
• and
• a plurality of motor brake switches, each motor brake switch configured to be in an open state when energized and in a closed state when deenergized,
• wherein:
• each motor brake switch consists of only a depletion mode transistor,
• each motor brake switch is directly connected in series between the circuit common node and a different one of the phases,
• when the motor brake switches are in the open state, the motor brake switches do not connect the associated phases to the circuit common node, and
• when the motor brake switches are in the closed state, the motor brake switches connect the associated phases to the circuit common node.