Position sensing system for a three (3) phase electric motor
AssigneeRemy Technologies, L.L.C.
InventorAndrew Meyer
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A multi-phase electric motor including a housing, a stator mounted to the housing, a rotor rotatably mounted relative to the stator, and a position sensing system configured and disposed to output a signal representing a position of the rotor relative to the stator. The position sensing system includes a rotating member mounted relative to the rotor and a plurality of digital sensors mounted relative to the rotating member. At least two of the plurality of digital sensors are configured and disposed to generate a quadrature output signal. The plurality of digital sensors being configured and disposed to sense discrete portions of the rotating member to detect a position of the rotor relative to the stator.
Claims20
A multi-phase electric motor comprising:
- a housing;
- a stator mounted to the housing;
- a rotor rotatably mounted relative to the stator;
- and
- a position sensing system configured and disposed to output a signal representing a position of the rotor relative to the stator, the position sensing system including a rotating member mounted relative to the rotor and a plurality of digital sensors mounted to the housing relative to the rotating member, at least two of the plurality of digital sensors being configured and disposed to generate a quadrature output signal, the plurality of digital sensors being configured and disposed to sense discrete portions of the rotating member to detect a position of the rotor relative to the stator.
A method of sensing a position of a rotor relative to a stator of a multi-phase electric motor, the method comprising:
- digitally sensing with a first digital sensor a first trigger element arranged on a first sensing portion of a rotating member mounted to the rotor of the multi-phase electric motor, the first trigger element including a first sensing portion and a first transition portion;
- digitally sensing with a second digital sensor a second trigger element arranged on the first sensing portion, the second trigger element being ninety degrees out of phase relative to the first trigger element;
- generating quadrature output signal having a quadrature signal period from the first and second digital sensors;
- digitally sensing with a third digital sensor a trigger member arranged on a second sensing portion of the rotary member;
- generating an output signal from the third digital sensor;
- and
- determining a position of the rotor relative to the stator based on the quadrature signal and the output signal from the third digital sensor.
A position sensing system for sensing a position of a rotor relative to a stator comprising:
- a rotating member;
- and
- a plurality of digital sensors mounted relative to the rotating member, at least two of the plurality of digital sensors being configured and disposed to generate a quadrature output signal, the plurality of digital sensors being configured and disposed to sense discrete portions of the rotating member to detect a position of the rotor relative to the stator.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.