Actuator position sensing
AssigneeUltra Motion LLC
InventorsSean Rodger, Erwin Rodger, Rob Koch, Tom Quartararo
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Methods and systems for measuring multi-turn angular position include a system of N gears meshed with one another, each gear having a unique number of teeth. A first gear is mounted to an input shaft. A set of N angular position sensors are each configured to measure the angular position of a respective gear in the system of N gears within one rotation. A control module is configured to determine an angular position of the input shaft over multiple rotations using the measured angular positions of the N gears.
Claims33
A position sensor, comprising:
- a system of N gears meshed with one another, each gear having a unique number of teeth, a first gear being mounted to an input shaft;
- a set of N angular position sensors, each configured to measure the angular position of a respective gear in the system of N gears within one rotation;
- a control module configured to determine an angular position of the input shaft over multiple rotations using the measured angular positions of the N gears.
An electromechanical actuator, comprising:
- an electric motor, comprising a rotor and a stator;
- a mechanical output stage that is driven by said electric motor;
- a system of N gears meshed with one another, each gear having a unique number of teeth, a first gear being mounted to an input shaft that rotates in accordance with the electric motor;
- a set of N angular position sensors, each configured to measure the angular position of a respective gear in the system of N gears within one rotation;
- a control module configured to determine an angular position of the input shaft over multiple rotations using the measured angular positions of the N gears.
A method of determining angular position over multiple rotations, comprising:
- measuring an angular position within one rotation of each gear within a system of N gears that are meshed together, each gear having a unique number of teeth;
- iteratively determining a number of full cycles for subsets of the system of N gears;
- calculating a number of full rotations of a first gear using the iteratively determined number of full cycles for the subsets of gears;
- and
- calculating an angular position of the first gear over multiple rotations using the calculated number of first gear full rotations and the measured angle value of the first gear within one rotation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.