# US 2026/0097664 A1 · Vehicle systems and related motor control methods > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2026/0097664 A1 - Document ID: US20260097664A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 19/045,935 - Filed: 2025-02-05 - Published: 2026-04-09 - Earliest claimed: 2024-10-04 - Assignees: Honeywell International Inc. - Applicants: Honeywell International Inc. - Inventors: Saed Mubaslat; Nasrullah Habeeb M; Vaishnavi Cheemala; Haritha B; Nikhila Patil - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20260097664A1 ## CPC - B60L 15/2045: {for optimising the use of energy} - H02P 27/08: with pulse width modulation - B60L 2200/10: Air crafts - B60L 2210/40: DC to AC converters - 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 Fly-by-wire vehicle systems and related actuation systems and operating methods are provided for actuating a flight control component. An exemplary method of operating a motor coupled to a flight control component involves determining a time period associated with an electrical cycle based on one or more electrical characteristics associated with a respective phase of the motor during the electrical cycle, calculating an excitation offset based at least in part on the time period associated with the electrical cycle, and thereafter operating a power conversion arrangement to apply a subsequent set of one or more voltage signals to the respective phase of the motor at a respective time within a subsequent electrical cycle corresponding to the excitation offset after a start of the subsequent electrical cycle to align excitation of the respective phase of the motor with an extremum of an electrical characteristic associated with the respective phase. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method of operating a motor, the method comprising: operating a power conversion arrangement to apply an initial set of one or more voltage signals to a respective phase of the motor at a first time corresponding to a start of a first electrical cycle; determining a time period associated with the first electrical cycle based on one or more electrical characteristics associated with the respective phase of the motor during the first electrical cycle; calculating an excitation offset based at least in part on the time period associated with the first electrical cycle; and thereafter operating the power conversion arrangement to apply a subsequent set of one or more voltage signals to the respective phase of the motor at a third time within a subsequent electrical cycle corresponding to the excitation offset after a second time corresponding to a start of the subsequent electrical cycle, wherein a difference between the third time and the second time is influenced by the excitation offset. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein determining the time period comprises monitoring measurement data indicative of a back electromotive force associated with the respective phase of the motor to calculate the time period based on one or more zero crossings associated with the back electromotive force. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2, wherein calculating the excitation offset comprises calculating the excitation offset as a fraction of the time period corresponding to the one or more zero crossings associated with the back electromotive force. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The method of claim 3, wherein the excitation offset is configured such that a peak current resulting from the subsequent set of one or more voltage signals applied to the respective phase of the motor is aligned with a peak of the back electromotive force. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the third time within the subsequent electrical cycle based at least in part on the excitation offset and a duty cycle associated with a power conversion command for the respective phase of the motor. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein: calculating the excitation offset comprises calculating the excitation offset as one fourth of the time period associated with the first electrical cycle; and determining the third time comprises adding the excitation offset to the second time and subtracting one half of a duty cycle to calculate the third time for initiating excitation of the respective phase of the motor within the subsequent electrical cycle. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The method of claim 6, wherein operating the power conversion arrangement to apply the subsequent set of one or more voltage signals comprises activating a switching element between a positive reference voltage node and the respective phase of the motor at the third time for a duration of time corresponding to the duty cycle. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The method of claim 7, further comprising: calculating a second excitation offset as three fourths of the time period associated with the first electrical cycle; and adding the excitation offset to the second time and subtracting one half of the duty cycle to calculate a fourth time for excitation of the respective phase of the motor within the subsequent electrical cycle, wherein operating the power conversion arrangement to apply the subsequent set of one or more voltage signals comprises activating a second switching element between a negative reference voltage node and the respective phase of the motor at the fourth time for the duration of time corresponding to the duty cycle. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein: calculating the excitation offset comprises calculating the excitation offset as three fourths of the time period associated with the first electrical cycle; and determining the third time comprises adding the excitation offset to the second time and subtracting one half of a duty cycle to calculate the third time for excitation of the respective phase of the motor within the subsequent electrical cycle. ### Claim 10 A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processing system, cause the processing system to: operate a power conversion arrangement coupled to a motor to apply an initial set of one or more voltage signals to a respective phase of the motor at a first time corresponding to a start of a first electrical cycle; determine a time period associated with the first electrical cycle based on one or more electrical characteristics associated with the respective phase of the motor during the first electrical cycle; calculate an excitation offset based at least in part on the time period associated with the first electrical cycle; and thereafter operate the power conversion arrangement to apply a subsequent set of one or more voltage signals to the respective phase of the motor at a third time within a subsequent electrical cycle corresponding to the excitation offset after a second time corresponding to a start of the subsequent electrical cycle, wherein a difference between the third time and the second time is influenced by the excitation offset. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein determining the time period comprises monitoring measurement data indicative of a back electromotive force associated with the respective phase of the motor to calculate the time period based on one or more zero crossings associated with the back electromotive force. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein calculating the excitation offset comprises calculating the excitation offset as a fraction of the time period corresponding to the one or more zero crossings associated with the back electromotive force. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the excitation offset is configured such that a peak current resulting from the subsequent set of one or more voltage signals applied to the respective phase of the motor is aligned with a peak of the back electromotive force. ### Claim 14 (depends on 10) The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the computer-executable instructions are configurable to cause the processing system to determine the third time within the subsequent electrical cycle based at least in part on the excitation offset and a duty cycle associated with a power conversion command for the respective phase of the motor. ### Claim 15 (depends on 10) The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein: calculating the excitation offset comprises calculating the excitation offset as one fourth of the time period associated with the first electrical cycle; and determining the third time comprises adding the excitation offset to the second time and subtracting one half of a duty cycle to calculate the third time for initiating excitation of the respective phase of the motor within the subsequent electrical cycle. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein operating the power conversion arrangement to apply the subsequent set of one or more voltage signals comprises activating a switching element between a positive reference voltage node and the respective phase of the motor at the third time for a duration of time corresponding to the duty cycle. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the computer-executable instructions are configurable to cause the processing system to: calculate a second excitation offset as three fourths of the time period associated with the first electrical cycle; add the excitation offset to the second time and subtracting one half of the duty cycle to calculate a fourth time for excitation of the respective phase of the motor within the subsequent electrical cycle; and activate a second switching element between a negative reference voltage node and the respective phase of the motor at the fourth time for the duration of time corresponding to the duty cycle. ### Claim 18 (depends on 10) The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein: calculating the excitation offset comprises calculating the excitation offset as three fourths of the time period associated with the first electrical cycle; and determining the third time comprises adding the excitation offset to the second time and subtracting one half of a duty cycle to calculate the third time for excitation of the respective phase of the motor within the subsequent electrical cycle. ### Claim 19 A system comprising: a power conversion arrangement comprising a plurality of phase legs, wherein each phase leg of the plurality of phase legs is coupled between a first reference voltage node and a second reference voltage node; a motor comprising a plurality of windings, wherein each winding of the plurality of windings is coupled between a respective output node of a respective phase leg of the plurality of phase legs and a third node; a sensing arrangement coupled to the motor to provide measurement data indicative of an electrical characteristic associated with a respective phase of the motor; and a control module coupled to the sensing arrangement and the power conversion arrangement to: operate the power conversion arrangement to apply an initial set of one or more voltage signals to the respective phase of the motor at a first time corresponding to a start of a first electrical cycle; determine a time period associated with the first electrical cycle based on the measurement data indicative of the electrical characteristic associated with the respective phase of the motor during the first electrical cycle; calculate an excitation offset based at least in part on the time period associated with the first electrical cycle; and thereafter operate the power conversion arrangement to apply a subsequent set of one or more voltage signals to the respective phase of the motor at a third time within a subsequent electrical cycle corresponding to the excitation offset after a second time corresponding to a start of the subsequent electrical cycle, wherein a difference between the third time and the second time is influenced by the excitation offset. ### Claim 20 (depends on 19) The system of claim 19, wherein the excitation offset is configured to align excitation of the respective phase of the motor with a peak of a back electromotive force associated with the respective phase of the motor.