Closed-path linear motor
AssigneeAnorad Corporation
InventorAnwar Chitayat
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system and method for a linear motor for driving a plurality of stages along a path are provided. The linear motor system includes a plurality of armature windings arranged to form a path, such as may be straight, curved, opened or closed. The stages include motor magnets that provide a magnet field. An encoder sensor is connected for movement with the stages so as to sense relative movement between the stages and the path. The encoder sensor further is operative to provide an encoder signal having an electrical characteristic indicative of relative movement between the stages and the path.
Claims17
A linear motor system comprising:
- a linear path for supporting and guiding a plurality of stages, the linear path having a plurality of armature windings thereon;
- a plurality of switches, a subset of the switches being connected with respective armature windings;
- and
- a plurality of stages, a subset of the stages having at least one switching magnet and at least one motor magnet on at least one stage, wherein the subset of switches respectively close when under the influence of the at least one switching magnet such that power can be applied to the respective armature windings to interact with the at least one motor magnet and effect movement of the at least one stage along the path.
A method for driving a plurality of stages along a linear motor path comprising:
- providing independent application of armature power to at least are stage of a subset of the plurality of stages from a motor controller;
- and
- providing independent armature switching and independent position communication from at least one stage a subset of the plurality of stages to the motor controller.
A system for driving a plurality of stages along a linear motor path comprising:
- means for providing independent application of armature power to a subset of the plurality of stages from a motor controller;
- and
- means for providing independent armature switching and independent position communication from a subset of the plurality of stages to the motor controller.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.