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US 8,796,965 B2Granted
Commutation calibration via motor mapping
AssigneePrecision Engine Controls Corporation
InventorJoel Mawhinney
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A DC brushless motor includes a rotary actuation shaft having multiple poles. Each of the poles has multiple commutation steps. The DC brushless motor also includes a motor controller capable of controlling rotation of the rotary actuation shaft. The motor controller stores a commutation step map.
Claims17
A method for generating a motor commutation map comprising the steps of:
- determining a magnetic center of a current commutation step of a motor by sensing an angular position or said rotary actuation shaft using a sensor and storing said magnetic center in a database;
- rotating a rotary actuation shaft of said motor to a next commutation step;
- determining a magnetic center of said next commutation step of said motor and storing said magnetic center in said database;
- and
- repeating said steps of rotating said rotary actuation shaft of said motor to said next commutation step and determining said magnetic center of said next commutation step of said motor and storing said magnetic center in said database until a magnetic center is stored for each commutation step of said motor.
2 more elements
A method for operating a motor for a rotary actuator comprising the steps of:
- determining a current commutation step of a motor;
- determining commutation steps required to rotate a rotary actuation shaft of said motor a desired angular distance using a commutation step map, wherein said commutation step map comprises a stored empirically determined magnetic center of each commutation step of the rotary actuator;
- and wherein each stored magnetic center is determined by sensing an angular position of said rotary actuation shaft using a sensor;
- and
- rotating said rotary actuation shaft using determined locations for commutation steps.
2 more elements
A method for operating a motor for a rotary actuator comprising the steps of:
- determining a current commutation step of a motor;
- determining commutation steps required to rotate a rotary actuation shaft of said motor a desired angular distance using a commutation step map by calculating an appropriate time to switch commutation to rotate said rotary actuation shaft said desired angular distance using a controller based on said commutation step map;
- wherein the commutation step map comprises a magnetic center of each commutation step of the motor and each magnetic center stored in the commutation step map is determined by sensing an angular position of said rotary actuation shaft using a sensor;
- and
- rotating said rotary actuation shaft using determined locations for commutation steps.
2 more elements
A motor comprising:
- a rotary actuation shaft;
- a plurality of poles, each of said poles having a plurality of commutation steps about said rotary actuation shaft;
- and
- a motor controller capable of controlling rotation of said rotary actuation shaft, wherein said motor controller comprises a memory storing a commutation step map, wherein said commutation step map stores a magnetic center point of each commutation step of the motor, and wherein each stored magnetic sensor is an empirically determined magnetic center and was determined by sensing an angular position of said rotary actuation shaft using a sensor.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.