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US 9,000,706 B2Granted
Actuator control system
AssigneeCummins Inc.
InventorsRamakrishna Dontha, Daniel E. Boewe, Niraj Desai, Hari Donepudi, Mike Menkedick
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system comprising an actuator and a controller configured to drive the actuator with a pulse width modulated (PWM) signal. The controller is configured to limit a duty cycle of the PWM signal in response to a current supplied by the PWM signal.
Claims12
A system, comprising:
- an actuator for actuating a component of an engine;
- and
- a controller configured to drive the actuator with a pulse width modulated (PWM) signal in response to a requested duty cycle for the component;
- wherein:
- the controller is configured to limit the requested duty cycle of the PWM signal that drives the actuator in response to a current supplied by the PWM signal to drive the actuator, a present duty cycle, and a current limit associated with a threshold for damage or deterioration of the actuator, wherein a duty cycle limit is generated by dividing a product of the current limit and the present duty cycle by the current supplied by the PWM signal and the controller is further configured to limit the requested duty cycle of the PWM signal in response to the duty cycle limit.
2 more elements
A system, comprising:
- an actuator for actuating a component of an engine, the actuator having a base voltage;
- a controller configured to drive the actuator with a pulse width modulated (PWM) signal in response to a requested duty cycle for the component;
- and
- a power supply configured to supply power to the controller;
- wherein the controller is configured to limit the requested duty cycle of the PWM signal in response to the base voltage and a voltage of the power supply, the base voltage being less than the voltage of the power supply, wherein a duty cycle limit is generated by dividing the base voltage and the voltage of the power supply and the controller is further configured to limit the requested duty cycle of the PWM signal in response to the duty cycle limit.
2 more elements
A system, comprising:
- a turbine;
- an actuator coupled to the turbine and configured to actuate at least a part of the turbine;
- an engine coupled to the turbine;
- and
- an engine controller coupled to the engine and configured to control an operation of the engine;
- wherein:
- the engine controller is configured to drive the actuator to actuate the part of the turbine with a pulse width modulated (PWM) signal in response to a requested duty cycle for the part of the turbine;
- and
- the controller is configured to limit the requested duty cycle of the PWM signal in response to a current supplied by the PWM signal to drive the actuator, a present duty cycle, and a current limit associated with a threshold for damage or deterioration of the actuator, wherein a duty cycle limit is generated by dividing a product of the current limit and the present duty cycle by the current supplied by the PWM signal and the controller is further configured to limit the requested duty cycle of the PWM signal in response to the duty cycle limit.
6 more elements
A system, comprising:
- an actuator for actuating a component associated with an engine;
- and
- a controller configured to drive the actuator with a pulse width modulated (PWM) signal in response to a requested duty cycle for the component;
- wherein:
- the controller is configured to limit the requested duty cycle of the PWM signal to a first limit in response to a current supplied by the PWM signal to drive the actuator, a present duty cycle, and a current limit associated with a threshold for damage or deterioration of the actuator, wherein a duty cycle limit is generated by dividing a product of the current limit and the present duty cycle by the current supplied by the PWM signal and the controller is further configured to limit the requested duty cycle of the PWM signal to the first limit in response to the duty cycle limit and to substantially continuously raise the first limit on the duty cycle of the PWM signal to a second limit in response to a decreasing resistance of the actuator.
2 more elements
A method, comprising:
- driving an actuator that actuates a component associated with an engine with a pulse width modulated (PWM) signal in response to a requested duty cycle for the component;
- sensing a current associated with driving the actuator;
- combining the sensed current, a current limit associated with a threshold for damage or deterioration of the actuator, and a present duty cycle of the PWM signal to generate a duty cycle limit, wherein the combining includes dividing a product of the current limit and the present duty cycle by the current supplied by the PWM signal to generate the duty cycle limit;
- and
- limiting the requested duty cycle of the PWM signal with the duty cycle limit.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.