Gear motor with inverter suitable for reducing size and cost

• US 20030048085A1
• Filed: 09/10/2002
• Published: 03/13/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sumitomo Heavy Industries Limited
• Original Assignee: Sumitomo Heavy Industries Limited
• Inventors: Komatsu, Mikio, Susono, Motohisa, Yamamoto, Akira
• Granted Patent: US 6,777,901 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 318/274
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 11/20 for measuring, monitoring, testing, protecting or switching rectifiers H02K11/04; power electronics H02K11/33
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 11/24 Devices for sensing torque, or actuated thereby H02K11/27 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 11/25 Devices for sensing temperature, or actuated thereby
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 11/27 Devices for sensing current, or actuated thereby overcurrent protection responsive to temperature of the machines or parts thereof, e.g. windings, H02K11/25
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 11/33 Drive circuits, e.g. power electronics H02K11/38 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 11/35 Devices for recording or transmitting machine parameters, e.g. memory chips or radio transmitters for diagnosis
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 7/116 with gears
• CPC Class Codes: H02P 27/06 using dc to ac converters or inverters H02P27/05 takes precedence

Abstract

In a gear motor with an inverter, the inverter comprises a communication circuit for communicating with a controller to control the speed of the motor under the control of the controller and a CPU for collecting information from sensors mounted on the gear of the gear motor, performing predetermined determination processing, and transmitting the collected information and the determination processing result to the controller via the communication circuit.

Claims

1. A gear motor with an inverter, comprising:

a motor;

a gear section for acceleration and deceleration, that is combined into the motor;

at least one sensor mounted on the gear section; and

a communication device for communicating with a higher-order device,

the inverter being for performing speed control under the control of the high-order device and including a control unit for collecting information from the at least one sensor and performing predetermined processing using the collected information,

wherein the control unit transmits at least one of the collected information and the processing result to the higher-order device via the communication device.

2. A gear motor with an inverter according to claim 1, wherein the control unit performs abnormality-determination processing as the predetermined processing for determining whether or not the gear section is being used under abnormal conditions based on the information transmitted from the at least one sensor.

3. A gear motor with an inverter according to claim 2, wherein, in addition to the abnormality determination, the control unit determines whether or not the motor needs to be stopped when the motor is being used under abnormal conditions and stops the motor when the control unit determines that the motor needs to be stopped.

4. A gear motor with an inverter according to claim 1, wherein the inverter is mounted on the motor.

5. A gear motor with an inverter according to claim 3, wherein the inverter is mounted on the motor.

6. A gear motor with an inverter according to claim 5, wherein the inverter comprises:

an inverter main-circuit comprising a plurality of switching elements for performing an inverting operation;

an inverter-drive circuit; and

an interface unit for interconnecting the at least one sensor and the control unit,

and wherein the control unit controls the switching elements via the inverter-drive circuit and the communication device is included in the inverter and interconnects the control unit and the higher-order device.

7. A gear motor with an inverter according to claim 6, wherein the control unit further comprises:

an inverter-control unit for controlling the plurality of switching elements via the inverter-drive circuit;

an information-processing unit, connected to the interface unit, for performing the predetermined processing by using the information from the at least one sensor; and

a communication-processing unit, connected between the communication device, the inverter-control unit, and the information-processing unit, for transmitting and receiving information between the higher-order device, the inverter-control unit, and the information-processing unit.

8. A gear motor with an inverter according to claim 7, wherein the communication device and the higher-order device are interconnected by a real-time-system network.

9. A gear motor with an inverter according to claim 8, wherein the higher-order device can be connected to the Internet via an information-system network.

10. A motor with an inverter, comprising:

a communication device for communicating with a higher-order device; and

at least one sensor mounted on the motor, the sensor being provided to be used except for speed control,

the inverter being for performing speed control under the control of the high-order device and including a control unit for collecting information from the at least one sensor and performing predetermined processing by using the collected information,

wherein the control unit transmits at least one of the collected information and the processing result to the higher-order device via the communication device.

11. A motor with an inverter according to claim 10, wherein the control unit performs abnormality-determination processing as the predetermined processing for determining whether or not the motor is being used under abnormal conditions based on the information transmitted from the at least one sensor.

12. A motor with an inverter according to claim 11, wherein, in addition to the abnormality determination, the control unit determines whether or not the motor needs to be stopped when the motor is being used under abnormal conditions and stops the motor when the control unit determines that the motor needs to be stopped.

13. A motor with an inverter according to claim 10, wherein the inverter is mounted on the motor.

14. A motor with an inverter according to claim 12, wherein the inverter is mounted on the motor.

15. A motor with an inverter according to claim 14, wherein the inverter comprises:

an inverter main-circuit comprising a plurality of switching elements for performing an inverting operation;

an inverter-drive circuit; and

an interface unit for interconnecting the at least one sensor and the control unit,

and wherein the control unit controls the switching elements via the inverter-drive circuit and the communication device is included in the inverter and interconnects the control unit and the higher-order device.

16. A motor with an inverter according to claim 15, wherein the control unit further comprises:

an inverter-control unit for controlling the plurality of switching elements via the inverter-drive circuit;

an information-processing unit, connected to the interface unit, for performing the predetermined processing by using the information from the at least one sensor;

a communication-processing unit, connected between the communication device, the inverter-control unit, and the information-processing unit, for transmitting and receiving information between the higher-order device, the inverter-control unit, and the information-processing unit.

17. A gear motor with an inverter according to claim 16, wherein the communication device and the higher-order device are interconnected by a real-time-system network.

18. A motor with an inverter according to claim 17, wherein the higher-order device can be connected to the Internet via an information-system network.