Motor controller
First Claim
1. An apparatus for starting and controlling an electric motor which is coupled with a power supply through contactors which when closed connect the motor to the power supply through respective conductors and when open disconnect the motor from the power supply, said apparatus being able to store at any one time program information for starting and controlling only a subset of a set of different electric motors but being electrically reprogrammable to store therein program information for any selected subset of said set, said apparatus comprising:
- (a) sensors coupled with the conductors to generate sensor outputs related to the state of selected parameters of at least one of said motor and said conductors;
(b) a display for displaying the state of selected parameters of the motor and of said apparatus;
(c) a microprocessor circuit having;
(1) an electrically erasable and programmable read-only memory for storing program information for both starting and controlling an electric motor;
(2) pins coupled with said sensors to receive sensor outputs therefrom; and
(3) pins coupled with said contactors to command the contactors to open or close and coupled with said display to control the state of the display;
(d) a source of program information coupled to said microprocessor for electrically programming or reprogramming said electrically erasable and programmable read-only memory to store therein program information for starting and for controlling a selected motor, said program information comprising;
(1) starting programs defining parameters of the delivery of electric power to the motor when starting the motor; and
(2) control programs defining relationships between said sensor outputs on the one hand and, on the other hand, the state of the display and the open and closed states of the contractors; and
(e) said source of program information being selectively energized to electrically program or re-program said memory in the microprocessor circuit to store therein a selected program information matching a selected motor, and said microprocessor circuit thereby being enabled to start and control said selected motor and to control said display when coupled with said selected motor.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A microcomputer-based device that performs the functions of motor starting and overload protection. The starter function is customized for a particular application by storing program steps representing the input command and output control logic peculiar to a given motor in a programmable, non-volatile memory cell. Each set of program steps, which the microcomputer executes, compose an expandable library of such sets representing the different motor circuit applications available for configuring a starter to match its particular application. A configuration can be changed by simply loading into memory the appropriate set of program steps from the library and changing the labels of the inputs and outputs to match the new application.
85 Citations
9 Claims
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1. An apparatus for starting and controlling an electric motor which is coupled with a power supply through contactors which when closed connect the motor to the power supply through respective conductors and when open disconnect the motor from the power supply, said apparatus being able to store at any one time program information for starting and controlling only a subset of a set of different electric motors but being electrically reprogrammable to store therein program information for any selected subset of said set, said apparatus comprising:
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(a) sensors coupled with the conductors to generate sensor outputs related to the state of selected parameters of at least one of said motor and said conductors; (b) a display for displaying the state of selected parameters of the motor and of said apparatus; (c) a microprocessor circuit having; (1) an electrically erasable and programmable read-only memory for storing program information for both starting and controlling an electric motor; (2) pins coupled with said sensors to receive sensor outputs therefrom; and (3) pins coupled with said contactors to command the contactors to open or close and coupled with said display to control the state of the display; (d) a source of program information coupled to said microprocessor for electrically programming or reprogramming said electrically erasable and programmable read-only memory to store therein program information for starting and for controlling a selected motor, said program information comprising; (1) starting programs defining parameters of the delivery of electric power to the motor when starting the motor; and (2) control programs defining relationships between said sensor outputs on the one hand and, on the other hand, the state of the display and the open and closed states of the contractors; and (e) said source of program information being selectively energized to electrically program or re-program said memory in the microprocessor circuit to store therein a selected program information matching a selected motor, and said microprocessor circuit thereby being enabled to start and control said selected motor and to control said display when coupled with said selected motor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. An apparatus for starting and controlling an electric motor which is coupled with a power supply through contactors which when closed connect the motor to the power supply through respective conductors and when open disconnect the motor from the power supply, said apparatus being able to store program information for starting and controlling different electric motors comprising:
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(a) sensors coupled with the conductors to generate sensor outputs related to the state of selected parameters to at least one of said motor and said conductors; (b) a microprocessor circuit for storing program information for both starting and controlling an electric motor, said microprocessor circuit being coupled with said sensors to receive sensor outputs therefrom and with said contactors to command the contactors to open or close; (c) input devices coupled with microprocessor circuit to deliver thereto commands for initiating motor operations, wherein the program information stored in said microprocessor circuit assigns types of commands to said input devices so that a given one of said input devices may command one type of motor operation under program information for one selected motor but may command a different type of motor operation under program information for another selected motor without rewiring said input devices and their coupling to the microprocessor circuit. - View Dependent Claims (9)
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Specification