Miniature D.C. motor provided with rotation detector

• US 5,517,067 A
• Filed: 12/20/1993
• Issued: 05/14/1996
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/1993
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Mabuchi Motor Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Mabuchi Motor Company Limited
• Inventors: Sata, Nobuyuki
• Primary Examiner(s): LaBalle, Clayton E.
• Application Number:
  US08/169,196
• Time in Patent Office: 876 Days
• Field of Search: 310/40 MM, 310/68 B, 310/168, 310/169, 310/170, 310/171, 324/207.15, 324/207.25
• US Class Current: 310/68.00B
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 3/481 of pulse signals
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 23/66 Structural association with auxiliary electric devices influencing the characteristic of, or controlling, the machine, e.g. with impedances or switches
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 7/20 Structural association with auxiliary dynamo-electric machines, e.g. with electric starter motors or exciters

Abstract

A miniature D.C. motor has a casing in which magnets are disposed and a rotor is disposed inside the magnets. The rotating condition is detected by a rotation detector which comprises an inductor and a capacitor. The inductor detects leaking fluxes externally from the casing among fluxes created by mutual operations of the magnets and an armature and converts a change of the leaking fluxes into electric signals. The capacitor is electrically connected to the inductor so as to constitute a resonance circuit. The resonance circuit is mounted on an outer surface of the casing. A resonance frequency of the resonance circuit is made so as to correspond to a frequency to be generated for a rotating time of the armature.

Claims

1. A miniature D.C. motor, comprising:

a casing in which a magnet means is disposed, said casing having an end portion with a protruded portion;

a rotor having a rotation shaft and disposed inside the magnet means to be rotatable, and

a rotation detector detecting a rotation condition of the rotor, wherein said rotation detector comprises;

a rotation detector casing;

an inductor means for detecting magnetic fluxes leaking externally from the casing among the magnetic fluxes created by mutual operations of the magnet means and an armature of the rotor and for converting a change of the leaking magnetic fluxes into electric signals, and

a capacitor means electrically connected to the inductor means so as to constitute a resonance circuit means, said resonance circuit means being mounted on an outer surface of the casing,

wherein a resonance frequency of the resonance circuit means is made so as to correspond to a value of a frequency to be generated for a rotating time of the armature, and

wherein said rotation detector casing has a bottom plate formed with a recessed portion for accommodating therein said protruded portion of said casing of said motor.

2. A miniature D.C. motor according to claim 1, wherein the resonance circuit means is composed of a parallel resonance circuit in which the inductor means and the capacitor means are connected in parallel to each other and the resonance frequency is set to have a value within a range of 1 to 1.5 times that of the generated frequency.

3. A miniature D.C. motor according to claim 2, wherein the resonance frequency is substantially coincident with the generated frequency.

4. A miniature D.C. motor according to claim 1, wherein the rotation detector has a unit structure to be detachably mounted on the outer surface of the casing.

5. A miniature D.C. motor according to claim 4, wherein the casing has axial two end portions and the rotation detector is mounted on an outer end surface of one of the end portions opposite to another side at which a commutator is mounted to the rotation shaft.

6. A miniature D.C. motor according to claim 1, wherein the electric signals generated by the resonance circuit means are amplified by an amplifying circuit connected to the resonance circuit means and then transmitted to a control unit connected to the amplifying circuit.

7. A miniature D.C. motor according to claim 1, wherein said inductor means and said capacitor means are fixed on a bottom plate of a sensor case having a hollow box-shaped structure formed out of an electrically insulating material.

8. A miniature D.C. motor according to claim 1, wherein said magnet means is composed of a pair of permanent magnets mounted on an inner peripheral surface of the casing, each of said permanent magnets being formed in an arc segment shape and being formed out of a magnetic material such as hard ferrite.

9. A miniature D.C. motor according to claim 8, wherein a center of said inductor means is disposed to an angled position in a range of 90°

±

50°

in a case where one direction of a central line connecting centers of the respective permanent magnets is assumed as 0(zero)-angled position and another direction normal to this one direction is assumed as 90-angled position.

10. A miniature D.C. motor according to claim 9, wherein said inductor means is arranged in the 90-angled position, and wherein the inductor means includes a ferrite core which is directed to a direction parallel to the central line connecting the centers of the permanent magnets.

11. A miniature D.C. motor according to claim 1, wherein a motor driving current applied to the miniature D.C. motor is subjected to a pulse width modulation control by means of a pulse width modulation circuit.

12. A miniature D.C. motor according to claim 1, wherein said inductor means is composed of a ferrite core and a copper wire wound around the ferrite core.

13. A miniature D.C. motor according to claim 1, wherein said inductor means is composed of a copper wire wound so as to provide a hollow cylindrical structure.

14. A miniature D.C. motor according to claim 1, wherein the rotation detector is mounted to the miniature D.C. motor for an actuator for which a control is required by detecting the rotating condition of the rotor.

15. A miniature D.C. motor according to claim 14, wherein said actuator is utilized for a power window of an automobile.

16. A miniature D.C. motor according to claim 1, wherein said casing comprises a bottomed hollow cylindrical housing having an opening and a cover member applied to the opening of the housing, said cover member being formed out of an electrically insulating material.

17. A miniature D.C. motor according to claim 16, wherein said housing is integrally formed by means of a press molding.

18. A miniature D.C. motor according to claim 16, wherein said housing and said cover member are provided with a pair of cylindrical portions and a pair of flat portions which are parallel to each other and are integrated with the cylindrical portions respectively, and a pair of permanent magnets constituting the magnet means are mounted on inner peripheral surfaces of the cylindrical portions.

19. A miniature D.C. motor according to claim 16, wherein said housing has an axial one end to a central portion at which a recessed portion is formed so as to protrude externally at its bottom, a bearing is accommodated in the recessed portion, said cover member has a central portion to which the other bearing is mounted, and the rotation shaft is rotatably supported by these bearings.

20. A miniature D.C. motor according to claim 19, wherein said inductor means and said capacitor means are secured to a bottom plate of a sensor case of a hollow box-shape structure formed out of an electrically insulating material, an externally protruded portion so as to form the recessed portion is integrally formed at the central portion of the axial one end portion of the housing, and another recessed portion is integrally formed at a central portion of the bottom plate of the sensor case so as to have an inner shape corresponding to an outer shape of the protruded portion of the housing, whereby the sensor case is firmly secured to the outer end surface of the axial one end portion of the housing by fitting the protruded portion of the housing into the recessed portion of the bottom plate of the sensor case.

21. A miniature D.C. motor according to claim 20, wherein a side plate integrated with the bottom plate of the sensor case has an outer shape corresponding to a shape of the housing, the side plate has an upper side section to which a pair of connecting terminals are fixed so as to extend externally, said bottom plate of the sensor case is formed as a printed circuit board on which a copper foil circuit pattern is printed, said resonance circuit being electrically connected by soldered lead wires and the circuit pattern printed thereon, and an interior of the sensor case is tightly closed by applying a cover member to the side plate.

22. A miniature D.C. motor according to claim 1, wherein said casing comprises a bottomed hollow cylindrical housing having an opening and being formed out of a steel material and a cover member to be tightly fitted to the opening of the housing, said cover member being formed out of an electrically insulating material, said housing having an axial one end to a central portion at which a recessed portion is formed so as to protrude externally at its bottom as a protruded portion, a bearing supporting a rotation shaft of the rotor is accommodated in the recessed portion, said rotation detector is constructed to be a sealed unit in which said resonance circuit is accommodated and is detachably mounted on an outer surface of the axial end portion of the housing, said rotation detector being provided with a sensor case having a bottom plate at a central portion at which a recessed portion fitting in said protruded portion is formed, said sensor case is tightly mounted on the outer surface of the axial end portion of the housing, said sensor case having an outer shape corresponding to an outer shape of the housing, said magnet means is composed of a pair of permanent magnets oppositely mounted on an inner peripheral surface of the housing, each of said permanent magnets being formed out of a magnetic material such as hard ferrite so as to provide an arc segment shape, said resonance circuit is formed as a parallel resonance circuit in which the inductor means and the capacitor means are connected in parallel to each other, said inductor means being composed of a ferrite core and a copper wire wound around the ferrite core in coil shape, said parallel resonance circuit having the resonance frequency being substantially coincident with the generated frequency, and in a case where one direction of a central line connecting centers of the respective permanent magnets is assumed as 0-angled position and another direction normal to this one direction is assumed as 90-angled position, said inductor means is arranged in the 90-angled position and the ferrite core of the inductor means is directed to a direction parallel to the central line connecting the centers of the permanent magnets.

23. A miniature D.C. motor, comprising:

a casing in which a magnet means is disposed, said magnet means being composed of a pair of permanent magnets mounted on an inner peripheral surface of the casing, each of said permanent magnets being formed in an arc segment shape and being formed out of a magnetic material such as hard ferrite;

a rotor having a rotation shaft and disposed inside the magnet means to be rotatable; and

a rotation detector detecting a rotation condition of the rotor, wherein said rotation detector comprises;

an inductor means for detecting magnetic fluxes leaking externally from the casing among the magnetic fluxes created by mutual operations of the magnet means and an armature of the rotor and for converting a change of the leaking magnetic fluxes into electrical signals, and

a capacitor means electrically connected to the inductor means so as to constitute a resonance circuit means, said resonance circuit means being mounted on an outer surface of the casing,

wherein a resonance frequency of the resonance circuit means is made so as to correspond to a value of a frequency to be generated for a rotating time of the armature,

wherein a center of said inductor means is arranged in a 90°

-angled position in a case where one direction of a central line connecting centers of the respective permanent magnets is a 0°

-angled position and another direction normal to the one direction is a 90°

-angled position, and

wherein the inductor means includes a ferrite core which is directed to a direction parallel to the central line connecting the centers of the permanent magnets.