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Motor drive system having a plurality of series connected H-bridges

  • US 5,917,295 A
  • Filed: 01/31/1996
  • Issued: 06/29/1999
  • Est. Priority Date: 01/31/1996
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. A circuit for use in a motor drive system for providing drive current to an electric motor having multiple phase windings, each phase winding including a plurality of discrete windings, the motor drive system further including a sensing means for generating a motor signal indicative of a motor operating parameter, a winding control means for generating a switch control signal in response to the motor signal, and a bridge control means for selectively generating excitation signals in response to an external command signal and the motor signals, said circuit comprising:

  • a plurality of H-bridge circuits, each H-bridge circuit being coupled to each discrete motor winding of each phase winding, each H-bridge circuit comprising a first half bridge and a second half bridge, said first half bridge including a first upper bridge switching element coupling a first terminal of the discrete winding to a positive potential of a direct current (DC) power source and a first lower bridge switching element coupling said first terminal of the discrete winding to a negative potential of the power source, and said second half bridge including a second upper bridge switching element coupling a second terminal of the discrete winding to said positive potential of said power source and a second lower bridge switching element coupling said second terminal of the discrete winding to said negative potential of said power source;

    said bridge switching elements of said half bridges for each phase winding being selectively activated for providing drive current through each discrete windings of each respective phase windings in response to the excitation signals; and

    a switching means for selectively connecting each discrete winding of each respective motor phase winding in series in response to the switch control signal.

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