AC motor controller

• US 7,759,888 B2
• Filed: 04/15/2005
• Issued: 07/20/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/15/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Yoshihara, Shigeyuki, Matsui, Hirokazu, Sawada, Takefumi
• Primary Examiner(s): IP, SHIK LUEN PAUL
• Application Number:
  US11/911,487
• Publication Number:
  US 20090059446A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,922 Days
• Field of Search: 361/42, 361/48, 361/85, 361/87, 361/93.1, 361/119, 318/400.29, 318/603, 318/610, 318/802, 318/430, 324/510, 324/511
• US Class Current: 318/400.29
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/343 in operation
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/52 Testing for short-circuits, leakage current or ground faults
• CPC Class Codes: H02H 7/0805 for synchronous motors
• CPC Class Codes: H02P 29/0241 the fault being an overvoltage

Abstract

There is provided an AC motor controller capable of detecting an abnormal state of a motor cable while an AC motor is operating without using a special circuit but using a processor.

The AC motor controller includes an AC motor; an inverter for driving the AC motor with a motor current through a motor cable; and a motor current detector for detecting the motor current flowing in the motor cable of the AC motor, in which a processor detects an abnormal state of the motor cable such as an inter-phase short circuit and an open circuit based on the motor current detected by the motor current detector.

Claims

1. An AC motor controller, comprising:

an AC motor;

an inverter for driving the AC motor with three phase motor currents each through a motor cable;

a motor current detector for detecting the three phase motor currents each flowing in the motor cable connected to the AC motor; and

a processor operatively associated with the motor current detector and configured to detect while the motor is still running the occurrence of an abnormal state of the motor cable, which abnormal state is a disconnected or unconnected state, based on the three phase motor currents detected by the motor current detector and identify the phase of the motor cable in which the abnormal state occurs,

wherein said processor detects the abnormal state of the motor cable when a motor current command value computed based on a torque instruction value of said AC motor is still not less than a predetermined value, and a driving current of said motor computed based on the three phase motor currents is smaller than the predetermined value, and a sampling time in said processor of the motor current data is at least a half cycle of the motor driving frequency.