Integrated brushless DC motor and controller

• US 8,193,748 B2
• Filed: 10/10/2008
• Issued: 06/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/10/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Smi Holdings, Inc. (Source Media LLC)
• Original Assignee: Smi Holdings, Inc. (Source Media LLC)
• Inventors: Deller, Robert W., Heagey, Robert C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Leykin, Rita
• Application Number:
  US12/249,128
• Publication Number:
  US 20100090633A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,334 Days
• Field of Search: 318/400.01, 318/400.04, 318/603, 318/615, 318/628, 318/629, 318/560, 318/700, 318/400.41, 318/400.38, 310/68, 310/156.01, 310/156.08, 310/162, 310/68.R, 310/68.B, 324/163, 324/173, 324/172, 324/174, 324/175, 361/239, 361/146, 361/148
• US Class Current: 318/400.04
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 29/08 using magnetic effect devices, e.g. Hall-plates, magneto-resistors H02K29/12 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H02P 6/085 in a bridge configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H02P 6/16 Circuit arrangements for detecting position

Abstract

An integrated brushless DC motor and controller including a brushless DC motor having a rotating shaft with a 2 pole permanent magnet affixed to the shaft for rotation thereby in a plane orthogonal to the axis of rotation of the shaft. An X-Y Hall Effect Sensor is carried by a controller mounted on a circuit board attached to the motor and the Hall Effect Sensor is positioned proximate the magnet with the Hall Effect Sensor producing the Sine and Cosine components of the magnetic field as the magnet is rotated by the motor shaft. The electronic controller includes software for determining the motor angle and commutation logic from the Sine and Cosine components generated by the Hall Effect Sensor response to the rotating magnetic field. A controller on the board positioned over the rotating shaft contains the highly integrated functions of internal analog digital converters, pulse width modulation registers for driving the power amplifier, internal communication ports and all of the random excess memory and FLASH non-volatile memory that is typically required for motor control.

Claims

1. An integrated brushless DC motor and controller comprising:

(A) a brushless direct current motor having a rotating shaft;

(B) a single two pole permanent magnet affixed on the end of said shaft near the axis of rotation of said shaft for rotation by said shaft in a plane orthogonal to the axis of rotation of said shaft, said two pole permanent magnet being positioned on said shaft in an arbitrary fashion;

(C) an electronic controller attached to said motor and positioned over said rotating shaft, said electronic controller being matched to said motor at the time of assembly to compensate for said arbitrary positioning of said magnet, said electronic controller being usable only with the motor to which it has been matched;

(D) a single X-Y Hall Effect Sensor carried by said electronic controller and spaced approximately 0.125 plus or minus 0.25 inches from said two pole permanent magnet to maximize the output signal but to not saturate the sensor, said Hall Effect sensor producing the Sine and Cosine components of the magnetic field as said magnet is rotated by said shaft;

(E) said electronic controller including means for determining the motor angle and commutation logic from said Sine and Cosine components;

(F) said motor angle is determined by the inverse tangent of the Sine divided by the Cosine components;

(G) X-Y Hall Effect sensor errors created by said arbitrary positioning of said permanent magnet are determined by applying a rotating magnetic filed to said motor as a command signal to slowly rotate the motor rotor and decoding the relationship between X-Y Hall Effect position and the command position; and

(H) only three electrical wires interconnecting said electronic controller to said motor, said wires being secured in place to prevent easy removal of the controller from the motor to which it ahs been matched.

2. An integrated brushless DC motor and controller as defined in claim 1 wherein said electronic controller includes a memory, said memory has a computer program which generates PWM to drive said motor by introducing a differential time shift in the application of electrical power to the stator windings of said motor.

3. An integrated brushless DC motor and controller as defined in claim 2 wherein an offset value between the X-Y Hall Effect Sensor absolute position output ad the motor state angels is generated and stored in said memory in the electronic controller.

4. An integrated brushless DC motor and controller as defined in claim 3 wherein said offset value is generated by applying a fixed PWM current command to the motor and then rotating the rotor through one fully mechanical rotation.