Parallel motor drive disable verification system and method
First Claim
1. An electric motor drive system comprising:
- a plurality of drive modules each comprising a converter for converting incoming AC power to DC power and an inverter coupled to the converter for converting the DC power to controlled frequency AC power;
a common controller coupled to all of the inverters and configured to provide signals to the inverters to permit each inverter to generate gate drive signals for power electronic switches of the respective inverter separately and in parallel with one another; and
shutdown circuitry configured to conduct a shutdown diagnostic test on the plurality of drive modules, wherein the shutdown diagnostic test verifies the ability of the shutdown circuitry to disable to plurality of drive modules;
wherein the common controller is configured to command the shutdown circuitry to run the shutdown diagnostic test during normal operation of the plurality of drive modules in driving an electric motor.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
Systems and methods are provided for performing diagnostic testing for multiple motor drives operating in parallel. In one embodiment, the diagnostic testing may involve determining which of the multiple motor drives are in operation and communicating the active configuration of motor drives to testing circuitry. The testing circuitry generates an enable input signal transmitted to the transistor gates in each of the active motor drives. The testing circuitry also generates a power supply input signal transmitted to a DC to DC converter in each of the active motor drives. The responses to the enable input signal and the power supply input signal are measured to determine safety compliance.
11 Citations
26 Claims
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1. An electric motor drive system comprising:
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a plurality of drive modules each comprising a converter for converting incoming AC power to DC power and an inverter coupled to the converter for converting the DC power to controlled frequency AC power; a common controller coupled to all of the inverters and configured to provide signals to the inverters to permit each inverter to generate gate drive signals for power electronic switches of the respective inverter separately and in parallel with one another; and shutdown circuitry configured to conduct a shutdown diagnostic test on the plurality of drive modules, wherein the shutdown diagnostic test verifies the ability of the shutdown circuitry to disable to plurality of drive modules; wherein the common controller is configured to command the shutdown circuitry to run the shutdown diagnostic test during normal operation of the plurality of drive modules in driving an electric motor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method of performing a shutdown diagnostic test in a motor drive, the method comprising:
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determining a channel configuration of a plurality of motor drives in the motor drive system, wherein the channel configuration comprises active motor drives in the plurality of motor drives; communicating the channel configuration to shutdown circuitry; transmitting a pulsed input signal from the shutdown circuitry in parallel to each of the active motor drives in the channel configuration; measuring a return signal in parallel from each of the active motor drives; determining whether the return signal from each of the active motor drives has a logic low period within a threshold; and deactivating a signal to one of the active motor drives if the return signal does not have a logic low period within the threshold. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A method of operating a motor drive, the method comprising:
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driving a motor by combined multi-phase output signals from a plurality of parallel inverters; from common control circuitry coupled to all of the plurality of parallel inverters, transmitting shutdown test signals a shutdown circuitry in a power layer of each of the plurality of inverters in parallel; receiving in the common control circuitry response data indicative of a result in each power layer of each of the plurality of inverters; and combining the response data into a single test result value. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification