Motor drive unit, compressor, and air conditioner

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11070157-B2
Application number	US-201716607758-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 21, 2017
Priority date	Jul 21, 2017
Publication date	Jul 20, 2021
Grant date	Jul 20, 2021

Abstract

An electric motor drive unit includes a winding switching unit that switches a configuration of windings of an electric motor, a winding switching instruction unit that generates an instruction signal for the winding switching unit, and a winding configuration retention unit to which the instruction signal generated by the winding switching instruction unit is input, and if the input instruction signal has a first value, outputs a signal corresponding to the input instruction signal to the winding switching unit, and if the input instruction signal has a second value different from the first value, continues outputting a signal that has been output to the winding switching unit before the reception of the second value, the first value indicating an instruction on the configuration of the windings.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An electric motor drive unit comprising:
a winding switching circuit to switch a configuration of windings of an electric motor;
an arithmetic processing unit to generate an instruction signal for the winding switching circuit; and
a winding configuration retention circuit to which the instruction signal generated by the arithmetic processing unit is input, and in a first case in which the input instruction signal has a first value, to output a signal corresponding to the input instruction signal to the winding switching-circuit, and in a second case in which the input instruction signal has a second value different from the first value, to continue outputting a signal that has been output to the winding switching circuit before the reception of the second value, the first value indicating an instruction on the configuration of the windings,
wherein
the instruction signal upon occurrence of a reset in the arithmetic processing unit is caused to have the second value, and
the arithmetic processing unit receives feedback of a signal output from the winding configuration retention circuit to the winding switching circuit, and determines the first value upon changing the instruction signal from the second value to the first value on a basis of the signal that has been fed back.

2. The electric motor drive unit according to claim 1 , wherein
the second value indicates maintaining of the configuration of the windings before the occurrence of the reset.

3. The electric motor drive unit according to claim 1 , wherein
the first value indicates a connection configuration of the windings.

4. The electric motor drive unit according to claim 3 , wherein
the connection configuration indicated by the first value is a delta connection or a star connection.

5. The electric motor drive unit according to claim 3 , wherein
the connection configuration indicated by the first value is a configuration of a plurality of windings coupled in series to one another or a configuration of a plurality of windings coupled in parallel to one another.

6. The electric motor drive unit according to claim 1 comprises:
an overcurrent protection circuit to prevent a current greater than a predetermined capacity from flowing in the electric motor drive unit, wherein
an overcurrent protection level, which is a level that causes the overcurrent protection circuit to be actuated, is switched depending on the configuration of the windings.

7. The electric motor drive unit according to claim 1 , wherein
the winding configuration retention circuit is configured using a reset-set flip-flop.

8. The electric motor drive unit according to claim 1 , wherein
the winding switching circuit is configured using a mechanical relay.

9. The electric motor drive unit according to claim 1 , wherein
the electric motor is a permanent magnet electric motor.

10. A compressor comprising:
an electric motor driven by the electric motor drive unit according to claim 1 .

11. An air conditioner comprising:
the compressor according to claim 10 .

12. An electric motor drive unit comprising:
a winding switching circuit to switch a configuration of windings of an electric motor;
an arithmetic processing unit to generate an instruction signal for the winding switching circuit; and
a winding configuration retention circuit to which the instruction signal generated by the arithmetic processing unit is input, and in a first case in which the input instruction signal has a first value, to output a signal corresponding to the input instruction signal to the winding switching-circuit, and in a second case in which the input instruction signal has a second value different from the first value, to continue outputting a signal that has been output to the winding switching circuit before the reception of the second value, the first value indicating an instruction on the configuration of the windings,
wherein
the instruction signal upon occurrence of a reset in the arithmetic processing unit is caused to have the second value, and
the first value indicates a number of turns of the windings.

13. The electric motor drive unit according to claim 12 , wherein
the second value indicates maintaining of the configuration of the windings before the occurrence of the reset.

14. The electric motor drive unit according to claim 12 , wherein
the first value indicates a connection configuration of the windings.

15. The electric motor drive unit according to claim 14 , wherein
the connection configuration indicated by the first value is a delta connection or a star connection.

16. The electric motor drive unit according to claim 14 , wherein
the connection configuration indicated by the first value is a configuration of a plurality of windings coupled in series to one another or a configuration of a plurality of windings coupled in parallel to one another.

17. The electric motor drive unit according to claim 12 comprises:
an overcurrent protection circuit to prevent a current greater than a predetermined capacity from flowing in the electric motor drive unit, wherein
an overcurrent protection level, which is a level that causes the overcurrent protection circuit to be actuated, is switched depending on the configuration of the windings.

18. The electric motor drive unit according to claim 12 , wherein
the winding configuration retention circuit is configured using a reset-set flip-flop.

19. The electric motor drive unit according to claim 12 , wherein
the winding switching circuit is configured using a mechanical relay.

20. The electric motor drive unit according to claim 12 , wherein
the electric motor is a permanent magnet electric motor.

21. A compressor comprising:
an electric motor driven by the electric motor drive unit according to claim 12 .

22. An air conditioner comprising:
the compressor according to claim 21 .

Assignees

• Mitsubishi Electric Corp

Inventors

• Kashima Mitsuo
• Shizu Keiichiro
• Hatakeyama Kazunori

Classifications

• H02P1/32 Primary

  by star/delta switching · CPC title

• H02P25/184 Primary

  wherein the motor speed is changed by switching from a delta to a star, e.g. wye, connection of its windings, or vice versa · CPC title