Transport conveyor drive

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11325808-B2
Application number	US-201816122700-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 5, 2018
Priority date	Sep 19, 2017
Publication date	May 10, 2022
Grant date	May 10, 2022

Abstract

A transport conveyor drive having a rectifier and an inverter which are connected via a DC link, whereby the inverter comprises power switches for suppling electric power to an transport conveyor motor is disclosed. The transport convey drive comprises a motor controller for controlling the power switches of the inverter which is configured to produce control pulses in the control poles of the power switches, at least one safety signal interface, which is adapted to receive safety signals from a safety controller of the transport conveyor, and a brake control circuit having an output for supplying power to a brake coil of an electromagnetic brake, wherein at least one STO circuit is connected between the motor controller and each of the power switches of at least one half bridge of the inverter, the STO circuit being configured to transfer/cut the control pulses to the power switches.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. Transport conveyor drive having a rectifier and an inverter which are connected via a DC link, whereby the inverter comprises power switches for suppling electric power to an transport conveyor motor, the transport conveyor drive comprising:
a motor controller for controlling the power switches of the inverter which is configured to produce control pulses in the control poles of the power switches,
at least one safety signal interface, which is adapted to receive safety signals from a safety controller of the transport conveyor,
a brake control circuit having an output for supplying power to a brake coil of an electromagnetic brake, and
at least one STO circuit connected between the motor controller and each of the power switches of at least one half bridge of the inverter, which STO circuit is configured to transfer or cut the control pulses generated by the motor controller to the power switches, the STO circuit being referenced to the first bus bar of the DC link,
wherein
the motor controller is referenced to a first bus bar in the DC link,
a galvanically isolated power supply for the at least one STO circuit is connected between the safety signal interface and the at least one STO circuit, such that an input terminal of the power supply is referenced to ground whereas an output terminal of the galvanically isolated power supply is referenced to the same bus bar of the DC link as the motor controller,
whereby the at least one STO circuit is configured to transfer or cut the control pulses to the power switches dependent on the power received from the galvanically isolated power supply,
the galvanically isolated power supply being controlled via at least one safety signal received via the safety signal interface,
the brake control circuit comprises:
a transformer with a primary and a secondary side, the transformer primary side being referenced to the first bus bar of the DC link and the secondary side being configured to be connected to a brake coil of an transport conveyor brake,
a modulating semiconductor switch in the transformer primary side, and
a brake controller connected to the modulating semiconductor switch and being configured to generate control pulses for said semiconductor switch, the brake controller being referenced to the first bus bar of the DC link, and

the galvanically isolated power supply is connected between the safety interface and the brake controller to supply power to the brake controller, whereby an output terminal of the galvanically isolated power supply is referenced to the same bus bar of the DC link as the brake controller.

2. Transport conveyor drive according to claim 1 , wherein the first bus bar is a negative DC link bus bar.

3. Transport conveyor drive according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one STO circuit comprises a first and a second STO circuit connected in series between the motor controller and the power switch.

4. Transport conveyor drive according to claim 3 , wherein the first STO circuit comprises a galvanic isolation of the input signal of the motor controller.

5. Transport conveyor drive according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one STO circuit comprises a galvanically isolated feedback circuit, configured to signalize the status of the at least one STO circuit to a safety controller of the transport conveyor.

6. Transport conveyor drive according to claim 1 , wherein the modulating semiconductor switch is a SiC MOSFET transistor.

7. Transport conveyor drive according to claim 1 , wherein the galvanically isolated power supply comprises a transformer with a primary side connected to a primary signal processing circuit and a secondary side connected to the at least one STO circuit or the brake controller.

8. Transport conveyor drive according to claim 7 , wherein the galvanically isolated power supply comprises a separate secondary side for each STO circuit and for each brake controller.

9. Transport conveyor drive according to claim 1 , wherein the brake control circuit has an isolated flyback topology.

10. Transport conveyor drive according to claim 1 , wherein the brake control circuit comprises two channels for supplying power to two electromagnetic brakes.

11. Transport conveyor drive according to claim 3 , wherein the first and second STO circuits are connected between the motor controller and the power switches of the upper half bridge of the inverter.

12. Transport conveyor drive according to claim 1 , wherein a first isolated power supply is connected to one brake controller and a second isolated power supply is connected to another brake controller and to the at least one STO circuits.

13. Transport conveyor having at least one transport conveyor and transport conveyor drive according to claim 1 .

14. Transport conveyor according to claim 13 , being an elevator with at least one elevator car or an escalator/moving sidewalk.

15. Transport conveyor according to claim 13 , having a safety controller with a multitude of safety switches, wherein the outputs of the safety controller being connected to the at least one safety interface.

16. Transport conveyor according to claim 15 , having a safety controller with an input for the output signals of feedback circuits of first and second STO circuits for the monitoring of the inverter and/or STO circuit status.

17. Transport conveyor drive according to claim 2 , wherein the STO circuit comprises a first and a second STO circuit connected in series between the motor controller and the power switch.

18. Transport conveyor drive according to claim 2 , wherein the at least one STO circuit comprises a galvanically isolated feedback circuit, configured to signalize the status of the STO circuit to a safety controller of the transport conveyor.

19. Transport conveyor drive according to claim 3 , wherein the at least one STO circuit comprises a galvanically isolated feedback circuit, configured to signalize the status of the STO circuit to a safety controller of the transport conveyor.

20. Transport conveyor drive according to claim 4 , wherein the at least one STO circuit comprises a galvanically isolated feedback circuit, configured to signalize the status of the STO circuit to a safety controller of the transport conveyor.

Assignees

• Kone Corp

Inventors

• Nakari Arto
• Pokkinen Olli
• Nikander Juhamatti

Classifications

• H02P3/04

  Means for stopping or slowing by a separate brake, e.g. friction brake or eddy-current brake · CPC title

• B66B11/04

  Driving gear {; Details thereof, e.g. seals (braking devices acting on the driving gear B66B5/02; of mining-hoist winding devices B66B15/08)} · CPC title

• B66B29/00

  Safety devices of escalators or moving walkways (walkways of variable speed type B66B21/12; handrails of variable speed type B66B23/26) · CPC title

• G05B19/048

  Monitoring; Safety · CPC title

• B66B1/30 Primary

  effective on driving gear {, e.g. acting on power electronics, on inverter or rectifier controlled motor} · CPC title