Motor control apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11831259-B2
Application number	US-202217682136-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 28, 2022
Priority date	Mar 31, 2021
Publication date	Nov 28, 2023
Grant date	Nov 28, 2023

Abstract

Provided is a motor control apparatus that suppresses a steep rush current to a charging circuit and that can quickly start driving of a motor without depending on a current-limiting resistor. The motor control apparatus according to the present disclosure includes an inverter for driving a motor, a charging circuit for supplying electric power to the inverter, a relay circuit for connecting a charging circuit and a power supply terminal, a control unit for controlling the inverter and the relay circuit, and a pre-charging circuit that is provided in parallel with the relay circuit, that starts charging from the power supply terminal to the charging circuit after a power switch for connecting an external power source with the power supply terminal is turned on, and that completes charging of the charging circuit before the control unit starts operation thereof.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A motor control apparatus comprising:
an inverter for driving a motor;
a charging circuit that has a capacitor for supplying electric power stably to the inverter;
a relay circuit for connecting the charging circuit and a power supply terminal;
a controller that is supplied power when a power switch for connecting an external power source with the power supply terminal is turned on by an external operation, that starts operating after a reset period, and that controls the inverter and the relay circuit; and
a pre-charging circuit that is provided between the charging circuit and the power supply terminal in parallel with the relay circuit, that operates independently of the controller to start charging from the power supply terminal to the charging circuit after the power switch is turned on, and that completes the charging of the charging circuit before a time when the reset period of the controller elapses and the controller starts operation of the inverter.

2. The motor control apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the pre-charging circuit includes:
a primary coil connected with the power supply terminal,
a secondary coil magnetically coupled with the primary coil,
a diode for connecting the secondary coil with the charging circuit,
a switching device for turning on or off energization of the primary coil, and
a switching-device driving circuit that performs on/off-control of the switching device so that a secondary current is generated in the secondary coil by a change in magnetic flux generated in the primary coil, and charges the charging circuit with the secondary current.

3. The motor control apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein in the case where a primary current flowing in the primary coil exceeds a predetermined determination current, the switching-device driving circuit of the pre-charging circuit turns off the switching device for a predetermined waiting time.

4. The motor control apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein in the case where a voltage of the charging circuit exceeds a predetermined determination voltage, the switching-device driving circuit of the pre-charging circuit decreases an On-duty ratio in on/off-control of the switching device.

5. The motor control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein in the case where the voltage of the charging circuit exceeds a predetermined second determination voltage, the pre-charging circuit stops operation thereof.

6. The motor control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the pre-charging circuit operates in the reset period of the controller.

7. The motor control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the pre-charging circuit stops operation thereof before the controller starts control of the inverter.

8. The motor control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein when starting control of the inverter, the controller connects the inverter with the relay circuit.

9. The motor control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the controller connects the inverter with the relay circuit after the reset period of the controller elapses.

Assignees

• Mitsubishi Electric Corp

Inventors

• Sawada Akihiro
• Muramoto Yuichi
• Matsumoto Makoto
• Uchida Hiroki

Classifications

• H02P1/10 Primary

  Manually-operated on/off switch controlling relays or contactors operating sequentially for starting a motor · CPC title

• H02M1/36 Primary

  Means for starting or stopping converters · CPC title

• H02P27/06

  using DC to AC converters or inverters (H02P27/05 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H02M7/5387

  in a bridge configuration · CPC title

• H02M3/33507

  with automatic control of the output voltage or current, e.g. flyback converters (H02M3/33561, H02M3/33569 take precedence) · CPC title