Motor control device and game machine

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2015227125-A1
Application number	US-201314427375-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 26, 2013
Priority date	Sep 28, 2012
Publication date	Aug 13, 2015
Grant date	—

Abstract

A motor control device has a communication unit that receives a control command comprising a motor type identification signal and a rotation signal, wherein the motor type identification signal indicates whether a control object motor is a stepping motor or a DC motor, and wherein the rotation signal designates a target rotation amount and a target rotation speed of the motor, a sensor interface that receives a detection signal from a rotation angle sensor when the control object motor is the DC motor, wherein the rotation angle sensor outputs the detection signal every time the motor rotates by a first rotation angle, a DC motor drive signal generator that generates and outputs a first drive signal rotating the DC motor at the target rotation speed, and a stepping motor drive signal generator that generates and outputs a second drive signal rotating the stepping motor at the target rotation speed.

First claim

1 . A motor control device comprising:
a communication unit that receives a control command comprising a motor type identification signal and a rotation signal,
wherein the motor type identification signal indicates whether a control object motor is a stepping motor or a DC motor, and
wherein the rotation signal designates a target rotation amount and a target rotation speed of the motor;
a sensor interface that receives a detection signal from a rotation angle sensor when the control object motor is the DC motor,
wherein the rotation angle sensor outputs the detection signal every time the motor rotates by a first rotation angle;
a DC motor drive signal generator that generates and outputs a first drive signal rotating the DC motor at the target rotation speed; a stepping motor drive signal generator that generates and outputs a second drive signal rotating the stepping motor at the target rotation speed; and a controller, wherein the controller refers to the motor type identification signal to determine whether the control object motor is the stepping motor or the DC motor, wherein the controller calculates a total rotation amount from rotation starting of the control object motor by a number of receiving times of the detection signal when the control object motor is the DC motor, wherein the controller causes the DC motor drive signal generator to output the first drive signal so as to let the control object motor stand still when the total rotation amount reaches the target rotation amount, and wherein the controller causes the stepping motor drive signal generator to output the second drive signal so as to rotate the control object motor by a number of stepping motor steps corresponding to the target rotation amount when the control object motor is the stepping motor.

2 . The motor control device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the target rotation amount is expressed by a number of steps in which a predetermined reference rotation angle is set to one step, wherein, when the control object motor is the DC motor, the controller multiplies the number of steps indicated by the target rotation amount by a ratio of the first rotation angle to the reference rotation angle to obtain the target rotation amount in units of first rotation angles, and compares the target rotation amount in units of first rotation angles to the total rotation amount to determine whether the control object motor stands still, and wherein, when the control object motor is the stepping motor, the controller multiplies the number of steps indicated by the target rotation amount by a ratio of a rotation angle per one step of the stepping motor to the reference rotation angle to calculate the number of stepping motor steps corresponding to the target rotation amount.

3 . The motor control device according to claim 1 ,
wherein, when the control object motor is the DC motor, the controller fixes a pulse width by referring to a first table indicating a relationship between the target rotation speed and the pulse width per period, the pulse width being used to control a current supplied to the DC motor by a pulse width modulation system, and causes the DC motor drive signal generator to generate the first drive signal by notifying the DC motor drive signal generator of the pulse width, and wherein, when the control object motor is the stepping motor, the controller fixes the number of steps of the stepping motor per predetermined duration by referring to a second table indicating a relationship between the target rotation speed and the number of steps of the stepping motor per predetermined time, and causes the stepping motor drive signal generator to generate the second drive signal by notifying the stepping motor drive signal generator of the number of steps.

4 . The motor control device according to claim 3 ,
wherein the control command further comprises a speed range designation signal designating one of partial ranges in a rotation speed range that can be set with respect to the control object motor, wherein the first table is set in each of the partial ranges, and wherein, when the control object motor is the DC motor, the controller selects the first table corresponding to the speed range designated by the speed range designation signal, and the pulse width is fixed using the selected first table.

5 . The motor control device according to claim 3 ,
wherein, when the control object motor is the DC motor, the first table is set in each of the plurality of partial ranges different from each other in the rotation speed range that can be set with respect to the control object motor, wherein the controller measures an actual rotation speed of the control object motor from a time interval of the detection signal received from the rotation angle sensor, wherein the controller selects one of the plurality of first tables such that a difference between the target rotation speed and the actual rotation speed is decreased, and wherein the controller fixes the pulse width using the selected first table.

6 . The motor control device according to claim 4 ,
wherein the control command further comprises a speed designation method signal designating whether the first table is selected according to the speed range designation signal, and wherein, when the control object motor is the DC motor, and when the speed designation method signal indicates that the first table is selected irrespective of the speed range designation signal, the controller measures an actual rotation speed of the control object motor from a time interval of the detection signal received from the rotation angle sensor, selects one of the plurality of first tables such that a difference between the target rotation speed and the actual rotation speed is decreased, and fixes the pulse width using the selected first table.

7 . A game machine comprising:
a game machine body; a movable body that is movably arranged in a front surface of the game machine body; a motor that drives the movable body; a motor control device that controls the motor; and a performance controller that controls performance according to a game state, wherein the performance controller generates a control command and transmits the control command to the motor control device, wherein the control command comprises a motor type identification signal indicating a type of the motor and a rotation signal designating a target rotation amount of the motor corresponding to a moving distance from a present position of the movable body to a moving destination and a target rotation speed of the motor according to the game state, and wherein the motor control device comprises:
a communication unit that receives the control command;
a sensor interface that receives a detection signal from a rotation angle sensor when the motor is a DC motor, the rotation angle sensor outputting the detection signal every time the motor rotates by a first rotation angle;
a DC motor drive signal generator that generates and outputs a first drive signal rotating the DC motor at the target rotation speed;
a stepping motor drive signal generator that generates and outputs a second drive signal rotating a stepping motor at the target rotation speed; and
a controller,
wherein the controller refers to the motor type identification signal to determine whether the motor is the stepping motor or the DC motor,
wherein the controller calculates a total rotation amount from rotation starting of the motor by the number of receiving times of the detection signal when the motor is the DC motor,
wherein the controller causes the DC motor drive signal generator to output the first drive signal so as to let the motor stand still when the total rotation amount reaches the target rotatio

Assignees

• Omron Tateisi Electronics Co

Inventors

• Matsushita Katsumi
• Oba Yasuyuki
• Ibuki Hiroyuki

Classifications

• H02P29/00

  Arrangements for regulating or controlling electric motors, appropriate for both AC and DC motors (arrangements for starting electric motors H02P1/00; arrangements for stopping or slowing electric motors H02P3/00; control of motors that can be connected to two or more different electric power supplies H02P4/00; regulating or controlling the speed or torque of two or more electric motors H02P5/00; vector control H02P21/00) · CPC title

• G05B2219/33114

  Configure motion controller to drive any kind of motor type connected · CPC title

• G05B19/19 Primary

  characterised by positioning or contouring control systems, e.g. to control position from one programmed point to another or to control movement along a programmed continuous path · CPC title

• H02P8/14

  Arrangements for controlling speed or speed and torque (H02P8/12, H02P8/22 take precedence) · CPC title

• H02P7/2805

  whereby the speed is regulated by measuring the motor speed and comparing it with a given physical value · CPC title