Brushless dc motor, and identification method and identification apparatus of identifying type of brushless dc motor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018317340-A1
Application number	US-201815966017-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 30, 2018
Priority date	May 1, 2017
Publication date	Nov 1, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

A brushless DC motor includes a circuit board on which a terminal with an open-collector or open-drain output function is mounted. The terminal includes at least one of a first specific resistance connected in series to a switching element and a second specific resistance connected in parallel to the switching element. The first and second specific resistances vary among multiple types of brushless DC motors. A motor identification method includes: supplying a power supply voltage from an identification apparatus to the brushless DC motor; supplying a voltage to a signal line of the terminal via a pull-up resistance in the identification apparatus; inputting to the identification apparatus an identification voltage value set by the least one specific resistance and outputted from the terminal; and identifying a type of the brushless DC motor based on the identification voltage value.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An identification method for use in an identification apparatus that identifies a type of brushless DC motor, wherein
the brushless DC motor includes a circuit board on which at least one terminal with an open-collector or open-drain output function is mounted, the at least one terminal includes at least one specific resistance out of a first specific resistance electrically connected in series between an open-collector or open-drain switching element and a pin of the at least one terminal, and a second specific resistance electrically connected in parallel to the switching element, the first specific resistances and the second specific resistances vary among a plurality of types of brushless DC motors, and the method comprises:
supplying a power supply voltage from the identification apparatus to the brushless DC motor;
supplying a voltage to a signal line of the at least one terminal of the circuit board via a pull-up resistance in the identification apparatus;
inputting an identification voltage value to the identification apparatus, the identification voltage value set by the at least one specific resistance and outputted from the at least one terminal; and
identifying a type of the brushless DC motor based on the identification voltage value.

2 . The identification method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one specific resistance is the first specific resistance.

3 . The identification method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one specific resistance is the second specific resistance.

4 . The identification method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one specific resistance includes the first specific resistance, and the second specific resistance electrically connected in series or in parallel to the first specific resistance.

5 . The identification method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
driving the brushless DC motor; inputting the identification voltage value to the identification apparatus, the identification voltage value set by the at least one specific resistance and outputted from the at least one terminal with the driving of the brushless DC motor; and identifying the type of the brushless DC motor based on the identification voltage value.

6 . The identification method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
switching on and off the switching element of the circuit board at a predetermined duty ratio for a preset period after the start of the supply of the power supply voltage to the brushless DC motor; inputting the identification voltage value to the identification apparatus, the identification voltage value set by the at least one specific resistance and outputted from the at least one terminal; and identifying the type of the brushless DC motor based on the identification voltage value.

7 . The identification method according to claim 1 , wherein
the identification apparatus performs AD conversion of the identification voltage value to obtain a unique information piece of the brushless DC motor, and the identifying a type of the brushless DC motor includes identifying the type of the brushless DC motor to be identified, based on the obtained unique information piece by referring to a table in which the plurality of types of brushless DC motors are associated with a plurality of unique information pieces of brushless DC motors, the unique information pieces each allocated to one of the plurality of types of brushless DC motors.

8 . The identification method according to claim 7 , wherein
each of the unique information pieces of brushless DC motors is expressed by a digital value with a predetermined bit width, a set of unique information pieces is classified by a certain range of a plurality of digital values, and the pluralities of digital values do not have overlap among the sets of unique information pieces of brushless DC motors.

9 . The identification method according to claim 1 , further comprising inputting the identification voltage value and a plurality of reference voltages allocated to the respective types of brushless DC motors to a comparator to obtain a comparison result, wherein
the identifying a type of the brushless DC motor includes identifying the type of the brushless DC motor to be identified based on the comparison result of the comparator.

10 . The identification method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one terminal of the circuit board is a terminal to be used as an output terminal when the brushless DC motor is in operation.

11 . The identification method according to claim 10 , wherein the at least one terminal of the circuit board is a terminal for tachometer.

12 . The identification method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one terminal of the circuit board includes a plurality of output terminals each having an open-collector or open-drain output function.

13 . The identification method according to claim 1 , wherein the identification apparatus further provides a notification of an identification result of the type of the brushless DC motor.

14 . The identification method according to claim 1 , further comprising, based an identification result of the type of the brushless DC motor, selecting a light emitter allocated to the brushless DC motor to be identified from among a plurality of light emitters allocated to the plurality of types of brushless DC motors, and causing the selected light emitter to emit light.

15 . The identification method according to claim 1 , wherein the brushless DC motor is a fan motor including an impeller.

16 . An identification apparatus that identifies a type of brushless DC motor, wherein
the brushless DC motor includes a circuit board on which at least one terminal with an open-collector or open-drain output function is mounted, the at least one terminal includes at least one specific resistance out of a first specific resistance electrically connected in series between an open-collector or open-drain switching element and a pin of the at least one terminal, and a second specific resistance electrically connected in parallel to the switching element, the first specific resistances and the second specific resistances vary among a plurality of types of brushless DC motors, the identification apparatus comprises:
a power supply terminal that supplies a power supply voltage to the brushless DC motor;
an input terminal that is electrically connected to the at least one terminal of the circuit board, and that includes a pull-up resistance incorporated therein; and
a controller that identifies a type of the brushless DC motor,
the controller acquires, via the input terminal, an identification voltage value set by the at least one specific resistance and outputted from the at least one terminal of the circuit board when the power supply voltage is supplied to the brushless DC motor via the power supply terminal and the pull-up resistance is pulled up, and the controller identifies the type of the brushless DC motor based on the identification voltage value.

17 . A brushless DC motor comprising:
a circuit board; at least one terminal that has an open-collector or open-drain output function and that is mounted on the circuit board; a coil; and a drive circuit that causes electricity to flow through the coil, wherein the at least one terminal includes at least one specific resistance out of a first specific resistance electrically connected in series between an open-collector or open-drain switching element and a pin of the at least one terminal, and a

Assignees

• Nidec Corp

Inventors

• Takemoto Hideyuki

Classifications

• H02P6/08

  Arrangements for controlling the speed or torque of a single motor (H02P6/10, H02P6/28 take precedence) · CPC title

• H05K7/20209 Primary

  Thermal management, e.g. fan control · CPC title

• G06F1/206 Primary

  comprising thermal management · CPC title

• H02P6/00 Primary

  Arrangements for controlling synchronous motors or other dynamo-electric motors using electronic commutation dependent on the rotor position; Electronic commutators therefor (vector control H02P21/00) · CPC title

• H02K11/215

  Magnetic effect devices, e.g. Hall-effect or magneto-resistive elements · CPC title