Motor drive control device, motor unit, and motor drive control method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025023496-A1
Application number	US-202218712823-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 27, 2022
Priority date	Dec 3, 2021
Publication date	Jan 16, 2025
Grant date	—

Abstract

To increase the stability of an operation when the driving of a stepping motor is started. A motor drive control device includes a control unit configured to generate a control signal (Sd) for controlling driving of a two-phase stepping motor, and a drive unit configured to drive coils of two phases of the two-phase stepping motor based on the control signal (Sd). The control unit has, as control modes, a first commutation control mode for commutating the coils according to a target energization time based on a preset commutation condition, and a second commutation control mode for commutating the coils based on a detection result of a zero crossing point of a back electromotive voltage of the coils, and the control unit generates the control signal (Sd) in the first commutation control mode at the start of activation of the two-phase stepping motor, and generates the control signal (Sd) in the second commutation control mode when the detection result of the zero crossing point satisfies a predetermined condition.

First claim

1 . A motor drive control device comprising:
a control unit configured to generate a control signal for controlling driving of a two-phase stepping motor; and a drive unit configured to drive coils of two phases of the two-phase stepping motor based on the control signal, wherein the control unit has, as control modes, a first commutation control mode for commutating the coils according to a target energization time based on a preset commutation condition, and a second commutation control mode for commutating the coils based on a detection result of a zero crossing point of a back electromotive voltage of the coils, and the control unit generates the control signal in the first commutation control mode at start of activation of the two-phase stepping motor, and generates the control signal in the second commutation control mode when the detection result of the zero crossing point satisfies a predetermined condition.

2 . The motor drive control device according to claim 1 , wherein
a speed of the two phase stepping motor and an energization angle indicating a magnitude of an electrical angle for energizing one of the coils of the two phases continuously in one direction are set as the commutation condition, and in the first commutation control mode, the control unit determines the target energization time based on the speed and the energization angle.

3 . The motor drive control device according to claim 2 , wherein
in the first commutation control mode, the speed increases over time.

4 . The motor drive control device according to claim 2 , wherein
in the first commutation control mode, the energization angle is reduced to a predetermined value over time.

5 . The motor drive control device according to claim 2 , wherein
the control unit stores information on a speed characteristic indicating a correspondence relationship between a driving amount and the speed of the two-phase stepping motor, and in the first commutation control mode, the control unit determines the speed corresponding to the driving amount based on the speed characteristic.

6 . The motor drive control device according to claim 2 , wherein
in a case where starting commutation control of the two-phase stepping motor in the first commutation control mode, the control unit determines a rate of change in the speed based on a magnitude of a load on the two-phase stepping motor when driving of the two-phase stepping motor is stopped most recently.

7 . The motor drive control device according to claim 6 , wherein
the control unit stores information on a plurality of speed characteristics indicating a relationship between a driving amount and the speed of the two-phase stepping motor corresponding to the magnitude of the load on the two-phase stepping motor, the plurality of speed characteristics are different from each other in the rate of change in the speed, and in the first commutation control mode, the control unit selects the speed characteristic with the rate of change less in the speed as the load on the two-phase stepping motor when the driving of the two-phase stepping motor is stopped most recently is greater, and determines the speed based on the selected speed characteristic.

8 . The motor drive control device according to claim 6 , wherein
the control unit estimates the magnitude of the load based on information on at least one of the speed or a driving direction of the two-phase stepping motor when the driving of the two-phase stepping motor is stopped most recently.

9 . The motor drive control device according to claim 5 , wherein
the speed characteristic includes a first section where the speed changes at a constant rate, a second section subsequent to the first section where the speed changes at a higher rate than the first section, and a third section where the speed changes at a lower rate than the second section subsequent to the second section.

10 . The motor drive control device according to claim 1 , wherein
the predetermined condition includes a threshold value related to the number of times of detection of the zero crossing point, and when the number of times of detection of the zero crossing point is equal to or greater than the threshold value, the control unit switches the control mode from the first commutation control mode to the second commutation control mode.

11 . A motor unit comprising:
the motor drive control device according to claim 1 ; and the two-phase stepping motor.

12 . A motor drive control method for controlling driving of a two-phase stepping motor, the motor drive control method comprising the steps of:
commutating coils of two phases of the two-phase stepping motor according to a target energization time based on a preset commutation condition at start of activation of the two-phase stepping motor; determining whether a detection result of a zero crossing point of a back electromotive voltage of the coils satisfies a predetermined condition; and commutating the coils based on the detection result of the zero crossing point when the detection result of the zero crossing point satisfies the predetermined condition.

Assignees

• Minebea Mitsumi Inc

Inventors

• Wada Naoyuki

Classifications

• H02P8/12

  Control or stabilisation of current · CPC title

• H02P8/14

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

• H02P8/38 Primary

  the fault being step-out · CPC title

• H02P6/21

  Open loop start · CPC title

• H02P8/10

  Shaping pulses for starting; Boosting current during starting · CPC title