Fan motor power supply

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9531308-B2
Application number	US-201514755996-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 30, 2015
Priority date	Jun 30, 2014
Publication date	Dec 27, 2016
Grant date	Dec 27, 2016

Abstract

A fan having one fan blade; a fan motor for rotating the fan blade; a motor control electrically coupled with the fan motor for controlling operational characteristics of the fan motor; and a power supply having a step-down high efficiency buck converter, a step-down low drop-out linear regulator, and/or a step-down switching regulator are described. The power supply may receive a first input voltage and lower the first input voltage to a second lower voltage. The fan motor is electrically coupled to be driven by the first input voltage and the motor control is electrically coupled to operate using the second lower voltage from the power supply. The motor control may include a microcontroller, level shifters electrically coupled to the microcontroller, and drivers electrically coupled to the level shifters and configured to drive the fan motor.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A fan comprising:
at least one fan blade;
a fan motor configured to rotate the fan blade;
a motor control comprising a microcontroller, level shifters electrically coupled to the microcontroller, and drivers electrically coupled to the level shifters and configured to drive the fan motor; and
a power supply comprising a step-down high efficiency buck converter and a step-down low drop-out linear voltage regulator,
wherein the drivers are configured to receive a first input voltage for driving the fan motor, wherein the step-down high efficiency buck converter is configured to receive the first input voltage and to decrease the first input voltage to a second lower voltage, wherein the step-down high efficiency buck converter is configured to output the second lower voltage to the level shifters and to the step down low drop-out linear voltage regulator, wherein the step-down low drop-out linear voltage regulator is configured for receiving the second lower voltage from the step-down high efficiency buck converter and outputting a third lowest voltage which is lower than the second lower voltage, wherein the step down low drop-out linear voltage regulator is electrically coupled to the microcontroller and the third lowest voltage drives the microcontroller, wherein the first input voltage is in a range of 12V to 24V, wherein the second lower voltage is in a range of 4V to 7V, wherein the third lowest voltage is in a range of 3V to 4V.

2. The fan of claim 1 , wherein the second lower voltage is equal to or greater than a minimum voltage required for switching the level shifters.

3. The fan of claim 1 , wherein the second lower voltage is in a range of between 5V to 6V.

4. The fan of claim 1 , further comprising an AC-to-DC converter configured to convert an input alternating current (AC) voltage in a range of 100V AC to 240V AC to an output direct current (DC) voltage in a range of 12V DC to 24V DC, wherein the first input voltage is the output DC voltage from the AC-to-DC converter.

5. The fan of claim 1 , further comprising at least one of noise filtering circuitry, energy storage circuitry, and current sensors configured for providing feedback to the microcontroller.

6. A fan motor control configured for driving a three phase wye-connected brushless DC permanent magnet fan motor, the fan motor control comprising:
a microcontroller configured for providing operational commands for the fan motor;
three motor phase level shifters electrically coupled to the microcontroller;
three MOSFET drivers electrically coupled to the level shifters and configured to drive the fan motor; and
a power supply comprising a step-down high efficiency buck converter and a switching regulator,
wherein the drivers are configured to receive a first input voltage for driving the fan motor, wherein the step-down high efficiency buck converter is configured to receive the first input voltage and to decrease the first input voltage to a second lower voltage, wherein the step-down high efficiency buck converter is configured to output the second lower voltage to the level shifters and the switching regulator, wherein the switching regulator is configured to output a third lowest voltage which is lower than the second lower voltage, wherein the switching regulator is configured to drive the microcontroller with the third lowest voltage, wherein the first input voltage is in a range of 12V to 24V, wherein the second lower voltage is in a range of 5V to 6V, wherein the third lowest voltage is in a range of 3V to 4V.

7. The fan motor control of claim 6 , further comprising an AC-to-DC converter configured to convert an input alternating current (AC) voltage in a range of 100V AC to 240V AC to an output direct current (DC) voltage in a range of 12V DC to 24V DC, wherein the first input voltage is the output DC voltage from the AC-to-DC converter.

8. A fan comprising:
at least one fan blade;
a fan motor configured to rotate the fan blade;
a motor control comprising a microcontroller, level shifters electrically coupled to the microcontroller, and drivers electrically coupled to the level shifters and configured to drive the fan motor;
an AC-to-DC converter configured to convert an input alternating current (AC) voltage in a range of 100V AC to 240V AC to an output direct current (DC) voltage in a range of 12V DC to 24V DC; and
a power supply comprising a step-down high efficiency buck converter and a step-down low drop-out linear voltage regulator,
wherein the drivers are configured to receive a first input voltage for driving the fan motor, wherein the first input voltage is the output DC voltage from the AC-to-DC converter, wherein the step-down high efficiency buck converter is configured to receive the first input voltage and to decrease the first input voltage to a second lower voltage, wherein the step-down high efficiency buck converter is configured to output the second lower voltage to the level shifters and to the step down low drop-out linear voltage regulator, wherein the step-down low drop-out linear voltage regulator is configured for receiving the second lower voltage from the step-down high efficiency buck converter and outputting a third lowest voltage which is lower than the second lower voltage, wherein the step down low drop-out linear voltage regulator is electrically coupled to the microcontroller and the third lowest voltage drives the microcontroller.

Assignees

• Nidec Motor Corp
• Nidec Motor Company

Inventors

• Peterson Gregory A
• Kolmos Keith M
• Schaefer Carolyn S
• Bozic Mile
• Lass David E
• Taylor William J

Classifications

• F04D25/088

  Ceiling fans · CPC title

• H02P27/06

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

• H02P2201/11

  Buck converter, i.e. DC-DC step down converter decreasing the voltage between the supply and the inverter driving the motor · CPC title

• H02P6/14 Primary

  Electronic commutators · CPC title

• F04D27/004

  by varying driving speed · CPC title