Power supply for multiphase motor providing recirculation compensation features and related methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9780703-B2
Application number	US-201514824193-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 12, 2015
Priority date	Aug 12, 2015
Publication date	Oct 3, 2017
Grant date	Oct 3, 2017

Abstract

A power supply may include power generation circuits, each configured to drive a respective winding of a multiphase motor; converter circuits, each configured to generate a digital driving signal for a respective power generation circuit, and a memory configured to store a plurality of fast recirculation compensation values corresponding to combinations of the digital driving signals that would otherwise result in a fast recirculation condition. The power supply may also include a controller coupled to the memory and configured to determine when a given combination of the digital driving signals would otherwise result in a fast recirculation condition, and based upon the determination, substitute at least one corresponding fast recirculation compensation value for the given combination of the digital driving signals.

First claim

That which is claimed is:

1. A power supply for a multiphase motor comprising a plurality of windings, the power supply comprising:
a plurality of power generation circuits configured to be coupled to a power source, each of the plurality of power generation circuits configured to drive a respective winding of the multiphase motor based on respective digital driving signals;
a plurality of converter circuits each configured to generate respective digital driving signals for respective power generation circuits;
a memory configured to store a plurality of fast recirculation compensation values corresponding to combinations of the digital driving signals that would avoid a fast recirculation condition, wherein the fast recirculation condition comprises current circulating through a winding of the plurality of windings and through a power generation circuit of the plurality of power generation circuits back to the power source;
and a controller coupled to the memory and configured to determine when a given combination of the digital driving signals would result in the fast recirculation condition, and based upon the determination, substitute at least one corresponding fast recirculation compensation value for the given combination of the digital driving signals;
wherein the multiphase motor comprises a rotor configured to rotate based upon the windings;
and wherein the combinations of the digital driving signals that would avoid the fast recirculation condition are different for different zones of electrical position of the rotor.

2. The power supply of claim 1 wherein each of the converter circuits comprises a sigma delta converter circuit.

3. The power supply of claim 1 wherein the digital driving signals are uncorrelated with one another.

4. The power supply of claim 1 wherein the plurality of power generation circuits is configured to be coupled to a universal serial bus (USB) voltage.

5. The power supply of claim 1 wherein each of the power generation circuits comprises a half bridge circuit.

6. The power supply of claim 1 wherein the fast recirculation compensation values are stored in a lookup table in the memory.

7. A system comprising:
a multiphase motor comprising a plurality of windings;
and a power supply comprising a plurality of power generation circuits each configured to drive a respective winding of the multiphase motor,
a plurality of converter circuits configured to be coupled to a power source, each of the plurality of power generation circuits configured to generate a digital driving signal for a respective power generation circuit based on respective digital driving signals,
a memory configured to store a plurality of fast recirculation compensation values corresponding to combinations of the digital driving signals that would avoid a fast recirculation condition, wherein the fast recirculation condition comprises current circulating through a winding of the plurality of windings and through a power generation circuit of the plurality of power generation circuits back to the power source,
and a controller coupled to the memory and configured to determine when a given combination of the digital driving signals would result in the fast recirculation condition, and the fast recirculation condition,
and based upon the determination, substitute at least one corresponding fast recirculation compensation value for the given combination of the digital driving signals;
wherein the multiphase motor comprises a rotor configured to rotate based upon the windings;
and wherein the combinations of the digital driving signals that would avoid the fast recirculation condition are different for different zones of electrical position of the rotor.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein each of the converter circuits comprises a sigma delta converter circuit.

9. The system of claim 7 wherein the digital driving signals are uncorrelated with one another.

10. The system of claim 7 wherein the plurality of power generation circuits is configured to be coupled to a universal serial bus (USB) voltage.

11. The system of claim 7 wherein each of the power generation circuits comprises a half bridge circuit.

12. The system of claim 7 wherein the fast recirculation compensation values are stored in a lookup table in the memory.

13. A method for using a plurality of power generation circuits each configured to drive a respective winding of a multiphase motor, and a plurality of converter circuits each configured to generate a digital driving signal for a respective power generation circuit, the method comprising:
storing in a memory a plurality of fast recirculation compensation values corresponding to combinations of the digital driving signals that would void a fast recirculation condition, wherein the fast recirculation condition comprises current circulating through a winding of the multiphase motor and through a power generation circuit of the plurality of power generation circuits back to a power source;
determining when a given combination of the digital driving signals would result in the fast recirculation condition; based upon the determination, substituting at least one corresponding fast recirculation compensation value for the given combination of the digital driving signals;
and driving respective power generation circuits with respective substituted digital driving signals;
wherein the multiphase motor comprises a rotor configured to rotate based upon the windings of the multiphase motor;
and wherein the combinations of the digital driving signals that would avoid the fast recirculation condition are different for different zones of electrical position of the rotor.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein each of the converter circuits comprises a sigma delta converter circuit.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein the digital driving signals are uncorrelated with one another.

16. The method of claim 13 wherein the plurality of power generation circuits are coupled to a universal serial bus (USB) voltage.

17. The method of claim 13 wherein storing comprises storing the fast recirculation compensation values in a lookup table in the memory.

Assignees

• St Microelectronics Srl

Inventors

• Maiocchi Giuseppe

Classifications

• H02P6/006

  Controlling linear motors · CPC title

• H02P6/002 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H02M5/458

  using semiconductor devices only · CPC title

• H02P6/28 Primary

  Arrangements for controlling current (H02P6/10 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H02P6/085

  in a bridge configuration · CPC title