5871 results about "DC motor" patented technology

The invention relates to a hand tool for use with attachments. The hand tools of the invention may be used with attachments with various speed and torque requirements. Preferred hand tools comprise a body with a brushless DC motor and means. which control the energisation of the motor. In use the brushless DC motor of the preferred hand tool is electrically supplied to drive a power output means connected to said motor. Another preferred hand tool comprises a body with a motor contained therein, a void space between an internal surface of the body and at least a part of the motor, a fluid inlet port provided and a fluid outlet port provided in or on the body, and ducting means which provides a channel for fluid supplied via the fluid inlet port to and from the void space and then on to the fluid outlet port.

A surgical procedure is disclosed utilizing a cordless surgical handpiece powered from a sterile battery pack that contains a battery in condition for immediate use without further charging or sterilization. The battery chemistry is based upon lithium/manganese dioxide, and the battery after a single use may be disposed of into non-hazardous waste. The compact surgical handpiece has a brushless DC motor and a manually operated external trigger for activating and controlling the motor operations. Interengaging sets of contacts on the handpiece and battery are adapted to become lockingly and conductively interengaged upon rotation of the battery pack relative to the handpiece, in a manner that rapidly achieves correct alignment of the parts and also ensures stable mechanical attachment and support during the surgical procedure.

The present invention relates to an exoskeleton interface apparatus that parallels human arm motion and is comprised of a serial assemblage of five powered linkages and joints based at a rigid support structure worn on the torso of the human subject. Such apparatus generates shoulder rotation using three orthogonal revolute joints mounted on serial linkages encompassing and intersecting at the anatomical glenohumeral joint. Elevation of the shoulder joint is articulated using a link member driven by a single revolute joint mounted in the torso structure. Passive adjustable linkages are used to match variation in anatomical forearm length, upper arm length, and scapula-to-glenohumeral radius. A plurality of integrated dc motor/harmonic drive transmission modules is co-located on adjoining linkages to power the joints. Force is exchanged with the human at the handgrip and elbow brace, and reacted to the torso structure via the base attachment. The present invention is applicable in particular to rehabilitation of the shoulder.

In a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) a rotodynamic blood pump (10) is powered by a brushless DC motor (12). A power supply (14) supplies power to the motor (12). Three feedback channels, one for each of voltage, current, and motor speed lead to a microcontroller or microprocessor (18). The three feedback waveforms are analyzed, and from these waveforms, motor input power, patient heart rate, current pump flow rate, and systemic pressure are determined. The microprocessor (18) then calculates a desired flow rate proportional to the patient heart rate. The microprocessor communicates a new power output to a commutation circuit (16), which regulates power to the motor (12). The pump (10) also includes safety checks that are prioritized over desired pump flow. These include prevention of ventricular suction, low pulsatility, minimum and maximum pump speed, minimum speed-relative pump flow, minimum absolute pump flow, minimum and maximum motor input power.

A photovoltaic system includes a plurality of photovoltaic modules and a DC motor connected to a three-phase generator driven by a shaft. The three-phase generator is connected to a power mains. The electric power supplied to the DC motor by the plurality of photovoltaic modules is repeatedly measured and adjusted, by changing an external excitation current of the DC motor, to the peak power attainable at the current ambient temperature and the current incident solar radiation intensity. The peak power is preferably determined by incrementally changing the excitation current in predetermined time intervals, until the supplied electric power produces a power level which can be regarded as the peak power.

A self-contained environmental control and power system (ECAPS) unit including an HVAC system with at least one variable-speed compressor driven by a DC motor, wherein the HVAC system is adapted to condition air and output the conditioned air and a variable-speed diesel engine connected to a generator. The generator is configured to vary in speed so as to output AC power at a variable frequency. The unit includes a rectification assembly which transforms the AC power from the generator and/or external AC power to DC power, and an inverter assembly which transforms the DC power to an export AC power. The ECAPS unit directs the DC power to the DC motor to drive the variable speed compressor and varies, in a controlled manner, at least one parameter of the outputted conditioned air from the HVAC system.

Methods and apparatus for controlling a polyphase motor in implantable medical device applications are provided. In one embodiment, the polyphase motor is a brushless DC motor. The back emf of a selected phase of the motor is sampled while a drive voltage of the selected phase is substantially zero. Various embodiments utilize sinusoidal or trapezoidal drive voltages. The sampled back emf provides an error signal indicative of the positional error of the rotor. In one embodiment, the sampled back emf is normalized with respect to a commanded angular velocity of the rotor to provide an error signal proportional only to the positional error of the motor rotor. The error signal is provided as feedback to control a frequency of the drive voltage. A speed control generates a speed control signal corresponding to a difference between a commanded angular velocity and an angular velocity inferred from the frequency of the drive voltage. The speed control signal is provided as feedback to control an amplitude of the drive voltage. In one embodiment, an apparatus includes a brushless DC motor and a commutation control. The commutation control provides a commutation control signal for a selected phase of the motor in accordance with a sampled back electromotive force (emf) of that phase. The back emf of the phase is sampled only while the corresponding drive voltage for the selected phase is substantially zero, wherein a frequency of a drive voltage of the motor is varied in accordance with the commutation control signal.

Cordless power tools include a pistol housing having an upper portion that merges into a downwardly extending handle, a DC motor residing in the upper portion of the housing, the DC motor having a rotor that drives an output shaft; a torque transducer on board the tool in communication with the output shaft; and a dynamic motor control circuit residing in the housing in communication with the motor and torque transducer. The dynamic motor control circuit includes a Kelvin resistor in communication with the motor for measuring motor current and digital hall switches in communication with the motor for measuring motor speed. The motor current can vary by at least 100 A during operation.

A power tool that includes a brushless DC motor, one or more motor sensors, and a controller, such as, for example, an electronic speed control (ESC) circuit. The controller is adapted to provide instructions to control the operation of one or more parameters of the brushless DC motor. The controller is also adapted to receive feedback from one or more motor sensors that reflect whether the motor is attaining the one or more parameters. The controller may also be adapted to have a learning mode, in which feedback provided during use of the power tool is stored by the controller as a program so that the same operating parameters may be subsequently replicated by using the program to operate the tool. The controller may also use the feedback to adjust the operation of the motor so that the motor maintains one or more selected or programed operating parameters.

Devices and methods for the effective clearing of artificial tubes, especially in-situ clearing of artificial tubes in a living being are covered in this disclosure. The devices and methods provide an elongated clearing member having a first end that is coupled to a driving mechanism and having a second working end that is subjected to repetitive motion for clearing blockages within the artificial tube. The elongated clearing member includes either a fixed or an adjustable element that selectively defines the portion of the elongated clearing member that is insertable within the artificial tube. The proximal end of the clearing member is releasably secured to the driving mechanism and the driving mechanisms may comprise a wide variety of repetitive motion drivers such as voice coil motors, piezoelectric actuators, pneumatic actuators, DC motors, etc. These devices/methods may comprise a free-standing console for hands-free operation or may comprise hand-held versions. The distal working end of the clearing member may comprise tips of differing functions, including an irrigation/aspiration feature.

A system for operating a barrier system such as a garage door, gate or fence. A DC motor is connected to and operates a barrier drive. A power amplifier is configured to receive power signals from a power supply and to output modulated DC signals to the DC motor. A controller implements an intelligent closed-loop motion control algorithm to control the power amplifier according to a non-linear motion profile. A feedback sensor provides status signals to the controller to determine position or speed of the barrier.

The present invention discloses the present invention discloses a power toothbrush that includes a body portion 105. An elongated level arm 102 extends from one end of the body portion to a toothbrush head 101 disposed at a distal end of the toothbrush. The toothbrush head includes a plurality of brush bristles. The elongated lever arm 102 is mounted on a vibrating pivot 104 driven by rotational DC motor engaging and pushing a set of permanent magnets attached to a two-arm fork rotating along the lever arm 102. In a preferred embodiment, the DC motor drives a three-leg permanent magnets each disposed at a 120-degree phase from each other for driving the two-arm fork for generating a vibration that three-times the frequency of the DC motor's rotational frequency.

A vacuum generating apparatus for a vacuum cleaner is provided, in which an axial type coreless brushless direct-current (DC) motor is implemented in the form of a rotor-impeller integration structure. The vacuum generating apparatus includes an axial type brushless DC motor in which disc-shaped upper and lower rotors are symmetrically disposed facing the upper and lower portions of a disc-shaped stator at either end of a rotating shaft rotatably supported in the inner circumferential portion of the stator, upper and lower impellers integrally fixed in the upper and lower rotors, respectively, and upper and lower housings whose outer circumferential portions are combined with the outer circumferential portions of the respective disc-shaped stator such that air sucked via sucking inlets formed at the center of the housings is guided to a discharging outlet together with the stator. A single rotor structure can also be adopted.

A position sensor-free double closed-loop speed regulation control method for a brushless DC motor comprises the following steps: (1) initializing functional modules and peripherals; (2) opening AD (Analog-Digital) interruption and protection interruption; (3) detecting the start key of the motor, judging whether to start the motor, if yes, executing the next step, and if not, continuing to execute the step; (4) starting voltage detection, judging whether the voltage of a main circuit is larger than starting voltage, if yes, executing the next step, and if not, returning to the step (3); (5) entering a motor starting subprogram and beginning operating the motor; (6) entering a double closed-loop speed regulation subprogram, and regulating the rotational speed and the current of the motor according to voltage value; and (7) detecting a motor brake key, judging whether to press the key, if yes, entering a motor brake subprogram, and if not, returning to the step (3). The method provided by the invention overcomes the defects of larger size, low rotational speed accuracy and the like of the conventional motor controller, can accurately control different rotational speeds of the motor, and can simultaneously realize counter electromotive force zero-cross comparison position sensor-free reversing and Hall position signal reversing.

An instantaneous current and instantaneous voltage of a three-phase coil of a brushless DC motor are detected, and the internal condition of a compressor is predicted from these detection values. The prediction about the internal condition of the compressor is made in such a way that motor driving torque which is a parameter of a motor model is identified and poor lubrication, liquid compression or the like is predicted from this identified motor driving torque. This enables it to make, in real time, a failure forecast, failure diagnosis etc. on the compressor.

The present invention relates to a washing machine (7) and pump (8) for a washing machine (7). The pump is driven by a brushless DC motor (38). The pump can be controlled to improve the operation of the washing machine. In one aspect the invention comprises a washing machine (7) with a variable speed pump (8) for pumping out wastewater, a controller (50) for controlling the speed of the pump and a sensor (10) for determining the flow-rate of water being pumped from the washing machine, wherein the controller (50) controls the speed of the pump to maintain the flow-rate at a desirable level.

A constant detecting apparatus 15 comprising a detecting unit 26 and a calculating unit 27. The detecting unit 26 is structured comprising a rotation sensor 41, a torque sensor 42, a position sensor 43, a rotor temperature sensor 44, a winding temperature sensor 45, a phase voltage detector 46, and phase current detectors 47 and 47. The calculating unit 27 calculates the induced voltage constant Ke that changes depending on the motor temperature Tmag while the motor 11 is being driven based on each of the detected signals from the detecting unit 26, and at the same time, the d axis current Id and the q axis current Iq are calculated after elimination of the iron loss, and the d axis inductance Ld and the q axis inductance Lq in the actual operating state of the motor 11 are calculated.