Sundstrand Corporation

Anand K Upadhyay

Lawrence W Messenger

Pierre S Thollot

W William Wold

Battery powered variable speed motor drives typically control the speed of the motor in accordance with a speed command. If the battery discharges to a point where the speed command is greater than that speed which can be supported by the battery voltage, the current drawn from the battery by the motor increases, thereby accelerating discharge of same. This problem is obviated by a control for an AC motor drive according to the present invention which includes means for deriving a signal from the output of the battery representing the maximum motor speed which the battery voltage can support, means for summing the maximum motor speed signal with the speed command signal to derive an error signal and means for summing the error signal with the speed command signal when the commanded speed is greater than that speed which can be supported by the battery voltage to reduce the speed command to the inverter and thereby maintain a predetermined voltage to frequency relationship in the inverter output.

Control for AC motor drive

AC motor drives which include static inverters typically are operated by inverter controls that are designed according to certain criteria so that the inverter is operated in an efficient manner. Generally, it is desirable to design such a control to reduce as much as possible losses in the motor windings and losses associated with the inverter switches. However, inverters switching losses cannot be reduced without increasing motor losses, and vice versa, since motor losses decrease with increasing PWM frequency while inverter losses decrease with decreasing PWM frequency. In order to overcome this problem, a control system according to the present invention for controlling an inverter which converts DC power into variable frequency AC power for energizing a motor in accordance with an input command includes circuitry coupled to the input command for generating a plurality of waveforms at different frequencies, each frequency being an integer multiple of the frequency of the AC output. PWM circuitry is included for modulating the AC output with a pulse width modulating signal derived from one of the waveforms and switching circuitry for selecting one of the waveforms in dependence upon the frequency of the AC output to maintain a particular voltage to frequency relationship therein. The instant control strikes a balance between reduction of switching losses and reduction of motor losses so that the overall losses are minimized.

Inverter control system

Prior circuits for protecting inverter switches from the possibility of overlapping operation which may cause shoot-through have required complex and expensive delay circuits to provide a fixed delay between turn-off of one switch and turn-on of the complementary switch. In order to overcome the problem of complexity and expense, a protection circuit according to the present invention includes a drive signal source for developing complementary first and second drive signals and first and second drive logic circuits coupled to the drive signal source for controlling first and second switching devices, respectively, in response to the drive signals so that overlapping operation is prevented. Each of the drive logic circuit includes an inhibit logic circuit having first and second inputs which receive the drive signal and an inhibit signal developed by the other drive logic circuit, respectively. The inhibit logic circuit generates a control signal to turn on the respective switching device only when the drive signal is present and the inhibit signal from the other drive logic circuit is not present. Circuits are included for generating the inhibit signal that is coupled to the inhibit logic of the other drive logic circuit, such inhibit signal being generated during the time that the control signal is generated and for a predetermined time period thereafter so that the complementary switch is maintained in an off state until the predetermiend time period has elapsed.

Inverter shoot-through protection circuit

In power circuit designs, it is sometimes necessary to connect two or more semiconductor power switches in parallel and to simultaneously operate both so that current levels in excess of the rated current handling capability of one of the devices can be conducted. Such operation, however, encounters the problem of current sharing which results from variations in the characteristics of the parallel-connected devices. The method of the present invention obviates the difficulties encountered with current sharing by operating N parallel-connected semiconductor devices one at a time in sequential fashion so that each device conducts an average current equal to the desired average output current divided by N.

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Rockford, IL, United States of America

Anand K Upadhyay