Ebm-papst St. Georgen Gmbh & Co Kg

Siemens Aktiengesellschaft

Markus Hirt

Frank Jeske

Manfred Bitzer

Jörg Hornberger

Joerg Hornberger

A method for determining state values of a wheel (R) of a wheel drive module that includes the wheel (R), a speed modulation gearbox (G), a first electric motor (M) and a second electric motor (M), as well as at least one first sensor (S) for sensing state values of the first electric motor (M), at least one second sensor (S) for sensing state values of the second electric motor (M), wherein additional state value sources of the electric motors (M, M) and/or the wheel (R) are provided and the sensed state values are compared with each other in order to compensate for and to recognize errors in the sensing of the state values so that actual state values of the wheel (R) are determined from the individual sensed state values.

Method for determining actual state values

A wheel drive module comprises wheel (R), speed modulation gearbox (G), first electric motor (M), and second electric motor (M). First and second electric motors (M, M) jointly drive wheel (R) about wheel axis (A) by the speed modulation gearbox (G) and steer said wheel about steering axis (L). Wheel drive module comprises first motor electronics () for controlling first electric motor (M) and second motor electronics () for controlling second electric motor (M) and central electronics () connected to first and second motor electronics (), allowing a signal transfer. Wheel drive module comprises control logic for controlling first and second electric motors (M, M), which logic is provided by first and second motor electronics (), central electronics (), application electronics () connected to the central electronics (), allowing a signal transfer, or jointly by the central electronics () and the first and second motor electronics ().

Wheel drive module of modular construction

The disclosure relates to a method for controlling a first electric motor (M) and a second electric motor (M) of a wheel drive module, wherein the wheel drive module comprises a wheel (R) and a speed modulation gearbox (G), and wherein the wheel (R) is drivable about a wheel axis (A) jointly by the first and the second electric motors (M, M) by means of the speed modulation gearbox (G) and steerable about a steering axis (L) which is orthogonal to the wheel axis (A), wherein electrical control signals for controlling the first and second electric motors (M, M) are determined from wheel reference values which characterize the driving and/or the steering of the wheel (R).

Method for controlling two electric motors

An electric motor () has a permanent-magnet rotor () and an apparatus for generating a three-phase sinusoidal current (i, i, i) for supplying current to said motor (), also a microprocessor () for executing the following steps: while the motor () is running at a substantially constant load, the motor is operated firstly at a predetermined operating voltage (U), and an amplitude of a current flowing to the motor is iteratively sampled, stored, and compared as applied voltage is decreased. If it is found, in this context, that the current flowing to the motor has not decreased as a result of reduction in the voltage amplitude, the motor () is operated at that current. If, however, it is found that the current flowing to the motor has decreased as a result of the reduction in the voltage delivered to the motor (), the measurements and the comparison are repeated, optionally multiple times, in order to identify values for optimized efficiency.

Method of improving efficiency in a multiphase motor, and motor for implementing such a method

An electric motor, having a stator (), a rotor (), and an apparatus for evaluating a signal provided for controlling said motor (), comprises a receiving unit () for receiving a control signal (PWM_mod), which is a pulse width modulated signal (PWM) onto which a data signal (DIR, DATA) is modulated. An evaluation unit () is provided for evaluating the modulated control signal (PWM_mod). The unit is configured to extract, from the modulated control signal (PWM_mod), data provided for operation of the motor (). The control apparatus includes a signal generator () configured to generate, on the basis of the extracted or ascertained data provided for operation of the motor (), at least one control signal for the motor (), such as a commanded direction of rotation. Piggybacking other control data onto the PWM power level signal reduces hardware investment, by permitting omission of a signal lead which would otherwise be required in the motor structure.

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Villingen-Schwenningen, Germany

Markus Hirt