Multi-phase motor controller

Abstract

A disc rotatable with the motor shaft has circumferentially equally spaced slots formed therethrough. A light source and receiver assembly are operatively arranged relative to the slots to produce pulses representing a predetermined angular displacement of the motor shaft determined by the width of the slots as the motor shaft rotates. The duration of the pulses decreases as the motor shaft speed increases. A multivibrator is triggered by the leading edges of the pulses to generate reference pulses of a predetermined duration. The motor phases are excited in a normal sequence as long as the duration of the pulses is longer than the duration of the reference pulses. When the pulse duration becomes less than the reference pulse duration, coincidence sensing means alter the phase excitation during the times between the termination of the pulses and the termination of the respective reference pulses to apply a torque to the motor shaft in such a manner as to prevent the motor shaft from accelerating further. The torque may be a low positive torque which is insufficient to overcome the frictional forces in the motor control system, a zero torque produced by de-energizing all of the motor phases or a reverse torque. The result is that the motor shaft speed is prevented from exceeding a predetermined value.