The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 20, 2000
Filed:
Feb. 12, 1999
Gregory Jon Manlove, Kokomo, IN (US);
Paul M Werking, Tipton, IN (US);
Wayne Alan Madsen, Kokomo, IN (US);
James Leo Kohler, Kokomo, IN (US);
Delco Electronics Corporation, Kokomo, IN (US);
Abstract
Circuitry (100, 100') for determining actuator position includes four MOS transistors (T1-T4) connected to each side of a bi-directional motor (10). The current flowing through the motor (10) at any given time is proportional to voltages developed across the internal impedances of the transistors (T1-T4). The resulting motor voltages are amplified and high-pass filtered to remove any DC offsets due to the signal amplification. The conditioned motor voltages are then compared to one or more threshold voltages and passed through a one shot circuit (120) to provide detectable pulses for each motor commutation event. Circuitry (106,107) is provided for counting pulses provided by the one shot circuit (120) and, based on a desired motor position, for providing a number of digital control signals to a digital control circuit (104). Digital control circuit (104) is responsive to the number of digital control signals to control the gate voltages of the four transistors (T1-T4) to thereby control the position of the motor (10).