US4376913A — Method and apparatus for synchronously driving AC…

Claim 1

Independent Claim 140 words

In a manufacturing or packaging assembly line system having a plurality of machines driven by respective AC synchronous motors and adapted to sequentially conduct successive steps of manufacture or packaging on articles moving in the assembly line, a drive control for synchronously driving said AC synchronous motors, said drive control including a plurality of AC inverters having polyphase variable frequency output signals consisting of polyphase sets of series of controlled frequency low voltage DC pulses which are amplified to respectively drive said motors at synchronized speeds, the improvement comprising circuit means in one of said inverters for generating one of said low voltage polyphase DC pulse sets and for transmitting said one low voltage polyphase DC pulse set to the remaining inverters for respective amplification by all inverters to thereby provide said respective polyphase output signals with positive phase synchronization.

Claim 2

Dependent Claim 140 words

In a manufacturing or packaging assembly line system having a plurality of machines driven by respective AC synchronous motors and adapted to sequentially conduct successive steps of manufacture or packaging on articles moving in the assembly line, a drive control for synchronously driving said AC synchronous motors, said drive control including a plurality of AC inverters having polyphase variable frequency output signals consisting of polyphase sets of series of controlled frequency low voltage DC pulses which are amplified to respectively drive said motors at synchronized speeds, the improvement comprising circuit means in one of said inverters for generating one of said low voltage polyphase DC pulse sets and for transmitting said one low voltage polyphase DC pulse set to the remaining inverters for respective amplification by all inverters to thereby provide said respective polyphase output signals with positive phase synchronization.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 21 words

The drive control of claim 1, including means to vary the frequency of said one low voltage polyphase DC pulse set.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 13 words

The drive control of claim 1, wherein said polyphase output signals are three-phase.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 91 words

The drive control of claim 1, wherein each of said inverters includes transmission gate means to gate the transmission of said one low voltage polyphase DC pulse set before amplification thereof to each respective motor for controlled energization of the motors, and including logic circuit means having position sensors on each machine to sense when the machines in the assembly line are in position synchronization with each other and adapted to open said gate means of each inverter when all machines are in position synchronization to synchronously drive the respective motors.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 45 words

The drive control of claim 5, wherein said logic circuit means includes means to drive said motors and then automatically brake and hold each motor when its corresponding machine attains position synchronization as sensed by said position sensors until all machines are in position synchronization.

Claim 7

Independent Claim 153 words

A method of synchronously driving a plurality of AC synchronous motors in phase synchronization in a manufacturing or packaging assembly line having a plurality of machines respectively driven by the motors, comprising the steps of, inverting an AC current supply with a plurality of AC inverters corresponding in number to the plurality number of said motors to be driven to thereby provide a corresponding plurality of polyphase variable frequency output signals respectively from said inverters consisting of amplified polyphase sets of series of low voltage DC pulses, and respectively driving said motors with said amplified polyphase sets of pulses, the improvement comprising the steps of generating one of said low voltage polyphase DC pulse sets in one of the inverters, and transmitting said one low voltage polyphase DC pulse set to the remaining inverters for respective amplification by all inverters to thereby provide said respective amplified polyphase output signals with positive phase synchronization.

Claim 8

Independent Claim 153 words

A method of synchronously driving a plurality of AC synchronous motors in phase synchronization in a manufacturing or packaging assembly line having a plurality of machines respectively driven by the motors, comprising the steps of, inverting an AC current supply with a plurality of AC inverters corresponding in number to the plurality number of said motors to be driven to thereby provide a corresponding plurality of polyphase variable frequency output signals respectively from said inverters consisting of amplified polyphase sets of series of low voltage DC pulses, and respectively driving said motors with said amplified polyphase sets of pulses, the improvement comprising the steps of generating one of said low voltage polyphase DC pulse sets in one of the inverters, and transmitting said one low voltage polyphase DC pulse set to the remaining inverters for respective amplification by all inverters to thereby provide said respective amplified polyphase output signals with positive phase synchronization.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 49 words

The method of synchronously driving a plurality of AC synchronous motors as set forth in claim 6, including the step of varying the frequency of said one polyphase set of pulses to a predetermined value corresponding to the desired speed at which the motors are to be synchronously driven.

Claim 10

Dependent Claim 28 words

The method of synchronously driving a plurality of AC synchronous motors as set forth in claim 6, wherein said polyphase set of signals is generated to be three-phase.

Claim 11

Dependent Claim 183 words

The method of synchronously driving a plurality of AC synchronous motors as set forth in claim 6, including the steps of, positioning a position sensor on each machine in the line to indicate respectively when each machine is in a start position which is synchronized with the start position of the other machines in the line for position synchronization of the line, generating respective electrical position signals with said position sensors when the respective machines are in their start positions and detecting the presence of said position signals, driving each of said motors until their respective machines advance to their start positions and then respectively stopping and holding each machine as it attains its respective start position by utilizing said electrical position signals to initiate respective DC hold brakes on said motors, and then simultaneously initiating drive of all of said motors in phase synchronization with their respective amplified polyphase sets of drive pulses when the simultaneous presense of said electrical position signals from all machines is detected, thereby indicating that all machines in the line are in position synchronization with each other.

Annuity Stage	Window Opens	Payment Deadline	Surcharge Period Until	Estimated Fee	Status
3.5 Years (Year 4)	1986-03-14	1986-09-13	1987-03-15	$2000.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8)	1990-03-14	1990-09-13	1991-03-15	$3760.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12)	1994-03-14	1994-09-13	1995-03-15	$7700.00	Window Closed / Lapsed

Method and apparatus for synchronously driving AC synchronous motors

Abstract

Inventors

Bibliographic Details

Claims Analysis

References Cited (Backward Citations)

USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows

Assigned Categories & Tags

Assign Category Tag