Rate limited common mode control for pulse-width modulation drives

1. A method for pulse width modulation control of a multiple phase drive comprising:

identifying a set of at least one phase from the plurality of phases for the drive as eligible for clamping to one of a plurality of extreme power supply voltages;

selecting a phase from the set of eligible phases having a largest magnitude driving current of the set of eligible phases;

determining a first offset signal as a difference between a control signal level for the selected phase and an extreme control signal level corresponding to one of the plurality of extreme power supply voltages;

limiting a rate of change of the first offset signal to form a second offset signal; and

determining a modified control signal for each of the phases for the drive including forming for each of a plurality of the phases a combination of the second offset signal and a control signal level for the phase to determine the modified control signal for the phase.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying a set of at least one phase from the plurality of phases for the drive as eligible for clamping to one of a plurality of extreme power supply voltage includes applying a control-signal-level based test to a plurality of control signal levels corresponding to the plurality of phases for the drive to determine one or more phases to exclude from the set of at least one phase.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the control-signal-level based test includes identifying one or more intermediate control signal levels of the plurality of control signal levels having signal levels between the maximum and the minimum control signal levels and excluding the phase corresponding to the one or more intermediate control signal levels from the set of at least one phase.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein selecting the phase from the set of eligible phases having the largest magnitude driving current of the set of eligible phases includes:

comparing a set of driving currents associated with the set of eligible phases,

determining the eligible phase with the largest magnitude driving current based on the comparison of the set of driving currents as the selected phase.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the rate of change of the first offset signal is limited according to a parameter determined from the plurality of control signal levels.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the parameter is formed as a magnitude of a control signal vector determined from the plurality of control signal values.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the rate of change of the first offset signal is limited to a range between a first rate of change value and a second rate of change value.

8. The method of claim 5 , wherein the rate of change of the first offset signal is a monotonic function of the parameter.

9. The method of claim 5 , wherein,

the rate of change of the first offset signal is limited according to a parameter determined from the control signal levels,

the parameter is formed as a magnitude of a control signal vector determined from the plurality of control signal values, and

the rate of change of the first offset signal is a monotonic function of the parameter.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein each pulse width modulated control signal of a plurality of pulse width modulated control signals is determined according a corresponding one of the modified control signals of the plurality of phases.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising accepting sensor output representing driving currents of the plurality of phases and selecting the phase from the set of eligible phases includes selecting the phase having the largest magnitude driving current of the set of eligible phases according to the accepted sensor output.

12. A multi-phase controller comprising:

a control signal modifier including

an input for receiving a plurality of control signals;

an input for receiving a plurality of drive currents; and

an output for providing a plurality of modified control signals;

wherein the control signal modifier is configured to

identify a set of at least one phase from a plurality of phases for a multi-phase drive as eligible for clamping to one of a plurality of extreme power supply voltages;

select a phase from the set of eligible phases having a largest magnitude driving current of the set of eligible phases;

determine a first offset signal as a difference between a control signal level for the selected phase and an extreme control signal level corresponding to one of the plurality of extreme power supply voltages;

limit a rate of change of the first offset signal to form a second offset signal; and

determine a plurality of modified control signals, one for each of the phases for the drive including forming for each of a plurality of the phases a combination of the second offset signal and a control signal level for the phase to determine the modified control signal for the phase.

13. The multi-phase controller of claim 12 , further comprising a pulse width modulator configured to accept the plurality of modified control signals and determine each pulse width modulated control signal of a plurality of pulse width modulated control signals according to a corresponding one of the plurality of modified control signals.

14. The multi-phase controller of claim 13 , further comprising a control signal generator including

an input for receiving a feedback signal;

an input for receiving a command signal;

an input for receiving a plurality of drive currents; and

an output for providing a plurality of control signals;

wherein the control signal generator is configured to determine the plurality of control signals in response to at least one of the feedback signal, the command signal, and the plurality of drive currents.

15. The multi-phase controller of claim 12 , wherein the control signal modifier is further configured to identify the set of at least one phase from the plurality of phases for the drive as eligible for clamping to one of a plurality of extreme power supply voltage including applying a control-signal-level based test to a plurality of control signal levels corresponding to the plurality of phases for the drive to determine one or more phases to exclude from the set of at least one phase.

16. The multi-phase controller of claim 15 , wherein the control-signal-level based test includes identifying one or more intermediate control signal levels of the plurality of control signal levels having signal levels between the maximum and the minimum control signal levels and excluding the phase corresponding to the one or more intermediate control signal levels from the set of at least one phase.

17. The multi-phase controller of claim 12 , wherein the control signal modifier is further configured to select the phase from the set of eligible phases having the largest magnitude driving current of the set of eligible phases including

comparing a set of driving currents associated with the set of eligible phases,

determining the eligible phase with the largest magnitude driving current based on the comparison of the set of driving currents as the selected phase.

18. The multi-phase controller of claim 12 , wherein the control signal modifier includes a slew rate limiter configured to accept a parameter determined from the plurality of control signal levels and limit the rate of change of the first offset signal according to the parameter.

19. The multi-phase controller of claim 18 , wherein the parameter is formed as a magnitude of a control signal vector determined from the plurality of control signal values.

20. The multi-phase controller of claim 18 , wherein the slew rate limiter is configured to limit the rate of change of the first offset signal to a range between a first rate of change value and a second rate of change value.

21. The multi-phase controller of claim 18 , wherein the rate of change of the first offset signal is a monotonic function of the parameter.