System and method for hoist with integrated drum and motor

1. A permanent magnet motor driven hoist system comprising:

a cable drum with a cable wrapped thereon;

a power source;

a permanent magnet out-runner motor comprising:

a ferromagnetic stator on a fixed central shaft, the stator having a plurality of stator coils

an outer rotor assembly coaxial with and disposed to rotate about the stator, the rotor assembly having a rotating housing with an outer surface radially outward of the fixed central shaft and an inner surface radially inward toward the fixed central shaft and a plurality of permanent magnets disposed at the inner surface configured to magnetically couple with the ferromagnetic stator, the rotating housing operably coupled to the cable drum such that rotation of the rotor assembly causes rotation of the cable drum to reel in/out the cable;

wherein excitation signals applied to the plurality of stator coils induce a torque in the outer rotor assembly to cause the outer rotor assembly to rotate about the stator and central shaft, and

a controller operably connected to the power source and the out-runner motor, the controller configured to generate the excitation signals applied to the plurality of stator coils, wherein the controller is configured to apply a braking command signals to the permanent magnet out-runner motor to magnetically lock the permanent magnet out-runner motor such that a magnetic field generated by the plurality stator windings locks with a magnetic field of the plurality of permanent magnets and holds the outer rotor assembly in a current position to hold the permanent magnet out-runner motor in a fixed position for a selected duration.

2. The hoist system of claim 1 , wherein the rotating housing is at least one of directly mounted to, disposed on, integral with, and is the same as the cable drum.

3. The hoist system of claim 1 , further including a first gear train operably coupled between the permanent magnet motor rotor assembly and the cable drum.

4. The hoist system of claim 3 , wherein the first gear train is a planetary gear train with a sun gear operably coupled between the rotating housing and a ring gear operably coupled to the cable drum.

5. The hoist system of claim 4 , wherein the sun gear is at least one of directly mounted to, disposed on, integral with, and the same as the rotating housing and the ring gear directly mounted to, disposed on, integral with, and the same as the cable drum.

6. The hoist system of claim 4 , wherein the planetary gear train includes at least two planet gears interconnected by a fixed carrier.

7. The hoist system of claim 3 , further including a second gear train operably coupled between the permanent magnet motor rotor assembly and the cable drum.

8. The hoist system of claim 7 , wherein the first gear train and the second gear train are axially symmetric with respect to a load applied at an axial center of the cable drum.

9. The hoist system of claim 1 , wherein the permanent magnet out-runner motor is at least one of a brushless direct current motor, a permanent magnet synchronous motor, and a reluctance motor.

10. The hoist system of claim 1 , wherein the stator assembly includes a plurality of stator teeth, and the stator coils are at least one of concentric on a single tooth and distributed about a plurality of stator teeth.

11. The hoist system of claim 1 , wherein the stator is formed of at least one of steel laminations, sintered magnetic powder material, and solid ferromagnetic material.

12. The hoist system of claim 1 , wherein the permanent magnets are of arcuate in shape and axial cross section and rectangular in radial cross section, having longer sides radially outward and proximate to the rotating housing.

13. The hoist system of claim 1 , wherein the permanent magnets are composed of at least one of alnico, neodymium, samarium cobalt and ceramic.

14. The hoist system of claim 1 , wherein the rotating housing is ferromagnetic.

15. The hoist system of claim 1 , further including a plurality of Hall effect sensors configured to detect the position of a rotor of the permanent magnet out-runner motor.

16. The hoist system of claim 1 , wherein the controller includes an inverter for generating the excitation signals to the permanent magnet out-runner motor, the inverter having at least six switching devices arranged in three legs.

17. The hoist system of claim 1 , wherein the excitation signals are pulse width modulated (PWM) based on an operational characteristic of the permanent magnet out-runner motor.

18. The hoist system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to control the permanent magnet out-runner motor employing a method to brake the permanent magnet out-runner motor comprising;

generating control signals in the controller based on a position of the permanent magnet out-runner motor,

applying a braking command signal to the permanent magnet out-runner motor to magnetically lock the permanent magnet rotor of the permanent magnet out-runner motor for a selected duration,

removing the braking command signals for a second selected duration, and

repeating the generating control signals, applying a braking command signal and removing the braking command signal until the permanent magnet out-runner motor has stopped.

19. The hoist system of claim 18 , wherein the braking command signals are configurable for a given hoist configuration.

20. The hoist system of claim 1 , further including an electromechanical brake operably coupled to the controller and the cable drum.

21. A method of controlling a permanent magnet out runner motor operably connected to a cable drum with a cable wrapped thereon, a controller operably connected the permanent magnet out-runner motor and a power source, the controller executing the method comprising:

generating control signals in the controller based on a position of the permanent magnet out-runner motor;

applying a braking command such that a magnetic field generated by the stator winding locks with a magnetic field of the permanent magnets and holds the rotor assembly in a current position to hold the permanent magnet out-runner motor in a fixed position to the permanent magnet out-runner motor to magnetically lock the permanent magnet out runner motor for a selected duration;

removing the braking command signals for a second selected duration; and

repeating the generating, applying and removing until the permanent magnet out-runner motor has stopped.

22. The method of claim 21 , further including energizing an electromechanical brake when the permanent magnet out-runner motor is not commanded to move by the controller, wherein the electromechanical brake is configured to arrest the motion of the cable drum and hold the cable drum in a fixed position under selected conditions.

23. The method of claim 21 , further including energizing an electromechanical brake when the PM out-runner motor is commanded to move by the controller, wherein the electromechanical brake is configured to arrest the motion of the cable drum and hold the cable drum in a fixed position under selected conditions.

24. The method of claim 21 , wherein the braking command signals are pulse width modulated (PWM) based on an operational characteristic of the PM out-runner motor.

25. The method of claim 21 , wherein the braking command signals are configurable for a given hoist configuration.