Granted Patent B2

US 12,506,384 · App. 18/471,625 · Granted Dec 23, 2025

Inventors: Bertrand Prouzet (Figeac, FR); Cedric Antraygue (Figeac, FR); Florent Palouzier (Fons, FR)

Assignee: RATIER-FIGEAC SAS

H02K7/116H02K11/21H02K11/33

Abstract

Claims (63)

1 . A motor system comprising:

a brushless motor comprising:

a stator;

a rotor having a first number, p, of rotor poles;

a motor shaft connected to the rotor; and

a reducer arrangement comprising:

a reducer input connected for rotation with the motor shaft; and

a reducer output connected to the reducer input and arranged such that a single full rotation of the reducer input causes a 1/N rotation of the reducer output, where N is an integer greater than one;

the motor system further comprising:

control electronics; and

a position sensor configured to detect an angular position of the reducer output and to provide the detected angular position to the control electronics;

wherein the control electronics is connected to the motor and is arranged to control the motor based on the detected angular position, wherein the control electronics is configured for controlling a motor having p×N rotor poles.

2 . The motor system according claim 1 , wherein reducer input is a first gear having a first number of gear teeth, and wherein the reducer output is a second gear having a second, different, number of gear teeth; wherein the second number of gear teeth is N-times the first number of gear teeth.

3 . The motor system according to claim 2 , wherein the reducer arrangement further comprises a free gear mounted axially-adjacent to and coaxial with one of the first gear and the second gear, and wherein the free gear engages the other of the first gear and the second gear; wherein an elastic element is provided to bias the free gear such that teeth of the free gear are angularly offset from teeth of its axially-adjacent gear.

4 . The motor system according to claim 1 , wherein the reducer arrangement is a strain wave gear system, wherein reducer input is a wave generator of the strain wave gear system and wherein the reducer output is a flex spline of the strain wave gear system.

5 . The motor system according to claim 1 , wherein the reducer arrangement comprises a first wheel, a second wheel, and a timing belt looping around both the first wheel and the second wheel;

wherein the reducer input the first wheel, and wherein the reducer output is the second wheel;

wherein the first wheel has a first circumference, wherein the second wheel has a second, different circumference; and

wherein the second circumference is N-times larger than the first circumference.

6 . A motor system comprising:

a brushless motor comprising:

a stator; and

a rotor having a first number, p, of rotor poles;

a motor shaft connected to the rotor;

a multiplier arrangement comprising:

a multiplier input connected for rotation with the motor shaft; and

a multiplier output connected to the multiplier input and arranged such that a single full rotation of the multiplier input causes M full rotations of the multiplier output, where M is an integer greater than one;

the motor system further comprising:

control electronics; and

a position sensor configured to detect an angular position of the multiplier output and to provide the detected angular position to the control electronics;

wherein the control electronics is connected to the motor and is arranged to control the motor based on the detected angular position, wherein the control electronics is configured for controlling a motor having p/M rotor poles, wherein p is an integer multiple of M.

7 . The motor system according to claim 6 , wherein multiplier input is a first gear having a first number of gear teeth, and wherein the multiplier output is a second gear having a second, different, number of gear teeth; wherein the first number of gear teeth is N-times the second number of gear teeth.

8 . The motor system according to claim 7 , wherein the multiplier arrangement further comprises a free gear mounted axially-adjacent to and coaxial with one of the first gear and the second gear, and wherein the free gear engages the other of the first gear and the second gear; wherein an elastic element is provided to bias the free gear such that teeth of the free gear are angularly offset from teeth of its axially-adjacent gear.

9 . The motor system according to claim 6 , wherein the multiplier arrangement comprises a first wheel, a second wheel, and a timing belt looping around both the first wheel and the second wheel;

wherein the multiplier input is the first wheel, and wherein the multiplier output is the second wheel;

wherein the first wheel has a first circumference, wherein the second wheel has a second, different circumference; and

wherein the first circumference is N-times larger than the second circumference.

10 . The motor system according to claim 6 , wherein the multiplier arrangement is a strain wave gear system, wherein multiplier output is a wave generator of the strain wave gear system and wherein the multiplier input is a flex spline of the strain wave gear system.

11 . The motor system according to claim 6 , wherein the position sensor is one of: a resolver, a Hall effect sensor, a potentiometer, optical encoder, encoder, or an inductive sensor.

12 . A method of controlling a brushless motor, the method comprising:

providing a brushless motor comprising:

a stator;

a rotor having a first number, p, of rotor poles; and

a motor shaft connected to the rotor; and

a reducer arrangement having a reducer input and a reducer output, wherein the reducer input is connected for rotation with the motor shaft, wherein the reducer output is connected to the reducer input and arranged such that a single full rotation of the reducer input causes a 1/N rotation of the reducer output, where N is an integer greater than one;

connecting control electronics to the motor, wherein the control electronics are configured to control a motor having N×p rotor poles;

detecting, using a position sensor, an angular position of the reducer output;

providing the detected angular position to the control electronics; and

controlling the brushless motor using the control electronics based on the detected angular position.

13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the reducer input is a first gear having a first number of gear teeth, and wherein the reducer output is a second gear having a second, different, number of gear teeth; wherein the second number of gear teeth is N-times the first number of gear teeth; and the method further comprising:

mounting a free gear axially-adjacent to and coaxial with one of the first gear and the second gear, such that the free gear engages the other of the first gear and the second gear; and

providing an elastic element to bias the free gear such that teeth of the free gear are angularly offset from teeth of its axially-adjacent gear.

14 . A method of controlling a brushless motor, the method comprising:

providing a brushless motor comprising:

a stator;

a rotor having a first number, p, of rotor poles; and

a motor shaft connected to the rotor; and

a multiplier arrangement having a multiplier input and a multiplier output, wherein the multiplier input is connected for rotation with the motor shaft, wherein the multiplier output is connected to the multiplier input and arranged such that a single full rotation of the multiplier input causes M full rotations of the multiplier output, where M is an integer greater than one;

connecting control electronics to the motor, wherein the control electronics are configured to control a motor having p/M rotor poles, where p is an integer multiple of M;

detecting, using a position sensor, an angular position of the reducer output;

providing the detected angular position to the control electronics; and

controlling the brushless motor using the control electronics based on the detected angular position.

15 . The method of claim 14 wherein the multiplier input comprises a first gear having a first number of gear teeth, and the multiplier output comprises is a second gear having a second, different, number of gear teeth; wherein the first number of gear teeth is N-times the second number of gear teeth, the method further comprising: mounting a free gear axially-adjacent to and coaxial with one of the first gear and the second gear, such that the free gear engages the other of the first gear and the second gear; and providing an elastic element to bias the free gear such that teeth of the free gear are angularly offset from teeth of its axially-adjacent gear.

Assignments (1)

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (13)