Patent GB-1505734-A (GB)
Title: Regulators for electric motors
IPC: H02P25/14
Filed: 1975-02-13
Abstract: 1505734 Control of AC motors ROBERT BOSCH GmbH 13 Feb 1975 [16 Feb 1974] 6107/75 Heading H2J A regulator for reducing the normal operating speed of an electric motor to a reduced speed during idling of the motor comprises an electronic power switch connected to vary the power supply to the motor to provide either the amount of power needed to drive the motor at the normal operating speed or the amount of power needed to drive the motor at the reduced speed, and a transformer connected with its primary to sense the variation in current drawn by the motor and with its secondary to provide an output to control operation of the power switch, so that when the current drawn by the motor falls to a predetermined value, representing the idling condition, the motor is supplied with an amount of power to cause it to be driven at the reduced speed, and so that when the current agains exceeds the predetermined value, the motor is supplied with an amount of power to cause it to be driven at the normal operating speed. In Fig. 1, a universal motor 12 is supplied at a reduced voltage from an A.C. supply 10, 11 by virtue of current flow through only the diode 14 of a regulator comprising this diode in anti-parallel with a thyristor 13. This current flow corresponds to idling operation of the motor at point A of a characteristic I in Fig. 2 relating speed n and torque M. As the load on the motor increases, the speed n follows the characteristic I until a torque M1 is reached, at which point the current sensed by a transformer 15 is sufficient to cause members 16, 17, 18 to fire the thyristor 13 and so apply both half waves of A.C. to the motor, whose speed is thus increased suddenly to the corresponding point on the characteristic II, which is followed as the load on the motor is increased. The operation is reversed as the load decreases, reduction of voltage occurring at a torque M2 to provide a switching hysteresis effect, which prevents undesirable switching between characteristics I and II due to current variation caused by irregularities in the supply 10, 11 and motor commutation. In a modification, Fig. 3 (not shown), the junction of members 17, 18 is connected to the base of a transistor (20) interconnected with two resistors (21, 22), the transistor being switched off momentarily to cause the thyristor 30 to be fired when the predetermined current is reached. In this modification, a smaller and oppositely-poled transformer 15 is used and the switching points on the characteristics of Fig. 2 are independent of temperature, since the base-emitter diode of transistor (20) and diode 17 compensate one another in the temperature range. In Fig. 4 a triac 30 is fired in each half wave of the supply 10, 11 at an instant between the half-wave maximum and the following zero passage of the waveform or at an instant soon after the zero passage, these two firing conditions corresponding respectively to operation on the characteristics I or II of Fig. 2 and producing firing instants of approximately 90 or 0 degrees for the two respective conditions. The firing instant for idling operation is determined by the instant of reversal of an out-of-phase current leading each half-wave building up across triac 30, this current being produced by members 40, 42, 43 of which resistor 42 is adjustable to determine the instant of reversal, at which transistor 43 switches off to cause firing of a thyristor 39, short circuiting of a bridge rectifier 31-34 and firing of the triac 30, the former firing also discharging capacitor 40 through diode 41. The forward voltages of diodes 45, 46 are chosen so that when the motor current reaches the predetermined value (M1 in Fig. 2), base current of the transistor 43 flows to the members 15, 47 via diodes 45, 46, to switch off the transistor 43 very soon after the zero passage and hence fire the triac 30 at this point. Fig. 4 produces a larger (and variable) voltage change for idling compared to the fixed change of the embodiments of Figs. 1 and 3. Members 35, 37, 38 may be omitted and the junction of diodes 31, 32 connected to that of members 12, 30.