Patent ID: 7643733

Claim:
A control device for driving a brushless direct current motor, the motor having a permanent magnet rotor and three stator windings, where each stator winding is energized by timed application of a phase voltage to produce first, second and third phase currents each flowing in a respective one of the stator windings, thereby establishing a rotating magnetic field causing rotation of the rotor, the control device comprising: an inverter having first, second, and third direct current voltage sources and first, second, and third solid state switching devices, whereby the first, second, and third direct current voltage sources are selectively coupled across different pairs of the stator windings by application of first, second, and third gate signals to switch the respective first, second, and third solid state switching devices to conducting states, thereby providing the phase voltage to energize each stator winding by timed application of the gate signals to the solid state switching devices; and a closed-loop motor controller receiving a motor command signal indicative of a desired operating condition for the motor and a plurality of motor operating signals indicative of measured motor operating characteristics, the closed-loop motor controller being adapted to generate the first, second, and third gate signals based upon the motor command signal and the motor operating signals to control the phase currents for operation of the motor at the desired operating condition.