US 12,074,546 B2
Dynamically configurable hardware system for motor system and method for operating same
Walter Wesley Pennington, III, Menlo Park, CA (US); Ethan Bagget Swint, Redwood City, CA (US); Matthias Preindl, New York, NY (US); Gregory Gordon Stevenson, San Carlos, CA (US); Matthew J Rubin, Indianapolis, IN (US); and Anthony Da Costa, Los Altos, CA (US)
Assigned to TAU MOTORS, INC., San Carlos, CA (US)
Appl. No. 18/560,061
Filed by TAU MOTORS, INC., Redwood City, CA (US)
PCT Filed May 13, 2022, PCT No. PCT/US2022/029276
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Nov. 9, 2023,
PCT Pub. No. WO2022/241269, PCT Pub. Date Nov. 17, 2022.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/188,374, filed on May 13, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2024/0258944 A1, Aug. 1, 2024
Int. Cl. H02P 25/20 (2006.01)
CPC H02P 25/20 (2013.01) 39 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
11. A motor system, the system comprising:
a stator assembly of a motor, wherein the stator assembly includes a plurality of teeth extending radially from a stator base and a plurality of slots, wherein a slot of the plurality of slots is between each pair of adjacent teeth of the plurality of teeth, and each slot is configured to receive at least one stator slot conductor of a plurality of stator slot conductors of the stator assembly;
a rotor assembly of the motor configured to rotate relative to the stator assembly;
a microinverter network including a plurality of microinverters; and
an electronic motor controller including processing circuitry, the electronic motor controller configured to:
control the plurality of microinverters to drive the motor in accordance with a first configuration of a plurality of motor configurations;
determine one or more motor conditions of the motor;
determine, based on the one or more motor conditions, to reconfigure the motor from the first configuration to a second configuration of the plurality of motor configurations, wherein the first configuration has a first pole count that is different than a second pole count of the second configuration; and
control the plurality of microinverters to drive the motor in accordance with the second configuration.