An image forming apparatus and an image forming method are provided. The image forming apparatus includes a printing engine to form an image, a step motor to drive the printing engine, a driving circuit to provide a constant current to the step motor and sense a voltage corresponding to a magnitude of the constant current provided to the step motor, and a processor to calculate a temperature of the step motor based on the voltage sensed by the driving circuit during an excitation period of the step motor and control an operation of the image forming apparatus based on the calculated temperature.

An image forming apparatus and an image forming method are provided. The image forming apparatus includes a printing engine to form an image, a step motor to drive the printing engine, a driving circuit to provide a constant current to the step motor and sense a voltage corresponding to a magnitude of the constant current provided to the step motor, and a processor to calculate a temperature of the step motor based on the voltage sensed by the driving circuit during an excitation period of the step motor and control an operation of the image forming apparatus based on the calculated temperature.

At least one example embodiment discloses a method of controlling an alternating current (ac) machine. The method includes determining or retrieving a current limit for the ac machine, determining a characterized peak current value based on a voltage-to-speed ratio of the ac machine, determining current command values for the ac machine based on at least one of the torque command limit and a torque command for the ac machine, determining current command values for the ac machine based on the torque command limit and controlling the ac machine based on the current command values.

An electric traction machine, a motor vehicle, and a method for controlling dissipated heat in the electrical power plant of the motor vehicle are described herein. The power plant is supplied with a current, where, in order to provide a predetermined amount of dissipated heat, a ratio between a field-forming and a torque-forming current deviating from an optimum ratio for a respective operating point of the power plant is prescribed. The predetermined dissipated heat is provided by a power plant embodied as a magnet-less three-phase alternator while a rotor current flowing through a rotor of the three-phase alternator is adjusted, the field-forming and the torque-forming currents being prescribed such that acoustic interference signals of the three-phase alternator are minimized by the ratio, and the rotor current is adjusted such that the predetermined dissipated heat is provided by a combination of the rotor current and the ratio minimizing the interference signals.

An arrangement for determining a temperature of an electric machine includes a supply unit for operating the electric machine, with a first temperature of the electric machine computed with a first thermal model of the electric machine in the supply unit, and a computing facility connected to the supply unit by way of a data transmission channel, with a second temperature of the electric machine computed with a second thermal model of the electric machine in the computing facility. The supply unit and the computing facility communicate by way of the data transmission channel so as to enable the computing facility to determine the second temperature of the electric machine with the second thermal model even when no current is supplied to the supply unit.

The inverter (110) comprises input terminals (IT+, IT−), output terminals (OT), controllable switches (Q, Q′) connected to the input terminals (IT+, IT−) and to the output terminals (OT) and a control device (116) configured to control the controllable switches (Q, Q′) so as to convert a DC voltage at the input terminals (IT+, IT−) into an AC voltage at the output terminals (OT) intended to drive an asynchronous electric motor (108) to achieve a target torque (T*), selectively: in a first mode of operation in which the target torque (T*) is determined according to a torque determination method, and in response to a rotor temperature (Tr), in a second mode of operation in which losses in the rotor are decreased relative to the first mode of operation while the target torque (T*) remains determined according to the torque determination method of the first mode of operation.

The inverter (110) comprises input terminals (IT+, IT−), output terminals (OT), controllable switches (Q, Q′) connected to the input terminals (IT+, IT−) and to the output terminals (OT) and a control device (116) configured to control the controllable switches (Q, Q′) so as to convert a DC voltage at the input terminals (IT+, IT−) into an AC voltage at the output terminals (OT) intended to drive an asynchronous electric motor (108) to achieve a target torque (T*), selectively: in a first mode of operation in which the target torque (T*) is determined according to a torque determination method, and in response to a rotor temperature (Tr), in a second mode of operation in which losses in the rotor are decreased relative to the first mode of operation while the target torque (T*) remains determined according to the torque determination method of the first mode of operation.

A system, apparatus and method for managing an electromechanical system is provided. In an embodiment, the method includes receiving, by a processing unit, operational data associated with the electromechanical system from one or more sensing units in real-time. Furthermore, the method includes detecting an event associated with a power supplied to the electromechanical system based on the operational data. Also, the method includes configuring a virtual replica of the electromechanical system using the operational data, based on the event detected. Additionally, the method further includes generating one or more simulation results by simulating the configured virtual replica in a simulation environment. Moreover, the method includes predicting an effect on the electromechanical system due to the event based on the simulation results.

A system, apparatus and method for managing an electromechanical system is provided. In an embodiment, the method includes receiving, by a processing unit, operational data associated with the electromechanical system from one or more sensing units in real-time. Furthermore, the method includes detecting an event associated with a power supplied to the electromechanical system based on the operational data. Also, the method includes configuring a virtual replica of the electromechanical system using the operational data, based on the event detected. Additionally, the method further includes generating one or more simulation results by simulating the configured virtual replica in a simulation environment. Moreover, the method includes predicting an effect on the electromechanical system due to the event based on the simulation results.

The inverter (110) comprises input terminals (IT+, IT−), output terminals (OT), controllable switches (Q, Q′) connected to the input terminals (IT+, IT−) and to the output terminals (OT) and a control device (116) configured to control the controllable switches (Q, Q′) so as to convert a DC voltage at the input terminals (IT+, IT−) into an AC voltage at the output terminals (OT) intended to drive an asynchronous electric motor (108) to achieve a target torque (T*), selectively: in a first mode of operation in which the target torque (T*) is determined according to a torque determination method, and in response to a rotor temperature (Tr), in a second mode of operation in which losses in the rotor are decreased relative to the first mode of operation while the target torque (T*) remains determined according to the torque determination method of the first mode of operation.