The invention discloses a position measuring mechanism and a measuring method of a linear motion system in which two sensors are respectively disposed on two sides of a stator, in addition to allowing a moving portion to perform bidirectional movement, under a premise of not increasing a quantity of the sensors, a measuring range of the sensors can be calculated based on information measured by the sensors themselves. Furthermore, the invention further combines measurement sections respectively measured by the two sensors to ensure an accuracy of position feedback, instead of the conventional technique using an operational method of combining sinusoidal and cosine signals.

The invention discloses a position measuring mechanism and a measuring method of a linear motion system in which two sensors are respectively disposed on two sides of a stator, in addition to allowing a moving portion to perform bidirectional movement, under a premise of not increasing a quantity of the sensors, a measuring range of the sensors can be calculated based on information measured by the sensors themselves. Furthermore, the invention further combines measurement sections respectively measured by the two sensors to ensure an accuracy of position feedback, instead of the conventional technique using an operational method of combining sinusoidal and cosine signals.

The present invention comprises: an object to be conveyed that has at least one permanent magnet 10; a magnetic pole 25 that has a core 22 comprising a second magnetic body and a winding 21 wound around the outer periphery of the core 22; a drive circuit 50 for supplying a current to the winding 21 of the magnetic pole 25; a current detection unit 30 for detecting the value of the current flowing through the winding 21; and a computation unit 40 for estimating the position of the permanent magnet 10 on the basis of the current value detected by the current detection unit 30 and controlling the value of the current supplied from the drive circuit 50 to the winding 21 on the basis of information about the estimated position of the permanent magnet 10.

An independent cart system includes an inductive link for contactless power transfer between a track and each mover as the mover travels along the track. A system for contactless data transmission between movers and a controller in the independent cart system includes a transmitter and/or receiver mounted on each mover and a complementary receiver and/or transmitter mounted on a track. The transmitter receives data to be transmitted across the inductive link and modulates a voltage present on either the primary or secondary winding to which it is coupled. The modulated voltage present on one winding induces a corresponding modulation on the voltage present on the other winding. A receiver operatively connected to the other side of the inductive link detects the modulated voltage and decodes the data from the modulated voltage received across the inductive link.

An apparatus includes an electric motor including a stator and a translator; a three-phase inverter electrically coupled to the electric motor; a power source electrically coupled to the three-phase inverter; and a controller communicatively coupled to the three-phase inverter. The controller is programmed to determine at least three measurements at different times of flux linkage from the electric motor, represent the measurements in Clarke coordinates, determine Clarke coordinates of a center of a circle defined by the Clarke coordinates of the measurements, and determine a position of the translator relative to the stator based on the Clarke coordinates of the center of the circle.

An apparatus includes an electric motor including a stator and a translator; a three-phase inverter electrically coupled to the electric motor; a power source electrically coupled to the three-phase inverter; and a controller communicatively coupled to the three-phase inverter. The controller is programmed to determine at least three measurements at different times of flux linkage from the electric motor, represent the measurements in Clarke coordinates, determine Clarke coordinates of a center of a circle defined by the Clarke coordinates of the measurements, and determine a position of the translator relative to the stator based on the Clarke coordinates of the center of the circle.

A system is described in which a magnetic mover includes at least one mover identification device. The system also includes a stator defining a work surface and including an actuation coil assembly and at least one stator identification device operable to interact with the at least one mover identification device. One or more sensors are used to sense a position of the first magnetic mover. One or more stator driving circuits are used to drive the actuation coil assembly to thereby move the first magnetic mover over the work surface. The first magnetic mover includes one or more magnetic components positioned such that interaction of one or more magnetic fields emitted by the one or more magnetic components with one or more magnetic fields generated by the actuation coil assembly when driven by the one or more stator driving circuits enables movement of the first magnetic mover in at least two degrees of freedom.

A system is described in which a magnetic mover includes at least one mover identification device. The system also includes a stator defining a work surface and including an actuation coil assembly and at least one stator identification device operable to interact with the at least one mover identification device. One or more sensors are used to sense a position of the first magnetic mover. One or more stator driving circuits are used to drive the actuation coil assembly to thereby move the first magnetic mover over the work surface. The first magnetic mover includes one or more magnetic components positioned such that interaction of one or more magnetic fields emitted by the one or more magnetic components with one or more magnetic fields generated by the actuation coil assembly when driven by the one or more stator driving circuits enables movement of the first magnetic mover in at least two degrees of freedom.

A transport system includes: a mover having a first magnet group arranged in parallel to a first direction and a second magnet group arranged in parallel to a second direction crossing the first direction; and a plurality of coils arranged in parallel to the first direction so as to be able to face the first magnet group and the second magnet group, and the mover is able to move in the first direction along the plurality of coils by electromagnetic force received by the first magnetic group from the plurality of coils while an attitude of the mover is controlled by electromagnetic force received by the first magnetic group or the second magnetic group from the plurality of coils.

A transport system includes: a mover having a first magnet group arranged in parallel to a first direction and a second magnet group arranged in parallel to a second direction crossing the first direction; and a plurality of coils arranged in parallel to the first direction so as to be able to face the first magnet group and the second magnet group, and the mover is able to move in the first direction along the plurality of coils by electromagnetic force received by the first magnetic group from the plurality of coils while an attitude of the mover is controlled by electromagnetic force received by the first magnetic group or the second magnetic group from the plurality of coils.