Control for a brushless generator operable in generating and starting modes

Claims

We claim:

1. A detector for detecting rotor position of a brushless generator having a motive power shaft, a permanent magnet generator (PMG) coupled to the shaft, the PMG having a set of armature phase windings at which a set of PMG phase outputs are produced, and a main generator portion coupled to the shaft, the main generator portion having a set of armature phase windings capable of receiving AC power, comprising:

means coupled to the PMG armature phase windings for deriving a number of internal pulses per revolution of the motive power shaft from the PMG phase outputs;

means coupled to the deriving means for measuring time periods between adjacent interval pulses; and

means coupled to the measuring means for converting the measured time periods into an indication of the angular position of the motive power shaft.

2. A detector for detecting rotor position of a brushless generator having a motive power shaft, a permanent magnet generator (PMG) coupled to the shaft, the PMG having a set of armature phase windings at which a set of PMG phase outputs are produced, and a main generator portion coupled to the shaft, the main generator portion having a set of armature phase windings capable of receiving AC power, comprising:

means coupled to the PMG armature phase windings for deriving a number of internal pulses per revolution of the motive power shaft from the PMG phase outputs;

means coupled to the deriving means for measuring time periods between adjacent interval pulses;

means coupled to the measuring means for converting the measured time periods into an indication of the angular position of the motive power shaft; and

wherein the measuring means comprises a counter which accumulates clock pulses during time periods between adjacent interval pulses.

3. The detector of claim 2, wherein the counter is periodically reset a certain number of times during each revolution of the motive power shaft by the interval pulses.

4. The detector of claim 2, wherein the converting means includes means for inverting a counter output signal developed by the counter to obtain an indication of the speed of the motive power shaft.

5. The detector of claim 4, wherein the converting means further includes an integrator coupled to the inverting means which develops the angular position indication.

6. The deflector of claim 5, wherein the accumulator is reset once per revolution of the motive power shaft by a reset signal derived from a parameter of AC power delivered to one of the main generator portion armature phase windings.

7. A starting system control for operating a brushless generator in a starting mode to convert electrical