Patent application number | Description | Published |
20110011666 | STEERING CONTROL SYSTEM - An input gear rotates integrally with an input shaft, and an output gear rotates integrally with an output shaft. Pinion gears are rotatably supported by pinion gear shaft members, respectively, and are meshed with both of the input gear and the output gear. An inner end part of each pinion gear shaft member is fitted to an inner peripheral wall of a corresponding primary hole of an inner ring member, and an outer end part of each pinion gear shaft member is fitted to an inner peripheral wall of a corresponding secondary hole of an outer ring member. | 01-20-2011 |
20110031851 | ELECTRIC MOTOR - A shaft is adapted to be inserted through a circuit apparatus without a need for disassembling a shaft side sensor device from an end part of the shaft to place the shaft side sensor device in an opposed relationship to a circuit board side sensor device at a location adjacent to the circuit board side sensor device. The shaft side sensor device forms a sensor apparatus in cooperation with the circuit board side sensor device to sense a rotational angle of the rotor. | 02-10-2011 |
20110087456 | ROTATION ANGLE DETECTION DEVICE AND ELECTRIC POWER STEERING SYSTEM - Bridge circuits have half bridges formed of sensor elements, which vary respective impedances in accordance with a rotating magnetic field generated by a rotary object. A control unit acquires output signals produced from intermediate points of the half bridges, and calculates a rotation angle of the rotary object based on the output signals. The control unit determines that the output signal is abnormal, if a calculation value of the output signal calculated based on at least four output signals is outside a predetermined range. The control unit thus determines which one of the output signals has become abnormal due to failure or the like. | 04-14-2011 |
20110156623 | MOTOR DRIVE APPARATUS AND POWER STEERING APPARATUS USING THE SAME - In a motor drive apparatus having two power supply systems for a motor, output phase currents supplied from inverters and detected by current sensors are added. Sums of the phase currents are fed back to a 3-2 phase conversion section and converted into a d-axis current and a q-axis current. A 2-3 phase conversion section outputs the same three-phase voltage command values to the inverters. Thus, the 3-2 phase conversion section and the 2-3 phase conversion section are both reduced to 1 in number, which is less than 2 of the inverters. | 06-30-2011 |
20110156626 | MOTOR DRIVING DEVICE, ELECTRIC POWER STEERING DEVICE USING THE SAME AND METHOD FOR DETECTING FAILURE IN THE SAME - A voltage application unit applies voltage to windings of a motor without passing though an inverter unit. A first detection unit detects a short circuit failure in switching elements of the inverter unit based on a terminal voltage between each of the switching elements and a corresponding winding and a power voltage of a power supply. Before rotation of the motor, when no short circuit failure is detected and when a switching unit switches at least one of the high and low potential-side switching elements of the inverter unit on and subsequently switches all the switching elements off, a second failure detection unit determines whether the switching unit is incapable of rendering the switching element non-conductive based on the terminal voltage and the power voltage. | 06-30-2011 |
20110156627 | MOTOR DRIVE AND ELECTRIC POWER STEERING APPARATUS USING THE SAME - In a multi-system motor drive apparatus, a power supply relay is interrupted when a first power supply system fails at time t | 06-30-2011 |
20110156629 | ELECTRIC POWER STEERING DEVICE - An electric power steering device includes: an electric power source for supplying first current; a controller for setting a current instruction value; multiple electric power converters for converting the first current to second current corresponding to the current instruction value; multiple pairs of windings for generating a driving force of a motor; and a failure detection element for detecting failure of the electric power converters and the windings. The controller reduces the current instruction value to be equal to or smaller than a predetermined instruction value of a normal operation when the failure detection element detects the failure. The controller controls the electric power converter in a normal state to supply the second current to a corresponding winding. | 06-30-2011 |
20110163708 | MOTOR DRIVE APPARATUS AND ELECTRIC POWER STEERING APPARATUS USING THE SAME - A motor drive apparatus drives a motor by a first motor drive part and a second motor drive part. The first motor drive part includes a first inverter for supplying current to a first winding set. The second motor drive part includes a second inverter for supplying current to a second winding set. A control unit starts to supply currents to the first winding set and the second winding set at the same time after waiting for completion of all failure detection processing with respect to each of the first motor drive part and the second motor drive part. | 07-07-2011 |
20110204839 | MOTOR DRIVE APPARATUS AND ELECTRIC POWER STEERING APPARATUS USING THE SAME - A motor drive apparatus has a plurality of motor drive parts and a control unit. The control unit performs first and second failure detection processing for the motor drive parts before starting to drive the motor. If the first motor drive part is determined to have failure by the first failure detection processing, a first power supply relay for the first motor drive part is turned off and the second failure detection processing for the first motor drive part is inhibited. If the second motor drive part is determined to have no failure by the first failure detection processing and then by the second failure detection processing, the motor is started to operate. | 08-25-2011 |
20110315469 | Motor drive apparatus and electric power steering system using the same - When an inverter or a coil set of one system in a motor drive apparatus having two systems fails, a power supply relay of a failing system interrupts power supply and a control circuit gradually reduces a current supply limitation value of a normal system to zero. Then when a steering torque becomes greater than a predetermined threshold value, the control circuit increases the current supply limitation value by a predetermined amount. By reducing the current supply limitation value to zero once and then gradually increasing the current supply limitation value to generate steering assist torque, a driver will be caused to sense changes in the steering torque and surely notice occurrence of failure. | 12-29-2011 |
20110315470 | Motor drive apparatus and method, and electric power steering system using the same - When an inverter or a coil set of one system fails in a motor drive apparatus having two power supply systems, a power supply relay of a failing system is turned off. In this case, while a travel speed detection value is less than a predetermined threshold value, current supply to a motor by the other system operating normally is stopped to thereby stop driving of the motor and generate no steering assist torque. Thus, a driver will be caused to surely notice occurrence of failure. | 12-29-2011 |
20110316466 | Motor drive apparatus and method, and electric power steering system using the same - When failure of an inverter or a coil set of one system of a motor drive apparatus having two systems, is detected, a power supply relay of the failing system is interrupted. At the same time, a control circuit sets a same maximum current limitation value as set before detection of failure. When an IG switch is in an ON-state and a steering toque detection value exceeds a predetermined threshold value thereafter, a vibration component, which has a predetermined amplitude and frequency, is added to a current command value so that a steering wheel is vibrated in a direction of rotation so that a driver is cautioned to notice the failure surely. | 12-29-2011 |
20120078560 | Rotation angle detection device and electric power steering system using the same - A bridge circuit includes a plurality of half-bridges formed of sensor elements, which change impedance in accordance with a rotation angle of a detection target. A control circuit acquires output signals of the half-bridges and calculates a phase correction value for correcting a phase deviation. A memory circuit stores the phase correction value. The control circuit corrects a pre-correction rotation angle by the phase correction value. Since the pre-correction rotation angle is corrected by the phase correction value, a rotation angle of the detection target is detected with high accuracy even if the sensor elements are assembled with some positional deviations. | 03-29-2012 |
20120116717 | ROTATION ANGLE DETECTION DEVICE AND ELECTRIC POWER STEERING APPARATUS USING SAME - A rotation angle detection device uses a control unit to acquire output signals Vx | 05-10-2012 |
20120152647 | TORQUE SENSOR, TORQUE DETECTOR, AND ELECTRIC POWER STEERING DEVICE - In a torque sensor, a torque signal and a monitoring signal have values between a first lower limit and a first upper limit. A limiting section changes the torque signal to a second lower limit when the torque signal is equal to or less than the second lower limit that is greater than the first lower limit, and changes the torque signal to a second upper limit when the torque signal is equal to or greater than the second upper limit that is less than the first upper limit. When abnormality has occurred in the torque signal, an output section transmits a first fault notification signal that is a value between the first and second lower limits or a second fault notification signal that is a value between the first and second upper limits. | 06-21-2012 |
20120194109 | POWER CONVERSION DEVICE - A power conversion device includes a first inverter circuit and a second inverter circuit, a capacitor, and a microcomputer. The microcomputer switches a control operation, according to the steering state of a steering wheel, between a first state where a first duty center value is shifted to be lower than an output center value and a second duty center value is shifted to be higher than the output center value, and a second state where the first duty center value is shifted to be higher than the output center value and the second duty center value is shifted to be lower than the output center value. This can reduce a difference in heat loss between FETs while reducing the ripple current of the capacitor. | 08-02-2012 |
20130320905 | ELECTRIC MOTOR DRIVE APPARATUS AND ELECTRIC POWER STEERING APPARATUS HAVING THE SAME - An electric motor drive apparatus includes multiple inverter sections arranged corresponding to winding sets of a motor, multiple relays that controls power supplies to the inverter sections, and a control unit. Each inverter section and corresponding winding set are referred to as a system. The control unit includes an obtaining section that obtains a winding current, a determination section that determines a fault occurrence, a specifying section that specifies a faulty system in which the fault occurs, an interrupting section that controls the relay corresponding to the faulty system to interrupt the power supply to the faulty system, and a vibrating section that controls the inverter section of a properly-operating system to add a vibration to an output torque from the electric motor. The vibrating section gradually increases a vibration component of the vibration added to the output torque from the electric motor. | 12-05-2013 |
20140035407 | ROTATING ELECTRIC MACHINE AND ELECTRIC POWER STEERING DEVICE - A rotating electric machine for driving a drive object is provided. The rotating electric machine includes a motor case, a stator, a winding, a rotor, a shaft, a base cap, an end cap, an output rod, base cap holes, end cap holes, and through bolts. The base cap has base cap flanges formed on a circumferential edge and extending radially-outward beyond an outer wall of the motor case. The end cap has end cap flanges formed on a circumferential edge and extending radially-outward beyond the outer wall of the motor case. Base cap holes are formed on the base cap flanges and end cap holes in axial alignment with the base cap holes are formed on the end cap flanges. Through bolts fasten the base cap flanges to the end cap flanges. | 02-06-2014 |
20140035445 | ROTATING ELECTRIC MACHINE AND ELECTRIC POWER STEERING APPARATUS - A rotating electric machine for driving a drive object includes a heat sink having a cavity on a first face, a power module disposed on the heat sink for switching a power supply for the winding, a power wiring part disposed on the first face of the heat sink and electrically connected to the power module for flowing a drive electric current to the winding, a control wiring part disposed on a second face of the heat sink and electrically connected to the power module for flowing a control electric current that controls the power module, and at least one electrolytic capacitor disposed in the power wiring part and housed in the cavity, thereby preventing an abnormality of the electrolytic capacitor from causing an abnormality of the control wiring part. | 02-06-2014 |
20140055059 | MOTOR DRIVING DEVICE AND ELECTRIC POWER STEERING APPARATUS INCLUDING MOTOR DRIVING DEVICE - In a motor driving device, a first relay portion is connected between a power source and an inverter portion, a second relay portion is connected between the first relay portion and the inverter portion, and a motor relay portion is connected between the inverter portion and a winding group of a motor. Inverter pre-driver circuits respectively drive switching elements of the inverter portion. A first pre-driver circuit drives the first relay portion. A second pre-driver circuit drives the second relay portion and the motor relay portion. A controller controls driving of the inverter portion, the first relay portion, the second relay portion, and the motor relay portion, and detects a failure of the first relay portion, the second relay portion, and the motor relay portion. | 02-27-2014 |
20140055887 | MOTOR DRIVE DEVICE - A motor drive device for driving a motor, which has a plurality of winding pairs, includes a plurality of inverter units for the plurality of winding pairs. The inverter units are coupled in parallel to a power source. A plurality of capacitors provided for the plurality of inverter units, and a plurality of power relays are disposed between the power supply and the inverter units. In particular, a power relay is provided for each of the inverter units. A control unit detects a short failure of the power relay, and simultaneously turns ON the power relays that do not have a short failure. In such manner, damage to the power relays as well as damage to other electronic components of the motor driver device due to a large electric current is prevented. | 02-27-2014 |
20140145564 | ROTARY ELECTRIC MACHINE - A housing and a rotary shaft of a motor are formed of non-magnetic material. A soft magnetic member is provided between a first axial end surface of a fixed core and a bearing. The soft magnetic member is provided on the fixed core side relative to the first bearing thereby to suppress magnetic flux leaking to a vicinity of one end part of the rotary shaft by leading the magnetic flux, which is generated from a rotor, to the rotor core through the fixed core and a casing. A magnetic angular position sensor fixed to one end part of the rotary shaft can detect a magnetic angular position of the rotor accurately without being affected by external magnetic field. As a result, noise generated by vibration of the motor can be suppressed. | 05-29-2014 |