Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B62—LAND VEHICLES FOR TRAVELLING OTHERWISE THAN ON RAILS
  • B62D—MOTOR VEHICLES; TRAILERS
  • B62D5/00—Power-assisted or power-driven steering
  • B62D5/04—Power-assisted or power-driven steering electrical, e.g. using an electric servo-motor connected to, or forming part of, the steering gear
  • B62D5/0457—Power-assisted or power-driven steering electrical, e.g. using an electric servo-motor connected to, or forming part of, the steering gear characterised by control features of the drive means as such
  • B62D5/0481—Power-assisted or power-driven steering electrical, e.g. using an electric servo-motor connected to, or forming part of, the steering gear characterised by control features of the drive means as such monitoring the steering system, e.g. failures
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B62—LAND VEHICLES FOR TRAVELLING OTHERWISE THAN ON RAILS
  • B62D—MOTOR VEHICLES; TRAILERS
  • B62D6/00—Arrangements for automatically controlling steering depending on driving conditions sensed and responded to, e.g. control circuits
  • B62D6/008—Control of feed-back to the steering input member, e.g. simulating road feel in steer-by-wire applications

Definitions

• the invention is based on a method for monitoring a steering system according to the preamble of claim 1.
• the invention relates to a control device with a computing unit for performing such a method and a vehicle with such a control device.
• a method for monitoring an electrical and / or electromechanical system such as a steering system, in which a load parameter in the form of an internal or system-specific load on a component is determined and used for determination a stress and / or a condition of the component is evaluated.
• further system variables such as an operating time, a loading time and / or an ambient temperature, can be taken into account in the evaluation.
• External loads which also have a significant influence on the load and / or the condition of the component and which are caused, for example, by uneven road surfaces, potholes and / or other events or special events, are not taken into account.
• the object of the invention is in particular to provide a method for monitoring a steering system with improved properties with regard to a stress analysis.
• the object is achieved by the features of claims 1, 10 and 11, while advantageous Refinements and developments of the invention can be taken ent from the subclaims.
• the invention is based on a method for monitoring a steering system, in particular during operation in a vehicle and advantageously in a motor vehicle, in which a load parameter of at least one, in particular to be monitored, steering component of the steering system is determined and for determining a, in particular mechanical and / or electrical, stress and / or a condition of the steering component is evaluated.
• the load parameter include at least one, in particular external, load on the steering component caused by an external force and in particular acting on the steering component from an environment.
• the external force which in particular leads to the loading of the steering component, can be caused, for example, by an uneven road surface, by a pothole, by bumping into an obstacle, by steering against an obstacle, by driving over an obstacle and / or by other such events or special events.
• an advantageous stress analysis of the steering component and / or the steering system can be achieved.
• damage mechanisms from external loads which can differ significantly from damage mechanisms from internal and / or system-specific loads, can thereby also be reliably detected and taken into account, whereby operational reliability can advantageously be increased.
• the vehicle and / or the steering system can include further components and / or assemblies, such as at least one control unit, at least one detection unit for detecting the load parameter, a steering handle for applying a manual torque, a steering gear, which advantageously has at least one steering actuator, for example in Form a Rack, has at least one, in particular with the steering gear to cooperate, steering actuator and / or at least one coupling gear for coupling the steering actuator to the steering gear.
• the steering actuator and / or a component of the vehicle and / or the steering system that is operatively connected to the steering actuator, such as the steering actuator and / or the coupling gear can be the steering component to be monitored.
• a “steering actuator” is to be understood in particular as an actuator unit, in particular electrically designed, which is provided in particular to transmit a steering torque to the Lenkungsstellele element and thereby advantageously influence a direction of travel of the vehicle.
• the steering actuator is preferably provided to provide a steering torque to support a hand torque applied to the steering handle and / or a steering torque for automatic and / or autonomous control of a direction of travel of the vehicle.
• the steering actuator can comprise at least one electric motor.
• the electric motor is advantageously designed as a brushless motor and preferably as an asynchronous motor or as a permanent-magnet synchronous motor.
• “Provided” is to be understood in particular as specifically programmed, designed and / or equipped. The fact that an object is provided for a specific function should be understood in particular to mean that the object fulfills and / or executes this specific function in at least one application and / or operating state.
• a “load parameter” is to be understood in particular as a parameter that is correlated with at least one load on the steering component, in particular caused by an internal and / or external force acting on the steering component.
• at least one, in particular mechanical and / or electrical, stress and / or a state of the steering component can be inferred and / or a, in particular mechanical and / or electrical, stress and / or a state of the steering component can be determined on the basis of the load parameter .
• the load parameter can advantageously include further loads on the steering component, such as load caused by an ambient temperature, load caused by humidity and / or other loads caused by ambient conditions.
• the load parameter in particular mechanical and / or electrical, stress and / or a state of at least one vehicle component of the vehicle and / or at least one, in particular mechanical and / or electrical, stress and / or state a vehicle component of the vehicle be determined.
• the load parameter is advantageously monitored during an entire monitoring time interval and a change in the load parameter over time is evaluated to determine the stress and / or the state of the steering component.
• a “monitoring time interval” is to be understood as meaning, in particular, a time interval that is particularly long-lasting and advantageously correlated with a service life of the steering system and / or the vehicle, in which changes in the load parameter are recorded.
• the monitoring time interval can include a period of several days, several weeks, several months and / or several years.
• the vehicle and / or the steering system can in particular comprise at least one computing unit and / or at least one control device with a computing unit, the computing unit being provided in particular to carry out the method for monitoring the steering device.
• a “computing unit” is to be understood in particular as an electrical and / or electronic unit which has an information input, information processing and information output.
• the computing unit also advantageously has at least one processor, at least one operating memory, at least one input and / or output means, at least one operating program, at least one control routine, at least one calculation routine, at least one monitoring routine and / or at least one evaluation routine.
• the computing unit is provided at least to determine and / or receive the load parameter of the steering component and in particular to evaluate it to determine a, in particular mechanical and / or electrical, stress and / or a state of the steering component.
• the vehicle and / or the steering system can in particular use a special sensor, such as an acceleration sensor and / or a body sound sensor.
• a special sensor such as an acceleration sensor and / or a body sound sensor.
• at least one acceleration, in particular caused by the external force, of an electrical steering actuator of the steering system, in particular of the steering actuator already mentioned and advantageously of a rotor element of the steering actuator, and / or an operating variable that is correlated with the acceleration, such as an operating voltage and / or an operating current, of the steering actuator is monitored and, in particular, evaluated.
• a particularly simple and / or inexpensive determination of the external load can be achieved hereby.
• the load characteristic includes at least one internal and / or system-specific load on the steering component, especially when the steering system is in operation and acting on the steering component, whereby in particular an all-encompassing stress analysis of the steering component and / or the steering system can be achieved.
• damage mechanisms from internal and / or system-specific loads can thereby also be recorded and taken into account, whereby operational reliability can advantageously be further increased.
• a maintenance interval for the vehicle can thereby advantageously be identified and specified.
• a remaining operating time of the steering component and / or of the vehicle can advantageously be predicted and / or estimated on the basis of the load parameter.
• the vehicle and / or the steering system can, in particular, use a special additional one Sensor, such as a temperature sensor, a magnetic field sensor, a moisture sensor, a voltage sensor and / or a current sensor, which detects and correlates, for example, overvoltage, voltage peaks, increased current and / or current peaks, for example in an on-board network of the vehicle Loads on the steering component can be taken into account.
• a special additional one Sensor such as a temperature sensor, a magnetic field sensor, a moisture sensor, a voltage sensor and / or a current sensor, which detects and correlates, for example, overvoltage, voltage peaks, increased current and / or current peaks, for example in an on-board network of the vehicle Loads on the steering component can be taken into account.
• At least one drive torque and / or one drive force of an electric steering actuator of the steering system in particular of the steering actuator already mentioned and advantageously of the rotor element of the steering actuator, and / or a further operating variable correlated with the drive torque and / or the drive force, such as, for example, a further operating voltage and / or a further operating current, of the steering actuator is monitored and, in particular, evaluated.
• a particularly simple and / or inexpensive determination of the internal and / or system-specific load can be achieved.
• a particularly simple evaluation algorithm for the stress analysis which at the same time allows a determination of the remaining operating time of the steering component, can be provided in particular if a rainflow counting method and / or a min / max counting method, advantageously in combination with one, is used to evaluate the load parameter Wöhler diagram, a Haigh diagram and / or the Miner's rule is used.
• the rainflow counting method is preferably used, in particular, for the internal and / or system-specific exposure and, in particular, for data reduction of measurement data correlated with the internal and / or system-specific exposure.
• the min / max counting method is preferably used for the external load and in particular for data reduction of measurement data correlated with the external load.
• the min / max counting method in particular records the reversal points and / or maximum values and minimum values in the corresponding measurement data.
• the Wöhler diagram, the Haigh diagram and / or the Miner's rule are advantageously used in a subsequent process step for the actual damage calculation.
• at least one condition parameter correlated with a subsurface of the vehicle is determined using the load parameter.
• a state of the ground and advantageously a roadway can be inferred and / or a state of the ground and advantageously the roadway can be determined.
• the data recorded for the stress analysis can advantageously be linked to a vehicle surface that the vehicle is currently driving over.
• the state parameter be used to generate a notification message that is correlated in particular with the ground of the vehicle, for example to warn a driver, and / or, advantageously together with recorded location data, for example from a navigation device, to generate a road map becomes.
• a notification message that is correlated in particular with the ground of the vehicle, for example to warn a driver, and / or, advantageously together with recorded location data, for example from a navigation device, to generate a road map becomes.
• This enables particularly high flexibility and / or operational reliability to be achieved. For example, a driver can be warned when leaving a safe lane.
• the road condition map can advantageously be used for future journeys in order to warn the driver early on of uneven road surfaces and / or potholes or the like.
• a current driving mode in particular from a group of different driving modes comprising at least one conventional and / or manual driving mode and an autonomous and / or partially autonomous driving mode, is determined and in at least one operating state in which the current driving mode is on is autonomous and / or semi-autonomous driving mode, depending on the load parameter and in particular depending on the state parameter, an action to leave the autonomous and / or partially autonomous driving mode is triggered and / or executed.
• a particularly high level of operational reliability can be achieved, in particular in the case of a vehicle with an autonomous and / or partially autonomous driving mode.
• the method for monitoring the steering system, the control unit and the vehicle should not be limited to the application and embodiment described above.
• the method for monitoring the steering system, the control unit and the vehicle can have a number that differs from a number of individual elements, components and units mentioned herein in order to fulfill a mode of operation described herein.
• Fig. La-b an exemplary vehicle with a steering system in a ver simplified representation
• FIG. 2 shows a schematic representation of a signal flow diagram for
• Figures la and lb show an example of a passenger vehicle formed vehicle 12 with several vehicle wheels 22 and with a steering system 10 in a simplified representation.
• the steering system 10 has an operative connection with the vehicle wheels 22, in the present case in particular formed as front wheels, and is used to influence a direction of travel of the vehicle 12 is provided.
• the steering system 10 is designed as an electrically un assisted steering system and accordingly has an electrical auxiliary power assistance in the form of power steering.
• the vehicle 12 comprises, for example, at least two different driving modes, in particular a conventional and / or manual driving mode and an autonomous and / or partially autonomous driving mode.
• a steering system could in principle also be designed as a steer-by-wire steering system and / or as a steering system of a commercial vehicle.
• a vehicle could have exactly one driving mode and / or be designed as a utility vehicle.
• the steering system 10 comprises a steering handle 24, in the present case designed as a steering wheel by way of example, for applying a manual torque, a steering gear 26, for example designed as a rack and pinion steering gear, which includes a steering actuator 30 and is intended to convert a steering input to the steering handle 24 into a steering movement of the vehicle wheels 22 implement zen, and a steering shaft 28 for, in particular mechanical, connection of the steering handle 24 to the steering gear 26.
• a steering hand could also be designed as a steering lever and / or steering ball or the like.
• a steering system could in principle also be free of a steering handle, for example in the case of a purely autonomous vehicle.
• a steering shaft could also only temporarily connect a steering handle to a steering gear, for example in a vehicle with a steer-by-wire steering system with a mechanical fallback level. In this context, it is of course also conceivable to dispense with a steering shaft completely.
• the steering system 10 includes a steering actuator 16.
• the steering actuator 16 is at least partially electrical and / or electronic.
• the steering actuator 16 is operatively connected to the steering gear 26.
• the steering actuator 16 is provided to provide a steering torque to support a manual torque applied to the steering handle 24 and to transmit it to the steering actuator 30.
• the steering actuator 16 comprises at least one electric motor.
• the electric motor is designed in particular as a permanent magnet synchronous motor and is provided for generating the steering torque.
• the steering system 10 further includes a coupling gear 32.
• the coupling gear 32 can be designed as a belt drive, a helical gear drive or a ball screw drive, for example.
• the coupling gear 32 is provided to transmit a steering torque of the electric motor to the steering adjusting element 30 in order to effect an adjustment of the steering adjusting element 30.
• an electric motor could also be completely dispensed with, for example in the case of a hydraulically assisted steering system.
• the vehicle 12 includes at least one detection unit 34.
• the detection unit 34 is provided for detecting a load characteristic of at least one steering component 14, such as the steering actuator 16, the steering actuator 30 and / or the coupling gear 32.
• the detection unit 34 comprises at least one sensor 36 assigned to the steering actuator 16.
• the sensor 36 is designed as a rotor position sensor and is provided for detecting at least one rotor position signal from the electric motor.
• a detection unit could, however, also comprise at least one sensor that differs from a rotor position sensor, such as an acceleration sensor, a structure-borne sound sensor, a voltage sensor, a current sensor and / or a temperature sensor.
• the vehicle 12 also has a control device 18.
• the control unit 18 is designed as a steering control unit and is consequently part of the steering system 10.
• the control unit 18 is operatively connected to the Lenkaktua tor 16 and the detection unit 34.
• the control device 18 is provided to receive the load parameter from the detection unit 34.
• To the control device 18 is hen vorgese to control the steering actuator 16.
• the control device 18 comprises a computing unit 20.
• the computing unit 20 comprises at least one processor, for example in the form of a microprocessor, and at least one operating memory.
• the computing unit 20 includes at least one operating program stored in the operating memory with at least one monitoring routine 38, at least one calculation routine, in the present case in particular a damage calculation routine 40, 44, and at least one evaluation routine 50.
• a control unit from a steering system to train.
• a vehicle could for example have a single central control device with a central processing unit.
• a computing unit separately from a vehicle.
• a computing unit could for example be part of an, in particular central, external computer system, for example a server network and / or cloud network.
• the steering component 14 corresponds, for example, to the coupling gear 32 or at least a part of the coupling gear 32.
• a steering component to be monitored could also be a steering actuator or another component that is operatively connected to a steering actuator, such as a steering actuator, be. It is also conceivable to monitor and analyze additional vehicle components of the vehicle.
• the computing unit 20 is provided in particular to carry out the method and for this purpose has in particular a computer program with corresponding program code means.
• a loading parameter of the steering component 14 to be monitored is determined and evaluated to determine a mechanical and / or electrical stress and / or a state of the steering component 14.
• the load parameter is monitored during an entire monitoring time interval, advantageously during an entire operating period and / or life of the steering system 10 and / or the vehicle 12, and a change in the load parameter over time to determine the stress and / or the state of the steering component 14 evaluated.
• the load parameter includes at least one external load on the steering component 14 caused by an external force and in particular from an environment acting on the steering component 14.
• the external force which in particular leads to the load on the steering component 14, can for example be a bump in the road, a pothole, bumping into an obstacle, steering against an obstacle, driving over an obstacle and / or other such events or special events.
• at least one acceleration of the steering actuator 16 caused by the external force and detected by the sensor 36 is monitored and evaluated.
• at least one inertia of the steering actuator 16 is taken into account to determine the load caused by the external action of force.
• the load parameter also includes an internal and / or system-specific load on the steering component 14, generated in particular during operation of the steering system 10 and acting on the steering component 14 internal and / or system-specific stress is caused by normal operation of the steering system 10.
• a drive torque and / or a drive force of the steering actuator 16 is monitored and evaluated in the present case.
• the load parameter can in principle also include further loads on the steering component 14, such as, for example, a load on the steering component 14 caused by an ambient temperature, a load on the steering component 14 caused by air humidity and / or a load caused by an overvoltage and / or voltage peaks, for example in an on-board network, caused loading of the steering component 14 or other such loads.
• the load parameter or the total load on the steering component 14 then results as the difference between the external load and the internal load. The following applies:
• M ext describes the external load, M int the internal and / or system-specific load, / the inertia of the steering actuator 16, ä the acceleration, in particular rotor acceleration, of the steering actuator 16, M ei the drive torque and / or the drive force of the steering actuator 16, t a gear ratio of the coupling gear 32 and ys tem an efficiency of the external and internal and / or system-specific load.
• the load parameter or the total load on the steering component 14 is thus composed in the present case at least of the external load as well as the internal and / or system-specific load on the steering component 14, whereby a situation in which the external load is greater than the internal and / or system-specific stress, indicates an external event or special event, for example in the form of a pothole, bumping into an obstacle, etc.
• an external event or special event for example in the form of a pothole, bumping into an obstacle, etc.
• the load parameter could also be written, stored and / or classified or compared with a maximum value.
• a rainflow counting method and / or a min / max counting method can advantageously also be used to evaluate the load parameter, for example in combination with a special damage calculator.
• Calculation algorithm in particular a Wöhler diagram, a Haigh diagram and / or the Miner's rule, can be used, whereby in particular an advantageously simple determination of the remaining operating time of the steering component 14 can be achieved.
• damage calculation algorithms are known per se and are therefore not explained in more detail below.
• field loads and / or maintenance intervals of vehicle 12 can then be identified and / or system reactions can be triggered, such as generation of a message to warn the driver, shutdown of steering system 10 and / or degradation of steering system 10 using the load parameter, individual steering components and / or vehicle components can also be recycled and / or processed, for example by means of remanufacturing.
• individual steering components and / or vehicle components can also be recycled and / or processed, for example by means of remanufacturing.
• a belt slip and / or a belt jump or the like could also be determined, for example.
• FIG. 2 shows a schematic representation of a signal flow diagram for monitoring the steering system 10 and in particular for evaluating the load parameter.
• the computing unit 20 is provided to monitor, analyze and classify the load parameter by means of the monitoring routine 38.
• the computing unit 20 is provided to at least determine by means of the monitoring routine 38 whether the external load or the internal and / or system-specific load is the dominant load.
• the arithmetic unit 20 is provided to calculate the load parameter by means of the first data reduction routine 40, in the present case in particular a min / max counting method. ren, to further process and then by means of a first damage calculation routine 42, for example using a Wöhler diagram, to determine an external degree of damage to the steering component 14 caused by the external force.
• the first data reduction routine 40 and / or the first damage calculation routine 42 can also be supplied with further influencing variables, such as a current temperature, so that these can be taken into account when evaluating the load characteristic.
• the arithmetic unit 20 is provided to further process the load parameter using the second data reduction routine 44 that deviates from the first data reduction routine 40, in the present case in particular a rainflow counting method, and then using a second damage calculation routine 46, for example using a further Wöhler diagram, to determine an internal degree of damage to the steering component 14 caused by normal operation of the steering system 10.
• the damage calculation routines 42, 46 can differ in the present case, for example on the basis of the Wöhler diagrams used.
• the second data reduction routine 44 and / or the second damage calculation routine 46 can also be supplied with further influencing variables, such as a current temperature, so that these can be taken into account when evaluating the load characteristic.
• the computing unit 20 is provided to use a summation onsroutine 48 to summarize the external degree of damage and the internal degree of damage to determine the stress and / or the condition of the steering component 14 to a total degree of damage to the steering component 14.
• a summation onsroutine 48 to summarize the external degree of damage and the internal degree of damage to determine the stress and / or the condition of the steering component 14 to a total degree of damage to the steering component 14.
• the computing unit 20 is then provided to evaluate the overall degree of damage to the steering component 14 by means of the evaluation routine 50, for example by means of a comparison with a limit value, and to initiate a corresponding reaction when the limit value is exceeded, such as generating a warning message.
• At least one condition parameter correlated with a surface of the vehicle 12 is determined, whereby in particular the data recorded for the stress analysis can also be linked to a currently driven surface of the vehicle.
• the state parameter it is conceivable, for example, to use the state parameter to generate a message that is correlated in particular with the ground of vehicle 12, for example to warn a driver and / or, advantageously together with recorded location data, to generate a road condition map .
• the road condition map can advantageously be used in future journeys in order to warn the driver early on of uneven road surfaces and / or potholes or the like.
• a current driving mode of vehicle 12 can be determined and in at least one operating state in which the current driving mode is an autonomous and / or semi-autonomous driving mode, depending on the load parameter and / or depending on the state parameter, an action to leave the autonomous and / or semi-autonomous driving mode is triggered and / or executed.
• the current driving mode is an autonomous and / or semi-autonomous driving mode, depending on the load parameter and / or depending on the state parameter, an action to leave the autonomous and / or semi-autonomous driving mode is triggered and / or executed.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Combustion & Propulsion (AREA)
• Transportation (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Steering Control In Accordance With Driving Conditions (AREA)

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• 2019
  • 2019-03-15 DE DE102019203522.1A patent/DE102019203522A1/de active Pending
• 2020
  • 2020-02-10 EP EP20704827.3A patent/EP3938269A1/de active Pending
  • 2020-02-10 WO PCT/EP2020/053260 patent/WO2020187485A1/de active Application Filing
  • 2020-02-10 US US17/436,907 patent/US11873040B2/en active Active
  • 2020-02-10 JP JP2021555552A patent/JP7259074B2/ja active Active

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