JP2010096602A - Sensor device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the reliability of a sensor device. <P>SOLUTION: This sensor device includes a time measurement means 17 for measuring time information and transmitting the time information to a part subjected to failure diagnosis, which adds the time information to its output, thereby associating a failure detection signal with a sense signal by the time information. This constitution allows associating the failure detection signal with the sense signal in terms of time, thereby enabling accurate determination of whether an output sense signal is obtained in normal time or in failure time to improve the reliability. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a sensor device used in automobiles and various electronic devices.

  Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 5, this type of sensor device includes drive circuit units 1A and 1B that output drive signals, a detection element 2 that receives drive signals from the drive circuit units 1A and 1B, and the detection element. Detection circuit units 3A and 3B that extract response signals from the signal processing circuit units 4A and 4B that extract sense signals from the response signals from the detection circuit units 3A and 3B, and sense signals from the processing circuit units 4A and 4B. Output circuit units 5A and 5B to output, at least one of the detection circuit units 3A and 3B, the processing circuit units 4A and 4B, and the output circuit units 5A and 5B is a fault diagnosis unit, and the fault A failure diagnosis circuit 6 that determines whether the diagnosis unit is normal or abnormal and outputs a failure detection signal based on the result is provided.

As prior art document information relating to this application, for example, Patent Document 1 is known.
JP-A-8-327363

  In such a conventional sensor device, there has been a problem in terms of improving its reliability.

  That is, in the above-described conventional configuration, the sense signal and the failure detection signal are not associated with each other in time, and it is instantaneously accurately determined whether the output sense signal is normal or failure. Therefore, there is a possibility that an object to be controlled such as an automobile controlled by the sensor device may be controlled by using a sense signal at the time of failure, which has been a problem regarding improvement of reliability.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to improve the reliability of the sensor device.

  In order to achieve this object, the present invention provides time measuring means for measuring time information and adding the time information to an output from the fault diagnosis unit, and providing the failure detection signal and the sense signal. This is associated with the time information.

  With this configuration, the failure detection signal and the sense signal can be associated with each other in time, so it is possible to accurately determine whether the output sense signal is normal or failure, The possibility that a control target such as an automobile controlled by the sensor device is controlled using a sense signal at the time of failure can be reduced, and as a result, reliability can be improved.

(Embodiment 1)
Hereinafter, a sensor device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, the sensor device according to the present embodiment includes drive circuit units 11A and 11B that output drive signals, and a detection element 12 (angular velocity detection element) that receives drive signals from the drive circuit units 11A and 11B. 12A, acceleration detection element 12B), detection circuit units 13A and 13B for extracting response signals from the detection element 12, and processing circuit units 14A and 14B for extracting sense signals from response signals from the detection circuit units 13A and 13B, Output circuit units 15A and 15B for outputting sense signals from the processing circuit units 14A and 14B, and at least one of the detection circuit units 13A and 13B, the processing circuit units 14A and 14B, and the output circuit units 15A and 15B One fault diagnosis unit, whether the fault diagnosis unit is normal or abnormal is judged, and a fault detection signal is output based on the result And a failure diagnosis circuit 16 that.

  Here, the first drive circuit unit 11A adjusts the vibration amplitude of the first drive signal based on the first monitor signal from the first processing circuit unit 14A, and the second drive circuit unit 11B The vibration amplitude of the second drive signal is adjusted based on the second monitor signal from the second processing circuit unit 14B.

  And the time measurement means 17 which measures time information and adds the said time information to the output from the said fault diagnosis part is provided, and it has the structure which matched the said failure detection signal and the said sense signal by the said time information. .

  As a specific example, a case where the fault diagnosis unit is the first and second detection circuit units 13A and 13B will be described. First, the time measuring unit 17 is electrically connected to the first and second detection circuit units 13A and 13B, and the measured time information is transmitted. As shown in FIG. 2, the time information (t01 to t99) is added when the response signals (r011 to r998) are output from the first and second detection circuit units 13A and 13B. Then, the response signals (r011 to r998) to which the time information (t01 to t99) is added pass through the first and second processing circuit units 14A and 14B shown in FIG. The time information (t01 to t99) is also added when output as sense signals from the two output circuit portions 15A and 15B. On the other hand, the failure diagnosis circuit 16 determines whether the first and second detection circuit units 13A and 13B, which are failure diagnosis units, are normal or abnormal, and a failure detection signal based on the result is detected by the failure diagnosis circuit. However, when the first and second detection circuit units 13A and 13B output information related to failure detection toward the failure diagnosis circuit 16, as shown in FIG. The same time information (t01 to t99) as that of r011 to r998) is added, and when a failure detection signal (f011 to f998) is generated from the information related to the failure detection and output by the failure diagnosis circuit 16 The time information (t01 to t99) is added.

  With this configuration, the failure detection signal (f011 to f998) and the sense signal can be temporally correlated using time information (t01 to t99), so that the output sense signal is normal. It is possible to accurately determine whether it is a thing at the time or at the time of failure, and reduce the possibility that a control object such as an automobile controlled by the sensor device will be controlled using a sense signal at the time of failure As a result, reliability can be improved.

  In the present embodiment, the angular velocity detection element 12A and the acceleration detection element 12B are used as the detection element 12, and the first and second drive circuit units 11A, 11B, Although the first and second detection circuit units 13A and 13B and the first and second processing circuit units 14A and 14B have been described, the detection unit is one, and the circuit configuration corresponding to this is as follows. Only one drive circuit unit, one detection circuit unit, and one processing circuit unit may be provided.

  In the present embodiment, the failure diagnosis unit is the first and second detection circuit units 13A and 13B, and the same part in each of the angular velocity detection system and the acceleration detection system is described as the failure diagnosis unit. The two fault diagnosis units are the angular velocity detection system and the acceleration detection so that the first fault diagnosis unit is the first output circuit unit 15A and the second fault diagnosis unit is the second processing circuit unit 14B. It does not matter even if each system does not have the same part. In this case, a first time common to both the sense signal from the first output circuit unit 15A and the information regarding the failure detection output from the first output circuit unit 15A to the failure diagnosis circuit 16 is provided. Information is added to the sense signal and information related to the failure detection, and the sense signal from the second processing circuit unit 14B and the failure detection output from the second processing circuit unit 14B to the failure diagnosis circuit 16 Note that it is necessary to add second time information that is common to both the information relating to the sense signal and the information relating to the failure detection.

  In the present embodiment, one part of each of the angular velocity detection system and the acceleration detection system is used as a fault diagnosis unit. However, the fault diagnosis circuit 16 may have a plurality of fault diagnosis units. Specifically, for example, the first and second detection circuit units 13A and 13B, the first and second processing circuit units 14A and 14B, and the first and second output circuit units 15A and 15B all include a fault diagnosis circuit. 16 may be electrically connected to output respective failure detection signals. With such a configuration, a failure that could not be detected by one failure diagnosis unit can be detected by performing failure diagnosis using a plurality of failure diagnosis units, and the accuracy of failure detection can be improved.

  In the present embodiment, the angular velocity detection element 12A, the acceleration detection element 12B, and the like have been described. However, various sensor devices such as a pressure sensor can also be implemented.

  When the failure diagnosis circuit 16 outputs a failure detection signal indicating that the failure diagnosis unit is abnormal, the first and first sense signals having time information at the same time as the time information included in the failure detection signal are output. It is desirable that the two output circuit units 15A and 15B do not output. A configuration in which a sense signal at the time of abnormality is not transmitted to the control target without determining whether or not the sense signal associated therewith can be used based on a failure detection signal from the sensor device on the control target side such as an automobile. This is because it can be realized. As a specific configuration, an output circuit unit control circuit (which is electrically connected to the failure diagnosis circuit 16 or built in the failure diagnosis circuit 16 or in the first and second output circuit units 15A and 15B ( If the output circuit unit control circuit (not shown) determines that the failure diagnosis circuit 16 has output a failure detection signal indicating that the failure diagnosis unit is abnormal, the failure It is possible to realize a configuration in which a sense signal having time information at the same time as the time information included in the detection signal is not output from the first and second output circuit units 15A and 15B.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the output circuit unit 18 that outputs the first and second sense signals from the first and second processing circuit units 14A and 14B and the failure detection signal from the failure diagnosis circuit 16 is shared. In other words, the sense signal and the failure detection signal are digitally output in a time-sharing manner, whereby the number of terminals 18A can be reduced and downsizing can be realized. The output circuit unit 18 is configured to output the first and second sense signals and the failure detection signal associated with each other based on the time information by connecting them in a time division manner. Thus, it is desirable on the control target side because the process of connecting the sense signal and the failure detection signal associated with each other based on the time information can be omitted.

  In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4 also, when the failure diagnosis circuit 16 outputs a failure detection signal indicating that the failure diagnosis unit is abnormal, time information at the same time as the time information included in the failure detection signal. It is desirable that the output circuit unit 18 does not output a sense signal having Based on a failure detection signal from the sensor device in a control object such as an automobile, it is not necessary to determine whether or not the sense signal associated therewith can be used, and a configuration in which a sense signal at the time of abnormality is not transmitted to the control object is realized This is because it can be done. Specifically, an output circuit unit control circuit (not shown) that is electrically connected to the failure diagnosis circuit 16 or built in the failure diagnosis circuit 16 or the output circuit unit 18 is provided. When an output circuit unit control circuit (not shown) determines that the failure diagnosis circuit 16 has output a failure detection signal indicating that the failure diagnosis unit is abnormal, it is the same as the time information of the failure detection signal. It is possible to realize a configuration in which a sense signal having time information at a time point is not output from the output circuit unit 18.

  In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4 as well, the fault diagnosis unit may have one part in each of the angular velocity detection system and the acceleration detection system as the fault diagnosis unit, and a configuration having a plurality of fault diagnosis units. However, by adopting a configuration having a plurality of fault diagnosis units, a fault that could not be detected by one fault diagnosis unit can be detected by performing fault diagnosis using a plurality of fault diagnosis units. The accuracy of failure detection can be improved.

  The sensor device of the present invention has an effect that the reliability can be improved, and is useful in various electronic devices such as a digital camera and a car navigation, and an automobile.

FIG. 1 is an electric circuit diagram showing a sensor device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The figure which shows the response signal to which the time information of the sensor apparatus in Embodiment 1 of this invention was added. The figure which shows the failure detection signal to which the time information of the sensor apparatus in Embodiment 1 of this invention was added. Electric circuit diagram showing another example of the sensor device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. Electrical circuit diagram showing a conventional sensor device

Explanation of symbols

11A Drive circuit section (first drive circuit section)
12 detection element 13A detection circuit unit (first detection circuit unit)
14A processing circuit section (first processing circuit section)
15A output circuit section (first output circuit section)
16 Fault diagnosis circuit 17 Time measurement means

Claims (3)

A drive circuit unit for outputting a drive signal;
A sensing element to which a drive signal from the drive circuit unit is input;
A detection circuit unit that extracts a response signal from the detection element;
A processing circuit unit for extracting a sense signal from a response signal from the detection circuit unit;
An output circuit unit for outputting a sense signal from the processing circuit unit;
At least one of the detection circuit unit, the processing circuit unit, and the output circuit unit is a fault diagnosis unit,
Determine whether the fault diagnosis unit is normal or abnormal,
A fault diagnosis circuit that outputs a fault detection signal based on the result,
Providing time measuring means for measuring time information and adding the time information to an output from the fault diagnosis unit;
A sensor device in which the failure detection signal and the sense signal are associated by the time information. A drive circuit unit for outputting a drive signal;
A sensing element to which a drive signal from the drive circuit unit is input;
A detection circuit unit that extracts a response signal from the detection element;
A processing circuit unit for extracting a sense signal from a response signal from the detection circuit unit;
At least one of the detection circuit unit and the processing circuit unit is a fault diagnosis unit,
Determine whether the fault diagnosis unit is normal or abnormal,
A fault diagnosis circuit that outputs a fault detection signal based on the result; and
An output circuit unit that outputs a sense signal from the processing circuit unit and a failure detection signal from the failure diagnosis circuit in a time-sharing manner;
Providing time measuring means for measuring time information and adding the time information to an output from the fault diagnosis unit;
A sensor device in which the failure detection signal and the sense signal are associated by the time information. When the output circuit unit receives a failure detection signal indicating that the failure diagnosis unit is abnormal from the failure diagnosis circuit,
The sensor device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a sense signal having time information at the same time as the time information included in the failure detection signal is not output.

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