JP4662127B2 - Electric power steering control device and electric power steering device using the same - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an electric power steering device configured to transmit power of an electric motor driven in accordance with an operation of an operation member for steering to a steering mechanism, and a control device used therefor.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an electric power steering device that assists steering by driving an electric motor in accordance with an operation of a steering wheel and transmitting the power of the electric motor to a steering mechanism is mounted on a vehicle and used. The electric power steering apparatus includes, for example, the above electric motor, an electric power steering ECU (electronic control unit) that controls the electric motor, and a torque sensor that detects a steering torque applied to the steering wheel. .

For example, the electric power steering ECU calculates a drive target value for driving the electric motor based on the steering torque input from the torque sensor and the vehicle speed information of the vehicle so that the drive target value is achieved. The electric motor is feedback controlled. As a result, power corresponding to the operation of the steering wheel and the vehicle speed is generated from the electric motor, and appropriate steering assistance is performed.
JP 11-188547 A

There are two types of ECUs for electric power steering: left-hand drive specifications for left-hand drive vehicles and right-hand drive specifications for right-hand drive vehicles. The electric power steering ECU of any specification has the same appearance, but the rotation direction of the electric motor is different, and if the specifications are confused when assembled to the vehicle, the steering operation cannot be performed.
In the automobile manufacturing process, the left-hand drive specification vehicle and the right-hand drive specification vehicle are usually assembled through the same production line, so that the steering wheel specification electric power steering ECU according to the vehicle specification is reliably It is necessary to pay sufficient attention so that it can be assembled. For this reason, for example, a bar code is attached to the electric power steering ECU, and by reading the bar code, the coincidence between the electric power steering ECU and the steering wheel specification of the vehicle is confirmed.

However, there is a possibility that a human error such as, for example, an error in attaching a barcode to the electric power steering ECU may occur. Therefore, there is a demand for a measure for surely detecting the erroneous assembly of the electric power steering ECU. Yes.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an electric power steering control device capable of reliably detecting that an electric power steering control device having a handle specification different from the vehicle side handle specification is assembled to the vehicle, and such electric power. An electric power steering apparatus including a steering control apparatus is provided.

  In order to achieve the above object, an invention according to claim 1 is directed to an electric motor (M) for generating power for applying a steering assisting force to a steering mechanism (3), and an operation member (1) for steering. An electric power steering control device (10) controlled in accordance with an operation, wherein the electric power steering control device corresponds to a handle specification of a left handle specification or a right handle specification. Storage means (25) (preferably non-volatile storage means) storing specification information, and the vehicle side indicating whether the vehicle-side handle specification on which the electric power steering control device is mounted is the left-hand drive specification or the right-hand drive specification Vehicle-side handle specification information acquisition means (31) that receives and acquires the input of handle specification information and the vehicle-side handle specification information acquisition means The vehicle side handle specification information and the control device side handle specification information stored in the storage means are compared, and the handle specification information comparison / determination means (32) for determining the coincidence / non-coincidence is compared with this handle specification information comparison. An abnormality information generating means (33) for generating abnormality information in response to the determination means determining that the vehicle-side handle specification information and the control device-side handle specification information do not match. This is a control device for electric power steering.

  According to this configuration, the control device side handle specification information indicating whether the electric power steering control device is the left handle specification or the right handle specification is stored in the storage means in the electric power steering control device. A match / mismatch between the side handle specification information and the vehicle side handle specification information input from the outside is determined. Then, when the handle specification information does not match, abnormality information is generated. As a result, the processing inside the control device for electric power steering checks whether or not the handle specifications of the control device and the vehicle match with each other. It is possible to reliably detect that the power steering control device has been assembled.

  The electric power steering control device is preferably provided with warning generating means (26) for receiving an abnormality information generated by the electric power steering control device and generating a warning. This warning generation means may be one that turns on a warning lamp (35), may display a warning message on a warning message display device, and generates a warning sound from the warning sound generation device. There may be.

Moreover, it is preferable that the control apparatus for electric power steering is provided with an abnormality information storage means (24) capable of writing the abnormality information. The abnormality information storage means may be diagnostic information storage means (24) for storing the self-diagnosis result of the electric power steering control device.
The invention described in claim 2 includes an electric motor that generates power for applying a steering assist force to the steering mechanism, and an electric power steering control device according to claim 1 for controlling the electric motor. This is an electric power steering device.

With this configuration, a mismatch between the vehicle-side steering wheel specification and the steering wheel specification of the electric power steering control device can be detected with certainty, so that the erroneous assembly of the electric power steering control device can be detected more reliably. .
Preferably, the electric power steering control device further includes an operation stop means for stopping the operation of the control device in response to the occurrence of the abnormality information. As a result, it is possible to prevent an inappropriate steering force from being applied to a vehicle in which a control device for electric power steering with different handle specifications is erroneously assembled.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining a basic configuration of an electric power steering apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. A steering torque T applied to the steering wheel 1 as a steering operation member is transmitted to the steering mechanism 3 via the steering shaft 2. A driving force generated by the electric motor M is mechanically transmitted to the steering mechanism 3 via the reduction gear 5 as a steering assist force.

  The steering shaft 2 is divided into an input shaft 2a coupled to the steering wheel 1 side and an output shaft 2b coupled to the steering mechanism 3 side. The input shaft 2a and the output shaft 2b are connected to the torsion bar 4. Are connected to each other. The torsion bar 4 is twisted according to the steering torque T applied to the steering wheel 1, and the direction and amount of the twist are detected by the torque sensor 15. The output signal of the torque sensor 15 is input to an electric power steering ECU (electronic control unit) 10 as an electric power steering control device.

  The output shaft 2 b is coupled to the rack and pinion mechanism 7. The rack and pinion mechanism 7 has a pinion 8 coupled to the output shaft 2b and a rack shaft 9 meshing with the pinion 8. The rack shaft 9 extends in the left-right direction of the vehicle and is slidably held in a housing (not shown). Steering wheels 12 and 12 are coupled to both ends of the rack shaft 9 via a connecting member 11 including a tie rod and a knuckle arm. With this configuration, the rack shaft 9 linearly moves in the left-right direction of the vehicle as the output shaft 2b rotates, and the directions of the steering wheels 12, 12 change accordingly. The reduction gear 5 may transmit the rotation of the electric motor M to the output shaft 2b, for example.

In addition to the output of the torque sensor 15, the vehicle speed signal output from the vehicle speed sensor 16 is also input to the electric power steering ECU 10. Thus, the electric power steering ECU 10 controls the electric motor M based on the steering torque T and the vehicle speed V, and gives an appropriate steering assist force to the steering mechanism 3.
Further, a test device 40 for testing the ECU 10 can be connected to the electric power steering ECU 10 via a cable 39. A bar code reader 41 is connected to the test device 40 so that the bar code 45 attached to the vehicle to which the ECU 10 is assembled can be read. The bar code 45 carries a bar code representing identification information for identifying the vehicle. Based on the vehicle identification information read by the barcode reader 41, the test device 40 determines whether the vehicle has a left-hand drive specification or a right-hand drive specification, and inputs this vehicle-side handle specification information to the ECU 10. Operates as vehicle-side handle specification information input means.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining a functional configuration inside the electric power steering ECU 10. The ECU 10 is configured to include a microcomputer, and substantially includes a plurality of function processing units realized by executing a predetermined program. The plurality of function processing units include a target drive value calculation unit 21 that generates a target drive value of the electric motor M based on the steering torque T and the vehicle speed V, and a target drive value obtained by the target drive value calculation unit 21. A control signal generation unit 22 that generates a control signal for driving the electric motor M based on the above, a self-diagnosis processing unit 23 for self-diagnosis of the ECU 10, and a diagnosis result by the self-diagnosis processing unit 23 Diagnosis information storage unit 24, handle specification information storage unit 25 that stores ECU-side handle specification information indicating the handle specification that the ECU 10 corresponds to, and self-diagnosis processing unit 23 have diagnosed the occurrence of an abnormality. And an alarm generation unit 26 for generating an alarm. Both the diagnostic information storage unit 24 and the handle specification information storage unit 25 are preferably composed of a nonvolatile memory such as a flash memory or an EEPROM.

  The self-diagnosis processing unit 23 is a function processing unit that operates when the ECU 10 is shifted to the test mode (self-diagnosis mode) by the test device 40. The self-diagnosis processing unit 23 includes a vehicle-side handle specification information acquisition unit 31 that receives input of the vehicle-side handle specification information from the test device 40. The self-diagnosis processing unit 23 further compares the vehicle-side handle specification information acquired by the vehicle-side handle specification information acquisition unit 31 with the ECU-side handle specification information stored in the handle specification information storage unit 25, and A handle specification information comparison / determination unit 32 that determines coincidence / non-coincidence, and an abnormality information generation unit 33 that generates abnormality information in response to the determination of “mismatch” in the handle specification information comparison / determination unit 32 are provided. ing. When the abnormality information generating unit 33 generates abnormality information, the abnormality information is stored in the diagnostic information storage unit 24 and given to the alarm generation unit 26. The alarm generation unit 26 turns on a warning lamp 35 provided outside the ECU 10. This warning lamp 35 may be provided, for example, on the instrument panel of the vehicle.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining processing related to the handle specification information determination of the ECU 10. For example, after assembling the ECU 10 to the vehicle, the test operator connects the test apparatus 40 to the ECU 10 via the cable 39 and performs an operation for shifting the ECU 10 to the test mode. Thus, after the ECU 10 is shifted to the test mode, the test operator operates the bar code reader 41 connected to the test device 40 to read the bar code 45 that has been pasted on the vehicle. Based on the vehicle identification information read by the bar code reader 41, the test device 40 determines whether the vehicle has a left handle specification or a right handle specification, and vehicle side handle specification information corresponding to the determination result. Is generated and input to the ECU 10. Thereby, the vehicle-side handle specification information acquisition unit 31 of the ECU 10 acquires the vehicle-side handle specification information (step S1). The vehicle-side handle specification information is transferred to the handle specification information comparison / determination unit 32.

The handle specification information comparison / determination unit 32 reads the handle specification information of the ECU 10 from the handle specification information storage unit 25 (step S2), and determines whether the ECU side handle specification information and the vehicle side handle specification information match or not ( Step S3). If they match, the self-diagnosis process related to the handle specification is terminated.
On the other hand, if the ECU-side handle specification information does not match the vehicle-side handle specification information, the determination result is passed to the abnormality information generation unit 33. In response to this, the abnormality information generation unit 33 writes diagnostic information indicating that the handle specifications do not match in the diagnostic information storage unit 24 (step S4), and gives an alarm generation command to the alarm generation unit 26. (Step S5). As a result, the alarm generator 26 turns on the warning lamp 35. Further, the ECU 10 stops the operation in response to the handle specification mismatch determination (step S6).

  Thus, according to this embodiment, when the vehicle-side handle specification information is input to the electric power steering ECU 10, the handle specification of the ECU 10 and the vehicle-side handle specification coincide with each other by processing inside the ECU 10. Whether or not it is determined. Thereby, when the ECU 10 is erroneously assembled, the warning lamp 35 is lit, so that the test operator can immediately grasp the fact of the erroneous assembly. At the same time, when the steering wheel specifications are different, an operation stop means function (step S6) for stopping the operation of the ECU 10 is provided, so that an inappropriate steering force is given to a vehicle in which the ECU 10 is incorrectly assembled. It can be surely prevented.

  As mentioned above, although one Embodiment of this invention was described, this invention can also be implemented with another form. For example, when an abnormality occurs, a warning sound may be generated or a display message may be displayed on the display device. In addition, various design changes can be made within the scope of matters described in the claims.

It is a block diagram for demonstrating the basic composition of the electric power steering device concerning one embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram for demonstrating the functional structure inside ECU for electric power steering. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the process regarding steering wheel specification information determination of ECU for electric power steering.

Explanation of symbols

  1 ... Steering wheel, 3 ... Steering mechanism

Claims (2)

An electric power steering control device that controls an electric motor that generates power for applying a steering assist force to a steering mechanism in accordance with an operation of an operation member for steering,
Storage means for storing control device side handle specification information indicating whether the electric power steering control device is compatible with left handle specification or right handle specification;
Vehicle-side handle specification information acquisition means for receiving and acquiring input of vehicle-side handle specification information indicating whether the vehicle-side handle specification on which the electric power steering control device is mounted is a left handle specification or a right handle specification;
The vehicle-side handle specification information acquired by the vehicle-side handle specification information acquisition means is compared with the control-device-side handle specification information stored in the storage means, and the handle specification information comparison / determination means for determining the match / mismatch. When,
And an abnormality information generating means for generating abnormality information in response to the determination that the vehicle-side handle specification information and the control-device-side handle specification information are inconsistent by the handle specification information comparison and determination means. A control device for electric power steering. An electric motor that generates power for applying steering assist force to the steering mechanism;
An electric power steering apparatus comprising: the electric power steering control apparatus according to claim 1 for controlling the electric motor.

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