Steering Solutions IP Holding Corporation

Prerit Pramod

Julie Ann Kleinau

Zhe Zhang

Krishna Mpk Namburi

Rakesh Mitra

Varsha Govindu

Tejas M Varunjikar

Dennis B Skellenger

Rangarajan Ramanujam

Michael A Eickholt

Infane O Lowe

Aparna Saha

Haibo Li

Siddharth Ballal

Prathima Nuli

Krishna M P K Namburi

Nakul Shah

Michael K Hales

Jeffery Alan Zuraski

Mariam Swetha George

Kai Zheng

Bhuvanesh Sainath

Nayeem Mahmud

Krishna Mohan Pavan Namburi

Nithin Kolli

Ashok Chandy

Anthony J Champagne

Steven James Collier-Hallman

Steven D Klein

Mohammed Rakibul Islam

Jeffrey T Klass

Shrenik P Shah

Qi Wang

Subhra Paul

David P Holm

Nicholas E Gizinski

Apurv Naman

Jeffrey A Zuraski

Nicholas M Trewhella

Thomas J Stutts

Matthew A Tompkins

Selva Kumar Sengottaiyan

Darren Qu

Pawel Szymula

Julius M Woo

Krishna Mohan Pavan Kumar Namburi

A K M Arafat

Nithil Babu Nalakath

A method for controlling a motor drive with passive damping includes: shorting a set of windings of a motor to define a shorted set of windings; determining a short circuit current in the shorted set of windings; determining, based on the short circuit current in the shorted set of windings, a braking torque for the shorted set of windings; and commanding, based on an initial torque command and based on the braking torque, an inverter to apply an output voltage to an active set of windings of the motor and thereby causing an output current to be generated in the active set of windings.

Torque capability management for passively damped handwheel actuators

A method for detecting and distinguishing a current measurement gain error and a resistance imbalance in a motor drive system includes: determining a first voltage command signal, a first motor position signal, and a first quadrature-axis current command when the motor is rotating at a first speed; computing, based on the first voltage command and motor position signals, a first demodulated voltage signal; determining a second voltage command signal, a second motor position signal, and a second quadrature-axis current command while the motor is rotating at a second speed that is different than the first speed; computing, based on the second voltage command and the motor position signals, a second demodulated voltage signal; and computing a resistance imbalance flag indicating a resistance imbalance and a current gain error flag indicating a current sensing gain error.

Identification of current gain errors and resistance imbalance in feedback current-controlled synchronous motor drive systems

Improvements to a power input circuit of an electric motor drive system are provided. The power input circuit is provided between a power source (e.g., battery), and a load (e.g., an inverter and a motor in the electric motor drive system). The power input circuit can comprise controllable switches for reverse polarity protection and isolation of the inverter under supply short circuit condition. In addition, an improvement to a power input circuit can comprise connection of a power supply (e.g., voltage regulator) to the external power source input side of a reverse polarity protection circuit in the power input circuit to mitigate against microcontroller restart from post-failure shutdown condition. Connection of a low-power diode in series with the voltage regulator also provides for reverse polarity protection.

Power input circuit for isolation under supply short circuit condition

A method includes receiving motor velocity data, and, in response to a determination that the motor velocity data indicates that a velocity of a motor is below a threshold velocity: calculating a thermal metric corresponding to a phase imbalance of the motor; identifying at least one thermal mitigation parameter based on the thermal metric; generating at least one thermal management motor position command based on the at least one thermal mitigation parameter; and selectively controlling the motor according to the thermal management motor position command.

Stall thermal protection for force feedback actuator

A method of controlling a dual wound synchronous machine (DWSM) includes: determining virtual current commands based on a current command associated with each of two winding sets of the DWSM; determining virtual half-motor currents by applying a mathematical transformation on measured output currents; determining half-motor difference currents based on differences between the corresponding virtual current command and the virtual half-motor current; calculating forward path voltage commands based on the corresponding difference currents and using first and second gain factors; determining feedback voltage commands by applying third and fourth gain factors to the virtual half-motor currents; determining virtual final voltage commands based on the corresponding forward path and feedback voltage commands; determining final voltage commands by applying a second mathematical transformation to the virtual final voltage commands; commanding, based on the final voltage commands, inverters to apply corresponding voltages to the two winding sets and thereby generating the output currents.

Current regulators for dual wound synchronous motor drives

A steer by wire system includes a controller operable to operate a roadwheel actuator such that a position command to the roadwheel actuator based on a handwheel orientation is a magnitude corresponding to a handwheel orientation offset value in an opposite direction to reduce a difference between the handwheel orientation offset value and a predetermined handwheel zero value.

Steer by wire drift compensation

Mitigation of microcontroller restart from post-failure shutdown condition

According to one or more embodiments of the technical solutions described herein, a method for generating torque in a steering system includes computing, by a controller, a lateral velocity of a vehicle using a vehicle model that uses a vehicle velocity, a surface friction estimate, a tire-angle, and at least one of a measured yaw rate from a yaw rate sensor and a lateral acceleration. The method further includes generating, by the controller, a torque command for providing assist torque to a driver, the torque command is based on the lateral velocity that is computed. The method further includes providing, by a motor, the assist torque, which is an amount of torque corresponding to the torque command.

Rack force estimation for steering systems

A method for vehicle stabilization includes, in response to a determination that a fault occurred in a rear steering mechanism, identifying a fault type associated with the fault. The method also includes determining whether a position of a rack of the rear steering mechanism is controllable based on the fault type. The method also includes, in response to a determination that the position of the rack is controllable, selectively positioning the rack to a center position and holding, using a motor control system of the rear steering mechanism, the rack in the center position. The method also includes, in response to a determination that the position of the rack is not controllable, holding, using the motor control system of the rear steering mechanism, the rack in a current position.

Fault tolerant control of rear steer vehicles

A method of controlling operation of an electric machine includes: determining a voltage-based torque limit based on a voltage constraint of a direct current (DC) bus supplying power to an inverter for powering the electric machine; determining a motor current-based torque limit based on a motor current limit; determining a supply current-based torque limit based on a supply rating, to supply current to the inverter, of the DC bus; determining a regenerative current-based torque limit based on a receive rating, to receive current from the inverter, of the DC bus; determining a final torque limit based on the voltage-based torque limit, the motor current-based torque limit, the supply current-based torque limit, and the regenerative current-based torque limit; determining a limited command torque based on a torque command and the final torque limit; and calculating at least one current command based on, at least, the limited command torque.

Multi-objective optimization for active power management of synchronous motor drives

A method of controlling a permanent magnet synchronous machine (PMSM) includes: determining an estimated back-electromotive force (BEMF) generated in windings of the PMSM based on an estimated voltage applied to the windings of the PMSM, an estimated motor current of the PMSM, an estimated motor circuit resistance, and an estimated synchronous inductance of the PMSM. The method also includes determining an estimated permanent magnet (PM) flux linkage in the PMSM based on the estimated motor current of the PMSM; determining a BEMF correction term based on the estimated PM flux linkage; and determining an estimated rotor flux space vector based on the estimated BEMF and the BEMF correction term.

Position estimation for permanent magnet synchronous machines via rotor flux space vector identification

A method of controlling operation of an electric machine includes: calculating a voltage-based torque limit based on a voltage constraint of a direct current (DC) bus supplying power to an inverter for powering the electric machine; calculating a current-based torque limit based on a motor current limit; determining a final torque limit based on the voltage-based torque limit and the current-based torque limit; determining a limited command torque based on a torque command and the final torque limit; and generating at least one current command based on, at least, the limited command torque. A control system for controlling operation of an electric machine is also provided.

Active motor current limiting of synchronous motor drives

A system for controlling a synchronous motor drive may be configured to receive a command voltage signal and to identify, in the synchronous motor drive, a resistance imbalance signature from the command voltage signal. The system may determine, based on the resistance imbalance signature, respective phase resistances that correspond to phases of a synchronous motor of the synchronous motor drive. Each respective phase resistance may include a phase transistor resistance and a phase winding resistance. The system may identify, based on the phase resistances and an estimated average resistance between the phases of the synchronous motor, one or more phases of the synchronous motor that correspond to one or more phase resistances representing a resistance imbalance.

Detection of unbalanced phase resistances in synchronous motor drives

A method of controlling a dual-wound synchronous machine includes: determining positive and negative virtual half-motor current commands based on first and a second motor current commands associated with the first and second winding sets; calculating positive and negative final voltage commands based on the virtual half-motor current commands, and using first and second sets of gain factors; and commanding, based on the final voltage commands, inverters to apply an output voltage to each of two winding sets and thereby causing output currents to be generated herein. The output currents each have a d- and q-axis components, and at least one of the first set of gain factors and the second set of gain factors is configured to cause the d-axis component and the q-axis component of the first output current to be decoupled from variations of d-axis and q-axis components of the second output current.

Feedforward current control for dual wound synchronous motor drives

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Saginaw, MI, United States of America

Prerit Pramod