The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 10, 2003
Filed:
May. 18, 2001
Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
In the prior art electric power steering controller, if it is restarted immediately after being turned off, melting and welding of a contact of a relay are detected while a smoothing capacitor is not yet fully discharged. This may lead to a misdetection. A novel electric power steering controller has a relay contact voltage detection circuit and a discharging circuit. The relay contact voltage detection circuit is located between the battery of a vehicle and an electric motor to give an assisting torque to a steering wheel and acts to detect the voltage at the contact of a relay on the side of the electric motor, the relay controlling the output from the battery. Then, melting and welding of the relay contact are detected, based on the voltage at the relay contact detected by the relay contact voltage detection circuit.