Electronic circuit for controlling an actuator

• US 10,333,735 B2
• Filed: 04/08/2015
• Issued: 06/25/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: I F M Electronic GmbH
• Original Assignee: I F M Electronic GmbH
• Inventors: Schulz, Jorg
• Primary Examiner(s): Dhillon, Jagdeep S
• Application Number:
  US15/311,464
• Publication Number:
  US 20170085394A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,539 Days
• Field of Search: 307 101
• CPC Class Codes: E05F 15/00 Power-operated mechanisms for wings motor-operated accessories in locks for completing closing or initiating opening of a wing E05B17/00
• CPC Class Codes: E05Y 2900/546 Tailgates
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 19/21 EXCLUSIVE-OR circuits, i.e. giving output if input signal exists at only one input; COINCIDENCE circuits, i.e. giving output only if all input signals are identical
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 3/0377 Bistables with hysteresis, e.g. Schmitt trigger non-regenerative amplitude discriminators G01R19/165
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 5/04 by increasing duration; by decreasing duration
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 5/1534 Transition or edge detectors
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/40045 Details regarding the feeding of energy to the node from the bus

Abstract

The present invention provides an electronic circuit for controlling an actuator comprising a transceiver unit (1) for a bus system the bus terminal (2) of which has a monostable behavior with an active period of greater than 1 ms, wherein the transceiver unit (1) is controlled by a microcontroller (3), wherein the monostable behavior of the transceiver unit (1) is switched off with additionally superimposed control pulses, wherein the time interval between two control pulses is smaller than the monostable active period of the transceiver unit (1) and the control pulses are generated by temporal combination of two control signals the time resolution of which is lower than the pulse duration of the control pulses derived therefrom, which is implemented by use of a RC combination (4) and/or a logic gate (6) with a differentiating or delaying effect.

Claims

1. Electronic circuit for controlling an actuator comprising a transceiver unit for a bus system, the bus terminal of which has a monostable behaviour with an active period of more than 1 millisecond, wherein the transceiver unit is controlled by a microcontroller, wherein the monostable behaviour of the bus terminal is switched off by additional control pulses, wherein the time interval between two control pulses is smaller than the monostable active period of the transceiver unit, wherein the control pulses are formed by temporal combination of two control signals, whose time resolutions are lower than the pulse duration of the control pulses derived therefrom, wherein the time resolution is the smallest time step width of the corresponding output signal which is achievable with the microcontroller in a respectively used hardware and software configuration, wherein the TxD terminal of the transceiver unit is connected to a resistor R1 and a capacitor C1, wherein the second terminal of the resistor R1 is supplied with the switching signal and the second terminal of the capacitor C1 is supplied with a pulse signal.

2. Electronic circuit according to claim 1, characterized in that the transceiver unit comprises a LIN transceiver.

3. Electronic circuit according to claim 1, characterized in that the pulse length of the control pulses is smaller than 1 μ

s.

4. Electronic circuit according to claim 1, characterized in that the duty cycle of the control pulses is less than 1%.

5. Electronic circuit according to claim 1, characterized in that the control pulses are generated by a differentiating RC combination and a downstream trigger, wherein the TxD terminal of the transceiver unit is connected to the output of the trigger.

6. Electronic circuit according to claim 1, characterized in that the control pulses are generated by an integrating RC combination with a downstream trigger, wherein the TxD terminal of the transceiver unit is connected to the output of the trigger.

7. Electronic circuit according to claim 1, characterized in that the control pulses are generated with at least one logic gate by utilizing the gate'"'"'s propagation delay time and the TxD terminal of the transceiver unit is connected to the output of the arrangement.

8. Actuator in a motor vehicle, in particular for actuating a tailgate which includes an electronic circuit comprising a transceiver unit for a bus system, the bus terminal of which has a monostable behaviour with an active period of more than 1 millisecond, wherein the transceiver unit is controlled by a microcontroller, wherein the monostable behaviour of the bus terminal is switched off by additional control pulses, wherein the time interval between two control pulses is smaller than the monostable active period of the transceiver unit characterized in that the control pulses are formed by temporal combination of two control signals, whose time resolutions are lower than the pulse duration of the control pulses derived therefrom, wherein the time resolution is the smallest time step width of the corresponding output signal which is achievable with the microcontroller in a respectively used hardware and software configuration wherein the TxD terminal of the transceiver unit is connected to a resistor R1 and a capacitor C1, wherein the second terminal of the resistor R1 is supplied with the switching signal and the second terminal of the capacitor C1 is supplied with a pulse signal.

9. Sensor for a motor vehicle comprising a sensor element for detecting a physical measured variable and for converting it into an electrical signal comprising a microcontroller which is supplied with the electrical signal and which depending on the value of the physical measured variable generates binary state information which is intended for a control unit in the vehicle, wherein the state information is forwarded to the control device via a bus module, wherein the bus module serves for adaptation to the physical transmission layer of a bus system and comprises a timeout with a hardware-related timeout period which prevents that the bus module outputs a continuous signal which disturbs the communication on the bus, characterized in that the microcontroller and the bus module are connected to each other via a reset pulse generator unit, which on the microcontroller side comprises two inputs and on the bus module side comprises an output, wherein by means of the reset pulse generator unit reset pulses can be generated which are temporally so short, that they are on the one hand not transmitted from the bus module and on the other hand respectively restart the timeout process, such that at the output of the bus module a continuous signal can be generated which is longer than the timeout period.

10. Electronic circuit for controlling an actuator comprising a transceiver unit for a bus system, the bus terminal of which has a monostable behaviour with an active period of more than 1 millisecond, wherein the transceiver unit is controlled by a microcontroller, wherein the monostable behaviour of the bus terminal is switched off by additional control pulses, wherein the time interval between two control pulses is smaller than the monostable active period of the transceiver unit,

characterized in that

wherein the control pulses are formed by temporal combination of two control signals, whose time resolutions are lower than the pulse duration of the control pulses derived therefrom, wherein the time resolution is the smallest time step width of the corresponding output signal which is achievable with the microcontroller in a respectively used hardware and software configuration wherein the control pulses are generated by one of:

(a) a differentiating RC combination and a downstream trigger, wherein the TxD terminal of the transceiver unit is connected to the output of the trigger,

(b) an integrating RC combination with a downstream trigger, wherein the TxD terminal of the transceiver unit is connected to the output of the trigger

(c) at least one logic gate by utilizing the gate'"'"'s propagation delay time and the TxD terminal of the transceiver unit is connected to the output of the arrangement.

11. Electronic circuit according to claim 10, characterized in that the transceiver unit comprises a LIN transceiver.

12. Electronic circuit according to claim 10, characterized in that the pulse length of the control pulses is smaller than 1 μ

s.

13. Electronic circuit according to claim 10, characterized in that the duty cycle of the control pulses is less than 1%.

14. Electronic circuit according to claim 10, characterized in that the TxD terminal of the transceiver unit is connected to a resistor R1 and a capacitor C1, wherein the second terminal of the resistor R1 is supplied with the switching signal and the second terminal of the capacitor C1 is supplied with a pulse signal.

15. Actuator in a motor vehicle, in particular for actuating a tailgate which includes an electronic circuit comprising a transceiver unit for a bus system, the bus terminal of which has a monostable behaviour with an active period of more than 1 millisecond, wherein the transceiver unit is controlled by a microcontroller, wherein the monostable behaviour of the bus terminal is switched off by additional control pulses, wherein the time interval between two control pulses is smaller than the monostable active period of the transceiver unit characterized in that the control pulses are formed by temporal combination of two control signals, whose time resolutions are lower than the pulse duration of the control pulses derived therefrom, wherein the time resolution is the smallest time step width of the corresponding output signal which is achievable with the microcontroller in a respectively used hardware and software configuration wherein the control pulses are generated by one of:

(a) a differentiating RC combination and a downstream trigger, wherein the TxD terminal of the transceiver unit is connected to the output of the trigger,

(b) an integrating RC combination with a downstream trigger, wherein the TxD terminal of the transceiver unit is connected to the output of the trigger

(c) at least one logic gate by utilizing the gate'"'"'s propagation delay time and the TxD terminal of the transceiver unit is connected to the output of the arrangement.