ELECTRIC POWER STEERING DEVICE, AND CONTROL METHOD THEREOF

• US 20080047775A1
• Filed: 08/14/2007
• Published: 02/28/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: YAMAZAKI, Ippei
• Granted Patent: US 7,966,114 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 180/443
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 15/025 Active steering aids, e.g. helping the driver by actively influencing the steering system after environment evaluation B62D1/28 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 5/0463 calculating assisting torque from the motor based on driver input
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 6/008 Control of feed-back to the steering input member, e.g. simulating road feel in steer-by-wire applications

Abstract

A first compensation torque T1, a second compensation torque T2 and a third compensation torque T3 are added to a basic assist torque Tas. In this case, the second compensation torque T2 and the third compensation torque T3 are corrected by multiplying them by a common control gain G that is determined by the steering torque Th and the vehicle speed v. Therefore, since the two compensation control amounts are corrected through multiplication by the common control gain G, no interference occurs between the compensation controls. Besides, when the direction in which the total (T2+T3) of the pre-correction second compensation torque T2 and the pre-correction third compensation torque T3 acts is the same direction as the steering torque Th, the multiplication by the control gain G is avoided.

Claims

1. An electric power steering device comprising:

an electric actuator that is driven to generate a steering assist torque in accordance with steering operation of a steering wheel;

a torque information acquisition portion that acquires steering torque information regarding the steering torque input through the steering operation of the steering wheel;

an other information acquisition portion that acquires steering state information regarding a steering state other than the steering torque information, or vehicle state information regarding a vehicle state;

a basic assist control amount calculation portion that calculates a basic assist control amount based on at least information acquired from the torque information acquisition portion;

a plurality of compensation control amount calculation portions that calculate compensation control amounts for compensating for the basic assist control amount based on information acquired from the other information acquisition portion;

a target assist control amount calculation portion that calculates a target assist control amount by uniting the basic assist control amount calculated by the basic assist control amount calculation portion, and the compensation control amounts respectively calculated by the plurality of compensation control amount calculation portions;

an actuator control portion that drives and controls the electric actuator based on the target assist control amount calculated by the target assist control amount calculation portion; and

a compensation control amount correction portion that corrects the compensation control amounts by multiplying the compensation control amounts calculated by at least two or more compensation control amount calculation portions of the plurality of compensation control amount calculation portions, by a common control gain that changes in accordance with the steering torque information, or by summing the compensation control amounts calculated by at least two or more compensation torque control amount calculation portions of the plurality of compensation control amount calculation portions, and multiplying the summed compensation control amount by a control gain that changes in accordance with the steering torque information.

2. The electric power steering device according to claim 1, wherein the control gain is further corrected in accordance with the steering state information other than the steering torque information, or the vehicle state information.

3. The electric power steering device according to claim 1,

wherein the control gain is a variable equal to or greater than 0 and less than or equal to 1 which decreases as a magnitude of the steering torque in the steering torque information increases, and

wherein the compensation control amount correction portion corrects the compensation control amount by multiplying the compensation control amount by the control gain if a control amount obtained by summing the compensation control amounts prior to being multiplied by the control gain acts in a direction opposite to the direction of the steering torque, and the compensation control amount correction portion avoids correcting the compensation control amount by the multiplication by the control gain if the control amount obtained by uniting the compensation control amounts prior to being multiplied by the control gain acts in the same direction as the steering torque.

4. The electric power steering device according to claim 1, further comprising:

an abnormality detection portion that detects an abnormality of the torque information acquisition portion; and

a torque information switching portion that switches to steering torque information obtained by setting at zero a magnitude of the steering torque that acts on the steering wheel, when an abnormality of the torque information acquisition portion is detected by the abnormality detection portion.

5. The electric power steering device according to claim 1, wherein the steering state information is a steering angle of the steering wheel, or a steering angular speed of the steering wheel.

6. The electric power steering device according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle state information is a lane deviation degree calculated based on a positional relationship between a vehicle and a road center line.

7. A control method of an electric power steering device that generates steering assist torque by driving an electric actuator in accordance with steering operation of a steering wheel, the control method comprising:

acquiring steering torque information regarding the steering torque input through the steering operation of the steering wheel;

acquiring steering state information regarding a steering state other than the steering torque information, or vehicle state information regarding a vehicle state;

calculating a basic assist control amount based on at least the steering torque information;

calculating a plurality of compensation control amounts for compensating for the basic assist control amount based on the steering state information or the vehicle state information;

calculating a target assist control amount by uniting the basic assist control amount and the plurality of compensation control amounts;

driving and controlling the electric actuator based on the target assist control amount; and

correcting the compensation control amounts by multiplying the plurality of compensation control amounts by a common control gain that changes in accordance with the steering torque information, or by summing the plurality of compensation control amounts, and multiplying the summed compensation control amount by the control gain.