ELECTRIC POWER STEERING CONTROL APPARATUS

• US 20090000857A1
• Filed: 06/03/2008
• Published: 01/01/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• Inventors: Sugiyama, Akinobu, Tanaka, Hideyuki, Matsunaga, Takanori, Kozuki, Hiroyuki
• Granted Patent: US 8,267,220 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 180/444
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 5/0463 calculating assisting torque from the motor based on driver input
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 5/0472 for damping vibrations

Abstract

An electric power steering control apparatus can reduce a steering vibration such as shimmy vibration generated due to the structure of a vehicle without adding new mechanism elements. The apparatus includes a torque sensor for detecting steering torque generated by a driver, a torque controller for calculating an assist torque current for assisting the steering torque based on the detected steering torque, a vehicle speed detector for detecting the speed of the vehicle, a specific frequency detector for detecting a specific frequency from the detected vehicle speed, a motor angular velocity calculator for calculating a motor angular velocity from a motor angle detected by an angle detector, a phase compensator for converting a vibration frequency of the motor angular velocity, and a vibration suppression current calculator for calculating a vibration suppression current to suppress the steering vibration from respective output signals of the phase compensator and the specific frequency detector.

Claims

1. An electric power steering control apparatus comprising:

a steering torque detection section that detects steering torque generated by a driver of a vehicle;

a motor that generates assist torque in accordance with said steering torque;

a motor angular velocity detection section that detects the angular velocity of said motor;

a specific frequency detection section that detects the frequency of a steering vibration generated due to the structure of said vehicle;

a phase compensation section that converts the phase of said motor angular velocity based on a detected value of said motor angular velocity; and

a vibration suppression current calculation unit that calculates a steering vibration suppression current for suppression of said steering vibration based on the respective output signals of said specific frequency detection section and said phase compensation section.

2. The electric power steering control apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein

said phase compensation section includes at least one of:

a proportional gain calculation section that amplifies and deamplifies the magnitude of said motor angular velocity;

a differentiator that calculates a time differential signal of said motor angular velocity and a differential gain calculation section that amplifies and deamplifies a differential signal;

an integrator that calculates a time integral signal of said motor angular velocity and an integral gain calculation section that amplifies and deamplifies an integral signal.

3. The electric power steering control apparatus as set forth in claim 2, wherein

said phase compensator serves to make variable at least one of said proportional gain calculation section, said differential gain calculation section and said integral gain calculation section in accordance with the output signal from said specific frequency detection section.

4. The electric power steering control apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein

said phase compensation section includes at least one of:

a band-pass filter gain calculation section that applies band-pass filtering processing to said motor angular velocity to amplify and deamplify a band-pass filtered signal;

a high-pass filter gain calculation section that applies high-pass filtering processing to said motor angular velocity to amplify and deamplify a high-pass filtered signal; and

a low-pass filter gain calculation section that applies low-pass filtering processing to said motor angular velocity to amplify and deamplify a low-pass filtered signal.

5. The electric power steering control apparatus as set forth in claim 4, wherein

said phase compensation section serves to make variable at least one gain of a band-pass filter time constant or a band-pass filter gain of said band-pass filter gain calculation section, a high-pass filter time constant or a high-pass filter gain of said high-pass filter gain calculation section, and a low-pass filter time constant or a low-pass filter gain of said low-pass filter gain calculation section, in accordance with the output signal of said specific frequency detection section.

6. The electric power steering control apparatus as set forth in claim 1, further comprising:

a vehicle speed detection section that detects the vehicle speed of said vehicle;

wherein said specific frequency detection section detects a frequency at which said steering vibration is generated, in accordance with said vehicle speed.

7. The electric power steering control apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein

said specific frequency detection section detects a frequency at which said steering vibration is generated, in accordance with the detected value of said motor angular velocity.

8. The electric power steering control apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein

said specific frequency detection section detects a frequency at which said steering vibration is generated, in accordance with a detected value of said steering torque.

9. The electric power steering control apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein

said vibration suppression current calculation section includes an upper and lower limit value limitation section that serves to set an upper limit value and a lower limit value for a calculated value of said steering vibration suppression current.