Vehicle-use cooling fan driving apparatus provided with a trouble sensing function

• US 6,483,423 B1
• Filed: 10/26/1999
• Issued: 11/19/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 07/15/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Siemens Vdo Halla, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Siemens Vdo Halla, Ltd.
• Inventors: Han, Sung-Kuk
• Primary Examiner(s): Zimmerman, Brian
• Assistant Examiner(s): Dalencourt, Yves
• Application Number:
  US09/427,842
• Time in Patent Office: 1,120 Days
• Field of Search: 340/3.1, 701/29, 701/34, 416/169.A, 165/204, 165/263, 310/68.R, 123/406.65, 318/254, 417/356, 180/271
• US Class Current: 340/3.1
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0221 Preprocessing measurements, e.g. data collection rate adjustment; Standardization of measurements; Time series or signal analysis, e.g. frequency analysis or wavelets; Trustworthiness of measurements; Indexes therefor; Measurements using easily measured parameters to estimate parameters difficult to measure; Virtual sensor creation; De-noising; Sensor fusion; Unconventional preprocessing inherently present in specific fault detection methods like PCA-based methods

Abstract

In a vehicle-use cooling fan driving apparatus, a circuit is connected to a drain terminal of a driver transistor in order to sense a current of two motors which are connected in parallel. The circuit amplifies voltages of the terminal and source terminal of the driver transistor by the amount of the forward voltage of a diode. A power source is provided for supplying a current in order to amplify a voltage by the amount of forward voltage of the diode. The transistor prevents the amplified signal from being input to a microcomputer during an off-period of the transistor. A trouble-sensor compares the current value of the motors with a reference value with respect to a corresponding pulse width modulated signal so that trouble occurring in either of the two motors can be sensed so as to prevent an overheating of the motors.

Claims

1. A control device for a vehicle-use cooling fan driving apparatus provided with a trouble sensing function, in which said control device has at one end thereof an engine control unit and a battery and at the other end thereof a radiator motor and a condenser motor, said control device comprising:

a microcomputer for receiving a motor rotation signal from said engine control unit and converting said motor rotation signal to a pulse width modulated signal;

a driver transistor for receiving said pulse width modulated signal from said microcomputer and driving said radiator motor and said condenser motor;

a diode connected to a drain of said driver transistor; and

an integration circuit connected between said diode and said microcomputer and which integrates an output signal of said microcomputer.

2. The control device according to claim 1, wherein said integration circuit further comprises:

a voltage stabilizer circuit for providing a specific voltage;

a resistance and a condenser connected to said voltage stabilizer circuit and which eliminate noise of signal input;

a transistor for switching a signal passed through said condenser; and

an inverter for inverting a gate signal of said driver transistor.

3. In a vehicle-use cooling fan driving apparatus provided with a trouble sensing function, in which a control device has at one end thereof an engine control unit and a battery and at the other end thereof a radiator motor and a condenser motor, a microcomputer for receiving a motor rotation signal from said engine control unit and converting said motor rotation signal to a pulse width modulated signal, a driver transistor for receiving said pulse width modulated signal from said microcomputer and driving said radiator motor and said condenser motor;

the improvement comprising;

a diode connected to a drain of said driver transistor; and

an integration circuit connected between said diode and said microcomputer and which integrates an output signal of said microcomputer.

4. The improvement according to claim 3, wherein said integration circuit includes:

a voltage stabilizer circuit for providing a specific voltage;

a resistance and a condenser which eliminate noise of signal input and are connected to said voltage stabilizer circuit;

a transistor for switching a signal passed through said condenser; and

an inverter for inverting a gate signal of said driver transistor.