Electric motor power connection prognosis systems and methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10348236-B2
Application number	US-201615333216-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 25, 2016
Priority date	Oct 25, 2016
Publication date	Jul 9, 2019
Grant date	Jul 9, 2019

Abstract

A vehicle includes an electrically-driven motor configured to actuate a vehicle component and a power source configured to provide power to the motor over an electrical circuit. The vehicle also includes a controller programmed to monitor at least one signal indicative of motor output and store data indicative of a resistance in the circuit. The controller is also programmed to issue a resistance state of health signal in response to the resistance in the circuit exceeding a predetermined resistance threshold.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle comprising:
an electrically-driven motor configured to actuate a vehicle component;
a power source configured to provide power to the motor over an electrical circuit; and
a controller programmed to:
monitor a signal indicative of motor output, wherein the signal correlates to motor torque,
acquire data indicative of resistance in the electrical circuit only when the signal indicates the motor torque is greater than a threshold, wherein the motor torque threshold indicates that the electrically-driven motor is actively outputting torque to actuate the vehicle component,
store the acquired data indicative of resistance in the electrical circuit, and
issue a resistance state of health signal in response to the resistance in the electrical circuit exceeding a predetermined resistance threshold.

2. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein the resistance state of health signal is indicative of a remaining life of a connection within the electrical circuit.

3. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein the controller is programmed to transmit the state of health signal to an off-board processor when the resistance in the electrical circuit exceeds the resistance predetermined threshold for a first predetermined duration of time.

4. The vehicle of claim 1 further comprising a current sensor within the electrical circuit to sense a current provided to the motor from the power source.

5. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein the controller is programmed to reset the resistance fault signal in response to resistance in the electrical circuit being less than the predetermined threshold for a second predetermined duration of time.

6. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein the data indicative of a resistance in the electrical circuit includes at least one of a motor current, a motor output torque, a motor voltage, a power supply voltage, a component voltage monitored by the controller, and a motor angular velocity.

7. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein the electrical circuit is a portion of an electrical connector, and the resistance in the circuit is estimated at a location within the connector.

8. A method of generating a circuit resistance prognosis comprising:
providing a motor-driven component powered over an electrical circuit;
pausing during a predetermined dwell time, and then:
monitoring a signal of the electrical circuit indicating motor output, wherein the signal correlates to motor torque;
collecting a data set indicative of performance of the motor-driven component only when the signal indicates the motor torque is greater than a threshold, wherein the motor torque threshold indicates that the motor is actively outputting torque to actuate the component;
generating a resistance value based upon the collected data set corresponding to a predetermined location within the electrical circuit;
indexing a fault counter in response to the resistance value being greater than a predetermined resistance threshold; and
issuing a state of health message in response to the fault counter exceeding a fault counter threshold.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the predetermined location within the electrical circuit is within an electrical connector disposed between the motor-driven component and a power source.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein the resistance value corresponding to the predetermined location is based on at least one of a motor current, a motor output torque, a motor voltage, a power supply voltage, a component voltage monitored by the controller, and a motor angular velocity.

11. The method of claim 8 further comprising resetting the fault counter in response to the resistance value being less than the predetermined resistance threshold for a predetermined number of loop counts.

12. The method of claim 8 further comprising transmitting the resistance value to an off-board processor, wherein the off-board processor generates the state of health message.

13. The method of claim 8 wherein the motor-driven component is part of an electric power steering system.

14. The method of claim 8 wherein the state of health message is indicative of a remaining life of a connection within the electrical circuit.

15. A circuit prognosis system comprising:
a power source configured to provide power to a load;
an electrically-driven motor configured to actuate a vehicle component;
a circuit electrically connecting the power source to the motor to transfer power; and
a controller programmed to:
monitor a signal indicative of motor output, wherein the signal correlates to motor torque,
after a dwell time, acquire data indicative of resistance in the electrical circuit only when the signal indicates the motor torque is greater than a threshold, wherein the motor torque threshold indicates that the electrically-driven motor actively outputting torque to actuate the vehicle component,
store the data indicative of resistance in the electrical circuit, and
issue a resistance state of health signal in response to the resistance in the electrical circuit exceeding a predetermined threshold.

16. The circuit prognosis system of claim 15 further comprising a current sensor disposed within the circuit to output a signal indicative of current flow to the motor.

17. The circuit prognosis system of claim 15 wherein the electrically-driven motor is part of an electric power steering system.

18. The circuit prognosis system of claim 15 wherein the resistance state of health signal is indicative of a resistance fault of an electrical connection within the electrical circuit.

19. The circuit prognosis system of claim 15 wherein the data indicative of resistance is based on a data set including at least one of a motor current, a motor output torque, a motor voltage, a power supply voltage, a component voltage monitored by the controller, and a steering wheel angle gradient.

20. The circuit prognosis system of claim 15 wherein the controller is further programmed to transmit the data indicative of resistance to an off-board processor, and receive the resistance state of health signal from the off-board processor.

Assignees

• Gm Global Tech Operations Llc

Inventors

• Lin Wen-Chiao
• Du Xinyu
• Ghoneim Youssef A

Classifications

• H02P29/024 Primary

  Detecting a fault condition, e.g. short circuit, locked rotor, open circuit or loss of load · CPC title

• G01R31/007 Primary

  using microprocessors or computers · CPC title

• G01R31/343

  in operation · CPC title

• G05B23/0213 Primary

  Modular or universal configuration of the monitoring system, e.g. monitoring system having modules that may be combined to build monitoring program; monitoring system that can be applied to legacy systems; adaptable monitoring system; using different communication protocols · CPC title

• G01R31/005

  Testing of electric installations on transport means · CPC title