Motor control unit and electric power steering apparatus equipped with the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9866155-B2
Application number	US-201615536396-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 2, 2016
Priority date	Feb 3, 2015
Publication date	Jan 9, 2018
Grant date	Jan 9, 2018

Abstract

[Problem]
An object of the present invention is to provide a motor control unit that the heat generation of FETs is not concentrated in one FET and the heat generation is distributed to the plural FETs by operating the duties of all three-phases in a case that the driving of the motor is stopped.
[Means for Solving the Problem]
The present invention is the motor control unit comprising a current detector; an upper-stage maximum heat generation-phase specifying means to calculate respective heat generation amounts of upper-stage FETs and specify an upper-stage maximum heat generation phase; a lower-stage maximum heat generation-phase specifying means to calculate respective heat generation amounts of lower-stage FETs and specify a lower-stage maximum heat generation phase; an upper-stage selecting means to select an upper-stage selecting duty and an upper-stage selecting phase current based on the upper-stage maximum heat generation phase; a lower-stage selecting means to select a lower-stage selecting duty and a lower-stage selecting phase current based on the lower-stage maximum heat generation phase; a duty operating amount calculating section to calculate a duty operating amount; and a duty operating section to operate the respective phase duties based on the duty operating amount.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A motor control unit that calculates respective phase duties for a pulse width modulation (PWM)-control based on a current command value and controls a motor via an inverter configured with upper-stage and lower-stage field-effect transistor (FET) bridges, comprising:
a current detector to detect respective phase currents of said motor;
an upper-stage maximum heat generation-phase specifying means to calculate respective heat generation amounts of upper-stage FETs and specify an upper-stage maximum heat generation-phase;
a lower-stage maximum heat generation-phase specifying means to calculate respective heat generation amounts of lower-stage FETs and specify a lower-stage maximum heat generation-phase;
an upper-stage selecting means to select an upper-stage selecting duty and an upper-stage selecting phase current based on said upper-stage maximum heat generation-phase;
a lower-stage selecting means to select a lower-stage selecting duty and a lower-stage selecting phase current based on said lower-stage maximum heat generation-phase;
a duty operating amount calculating section to calculate a duty operating amount in order to distribute a heat generation which is concentrated in a specific FET to plural FETs based on said upper-stage selecting duty and said upper-stage selecting phase current, and said lower-stage selecting duty and said lower-stage selecting phase current; and
a duty operating section to operate said respective phase duties so as to operate duties of all FETs with maintaining voltages between terminals of said respective phases based on said duty operating amount.

2. The motor control unit according to claim 1 , wherein said upper-stage maximum heat generation phase specifying means comprises:
an upper-stage FET-heat generation amount calculating section to calculate respective heat generation amounts of upper-stage FETs; and
an upper-stage maximum heat generation-phase specifying section to specify said upper-stage maximum heat generation-phase based on respective heat generation amounts calculated at said upper-stage FET-heat generation amount calculating section.

3. The motor control unit according to claim 2 , wherein said lower-stage maximum heat generation phase specifying means comprises:
a lower-stage FET-heat generation amount calculating section to calculate respective heat generation amounts of lower-stage FETs; and
a lower-stage maximum heat generation-phase specifying section to specify said lower-stage maximum heat generation-phase based on respective heat generation amounts calculated at said lower-stage FET-heat generation amount calculating section.

4. The motor control unit according to claim 2 , wherein said heat generation amounts of said upper-stage FETs and said heat generation amounts of said lower-stage FETs are calculated by a calculation or by a reference of a map.

5. The motor control unit according to claim 2 , wherein square values of said respective phase currents are low pass filter (LPF)-processed and are limited by a predetermined lower limiting value, and said limited amounts are multiplied by said respective phase duty and are outputted as respective heat generation amounts of said upper-stage FETs and respective heat generation amounts of said lower-stage FETs.

6. The motor control unit according to claim 5 , wherein said predetermined lower limiting value is a tuning value.

7. The motor control unit according to claim 2 , wherein said upper-stage selecting means comprises:
a first duty selecting section to select said upper-stage selecting duty from said respective phase duties based on said upper-stage maximum heat generation-phase; and
a first phase current selecting section to select said upper-stage selecting phase current from said respective phase currents based on said upper-stage maximum heat generation-phase.

8. The motor control unit according to claim 2 , wherein said lower-stage selecting means comprises:
a second duty selecting section to select said lower-stage selecting duty from said respective phase duties based on said lower-stage maximum heat generation phase; and
a second phase current selecting section to select said lower-stage selecting phase current from said respective phase currents based on said lower-stage maximum heat generation-phase.

9. The motor control unit according to claim 2 , wherein said duty operating amount calculating section calculates said duty operating amount by “{(said lower-stage selecting phase current×said lower-stage selecting phase current×said lower-stage selecting duty)−(said upper-stage selecting phase current×said upper-stage selecting phase current×said upper-stage selecting duty)}/{(said upper-stage selecting phase current×said upper-stage selecting phase current)+(said lower-stage selecting phase current×said lower-stage selecting phase current)}×100(%)”.

10. The motor control unit according to claim 2 , wherein said duty operating section adds said duty operating amount to said upper-stage respective phase duties and subtracts said duty operating amount from said lower-stage respective phase duties, or said duty operating section subtracts said duty operating amount from said upper-stage respective phase duties and adds said duty operating amount to said lower-stage respective phase duties.

11. An electric power steering apparatus that is equipped with said motor control unit according to claim 2 , and assist-controls a steering system of a vehicle.

12. The motor control unit according to claim 1 , wherein said lower-stage maximum heat generation phase specifying means comprises:
a lower-stage FET-heat generation amount calculating section to calculate respective heat generation amounts of lower-stage FETs; and
a lower-stage maximum heat generation-phase specifying section to specify said lower-stage maximum heat generation-phase based on respective heat generation amounts calculated at said lower-stage FET-heat generation amount calculating section.

13. The motor control unit according to claim 1 , wherein said heat generation amounts of said upper-stage FETs and said heat generation amounts of said lower-stage FETs are calculated by a calculation or by a reference of a map.

14. The motor control unit according to claim 1 , wherein square values of said respective phase currents are low pass filter (LPF)-processed and are limited by a predetermined lower limiting value, and said limited amounts are multiplied by said respective phase duty and are outputted as respective heat generation amounts of said upper-stage FETs and respective heat generation amounts of said lower-stage FETs.

15. The motor control unit according to claim 14 , wherein said predetermined lower limiting value is a tuning value.

16. The motor control unit according to claim 1 , wherein said upper-stage selecting means comprises:
a first duty selecting section to select said upper-stage selecting duty from said respective phase duties based on said upper-stage maximum heat generation-phase; and
a first phase current selecting section to select said upper-stage selecting phase current from said respective phase currents based on said upper-stage maximum heat generation-phase.

17. The motor control unit according to claim 1 , wherein said lower-stage selecting means comprises:
a second duty selecting section to select said lower-stage selecting duty from said respective phase duties based on said lower-stage maximum heat generation phase; and
a second phase current selecting section to select said lower-stage selecting phase current from said respect

Assignees

• Nsk Ltd

Inventors

• Sugawara Takayoshi
• MINAKI Ryo
• Sawada Hideki

Classifications

• H02P6/17

  and for generating speed information · CPC title

• H02P6/185

  using inductance sensing, e.g. pulse excitation · CPC title

• B62D5/046

  Controlling the motor · CPC title

• H02P6/04

  Arrangements for controlling or regulating the speed or torque of more than one motor (H02P6/10 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H02P6/085 Primary

  in a bridge configuration · CPC title