Electric powertrain with rotary electric machine and position sensor to controller interface

Abstract

The electric powertrain includes: a sensor-controller interface; an inverter-controller electrically connected to a battery pack; and an electric machine connected to the inverter-controller and having a rotor having an angular position. The rotor provides power to a driven load at a torque and / or speed level controlled by the inverter-controller in response to a position signal indicating the angular position. A rotary position sensor is operatively connected to the rotor to generate and output a position signal. The sensor derives the position signal from the unmodulated sine and cosine signals and communicates the position signal and a binary sensor health state (SOH) to the inverter-controller via the interface. The inverter-controller also decodes the position signal and the binary sensor SOH to generate decoded control data, and controls the torque and / or speed level using the decoded control data.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a rotary electric powertrain having a rotary electric machine coupled to a driven load (e.g., a road wheel of a motor vehicle or another mobile platform). Individual phase windings of the electric machine are connected to a traction power inverter and are operatively controlled via a motor controller in response to an angular position, wherein the angular position is determined using a rotary position sensor. In particular, the present disclosure provides a wireless communication interface between the rotary position sensor and the motor controller. Background Art

[0002] As will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art, reluctance-based rotary transformers are commonly used as rotational position sensors in electric powertrains to output modulated sine and cosine output signals indicative of the changing angular position of the machine's rotor. The rotor position and speed are derived by a motor controller from the modulated output signals and thereafter regulated by the motor controller during ongoing operation of the motor. Emerging position sensor technologies (e.g., inductive sensors) differ in their ability to output pure / unmodulated sine and cosine signals, by virtue of the sensor's integrated circuit and associated control logic.

[0003] In a multi-phase embodiment of a rotating electric machine, the individual phase windings of the machine's stator are sequentially energized to generate a rotating stator field. The rotating stator field ultimately interacts with the stationary magnetic field of the machine's rotor to produce machine rotation and output torque. Thereafter, the generated output torque is harnessed using a gear set, pulley, or another suitable torque transmission mechanism and directed to a load, such as a set of road wheels of a motor vehicle or another mobile platform. Summary of the invention

[0004] An electric powertrain is disclosed herein. In an exemplary embodiment, the electric powertrain includes a rotating electric machine, a rotational position sensor, a power inverter, and a controller. During continuous torque and speed control of the electric machine, the power inverter and the controller operate as an integral unit, wherein the switching operation of the power inverter is regulated in real time by the controller in response to input signals. Due to the overall related functions of the power inverter and the controller, the two components are referred to as the "inverter-controller" below. A wireless interface connects the position sensor to the inverter-controller, wherein data transmission occurs over a wireless path according to several embodiments described below.

[0005] The disclosed electric powertrain and wireless interface are intended to solve potential problems common to electric powertrains and, in particular, electric powertrains of motor vehicles and other electromechanical systems that are prone to mechanical vibration and electromechanical noise. Such vibration and noise can, over time, lead to premature failure of the physical end connectors used to connect the ends of wire transmission conductors. The wireless interface of the present method replaces such physical end connectors and hard-wired transmission conductors with a rotational position sensor having a resident ASIC and a transceiver / transmitter. Thus, the present teaching provides a reliable data link between a specific type of rotational position sensor (e.g., an inductive position sensor) and the above-mentioned inverter-controller.

[0006] An electric powertrain according to an exemplary embodiment includes: a sensor-controller interface; and an inverter-controller electrically connected to a battery pack and having a traction power inverter module (TPIM) and a motor controller. The electric powertrain further includes a rotating electric machine electrically connected to the TPIM and having a rotor having an angular position. The rotor is configured to provide power to a driven load at a torque and / or speed level controlled by the inverter-controller in response to a position signal indicating the angular position of the rotor.

[0007] As part of the electric powertrain, a rotary position sensor is operatively connected to the rotor and is configured to generate and output a position signal. The position sensor (e.g., an inductive position sensor) is configured to derive the position signal from the unmodulated sine and cosine signals and communicate the position signal and a binary sensor state of health (SOH) to the inverter-controller via a sensor-controller interface. The inverter-controller is configured to decode the position signal and the binary sensor SOH to generate decoded control data, and control the torque and / or speed level of the motor using the decoded control data.

[0008] The sensor-controller interface may be a wireless interface, wherein the position sensor includes a wireless transmitter. In some embodiments, the interface may be an infrared (IR) interface, wherein the wireless transmitter is an IR transmitter. The inverter-controller may include an IR repeater that operates in conjunction with the IR transmitter using a near-field infrared data association (irDA) protocol.

[0009] A backup low voltage (eg, nominally 5V) power supply may be electrically connected to the position sensor.

[0010] The inverter-controller may be configured to transmit the position signal as a set of digital data packets and, in some embodiments, includes a media converter block configured to receive and process the digital data packets. The media converter block may be coupled to the deserializer block via a twisted pair connection.

[0011] In some configurations, the inverter-controller is configured to decode the position signal using a cyclic redundancy check block or a bit filter.

[0012] The inverter-controller may optionally generate an error signal by subtracting the derivative of the angular position from the angular velocity of the rotor, and may use the error signal to determine the true state of the position sensor. The inverter-controller may also perform another control action in response to the error signal exceeding a calibrated threshold.

[0013] In an alternative arrangement, the driven load is or includes a set of road wheels of the mobile platform.

[0014] The inverter-controller may include a differential transmitter, the sensor-controller interface may include a low voltage power line, and the position sensor may communicate the position signal to the inverter-controller over the low voltage power line using the differential transmitter.

[0015] Also disclosed herein is a method for controlling a rotary electric powertrain having the above-mentioned inverter-controller and electric powertrain. The method may include connecting a rotary position sensor to the rotor of the motor, and then commanding the torque and / or speed level from the motor via the inverter-controller to thereby provide power to the driven load. When this occurs, the method may include generating an angular position signal from unmodulated sine and cosine signals via a position sensor, and wirelessly communicating the angular position signal to the inverter-controller using a wireless transmitter when the motor provides power to the driven load. The method may also include receiving and decoding the position signal via the inverter-controller. Thereafter, adjusting or controlling the torque and / or speed level of the motor in response to the angular position signal via the inverter-controller to thereby provide power to the driven load.

[0016] This article also discloses the following technical features.

[0017] 1. Electric powertrain, including:

[0018] Sensor-controller interface;

[0019] Battery pack;

[0020] an inverter-controller electrically connected to the battery pack and having a traction power inverter module (TPIM) and a motor controller;

[0021] a rotating electric machine electrically connected to the TPIM and having a rotor having an angular position, wherein the rotor is configured to power a driven load at a torque and / or speed level controlled by the inverter-controller in response to a position signal indicative of the angular position of the rotor; and

[0022] a rotary position sensor operatively connected to the rotor and configured to generate and output the position signal, wherein the position sensor is configured to derive the position signal from unmodulated sine and cosine signals and to communicate the position signal and a binary sensor state of health (SOH) to the inverter-controller via the sensor-controller interface;

[0023] Therein, the inverter-controller is configured to decode the position signal and the binary sensor SOH to generate decoded control data, and to control the torque and / or speed level of the motor using the decoded control data.

[0024] 2. An electric powertrain according to technical feature 1, wherein the sensor-controller interface is a wireless interface, and wherein the position sensor includes a wireless transmitter.

[0025] 3. The electric powertrain according to technical feature 2, wherein the wireless interface is an infrared (IR) interface and the wireless transmitter is an IR transmitter.

[0026] 4. An electric powertrain according to technical feature 3, wherein the inverter-controller includes an IR repeater, which operates in conjunction with the IR transmitter using a near-field infrared data association (irDA) protocol.

[0027] 5. The electric powertrain according to technical feature 1 further includes: a backup low-voltage power supply electrically connected to the position sensor.

[0028] 6. An electric powertrain according to technical feature 1, wherein the inverter-controller is configured to transmit the position signal as a group of digital data packets, and the inverter-controller includes a media converter block configured to receive and process the digital data packets, and the media converter block is connected to the deserializer block via a twisted pair connection.

[0029] 7. An electric powertrain according to technical feature 6, wherein the inverter-controller is configured to decode the position signal using a cyclic redundancy check block or a bit filter.

[0030] 8. An electric powertrain according to technical feature 1, wherein the inverter-controller is configured to generate an error signal by subtracting the derivative of the angular position from the angular velocity of the rotor, and use the error signal to determine the true state of the position sensor, and wherein the inverter-controller is configured to perform another control action in response to the error signal exceeding a calibration threshold.

[0031] 9. An electric powertrain according to technical feature 1, wherein the driven load is a set of road wheels of a mobile platform.

[0032] 10. An electric powertrain according to technical feature 1, wherein the inverter-controller includes a differential transmitter, the sensor-controller interface includes a low-voltage power line, and the position sensor uses the differential transmitter to communicate the position signal to the inverter-controller via the low-voltage power line.

[0033] 11. A method for controlling a rotary electric powertrain having an inverter-controller electrically connected to a battery pack and including a rotary electric machine, a traction power inverter module and a motor controller, the method comprising:

[0034] operatively connecting a rotational position sensor to a rotor of the electric machine;

[0035] commanding a torque and / or speed level from the electric machine via the inverter-controller to thereby power a driven load;

[0036] generating an angular position signal from the unmodulated sine and cosine signals via the rotational position sensor;

[0037] wirelessly communicating the angular position signal to the inverter-controller using a wireless transmitter while the motor is powering the driven load;

[0038] receiving and decoding the position signal via the inverter-controller; and

[0039] Torque and / or speed levels are adjusted via the inverter-controller in response to the angular position signal to thereby power the driven load.

[0040] 12. The method according to technical feature 11 further includes: providing low-voltage backup power to the position sensor via a backup power supply.

[0041] 13. The method according to technical feature 11 further includes: outputting a binary diagnostic signal via the position sensor indicating the health status of the position sensor.

[0042] 14. A method according to technical feature 11, wherein the rotational position sensor also includes a repeater, and wherein wirelessly communicating the angular position signal to the inverter-controller occurs via the transmitter and repeater in an infrared (IR) spectrum via an IR communication protocol.

[0043] 15. The method according to technical feature 11, wherein the rotational position sensor is an inductive position sensor.

[0044] 16. The method according to technical feature 11 further comprises:

[0045] transmitting the position signal as a set of digital data packets using a wireless transmitter of the position sensor;

[0046] using a media converter block of the inverter-controller to process the digital data packets, the media converter block being coupled to a deserializer block via a twisted pair connection; and

[0047] The position signal is decoded using a cyclic redundancy check block or a bit filter of the inverter-controller.

[0048] 17. The method according to technical feature 11 further comprises:

[0049] using the inverter-controller to generate an error signal by subtracting a derivative of angular position from an angular velocity of the rotor;

[0050] determining a true state of the position sensor using the error signal; and

[0051] A control action is performed via the inverter-controller in response to the error signal exceeding a calibrated threshold.

[0052] 18. The method according to technical feature 11, wherein the driven load is a set of road wheels of a mobile platform.

[0053] 19. Mobile platforms, including:

[0054] A set of road wheels;

[0055] Wireless sensor-controller interface;

[0056] Battery pack;

[0057] an inverter-controller electrically connected to the battery pack and having a traction power inverter module (TPIM) and a motor controller;

[0058] a rotating electric machine electrically connected to the TPIM of the inverter-controller and having a rotor having an angular position, wherein the rotor is configured to impart a corresponding torque to the roadwheel at a level controlled by the inverter-controller in response to a position signal indicative of the angular position of the rotor; and

[0059] a rotary position sensor operatively connected to the rotor and configured to output the position signal and having a backup low voltage power supply, wherein the rotary position sensor comprises an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) configured to derive the position signal from unmodulated sine and cosine signals and to communicate the position signal and a binary sensor health state (SOH) to the inverter-controller via the wireless sensor-controller interface in digital data packets, wherein the inverter-controller:

[0060] including a media converter block that receives and processes the digital data packets, is coupled to a deserializer block via a twisted pair connection, and is configured to decode the position signal and the binary sensor SOH to generate decoded control data, and thereafter use the decoded control data to control torque and / or speed operation of the motor when powering the road wheels; and

[0061] The inverter-controller is configured to generate an error signal by subtracting a derivative of the angular position from the angular velocity and to determine a true state of the position sensor using the error signal, and wherein the inverter-controller is configured to perform another control action in response to the error signal exceeding a calibrated threshold.

[0062] 20. The mobile platform according to technical feature 19, wherein the rotational position sensor is an inductive position sensor.

[0063] The above summary of the invention is not intended to represent every embodiment or aspect of the present disclosure. On the contrary, the foregoing summary of the invention illustrates certain novel aspects and features as set forth herein. When combined with the accompanying drawings and the appended claims, the above and other features and advantages of the present disclosure will be readily apparent from the following detailed description of representative embodiments and modes for carrying out the present disclosure. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0064] Figure 1 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary mobile platform having an electric powertrain with a wireless sensor-to-controller interface as described herein.

[0065] Figure 2 is a schematic depiction of an exemplary rotational position sensor wirelessly connected to an inverter-controller for use with a rotating electric machine.

[0066] Figure 3 , Figure 4 and Figure 5 is a schematic illustration of a possible embodiment for implementing Figure 1 The wireless interfaces are shown in the .

[0067] Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of exemplary signal decoding logic for use with Figure 1 and Figure 2 Used together with the inverter-controller.

[0068] Figure 7 Describes the use of Figure 6 Flowchart of a method of signal decoding logic.

[0069] The present disclosure is susceptible to modifications and alternative forms, wherein representative embodiments are shown in the drawings by way of example and described in detail below. The inventive aspects of the present disclosure are not limited to the specific forms disclosed. On the contrary, the present disclosure is intended to cover modifications, equivalents, combinations and alternatives that fall within the scope of the present disclosure, as defined by the appended claims. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0070] Referring to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals designate the same or similar components throughout the several views, Figure 1 Schematically depicted in FIG. 1 is a mobile platform 10 having an electric powertrain 12. The electric powertrain 12 includes a rotating electric machine (M E ) 16, using the rotation position sensor 25 to determine the rotating motor (M E ) 16 angular position and velocity, hereinafter specifically referred to Figure 2 The rotating electrical machine (M E ) 16. The position sensor 25 is electrically connected to the motor controller (C) 50 via the wireless communication interface 11, wherein the wireless communication interface 11 is based on Figure 3-Figure 5 The schematic architecture shown in FIG. Figure 7 Method Use Figure 6 Signal decoding is performed at the controller 50 and the traction power inverter module (TPIM) 18 based on example logic of .

[0071] Figure 1 The mobile platform 10 may be variously configured as a passenger or commercial hybrid or battery electric vehicle, a tracked vehicle, a motorcycle, an off-road and all-terrain vehicle, wherein the electric powertrain 12 may also be used as part of a robot, a power plant, a crane, or other system. Vehicle applications for the electric powertrain 12 may include various types of motor vehicles, tractors or other agricultural or farming equipment, aircraft, watercraft, or rail vehicles. For consistency of description, the following will be described in the context of a motor vehicle. Figure 1 The present invention relates to a mobile platform 10 of the present invention, without limiting the present teachings to such embodiments.

[0072] exist Figure 1In the illustrated embodiment, the mobile platform 10 includes a set of road wheels 14, wherein each road wheel 14 is in rolling contact with a road surface (not shown). The rotary motor 16 can be operated as an electric traction motor so that the output torque (arrow T O ) can be directed to one or more of the road wheels 14. For simplicity of illustration, Figure 1 However, other embodiments may include multiple such motors 16, each arranged to provide a corresponding output torque (arrow T) at a specific point or node within the electric powertrain 12. O Likewise, the electric powertrain 12 may include a transmission or gearbox (not shown) to which the electric machine 16 may deliver output torque (arrow T O ).therefore, Figure 1 The simplified examples are intended to illustrate the present teachings in general and non-limiting manner.

[0073] The electric machine 16 includes a cylindrical rotor 16R and a stator 16S, and may be implemented as a multi-phase / alternating current (AC) electric machine, such as an electric traction or propulsion motor. In such embodiments, the stator 16S is connected to the TPIM 18 via an AC voltage bus 20. The TPIM 18 is in turn electrically connected to a high voltage battery pack (B) via a direct current (DC) voltage bus 24. HV ) 22. Therefore, the motor 16 is excited by the discharge of the constituent battery cells (not shown) of the battery pack 22 via the operation of the intermediate TPIM 18 to generate an output torque (arrow T O ), thereafter, the output torque (arrow T O ) are delivered to the road wheels 14 to propel the mobile platform 10 and / or perform other available work.

[0074] The high voltage battery pack 22 may be implemented as a multi-cell high energy energy storage device constructed of lithium ion, zinc-air, nickel-metal hydride or other battery chemistry suitable for the application. As will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, the DC voltage (VDC) present on the DC voltage bus 24 at a level suitable for the application is thus inverted by operation of the TPIM 18 to provide an AC voltage (VAC) on the AC voltage bus 20. In some embodiments, the electric powertrain 12 may include an auxiliary power module (APM) 26 connected to the DC voltage bus 24 and to an auxiliary battery (B AUX ) 28. The APM 26 is configured to reduce the voltage level present on the DC voltage bus 24 to an auxiliary voltage level (V AUX ), for example, 12-15V in a typical vehicle embodiment.

[0075] With respect to controller 50, the electronic control device or devices include at least one motor control processor (P) and sufficient memory (M) for regulating the torque and speed operation of the electric machine 16. As part of the assigned control functions of the controller 50, control parameters are measured, estimated and / or otherwise determined within the electric powertrain 12 and are used as input signals (arrow CC I ) is relayed to the controller 50. Input signal (arrow CC I ) includes the angular position of the rotor 16R and other possible parameters. Angular position (arrow θ 16 ) is output by the position sensor 25, such as Figure 2 As shown in FIG. 2 , the position sensor 25 is in turn connected to the rotor 16R of the motor 16 , or is formed integrally with the rotor 16R of the motor 16 .

[0076] As will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, for the exemplary 8-pole embodiment of the motor 16, one complete mechanical rotation of the rotor 16R will result in four electrical angles of 0° to 360° electrical cycles being completed. Figure 1 The position sensor 25 may be implemented as a new generation rotary position sensor, i.e., an inductive position sensor or using a microcontroller or ASIC resident on or within the position sensor 25 to output the angular position (arrow θ 16 ) of another suitable type of sensor. Additionally, by using the wireless interface 11 (angular position (arrow θ 16 ) transmitted via the wireless interface 11) replaces the hard-wired connection between the position sensor 25 and the controller 50 or more precisely between the position sensor 25 and the inverter-controller 50A, the present method takes the communication of unmodulated data a step further. Figure 2-Figure 7 Instead, various methods for implementing the wireless interface 11 within the electric powertrain 12 are described.

[0077] refer to Figure 2 The position sensor 25 used in this paper relies on the eddy current principle and the induction principle to ultimately generate Figure 1 The angular position (arrow θ 16). As will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, such a sensor includes a sensor rotor (not shown) constructed of a conductive material (e.g., copper, aluminum, or steel) that is coaxially disposed with the rotor 16R of the motor 16. The sensor rotor includes a plurality of rotor lobes centered about an inner diameter opening, wherein the number of such lobes matches the number of magnetic pole pairs. The position sensor includes a printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) 29, wherein a major surface 129 is etched with copper traces 30 and 32 that form respective sine (SIN) and cosine (COS) signal traces. The PCBA 29, which functions as a sensor stator for the above-described rotor sensor, includes a transceiver (Tx) 31 and an ASIC 33, wherein the ASIC 33 is configured to generate an excitation signal and output Figure 1 The angular position (arrow θ 16 ), to indicate the rotational position of the rotor 16R. The position sensor 25 communicates remotely / wirelessly with the inverter-controller 50A via the wireless interface 11. Thus, the inverter-controller 50A is informed of the instantaneous angular position and speed of the rotor 16R during operation of the motor 16.

[0078] exist Figure 3-Figure 5 The diagram for Figure 1 1 and 2. Possible embodiments of implementing the wireless interface 11 in an electric powertrain 12 of FIG. 1, each of which illustrates a motor 16 communicating wirelessly with an inverter-controller 50A. For clarity of illustration, the transmitting / transmitting and receiving terminals are labeled A and B. First, refer to FIG. Figure 3 And as described above, the position sensor 25 generates pure / unmodulated sine / cosine signals that can be processed via the ASIC 31, for example using an inverse tangent function block 40 and / or other suitable demodulator circuitry, to generate an angular position (arrow θ) between 0° and 360°. 16 * ). Certain embodiments of the position sensor 25 may provide an angular resolution of 0.1° with a 12-bit resolution and an accuracy of 0.25°, wherein the sensor 25 may be configured to operate at a maximum rotational speed of 25,000 RPM.

[0079] The angular position (arrow θ) measured or derived by the ASIC 33 16 * ) is transmitted via the transceiver 31 to the inverter-controller 50A, where the transmitted position is received at the receiving terminal B. To ensure uninterrupted operation, the transmitting terminal A may include a small backup power supply 42 (e.g., a small 5V lithium-ion battery) and an associated discharger (BAT-DISCH) 44 to ensure that sufficient power is present to power the processing and transmission functions of the position sensor 25.

[0080] At a receiving terminal B adjacent to the inverter-controller 50A, the inverter-controller 50A receives the angular position (arrow θ) communicated by the transceiver 31 via another transceiver (Tx) 52 or an optional receiver. 16 ), and processes the angular position via associated wireless interface logic (INT) 11L. The inverter-controller 50A may also receive the corresponding angular velocity of the rotor 16R if calculated by the ASIC 33, or the inverter-controller 50A may calculate the angular position (arrow θ) from the received angular position. 16 ) derives the angular velocity. As explained below, additional data may be transmitted wirelessly between terminals A and B, for example, a diagnostic signal from the position sensor 25 in the form of a binary / 0 or 1 value, which itself may indicate the state of health (SOH) of the position sensor 25 or its specific function, together with possible wireless signal validity signals or other suitable information. Thus, Figure 3 The exemplary architecture schematically shown in eliminates physical transmission conductive lines extending between the position sensor 25 and the inverter-controller 50A, replaces such lines with the wireless interface 11 shown, and ensures the availability of a 5V power supply to the position sensor 25 using the backup power supply 42 .

[0081] As for Figure 3 An alternative example of a wireless architecture is shown in FIG. 1 , which may provide improved wired connections, such as Figure 4 For example, the communication path typically used to transmit data packets from the position sensor 25 to the inverter-controller 50 may occur over the power line 55 (e.g., an RS485 or CAN FD connection). Such an approach, while not wireless, would still reduce pin and wire count relative to typical hard-wired data lines, and would also enable high-speed digital communications that are more robust to harsh electromagnetic operating environments.

[0082] exist Figure 4 In an exemplary embodiment of, for example, a PCBA 29 acting as a sensor board for a position sensor 25 may use a rectifier 33R connected to the above-mentioned ASIC via a low voltage and ground (GND) line, wherein, in the configuration shown, the low voltage is nominally 5V. Point-to-point transmission of data between terminals A and B may occur using high voltage / low voltage lines (Dp, Dn), which are output from a differential transmitter 45 at terminal A and received at terminal B via a similarly configured receiver 56, wherein line capacitors C1, C2, C3, and C4 are positioned on power line 55. Thus, power may be supplied to the Dp line at terminal B at +5V, wherein such a power source 54 may be a dedicated low voltage battery or Figure 1 +5V output of the APM 26.

[0083] Figure 5Yet another embodiment of the wireless interface 11 is depicted. An electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielded box 60 containing the transceiver 31 and the repeater 31R is mounted to the position sensor 25 at the transmitting / transmitting terminal A. In a possible embodiment, the transceiver 31 and the repeater 31R can operate in the infrared (IR) portion of the electromagnetic spectrum using a suitable communication protocol (e.g., near-field infrared data association (irDA)). Alternatively, the transceiver 31 and the repeater 31R can operate using another suitable wireless convention, such as, but not limited to, a wireless personal area network (WPAN).

[0084] In any embodiment, if Figure 5 The ASIC 133 configured as shown in FIG. 1 may be connected to the backup power supply 42 and used to derive the angular position (arrow θ 16 ), which occurs at the location of the motor 16, rather than the inverter-controller 50A. When the position sensor 25 is implemented as a rotary position sensor of the type generally described above, excitation of the position sensor 25 causes the position sensor 25 to output pure or unmodulated sine and cosine signals, as described above with reference to Figure 2 ASIC 133 can then derive the angular position (arrow θ) from such data. 16 ).

[0085] For example, at terminal A, ASIC 133 may receive pure sine and cosine signals (at Figure 5 The quadrature encoder counter block 63 is used to generate a pulse count (N). The outputs of blocks 62 and 63 are summed to thereby calculate the angular position (θ), which can be calculated via an integrator block (s -1 ) is processed to obtain the angular velocity (α) of the rotor 16R.

[0086] As described above, the ASIC 133 may also provide a binary diagnostic signal (arrow D) indicative of the SOH or status of the position sensor 25 (e.g., from the individual diagnostic (DIAG) function block 64 of the motor 16) and a torque signal (T) indicative of the commanded output torque from the motor 16. * ASIC 133 may additionally include a serializer block (SRL) 65 which, as will be appreciated, is a processing function that arranges data into organized packets prior to communicating it to transceiver 31.

[0087] At receiving terminal B, the data packet is transmitted by transceiver 56 (which is Figure 5The IR receiver (labeled irDAtx in the figure to show a representative IR receiver) is received and may be fed into a media converter block (MED-CON) 57. The media converter block 57 may be connected to a deserializer block (D0SRL) 58 via a digital twisted pair connection 59 (e.g., LVDS, MIPI 13C / A-PHY, etc.) and thereafter communicated to the inverter-controller 50A. As will be understood in the art, the use of the media converter block 57 may enable the inverter-controller 50A to be located at a greater distance from the receiver 56.

[0088] refer to Figure 6 and Figure 7 , the inverter-controller 50A may optionally be configured to use Figure 6 The signal decoding process is performed by the logic circuit. Figure 7 In an embodiment of the method 100, and in response to an angular position signal (arrow θ) received from a transmitting terminal A (ie, from the position sensor 25 of the motor 16), 16 ), the inverter-controller 50A can receive and parse the signal from the (PHY-Rx) block 56. Figure 5 The data may be fed into a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) block 71 or a comparable bit filter, which in turn may be configured to detect errors or unexpected changes in the original data stream, as will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art.

[0089] After the start (*) of method 100, and as part of block B102, a data parsing block (DP) 72 may be used to separate the above-mentioned diagnostic data (e.g., sensor board SOH, torque, etc.) from the associated angular position and speed data. The angular position θ and speed α are used by the inverter-controller 50A to control Figure 1 as well as Figure 3-Figure 5 The torque or speed function of the motor 16, and the above reference Figure 5 The sensor board diagnostic signal (D / SOH) is communicated to the diagnostic function block 73 and used by the inverter-controller 50A to perform periodic or continuous verification of the true sensor status.

[0090] At block B104, the -1 ) processes the derivative of the angular position θ (i.e., ), to determine and thereafter subtract from the angular velocity α at the node (-) to thereby generate an error signal (arrow E). The error signal (arrow E) may be fed into the above-mentioned diagnostic function block 73. Thus, the diagnostic function block 73 may receive three different signals: (1) a sensor board diagnostic signal or SOH signal from the data parsing block 72; (2) a CRC status from the CRC check block 71; and (3) an error signal (arrow E) from the integrator 75. Thereafter, the diagnostic function block 73 may process the received signals and thereby calculate the true state of the position sensor 25, wherein the inverter-controller 50A takes necessary corrective action in response to the value of such signals relative to a threshold value.

[0091] The inverter-controller 50A may optionally perform a series of checks to ensure that the motor 16 and / or the position sensor 25 are not currently operating in an error state. At block B106, the inverter-controller 50A may determine whether the error signal (arrow E) exceeds a calibration threshold (E>CAL). When the error signal (arrow E) does not exceed the calibration threshold, the method 100 proceeds to block B108, and when the error signal exceeds the calibration threshold, the method 100 proceeds to block B114.

[0092] As the next check in the optional series of checks, the inverter-controller 50A may verify whether the CRC status resulting from the operation of the CRC check block 71 passes or is satisfactory. When this is the case, the method 100 proceeds to block B110, and when the CRC status fails or is otherwise unsatisfactory, the method 100 optionally proceeds to block B114.

[0093] Block B110 likewise includes verifying via the inverter-controller 50A whether the sensor state of health (SOH) from the data parsing block 72 has a passed / satisfactory status, in which case the inverter-controller 50A proceeds to block B112. When the sensor SOH fails / is not satisfactory, the method 100 proceeds to block B114.

[0094] At block B112, the inverter-controller 50A may perform a control action (CA) in response to successful completion of the series of checks performed in blocks B106, B108, and B110. For example, the inverter-controller 50A may monitor the angular velocity and determine the actual torque or speed (as determined via the position sensor 25) and the desired torque or speed (as determined by the position sensor 25). Figure 1 The torque or speed of the motor 16 is increased or decreased based on the difference between the speed of the motor 16 and the speed of the motor 16 (as requested by a human or autonomous operator of the mobile platform 10).

[0095] At block B114, the inverter-controller 50A may perform a control action in response to a fault condition (CA-FLT) that occurred during one of the checks performed in blocks B106, B108, or B110. Possible control actions that may be performed in block B114 in response to such a fault condition include recording and / or communicating a diagnostic code indicating a failed check and / or activating an audio and / or visual alarm.

[0096] As will be appreciated, the present disclosure implements a method for controlling an electric powertrain 11. Embodiments of such a method may include operatively connecting a rotational position sensor or assembly 25 to a Figure 1 The method may include generating an angular position signal (arrow θ) from the unmodulated sine and cosine signals via the position sensor 25. 16 ), and when the motor 16 provides power to the driven load, the angular position signal is wirelessly communicated to the inverter-controller 50A using the wireless transmitter 31. Such a method may also include receiving and decoding the position signal (arrow θ) via the inverter-controller 50A. 16 ), and thereafter adjusts the torque and / or speed level of the motor 16 via the inverter-controller 50A in response to the angular position signal to thereby provide power to the driven load.

[0097] Using the communication interface 11 in its various disclosed embodiments, angular position, velocity, and other data may be determined via the impedance-based position sensor 25 using the resident ASIC 33 and communicated to the inverter-controller 50 via a wireless connection or hard-wired power lines. In this way, a more robust, noise-resistant data link may be formed between the position sensor 25, which is onboard the mobile platform 10 and is therefore subject to vibration and EMI noise, and the inverter-controller 50A, which is located a distance away from the position sensor 25.

[0098] Although some best modes and other embodiments have been described in detail, there are various alternative designs and embodiments for practicing the present teachings as defined in the appended claims. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that modifications may be made to the disclosed embodiments without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. In addition, the present concept explicitly includes combinations and sub-combinations of the described elements and features. The detailed description and drawings are supportive and descriptive for the present teachings, wherein the scope of the present teachings is limited only by the claims.

Claims

1. Electric powertrain, including: Sensor-controller interface; Battery pack; an inverter-controller electrically connected to the battery pack and having a traction power inverter module and a motor controller; a rotating electric machine electrically connected to the traction power inverter module and having a rotor having an angular position, wherein the rotor is configured to power a driven load at a torque and / or speed level controlled by the inverter-controller in response to a position signal indicative of the angular position of the rotor; and a rotational position sensor operatively connected to the rotor and configured to generate and output the position signal, wherein the rotational position sensor is configured to derive the position signal from unmodulated sine and cosine signals and to communicate the position signal and a binary sensor health status to the inverter-controller via the sensor-controller interface; wherein the inverter-controller is configured to decode the position signal and the binary sensor health status to generate decoded control data, and to control the torque and / or speed level of the rotating electrical machine using the decoded control data, The inverter-controller is configured to: generate an error signal by subtracting the derivative of the angular position from the angular velocity of the rotor; use the error signal to determine the true state of the rotational position sensor; and perform another control action in response to the error signal exceeding a calibration threshold, the other control action including recording and / or communicating a diagnostic code indicating a failed check and / or activating an audio and / or visual alarm.

2. The electric powertrain of claim 1, wherein: The sensor-controller interface is a wireless interface, and wherein the rotational position sensor comprises a wireless transmitter.

3. The electric powertrain of claim 2, wherein: The wireless interface is an infrared (IR) interface, and the wireless transmitter is an IR transmitter.

4. The electric powertrain of claim 3, wherein: The inverter-controller includes an IR repeater operating in conjunction with the IR transmitter using a near-field infrared data association protocol.

5. The electric powertrain of claim 1 further comprising: A backup low voltage power supply is electrically connected to the rotary position sensor.

6. The electric powertrain of claim 1, wherein: The inverter-controller is configured to transmit the position signal as a set of digital data packets, and the inverter-controller includes a media converter block configured to receive and process the digital data packets, the media converter block being coupled to the deserializer block via a twisted pair connection.

7. The electric powertrain of claim 6, wherein: The inverter-controller is configured to decode the position signal using a cyclic redundancy check block or a bit filter.

8. The electric powertrain of claim 1, wherein: An EMI shielded box containing the transceiver and transponder is mounted to the rotary position sensor.

9. The electric powertrain of claim 1, wherein: The driven load is a set of road wheels of a mobile platform.

10. The electric powertrain of claim 1, wherein: The inverter-controller includes a differential transmitter, the sensor-controller interface includes a low voltage power line, and the rotational position sensor communicates the position signal to the inverter-controller over the low voltage power line using the differential transmitter.

11. A method for controlling a rotary electric powertrain having an inverter-controller electrically connected to a battery pack and including a rotary electric machine, a traction power inverter module and a motor controller, the method comprising: operatively connecting a rotational position sensor to a rotor of the rotating electrical machine; commanding, via the inverter-controller, a torque and / or speed level from the rotating electric machine to thereby power a driven load; generating an angular position signal from the unmodulated sine and cosine signals via the rotational position sensor; wirelessly communicating the angular position signal to the inverter-controller using a wireless transmitter when the rotating electric machine is powering the driven load; receiving and decoding the position signal via the inverter-controller; regulating torque and / or speed levels via the inverter-controller in response to the angular position signal to thereby power the driven load; generating an error signal by subtracting a derivative of the angular position from the angular velocity of the rotor; determining a true state of the rotational position sensor using the error signal; as well as In response to the error signal exceeding a calibrated threshold, another control action is performed, the other control action including recording and / or communicating a diagnostic code indicative of a failed check and / or activating an audio and / or visual alarm.

12. The method according to claim 11, further comprising: Low voltage backup power is provided to the rotary position sensor via a backup power supply.

13. The method according to claim 11, further comprising: A binary diagnostic signal indicative of a health status of the rotational position sensor is output via the rotational position sensor.

14. The method according to claim 11, wherein: The rotational position sensor further comprises a transponder, and wherein wirelessly communicating the angular position signal to the inverter-controller occurs via the transmitter and transponder in the infrared (IR) spectrum via an IR communication protocol.

15. The method according to claim 11, wherein: The rotational position sensor is an inductive position sensor.

16. The method according to claim 11, further comprising: transmitting the position signal as a set of digital data packets using a wireless transmitter of the rotary position sensor; using a media converter block of the inverter-controller to process the digital data packets, the media converter block being coupled to a deserializer block via a twisted pair connection; and The position signal is decoded using a cyclic redundancy check block or a bit filter of the inverter-controller.

17. The method according to claim 11, wherein: An EMI shielded box containing the transceiver and transponder is mounted to the rotary position sensor.

18. The method according to claim 11, wherein: The driven load is a set of road wheels of a mobile platform.

19. Mobile platforms, including: A set of road wheels; Wireless sensor-controller interface; Battery pack; an inverter-controller electrically connected to the battery pack and having a traction power inverter module and a motor controller; a rotating electric machine electrically connected to a traction power inverter module of the inverter-controller and having a rotor having an angular position, wherein the rotor is configured to impart a corresponding torque to the roadwheel at a level controlled by the inverter-controller in response to a position signal indicative of the angular position of the rotor; and a rotary position sensor operatively connected to the rotor and configured to output the position signal and having a backup low voltage power supply, wherein the rotary position sensor comprises an application specific integrated circuit configured to derive the position signal from unmodulated sine and cosine signals and to communicate the position signal and a binary sensor health status to the inverter-controller via the wireless sensor-controller interface in digital data packets, wherein the inverter-controller: including a media converter block that receives and processes the digital data packets, is coupled to a deserializer block via a twisted pair connection, and is configured to decode the position signal and binary sensor health status to generate decoded control data, and thereafter use the decoded control data to control torque and / or speed operation of the rotating electric machine when powering the road wheels; and configured to generate an error signal by subtracting a derivative of angular position from angular velocity and to determine a true state of the rotational position sensor using the error signal, and wherein the inverter-controller is configured to perform another control action in response to the error signal exceeding a calibration threshold, the other control action comprising recording and / or communicating a diagnostic code indicating a failed check and / or activating an audio and / or visual alarm.

20. The mobile platform of claim 19, wherein: The rotational position sensor is an inductive position sensor.

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