Steering controller dual-redundancy circuit and system and vehicle

Abstract

The invention discloses a steering controller dual-redundancy circuit, a steering controller dual-redundancy system and a vehicle. A main path control circuit and an auxiliary path control circuit of the steering controller dual-redundancy circuit at least comprise a filtering anti-reverse circuit, a step-down circuit, a power management integrated circuit and an external sensor signal filtering circuit. Wherein the filtering anti-reverse circuit is used for filtering an input power supply and preventing reverse current; the step-down circuit is used for reducing the power supply output by the filtering anti-reverse circuit from the first voltage to the second voltage; the power supply management circuit is used for converting the power supply of the second voltage into the power supply of the micro-control chip unit and the external sensor; the external sensor comprises a torque and steering angle sensor or a steering angle sensor; and the external sensor signal filter circuit is used for filtering the input signal of the external sensor. By adopting the circuit, the HWA module and the RWA module can share the same set of circuit architecture, an input power supply with higher voltage is supported, the high-power requirement of the RWA can be met, and the target requirements of light weight and miniaturization can be met.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of vehicle wire-controlled steering, and in particular to a steering controller dual-redundancy circuit, system and vehicle. Background Art

[0002] With the continuous development and progress of automobile technology, the level of automobile intelligence is getting higher and higher, and the future will be full-automatic driving. In this process, the vehicle's steering system has also evolved from early mechanical steering, hydraulic power steering, electric power steering, redundant electric steering, etc. to the wire-controlled steering required for high-level autonomous driving.

[0003] The overall solution of wire-controlled steering is developed based on electric power steering. The entire steering system is split from the original mechanical transmission shaft combined with electric power steering into a steering actuator (RWA, Road Wheel Actuator) that controls tire steering and a steering feel simulator (HWA, Hand Wheel Actuator) connected to the steering wheel, and complete mechanical decoupling is achieved. Among them, RWA is responsible for precise angle or position control and road feel detection; HWA is responsible for the collection of steering wheel steering instructions and steering feel and road feel feedback.

[0004] In the related technology, the motor drive power requirement of RWA is greater than that of HWA, and HWA requires additional torque acquisition, which leads to the separate design of RWA and HWA in hardware circuits, which increases the development cost and makes it difficult for the related RWA hardware circuits to meet the requirements of high power and miniaturization. Summary of the invention

[0005] Based on this, it is necessary to provide a steering controller dual redundant circuit, system and vehicle that can merge the circuit architectures of RWA and HWA to achieve compatible design in order to address the above technical problems.

[0006] A dual redundant circuit of a steering controller, comprising a main control circuit, an auxiliary control circuit and a main-auxiliary interactive circuit; the main-auxiliary interactive circuit is used to realize signal interaction between the main control circuit and the auxiliary control circuit; the main control circuit and the auxiliary control circuit are redundant structures with the same structure on both sides, including a filter anti-reverse circuit, a step-down circuit, a power management integrated circuit, an external sensor signal filter circuit, a CAN communication circuit, a microcontroller chip unit, a three-phase drive circuit, a phase failure protection circuit, and an angle position sensor acquisition circuit; wherein,

[0007] The filter anti-reverse circuit is used to filter the input power supply and prevent reverse current; the step-down circuit is used to reduce the power supply output by the filter anti-reverse circuit from a first voltage to a second voltage; the power management circuit is used to convert the power supply of the second voltage into the power supply of the microcontroller chip unit and the external sensor; the external sensor includes a torque and steering angle sensor or a steering angle sensor;

[0008] The external sensor signal filtering circuit is used to filter the input signal of the external sensor;

[0009] The CAN communication circuit is used to communicate and interact with the external wire-to-wire controller and the vehicle controller respectively; the external wire-to-wire controller includes a steering actuator or a hand feel simulator;

[0010] The three-phase drive circuit is used to drive an external six-phase drive motor;

[0011] The phase failure protection circuit is used to realize the conduction and disconnection between the three-phase drive circuit and the six-phase drive motor;

[0012] The angle position sensor acquisition circuit is used to detect the rotation angle of the six-phase drive motor and feed back the angle information to the microcontroller chip unit;

[0013] The microcontrol chip unit is respectively connected to the sensor filter circuit, the CAN communication circuit, the three-phase drive circuit, and the phase failure protection circuit for signal transmission.

[0014] A steering controller dual-redundancy system comprises a vehicle controller, a power supply with a first voltage, an external sensor, an external line-to-line controller, a six-phase drive motor and the steering control dual-redundancy circuit in the above scheme; the external sensor comprises a torque and steering angle sensor or a steering angle sensor; the external line-to-line controller comprises a steering actuator or a hand feel simulator.

[0015] A vehicle includes the steering control dual redundant circuit in the above solution

[0016] In the above-mentioned steering controller dual redundant circuit, system and vehicle, in the steering controller dual redundant circuit, the modules that can be shared between HWA and RWA are directly merged, and other modules that cannot be shared are designed as compatible circuits, so that the steering controller dual redundant circuit can be used as a circuit of the HWA module or a circuit of the RWA module, so that the HWA and RWA modules can share the same circuit architecture, reducing the development cycle and development cost. At the same time, the steering controller dual redundant circuit can support higher voltage input power supply, can meet the high power requirements of RWA, and upgrade the internal voltage circuit and circuit to achieve the goal requirements of lightweight and miniaturization, and support the internal power module to be replaced with power devices of different capabilities, thereby supporting the different power requirements of HWA and RWA. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0017] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a HWA hardware circuit architecture in the related art;

[0018] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of an RWA hardware circuit architecture in the related art;

[0019] Figure 3 Schematic diagram of a dual redundant circuit of a steering controller in one embodiment.

[0020] Reference numerals: steering controller dual redundant circuit 10, main control circuit A, auxiliary road control circuit B, main and auxiliary road interactive circuit C, filter anti-reverse circuit 101a, 101b, step-down circuit 102a, 102b, power management integrated circuit 103a, 103b, external sensor signal filter circuit 104a, 104b, CAN communication circuit 105a, 105b, microcontroller chip unit 106a, 106b, three-phase drive circuit 107a, 107b, phase failure protection circuit 108a, 108b, angle position sensor acquisition circuit 109a , 109b, vehicle CAN and wake-up circuit 1051a, 1051b, intranet CAN circuit 1052a, 1052b, phase loss control circuit 1081a, 1081b, phase loss circuit 1082a, 1082b, three-phase pre-drive control circuit 1071a, 1071b, three-phase MOSFET drive bridge circuit 1072a, 1072b, first isolated I / O circuit 201, second isolated I / O circuit 202, first digital isolated communication circuit 203, second digital isolated communication circuit 204, PWM isolated communication circuit 205. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0021] In order to make the purpose, technical solution and advantages of the present application more clearly understood, the present application is further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are only used to explain the present application and are not used to limit the present application.

[0022] The implementation details of the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application are described in detail below.

[0023] Steer-by-wire uses electronic signals instead of traditional mechanical connections to control the steering of a vehicle. RWA and HWA together constitute the core part of the steer-by-wire system. RWA is responsible for controlling the vehicle's tire steering and directly affects the vehicle's driving direction. HWA simulates the feel and feedback of a traditional mechanical steering system, providing the driver with the steering feedback he needs and enhancing the driving experience.

[0024] Due to the mechanical decoupling of RWA and HWA, the vehicle's steering is completely achieved by electronic control, so the functional safety requirements for these two controllers are very high. For this reason, a dual redundant design is often adopted when developing the hardware circuit solutions for these two controllers.

[0025] like Figure 1 As shown, Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the HWA hardware circuit architecture. The hardware circuit architecture generally adopts the design concept of hardware dual redundancy. One controller contains two completely independent control and drive circuits, namely the main control circuit and the auxiliary control circuit. The HWA peripherals include independent power supply modules (12V power supply A for the whole vehicle and 12V power supply B for the whole vehicle), vehicle controller, RWA, torque and steering angle sensor (TWS, Torque & Steering Angle Sensor), and six-phase drive motor (including two independent three-phase motor windings).

[0026] Based on this, HWA is powered by two independent 12V power supplies of the vehicle to achieve redundant design of the overall drive circuit, in order to achieve higher functional safety performance. Under this hardware circuit architecture, HWA collects information from the TAS sensor and interacts with the vehicle controller and RWA to realize the transmission and feedback of information and operation instructions of the entire wire control system, and according to the instructions and data processing, through two independent control and drive circuits, namely the main control circuit and the auxiliary control circuit, respectively drives the two independent three-phase windings of the six-phase drive motor, outputs torque and speed, and realizes the simulation of steering wheel steering and feel and road feel.

[0027] The hardware circuit architecture of RWA is very similar to that of HWA. In RWA applications, TAS sensors are not required, but steering angle sensors (SAS) are required to monitor the steering angle of the wheels. Figure 2 As shown, Figure 2 A schematic diagram of an RWA hardware circuit architecture.

[0028] pass Figure 1 and Figure 2 It can be seen that the hardware circuit architecture of RWA and HWA is basically the same, the difference is that RWA needs to collect SAS sensor signals, while HWA needs to collect TAS sensor signals. In addition, since RWA needs to drive the steering wheel, its power is much greater than HWA, so the circuit structure of the power part is the same, but the actual power devices will have a relatively large power difference.

[0029] In summary, although there are great differences in the functions of RWA and HWA, they are very similar in the hardware implementation of the main body. From the perspective of hardware functions, the main similarities include: external communication to achieve information command interaction, motor control, steering angle detection, etc. The main differences include: RWA has a higher motor drive power, HWA requires additional torque acquisition, etc. Based on this, by comparing the hardware modules of the two products, a set of hardware circuit architecture that can be shared by RWA and HWA can be designed, and the circuit architecture solutions of the two modules of RWA and HWA can be merged to achieve a compatible design.

[0030] In one embodiment, Figure 3 As shown, Figure 3 The schematic diagram of the dual redundant circuit of the steering controller of this embodiment is shown, wherein the dual redundant circuit of the steering controller (10) can be used as the hardware circuit architecture of RWA or the hardware circuit architecture of HWA. In order to meet the requirements of high functional safety level, a dual redundant hardware circuit architecture is adopted, and the main body of the circuit can be divided into three areas, namely the main control circuit (A), the auxiliary control circuit (B) and the main and auxiliary interaction circuit (C).

[0031] The main-auxiliary interaction circuit is used to realize signal interaction between the main control circuit and the auxiliary control circuit, that is, the main control circuit and the auxiliary control circuit realize information interaction and mutual monitoring between each other, as well as coordinated output of motor drive through the main-auxiliary interaction circuit.

[0032] The main control circuit and the auxiliary control circuit are redundant structures with the same structure on both sides. The main control circuit is responsible for performing the main control tasks, and the auxiliary control circuit, as a redundant part of the main control circuit, provides the same functions to ensure the reliability and safety of the system. When the main control circuit fails, the auxiliary control circuit can take over the control task. Figure 3 In the example, the main control circuit and the auxiliary control circuit are two identical circuits, which can independently complete sensor signal acquisition, external communication, data processing, and drive control of the drive motor. Figure 3As shown, the main control circuit and the auxiliary control circuit both include a filtering anti-reverse circuit (101a, 101b), a step-down circuit (102a, 102b), a power management integrated circuit (103a, 103b), an external sensor signal filtering circuit (104a, 104b), a CAN communication circuit (105a, 105b), a microcontroller chip unit (106a, 106b), a three-phase drive circuit (107a, 107b), a phase failure protection circuit (108a, 108b), and an angle position sensor acquisition circuit (109a, 109b).

[0033] Since the dual redundant circuit of the steering controller can support the detailed design application of HWA and RWA, and the power requirement of RWA is relatively large, based on this, in order to adapt to the driving capacity of greater power and achieve the requirements of miniaturization and lightweight at the same time, the working power input to the dual redundant circuit of the steering controller is upgraded from the conventional second voltage (12V) to the first voltage (48V). Compared with the 12V system, the current carrying capacity of the overcurrent devices and wiring required by the circuit module is reduced to 1 / 4 of the original 12V system, and the current will be reduced to 1 / 4 at the same power, so that the coil wire diameter and power supply wire diameter of the motor will be reduced, achieving the goal requirements of lightweight and miniaturization, and reducing the system volume requirements and costs.

[0034] After the voltage of the input power supply is increased, the internal voltage circuit and drive circuit of the dual redundant circuit of the steering controller need to be upgraded synchronously. Among them, the filter anti-reverse circuit is an input filter circuit and anti-reverse circuit adapted to the 48V power supply system. It is a circuit used to protect the power input port. It is mainly used to filter the input power supply and prevent reverse current, so as to remove high-frequency noise and interference in the input power supply, ensure the stability and purity of the input power supply, and prevent the reverse current generated by the reverse connection of the power supply or power failure from damaging the circuit. In practical applications, the power supply processed by the filter anti-reverse circuit is used to provide power for the drive motor power and provide low-voltage power for some devices in the circuit.

[0035] The step-down circuit can convert the power output by the filtering and anti-reverse circuit from the first voltage to the second voltage, that is, convert the input 48V power supply into a 12V power supply, so as to adapt to the input voltage requirements of the power management integrated circuit and finally realize the power supply to the internal low-voltage circuit module.

[0036] The power management integrated circuit includes a power management chip adapted to the 12V system, which can convert the 12V power output by the step-down circuit into a 5V or 3.3V power supply to power the internal chips including the microcontroller chip unit, and provide a 5V power supply for external sensors, and monitor the input and output power supply status. At the same time, the power management integrated circuit power supply can also cooperate with the microcontroller chip unit to achieve an independent self-detection function to ensure the normal operation of the power management integrated circuit, and can also monitor the operating status of the microcontroller chip unit, so that the minimum system can meet the highest safety integrity requirements of the automotive safety integrity level (ASIL, Automotive Safety Integrity Level) defined in the automotive functional safety standard ISO26262.

[0037] It should be noted that the power management integrated circuit here can provide working power to the external TAS or SAS sensor. If the dual redundant circuit of the steering controller is a dual redundant circuit of HWA, the circuit is externally connected to the TAS sensor, that is, the power management integrated circuit supplies power to the external TAS sensor; if the dual redundant circuit of the steering controller is a dual redundant circuit of RWA, the circuit is externally connected to the SAS sensor, that is, the power management integrated circuit supplies power to the external SAS sensor.

[0038] The steering controller dual redundant circuit can be connected to an external sensor to receive the signal of the external sensor. Based on this, the steering controller dual redundant circuit also includes an external sensor signal filtering circuit, which can filter the signal output by the external sensor and send it to the microcontroller chip unit. It should be noted that the external sensor signal filtering circuit can filter the signal output by the TAS sensor, and can also filter the signal output by the SAS sensor. This is because the output signal modes of the TAS and SAS sensors are usually similar or the same. Therefore, the filter circuits of the two are designed to be compatible to obtain the external sensor signal filtering circuit, so that the filter circuits of the two can share the circuit and the interface of the microcontroller chip unit. In the case of compatibility, the number of channels and the number of interfaces of the microcontroller chip unit will not be increased, and the hardware cost will hardly be increased. Therefore, whether the steering controller dual redundant circuit is applicable to HWA or RWA, the compatible external sensor signal filtering circuit can support communication with TAS sensors on HWA and support communication with SAS sensors on RWA.

[0039] It should be noted that, since the power requirements of HWA and RWA are different, the steering controller dual redundant circuit can be adapted to RWA or HWA by adjusting the configuration of the external sensor signal filter circuit and the power device in the steering controller dual redundant circuit and adapting the microcontroller chip unit.

[0040] The steering controller dual redundant circuit includes a CAN communication circuit, which can communicate through the CAN bus. The CAN bus is an efficient serial communication protocol widely used in automotive electronic systems. Among them, through the CAN circuit, the steering control dual redundant circuit can communicate with the vehicle controller, thereby realizing communication interaction and command transmission between the steering controller dual redundant circuit and the vehicle controller, and coordinating the work of the steering controller dual redundant circuit. At the same time, through the CAN communication circuit, the steering controller dual redundant circuit can also communicate with an external controller, realizing communication interaction and command transmission between the steering controller dual redundant circuit and the external controller.

[0041] It should be noted that the external controller here refers to HWA or RWA, wherein, if the steering controller dual redundant circuit is an HWA dual redundant circuit, the external controller is RWA, that is, HWA communicates with RWA through the CAN communication circuit; if the steering controller dual redundant circuit is an RWA dual redundant circuit, the external controller is HWA, that is, RWA communicates with HWA through the CAN communication circuit.

[0042] Based on this, under the operation of the CAN communication circuit, a high degree of coordination between the vehicle controller, RWA and HWA can be achieved, ensuring real-time transmission of commands and feedback between different systems, so that the system can quickly respond to the driver's operations, dynamically adjust the steering angle or steering assist according to the driver's instructions, road conditions and other factors, and achieve precise steering control.

[0043] In one embodiment, Figure 3 As shown, the CAN communication circuit specifically includes a vehicle CAN and a wake-up circuit (1051a, 1051b), and an intranet CAN circuit (1052a, 1052b). Among them, the vehicle CAN and the wake-up circuit are connected to the vehicle controller. When the vehicle does not need to perform steering operations, the steering controller enters sleep mode to reduce energy consumption. When the driver needs to turn or the vehicle detects that it needs to turn, the vehicle controller sends a wake-up instruction to the vehicle CAN and the wake-up circuit through the CAN bus, thereby waking up the steering controller dual redundant circuit through the wake-up instruction, that is, waking up the HWA or RWA controller to restore the normal steering function. When the steering controller dual redundant circuit is applicable to HWA, the vehicle CAN and the wake-up circuit are used to wake up HWA; when the steering controller dual redundant circuit is applicable to RWA, the vehicle CAN and the wake-up circuit are used to wake up RWA.

[0044] In practical applications, the wake-up command sent by the vehicle controller may consist of a specified frame, which includes the command required to wake up the controller or data such as an identification and wake-up timing, so that only a specific controller will respond to the wake-up command.

[0045] The intranet CAN circuit is connected to the external controller. When the dual redundant circuit of the steering controller is applicable to HWA, the intranet CAN circuit communicates with the external RWA; when the dual redundant circuit of the steering controller is applicable to RWA, the intranet CAN circuit communicates with the external HWA.

[0046] In one embodiment, in order to further improve the functional safety performance and indicators of the entire hardware circuit solution, the redundant design method is improved and a redundant design method is added for potential wake-up failures. Figure 3 As shown, it specifically includes configuring a first isolated I / O circuit (201) in the main-auxiliary interactive circuit to realize signal input and output functions, and at the same time isolate the electrical connection between the circuits. In this embodiment, the first isolated I / O connects the vehicle CAN and wake-up circuit and the vehicle CAN and wake-up circuit in an isolated manner, so that the two vehicle CAN and wake-up circuits can transmit the wake-up signal to each other in an isolated manner through the first isolated I / O circuit to realize cross-wake-up. In a fault scenario, when the vehicle CAN and wake-up circuit fail, the main control circuit as a whole will not work. At this time, the first isolated I / O circuit can be used to realize the vehicle CAN and wake-up circuit to wake up the main control circuit, wherein the vehicle CAN and wake-up circuit transmit the wake-up signal to the vehicle CAN and wake-up circuit through the first isolated I / O circuit, and then transmit the wake-up circuit to the microcontroller chip unit of the main control circuit through the CAN bus, thereby waking up the main control circuit.

[0047] In this embodiment, through the first isolated I / O circuit and cross wake-up, there are two independent CAN wake-up paths in the circuit, which back up each other, thereby ensuring that when one of the CAN wake-up paths fails, the other CAN wake-up path can replace its function, thereby improving the reliability of system operation.

[0048] During the process of wire control steering, the steering controller dual redundant circuit needs to drive the six-phase drive motor, thereby driving the six-phase drive motor to provide the required steering assist torque, allowing the driver to easily control the steering wheel and provide precise steering feel. Among them, the six-phase drive motor refers to two independent six-phase motors on the outside, and the motor contains two independent three-phase coil windings. The two independent coil windings can realize independent motor rotation drive. In the steering controller dual redundant circuit, the driving of the six-phase drive motor is realized by the three-phase drive circuit in the steering controller dual redundant circuit.

[0049] It should be noted that when the dual redundant circuit of the steering controller is applicable to HWA, the six-phase drive motor is a smaller power motor to adapt to the hand-feel simulation drive power requirement; when the dual redundant circuit of the steering controller is applicable to RWA, the six-phase drive motor is a larger power motor to adapt to the steering drive power requirement.

[0050] In one embodiment, Figure 3 As shown, the three-phase drive circuit specifically includes a three-phase pre-drive control circuit (1071a, 1071b) and a three-phase MOSFET drive bridge circuit (1072a, 1072b). Among them, the working power supply of the three-phase pre-drive control circuit is 48V, so the three-phase pre-drive control circuit needs to meet at least 70V withstand voltage requirements to meet the 48V system electrical performance requirements. The micro-control chip unit can drive and monitor the post-stage three-phase MOSFET drive bridge circuit through the three-phase pre-drive control circuit. Specifically, the low-level control signal (such as PWM) output by the micro-control chip unit is converted into a signal (generally a high voltage, high current pulse) that can drive the three-phase MOSFET bridge arm switch, driving the high-end and low-end MOSFETs of the bridge arm in the three-phase MOSFET drive bridge circuit to achieve alternating conduction of the three-phase winding of the motor. At the same time, the operation status of the bridge arm can also be collected in real time, including monitoring the driving voltage of the three-phase bridge arm to prevent overvoltage or undervoltage, and monitoring the three-phase current size for overcurrent protection or feedback control.

[0051] The three-phase MOSFET driver bridge circuit is the core circuit structure for controlling the motor. By controlling the on or off of the MOSFET, a three-phase AC current is generated to drive the six-phase drive motor. The three-phase MOSFET driver bridge circuits in the main control circuit and the auxiliary control circuit drive the six-phase drive motor in total. Among them, the three-phase MOSFET driver bridge circuit is composed of 6 MOSFETs, usually using a full-bridge topology or a three-phase inverter topology. These three-phase bridge arms correspond to the three-phase windings (U, V, W) of the motor respectively, and the output waveform and current are adjusted by controlling the MOSFET switch through PWM. In practical applications, the MOSFET withstand voltage needs to meet the 48V system electrical performance requirements.

[0052] It should be noted that when the dual redundant circuit of the steering controller is applicable to RWA, since RWA requires a larger driving torque, the motor power is higher and the corresponding driving current is also larger, so it is necessary to select a low internal group MOSFET to meet the high power requirements of RWA. When the dual redundant circuit of the steering controller is applicable to HWA, due to the relatively low power requirements of HWA, a higher internal group MOSFET can be selected to reduce costs,

[0053] In the dual redundant circuit of the steering controller, a phase failure protection circuit is provided to ensure the safety and stability of the six-phase drive motor and prevent the six-phase drive motor from being damaged or operating abnormally due to the power supply phase sequence or other faults. The phase failure protection circuit can conduct or disconnect the connection between the three-phase drive circuit and the six-phase drive motor, so that when a fault is detected, the connection between the three-phase drive circuit and the six-phase drive motor is disconnected to prevent the six-phase drive motor from being damaged.

[0054] In one embodiment, Figure 3 As shown, the phase-failure protection circuit specifically includes a phase-failure control circuit (1081a, 1081b) and a phase-failure circuit (1082a, 1082b). The working power supply of the phase-failure control circuit is 48V, and it receives signals transmitted by the microcontroller chip unit and the power management integrated circuit. When the microcontroller chip unit or the power management integrated circuit monitors a specific safety fault, a corresponding control signal is transmitted to the phase-failure protection circuit, and the phase-failure circuit is disconnected through the phase-failure protection circuit, thereby disconnecting the connection between the three-phase drive circuit and the six-phase drive motor. It should be noted that the 48V phase-failure protection circuit here meets the voltage withstand requirement of at least 70V to meet the electrical performance requirements of the 48V system.

[0055] The phase-off circuit includes a MOSFET connected to each phase of the three-phase drive circuit, so that the phase-off circuit controls the connection and disconnection of the three-phase drive circuit and the six-phase drive motor through the switching state of the MOSFET. During normal operation, the MOSFET remains in the on state, the three-phase drive circuit is connected to the six-phase drive motor, and a normal drive output is provided. When a fault occurs in the three-phase drive circuit, such as a breakdown of the MOSFET, the phase-off control circuit immediately sends a disconnection signal to the phase-off circuit, and the three-phase MOSFET drive circuit can be completely disconnected from the six-phase drive motor through the phase-off circuit to ensure that the auxiliary control circuit independently controls the six-phase drive motor without being affected by the main control circuit that has failed, thereby ensuring the safety of the system.

[0056] In one embodiment, in order to further improve the functional safety performance and indicators of the entire hardware circuit solution, a redundant design method is added for potential disconnection failures. Figure 3 As shown, it specifically includes configuring a second isolated I / O circuit (202) in the main-auxiliary interactive circuit. The second isolated I / O circuit can realize signal input and output functions, and at the same time isolate the electrical connection between the circuits. In this embodiment, the second isolated I / O connects the phase-break control circuit and the phase-break control circuit in an isolated manner, so that the two phase-break control circuits can realize mutual phase-break control through the second isolated I / O circuit. In a fault scenario, when a specific fault occurs in the main control circuit, and there may be a phase-break circuit that is not disconnected in time, the auxiliary control circuit is informed of the main control circuit failure through the main-auxiliary signal interaction circuit, so that the micro-control chip unit of the auxiliary control circuit sends a disconnection signal to the phase-break control circuit through the second isolated I / O circuit, thereby disconnecting the phase-break circuit of the main control circuit, so as to avoid the auxiliary control circuit from being affected by the faulty main control circuit when controlling the six-phase drive motor.

[0057] In this embodiment, through the second isolated I / O circuit and mutual phase-off control, there are two independent phase-off control paths in the circuit, which back up each other, thereby ensuring that when one of the phase-off control paths fails, the other phase-off control path can replace its function, thereby improving the reliability of system operation.

[0058] The dual redundant circuit of the steering controller is also equipped with an angular velocity position sensor acquisition circuit, which provides real-time feedback to the microcontroller chip unit by acquiring the rotation angle of the six-phase drive motor, so as to achieve precise control of the operation of the six-phase drive motor. Among them, the angular velocity position sensor usually adopts the principle of magnetic induction. A magnet or other such structure is installed on the rotor of the six-phase drive motor. When the rotor rotates, the angular velocity position sensor detects the change in the direction or intensity of the magnetic field. The angular velocity position sensor detects the direction or change of the magnetic field and converts it into the actual angle information of the rotor.

[0059] In the dual redundant circuit of the steering controller, a microcontroller chip unit is configured to process signals, execute control logic, monitor system status and ensure safety. It has multi-core computing and meets the highest safety level requirements of functional safety ASIL. Among them, the sensor filter circuit transmits the filtered sensor signal to the microcontroller chip unit, thereby driving the operation of the six-phase drive motor to achieve the corresponding steering control.

[0060] The microcontroller unit can also transmit signals with the CAN communication circuit, wherein the microcontroller unit can receive control instructions and status information transmitted by the CAN communication circuit about the vehicle controller, so that the microcontroller unit can control the instructions to perform corresponding actions, such as starting and driving the actuator (HWA or RWA) to complete the corresponding actions. In addition, the CAN communication circuit also transmits the signal of the external wire-controlled steering gear to the microcontroller unit, and the microcontroller unit performs a complex closed-loop control algorithm on the collected external wire-controlled steering signal to perform the steering task.

[0061] The microcontrol chip unit can also exchange signals with the three-phase drive circuit to control the operation of the six-phase drive motor to achieve the steering task. In addition, the microcontrol chip unit can also transmit signals with the phase failure protection circuit. When the microcontrol chip unit detects a set fault, it sends a disconnect signal to the phase failure protection circuit, thereby disconnecting the connection between the three-phase drive circuit and the six-phase drive motor through the phase failure protection circuit to prevent the six-phase drive motor from being damaged by the fault.

[0062] In one embodiment, Figure 3As shown, in order to realize signal interaction between the main control circuit and the auxiliary control circuit, the main-auxiliary interaction circuit is configured with a first digital isolation communication circuit (203), a second digital isolation communication circuit (204) and a PWM communication circuit (205).

[0063] The PWM communication circuit is described in detail below. The six-phase drive motor generally controls the three-phase drive through the main control circuit and the auxiliary control circuit respectively, forming a dual redundant structure. For example, the main control circuit is responsible for the first group of three-phase drive of the six-phase drive motor, and the auxiliary control circuit is responsible for the second group of three-phase drive of the six-phase drive motor. In the driving process of the six-phase drive motor, accurate PWM signal timing synchronization is required. The main control circuit and the auxiliary control circuit need to coordinate the output of the unified time, so that the PWM communication circuit transmits the PWM timing signal generated by the micro-control chip unit of the main control circuit to the micro-control chip unit of the auxiliary control circuit through isolation, or vice versa, so that the PWM signals of the two sets of circuits can be kept strictly synchronized to avoid phase confusion or interference.

[0064] The isolated communication in the PWM communication circuit can avoid the transmission of electrical faults between the main control circuit and the auxiliary control circuit, ensuring the stability of the entire system. It also allows the other control circuit to quickly take over and drive the six-phase drive motor when one of the control circuits fails, thereby improving the system's anti-interference ability.

[0065] The following is a detailed description of the two-way digital isolation communication circuit. The two-way digital isolation communication circuit is provided here to make the communication between the main control circuit and the auxiliary control circuit form a dual redundant design. When one of the digital isolation communication circuits fails, the other digital isolation path can also realize the signal interaction between the main control circuit and the auxiliary control circuit, respectively realizing the functions of data transmission, synchronization verification and fault monitoring, and forming a dual redundant design, which improves the reliability and safety of the system.

[0066] It should be noted that when the vehicle CAN and wake-up circuit fail, the digital isolation communication circuit can transmit the communication signal between the microcontroller chip unit and the vehicle controller. In an application scenario, when the vehicle CAN and wake-up circuit fail, it is impossible to interact with the vehicle controller. At this time, the communication signal sent by the microcontroller chip unit of the main control circuit to the external controller can be transmitted to the microcontroller chip unit of the auxiliary control circuit through the digital isolation communication circuit, and then the vehicle CAN and wake-up circuit transmit the signal to the vehicle controller.

[0067] In one embodiment, the first digital isolation communication circuit and the second digital isolation communication circuit can simultaneously use any one of CAN, UART, SPI and I2C, that is, the two digital isolation communication circuits use the same communication method. For example, the two digital isolation communication circuits are CAN isolation communication circuits, and the isolation channel of the CAN protocol is used to realize the information exchange between the main controller and the auxiliary controller.

[0068] In one embodiment, the first digital isolation communication circuit and the second digital isolation communication circuit can adopt any two communication modes among CAN, UART, SPI and I2C, that is, the two digital isolation communication circuits adopt different communication modes. For example, the first digital isolation communication circuit is a CAN isolation communication circuit, and the second digital isolation communication circuit is a UART isolation communication circuit, wherein the UART isolation communication circuit is an isolation communication channel based on the universal asynchronous receiver and transmitter protocol, and its main function is similar to that of the CAN isolation communication circuit, but it is different in the implementation method. Similarly, the SPI isolation communication circuit and the I2C isolation communication circuit can realize the information interaction between the main control circuit and the auxiliary control circuit.

[0069] In practical applications, compared with two-way digital isolation communication circuits using the same communication method, two-way digital isolation communication circuits using a combination of any two communication methods will make the parameter performance of functional safety better and can enhance the system's anti-interference and fault tolerance capabilities.

[0070] It should be noted that, since the power requirements of HWA and RWA are different, when the two controllers share the same set of dual redundant circuits of the steering controller, it is necessary to make corresponding adjustments to the power devices in the dual redundant circuits of the steering controller according to the applicable HWA or RWA to achieve applicability to RWA and HWA.

[0071] In the above embodiment, in order to meet the requirements of high functional safety level, the steering controller dual redundant circuit adopts a dual redundant hardware circuit architecture. In order to realize the hardware circuit architecture and the underlying software platform development, most of the circuit components can be shared in the HWA and RWA controllers, reducing the overall development cycle, cost and unit mass production cost of the product. The modules that can be shared in the HWA and RWA controllers are directly merged. For the filter circuits of the TAS sensor and the RWA sensor, the circuits are designed to be compatible circuits according to the characteristics of the two sensor sampling circuits, that is, the same set of circuits can realize the collection and filtering of the TAS sensor and the collection and filtering of the SAS, so that the HWA and RWA sensors can use a set of steering controller dual redundant circuits. At the same time, the voltage of the input power supply of the steering controller dual redundant circuit is increased, so that the steering control dual redundant circuit can adapt to the driving capacity of higher power, and at the same time achieve the requirements of miniaturization and lightweight.

[0072] At the same time, in order to further improve the functional safety and indicators of the dual redundant circuit of the entire steering controller, the redundant design scheme is improved, and redundant design methods are added for some potential failures, including:

[0073] (1) By using the first I / O isolation circuit, cross-wake-up between the main control circuit and the auxiliary control circuit is added, and the main-auxiliary interaction circuit is used for communication interaction, so that when a wake-up failure occurs in any one of the circuits, the main control circuit and the auxiliary control circuit can still work normally.

[0074] (2) Increase the digital communication redundancy design in the main and auxiliary circuit interaction circuits, use two digital isolation communication circuits to avoid communication failure, and improve the reliability and security of communication between the main control circuit and the auxiliary control circuit;

[0075] (3) By using the second I / O isolation circuit, a cross-disconnection control of the phase-failure circuit is added to ensure that when a specific fault occurs in any one of the main control circuit and the auxiliary control circuit, the normal control circuit can completely disconnect the faulty control circuit from the six-phase drive motor, ensuring that the faulty control circuit does not affect the normal control circuit's drive control of the six-phase drive motor.

[0076] In one embodiment, a dual-redundancy system for steering controllers is also provided. Figure 3 The dual redundant circuit of the steering controller shown is connected with related peripherals to form a dual redundant system of the steering controller. These peripherals include a vehicle controller, a power supply with a first voltage, an external sensor, an external line controller, and a six-phase drive motor.

[0077] Among them, the dual redundant circuits of the vehicle controller and the steering controller have CAN communication interaction, which is used for data information interaction and instruction transmission, etc.

[0078] The power supply with the first voltage (48V) provides two independent power supplies for the main control circuit and the auxiliary control circuit in the dual redundant circuit of the steering controller;

[0079] The external sensor includes two independent TAS and SAS sensors. When the steering controller dual redundant circuit is applicable to HWA, the external sensor is a TAS sensor; when the steering controller dual redundant circuit is applicable to SRWA, the external sensor is a SAS sensor. The steering controller dual redundant circuit can be adapted to RWA or HWA by adjusting the configuration of the sensor filter circuit and power device, and adapting the software of the microcontroller chip unit.

[0080] The external line controller refers to two independent RWA and HEA controllers. In the steering controller dual redundant system, the current vehicle solution is that HWA and RWA exist as a whole in the system, and the two exchange information and transmit instructions through CAN communication, and work through the software control system. When the steering controller dual redundant circuit is applicable to HWA, the external line controller is RWA; when the steering controller dual redundant circuit is applicable to RWA, the external line controller is HWA. The steering controller dual redundant circuit can be applied to HWA or RWA by adjusting the configuration of the external sensor signal filter circuit and the power device, as well as the adaptation of the microcontroller chip unit.

[0081] The six-phase drive motor refers to two independent six-phase motors outside. When the steering controller dual redundant circuit is applicable to HWA, the external motor is a motor with lower power to adapt to the power requirement of the hand-feel simulation drive; when the steering controller dual redundant circuit is applicable to RWA, the external motor is a motor with higher power to adapt to the power requirement of the steering drive. Regardless of the power of the motor, the motor contains two independent three-phase coil windings inside, and the two independent coil windings can realize independent motor rotation drive.

[0082] In one embodiment, a vehicle is also provided, the vehicle comprising the above-mentioned dual redundant circuit of the steering controller.

[0083] It should be noted that the logic and / or steps represented in the flowchart or otherwise described herein, for example, can be considered as a sequenced list of executable instructions for implementing logical functions, and can be specifically implemented in any computer-readable medium for use by an instruction execution system, device or apparatus (such as a computer-based system, a system including a processor, or other system that can fetch instructions from an instruction execution system, device or apparatus and execute instructions), or in combination with these instruction execution systems, devices or apparatuses. For the purposes of this specification, "computer-readable medium" can be any device that can contain, store, communicate, propagate or transmit a program for use by an instruction execution system, device or apparatus, or in combination with these instruction execution systems, devices or apparatuses. More specific examples of computer-readable media (a non-exhaustive list) include the following: an electrical connection portion with one or more wirings (electronic device), a portable computer disk box (magnetic device), a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable and programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber device, and a portable compact disk read-only memory (CDROM). In addition, the computer-readable medium may even be paper or other suitable medium on which the program is printed, since the program may be obtained electronically, for example, by optically scanning the paper or other medium and then editing, interpreting or processing in other suitable ways if necessary, and then stored in a computer memory.

[0084] It should be understood that the various parts of the present invention can be implemented by hardware, software, firmware or a combination thereof. In the above-mentioned embodiments, a plurality of steps or methods can be implemented by software or firmware stored in a memory and executed by a suitable instruction execution system. For example, if implemented by hardware, as in another embodiment, it can be implemented by any one of the following technologies known in the art or their combination: a discrete logic circuit having a logic gate circuit for implementing a logic function for a data signal, a dedicated integrated circuit having a suitable combination of logic gate circuits, a programmable gate array (PGA), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), etc.

[0085] In the description of this specification, the description with reference to the terms "one embodiment", "some embodiments", "examples", "specific examples", or "some examples" means that the specific features, structures, materials or characteristics described in conjunction with the embodiment or example are included in at least one embodiment or example of the present invention. In this specification, the schematic representation of the above terms does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment or example. Moreover, the specific features, structures, materials or characteristics described may be combined in any one or more embodiments or examples in a suitable manner.

[0086] In addition, the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of the indicated technical features. Therefore, the features defined as "first" and "second" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one of the features. In the description of the present invention, the meaning of "plurality" is at least two, such as two, three, etc., unless otherwise clearly and specifically defined.

[0087] Although the embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described above, it is to be understood that the above embodiments are exemplary and are not to be construed as limitations of the present invention. A person skilled in the art may change, modify, replace and vary the above embodiments within the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A dual redundant circuit of a steering controller, characterized in that: It includes a main control circuit, an auxiliary control circuit and a main-auxiliary interaction circuit; the main-auxiliary interaction circuit is used to realize signal interaction between the main control circuit and the auxiliary control circuit; the main control circuit and the auxiliary control circuit are redundant structures with the same structure on both sides, including a filter anti-reverse circuit, a step-down circuit, a power management integrated circuit, an external sensor signal filter circuit, a CAN communication circuit, a microcontroller chip unit, a three-phase drive circuit, a phase failure protection circuit, and an angle position sensor acquisition circuit; wherein, The filter anti-reverse circuit is used to filter the input power supply and prevent reverse current; the step-down circuit is used to reduce the power supply output by the filter anti-reverse circuit from a first voltage to a second voltage; the power management circuit is used to convert the power supply of the second voltage into the power supply of the microcontroller chip unit and the external sensor; the external sensor includes a torque and steering angle sensor or a steering angle sensor; The external sensor signal filtering circuit is used to filter the input signal of the external sensor; The CAN communication circuit is used to communicate and interact with the external wire-to-wire controller and the vehicle controller respectively; the external wire-to-wire controller includes a steering actuator or a hand feel simulator; The three-phase drive circuit is used to drive an external six-phase drive motor; The phase failure protection circuit is used to realize the conduction and disconnection between the three-phase drive circuit and the six-phase drive motor; The angle position sensor acquisition circuit is used to detect the rotation angle of the six-phase drive motor and feed back the angle information to the microcontroller chip unit; The microcontrol chip unit is respectively connected to the sensor filter circuit, the CAN communication circuit, the three-phase drive circuit, and the phase failure protection circuit for signal transmission.

2. The steering controller dual redundant circuit according to claim 1, characterized in that: The CAN communication circuit includes a vehicle CAN and wake-up circuit and an intranet CAN circuit; the vehicle CAN and wake-up circuit are used to wake up the steering controller dual redundant circuit according to the wake-up signal sent by the vehicle controller.

3. The steering controller dual redundant circuit according to claim 2, characterized in that: The main-auxiliary road interaction circuit includes a first isolated I / O circuit, and the vehicle CAN and wake-up circuit in the main road control circuit and the auxiliary road control circuit transmit the wake-up signal through the first isolated I / O circuit.

4. The steering controller dual redundant circuit according to claim 1, characterized in that: The phase failure protection circuit includes a phase failure circuit and a phase failure control circuit suitable for the first voltage; the phase failure control circuit is used to control the phase failure circuit to disconnect or connect the connection between the three-phase drive circuit and the six-phase drive motor according to a fault signal; the fault signal is issued by the microcontroller chip unit or the power management circuit.

5. The steering controller dual redundant circuit according to claim 4, characterized in that: The main-auxiliary interactive circuit includes a second isolated I / O circuit, and the phase-break control circuit in the main control circuit and the auxiliary control circuit is used to realize mutual control of the phase-break circuit according to the second isolated I / O circuit.

6. The steering controller dual redundant circuit according to claim 1, characterized in that: The main-auxiliary circuit interaction circuit includes a first digital isolation communication circuit, a second digital isolation communication circuit and a PWM communication circuit; The main control circuit and the auxiliary control circuit realize mutual data communication, synchronization verification, and fault monitoring through the first digital isolation communication circuit and the second digital isolation communication circuit; The main control circuit and the auxiliary control circuit achieve mutual control timing synchronization of the six-phase drive motor through the PWM communication.

7. The steering controller dual redundant circuit according to claim 6, characterized in that: The first digital isolation communication circuit and the second digital isolation communication circuit are used to support the same communication mode or any two different communication modes among UART, CAN, SPI, and I2C.

8. The steering controller dual redundant circuit according to claim 1, characterized in that: The three-phase drive circuit includes a three-phase MOSFET drive bridge circuit and a three-phase pre-drive control circuit suitable for the first voltage; the three-phase pre-drive control circuit is used to enable the microcontroller chip unit chip to perform pre-drive control and status monitoring on the output of the three-phase MOSFET drive bridge circuit.

9. A steering controller dual redundant system, characterized in that: It includes a vehicle controller, a power supply with a first voltage, an external sensor, an external line-to-line controller, a six-phase drive motor and a steering control dual redundant circuit according to any one of claims 1 to 8; the external sensor includes a torque and steering angle sensor or a steering angle sensor; the external line-to-line controller includes a steering actuator or a hand feel simulator.

10. A vehicle, characterized in that: The invention comprises the dual redundant steering control circuit according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

Images