Steering controller dual-redundant circuitry, system, and vehicle

Abstract

This invention discloses a dual-redundant circuit, system, and vehicle for a steering controller. The main control circuit and auxiliary control circuit of the circuit include at least a filtering anti-reverse circuit, a step-down circuit, a power management integrated circuit, and an external sensor signal filtering circuit. The filtering anti-reverse circuit filters the input power supply and prevents reverse current. The step-down circuit reduces the power output from the filtering anti-reverse circuit from a first voltage to a second voltage. The power management circuit converts the second voltage power supply into power for the microcontroller chip unit and external sensors. The external sensors include a torque and steering angle sensor or a steering angle sensor. The external sensor signal filtering circuit filters the signals from the input external sensors. This circuit allows the HWA and RWA modules to share the same circuit architecture, supports higher voltage input power supplies, meets the high power requirements of the RWA, and achieves the goals of lightweighting and miniaturization.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of vehicle steer-by-wire technology, and in particular to a dual-redundant circuit, system, and vehicle for a steering controller. Background Technology

[0002] With the continuous development and advancement of automotive technology, the level of intelligence in automobiles is increasing, and the future will see fully autonomous driving. In this process, vehicle steering systems have evolved from early mechanical steering, through hydraulic power steering, electric power steering, redundant electric steering, and finally to steer-by-wire required for advanced autonomous driving.

[0003] The overall solution for steer-by-wire is based on the development of electric power steering. It breaks down the entire steering system from the original mechanical driveshaft 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, achieving complete mechanical decoupling. Specifically, the RWA is responsible for precise angle or position control and road feel detection; the HWA is responsible for acquiring steering wheel commands and providing steering feel and road feel feedback.

[0004] In related technologies, RWA has a higher motor drive power requirement than HWA, while HWA requires additional torque acquisition. This leads to RWA and HWA being designed separately in terms of hardware circuitry, increasing development costs. Moreover, the related RWA hardware circuitry is difficult to meet the requirements of high power miniaturization. Summary of the Invention

[0005] Therefore, it is necessary to provide a dual-redundant circuit, system, and vehicle for a steering controller that can combine the circuit architectures of RWA and HWA to achieve a compatible design, addressing the aforementioned technical problems.

[0006] A dual-redundant steering controller circuit includes a main road control circuit, an auxiliary road control circuit, and a main-auxiliary road interaction circuit. The main-auxiliary road interaction circuit enables signal interaction between the main road control circuit and the auxiliary road control circuit. The main road control circuit and the auxiliary road control circuit are isomorphic redundant structures on both sides, including a filtering and anti-reverse circuit, a step-down circuit, a power management integrated circuit, an external sensor signal filtering circuit, a CAN communication circuit, a microcontroller chip unit, a three-phase drive circuit, a phase loss protection circuit, and an angle position sensor acquisition circuit.

[0007] The filtering and 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 output of the filtering and 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 external sensors; the external sensors include 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 from the external sensor.

[0009] The CAN communication circuit is used to communicate and interact with the external steering controller and the vehicle controller respectively; the external steering 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 loss protection circuit is used to enable the connection and disconnection of 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 the angle information back to the microcontroller chip unit;

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

[0014] A dual-redundant steering controller system includes a vehicle controller, a power supply with a first voltage, external sensors, an external steering controller, a six-phase drive motor, and the dual-redundant steering control circuit described above; the external sensors include torque and steering angle sensors or steering angle sensors; the external steering controller includes a steering actuator or a hand feel simulator.

[0015] A vehicle includes the dual-redundant steering control circuit described above.

[0016] The aforementioned dual-redundant steering controller circuit, system, and vehicle, in which shared modules from the HWA and RWA are directly merged, while non-shared modules are designed as compatible circuits, allow the dual-redundant steering controller circuit to function as both HWA and RWA modules, enabling them to share the same circuit architecture and reducing development cycle and cost. Simultaneously, the dual-redundant steering controller circuit supports higher voltage input power, meeting the high power requirements of the RWA, and upgrades internal voltage and circuitry to achieve lightweight and miniaturization goals. Furthermore, it allows for the replacement of internal power modules with power devices of varying capabilities, thus supporting the different power requirements of the HWA and RWA. Attached Figure Description

[0017] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of an HWA hardware circuit architecture in related technologies;

[0018] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of an RWA hardware circuit architecture in related technologies;

[0019] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of a dual-redundant circuit for a steering controller in one embodiment.

[0020] Figure reference numerals: Steering controller dual redundancy circuit 10, main control circuit A, auxiliary control circuit B, main-auxiliary interaction circuit C, filter anti-reverse circuit 101a, 101b, step-down circuit 102a, 102b, power management integrated circuit 103a, 103b, external sensor signal filtering circuit 104a, 104b, CAN communication circuit 105a, 105b, microcontroller chip unit 106a, 106b, three-phase drive circuit 107a, 107b, phase loss protection circuit 108a, 108b, angle position sensor acquisition circuit 109a 109b, Vehicle CAN and wake-up circuits 1051a and 1051b, Intranet CAN circuits 1052a and 1052b, Phase loss control circuits 1081a and 1081b, Phase loss circuits 1082a and 1082b, Three-phase pre-drive control circuits 1071a and 1071b, Three-phase MOSFET drive bridge circuits 1072a and 1072b, First isolation I / O circuit 201, Second isolation I / O circuit 202, First digital isolation communication circuit 203, Second digital isolation communication circuit 204, PWM isolation communication circuit 205. Detailed Implementation

[0021] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of this application clearer, the following detailed description is provided in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative and not intended to limit the scope of this application.

[0022] The implementation details of the technical solutions in the embodiments of this application are described in detail below.

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

[0024] Because of the mechanical decoupling of RWA and HWA, the vehicle's steering is entirely controlled electronically. Therefore, the functional safety requirements for these two controllers are very high. As a result, a dual-redundancy design is often adopted when developing the hardware circuit schemes for these two controllers.

[0025] like Figure 1 As shown, Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of an HWA hardware circuit architecture. The overall hardware circuit architecture adopts a dual-redundancy design concept, with one controller containing two completely independent sets of control and drive circuits: a main control circuit and a secondary control circuit. The HWA peripherals include independent power supply modules (vehicle 12V power supply A and vehicle 12V power supply B), a vehicle controller, a RWA, a torque and steering angle sensor (TWS, Torque & Steering Angle Sensor), and a six-phase drive motor (containing two independent three-phase motor windings).

[0026] Based on this, the HWA is powered by two independent 12V power supplies from the vehicle to achieve redundancy in the overall drive circuit, aiming for higher functional safety performance. Under this hardware circuit architecture, the HWA acquires information from the TAS sensor and interacts with the vehicle controller and RWA to transmit and receive information and operational commands for the entire drive-by-wire system. Based on the commands and data processing, it drives the two independent three-phase windings of the six-phase drive motor through two independent control and drive circuits—the main control circuit and the auxiliary control circuit—to output torque and speed, thereby simulating steering wheel steering, feel, and road feedback.

[0027] The hardware circuit architecture of RWA is very similar to that of HWA. RWA applications do not require a TAS sensor, but do require a steering wheel angle sensor (SAS) to monitor the wheel steering angle. For example... Figure 2 As shown, Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of an RWA hardware circuit architecture.

[0028] pass Figure 1 and Figure 2 As can be seen, the hardware circuit architectures of RWA and HWA are largely the same. The difference lies in that RWA needs to acquire SAS sensor signals, while HWA needs to acquire TAS sensor signals. Additionally, since RWA needs to drive the steering wheels, its power is much greater than that of HWA. Therefore, although the circuit structure of the power section is the same, the actual power devices will have significant power differences.

[0029] In summary, while RWA and HWA differ significantly in functionality, their core hardware implementations are very similar. From a hardware functionality perspective, the main similarities include: external communication for information command exchange, motor control, and steering angle detection. The main differences include: RWA has higher motor drive power, while HWA requires additional torque acquisition. Based on this, by comparing the hardware modules of the two products, a hardware circuit architecture that can be shared by both RWA and HWA can be designed, merging the circuit architecture schemes of the two modules to achieve a compatible design.

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

[0031] The main-auxiliary circuit is used to realize the 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 exchange and mutual monitoring, as well as coordinated output of motor drive, through the main-auxiliary circuit.

[0032] The main control circuit and the auxiliary control circuit are isomorphic redundant structures. The main control circuit is responsible for performing the main control tasks, while the auxiliary control circuit, as a redundant part of the main control circuit, provides the same functions to ensure system reliability and safety. In the event of a failure in the main control circuit, the auxiliary control circuit can take over the control tasks. Figure 3 In this system, the main control circuit and the auxiliary control circuit are two completely identical sets of circuits, capable of independently completing sensor signal acquisition, external communication, data processing, and drive motor control, respectively. For example, Figure 3As shown, both the main control circuit and the auxiliary control circuit include a filter 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 loss 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 detailed design applications of both HWA and RWA, and RWA has a larger power requirement, in order to accommodate the higher power drive capability while achieving miniaturization and weight reduction requirements, the operating power supply input to the dual-redundant circuit of the steering controller is upgraded from the conventional second voltage (12V) to the first voltage (48V). As a result, compared to the 12V system, the current handling capacity requirements of the overcurrent devices and wiring in the circuit module are reduced to 1 / 4 of those in the original 12V system. The current at the same power will be reduced to 1 / 4, thereby reducing the diameter of the motor coil wire and the power supply wire, achieving the goals of weight reduction and miniaturization, and reducing system size requirements and costs.

[0034] After the input power supply voltage increases, the internal voltage circuit and drive circuit of the dual-redundant circuit of the steering controller need to be upgraded simultaneously. Among these upgrades, the reverse current filtering circuit is an input filter and reverse current protection circuit adapted to the 48V power supply system. It is a circuit used to protect the power input port, primarily filtering the input power supply and preventing reverse current. This removes high-frequency noise and interference from the input power supply, ensuring its stability and purity, while preventing damage to the circuit from reverse current generated during reverse connection or power supply failure. In practical applications, the power supply processed by the reverse current filtering circuit is used to provide power to the drive motor and to provide low-voltage power to some components in the circuit.

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

[0036] The power management integrated circuit includes a power management chip adapted to a 12V system. It converts the 12V output from the step-down circuit to 5V or 3.3V to power internal chips, including the microcontroller unit, and provides 5V power to external sensors. It also monitors the input and output power status. Furthermore, the power management integrated circuit can work with the microcontroller unit to achieve independent self-testing, ensuring the normal operation of the integrated circuit. It also monitors the operating status of the microcontroller unit, enabling the minimum system to meet the highest safety integrity requirements of the Automotive Safety Integrity Level (ASIL) as defined in the automotive functional safety standard ISO 26262.

[0037] It should be noted that the power management integrated circuit here can provide operating power to the external TAS or SAS sensors. Specifically, if the dual-redundant circuit of the steering controller is an HWA dual-redundant circuit, then the externally connected circuit is 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 an RWA dual-redundant circuit, then the externally connected circuit is the SAS sensor, that is, the power management integrated circuit supplies power to the external SAS sensor.

[0038] The dual-redundant steering controller circuit can connect to external sensors to receive their signals. Based on this, the circuit also includes an external sensor signal filtering circuit, which filters the signals output by the external sensors before sending them to the microcontroller chip unit. It's important to note that this external sensor signal filtering circuit can filter signals from both TAS and SAS sensors. This is because the output signal patterns of TAS and SAS sensors are typically similar or identical. Therefore, a compatible design for the two types of filtering circuits allows them to share the circuit and microcontroller chip unit interface. This compatibility does not increase the number of channels or microcontroller chip unit interfaces, and virtually eliminates hardware cost increases. Therefore, regardless of whether the dual-redundant steering controller circuit is used in an HWA or a RWA, this compatible external sensor signal filtering circuit supports communication with TAS sensors in an HWA and with SAS sensors in an RWA.

[0039] It should be noted that since HWA and RWA have different power requirements, the dual-redundancy circuit of the steering controller can be adapted to suit either RWA or HWA by adjusting the configuration of the external sensor signal filtering circuit and power devices in the dual-redundancy circuit, as well as by adapting the microcontroller chip unit.

[0040] The dual-redundant steering controller circuit includes a CAN communication circuit. This CAN communication circuit enables communication via the CAN bus, a highly efficient serial communication protocol widely used in automotive electronic systems. Through the CAN circuit, the dual-redundant steering controller circuit can communicate with the vehicle controller, enabling communication and command transmission between the two systems and coordinating their operation. Simultaneously, the CAN communication circuit also allows the dual-redundant steering controller circuit to communicate with external controllers, enabling communication and command transmission between them.

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

[0042] Based on this, with 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. This allows the system to respond quickly to the driver's operations and dynamically adjust the steering angle or steering assist according to the driver's instructions, road conditions and other factors, thereby achieving precise steering control.

[0043] In one embodiment, such as Figure 3 As shown, the CAN communication circuit specifically includes the vehicle CAN and wake-up circuit (1051a, 1051b) and the internal network CAN circuit (1052a, 1052b). The vehicle CAN and wake-up circuit is connected to the vehicle controller. When the vehicle does not require steering, the steering controller enters a sleep mode to reduce energy consumption. When the driver needs to steer or the vehicle detects a need to steer, the vehicle controller sends a wake-up command to the vehicle CAN and wake-up circuit via the CAN bus. This wake-up command activates the dual-redundant circuit of the steering controller, i.e., the HWA or RWA controller, restoring normal steering function. When the dual-redundant circuit of the steering controller uses HWA, the vehicle CAN and wake-up circuit is used to wake up the HWA; when the dual-redundant circuit of the steering controller uses RWA, the vehicle CAN and wake-up circuit is used to wake up the RWA.

[0044] In practical applications, the wake-up command issued by the vehicle controller can be composed of a specified frame. The specified frame contains the instructions or identifiers required to wake up the controller, the wake-up timing, and other data, so that only a specific controller will respond to the wake-up command.

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

[0046] In one embodiment, to further improve the functional safety performance and indicators of the entire hardware circuit scheme, and to refine the redundancy design method, a redundancy design method is added to address potential wake-up failures. For example... Figure 3 As shown, specifically, a first isolated I / O circuit (201) is configured in the main and auxiliary road interaction circuit to realize signal input and output functions, while isolating the electrical connection between 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 wake-up signals to each other in an isolated manner through the first isolated I / O circuit to achieve cross wake-up. In a fault scenario, when the vehicle CAN and wake-up circuit fails, the main road control circuit will not work as a whole. At this time, the main road control circuit can be woken up by the vehicle CAN and wake-up circuit through the first isolated I / O circuit. The vehicle CAN and wake-up circuit transmits the wake-up signal to the vehicle CAN and wake-up circuit through the first isolated I / O circuit, and then transmits the wake-up signal to the microcontroller chip unit of the main road control circuit through the CAN bus, thereby waking up the main road control circuit.

[0047] In this embodiment, the first isolated I / O circuit and cross wake-up enable two independent CAN wake-up paths in the circuit, which serve as backups for each other. This ensures that if one CAN wake-up path fails, the other CAN wake-up path can replace its function, thereby improving the reliability of system operation.

[0048] During steer-by-wire operation, the dual-redundant circuit of the steering controller drives a six-phase drive motor. This motor provides the necessary steering assist torque, allowing the driver to easily control the steering wheel and providing precise steering feel. The six-phase drive motor consists of two external, independent six-phase motors, each containing two independent three-phase coil windings. These two independent windings enable independent motor rotation. In the dual-redundant circuit of the steering controller, the six-phase drive motor is driven by the three-phase drive circuit within the dual-redundant circuit.

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

[0050] In one embodiment, such as 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). The three-phase pre-drive control circuit operates at 48V, therefore it needs to meet at least a 70V withstand voltage requirement to satisfy the electrical performance requirements of the 48V system. The microcontroller chip unit can drive and monitor the subsequent 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 microcontroller chip unit is converted into a signal (generally a high-voltage, high-current pulse) that drives the high-side and low-side MOSFETs of the bridge arm in the three-phase MOSFET drive bridge circuit, realizing the alternating conduction of the three-phase windings of the motor. Simultaneously, it can also collect the bridge arm operating status in real time, including monitoring the drive voltage of the three-phase bridge arm to prevent overvoltage or undervoltage, and monitoring the three-phase current for overcurrent protection or feedback control.

[0051] The three-phase MOSFET driver bridge circuit is the core circuit structure used to control the motor. By controlling the on and off of the MOSFETs, it generates three-phase AC current to drive the six-phase motor. The three-phase MOSFET driver bridge circuits in the main control circuit and auxiliary control circuit together drive the six-phase motor. The three-phase MOSFET driver bridge circuit consists of six MOSFETs, typically using a full-bridge topology or a three-phase inverter topology. These three bridge arms correspond to the three-phase windings (U, V, W) of the motor, and the output waveform and current are adjusted by PWM control of the MOSFET switches. In practical applications, the MOSFET voltage rating must meet the electrical performance requirements of a 48V system.

[0052] It should be noted that when the dual-redundant steering controller circuit uses RWA (Reverse Wire Wafer), the RWA requires greater drive torque, resulting in higher motor power and correspondingly higher drive current. Therefore, a low-internal-weight MOSFET needs to be selected to meet the high power requirements of the RWA. Conversely, when the dual-redundant steering controller circuit uses HWA (High-Internal-weight MOSFET), due to the relatively lower power requirements of the HWA, a higher-internal-weight MOSFET can be selected, thereby reducing costs.

[0053] In the dual-redundant circuit of the steering controller, a phase loss protection circuit is also provided to ensure the safety and stability of the six-phase drive motor and prevent damage or abnormal operation of the six-phase drive motor due to power phase sequence or other faults. The phase loss protection circuit can connect or disconnect the connection between the three-phase drive circuit and the six-phase drive motor, thereby disconnecting the connection between the three-phase drive circuit and the six-phase drive motor when a fault is detected, preventing damage to the six-phase drive motor.

[0054] In one embodiment, such as Figure 3 As shown, the phase loss protection circuit specifically includes a phase loss control circuit (1081a, 1081b) and a phase loss circuit (1082a, 1082b). The phase loss control circuit operates on a 48V power supply and receives signals from the microcontroller chip unit and the power management integrated circuit. When the microcontroller chip unit or the power management integrated circuit detects a specific safety fault, it transmits a corresponding control signal to the phase loss protection circuit. The phase loss protection circuit then disconnects the phase loss 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 loss protection circuit here meets at least a 70V withstand voltage requirement to satisfy the electrical performance requirements of the 48V system.

[0055] The phase-loss circuit includes MOSFETs connected to each phase of the three-phase drive circuit. The phase-loss circuit controls the connection and disconnection between the three-phase drive circuit and the six-phase drive motor through the switching states of the MOSFETs. During normal operation, the MOSFETs remain on, and the three-phase drive circuit is connected to the six-phase drive motor, providing normal drive output. In the event of a fault in the three-phase drive circuit, such as MOSFET breakdown, the phase-loss control circuit immediately sends a disconnect signal to the phase-loss circuit. This completely disconnects the three-phase MOSFET drive circuit from the six-phase drive motor, ensuring independent control of the six-phase drive motor by the auxiliary control circuit, unaffected by the faulty main control circuit, thus guaranteeing system safety.

[0056] In one embodiment, to further improve the functional safety performance and indicators of the entire hardware circuit scheme, a redundancy design method is added to address potential disconnection failures. For example... Figure 3 As shown, this specifically includes configuring a second isolation I / O circuit (202) in the main-auxiliary road interaction circuit. The second isolation I / O circuit can realize signal input and output functions, while isolating the electrical connection between circuits. In this embodiment, the second isolation I / O connects the phase loss control circuit and the phase loss control circuit in an isolated manner, so that the two phase loss control circuits can realize mutual phase loss control through the second isolation I / O circuit. In a fault scenario, when the main road control circuit has a specific fault, and there may be a phase loss circuit that has not been disconnected in time, the auxiliary road control circuit learns that the main road control circuit has a fault through the main-auxiliary road signal interaction circuit. Then, the microcontroller chip unit of the auxiliary road control circuit sends a disconnection signal to the phase loss control circuit through the second isolation I / O circuit, thereby disconnecting the phase loss circuit of the main road control circuit, so as to avoid the auxiliary road control circuit being affected by the faulty main road control circuit when controlling the six-phase drive motor.

[0057] In this embodiment, the second isolated I / O circuit and mutual phase loss control enable two independent phase loss control paths in the circuit, which serve as backups for each other. This ensures that if one phase loss control path fails, the other phase loss control path can replace its function, thereby improving the reliability of system operation.

[0058] The dual-redundant circuit of the steering controller also includes an angular velocity position sensor acquisition circuit. Its function is to acquire the rotation angle of the six-phase drive motor and provide real-time feedback to the microcontroller chip unit, thereby achieving precise control of the six-phase drive motor's operation. The angular velocity position sensor typically employs the principle of magnetic induction. Magnets or other similar structures are mounted on the rotor of the six-phase drive motor. When the rotor rotates, the angular velocity position sensor detects changes in the direction or intensity of the magnetic field. Internally, the sensor converts the detected magnetic field direction or the magnitude of its change into the actual rotor angle information.

[0059] The steering controller's dual-redundant circuit incorporates a microcontroller chip unit responsible for signal processing, control logic execution, system status monitoring, and safety assurance. This unit features multi-core processing and meets the highest ASIL (Autonomous System Indicator) safety requirements. The sensor filtering circuit transmits filtered sensor signals to the microcontroller chip unit, thereby driving the six-phase drive motor to achieve the corresponding steering control.

[0060] The microcontroller unit (MCU) can also transmit signals with the CAN communication circuit. Specifically, the MCU can receive control commands and status information from the vehicle controller transmitted by the CAN communication circuit, enabling it to control the commands to execute corresponding actions, such as starting or driving the actuators (HWA or RWA) to complete the actions. Furthermore, the CAN communication circuit also transmits signals from the external steer-by-wire system to the MCU. The MCU then performs a complex closed-loop control algorithm on the acquired external steer-by-wire signals to execute the steering task.

[0061] The microcontroller chip unit can also interact with the three-phase drive circuit to control the operation of the six-phase drive motor and achieve steering. Furthermore, the microcontroller chip unit can also transmit signals with the phase loss protection circuit. When the microcontroller chip unit detects a pre-set fault, it sends a disconnect signal to the phase loss protection circuit, thereby disconnecting the connection between the three-phase drive circuit and the six-phase drive motor, preventing damage to the six-phase drive motor due to the fault.

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

[0063] The PWM communication circuit is described in detail below. A six-phase drive motor typically uses a main control circuit and an auxiliary control circuit to control three phases separately, forming a dual-redundancy structure. For example, the main control circuit is responsible for the first set of three-phase drives of the six-phase drive motor, and the auxiliary control circuit is responsible for the second set of three-phase drives. During 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 their output at the same time. Therefore, the PWM communication circuit transmits the PWM timing signal generated by the microcontroller chip unit of the main control circuit to the microcontroller chip unit of the auxiliary control circuit through isolation, or vice versa, so that the PWM signals of the two circuits can maintain strict synchronization and avoid phase misalignment 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. At the same time, it also allows the other control circuit to quickly take over and drive the six-phase drive motor after one control circuit fails, thus improving the system's anti-interference capability.

[0065] The following is a detailed description of the two-channel digitally isolated communication circuit. This circuit provides dual redundancy for communication between the main control circuit and the auxiliary control circuit. If one channel fails, the other channel can still facilitate signal exchange between the main and auxiliary control circuits. This dual redundancy design enables data transmission, synchronization verification, and fault monitoring, thus improving system reliability and security.

[0066] It should be noted that when the vehicle's CAN bus and wake-up circuit malfunction, the digitally isolated communication circuit can still transmit communication signals between the microcontroller chip unit and the vehicle controller. In one application scenario, when the vehicle's CAN bus and wake-up circuit malfunction and cannot interact with the vehicle controller, the communication signals sent by the microcontroller chip unit of the main control circuit to the external controller can be transmitted through the digitally isolated communication circuit to the microcontroller chip unit of the auxiliary control circuit, and then the vehicle's CAN bus and wake-up circuit will transmit the signals to the vehicle controller.

[0067] In one embodiment, the first and second digitally isolated communication circuits can simultaneously employ any one of the following communication methods: CAN, UART, SPI, and I2C. That is, both digitally isolated communication circuits use the same communication method. For example, if the two digitally isolated communication circuits are CAN-isolated communication circuits, the isolation channel using the CAN protocol enables information exchange between the main controller and the auxiliary controller.

[0068] In one embodiment, the first and second digitally isolated communication circuits can employ any two of the following communication methods: CAN, UART, SPI, and I2C. That is, the two digitally isolated communication circuits use different communication methods. For example, the first digitally isolated communication circuit could be a CAN isolated communication circuit, and the second could be a UART isolated communication circuit. The UART isolated communication circuit is an isolated communication channel based on the Universal Asynchronous Receiver / Transmitter protocol, and its main function is similar to that of the CAN isolated communication circuit, but its implementation differs. Similarly, both SPI and I2C isolated communication circuits can enable information exchange between the main control circuit and the auxiliary control circuit.

[0069] In practical applications, compared to using the same communication method in two-way digital isolated communication circuits, using any two communication methods in two-way digital isolated communication circuits will result in better functional safety parameters and improve the system's anti-interference and fault tolerance capabilities.

[0070] It should be noted that since HWA and RWA have different power requirements, when the two controllers share the same set of dual-redundant steering controller circuits, the power devices in the dual-redundant steering controller circuits need to be adjusted accordingly based on the applicable HWA or RWA to achieve applicability to both RWA and HWA.

[0071] In the above embodiments, to meet the requirements of high functional safety levels, the steering controller dual-redundant circuit adopts a dual-redundant hardware circuit architecture. To achieve platform-based development of the hardware circuit architecture and underlying software, most circuit components can be shared between the HWA and RWA controllers, reducing the overall development cycle, cost, and unit mass production cost. Shared modules in the HWA and RWA controllers are directly merged. For the filtering circuits of the TAS and RWA sensors, the circuits are designed as compatible circuits based on the characteristics of the two sensor sampling circuits. That is, the same circuit can perform both TAS sensor acquisition and filtering, as well as SAS sensor acquisition and filtering, thus enabling the HWA and RWA sensors to use a single dual-redundant steering controller circuit. Simultaneously, the input power supply voltage of the dual-redundant steering controller circuit is increased, allowing the circuit to adapt to higher power drive capabilities while achieving miniaturization and weight reduction requirements.

[0072] Meanwhile, to further improve the functional safety and performance of the entire steering controller's dual-redundant circuit, and to refine the redundancy design scheme, additional redundancy design methods are added to address 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 increased, and the main and auxiliary interaction circuits are used for communication interaction, so that the main control circuit and the auxiliary control circuit can still work normally when any one of them has a wake-up failure.

[0074] (2) Add digital communication redundancy design to the main and auxiliary road interaction circuit, and adopt two digital isolation communication circuits to avoid communication failure and improve the reliability and security of communication between the main road control circuit and the auxiliary road control circuit.

[0075] (3) By using the second I / O isolation circuit, the cross-disconnection control of the phase loss circuit is increased to ensure that when a specific fault occurs in either the main control circuit or 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-redundant steering controller system is also provided, in such a case... Figure 3 The steering controller dual-redundant circuit shown is connected to relevant peripherals to form a steering controller dual-redundant system. These peripherals include the vehicle controller, a power supply with a first voltage, external sensors, an external drive 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 exchange and command 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 sensors include two independent TAS and SAS sensors. When the dual-redundant steering controller circuit is used for HWA, the external sensor is the TAS sensor; when the dual-redundant steering controller circuit is used for SRWA, the external sensor is the SAS sensor. The dual-redundant steering controller circuit can be adapted to support either RWA or HWA by adjusting the configuration of the sensor filtering circuit and power devices, as well as by modifying the software of the microcontroller chip unit.

[0080] The external steering controller refers to two independent RWA and HEA controllers. In a dual-redundant steering controller system, the current vehicle solution treats the HWA and RWA as a single unit, exchanging information and commands via CAN communication and operating through software control. When the dual-redundant steering controller circuit uses the HWA, the external steering controller is the RWA; conversely, when the dual-redundant steering controller circuit uses the RWA, the external steering controller is the HWA. The dual-redundant steering controller circuit can be adapted to use either the HWA or RWA by adjusting the configuration of the external sensor signal filtering circuit and power devices, as well as by adapting the microcontroller chip unit.

[0081] A six-phase drive motor refers to two independent external six-phase motors. When the dual-redundant circuit of the steering controller uses HWA, the external motor is a lower-power motor to match the power requirements of the steering feel simulation; when the dual-redundant circuit of the steering controller uses RWA, the external motor is a higher-power motor to match the power requirements of the steering drive. Regardless of the motor's power, it contains two independent three-phase coil windings, which enable independent motor rotation drive.

[0082] In one embodiment, a vehicle is also provided that includes the aforementioned dual-redundant steering controller circuitry.

[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 embodied in any computer-readable medium for use by, or in conjunction with, an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device (such as a computer-based system, a processor-included system, or other system that can fetch and execute instructions from, an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device). For the purposes of this specification, "computer-readable medium" can be any means that can contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transmit programs for use by, or in conjunction with, an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of computer-readable media include: an electrical connection having one or more wires (electronic device), a portable computer disk drive (magnetic device), random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), erasable and editable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), fiber optic devices, and portable optical disc read-only memory (CDROM). Alternatively, the computer-readable medium may be paper or other suitable media on which the program can be printed, since the program can be obtained electronically, for example, by optically scanning the paper or other medium, followed by editing, interpreting, or otherwise processing as necessary, and then stored in a computer memory.

[0084] It should be understood that various parts of the present invention can be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof. In the above embodiments, multiple steps or methods can be implemented in software or firmware stored in memory and executed by a suitable instruction execution system. For example, if implemented in hardware, as in another embodiment, it can be implemented using any one or a combination of the following techniques known in the art: discrete logic circuits having logic gates for implementing logical functions on data signals, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) having suitable combinational logic gates, programmable gate arrays (PGAs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), etc.

[0085] In the description of this specification, references to terms such as "one embodiment," "some embodiments," "example," "specific example," or "some examples," etc., indicate that a specific feature, structure, material, or characteristic described in connection with that embodiment or example is included in at least one embodiment or example of the invention. In this specification, the illustrative expressions of the above terms do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment or example. Furthermore, the specific features, structures, materials, or characteristics described may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments or examples.

[0086] Furthermore, the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly specifying the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one of that feature. In the description of this invention, "a plurality of" means at least two, such as two, three, etc., unless otherwise explicitly specified.

[0087] Although embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described above, it is understood that the above embodiments are exemplary and should not be construed as limiting the present invention. Those skilled in the art can make changes, modifications, substitutions and variations to the above embodiments within the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A steering controller dual-redundancy circuit, comprising: The steering controller dual-redundancy circuit is shared between the front-wheel steering controller and the rear-wheel steering controller, and comprises a main-path control circuit, an auxiliary-path control circuit and a main-auxiliary-path interaction circuit; the main-auxiliary-path interaction circuit is configured to realize signal interaction between the main-path control circuit and the auxiliary-path control circuit; the main-path control circuit and the auxiliary-path control circuit are two sides of a same structure in a redundant manner, and comprise a filter anti-reverse circuit, a voltage reduction circuit, a power management integrated circuit, an external sensor signal filtering circuit, a CAN communication circuit, a micro control chip unit, a three-phase driving circuit, a phase-off protection circuit and an angle position sensor acquisition circuit; wherein the filter anti-reverse circuit is configured to filter an input power supply and prevent reverse current; the voltage reduction circuit is configured to reduce the power supply output by the filter anti-reverse circuit from a first voltage to a second voltage; the power management integrated circuit is configured to convert the power supply of the second voltage into a power supply for the micro control chip unit and the external sensor; the external sensor comprises a torque and steering angle sensor in the rear-wheel steering controller, or a steering angle sensor in the front-wheel steering controller; the external sensor signal filtering circuit is configured to filter the signal of the input external sensor; the CAN communication circuit is configured to communicate with an external steering controller and a vehicle controller respectively; the external steering controller comprises a steering actuator or a hand feeling simulator; the three-phase driving circuit is configured to drive an external six-phase driving motor; the phase-off protection circuit is configured to realize the conduction and disconnection of the three-phase driving circuit and the six-phase driving motor; the angle position sensor acquisition circuit is configured to detect the rotation angle of the six-phase driving motor and feed back the angle information to the micro control chip unit; the micro control chip unit is connected with the sensor filtering circuit, the CAN communication circuit, the three-phase driving circuit and the phase-off protection circuit respectively, and is configured to transmit signals.

2. The steering controller dual-redundancy circuit of claim 1, wherein, The CAN communication circuit comprises a vehicle CAN and wake-up circuit and an internal network CAN circuit; the vehicle CAN and wake-up circuit is configured to wake up the steering controller dual-redundancy circuit according to a wake-up signal issued by the vehicle controller.

3. The steering controller dual-redundancy circuit of claim 2, wherein, The main-auxiliary-path interaction circuit comprises a first isolation I / O circuit, and the vehicle CAN and wake-up circuit in the main-path control circuit and the auxiliary-path control circuit transmits the wake-up signal through the first isolation I / O circuit.

4. The steering controller dual-redundancy circuit of claim 1, wherein, The phase-off protection circuit comprises a phase-off circuit and a phase-off control circuit suitable for the first voltage; the phase-off control circuit is configured to control the phase-off circuit to disconnect or conduct the connection between the three-phase driving circuit and the six-phase driving motor according to a fault signal; the fault signal is issued by the micro control chip unit or the power management integrated circuit.

5. The steering controller dual-redundancy circuit of claim 4, wherein, The main-auxiliary-path interaction circuit comprises a second isolation I / O circuit, and the phase-off control circuit in the main-path control circuit and the auxiliary-path control circuit is configured to realize mutual control of the phase-off circuit according to the second isolation I / O circuit.

6. The steering controller dual-redundancy circuit of claim 1, wherein, The main-auxiliary-path interaction circuit comprises a first digital isolation communication circuit, a second digital isolation communication circuit and a PWM communication circuit; The main road control circuit and the auxiliary road control circuit realize mutual data communication, synchronous check, and fault monitoring through the first digital isolation communication circuit and the second digital isolation communication circuit. The main road control circuit and the auxiliary road control circuit realize mutual control timing synchronization of the six-phase driving motor through the PWM communication.

7. The steering controller dual-redundancy circuit of claim 6, wherein, 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 in UART, CAN, SPI, and I2C.

8. The steering controller dual-redundancy circuit of claim 1, wherein, The three-phase driving circuit includes a three-phase MOSFET driving bridge circuit and a three-phase pre-driving control circuit suitable for the first voltage; the three-phase pre-driving control circuit is used to make the micro control chip unit chip pre-drive control and state monitoring on the output of the three-phase MOSFET driving bridge circuit.

9. A steering controller dual-redundancy system, characterized by, The whole vehicle controller, the power supply with the first voltage, the external sensor, the external line steering controller, the six-phase driving motor, and the steering control dual-redundancy circuit in any one of claims 1 to 8 are included; the external sensor includes a torque and steering angle sensor in the rear wheel steering controller or a steering angle sensor in the front wheel steering controller; the external line steering controller includes a steering actuator or a hand feeling simulator; and the steering control dual-redundancy circuit is shared between the front wheel steering controller and the rear wheel steering controller.

10. A vehicle characterized by comprising: The steering control dual-redundancy circuit in any one of claims 1 to 8 is included.

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