Vehicle Control Unit Error Shutdown Interface Allocation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Control units in vehicles face limitations in error management, leading to restricted availability and inflexibility due to fixed hardware layouts and overzealous shutdown mechanisms that affect multiple applications, causing unnecessary system breakdowns and requiring costly adaptations for different hardware configurations.
Innovation Solution
A control unit with multiple error shutdown interfaces that can be flexibly assigned to various applications, allowing for partial shutdowns and independent operation of components, enabling software and hardware configurations to manage errors without affecting unrelated systems, thus enhancing availability and reducing development costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a single error shutdown interface is used to manage errors across multiple applications, then error management is simplified, but availability is reduced and unnecessary system-wide shutdowns occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the single error shutdown interface into multiple independent error shutdown interfaces (error shutdown interface 1, error shutdown interface 2, etc.), each dedicated to specific applications or components. This segmentation allows selective shutdown of only the affected application when an error occurs, rather than shutting down the entire system, thereby maintaining higher availability while managing error complexity through modular organization.
2Ease of manufacture
If fixed hardware layout is used for error shutdown interfaces, then manufacturing is simplified, but adaptability is reduced and costly adaptations are required for different configurations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates error shutdown interfaces that can be universally assigned to different applications through software configuration rather than hardwired hardware connections. The control unit is designed to accept multiple applications and dynamically assign them to appropriate error shutdown interfaces based on configuration data, enabling the same hardware platform to serve multiple application configurations without physical rework or costly adaptations.
3Reliability
If error shutdown interface shuts down all safety-related output stages, then safety is improved, but productivity is reduced due to unnecessary shutdowns of unrelated components
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements local quality by making each error shutdown interface application-specific, so that when an error occurs in one application, only the safety-related output stages for that particular application are shut down. Other applications and their output stages continue to operate normally. This localized error containment maintains safety for affected components while preserving productivity by allowing unrelated systems to continue functioning.
Data Source
AI summary
A control unit having a plurality of error shutdown interfaces by which, upon activation, in each case one or more components to be controlled by the control unit is/are able to be switched off. The control unit is set up to run one or more different applications, each of which is equipped to trigger an error shutdown if necessary, the control unit additionally being set up to provide internal interfaces for the one or more applications. The internal interfaces and the error shutdown interfaces are predefinably assignable to each other, so that in response to an invocation of one of the internal interfaces, the one or more error shutdown interfaces assigned to it is/are activated. A method for operation of the control unit is also described.