Oil Pump Start-Up Control to Prevent Foreign Matter Locking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Electric oil pump devices are prone to locking due to foreign matters like metal powder and dust getting caught at the sliding parts, which prevents rotation and can lead to malfunction or failure, and existing solutions do not effectively prevent this issue before it occurs.
Innovation Solution
An oil pump device with a motor control unit that operates in a lock-avoiding mode by increasing the rotational speed of the oil pump during specific start-up conditions to prevent foreign matters from getting caught, using a trapping member like a filter to capture these particles before they obstruct the pump.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Force
If the motor size is increased to increase the drive torque, then the drive torque is improved, but the cost and size of the oil pump device increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by detecting foreign matters before they cause locking, and by implementing reverse rotation to remove caught foreign matters proactively. This prevents the need for excessive drive torque margins, allowing smaller motor sizing while maintaining reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The control unit continuously monitors the rotational state of the oil pump and detects when foreign matters are caught. Based on this feedback, it automatically implements reverse rotation to remove the foreign matters, creating a closed-loop system that maintains operation without requiring oversized motors for torque reserves.
2Reliability
If the oil pump is repeatedly driven for a short time to remove foreign matters, then the foreign matters are removed, but the operation time and productivity are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The system replaces repeated mechanical driving cycles with a single reverse rotation action to remove foreign matters. Instead of repeatedly starting and stopping the pump, the control unit simply reverses the rotation direction briefly, which is more time-efficient while achieving the same foreign matter removal goal.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the rotational speed parameter to negative values (reverse rotation) to remove foreign matters, rather than repeatedly cycling through normal operation. This parameter change allows rapid foreign matter removal without the time penalty of repeated start-stop cycles.
3Manufacturing precision
If foreign matters are caught at the sliding part, then the clearance is reduced, but the oil pump becomes locked and cannot rotate
Solution Approach 1:
When foreign matters are detected as caught at the sliding part, the system reverses the rotation direction of the oil pump. This reverse rotation creates outward forces that push the foreign matters away from the clearance, effectively inverting the problem by using opposite rotational motion to resolve the blocking condition.
Solution Approach 2:
The control unit implements periodic reverse rotation at predetermined time intervals to proactively remove foreign matters before they can cause locking. This periodic maintenance action prevents the accumulation of foreign matters in the clearance, maintaining rotation capability over time.
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention provides an oil pump device capable of preventing foreign matters from getting caught at a sliding part of an oil pump, and thus of preventing a situation where the oil pump is locked and prevented from rotating. The oil pump device includes an oil pump connected to a supply target apparatus by a hydraulic circuit, the oil pump discharging and supplying oil to the supply target apparatus through the hydraulic circuit; a motor driving the oil pump; a trapping member interposed along the hydraulic circuit, the trapping member trapping a foreign matter mixed in the oil discharged from the oil pump; and a motor control unit controlling the motor to perform a normal control mode of driving the oil pump in a normal control rotation range and perform, at operational start of the oil pump, a lock-avoiding mode of driving the oil pump with a lock-avoiding rotational speed set in advance as a lower limit.