A method for detecting potential pinches caused by at least one powered movable panel between a closed position and an open position, by: measuring a physical quantity at a plurality of panel positions when the panel is moved towards the open position so as to get a first profile, measuring said physical quantity in a reference position, when the panel is moved towards the closed position, and determining an offset value, determining a second profile by shifting the first profile of a shifting value, measuring said physical quantity in a repetitive manner when the panel is moved towards the closed position so as to get a third profile, and detecting a potential pinch if the third profile crosses the second profile.

Embodiments of a system for controlling a vehicle power tailgate are described. The system includes a motor operably connectible to a tailgate and configured to open the tailgate at any of at least a first opening speed and a second opening speed lower than the first opening speed. The system is operable to, responsive to a determination that an external load is being applied to the tailgate when the tailgate is in a closed condition, control operation of the motor to open the tailgate at the second predetermined tailgate opening speed if an estimated magnitude of the load is below a predetermined threshold load.

A door control device includes: a speed control unit configured to perform speed control of an electric motor that drives a door; a speed detection unit configured to detect a speed of the door; and an obstruction detection unit configured to detect obstruction between the door and a door pocket, upon a value of the speed of the door detected by the speed detection unit decreasing by a first predetermined value or more with respect to a speed command value in the speed control during a door opening operation of the door.

An apparatus is provided an includes a measuring device that measures a physical quantity representative of a movement of a panel between a closed position and an open position. A processing device: measures the physical quantity when the panel is moved towards the open position; measures the physical quantity in a reference position when the panel is moved towards the closed position; determines, for the reference position, an offset value between the physical quantity measured when the panel is moved towards the closed position and another value of the physical quantity measured when the panel was moved towards the open position; determines a second profile by shifting the first profile based on the offset value; repeatedly measures the physical quantity when the panel is moved towards the closed position to obtain a third profile; and detects a potential pinch if the third profile crosses the second profile.

A Method for detecting stalling of an electric stepper motor (18), with the following steps is shown: a) samples of the voltage at a coil of the stepper motor (18) are taken continuously or in regular intervals, b) a deviation value is determined corresponding to the deviation between the measured voltages of the two samples, and c) the deviation value is used to determine whether the electric motor (18) is stalling. Further, a stepper motor and a heating, ventilation and/or air conditioning system is shown.

Movable barrier monitoring apparatus and methods are provided for rapidly responding to barrier travel obstructions and other abnormal occurrences to cause the movable barrier operator to halt barrier travel or stop and reverse barrier travel, while ignoring typical and normal impediments to barrier travel. Alternate methods are described for programming the barrier operator controller to compare characteristics of the monitored barrier run over the defined travel path with the characteristics of a good barrier run without interruption to barrier travel, with the degree of differentiation of such characteristics determinative of whether the operator controller is to interrupt barrier travel or not.

A system controls opening/closing of a power swinging door, e.g., in a vehicle, and includes a rotary actuator, position sensor, and controller. In a controller-executed method, the actuator applies torque to the door in response to control signals. The controller uses a measured raw angular position from the sensor to determine wind- or grade-based external forces acting on the door during opening or closing, and adjusts the actuator torque in response to the external forces. The sensor may be a rotary encoder, with the actuator being an electric motor. Lookup tables contain data relating oscillation to the external forces. The controller may induce door oscillation and to relate oscillation decay to the external forces. An obstacle-based current threshold may be adjusted in response to the external forces.

Provided is a safety power window controlling method including an operation in which a ripple current detector detects a ripple current by removing high-frequency noise from an output current signal of a four-pole stator motor; an operation in which an amplifier receives a ripple current as a first input signal, receives a reference voltage as a second input signal, and outputs an amplified current signal obtained by amplifying the first input signal to a level of the reference voltage; and detecting the amplified current signal output by the amplifier as a valid signal by using at least two preset reference values.

A method is provided, including providing an accelerometer responsive to motion of a closure forming part of an automatic closure system, providing an output of the accelerometer to first and second comparator circuits, the first comparator circuit having a first reference voltage such that the output of the first comparator circuit is indicative of a direction of closure motion and the second comparator circuit having an adjustable second reference voltage such that the output of the second comparator circuit is scaled relative to this adjustable second reference voltage to adjust the sensitivity of the output of the second comparator, providing a microcontroller coupled to the first and second comparator circuits, the microcontroller determining both a motion sequence of the closure and whether the closure has impacted an object, and providing an interface circuit for communicating the output from the microcontroller to a remote controller circuit.

A controller for controlling a motor of a closure and/or blind in a vehicle body is configured to determine a reference state signal comprising speed and/or current measurements, repeatedly estimate motor model parameters of the motor, determine an estimated state signal based on an input signal comprising measurements or estimates of a voltage, the estimated motor model parameters, the reference state signal and an error signal, the error signal representing a difference between the reference state signal and the estimated state signal, determine a disturbance observer signal from the error signal, compute a first derivative of the disturbance observer signal at a present moment, and reverse the motor upon determining that the first derivative of the disturbance observer signal exceeds a threshold.