Systems and methods for detecting magnetic turn counter errors with redundancy are provided. In one aspect, a magnetic field turn sensor system includes a magnetic field angle sensor having a sine bridge and a cosine bridge and first to third comparators configured to compare the outputs from the sine and cosine bridges. The system further includes a processor configured to receive outputs from each of the first to third comparators, determine that a combination of the outputs from the first to third comparators corresponds to an invalid state, and indicate a fault in response to determining that the combination of the outputs from the first to third comparators corresponds to the invalid state.

An actuator according to an embodiment includes a first rotating body that is rotatable around an input axis and includes a first groove part extending in a first direction, a second rotating body that is rotatable around an output axis and includes a second protruding part extending in a second direction substantially perpendicular to the first direction, a strain body that includes a first protruding part capable of being engaged with a first groove part through a gap whose direction is vertical to that of the input axis and a second groove part capable of being engaged with a second protruding part through a gap whose direction is vertical to that of the output axis and transmits a rotational torque of the input axis to the output axis, and a detection element that is attached to the strain body.

A torque sensor unit includes two magnetic angle sensors capable of detecting absolute rotation angles of a shaft member which indicate a twist angle of the shaft member when the shaft member is twisted. The shaft member has two end portions exposed to outside so that the shaft member can be connected at the two end portions to shaft-forming parts of a device.

A torque sensor includes an input rotation component, which rotates with a steering column input shaft and is provided with a first conducting part, an output rotation component which rotates with a steering column output shaft and is provided with a second conducting part, and an electromagnetic carrier positioned in a positionally fixed manner and provided with a magnetic field generating component and a magnetic field detection component. The magnetic field generating component generates a magnetic field penetrating the first conducting part and the second conducting part, the magnetic field detection component detects a change in the magnetic field caused by a change in the positions of the first and second conducting parts in the magnetic field when the steering column is under torsional stress, and the steering torque is determined on the basis of the detected change in the magnetic field.

[Problem]

An object of the present invention is to provide an electric power steering apparatus that achieves desired steering feeling by controlling a column angle to follow a value corresponding to a steering angle and vehicle information, and that is not affected by variations in manufacturing, changes due to aging or the like of a vehicle and a steering system.

[Means for Solving the Problem]

An electric power steering apparatus that calculates a current command value based on at least a steering torque, and assists and controls a steering system by driving a motor based on the current command value, comprises a target column angle calculating section that calculates a target column angle based on a steering angle and vehicle information, and a column angle control section that calculates the current command value based on the target column angle and a detected actual column angle; and performs angle control of making a column angle a value corresponding to the steering angle and the vehicle information.

A printed circuit board may include a top side, a bottom side, and a circumferential surface that connects the top side to the bottom side. The circumferential surface may have a toothing for forming a gear wheel. The toothing may be circumferentially closed and may be arranged over an entire surface area of the circumferential surface. The toothing may be configured as an involute toothing, an epicycloid toothing, a hypocycloid toothing, or a lantern gear toothing. The printed circuit board may be formed of fiber-reinforced plastic. Further, the printed circuit board may include a track, a surface structure, and/or a conductor track configured for inductive sampling, capacitive sampling, optical sampling, and/or acoustic sampling.

A vehicle comprising an electric power assist steering (EPAS) system, wherein the EPAS system is configured to receive a detected value of steering wheel angle and/or steering wheel angular velocity and wherein the EPAS system is configured to improve the accuracy of the detected value of steering wheel angle and/or steering wheel angular velocity by compensating for any one or more of an angular phasing of the joint between any two linked components of the steering mechanism and the effect on steering wheel angle of the deflection across a torque sensor at least substantially due to the stiffness of that torque sensor.

Aspects of this disclosure relate to a magnetic sensor system for measuring any desired combination of measuring torque, rotation angle, and turn count of a shaft. The shaft may include two portions connected by a torsion element. The system can measure rotation angle using a magnetic target coupled to the shaft that produces a magnetic field that varies as a function of rotation angle. The system can measure torque applied to the shaft by measuring the difference in rotation angles between the two portions of the shaft and factoring in a torsion coefficient. The system can track a turn count of the shaft using a multi-turn sensor. The magnetic sensor system may be part of an electric power assisted steering (EPAS) system.

An angle sensor unit for measuring a rotational angle of a steering shaft may include a two-pole magnet that is disposed at one end of the steering shaft and has two poles that are opposite one another relative to a magnetic axis corresponding to a rotational axis of the steering shaft, two magnetic-field-direction-dependent magnetic field sensors assigned to the magnet and arranged with their sensitive sensor faces parallel to the external face of the magnet and at two different distances from the magnet and centers of the magnetic field sensors being located on the magnetic axis, and an evaluation unit configured to determine a rotational angle based on signals of the two magnetic field sensors and magnetic flux density, which is respectively present in a region of the two magnetic field sensors, of the magnetic field originating from the magnet.

The present disclosure relates to a steering apparatus and a steering control method. A steering apparatus of the present disclosure comprises: a sensor which measures the steering angle on the basis of the torque of a steering wheel; a steering control module including one electronic control unit that controls a reaction force motor by using information on the steering angle measured by the sensor; and an auxiliary reaction force module which provides a reaction force to a steering shaft or a motor shaft by not applying a current from the electronic control unit during an abnormal operation of the electronic control unit.