An electronic control unit diagnoses a short failure of an inverter FETs and diagnoses whether the failure of the FET-short detecting section has occurred. The unit controls a motor through an inverter including a bridge having an upper-stage FETs and a lower-stage FETs via an MCU, having: an FET-short detecting section to detect a short failure of the upper-stage FETs and the lower-stage FETs based on respective connection point voltages of the upper-stage FETs and the lower-stage FETs; and a diagnostic function to detect a failure of the FET-short detecting section. The diagnostic function diagnoses the failure of the FET-short detecting section at start up and turns-OFF the upper-stage FETs and the lower-stage FETs when the failure is detected. The FET-short detecting section diagnoses the short failure of the upper-stage FETs and the lower-stage FETs when the failure of the FET-short detecting section is not detected.

A control unit determines a presence or absence of a short-circuit failure with respect to a target switch which is a phase-opening switch to be determined. At this time, after opening all the phase opening switches, the control unit drives an inverter to connect a power supply line provided with the target switch among the phase opening switches to ground. The control unit determines that the target switch has a short-circuit failure when a voltage of the power supply line in which the target switch is not provided is smaller than a predetermined voltage.

A power converter to convert power from a power supply into power supplied to a motor including n-phase windings, where n is an integer of 3 or more, in which first ends thereof are Y-connected and includes an inverter connected to second ends of the n-phase windings, a phase separation relay circuit to switch connection and disconnection between the power supply and the n-phase windings for each phase, a neutral point leg connected to a neutral point node of the motor, in which the first ends of the n-phase windings are Y-connected, and a neutral point separation relay circuit to switch connection and disconnection between the power supply and the neutral point node.

A method of controlling a vehicle having an electric power steering system includes generating a plurality of possible routes. Each of the plurality of possible routes that require a steering torque that is within an available torque range is identified as a system compliant route. Each of the plurality of possible routes that require an angular position of an electric motor of the electric power steering system at all time indices throughout that route that are within an available motor position range are also identified as a system compliant route. One of the identified system compliant routes is selected based on at least one selection criteria, and designated as an active route. The electric power steering system is then controlled to maneuver the vehicle along the active route. The electric power steering system is monitored as the vehicle moves along the active route to identify degradation of its capabilities.

Technical solutions are described for estimating handwheel angle of a steering wheel of a vehicle based on road wheel rotational speed data. In one or more examples, the technical solutions are used when the vehicle does not have a sensor to measure the handwheel angle, or if the handwheel angle sensor is faulted and unable to provide data on the actual handwheel angle.

An electric power conversion apparatus includes a first inverter electrically connected to one end of each of phase windings of a motor, and a second inverter electrically connected to the other end of each of the phase windings, and a neutral point potential setting circuit electrically connected to the first inverter to set a potential of a neutral point in the first inverter when the first inverter is determined to be in an abnormal state.

A motor driving device is operable with low current consumption at low cost and can be started up without delay. The motor driving device includes inverter circuits, relay circuits, power supply stabilizing capacitors, pre-charge circuits, and a control unit. The inverter circuits individually drive coil sets of a motor. Each relay circuit is provided between a power supply and a corresponding one of the inverter circuits. Each capacitor is provided between a corresponding one of the relay circuits and a corresponding one of the inverter circuits. The pre-charge circuits, which are provided corresponding individually to the capacitors, each charge a corresponding one of the capacitors before the relay circuits are driven. The control unit controls the pre-charge circuits so that the pre-charge circuits charge the capacitors at mutually different timings or alternately when failure diagnosis is performed on the relay circuits.

The present disclosure relates to an apparatus and method for controlling a motor in which a failure has occurred in a vehicle steering system. A vehicle motor control apparatus according to an embodiment may include a motor failure sensor configured to determine whether a failure has occurred in a motor based on information of a current flowing in each phase of the motor provided in a vehicle steering system, and a motor controller configured to apply a demagnetization current to the motor for permanently demagnetizing the magnet in the motor when the failure has occurred in the motor. Accordingly, a driver is capable of performing stable steering even when the motor has failed.

A motor control apparatus and method for a vehicle. A motor includes windings respectively including coils. Inverters supply electric power to one of the windings to drive the motor. Controllers control the inverters to control the operation of the motor. The windings, the inverters and the controllers are set as a plurality of power supply lines respectively including a winding, an inverter and a controller. One of the power supply lines, in which at least one of the winding, the inverter or the controller has malfunctioned, is determined as having malfunctioned. Electric power that has been supplied via the power supply line determined as having malfunctioned is controlled to supplement power of another power supply line. Redundancy is obtained in the operation of a variety of motors provided in the vehicle, and the vehicle travels reliably.

A method for vehicle stabilization includes, in response to a determination that a fault occurred in a rear steering mechanism, identifying a fault type associated with the fault. The method also includes determining whether a position of a rack of the rear steering mechanism is controllable based on the fault type. The method also includes, in response to a determination that the position of the rack is controllable, selectively positioning the rack to a center position and holding, using a motor control system of the rear steering mechanism, the rack in the center position. The method also includes, in response to a determination that the position of the rack is not controllable, holding, using the motor control system of the rear steering mechanism, the rack in a current position.