A steering system includes a mechanism configured to turn a steer wheel of a vehicle, a motor configured to generate driving force that is applied to the mechanism, and a controller configured to control the motor according to a steering status. The controller includes a limiting control circuit configured to limit a current that is supplied to the motor to a limiting value, a determining circuit configured to determine whether the steer wheel is in contact with an obstacle by using at least a comparison between a value of the current that is supplied to the motor and a threshold, and a threshold computing circuit configured to compute the threshold that is used by the determining circuit, the threshold computing circuit being configured to compute a value less than the limiting value according to the limiting value as the threshold.

The present disclosure is directed to a cooling system for a system, such as an electric power assisted steering (EPAS) system and the components of such system, such as a motor. The cooling system includes a temperature sensor coupled to an electric motor of the EPAS system, one or more fluid reservoirs, and a fluid transfer device coupled to the motor and to the first fluid reservoirs. The fluid transfer device extends along a length of the motor. The cooling system further includes a pump coupled to the fluid reservoir and the fluid transfer device, a control unit coupled to the sensor and the pump. The control unit is configured to activate the pump in response to temperature detected by the sensor being greater than or equal to a first threshold motor temperature. The pump transfers the fluid in the fluid reservoirs to the fluid transfer device for absorbing the heat of the motor. The fluid transfer device is configured to contain the transferred fluid.

A method for operating a motor vehicle, wherein the motor vehicle has a steering system for steering at least one wheel of the motor vehicle by means of a drive. In doing so, it is provided that a time span is determined for at least one countermeasure limiting a hazard to a vehicle occupant upon an at least partial failure of the steering system, within which time span the countermeasure deploys an effect, and that a state variable (T) influencing the operating capacity of the steering system is determined and extrapolated over time and a point in time (t.sub.1) is calculated in which the state variable (T) exceeds a limit value (T.sub.1), wherein the countermeasure is introduced when the point in time (t.sub.1) is less than the time span in the future.

An electric power steering system with a worm gear includes a worm shaft and a worm wheel, wherein an electric motor is associated with the worm shaft, which is connected to the worm shaft in a force-transmitting manner. A bearing element, arranged on the worm shaft at the end of the worm shaft facing away from the electric motor, is received in a guide bush, wherein the guide bush has, on its circumferential side, a passage opening. It is provided a pre-tensioning device comprising a spring-loaded actuator element extending through the passage opening of the guide bush and acting on the worm shaft in the direction of the worm wheel with a defined pre-tensioning force (K), wherein the pre-tensioning device comprises a limiting device which is adapted to limit a pivoting movement that displaces the worm wheel away from the worm shaft. Furthermore, it is proposed a method for the production of steering systems and a test system for performing the method.

A system includes a steering-system motor, a first ECU and a second ECU each electrically connected to the steering-system motor, a communication line directly communicatively connecting the first ECU and the second ECU, and a gateway module communicatively connecting the first ECU to a CAN bus and communicatively connecting the second ECU to the CAN bus. The first ECU is programmed to, upon detecting a fault, transmit a fault code to the second ECU via the communication line and via the gateway module. The second ECU is programmed to, upon detecting a fault, transmit a fault code to the first ECU via the communication line and via the gateway module.

A steering system to steer wheels by a movement of a steering shaft, including: the steering shaft; an electric motor; a converter configured to convert a rotational motion of the motor into the movement of the steering shaft; a motor rotation angle obtainer configured to obtain a motor rotation angle from a zero point position; a movement-amount-related-amount obtainer configured to obtain a movement-amount-related amount that is a movement amount of the steering shaft from a neutral position or a physical amount in a one-to-one correspondence with the movement amount; and a controller including a malfunction detector configured to detect a presence or absence of a malfunction of the converter in a mode that differs depending on a temperature state of the steering system, based on the motor rotation angle from the zero point position obtained by the motor rotation angle obtainer and the movement-amount-related amount obtained by the movement-amount-related-amount obtainer.

The present disclosure relates to a steering control apparatus and method. The steering control apparatus includes a first steering control module and a second steering control module. The first and second steering control modules respectively include first and second temperature sensors detecting respective internal temperatures of the first and second steering control modules. The first steering control module can transmit information on a first temperature detected by the first temperature sensor to the second steering control module, and the second steering control module can receive the information on the first temperature and transmit information on a second temperature detected by the second temperature sensor. The first and second steering control modules can transition according to the information on the first and second temperatures, and the first steering control module or the second steering control module can control a steering motor.

A motor controller includes individual drive circuits, a plurality of energization systems, and a processing circuit that outputs a plurality of individual control signals. The processing circuit executes a first calculation process, a second calculation process, a third calculation process, and a fourth calculation process for each of the energization systems. The first calculation process is a process of calculating individual current command values. The second calculation process is a process of calculating the estimated temperatures of protection targets. The third calculation process is a process of calculating individual limit values. The fourth calculation process is a process of calculating the individual control signals based on the individual current command values that are limited by the individual limit values. The processing circuit calculates the estimated temperatures of the protection targets where current of a target system flows.

A method of controlling a motor, for example of an electric power steering system, includes receiving a motor torque demand signal indicative of a torque required from the motor. A current demand signal indicative of the currents to be applied to each phase to meet the torque demand is generated from the motor torque demand signal. One or more operational values from the motor are determined. The current demand signal is set as a function of one or more parameters of the motor obtained by fitting a flux linkage model to the measured operational values. A motor circuit having the permanent magnet electric motor includes a control stage arranged to generate the current demand signal in response to a torque demanded of the motor. A modifying means modifies the magnitude and/or the phase of the current demanded for each phase of the motor by the controller.

A steering apparatus and method for a vehicle. Steering controllers are connected via an internal communications network. Each of the steering controllers monitors the operating state of another steering controller using the internal communications network, so that, if one of the steering controllers currently controlling the steering motor operates abnormally, the steering motor is controlled by at least one steering controller of the remaining steering controllers.