Steering control system
AssigneeZF Automotive UK Limited
InventorTamas Terdy
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A steering control system for a vehicle comprising a steering input member controlled by a driver of the vehicle comprises a steering sensor for generating an electrical signal as a function of the position of the input member. The steering control system further comprises a steering actuator which operates on the steered wheels of the vehicle as a function of the electrical signal generated by the steering sensor. A steering controller receives the electrical signal generated by the steering sensor and provides a current to the steering actuator in order to operate on the steered wheels. An accumulation counter is operatively connected with the steering controller and is configured to calculate and record the accumulated workload of the steering controller by accumulating instantaneous workloads throughout operation thereof.
Claims24
A steering control system for a vehicle, comprising:
- a steering input member;
- a steering sensor configured to generate an electrical signal as a function of a position of the steering input member;
- a steering actuator configured to operate on steered wheels of the vehicle as a function of the electrical signal;
- a steering controller configured to receive the electrical signal and provide current to the steering actuator;
- and
- an accumulation counter comprising at least one electronic processor and a non-transitory memory storing executable instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the accumulation counter to:
- (i) determine an instantaneous workload value for the steering controller;
- (ii) obtain a torque value represented by the electrical signal and an operational temperature of the steering controller;
- (iii) determine a torque weighting factor from a first lookup table indexed by the torque value and a temperature weighting factor from a second lookup table indexed by the operational temperature;
- (iv) form a weighted workload unit by multiplying the instantaneous workload value by the torque weighting factor and the temperature weighting factor;
- and (v) integrate the weighted workload unit over time to calculate and record an overall accumulated workload of the steering controller.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.