Back to results
US 7,841,231 B2Granted
Steering angle sensing apparatus and method thereof
AssigneeLG Innotek Co., Ltd.
InventorsKyong Ho Kang, Choon Wook Park, Sung Kyu Bae, Chang Hwan Lee
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A steering angle sensing apparatus and method are provided. The apparatus and method sense the steering angle of a steering shaft by using a rotated bit value difference corresponding to the rotated angles of magnets, which are respectively coupled on an axis of one of a plurality of sub gears, when the sub gears with respectively different gear ratios rotate with a shaft gear that rotates together with the steering shaft.
Claims19
A steering angle sensing apparatus comprising:
- a shaft gear coupled to a steering shaft;
- a first sub gear rotating with the shaft gear;
- a second sub gear engaged with the first sub gear, and having a gear ratio different from a gear ratio of the first sub gear;
- a first magnet coupled on an axis of the first sub gear;
- a second magnet coupled on an axis of the second sub gear;
- a first and a second angle detecting portion spaced a predetermined distance respectively from the first and second magnets, and respectively outputting rotated hit values corresponding to rotated angles of the first and second magnets, wherein the first and second angle detecting portions are rotary hall integrated circuits;
- and
- a steering angle calculating portion that calculates a difference between the rotated bit values outputted by the first and second angle detecting portions, and multiplies a uniform gain value to the calculated difference between the rotated bit values to obtain an absolute steering angle,
- wherein the first sub gear is formed in the same horizontal plane as the second sub gear.
6 more elements
A steering angle sensing apparatus comprising:
- a first magnet rotating with a gear coupled to a steering shaft gear;
- a second magnet rotating at a rotation cycle different from the first magnet;
- a first angle detecting portion outputting a first rotated bit value corresponding to a change in a magnetic field of the rotating first magnet;
- a second angle detecting portion outputting a second rotated bit value corresponding to a change in a magnetic field of the rotating second magnet;
- a steering angle calculating portion calculating a steering angle using a difference between the first rotated bit value of the first angle detecting portion and the second rotated bit value of the second angle detecting portion;
- and
- a first sub gear engaged with the shaft gear and having the first magnet coupled on an axis thereof;
- wherein the steering angle calculating portion obtains a rotated bit difference value through subtracting a rotated bit value of a magnet from the first and second magnets having a larger rotation cycle from the rotated bit value of a magnet from the first and second magnets having a smaller rotation cycle, and obtains an absolute steering angle through multiplying a uniform gain value to the obtained rotated bit difference value.
5 more elements
A steering angle sensing method comprising:
- rotating a shaft gear coupled to a steering shaft;
- rotating a plurality of sub gears with mutually different gear ratios together with the shaft gear;
- outputting respective rotated bit values corresponding to changes in magnetic fields of a plurality of magnets, the magnets respectively coupled on an axis of each of the sub gears;
- and
- obtaining a steering angle of the steering shaft through using a difference in rotated bit values of the plurality of magnets,
- wherein the difference in rotated bit values is obtained through subtracting a rotated bit value of a magnet from the plurality of magnets with a longer cycle from a rotated bit value of a magnet from the plurality of magnets with a shorter cycle.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.