Electromotive power steering

Electromotive power steering for a motor vehicle, having an electronic control device containing a bridge circuit, for the purpose of commutation of the winding phases of the electric motor, the electric motor being an electronically commutated series motor or a reluctance motor in which, on the stator, each of the coils (a, b, c, d) of the winding phases (1, 2, 3) encloses a plurality of stator teeth or one stator tooth, and each of the coils of the excitation winding of the rotor encloses a rotor tooth (9), and the winding phases are during operation of the motor in contact with a current source wherein in each instance formation of a central pole to the rotor occurs, and wherein, for the purpose of detecting an error event in the electronic control unit, signals from a torque sensor provided on the steering column are used simultaneously, such signals being conducted for the purpose of evaluation to the control unit of the electronic control device, and in the event of an error the series motor is separated from the current source by means of short-circuiting of the current source downstream from a safety device by means of a thyristor.

An electromotive power steering for a motor vehicle comprising:

• a reluctance motor comprising:
• a stator having at least four poles and a plurality of winding phases, each winding phase comprising four coils and three stator teeth, wherein adjacent winding phases share a common coil a rotor having eight poles on a shaft, such that pole formation toward the rotor takes place on every third stator tooth by two-thirds of the field of the coils, and a thyristor downstream from a safety device, wherein said reluctance motor is operatively decoupled from a current source by means of short-circuiting by means of the thyristor.