Active vibration insulator
View Patent ↗An active vibration insulator includes an electromagnetic actuator, a control-signals generating device, a driver, a calculator, and a judging device. The electromagnetic actuator generates vibrating forces depending on electric-current supplies. The control-signals generating device generates cyclic control signals based on cyclic pulsating signals output from a vibration generating source of a vehicle. The cyclic control signals actively inhibit vibrations generated by the vibration generating source from transmitting to a specific part of the vehicle. The driver drives the electromagnetic actuator by making the electric-current supplies variable based on the cyclic control signals. The calculator calculates an estimated transfer function composed of estimated values of a transfer function for a transfer system including the electromagnetic actuator and the driver. The judging device judges an inoperative malfunction of the electromagnetic actuator based the estimated transfer function.
1. An active vibration insulator, comprising:
an electromagnetic actuator for generating vibrating forces depending on supplied electric current;
a control-signal generator for generating cyclic control signals based on cyclic pulsating signals output from a vibration generating source of a vehicle, the cyclic control signals actively inhibiting vibrations generated by the vibration generating source from transmitting to a specific part of the vehicle;
a driver for driving the electromagnetic actuator by varying the supplied electric current based on the cyclic control signals;
a calculator for calculating an estimated transfer function composed of estimated values of a transfer function for a transfer system including the electromagnetic actuator and the driver; and
a judge controller for judging an inoperative malfunction of the electromagnetic actuator based on the estimated transfer function.
2. The active vibration insulator set forth in claim 1 further comprising a first-datum-value storage for storing a datum gain threshold value for gain components of the estimated transfer function in advance, wherein:
the judge controller judges that the electromagnetic actuator is under the inoperative malfunction when the gain components of the estimated transfer function are smaller than the datum gain threshold value.
3. The active vibration insulator set forth in claim 1 further comprising a second-datum-value storage for storing a datum phase range for phase components of the estimated transfer function in advance, wherein:
the judge controller judges that the electromagnetic actuator is under the inoperative malfunction when the phase components of the estimated transfer function fall outside the datum phase range.
4. The active vibration insulator set forth in claim 1 , wherein:
the control-signal generator generates cyclic inspection signals composed of cyclic signals whose frequency is from 0 to 30 Hz, and outputs the cyclic inspection signals to the driver; and
the active vibration insulator further comprising a detector for detecting driving waveforms of the electromagnetic actuator driven by the driver based on the cyclic inspection signals, wherein:
the calculator calculates the estimated transfer function based on the cyclic inspection signals and the driving waveforms.
5. The active vibration insulator set forth in claim 4 , wherein:
the cyclic inspection signals are composed of inspection signals whose amplitude is a predetermined amplitude or less.
6. The active vibration insulator set forth in claim 4 , wherein:
the cyclic inspection signals last for inspection-signal times which fall within a predetermined period of time.
7. The active vibration insulator set forth in claim 2 , wherein:
the first datum-value storage stores a plurality of the gain threshold values which differ depending on vehicle conditions; and
the judge controller judges that the electromagnetic actuator is under the inoperative malfunction when the gain components of the estimated transfer function are smaller than the datum gain threshold values, which correspond to the vehicle conditions when the calculator calculates the estimated transfer function.
8. The active vibration insulator set forth in claim 3 , wherein:
the second-datum-value storage stores a plurality of the datum phase ranges
which differ depending on vehicle conditions; and
the judge controller judges that the electromagnetic actuator is under the inoperative malfunction when the phase components of the estimated transfer function fall outside the datum phase ranges, which correspond to the vehicle conditions when the calculator calculates the estimated transfer function.
9. The active vibration insulator set forth in claim 1 , wherein:
the calculator calculates the estimated transfer function after an ignition switch of the vehicle is turned on.
10. The active vibration insulator set forth in claim 9 , wherein:
the calculator calculates the estimated transfer function when an ignition switch of the vehicle is turned on.
11. The active vibration insulator set forth in claim 9 , wherein:
the calculator calculates the estimated transfer function when the vehicle is under idling.
12. The active vibration insulator set forth in claim 9 , wherein:
to calculator calculates the estimated transfer function after a predetermined time has passed since an ignition switch of the vehicle is turned on and when the vehicle is under idling.