Method for controlling the operation and continuous current mode of a drive assembly for a motor vehicle provided with an internal combustion engine

1. A control method for a vehicle drive assembly, comprising:

applying a conduction angle set point value greater than 180° to a variable reluctance machine to operate the machine in a continuous current mode, the angle being adjusted according to a stability control measurement of operating stability of the machine in the continuous current mode, the stability control measurement being carried out using an estimation of phase flux, and the stability measurement being a control measurement of the flux according to which a difference between a value of a set point flux and a value of estimated flux is measured;

correcting the difference between the set point flux and the estimated flux to determine an additional conduction angle; and

adding 180° to the additional conduction angle to determine the adjusted conduction angle set point value to apply to the machine.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the phase flux is estimated by integrating a voltage applied to a phase in an electrical period according to Φestimated=∫(U phase −R phase ·I phase )dt, where R phase designates resistance of a stator winding, U phase phase voltage, and I phase phase current.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2 , wherein a direct measurement of the phase voltage is carried out.

4. The method as claimed in claim 2 , wherein a start and end of magnetization control instructions and the phase current are used to determine the phase voltage, the phase voltage being equal to power supply voltage during a magnetization time, to a demagnetization time, and to zero during free-wheeling phases or when the phase current is zero.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the flux estimation is periodically updated using a measured flux value.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the flux estimation is realigned, in each electrical period, at a time of transition to opposition, on value L 0 ·I phase , where L 0 is inductance in opposition and I phase is current measured at an instant of the transition to opposition.

7. A control method for a vehicle drive assembly, comprising:

applying a conduction angle set point value greater than 180° to a variable reluctance machine to operate the machine in a continuous current mode, the angle being adjusted according to a stability control measurement of operating stability of the machine in the continuous current mode, wherein the stability measurement is a control measurement of torque according to which a difference between a value of a set point torque value and an estimated torque value obtained from an estimation of flux is calculated;

correcting the difference between the set point torque value and the estimated torque value to determine an additional conduction angle; and

adding 180° to the additional conduction angle to determine the adjusted conduction angle set point value to apply to the machine.

8. The method as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the torque value is estimated, using the flux estimation, by calculating a difference between energy transmitted in a magnetization phase and energy returned in a demagnetization phase.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the correcting is performed by a corrector provided with a correction law suitable for modifying the conduction angle set point value applied to the machine so as to make the difference zero.

10. The method as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the correction law is of proportional-integral type.

11. The method as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the conduction angle set point value calculated from the flux estimation calculated in a preceding electrical period is applied to the machine over an electrical period.

12. The method as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the flux estimation value in a first period can be imposed on a predetermined value, the predetermined value being a flux value obtained for a conduction angle of 180°.

13. A drive assembly for a motor vehicle, comprising:

an internal combustion engine;

a variable reluctance machine; and

a control unit,

wherein the control unit is configured to apply to the machine a conduction angle set point value greater than 180° for an operation of the machine in a continuous current mode which is adjusted according to a control measurement of operating stability of the machine in the continuous current mode, the stability control measurement being carried out using an estimation of phase flux, and the stability measurement being a control measurement of the flux according to which a difference between a value of a set point flux and a value of estimated flux is measured,

wherein the control unit is configured to correct the difference between the set point flux and the estimated flux to determine an additional conduction angle, and

wherein the control unit is configured to add 180° to the additional conduction angle to determine the adjusted conduction angle set point value to apply to the machine.

14. A vehicle, comprising:

an assembly as claimed in claim 13 .

15. The method as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the flux is estimated by integrating a voltage applied to a phase in an electrical period according to Φestimated=∫(U phase −R phase ·I phase )dt, where R phase designates resistance of a stator winding, U phase phase voltage, and I phase phase current.

16. The method as claimed in claim 15 , wherein a direct measurement of the phase voltage is carried out.

17. The method as claimed in claim 15 , wherein a start and end of magnetization control instructions and the phase current are used to determine the phase voltage, the phase voltage being equal to power supply voltage during a magnetization time, to a demagnetization time, and to zero during free-wheeling phases or when the phase current is zero.

18. The method as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the flux estimation is periodically updated using a measured flux value and the flux estimation is realigned, in each electrical period, at a time of transition to opposition, on value L 0 ·I phase , where L 0 is inductance in opposition and I phase is current measured at an instant of the transition to opposition.

19. A drive assembly for a motor vehicle, comprising:

an internal combustion engine;

a variable reluctance machine; and

a control unit,

wherein the control unit is configured to apply to the machine a conduction angle set point value greater than 180° for an operation of the machine in a continuous current mode which is adjusted according to a control measurement of operating stability of the machine in the continuous current mode, the stability control measurement being carried out using an estimation of torque, and the stability measurement being a control measurement of the torque according to which a difference between a value of a set point torque and a value of estimated torque is measured,

wherein the control unit is configured to correct the difference between the set point torque and the estimated torque to determine an additional conduction angle, and

wherein the control unit is configured to add 180° to the additional conduction angle to determine the adjusted conduction angle set point value to apply to the machine.