Patent ID: 8633664
Filing Date: 2014-01-21
Classification: B62D,H02M

Abstract:
1. A motor control apparatus for a motor having phase windings in correspondence to a plurality of phases, the motor control apparatus comprising: an inverter circuit for supplying current to the windings, the inverter circuit having a plurality of switching elements forming an element pair of a high-side switching element and a low-side switching element connected in series for each phase of the windings, the high-side switching element being provided at a high potential side and the low-side switching element being provided at a low potential side; a power supply on/off switching circuit for switching on/off state of the switching element; a current detection sensor for detecting current flowing in the low-side switching element, the current detection sensor being connected to the low-side switching element at a position opposite to the high-side switching element; and a control circuit for controlling the power supply on/off switching circuit, the control circuit including a failure detection section for detecting failure of the element pair based on current values detected by the current detection sensors at timing when one of the high-side switching elements and the low-side switching elements are all turned off and the other of the high-side switching elements and the low-side switching elements are all turned on, wherein the failure detection section is configured to compare a first current value and a second current value of a predetermined phase with a threshold value, and determine that both of the high-side switching element and the low-side switching element in the predetermined phase have short-circuit failure when both the first current value and the second current value are greater than the threshold value, the first current value being detected by the current detection sensor when all the high-side switching elements are turned off and all the low-side switching elements are turned on, and the second current value being detected by the current detection sensor when all the high-side switching elements are turned on and all the low-side switching elements are turned off.