Performant Mechatronic Drives for AFS

Herbert Trummer, SONCEBOZ SA Keywords: Motors, Actuators, Position Sensors, Mechatronics, Weight / Size Reduction 1 Introduction The individual design of the car front but also various technical functions are the drivers for the design progress of headlamp systems. With further development of adaptive Front light Systems, there will be more motors and actuators in the headlamp to perform the different movements for the bending light, adaptive lighting, levelling, variable hi/low beam etc. These new functions require possibly higher duty cycles and higher loads i.e. for LED modules which lead to more powerful motion drives. Design aspects and new technical functions make that space becomes more and more valuable in the front part of a car. Due to safety requirements like for example pedestrian friendly headlamps (EU directive 2003/102/EC), space for controlled displacement to absorb impact energy is extremely important . Moreover car manufacturers are looking for potentials of weight reduction due to the necessity to reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. A study of the IFEU in Heidelberg says that 10kg less weight reduces CO2 emission by approx. 1g/km. In order to full the increased specication and at the same time to reduce the overall size and the weight of the components of a front light system, higher efciency of motors and actuators over the whole temperature range and integrated mechatronic drives may well be a good solution. 2 The challenge at very low temperature The different motors and actuators in a modern front light system must guarantee correct movements over a wide temperature range from -40 to + 130C. An ideal motor or actuator would need to have a constant torque respectively force over the whole temperature range. In reality, various factors, especially mechanical one reduce the torque/force quite considerably. Thats the reason why most electrical motors or actuators are strongly oversized for normal function temperature. Therefore they full the torque or force specication at -40C but induce a higher weight and space requirement.
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Figure 1: Typical force vs temperature curve of a Linear Actuator for Levelling

2.1 Higher force at -40C One of the main reasons for the torque / force drop at very low temperature is the viscosity of typical lubricants in bearings. The high viscosity of the grease at very low temperature may increase the residual torque of a ball bearing by a factor two. Special Silicon based lubricants would offer low residual torque but they are not allowed due to their out-gassing characteristics, which can damage reectors of the lighting system. A possible way forward is to apply a patented alternative bearing concept employing pivot bearings instead of ball bearings. The lead screw or the motor shaft has spherical pivots on their ends which are held between springs. The very small contact surface linking the pivots and springs guarantees a low residual torque which is not inuenced by increasing viscosity of grease. At very low temperatures a linear actuator with pivot bearing for LVL or DBL application has output forces more than 2 times higher than the same version with ball bearings. Thus its possible to full the specication with a motor of smaller size. In some applications the specication may be fullled using a motor with a diameter of 25mm instead of 35mm. In such a case the effect is about 45% less weight which represents up to 60 g for a LVL actuator. This may seem little, but multiplied by 6 motors or actuators, two headlamp units could produce a saving of about 0.36 kg.

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Figure 2: Force increase by factor 2.4. at -40C with Levelling actuator with pivot bearing

3 Size reduction through integration Motors and actuators have important interactions with other components of the head lamp system. On the electrical side we have motor controllers which may be integrated into the head lamp or centralized in an external controller. Several functions require sensors for position feedback for reference or even the absolute position. Finally there is a mechanical interface between the head lamp mechanics and the motor or actuator. Taking of-the-shelf-components and assembling them to the complete system is one possibility to realize the different motion elements. However expensive cabling and space consuming construction may result. Higher integration of actuator, sensor and electronics allow a reduction in space as well as cabling, calibration and mounting costs.

Figure 3: Xenon Headlight with high integrated DBL Actuator including Sensor and Driver electronics.

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An integrated design that allows direct contact of the motor, position sensor, motor driver and the connector with one single PCB makes it possible to reduce the overall volume by about 20% compared with a solution based on single components.

Figure 4: Integrated Actuator solution with sensor and driver for minimal space requirement

4 Position Sensors In a head lamp system there are linear as well as rotary movements to control. Due to aspects like higher safety or precision, and for On-Board Diagnostics OBD it may be necessary to have a position feedback signal. Depending on the function these signals may range from a simple digital reference point to a precise absolute position feedback. Besides the functional aspects and technical specication there are other requirements: Simple and low cost design Non sensitive to temperature and other environmental inuences Variable angle or stroke for absolute position Non Contact for high life expectancy While the reference point signal is rather easy to realize by using a bipolar magnet and a digital Hall probe, absolute position sensors are more challenging. Using a patented solution (based on a moving magnet with a sinusoidal shape or a sinusoidal magnetization and a Hall probe giving two signals with a phase shift of 90), robust and precise sensors can be made.

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Figure 5: Absolute position sensor using magnets with sinusoidal magnetization

Figure 6: Absolute position sensor using magnets with sinusoidal shape for linear or rotary movements

The induction B varies as a function of the movement of the magnet with sinusoidal shape. Thus the two output signals of the Hall probe Bx and Bz with a 90 phase shift are generated.

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Figure 7: Absolute position output signal Bx/Bz based on angle of the magnetic eld for high immunity

The measuring mode based on the angle of the magnetic eld of the absolute position sensor makes the system highly insensitive to temperature effects and mechanical tolerances. The achievable intrinsic non-linearity is typically better than +/- 0.5 % of the full stroke. Integration of the position sensor into the actuator or motor may lead to improved precision, smaller size and simpler cabling. 5 Conclusion Todays designers of moving parts in headlamp system are under pressure due to demands of increasing performance, dynamics and reliability and reduction of size, weight and cost. An integrated approach with mechatronic systems, innovative solutions like the pivot bearing or the integration of new sensor concepts, may help to cut the Gordian knot. 6 References Hella KGaA Hueck & Co, Technical Information Light Pedestrian Protection. Studie zum Potential des Leichtbaus zur Reduktion des Transportenergiekonsums Institut fr Energie- und Umweltforschung Heidelberg GmbH (IFEU). Linear Actuator of the screw-nut type. Sonceboz SA MMT Moving Magnet Technologies (FR) Besanon (Member of Sonceboz Group)

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