Control system

Abstract

To provide a control system capable of achieving both intermittent operation of a communication relay and appropriate control of an on-vehicle device (an auxiliary battery, and the like) in a configuration in which communication of information on control of the on-vehicle device is performed between devices via the communication relay.SOLUTION: A control system mounted on a vehicle to control an on-vehicle device includes: a first control device for acquiring a state of the on-vehicle device and transmitting information based on the state of the on-vehicle device; a second control device for receiving the information from the first control device and controlling the on-vehicle device on the basis of the information; and a communication relay for relaying communication of the information between the first control device and the second control device. The communication relay stops relay operation intermittently while the vehicle is parked. While the communication relay is operating, the second control device performs control based on the information received from the first control device via the communication relay. While the communication relay is stopped, the second control device maintains control performed immediately before the communication relay is stopped.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a control system mounted on a vehicle.

Background Art

[0002] Patent Document 1 discloses a vehicle power supply system including a high-voltage battery (first power storage device) that stores power for traveling and an accessory battery (second power storage device) that stores power for accessories. In this power supply system, the power storage amount of the accessory battery is monitored while the vehicle is parked, and when the power storage amount of the accessory battery decreases, the accessory battery is charged with the power of the high-voltage battery to prevent the accessory battery from discharging.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] In order to appropriately perform the charging control of the accessory battery using the power of the high-voltage battery, it is necessary to provide information on the accessory battery to the device that controls this charging. This information on the accessory battery is directly transmitted and received by a wiring (twisted pair wire) connecting the device that acquires this information and the device that controls the battery charging, or is transmitted and received by communication using a communication network including both devices.

[0005] When transmitting and receiving auxiliary battery information between a device that acquires battery information using a communication network and a device that controls battery charging, a communication repeater may be inserted between these devices. This communication repeater is a device that requires power for the relay operation. Therefore, in a configuration where auxiliary battery information is communicated via a communication repeater, in order to prevent battery drainage in situations where power generation does not occur, such as when the vehicle is parked, it is desirable to intermittently operate the communication repeater to reduce power consumption as much as possible.

[0006] However, when the communication repeater is intermittently operated, the information on the auxiliary battery will not reach the device that controls battery charging from the device that acquires battery information during the period when the communication repeater is stopped, resulting in the problem that the charging control of the auxiliary battery cannot be appropriately implemented by the device that controls battery charging.

[0007] The present disclosure has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide a control system capable of achieving both intermittent operation of a communication repeater and appropriate control of in-vehicle devices in a configuration where information related to the control of in-vehicle devices (such as auxiliary batteries) is communicated between devices via the communication repeater.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0008] In order to solve the above problems, one aspect of the technology of the present disclosure is a control system mounted on a vehicle for controlling in-vehicle devices, including a first control device that acquires the state of the in-vehicle device and transmits information based on the state, a second control device that receives information from the first control device and controls the in-vehicle device based on the information of the in-vehicle device, and a communication repeater that relays the communication of information between the first control device and the second control device. When the vehicle is parked, the communication repeater intermittently stops the relay operation, and the second control device performs control based on the information received from the first control device via the communication repeater while the communication repeater is operating, and maintains the control immediately before the communication repeater stops while the communication repeater is stopped.

Effects of the Invention

[0009] According to the control system of the present disclosure, in a configuration where information related to the control of in-vehicle devices is communicated between devices via a communication relay, it is possible to achieve both the intermittent operation of the communication relay and the appropriate control of the in-vehicle devices.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0010]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[0011] When the control system according to the present disclosure manages the state of the auxiliary battery during parking, it performs charging control of the auxiliary battery based on the integrated value of all the currents that have flowed in and out so far, rather than the current flowing in and out of the auxiliary battery at present. Thereby, even if the provision (communication) of the integrated current value to the device in charge of the charging control of the auxiliary battery is temporarily interrupted, the charging control of the auxiliary battery can be appropriately performed based on the integrated current value when the provision (communication) resumes. Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[0012] <Embodiment> [Configuration] FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a control system 10 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure and its peripheral parts. The functional blocks shown in FIG. 1 include a control system 10, a high-voltage battery 20, an auxiliary battery 30, a DCDC converter 40, a battery sensor 50, and auxiliaries 60. The control system 10 includes a first control device 11, a second control device 12, and a communication relay 13.

[0013] In FIG. 1, the power lines for power transfer are shown as solid lines, and the signal lines through which detection values, calculation values, control instructions, etc. flow are shown as dashed lines. The control system 10 of this embodiment is mounted on vehicles such as hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), and battery electric vehicles (BEVs), for example.

[0014] The high-voltage battery 20 is a secondary battery configured to be chargeable and dischargeable, such as a lithium-ion battery, for example. This high-voltage battery 20 is a battery for supplying power to a high-voltage system including a so-called main machine (not shown) related to vehicle running, such as a driving electric motor. The high-voltage battery 20 is connected to the auxiliary battery 30 via the DCDC converter 40 so as to be able to charge the auxiliary battery 30.

[0015] The auxiliary battery 30 is a secondary battery configured to be chargeable and dischargeable, such as a lithium-ion battery, for example. This auxiliary battery 30 is a battery for supplying power to an auxiliary system including auxiliaries 60. Generally, the auxiliary battery 30 is set to have a lower rated voltage (e.g., 12V) than the high-voltage battery 20. The state of the auxiliary battery 30 is monitored by the battery sensor 50.

[0016] The DCDC converter 40 is a power converter capable of converting the input power into power of a predetermined voltage and outputting it. One end (primary side) of this DCDC converter 40 is connected to the high-voltage battery 20, and the other end (secondary side) is connected to the auxiliary battery 30. The operation of the DCDC converter 40 is controlled by the second control device 12 of the control system 10.

[0017] The battery sensor 50 is a sensor for detecting the state of the auxiliary battery 30. Examples of the state of the auxiliary battery 30 include physical quantities such as voltage, current, and temperature. The battery sensor 50 of the present embodiment at least detects the current (charging current, discharging current) flowing through the auxiliary battery 30. The state of the auxiliary battery 30 detected by this battery sensor 50 is acquired by the first control device 11 of the control system 10.

[0018] The auxiliaries 60 include so-called auxiliaries (not shown) such as equipment, electronic control units (ECUs), and systems that are not related to vehicle running. The auxiliaries 60 of the present embodiment include, for example, a drive recorder that causes power consumption of the auxiliary battery 30 event by event when recording starts while the vehicle is parked.

[0019] The control system 10 includes a first control device 11, a second control device 12, and a communication relay 13, and controls a specific in-vehicle device. The specific in-vehicle device can target various equipment, electronic control units (ECUs), and systems mounted on the vehicle. In the present embodiment, the control system 10 will be described by taking the case where the specific in-vehicle device is the auxiliary battery 30 as an example.

[0020] The first control device 11 is configured to acquire the current flowing through the auxiliary battery 30 detected by the battery sensor 50 and integrate the acquired current to obtain a current integration value. This first control device 11 is typically configured as an electronic control device (e.g., ZONE-ECU) including a processor such as a microcomputer, a memory, and an input / output interface. The integration of the current starts from 0 (zero) when the first control device 11 that has stopped (slept) during parking or the like wakes up, and continues until the first control device 11 stops again. The first control device 11 sends the current integration value obtained by itself to the communication relay 13. This sending is performed based on a predetermined period, timing, or the like during the period when the first control device 11 is operating.

[0021] The second control device 12 is configured to receive the current integration value requested by the first control device 11 from the communication relay 13 and control the operation of the DCDC converter 40 based on the received current integration value. This second control device 12 is typically configured as an electronic control device (e.g., HV-ECU) including a processor such as a microcomputer, a memory, and an input / output interface. Further, when the second control device 12 cannot receive the current integration value from the communication relay 13 due to the stop of the communication relay 13 (during communication interruption), it can control the operation of the DCDC converter 40 without relying on the current integration value.

[0022] The communication relay 13 is included in a communication network including the first control device 11 and the second control device 12, and is configured (e.g., as a gateway) to relay information communication between the first control device 11 and the second control device 12. The information relayed by the communication relay 13 in this embodiment is the current integration value requested by the first control device 11. This communication relay 13 performs an intermittent operation of repeating startup (wake-up) and stop (sleep) in a scenario where the auxiliary battery 30 cannot be charged by vehicle power generation during parking or power supply from an external power supply facility. This intermittent operation reduces the power consumption of the communication relay 13 and contributes to preventing the battery of the auxiliary battery 30 from running out. Note that while the communication relay 13 is stopped, the information relay operation is not performed (communication interruption).

[0023] In this embodiment, the interval of the intermittent operation performed by the communication relay 13 is set shorter than the intervals of the intermittent operations performed by the first control device 11 and the second control device 12. That is, the communication relay 13 performs at least one intermittent operation during the period when the first control device 11 and the second control device 12 are operating.

[0024] [Control] Next, with further reference to FIG. 2, the control performed in the control system 10 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described. FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the processing procedure of the auxiliary battery control executed by the control system 10.

[0025] The auxiliary battery control illustrated in FIG. 2 is started when a predetermined event that consumes the power of the auxiliary battery 30 occurs, such as when the vehicle is parked, and is continuously performed until the event ends. This event can be a discharging state in which a current equal to or greater than a predetermined value flows out from the auxiliary battery 30, and examples thereof include a scene where a drive recorder included in the accessories 60 starts recording. In response to the occurrence of this event, the first control device 11, the second control device 12, and the communication relay 13 are each activated (woken up).

[0026] (Step S201) The second control device 12 of the control system 10 sets an instruction voltage value for instructing the output voltage of the DCDC converter 40 to a predetermined initial value. When the initial value is set as the instruction voltage value of the DCDC converter 40 by the second control device 12, the process proceeds to step S202.

[0027] (Step S202) The first control device 11 of the control system 10 starts integrating the current of the auxiliary battery 30 acquired from the battery sensor 50 to obtain a current integration value and sending it to the communication relay 13. The first control device 11 calculates the current integration value with the charging current flowing into the auxiliary battery 30 as a plus sign and the discharging current flowing out from the auxiliary battery 30 as a minus sign. When the calculation of the current integration value of the auxiliary battery 30 and the sending to the communication relay 13 are performed by the first control device 11, the process proceeds to step S203.

[0028] (Step S203) The second control device 12 of the control system 10 determines whether it has received the current integrated value of the auxiliary battery 30 from the communication relay 13. This determination is made to determine whether the communication relay 13 is in an operating state where communication is possible or in a stopped state where communication is not possible. When the second control device 12 has received the current integrated value of the auxiliary battery 30, it is determined that the communication relay 13 is in the operating state (step S203, yes), and the process proceeds to step S204. On the other hand, when the second control device 12 has not received (cannot receive) the current integrated value of the auxiliary battery 30, it is determined that the communication relay 13 is in the stopped state (step S203, no), and the process proceeds to step S207.

[0029] (Step S204) The second control device 12 of the control system 10 determines whether the current integrated value of the auxiliary battery 30 received from the communication relay 13 is less than 0 (zero). This determination is made to determine whether the auxiliary battery 30 is in a discharging state where the outflow current is greater than the inflow current or in a charging state where the outflow current is less than the inflow current. Since the current of the auxiliary battery 30 is expressed with a sign as described above, the charge / discharge state of the auxiliary battery 30 can be grasped by which way the current integrated value deviates from 0 (zero). When the second control device 12 determines that the current integrated value of the auxiliary battery 30 is less than 0 (zero) (step S204, yes), the process proceeds to step S205. On the other hand, when the second control device 12 determines that the current integrated value of the auxiliary battery 30 is 0 (zero) or more (step S204, no), the process proceeds to step S206.

[0030] (Step S205) When the second control device 12 of the control system 10 determines that the auxiliary battery 30 is in a discharged state, it increases the commanded voltage value of the DCDC converter 40 (updates the setting). The increase range of this commanded voltage value can be arbitrarily set based on the capacity of the auxiliary battery 30, the current state of charge, etc., but it is set to an appropriate value within a range that does not cause overvoltage to the auxiliary battery 30 and in a direction in which the state of the auxiliary battery 30 changes to eliminate the discharged state. When the commanded voltage value of the DCDC converter 40 is increased by the second control device 12, the process proceeds to step S208.

[0031] (Step S206) When the second control device 12 of the control system 10 determines that the auxiliary battery 30 is in a charged state, it decreases the commanded voltage value of the DCDC converter 40 (updates the setting). The decrease range of this commanded voltage value can be arbitrarily set based on the capacity of the auxiliary battery 30, the current state of charge, etc., but it is set to an appropriate value that stops the charging from the high-voltage battery 20 to the auxiliary battery 30 and in a direction in which the state of the auxiliary battery 30 changes to eliminate the charged state. When the commanded voltage value of the DCDC converter 40 is decreased by the second control device 12, the process proceeds to step S208.

[0032] (Step S207) Since the second control device 12 of the control system 10 does not have the current integrated value of the auxiliary battery 30 and does not know the current state of the auxiliary battery 30, it maintains the commanded voltage value of the DCDC converter 40 at the current value (maintains the setting). That is, when the communication repeater 13 intermittently stops (enters sleep) and the communication is interrupted, the second control device 12 controls the auxiliary battery 30 using the commanded voltage value set based on the current integrated value of the auxiliary battery 30 received immediately before the communication repeater 13 stops. When the commanded voltage value of the DCDC converter 40 is maintained by the second control device 12, the process proceeds to step S208.

[0033] (Step S208) The second control device 12 of the control system 10 controls the auxiliary battery 30 based on the set command voltage value. This control is performed until the command voltage value is reset in any of the above steps S205 to S207. When the second control device 12 controls the auxiliary battery 30 based on the command voltage value, the process proceeds to step S203.

[0034] In step S204, in order to perform control for maintaining the current power storage amount of the auxiliary battery 30, a determination is made by comparing the current integrated value of the auxiliary battery 30 with 0 (zero). However, when it is desired to increase the power storage amount of the auxiliary battery 30 with respect to the current state, a determination may be made by comparing the current integrated value of the auxiliary battery 30 with the set charge amount (Ah) as a target.

[0035] <Function and Effect> As described above, the control system 10 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes a first control device 11 that can acquire the current flowing through the auxiliary battery 30, integrate the acquired current, and obtain a current integrated value, and the first control device 11 transmits information on the current integrated value to a second control device 12 that controls the auxiliary battery 30. Then, the second control device 12 controls the auxiliary battery 30 by new control based on the current integrated value when the current integrated value can be received from the first control device 11, and by the previous control when the current integrated value cannot be received from the first control device 11.

[0036] With such a configuration and control, even when a communication relay device 13 that relays communication in an intermittent operation is interposed between the first control device 11 and the second control device 12, the trend of the auxiliary battery 30 while the relay operation of the communication relay device 13 is stopped can be inferred from the current integrated value after the relay resumes. Thereby, it becomes possible to execute appropriate battery control according to the state (discharge state, charge state) of the auxiliary battery 30.

[0037] Also, with such a configuration and control, the communication relay 13 can be intermittently operated, so that the power consumption by the communication relay 13 can be reduced. Therefore, in a situation where the auxiliary battery 30 cannot be charged by power generation of the vehicle such as during parking or power supply from an external power supply facility, it is possible to suppress the auxiliary battery 30 from being depleted due to long-term operation of devices that consume a large amount of power.

[0038] Note that the in-vehicle devices controlled by the control system 10 according to the present embodiment are not limited to the above-described auxiliary battery 30, and all devices mounted on the vehicle that are controlled based on information communicated from the first control device 11 to the second control device 12 via the communication relay 13 can be control targets.

[0039] As described above, one embodiment of the disclosed technology has been described. However, the present disclosure can be understood not only as a control system, but also as a method executed by the control system, a program for the method, a computer-readable non-transitory storage medium storing the program, a vehicle equipped with the control system, and the like.

Industrial Applicability

[0040] The control system of the present disclosure can be used in vehicles and the like having a configuration in which information is communicated from a control device of a transmission source to a control device of a reception destination via a relay.

Explanation of Signs

[0041] 10 Control system 11 First control device 12 Second control device 13 Communication relay 20 High-voltage battery 30 Auxiliary battery 40 DCDC converter 50 Battery sensor 60 Auxiliary equipment

Claims

1. A control system mounted on a vehicle for controlling an in-vehicle device, a first control device that acquires the state of the in-vehicle device and transmits information based on the state of the in-vehicle device; a second control device that receives the information from the first control device and controls the in-vehicle device based on the information; and a communication relay that relays communication of the information between the first control device and the second control device. When the vehicle is parked, the communication relay intermittently stops its relay operation, and the second control device performs control based on the information received from the first control device via the communication relay while the communication relay is operating, and maintains the control immediately before the communication relay stops while the communication relay is stopped. A control system.

2. The in-vehicle device is a battery, and the first control device acquires the current flowing through the battery as the state of the in-vehicle device and transmits the integrated value of the current as the information. The control system according to claim 1.

3. When the integrated value of the current received as the information indicates a discharging state, the second control device controls the battery in a direction to eliminate the discharging state, and when the integrated value of the current indicates a charging state, The control system according to claim 2, wherein the battery is controlled in a direction to eliminate the charging state.

4. The second control device controls the battery by controlling an instruction voltage value for instructing the output voltage of a DC-DC converter that inputs the power of another battery different from the battery and outputs the converted power to the battery. The control system according to claim 3.

5. When the vehicle is parked, The first control device and the second control device operate during a period in which a predetermined current outflow is detected in the battery. The control system according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the communication relay device performs intermittent operation during the period in which the first control device and the second control device are operating.

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