vehicle

Abstract

To provide a vehicle that enables the high-accuracy and stable acquisition of a value of an electric current actually consumed by a load mounted on the vehicle.SOLUTION: A vehicle comprises: a relay that is provided between a power source and a load supplied with electric power from the power source; a drive control part that controls the relay into a conduction state on the basis of predetermined drive instructions; an acquisition part that acquires a value of an electric current flowing through the relay and a value of a voltage applied to the relay, after the lapse of specified time from relay conduction based on the drive instructions; and a transmission part that externally transmits the current value and the voltage value, acquired by the acquisition part.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a vehicle or the like equipped with a relay device or the like used for controlling power supply from a power source to a load. [Background technology]

[0002] Patent Document 1 discloses a circuit breaker that cuts off the supply of current to a load mounted on a vehicle based on the temperature of an electric wire that supplies current to the load. In this circuit breaker, a FET switch is used to perform a circuit breaker control based on the difference between the temperature of the electric wire that carries current to the load and the ambient temperature of the electric wire. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2016-163403 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] When designing the diameter of the electric wires used in vehicles and the drive circuit elements that control the power supply to the loads installed in the vehicle, it is desirable to perform a design with a margin on the safe side (a high safety factor) that takes into account the temperature dependency of the current consumed by the load and industrial variations. However, in order to efficiently perform a design with a high safety factor, it is necessary to obtain the value of the current actually consumed by the load with high precision and stability, and there is room for consideration regarding the method of obtaining this.

[0005] The present disclosure has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned problems, and aims to provide a vehicle that can accurately and stably acquire the value of current actually consumed by a load installed in the vehicle. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] In order to solve the above problems, one aspect of the disclosed technology is a vehicle including a relay provided between a power source and a load supplied with power from the power source, a drive control unit that controls the relay to a conductive state based on a predetermined drive instruction, an acquisition unit that acquires a value of a current flowing through the relay and a value of a voltage applied to the relay after a predetermined time has elapsed since the relay is made conductive based on the drive instruction, and a transmission unit that transmits to the outside the current value and voltage value acquired by the acquisition unit. Effect of the Invention

[0007] According to the vehicle of the present disclosure, the value of the current actually consumed by the load mounted on the vehicle can be obtained with high accuracy and stability. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a vehicle according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Diagram 2] A diagram illustrating the change in current flowing through a relay after the relay is turned on. [Diagram 3] Flowchart of information acquisition process executed by each component of the vehicle DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0009] The vehicle disclosed herein waits for a predetermined time to elapse after the relay that supplies power from the power source to the load is controlled to a conductive state, and then acquires the value of the current flowing through the relay and the value of the voltage applied to the relay. This makes it possible to suppress the influence of variations in the current and voltage when current is passed from the power source to the load on the acquisition process, and therefore makes it possible to acquire the value of the current actually consumed by the load with high accuracy and stability. Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[0010] <Embodiment> [composition] Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a vehicle 1 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The vehicle 1 shown in Fig. 1 includes a power source 10, a load 20, a relay device 30, a temperature acquisition unit 40, an ECU 50, and a transmission unit 60. Examples of the vehicle 1 include a hybrid vehicle, a plug-in hybrid vehicle, an electric vehicle, and the like that use an electric motor as a power source.

[0011] The power source 10 is a power supply source for supplying power to a load 20 mounted on the vehicle 1. An example of this power source 10 is an auxiliary battery, which is a secondary battery configured to be capable of being charged and discharged, such as a lead-acid battery or a lithium-ion battery. In addition to the auxiliary battery, the vehicle 1 is also equipped with a drive battery and the like used for driving the vehicle, but the drive battery and the like are not shown in the figure.

[0012] The load 20 is an in-vehicle device such as an electrical component that operates on power supplied from the power source 10. The load 20 is connected to the power source 10 via a relay device 30. An example of the load 20 is an in-vehicle device such as a rear defogger or a mirror heater, the amount of current consumed of which is temperature-dependent. When the outside temperature of the vehicle 1 is low, the rear defogger, the mirror heater, and the like need to pass a larger current to heat the heater and defog the mirror when the outside temperature is low, compared to when the outside temperature is high, and therefore the amount of current consumed by such devices is temperature-dependent.

[0013] The relay device 30 is a device for cutting off the current supply from the power source 10 to the load 20 when an overcurrent is likely to flow through the load 20. An example of the relay device 30 is a power distribution box (PDB). The relay device 30 includes a relay 31, a drive control unit 32, a current / voltage acquisition unit 33, an output unit 34, and a memory control unit 35.

[0014] The relay 31 is provided between the power source 10 and the load 20, and is configured to control the state of power supply from the power source 10 to the load 20. For example, a semiconductor relay such as a metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) can be used as the relay 31. The relay 31 can be switched between a conductive state in which the load 20 is connected to the power source 10 and a cut-off state in which the load 20 is disconnected from the power source 10, based on the control of a drive control unit 32 described later.

[0015] The drive control unit 32 is configured to control the drive state of the relay 31 to control the state of power supply from the power source 10 to the load 20. The drive control unit 32 can control the relay 31 to a conductive state (relay ON) based on a predetermined drive instruction that commands the load 20 to operate. The predetermined drive instruction is, for example, to apply an ON voltage to the gate of a field effect transistor.

[0016] The current / voltage acquiring unit 33 is configured to acquire the value of the current flowing through the relay 31 (hereinafter referred to as the "relay current value") and the value of the voltage applied to the relay 31 (hereinafter referred to as the "relay voltage value"). To acquire the relay current value and the relay voltage value, detection elements (not shown) such as a current sensor and a voltage sensor provided in the relay 31 can be used. In addition, the current / voltage acquiring unit 33 acquires the relay current value and the relay voltage value after a predetermined time has elapsed since the relay 31 is brought into a conductive state (relay ON) by the drive control unit 32 in response to a drive instruction. The predetermined time is a mask time (shaded portion in FIG. 2) that causes the process to wait so that the acquisition action is not performed during a period in which the relay current value is not stable, as exemplified in FIG. 2. Therefore, the predetermined time is set to be equal to or longer than the time (for example, 1 second) required for the relay current value to reach a maximum after the relay 31 is brought into a conductive state (relay ON).

[0017] The output unit 34 is configured to output the relay current value and the relay voltage value acquired by the current / voltage acquisition unit 33 to the ECU 50. For this output, an in-vehicle network such as a Controller Area Network (CAN) can be used.

[0018] The memory control unit 35 is configured to store the relay current value and the relay voltage value acquired by the current / voltage acquisition unit 33. The memory control unit 35 stores the relay current value and the relay voltage value as a maximum current value and a maximum voltage value, respectively.

[0019] The temperature acquisition unit 40 acquires the temperature of the environment in which the vehicle 1 is placed. Specifically, the temperature acquisition unit 40 can acquire the outside air temperature of the vehicle 1 from a detection element (not shown) such as a temperature sensor mounted on the vehicle 1.

[0020] The ECU 50 is one of a plurality of electronic control units (ECUs) mounted on the vehicle 1 for controlling the vehicle operation. The ECU typically includes a processor, a memory, an input / output interface, and the like, and realizes various functions by the processor reading and executing a program stored in the memory. The ECU 50 of this embodiment may be a body ECU that controls the functions of the body system. The ECU 50 receives a relay current value and a relay voltage value from the relay device 30, and receives the environmental temperature at that time from the temperature acquisition unit 40. The ECU 50 then performs a process of linking the relay current value and the relay voltage value to the environmental temperature.

[0021] The transmitting unit 60 transmits the relay current value, relay voltage value, and environmental temperature linked by the ECU 50 to the outside of the vehicle 1. Examples of the transmission destination include a center or a server that collects and manages various data related to the vehicle 1. The transmitting unit 60 can be, for example, a data communication module (DCM) configured to be able to communicate with the center, the server, or the like.

[0022] Note that the relay device 30, the temperature acquisition unit 40, and the transmission unit 60 may be partly or entirely configured as an electronic control unit (ECU).

[0023] [control] Next, the control performed by the vehicle 1 according to this embodiment will be described with further reference to Fig. 3. Fig. 3 is a flowchart showing the procedure of information acquisition processing executed by each component of the vehicle 1. This information acquisition processing is started when an instruction to drive the load 20 is given to the drive control unit 32.

[0024] (Step S301) The memory control unit 35 clears the stored maximum current value, which is the maximum value of the relay current value, and the maximum voltage value, which is the maximum value of the relay voltage value. This resets the respective maximum values ​​stored in the previous process. When the maximum current value and maximum voltage value are cleared, the process proceeds to step S302.

[0025] (Step S302) The drive control unit 32 controls the relay 31 to a conductive state (relay ON) based on a drive instruction from the load 20. This causes power to be supplied from the power source 10 to the load 20, and a predetermined operation by the load 20 is started. When the relay 31 is controlled to a conductive state, the process proceeds to step S303.

[0026] (Step S303) The current / voltage acquiring unit 33 judges whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed since the relay 31 was controlled to the conductive state by the drive control unit 32. If the predetermined time has elapsed (step S303, Yes), the process proceeds to step S304, otherwise (step S303, No), the next process is on hold until the predetermined time has elapsed.

[0027] (Step S304) The current / voltage acquisition unit 33 acquires a relay current value and a relay voltage value from the relay 31. By waiting for a predetermined time, it is possible to acquire stable relay current values ​​and relay voltage values. Once the relay current value and relay voltage value have been acquired, the process proceeds to step S305.

[0028] (Step S305) The memory control unit 35 stores, as the maximum current value and the maximum voltage value, the relay current value and the relay voltage value acquired by the current / voltage acquisition unit 33. Once the maximum current value and the maximum voltage value are stored, the process proceeds to step S306.

[0029] (Step S306) The temperature acquisition unit 40 acquires the temperature of the environment in which the vehicle 1 is placed. Once the environmental temperature has been acquired, the process proceeds to step S307.

[0030] (Step S307) The ECU 50 and the transmission unit 60 link the relay current value and the relay voltage value to the environmental temperature and transmit them to the outside of the vehicle 1. When the linked relay current value, relay voltage value, and environmental temperature are transmitted to the outside, this information acquisition process ends.

[0031] <Actions and Effects> As described above, according to the vehicle 1 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the relay current value and the relay voltage value are acquired after a predetermined time has elapsed since the drive control unit 32 controlled the relay 31 to a conductive state.

[0032] This makes it possible to prevent variations in current and voltage when power is supplied from the power source 10 to the load 20 from affecting the acquisition process, thereby making it possible to acquire the value of the current actually consumed by the load 20 with high accuracy and stability.

[0033] Furthermore, according to the vehicle 1 of this embodiment, each time the drive control unit 32 controls the relay 31 to a conductive state, the maximum values ​​of the relay current value and relay voltage value stored in the previous processing are cleared, and the newly acquired maximum values ​​of the relay current value and relay voltage value are linked to the temperature of the environment in which the vehicle 1 is placed and transmitted to the outside.

[0034] This allows information on maximum current and maximum voltage values ​​according to the environmental temperature to be constantly provided to the outside, enabling the center or server that receives this information to appropriately design the wire diameter and drive circuit elements of the harnesses used in the vehicle 1 with a margin of safety.

[0035] Although one embodiment of the disclosed technology has been described above, the present disclosure can be understood not only as a vehicle, but also as a method executed by a vehicle having a processor and memory, a program for that method, a computer-readable non-transitory recording medium storing that program, and the like. [Industrial Applicability]

[0036] The present disclosure is applicable to vehicles equipped with a relay device or the like used for controlling power supply from a power source to a load. [Explanation of symbols]

[0037] 1 vehicle 10 Power supply 20 Load 30 Relay Device 31 Relay 32 Drive control unit 33 Current and voltage acquisition unit 34 Output section 35 Memory control unit 40 Temperature acquisition section 50 ECU 60 Transmitter

Claims

1. a relay provided between a power source and a load to which power is supplied from the power source; A drive control unit that controls the relay to be in a conductive state based on a predetermined drive command; an acquisition unit that acquires a value of a current flowing through the relay and a value of a voltage applied to the relay after a predetermined time has elapsed since the relay is turned on based on the drive instruction; a transmitter configured to transmit the current value and the voltage value acquired by the acquisition unit to an outside.

2. 2. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined time is set to be equal to or longer than a time required for a current flowing through the relay to reach a maximum value after the relay is turned on.

3. A temperature acquisition unit that acquires a temperature of an environment in which the vehicle is placed, The vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein the transmission unit is configured to transmit the current value and the voltage value acquired by the acquisition unit to an outside in association with a temperature of the environment.

4. The vehicle according to claim 3 , wherein the load is an in-vehicle device whose current consumption is temperature-dependent.

5. The vehicle according to claim 1 , further comprising a storage control unit that stores the current value and the voltage value acquired by the acquisition unit as a maximum current value and a maximum voltage value.

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