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 driving and an accessory battery (second power storage device) that stores power for accessories. In this power supply system, the state of charge of the accessory battery is monitored while the vehicle is parked, and when the state of charge of the accessory battery decreases, the accessory battery is charged with the power of the high-voltage battery to prevent the state of charge of the accessory battery from decreasing.

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 charge 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 charge control. 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 charge, or is transmitted and received by communication using a communication network including both devices.

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

[0006] However, if the communication repeater is operated intermittently, information about 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. This presents a problem in that the device that controls battery charging will not be able to properly control the charging of the auxiliary battery.

[0007] This disclosure was made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and aims to provide a control system that can achieve both intermittent operation of a communication repeater and appropriate control of an in-vehicle device (such as an auxiliary battery) in a configuration in which information related to the control of an in-vehicle device (such as an auxiliary battery) is communicated between devices via a communication repeater. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] To solve the above problems, one aspect of the disclosed technology is a control system mounted on a vehicle to control an in-vehicle device, comprising: 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 relay that relays the communication of information between the first control device and the second control device, wherein when the vehicle is parked, the communication relay intermittently stops its relay operation, the second control device performs control based on information received from the first control device via the communication relay while the communication relay is operating, and maintains the control that was in place immediately before the communication relay stopped while the communication relay is stopped. [Effects of the Invention]

[0009] According to the control system disclosed herein, in a configuration in which 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 explanation of the drawing]

[0010] [Figure 1] Functional block diagram of a control system and its peripheral parts according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 2] Flowchart of the auxiliary battery control process performed by the control system [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0011] The control system disclosed herein, when managing the state of the auxiliary battery while parked, performs charging control of the auxiliary battery based on the cumulative value of all currents that have entered and exited the auxiliary battery to date, rather than the current current entering and exiting the auxiliary battery. As a result, even if the provision (communication) of the cumulative current value to the device responsible for auxiliary battery charging control is temporarily interrupted, the charging control of the auxiliary battery can be appropriately performed based on the cumulative current value when the provision (communication) is resumed. Hereinafter, one embodiment of this disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[0012] <Embodiment> [composition] Figure 1 is a functional block diagram of a control system 10 and its peripheral components according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. The functional block shown in Figure 1 includes the control system 10, a high-voltage battery 20, an auxiliary battery 30, a DC-DC converter 40, a battery sensor 50, and auxiliary components 60. The control system 10 comprises a first control device 11, a second control device 12, and a communication repeater 13.

[0013] In Figure 1, power lines through which power is exchanged are shown as solid lines, and signal lines through which detected values, calculated values, and control instructions are shown as dashed lines. The control system 10 of this embodiment is installed in vehicles such as hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), and battery electric vehicles (BEVs).

[0014] The high-voltage battery 20 is a rechargeable secondary battery, such as a lithium-ion battery. This high-voltage battery 20 is a battery for supplying power to a high-voltage system, including a so-called main unit (not shown) involved in vehicle operation, such as an electric motor for driving. The high-voltage battery 20 is connected to the auxiliary battery 30 via a DC-DC converter 40 so that the auxiliary battery 30 can be charged.

[0015] The auxiliary battery 30 is a rechargeable secondary battery, such as a lithium-ion battery. This auxiliary battery 30 is a battery that supplies power to the auxiliary system, including the auxiliary equipment 60. Generally, the auxiliary battery 30 has a lower rated voltage (e.g., 12V) than the high-voltage battery 20. The status of this auxiliary battery 30 is monitored by a battery sensor 50.

[0016] The DC-DC converter 40 is a power converter that can convert input power into power of a predetermined voltage and output it. One end (primary side) of the DC-DC 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 DC-DC 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 detects at least 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 accessories 60 include so-called accessories (not shown) such as equipment, electronic control units (ECUs), and systems that are not related to vehicle running. The accessories 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 be 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 (for example, 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 is stopped (sleeping) during parking or the like is activated (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 integrated 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 integrated 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. Also, when the communication relay 13 stops and the second control device 12 cannot receive the current integrated value from the communication relay 13 (during communication interruption), the second control device 12 can control the operation of the DCDC converter 40 without relying on the current integrated 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 integrated 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 periods when the first control device 11 and the second control device 12 are operating.

[0024] [Control] Next, referring further to FIG. 2, the control performed by 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 Figure 2 is initiated when a predetermined event occurs that consumes power from the auxiliary battery 30, such as when the vehicle is parked, and continues until the event ends. This event can be a discharge state in which a current exceeding a predetermined value flows out of the auxiliary battery 30, and an example of this is when a drive recorder included in the auxiliary equipment 60 starts recording. In response to the occurrence of this event, the first control unit 11, the second control unit 12, and the communication repeater 13 are each activated (wake up).

[0026] (Step S201) The second control device 12 of the control system 10 sets the instruction voltage value that indicates the output voltage of the DC-DC converter 40 to a predetermined initial value. Once the second control device 12 sets the instruction voltage value of the DC-DC converter 40 to an initial value, the process proceeds to step S202.

[0027] (Step S202) The first control unit 11 of the control system 10 starts integrating the current of the auxiliary battery 30 obtained from the battery sensor 50 to obtain a current integration value and sending it to the communication repeater 13. The first control unit 11 calculates the current integration value by treating the charging current flowing into the auxiliary battery 30 as a positive sign and the discharge current flowing out of the auxiliary battery 30 as a negative sign. Once the first control unit 11 has calculated the current integration value of the auxiliary battery 30 and sent it to the communication repeater 13, the process proceeds to step S203.

[0028] (Step S203) The second control unit 12 of the control system 10 determines whether or not it has received the integrated current value of the auxiliary battery 30 from the communication repeater 13. This determination is made to determine whether the communication repeater 13 is in an operational state where it can communicate or in a stopped state where it cannot communicate. If the second control unit 12 has received the integrated current value of the auxiliary battery 30, it determines that the communication repeater 13 is in an operational state (step S203, yes), and proceeds to step S204. On the other hand, if the second control unit 12 has not received (cannot receive) the integrated current value of the auxiliary battery 30, it determines that the communication repeater 13 is in a stopped state (step S203, no), and proceeds to step S207.

[0029] (Step S204) The second control unit 12 of the control system 10 determines whether the integrated current value of the auxiliary battery 30 received from the communication repeater 13 is less than 0 (zero). This determination is made to determine whether the auxiliary battery 30 is in a discharge state where the outflow current is greater than the inflow current, or in a charge state where the outflow current is less than the inflow current. As described above, since the current of the auxiliary battery 30 is expressed with a sign, the charge / discharge state of the auxiliary battery 30 can be determined by how the integrated current value swings relative to 0 (zero). If the second control unit 12 determines that the integrated current value of the auxiliary battery 30 is less than 0 (step S204, yes), the process proceeds to step S205. On the other hand, if the second control unit 12 determines that the integrated current value of the auxiliary battery 30 is 0 (zero) or greater (step S204, no), the process proceeds to step S206.

[0030] (Step S205) The second control unit 12 of the control system 10 detects that the auxiliary battery 30 is in a discharge state and increases the indicated voltage value of the DCDC converter 40 (setting update). The amount by which this indicated voltage value is increased can be arbitrarily set based on the capacity of the auxiliary battery 30 and the current charge level, but it is set to an appropriate value that changes the state of the auxiliary battery 30 in a direction that resolves the discharge state, without causing an overvoltage to the auxiliary battery 30. Once the second control unit 12 increases the indicated voltage value of the DCDC converter 40, the process proceeds to step S208.

[0031] (Step S206) The second control unit 12 of the control system 10 lowers the indicator voltage value of the DCDC converter 40 (setting update) because it determines that the auxiliary battery 30 is in a charging state. The amount by which this indicator voltage value is lowered can be arbitrarily set based on the capacity of the auxiliary battery 30 and the current charge level, but it is set to an appropriate value that stops charging from the high-voltage battery 20 to the auxiliary battery 30 and changes the state of the auxiliary battery 30 in a direction that eliminates the charging state. When the second control unit 12 lowers the indicator voltage value of the DCDC converter 40, the process proceeds to step S208.

[0032] (Step S207) The second control unit 12 of the control system 10 does not know the current state of the auxiliary battery 30 because it does not have an integrated current value for the auxiliary battery 30. Therefore, it maintains the current value of the DCDC converter 40 (maintain setting). In other words, if the communication repeater 13 intermittently stops (sleeps) and communication is interrupted, the second control unit 12 controls the auxiliary battery 30 using the instruction voltage value set based on the integrated current value of the auxiliary battery 30 received immediately before the communication repeater 13 stopped. Once the instruction voltage value of the DCDC converter 40 is maintained by the second control unit 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 instruction voltage value. This control is performed until the instruction voltage value is reset in any of the steps S205 to S207 described above. Once the second control device 12 has controlled the auxiliary battery 30 based on the instruction voltage value, the process proceeds to step S203.

[0034] In step S204 above, the control aimed to maintain the current charge level of the auxiliary battery 30, and therefore the integrated current value of the auxiliary battery 30 was compared to 0 (zero). However, if the goal is to increase the current charge level of the auxiliary battery 30, the integrated current value of the auxiliary battery 30 should be compared to a target charge level (Ah).

[0035] <Effects and Actions> As described above, the control system 10 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure includes a first control device 11 that can acquire the current flowing through the auxiliary battery 30 and calculate a current integral value by integrating the acquired current, and the first control device 11 is configured to transmit information of the current integral value to a second control device 12 that controls the auxiliary battery 30. The second control device 12 controls the auxiliary battery 30 by new control based on the current integral value if it can receive the current integral value from the first control device 11, and by the previous control if it cannot receive the current integral value from the first control device 11.

[0036] With this configuration and control, even when a communication repeater 13 that intermittently relays communication is interposed between the first control device 11 and the second control device 12, the behavior of the auxiliary battery 30 while the relay operation of the communication repeater 13 is stopped can be estimated from the integrated current value after the relay operation resumes. This makes it possible to perform appropriate battery control according to the state of the auxiliary battery 30 (discharge state, charge state).

[0037] Furthermore, this configuration and control allows the communication repeater 13 to operate intermittently, thereby reducing the power consumption of the communication repeater 13. Therefore, in situations where the auxiliary battery 30 cannot be charged by power generation from the vehicle while parked or by power supply from an external power source, it is possible to prevent the auxiliary battery 30 from being drained due to the long-term operation of power-consuming equipment.

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

[0039] Although one embodiment of the disclosed technology has been described above, the disclosure can be understood not only as a control system, but also as a method by which the control system performs actions, a program for such actions, a computer-readable non-temporary storage medium storing such a program, a vehicle equipped with the control system, and so on. [Industrial applicability]

[0040] The control system disclosed herein can be used in vehicles and other applications that have a configuration in which information is communicated from a transmitting control device to a receiving control device via a relay. [Explanation of symbols]

[0041] 10 Control Systems 11. First control device 12. Second control device 13. Communication repeater 20 High-voltage batteries 30 Auxiliary battery 40 DC-DC converters 50 Battery Sensors 60 Auxiliary equipment

Claims

1. A control system mounted on a vehicle to control in-vehicle devices, A first control device that acquires the status of the in-vehicle device and transmits information based on the status 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, The system includes a communication relay that relays the communication of the information between the first control device and the second control device, If the aforementioned vehicle is parked, The aforementioned communication relay device intermittently stops its relay operation, A control system comprising: the second control device, while the communication repeater is operating, performs control based on the information received from the first control device via the communication repeater; and while the communication repeater is stopped, maintains the control that was in place immediately before the communication repeater stopped.

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

3. The control system according to claim 2, wherein the second control device controls the battery in a direction that resolves the discharge state when the integrated value of the current received as information indicates a discharge state, and controls the battery in a direction that resolves the charge state when the integrated value of the current indicates a charge state.

4. The control system according to claim 3, wherein the second control device controls the battery by controlling an instruction voltage value that instructs the output voltage of a DC-DC converter, which receives power from a battery other than the battery and outputs the converted power to the battery.

5. If the aforementioned vehicle is parked, The first control device and the second control device operate during the 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 repeater performs intermittent operation during the period in which the first control device and the second control device are operating.

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