Redundant Power Supply Routing With Inductive Voltage Hold-Up
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional power supply systems for vehicles lose essential functions when an abnormality occurs in loads like electric brakes or steering, leading to vehicle shutdown, as they rely on redundant routes that require a shut-off period, causing voltage drops and potential load shutdowns.
Innovation Solution
A power supply system with an inter-route switch and inductance in the connection path to maintain voltage above the operating limit during abnormality detection, and a bypass path to reduce power loss during normal operation, ensuring continuous operation of loads by generating a transitional voltage difference using inductance and allowing electrical continuity between routes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If an inter-route switch is used to isolate faulty routes in a redundant power supply system, then reliability is improved by preventing complete system failure, but voltage drops below operating limits occur during the shut-off period causing load operation to stop
Solution Approach 1:
The inductance component is pre-configured in the connection path to automatically generate a transitional voltage difference when the inter-route switch is commanded to change state. This preliminary preparation of energy storage in the magnetic field ensures that voltage remains above the lower limit during the shut-off period, preventing load operation interruption while maintaining the reliability benefit of route isolation.
2Duration of action of moving object
If inductance is added to the connection path to maintain voltage during switch-off, then load operation continuity is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The inductance component is designed to serve multiple functions: it maintains voltage during inter-route switch transitions, provides electromagnetic energy storage for transient compensation, and can be integrated into existing power supply circuitry. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate voltage compensation circuits, thereby limiting the increase in device complexity while achieving load operation continuity.
3Reliability
If redundant first and second loads are employed to prevent complete function loss, then reliability is improved, but device complexity and power loss increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the essential redundancy function from the physical load level and relocates it to the power supply route level. Instead of duplicating loads, the system provides redundant power supply paths with automatic isolation capability using the inter-route switch and inductance combination. This extraction reduces device complexity by eliminating redundant load components while maintaining reliability through route-level redundancy.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system ensures continuous operation of loads during abnormalities by maintaining voltage above the operating limit and reducing power loss during normal conditions, enabling secure driver assistance functions and simplifying configuration by eliminating the need for separate bypass paths.
Implementation Method 1
an inductance having a given inductance component connected in series to the inter-route switch... The inductance component has a given value causing a time constant of a circuit composed of one of the routes in which the abnormality does not occur and the connection path not to allow a voltage of one of the loads disposed in the other one of the routes to decrease to less than a lower limit of an operating voltage
Data Source
AI summary
An inductance component has a given value causing a time constant of a circuit composed of one of first and second routes in which an abnormality does not occur and a connection path connecting the first and second routes not to allow a voltage of one of loads disposed in the other one of the routes to decrease to less than a lower limit of an operating voltage of one of loads during a shut-off period, which starts from a time when it is determined by an abnormality determiner that an abnormality has occurred in any one of the first route and the second route to a time when an inter-route switch enters a switched off state upon receiving a switch-off command from a state controller.