Power control unit and control method for power control unit
AssigneeToyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsTakao Kanzaki, Eiji Kitano
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A power control unit is provided with a converter; a filter capacitor that is connected onto one side of converter; a smoothing capacitor that is connected onto the other side of converter; an MG-ECU that is operated to control converter with power supplied from filter capacitor; and a casing that houses these constituent elements therein. In order to electrically discharge filter capacitor and smoothing capacitor, an MG-ECU controls converter in such a manner as to alternately repeat ON/OFF of an npn-type transistor for a lower arm of an IPM and ON/OFF of an npn-type transistor for an upper arm of IPM, and further, to set a time of ON of npn-type transistor for the upper arm longer than that of ON of npn-type transistor for the lower arm.
Claims6
A power control unit comprising:
- a converter that outputs a voltage higher than or equal to a voltage on one side from the other side whereas outputs a voltage lower than or equal to the voltage on said other side from said one side;
- a first capacitor connected onto said one side of said converter;
- a second capacitor connected onto said other side of said converter;
- a controller that operates to control said converter with power reserved in said first capacitor and supplied to the controller;
- and
- a casing that houses therein said first capacitor, said second capacitor, said converter, and said controller;
- said converter including:
- a first switching element connected between a positive electrode terminal and a negative electrode terminal in said first capacitor;
- and
- a second switching element connected between the positive electrode terminal in said first capacitor and a positive electrode terminal in said second capacitor;
- and
- said controller controlling said converter so as to alternately turn on said first switching element and said second switching element and prolong a time at which said second switching element is ON more than a time at which said first switching element is ON, in order to electrically discharge said first capacitor and said second capacitor.
A controlling method for a power control unit, said power control unit including a converter that outputs a voltage higher than or equal to a voltage on one side from the other side whereas outputs a voltage lower than or equal to the voltage on said other side from said one side, a first capacitor connected onto said one side of said converter, a second capacitor connected onto said other side of said converter, a controller that operates to control said converter with power reserved in said first capacitor and supplied to said controller and a casing that houses therein said first capacitor, said second capacitor, said converter, and said controller, said converter including a first switching element connected between a positive electrode terminal and a negative electrode terminal in said first capacitor and a second switching element connected between the positive electrode terminal in said first capacitor and a positive electrode terminal in said second capacitor, the method comprising the step of:
- controlling said converter so as to alternately turn on said first switching element and said second switching element and prolong a time at which said second switching element is ON more than a time at which said first switching element is ON, in order to electrically discharge said first capacitor and said second capacitor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.