JP2008104257A - Inspection device for hybrid vehicle drive unit - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an inspection device for a hybrid vehicle drive unit which can make compatible the stabilization of power feeding and space saving. <P>SOLUTION: The noise inspection device 100 comprises: a power supply control part 3 being a battery for use in a vehicle; an inverter 2; a sensor 4 which detects vibration; a microphone 40 which detects noise; a motor engine control part 6; load motors 71, 72; an inspection control part 8; and a load motor control part 9. The power supply control part 3 comprises a converter 33 and inverters 36, 37 connected to a DC part of the converter 33. Furthermore the DC part of the converter 33 is also connected to the inverter 2. That is, the converter 33 functions as a common converter for the inverters 36, 37 and the inverter 2. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an inspection apparatus for inspecting the performance of a drive unit mounted on a hybrid (HV) vehicle. More specifically, the present invention relates to an inspection apparatus that realizes performance inspection of a drive unit at low cost and in a small space.

  In recent years, from the viewpoint of low pollution and the like, a hybrid vehicle that uses an engine and a motor as a power source and runs while integrating them has attracted attention. This hybrid vehicle is equipped with a hybrid drive unit (HV transaxle) that outputs power obtained from a motor or an engine to a drive shaft via a transmission. ).

  The drive unit vibrates when the force acting between the meshed gears fluctuates, and the vibration is transmitted through a gear, a shaft, or the like, thereby generating gear noise. In the noise inspection of an automatic transmission (A / T) unit mounted on a general vehicle, the A / T unit is usually operated by rotating the input shaft (that is, the engine output shaft) and installed on the case surface. The vibration state is detected by the sensor. Alternatively, a microphone is placed near the subject unit to detect the noise state.

  However, the HV transaxle has two power transmission systems: a system that transmits power generated by the engine to the axle via a reduction gear and a system that transmits power generated by the motor to the axle via a reduction gear. Therefore, when the characteristics of the HV transaxle are inspected, it is not possible to inspect the motor characteristics peculiar to the hybrid vehicle only by rotating the input shaft (that is, the engine output shaft) of the HV transaxle.

  Therefore, the HV transaxle inspection apparatus requires a power supply source for rotating the motor in the HV transaxle. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, the battery 50 having the same specifications as those actually mounted on the hybrid vehicle is provided, and the motors MG1 and MG2 in the subject HV transaxle 1 supply power from the battery 50 to the inverter 2. I try to receive it through. The motor characteristics can be inspected by rotating the motors MG1 and MG2. For example, by installing the sensor 4 on the surface of the case of the subject HV transaxle 1 to detect the vibration state, or by arranging the microphone 40 near the HV transaxle 1 to detect the noise state, The inspection control unit 80 determines whether the gear noise and motor noise of the HV transaxle 1 are good or bad.

  In the quality inspection of the motors MG1 and MG2 of the HV transaxle 1, the stability of power supply to the motors MG1 and MG2 is required. In other words, if the power supplied to the motor changes, the motor control is not stable, and high-precision quality inspection cannot be performed. Therefore, the output voltage of the battery 50 must always be constant. On the other hand, it is known that the output voltage of the battery decreases due to the power consumption status of the motor, environmental changes such as temperature, continuous use status, and the like.

  Therefore, in recent years, an HV transaxle inspection apparatus includes a power supply control unit 31 that acquires AC power (three-phase AC power) from a factory power supply 5 and converts it into DC power by a converter 31, as shown in FIG. Yes. In such an HV transaxle inspection apparatus, a stable power supply is realized by using the factory power supply 5.

In addition, as another method for evaluating the performance of the HV transaxle, there is an output inspection method disclosed in Patent Document 2, for example. In this output inspection method, the performance of each motor can be inspected by rotating the motor A and the motor B in the HV transaxle to be inspected and measuring the output torque.
JP 2001-164960 A JP 2005-140668 A

  However, the conventional hybrid vehicle drive unit inspection apparatus described above has the following problems. That is, the inspection apparatus for the HV transaxle 1 shown in FIG. 5 is provided with two power control units, that is, a power control unit 31 that controls the power of the input system and a power control unit 32 that controls the power of the output system. Yes. Each power control unit is provided with a converter that converts AC power obtained from a factory power source into DC power. For example, in the HV transaxle inspection apparatus shown in FIG. 5, the converter 30 for the power supply control unit 31 (that is, the converter for the inspection motor) and the converters 34 and 35 for the power supply control unit 32 (that is, for each load motor). 3 converter system is used. Therefore, the size of the inspection device itself is larger than the inspection device using a battery (see FIG. 4). In addition, the large number of converters hinders cost reduction.

  In the transaxle inspection apparatus described in Patent Document 2, the power source for driving the motor in the transaxle is described, but the power source for driving the load motor is not described. However, even this transaxle inspection device requires a power source for driving the load motor, and a power source for the load motor is provided separately from the power source for driving the motor in the transaxle.

  The present invention has been made to solve the problems of the above-described conventional inspection technology for a hybrid vehicle drive unit. That is, an object of the present invention is to provide an inspection device for a hybrid vehicle drive unit that achieves both stable power supply and space saving.

  An inspection device for a hybrid vehicle drive unit designed to solve this problem is an inspection device for a hybrid vehicle drive unit equipped with a motor, and converts a converter for converting AC power into DC power, and a DC of the converter. Electrically connected to the inverter, converts the DC power into AC power, mechanically connects the AC power to the drive motor's output shaft and the drive motor's output shaft. A load motor that applies load torque to the motor, and an inverter for a load motor that is electrically connected to the DC portion of the converter, converts the DC power to AC power, and supplies the AC power to the load motor. It is said.

  The inspection device of the present invention is an inspection device for a hybrid vehicle drive unit equipped with a motor. This inspection apparatus includes a converter that converts AC power into DC power, and an inverter for an inspection motor is connected to the DC portion of the converter. Therefore, a stable motor power converted from a commercial AC power supply is supplied to the motor of the drive unit that is the subject. Further, a load motor inverter is electrically connected to the DC portion of the converter. That is, the converter of the present invention is a common converter for the inspection motor inverter and the load motor inverter. Therefore, it is more compact than an inspection apparatus that uses a plurality of converters as in the conventional embodiment. In addition, since the number of converters is small, the cost can be reduced.

  In the inspection apparatus of the present invention, it is better that the direct current portion of the inspection motor inverter and the direct current portion of the load motor inverter are electrically connected. With such a configuration, the regenerative power generated by the load motor can be utilized by the motor of the drive unit that is the subject. Therefore, it contributes to effective use of energy.

  The present invention can be applied to, for example, a noise inspection apparatus that inspects gear noise or motor noise. In this case, the inspection apparatus automatically determines whether the sensor member attached to the drive unit and detecting the vibration of the drive unit and the output characteristics measured by the sensor member are within the target range. By having an automatic determination unit, the noise characteristics of the motor can be inspected. In addition, automatic determination that automatically determines whether or not the sound collecting member that is spaced apart around the drive unit and detects noise and the output characteristics measured by the sound collecting member are within the target range. It is good also as having a part.

  According to the present invention, an inspection device for a hybrid vehicle drive unit that achieves both stable power supply and space saving is realized.

  DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments embodying the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the present embodiment, the present invention is applied to an inspection apparatus for an HV transaxle equipped with two motors.

  The HV transaxle noise inspection apparatus 100 according to the embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, converts a power source control unit 3 corresponding to a battery in a vehicle and DC power obtained from the power source control unit 3 into AC power. Installed in the case of the inverter 2, the subject HV transaxle 1, the sensor 4 for detecting vibration, the microphone 40 installed near the HV transaxle 1, for detecting noise, and the HV transaxle 1 The motor engine control unit 6 that controls the rotation of the motors MG1 and MG2, the load motors 71 and 72 that apply load torque to the output shaft of the HV transaxle 1, the entire inspection system, and the sensor 4 or microphone 40 The inspection control unit 8 that automatically determines whether the measured value is within the target range, and the rotation of the load motor And a load motor controller 9 for your.

  The noise inspection apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment inspects noise in the power transmission system of the motor by rotating the motor MG2 of the HV transaxle 1. When the noise inspection is performed, the motor MG2 is mechanically coupled to the load motor 71 and the load motor 72 via a differential gear or the like.

  The entire inspection system of the noise inspection apparatus 100 is controlled by the inspection control unit 8. The inspection control unit 8 is connected to the power supply control unit 3, the sensor 4, the microphone 40, the motor engine control unit 6, the load motor control unit 9, and the like, and various control signals are exchanged with these units. For example, a signal for rotating the motor MG2 in the HV transaxle 1 is transmitted to the motor engine control unit 6, and a signal for rotating the load motors 71 and 72 is transmitted to the load motor control unit 9. And the detection signal of the sensor 4 or the microphone 40 is received, and the quality of the gear noise, motor noise, etc. of the HV transaxle 1 is judged based on the signal.

  The power supply control unit 3 includes a converter 33 that converts AC power (AC440V) of the factory power supply 5 into DC power (DC650V), an inverter 36 that is connected to the DC unit of the converter 33 and supplies AC power to the load motor 71, An inverter 37 that is connected to the DC portion of the converter 33 and supplies AC power to the load motor 72 is provided. The DC section of converter 33 is also connected to inverter 2 that controls motors MG1 and MG2 in HV transaxle 1, and supplies stable power to motors MG1 and MG2 via inverter 2. That is, the converter 33 is a common converter for the inverters 36 and 37 and the inverter 2. Furthermore, the DC part of the inverters 36 and 37 is also connected to the DC part of the inverter 2.

  The HV transaxle 1 serving as a subject has two power transmission systems: a system that transmits power generated by the engine to the axle via a reduction gear, and a system that transmits power generated by the motor MG2 to the axle via the reduction gear. Have Specifically, the HV transaxle 1 includes two motors MG1 and MG2, a power distribution unit, and a differential gear. The motor MG1 and the motor MG2 are well-known synchronous generator motors that function as a generator and a motor. As a detailed system configuration and basic operation of the HV transaxle 1 of this embodiment, there is one described in, for example, Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-164960).

  Motors MG 1 and MG 2 in the HV transaxle 1 are electrically connected to the power supply control unit 3 via the inverter 2. The motors MG1 and MG2 are rotationally controlled by the motor engine control unit 6. For this reason, the motor engine drive unit 6 receives a signal necessary for controlling the rotation of the motors MG1 and MG2, for example, a signal from a rotational position detection sensor for detecting the rotational position of the rotor of the motors MG1 and MG2. The engine control unit 6 outputs a switching control signal to the inverter 2. The motor engine control unit 6 communicates with the inspection control unit 8 and controls the rotation of the motors MG1 and MG2 by a control signal from the inspection control unit 8. Moreover, the data regarding the driving | running state of motor MG1, MG2 are output to the test | inspection control part 8 as needed.

  Next, a noise inspection method for the HV transaxle 1 by the noise inspection apparatus 100 will be described. In this inspection, the motor MG2 of the HV transaxle 1 that is the subject is operated under predetermined inspection conditions. That is, the acceleration operation and the deceleration operation are repeated, and control is performed so that the output torque of the motor MG2 becomes constant at that time. During the operation of the motor MG2, the vibration of the case of the HV transaxle 1 is measured by the sensor 4. Further, the noise emitted from the HV transaxle 1 is measured by the microphone 40. Then, the inspection control unit 8 determines whether or not each measured value is a value within the target range.

  The noise inspection procedure will be described below. First, the load motor 71 and the load motor 72 are rotated. Specifically, an operation command is sent from the inspection control unit 8 to the load motor control unit 9. Next, an operation command is sent to the motor engine control unit 6 so that the motor MG2 operates at the inspection target torque. The motor engine control unit 6 controls the motor current based on the operation command. That is, torque is generated by flowing a motor current to the motor MG2 via the inverter 2.

  During the noise inspection, the load motor control unit 9 controls the rotation speed so that the load motor 71 and the load motor 72 have a desired rotation speed. At this time, the load motor 71 and the load motor 72 also function as a generator, and regenerative power is generated. In the noise inspection apparatus 100 of this embodiment, the DC part of the inverters 36 and 37 for the load motor and the DC part of the inverter 2 for the motor MG2 are connected, and the regenerative power generated by each load motor is the motor power of the motor MG2. Used as

  Next, noise data is measured with the motor MG2 outputting torque. That is, the vibration of the case is measured by the sensor 4 attached to the case of the HV transaxle 1. Further, the noise level is measured by the microphone 40 disposed around the HV transaxle 1. The measurement result is recorded by the inspection control unit 8. Next, it is determined whether or not the measured noise data is within a target range. If it is within the target range, it is determined as non-defective, and if it is outside the target range, it is determined as defective.

  FIG. 2 shows an example of the measurement result of the noise data. 2, the three-converter type noise inspection apparatus (conventional embodiment) shown in FIG. 5 is compared with the common converter-type noise inspection apparatus (present embodiment) shown in FIG. In this embodiment, the rotational speed and torque characteristics are the same as in the conventional embodiment. As shown in FIG. 2, it can be seen that the same measurement result can be obtained regardless of which configuration is employed.

  FIG. 3 shows voltage data of the DC part of the inverter 2 during the inspection. In FIG. 3, the vertical axis indicates the voltage value and the rotation speed, and the horizontal axis indicates the measurement time. As shown in FIG. 3, even if acceleration control and deceleration control of the motor MG2 are performed, the DC voltage output from the power supply control unit 3 to the inverter 2 is constant. That is, in the present embodiment, it is understood that the regenerative power from the load motors 71 and 72 is also supplied to the inverter 2, but the output voltage is still very stable.

  As described in detail above, in the HV transaxle noise inspection apparatus 100 of the present embodiment, the power supply control unit 3 includes one converter 33, and the inverter 2 for the motors MG1 and MG2 is connected to the DC unit of the converter. Has been. Therefore, a stable motor current converted from the factory power supply 5 is supplied to the motors MG1 and MG2. Further, in addition to the inverter 2, an inverter 36 connected to the load motor 71 and an inverter 37 connected to the load motor 72 are electrically connected to the DC portion of the converter 33. The converter 33 is connected to these inverters. Has become a common converter. Therefore, it is more compact than an inspection apparatus using a plurality of converters as in the conventional embodiment (FIG. 5). In addition, the cost can be reduced by reducing the number of converters. Therefore, an inspection device for a hybrid vehicle drive unit that achieves both stable power supply and space saving has been realized.

  In the noise inspection apparatus 100 of this embodiment, the DC part of the inverter 2 and the DC parts of the inverters 36 and 37 are electrically connected. Therefore, the regenerative power generated by the load motors 71 and 72 can be utilized by the motor MG2 of the HV transaxle 1 that is the subject. Therefore, it contributes to effective use of energy.

  Note that this embodiment is merely an example, and does not limit the present invention. Therefore, the present invention can naturally be improved and modified in various ways without departing from the gist thereof. For example, in the embodiment, the present invention is applied to an HV transaxle noise inspection apparatus, but the present invention is not limited to this. That is, the present invention can be applied to any inspection apparatus that needs to rotate the motor, for example, an inspection apparatus that inspects the electric characteristics and mechanical characteristics of the motor.

  In the embodiment, the HV transaxle having two motors is inspected, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the number of motors may be one, or three or more. That is, the present invention can be applied to any inspection apparatus that inspects a drive unit having a motor as a power source.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the inspection apparatus for HV transaxles of embodiment. It is a graph which shows the measurement result of noise data. It is a graph which shows the relationship between voltage data and rotation speed. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the test | inspection apparatus (battery use) for the conventional HV transaxle. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the inspection apparatus (factory power supply + converter use) for the conventional HV transaxle.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 HV transaxle 2 Inverter 3 Power supply control part 33 Converter 36, 37 Inverter 4 Sensor 40 Microphone 5 Factory power supply 6 Motor engine control part 71, 72 Load motor 8 Inspection control part 9 Load motor control part 100 Noise inspection apparatus

Claims (4)

In an inspection device for a hybrid vehicle drive unit equipped with a motor,
A converter that converts AC power into DC power;
An inspection motor inverter that is electrically connected to the DC portion of the converter, converts the DC power to AC power, and supplies the AC power to the motor of the drive unit;
A load motor mechanically connected to the output shaft of the drive unit and applying a load torque to the motor of the drive unit;
An inspection apparatus comprising: a load motor inverter that is electrically connected to a DC portion of the converter, converts the DC power into AC power, and supplies the AC power to the load motor. The inspection apparatus for a hybrid vehicle drive unit according to claim 1,
An inspection apparatus, wherein a direct current section of the inspection motor inverter and an electrical connection section of the load motor inverter are electrically connected. In the inspection device for a hybrid vehicle drive unit according to claim 1 or 2,
A sensor member attached to the drive unit for detecting vibration of the drive unit;
An inspection apparatus comprising: an automatic determination unit that automatically determines whether or not an output characteristic measured by the sensor member is within a target range. In the inspection device for a hybrid vehicle drive unit according to claim 1 or 2,
A sound collecting member that is spaced around the drive unit and detects noise;
An inspection apparatus comprising: an automatic determination unit that automatically determines whether or not an output characteristic measured by the sound collecting member is within a target range.

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