JP2004159439A - Power breaker - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a power breaker which does not require a collision detecting mechanism and an additional circuit. <P>SOLUTION: When relays 14 and 16 are ON, a battery 10 and an inverter 12 are electrically connected with each other, and the output of the battery 10 is supplied to a motor 20 for vehicle travelling via the inverter 12. An ECU 18 switches on relays 14 and 16 by supplying the relays 14 and 16 with exciting currents via exciting lines 30 and 32. At collision of the vehicle, the supply of exciting currents to the relays 14 and 16 are severed by cutting edges for cutting off the exciting lines 30 and 32, and the battery 10 and the inverter 12 are electrically cut off. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a power cutoff device, and more particularly to a power cutoff device mounted on a vehicle.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles include a vehicle drive motor and a high-voltage battery that supplies power to the motor. In a vehicle having such a high-voltage battery, it is necessary to reliably disconnect the high-voltage battery from the driving motor when a vehicle collision occurs, and to prevent runaway of the vehicle.
[0003]
For this reason, Patent Literature 1 discloses a technology in which a vehicle is provided with a mechanism for detecting acceleration, the acceleration at the time of occurrence of a vehicle collision accident is detected, and the connection between the high-voltage battery and the driving motor is cut off.
[0004]
[Patent Document 1]
JP 05-316604 A [0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In a conventional power cutoff device, a mechanism for detecting an acceleration to detect a vehicle collision is provided. For this reason, the acceleration detection mechanism itself and an additional circuit accompanying the addition of the detection mechanism are required.
[0006]
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a power cutoff device that does not require a collision detection mechanism or an additional circuit.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
(1) In order to achieve the above object, a power cutoff device according to the present invention is mounted on a vehicle and includes a power supply circuit having a battery, a load, and a relay, and controlling the relay to control the battery and the load. A relay control unit that performs contact and separation of the battery, and a breaking mechanism that separates the battery and the load by breaking a signal line provided between the relay control unit and the relay at the time of a vehicle collision. I do.
[0008]
According to the above configuration, since the breaking mechanism separates the battery and the load by breaking the signal line, a sensor and an additional circuit for detecting the collision are not required. Therefore, the cost of the power cutoff device can be reduced.
[0009]
Preferably, the relay connects the battery and the load according to a drive current supplied from the relay control unit via the signal line, and the breaking mechanism disconnects the signal line to drive the drive. It has a cutting blade which cuts off the supply of electric current and cuts off the battery and the load.
[0010]
Preferably, the cutting blade is formed of a conductive member and is electrically grounded.
[0011]
According to the above configuration, even after the cutting blade cuts the signal line, the signal line is electrically grounded even when the signal line is pierced between the signal lines, so that the supply of the driving current can be more reliably cut off. .
[0012]
Preferably, the load is an inverter that supplies a current to a vehicle drive motor, and the cutting blade is provided in an inverter case in which the inverter is housed.
[0013]
According to the above configuration, by providing a cutting blade in the existing inverter case, there is no need to separately provide a cutting blade, so that further cost reduction can be achieved.
[0014]
Preferably, the plurality of relays are provided, the signal line is provided for each of the relays, and the cutting blade disconnects the at least one signal line to cut off the supply of the driving current, thereby setting the battery. And the load.
[0015]
According to the above configuration, the battery and the load are separated by disconnecting at least one signal line. Further, even in the case where the contacts of the relay are fixed, it is only necessary that the signal line corresponding to at least one relay that is not fixed can be disconnected, so that the reliability of disconnection is improved.
[0016]
(2) In order to achieve the above object, a power cutoff device according to the present invention is mounted on a vehicle and includes a power supply circuit having a battery, a load, and a relay; A relay control unit that performs contact and separation with a load, wherein the relay connects the battery and the load according to a drive current supplied from the relay control unit via a signal line. Connected, the signal line is installed in the front window of the vehicle, and the battery and the load are separated by breaking the signal line by breaking the front window at the time of a vehicle collision and cutting off the supply of the driving current. I do.
[0017]
According to the above configuration, since a cutting blade is not required, a more inexpensive power cutoff device can be provided.
[0018]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[0019]
FIG. 1 shows a preferred embodiment of a power cutoff device according to the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram showing the entire configuration. The power supply cutoff device shown in FIG. 1 is a device mounted on a vehicle. The power supply cutoff device includes a power supply circuit including a battery 10, an inverter 12, and relays 14 and 16. And an ECU 18 for connecting / disconnecting the inverter 12.
[0020]
The battery 10 has a high output for supplying electric power to the vehicle driving motor 20. When the relays 14 and 16 are ON, the battery 10 and the inverter 12 are electrically connected, and the output of the battery 10 is The power is supplied to the vehicle traveling motor 20 via the inverter 12. On the other hand, when relays 14 and 16 are OFF, battery 10 and inverter 12 are electrically disconnected.
[0021]
The transistors 22 and 24 in the ECU 18 have their collector terminals connected to a DC 12 V power supply, and supply / stop current from the emitter terminals according to H / L of their base terminals to turn on the relays 14 and 16. / OFF is controlled.
[0022]
That is, by electrically setting the base terminals of the transistors 22 and 24 to High (H), an exciting current is supplied to the coils 26 and 28 of the relays 14 and 16 and the contacts of the relays 14 and 16 are turned on. When both relays 14 and 16 are ON, battery 10 and inverter 12 are electrically connected. On the other hand, by electrically setting the base terminals of the transistors 22 and 24 to Low (L), supply of the exciting current to the coils 26 and 28 of the relays 14 and 16 is cut off, and the contacts of the relays 14 and 16 are turned off. It becomes. When one of the two relays 14 and 16 is in the OFF state, the battery 10 and the inverter 12 are electrically disconnected.
[0023]
As described above, connection / disconnection between the battery 10 and the inverter 12 corresponds to the presence / absence of the excitation current supplied from the transistors 22 and 24 of the ECU 18 to the relays 14 and 16 via the excitation lines 30 and 32 which are signal lines. ing. In the present embodiment, the excitation line is cut off at the time of a vehicle collision, whereby the battery 10 and the inverter 12 are separated to prevent runaway of the vehicle.
[0024]
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a front portion of a vehicle equipped with the power cutoff device according to the present invention. In FIG. 2, the power cutoff device mounted on the vehicle is the one shown in FIG.
That is, the excitation lines 30 and 32 extending from the ECU 18 provided in the vehicle compartment pass through the engine room and are connected to a relay (not shown).
[0025]
In the engine room, there is an inverter case 40 in which an inverter (reference numeral 12 in FIG. 1) is stored. The inverter case 40 is provided with a cutting blade 44, and the excitation lines 30 and 32 passing through the engine room are wired so as to pass near the cutting blade 42. When the vehicle collides and the front portion is crushed, the strong inverter case 40 is displaced rearward of the vehicle (right side in the figure). Accordingly, the cutting blade 42 mounted on the inverter case 40 is also displaced rearward of the vehicle, and cuts the excitation wires 30 and 32 wired in the vicinity.
[0026]
The inverter case 40 is firmly formed of a conductive material such as aluminum, and has a cutting blade 42 integrated therein. The inverter case 40 is connected to the housing 44 of the vehicle and is in an electrically grounded state. That is, since the cutting blade 42 having conductivity is electrically grounded, the cutting blade 42 cuts the excitation wires 30 and 32 and then stabs between the cut excitation wires 30 and 32. However, the excitation wires 30 and 32 are grounded. Therefore, the exciting current supplied from the exciting wires 30 and 32 to the relay can be more reliably cut off.
[0027]
The cutting blade 42 may be formed of a non-conductive material, or may be separate from the inverter case 40.
[0028]
Usually, the excitation wires 30 and 32 are wired so as to be surrounded by a corrugated tube as a protection member. In the present embodiment, since the corrugated tube is not provided only at the portion cut by the cutting blade 42, the excitation wires 30 and 32 can be more reliably cut.
[0029]
As another embodiment of the power supply cut-off device according to the present invention, an excitation wire (reference numerals 30 and 32 in FIGS. 1 and 2) is provided in a front window of a vehicle, and excitation is performed by utilizing the fact that the front window is broken by a collision. The line may be broken. That is, when the vehicle collides forward, since the lower end of the front window is crushed by the engine room in front of the vehicle, the exciting line is broken by installing the exciting line at the lower end of the front window. . According to this aspect, the cutting blade (reference numeral 42 in FIG. 2) is not required.
[0030]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, the power cutoff device according to the present invention enables a power cutoff device that does not require a collision detection mechanism or an additional circuit.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram showing an overall configuration of a power cutoff device according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a front portion of a vehicle equipped with a power cutoff device according to the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
10 battery, 12 inverter, 14, 16 relay, 18 ECU, 30, 32 excitation wire, 42 cutting blade.

Claims (6)

A power supply circuit mounted on the vehicle and having a battery, a load, and a relay;
A relay control unit that performs contact and separation between the battery and the load by controlling the relay,
A breaking mechanism that separates the battery and the load by breaking a signal line provided between the relay control unit and the relay at the time of a vehicle collision,
A power cutoff device having: The power cutoff device according to claim 1,
The relay connects the battery and the load according to a drive current supplied from the relay control unit via the signal line,
The breaking mechanism has a cutting blade that disconnects the battery and the load by disconnecting the drive current by cutting the signal line,
Power shut-off device. The power cutoff device according to claim 2,
The cutting blade is formed of a conductive member and is electrically grounded,
Power shut-off device. The power cutoff device according to claim 3,
The load is an inverter that supplies current to a vehicle drive motor,
The cutting blade is provided in an inverter case in which the inverter is stored.
Power shut-off device. The power cutoff device according to claim 4,
The relay is a plurality,
The signal line is provided for each of the relays,
The cutting blade disconnects the battery and the load by disconnecting the drive current by cutting the at least one signal line,
Power shut-off device. A power supply circuit mounted on the vehicle and having a battery, a load, and a relay;
A relay control unit that performs contact and separation between the battery and the load by controlling the relay,
A power cutoff device having
The relay connects the battery and the load according to a drive current supplied from the relay control unit via a signal line,
The signal line is installed in a front window of the vehicle, and disconnects the battery and the load by breaking the signal line by breaking the front window during a vehicle collision and cutting off the supply of the driving current.
Power shut-off device.

Images