JP2005354827A - Battery degradation preventer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a battery degradation preventer which can appropriately prevent the degradation of a battery. <P>SOLUTION: A reference time fit for the power cut of load 3 for prevention of battery degradation is set in consideration of various parameters such as the kind of the load 3 in operation, the residual quantity of the battery, the outside air temperature, etc. after switching off of an ignition switch. This battery degradation preventer breaks the power of the load 3 when a passage time in condition that a crew detection means 13 has confirmed that there is no crew in all seats gets over the reference time. This can prevent such a state of things that the power supply to the load is compulsively cut while the user is operating the load, conversely it can save useless power consumption of the battery when there is no crew. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a battery rise prevention device for preventing battery rise in an automobile.

  Since the battery mounted on the automobile needs to maintain a constant voltage for starting the engine or the like, it is necessary to operate the battery so as not to run out.

  Incidentally, some automobile loads, such as lamps and car audios, can be operated regardless of the ON / OFF state of the ignition switch. In this case, if the user forgets to stop the operation of the load and gets off the vehicle, and if the user leaves the vehicle for a long time, the vehicle will run out of battery.

  Therefore, in the prior art, for example, Patent Literature 1 is disclosed in order to prevent the above-described battery from running out. In this patent document 1, when the ignition switch is turned off and the load switch is turned on, taking into account that the battery is continuously discharged in this state, the time when the state has passed is measured, When the measurement result reaches a predetermined set time, the power supply to the load is interrupted to prevent the battery from running out.

JP-A-10-217840

  In the case of the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, the power supply to the load is cut off when the discharge time of the battery reaches a predetermined set time. For example, the capacity of the battery has already decreased before the ignition switch is turned off. In such a case, the battery may run out before the discharge time reaches a predetermined set time.

  Conversely, when the remaining capacity of the battery is large, the process after turning off the ignition switch while the automobile is stopped with the ignition switch turned off, for example, while the user is listening to the car audio. When the time reaches a predetermined set time, the power supply to the car audio is automatically cut off, which is inconvenient.

  Then, the subject of this invention is providing the battery rising prevention apparatus which can prevent a battery rising appropriately.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the invention described in claim 1 includes a load power cut-off means for switching on / off of a power supplied from a battery to a load, a main switch determining means for determining an on / off state of the main switch, An operational load detecting means for detecting a load, and a reference time for shutting off the load after the main switch determining means determines the OFF state of the main switch is that at least the operating load detecting means is operating. Set based on the type of load detected, and when the elapsed time since the main switch determining means has determined the OFF state of the main switch exceeds the reference time, the load power cutoff means And a logic determination unit that controls the power supply to the load to be turned off.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a load power cut-off means for switching on / off of power supplied from a battery to a load, a main switch determination means for determining an on / off state of the main switch, and the main switch determination means for A reference time for shutting off the load after the OFF state is determined is set based on at least a dark current flowing through the vehicle, and an elapsed time since the main switch determining means determines the OFF state of the main switch. And a logic determination unit that controls the load power cut-off means to turn off the power to the load when the reference time is exceeded.

  A third aspect of the present invention is the battery rising prevention apparatus according to the second aspect, further comprising dark current storage means for storing the dark current value in advance, wherein the logic determination unit is configured to store the dark current storage. The reference time is set based on the dark current value stored in the means.

  The invention according to claim 4 is the battery rising prevention device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising battery state detection means for detecting an output state of the battery, wherein the logic determination unit Is for setting the reference time based on the detection result of the battery state detection means.

  The invention according to claim 5 is the battery rising prevention device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising occupant detection means for detecting presence or absence of an occupant in each seat, and the elapsed time. However, the timing is started at least after receiving the information indicating that no occupant is present from the occupant detection means.

  The invention according to claim 6 is the battery rising prevention device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, further comprising an outside air temperature detecting means for detecting an outside air temperature around the automobile, wherein the logical determination is performed. The unit sets the reference time based also on the detection result of the outside air temperature detecting means.

  According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a battery rise prevention device that sets a reference time for battery rise prevention based on at least the type of an operating load, and an elapsed time since the OFF state of the main switch is determined. Since the load power cut-off means is controlled to turn off the power to the load when the reference time exceeds the reference time, it is possible to appropriately prevent the battery from running out.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a battery rise prevention device that sets a reference time for preventing battery rise based on at least a dark current flowing through the vehicle, and that is based on an elapsed time after the OFF state of the main switch is determined. When the time is exceeded, the load power cut-off means is controlled to turn off the power supply to the load, so that it is possible to properly prevent the battery from running out in consideration of dark current.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, the battery run-out prevention device uses the dark current value stored in the dark current storage means to prevent the battery run-up in consideration of this, so that the battery run-up can be easily performed by simple processing. Can be prevented appropriately.

  According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the battery rising prevention device sets the reference time based on the battery state, the battery rising can be appropriately prevented according to the remaining amount of the battery.

  According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the battery run-off prevention device cuts off the power to the load when the elapsed time started at least after the time when the occupant disappeared exceeds the reference time. While preventing the situation where the power supply to the load is forcibly cut off during operation, it is possible to save unnecessary battery power consumption when there is no passenger.

  According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, since the battery rise prevention device sets the reference time based on the outside air temperature around the automobile, it is possible to appropriately prevent the battery from going up in consideration of the outside air temperature.

<Configuration>
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a battery run-out prevention device according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, this battery rise prevention device mainly prevents the battery from running up when the vehicle is parked and stopped. The battery rise prevention device is arranged in a power supply path from the battery 1 to the load 3 to switch on and off the power supply to the load 3. A load power cut-off means 5, an ignition switch discrimination means (main switch discrimination means) 7 for discriminating an on / off state of an ignition switch as a main switch, an operation load detection means 9 for detecting an operating load 3, and a battery 1 The battery state detection means 11 for detecting the output state, the occupant detection means 13 for detecting the presence / absence of an occupant in each seat, and the operating load detection means 9 detect the operating load 3, and the ignition switch is turned off. The ignition switch discriminating means 7 discriminates the fact that the passenger Elapsed time determination means 15 for determining and storing the elapsed time from the time when the state is detected, and dark current storage means for preliminarily storing a value of dark current (dark current value) flowing in the automobile 17, an outside air temperature detecting means 19 for detecting the outside air temperature around the automobile, an operating load detecting means 9, a battery state detecting means 11, an elapsed time judging means 15, a dark current storage means 17 and an outside air temperature detecting means 19. And a logic determination unit 21 that performs predetermined logic determination based on each signal and controls the load power cut-off means 5.

  For example, a switch component such as an electromagnetic control relay is applied to the load power interruption means 5, and is switched on / off of the power supply to the load 3 by being arranged in a power supply path from the battery 1 to the load 3 by electromagnetic control in the logic judgment unit 21. .

  The ignition switch discriminating means 7 discriminates the ON / OFF state of the ignition switch by detecting the voltage or current state downstream of the ignition switch, and the discrimination result is sent to the elapsed time judging means 15 and the logic judging section 21. Is output. When the ignition switch is off, the power supply system in the automobile is turned off in principle, except for the case where current flows in the load 3 in such a state, and only a dark current that is a small current is a predetermined current in the automobile. It will flow through the route. Therefore, the fact that the ignition switch is determined to be OFF by the ignition switch discriminating means 7 means that only dark current is flowing in the vehicle except when a current is flowing through the load 3 as will be described later. It will be judged.

  The operating load detection means 9 detects the load 3 that is operating periodically (for example, every few seconds), and may detect the current flowing through the load 3, or may be optical or mechanical. The operation of the load 3 may be detected. However, since this operation load detection means 9 needs to continue the detection operation even after the ignition switch is turned off, a device with low power consumption is applied in the detection operation. The detection result of the operation load detection means 9 is output to the elapsed time determination means 15 and the logic determination section 21.

  The battery state detection unit 11 detects the output state of the battery 1, and specifically detects the output voltage of the battery 1. The detection result of the battery state detection unit 11 is output to the logic determination unit 21.

  The occupant detection means 13 is applied with a thermal sensor or pressure sensor installed in each seat, or a door opening sensor such as a mechanical or optical type, and detects the presence or absence of an occupant in each seat. The detection result of the passenger detection means 13 is output to the elapsed time determination means 15.

  As described above, the elapsed time determining means 15 detects the load 3 being operated by the operating load detecting means 9, determines that the ignition switch has been turned off, determines by the ignition switch determining means 7, and detects the occupant. The elapsed time from the time when the means 13 detects that no seats are detected in all seats is determined based on the time measured by a predetermined timer 15a, and a predetermined nonvolatile memory such as a built-in flash ROM is determined. The elapsed time is memorized every moment in the storage device.

  The dark current storage means 17 uses a non-volatile storage device such as the above-described flash ROM, and stores in advance a dark current value that flows when the ignition switch is turned off in the automobile. The dark current value is output to the logic determination unit 21 in response to a read request from the logic determination unit 21. Note that the dark current value of an automobile differs depending on the vehicle type, vehicle type, and type of various electronic units mounted on the automobile, and the dark current value that differs for each automobile is stored in the dark current memory. It is stored in the means 17.

  The outside air temperature detecting means 19 is applied with a general thermo sensor and is installed at a predetermined position on the body of the automobile to detect the outside air temperature around. The detection result of the outside air temperature detection means 19 is output to the logic determination unit 21 in response to a request from the logic determination unit 21.

  The logic determination unit 21 has a first function for determining the power consumption from the type of the operating load 3 detected by the operating load detection unit 9 and the dark current value stored in the dark current storage unit 17 (FIG. 2). And a second function for estimating the remaining amount of the battery 1 from the voltage state of the battery 1 detected by the battery state detection means 11 (see step S03 in the flowchart of FIG. 2). A third function (see step S04 in the flowchart of FIG. 2) for correcting the power consumption and the remaining amount of the battery 1 based on the outside air temperature detected by the outside air temperature detecting means 19, and this correction. A fourth function (step in the flowchart of FIG. 2) for calculating the driving time of the load 3 (hereinafter referred to as “reference time”) for preventing the battery from running out from the power consumption and the remaining amount of the battery 1. And a fifth function for periodically determining whether the elapsed time determined and stored by the elapsed time determination means 15 has exceeded the reference time (for example, every minute) (see FIG. 2). Step S06 in the flowchart) and a sixth function for controlling power cutoff for the load 3 through the load power cutoff means 5 when the elapsed time has passed the reference time (see Step S07 in the flowchart of FIG. 2). With.

  Here, in the first function of the logic determination unit 21, for example, by referring to the first reference table stored in advance in a non-volatile storage device such as the above-described flash ROM, the type of the load 3 in operation can be determined. The power consumption amount is recognized based on this, and the recognized power consumption amount of the load 3 and the dark current value stored in the dark current storage means 17 are added to calculate the total power consumption amount of both. It is supposed to be. The first function of the logic determination unit 21 starts when the ignition switch is turned off by the ignition switch determination means 7.

  Further, in the second function of the logic determination unit 21, for example, the second reference table stored in advance in a nonvolatile storage device such as the above-described flash ROM is referred to, or the output voltage of the battery 1 and its remaining amount are determined. The remaining amount of the battery 1 is estimated from the voltage state of the battery 1 detected by the battery state detection means 11 by using a predetermined function stored in advance in the nonvolatile storage device as a correlation between .

  Further, in the third function of the logic determination unit 21, for example, a third reference table stored in advance in a nonvolatile storage device such as the above-described flash ROM is referred to, or the outside air temperature and the power consumption of the load 3 are referred to. And a predetermined other function stored in advance in the non-volatile storage device as a correlation between the remaining amount of the battery 1 and the above, based on the outside air temperature detected by the outside air temperature detecting means 19 Power consumption and the remaining amount of the battery 1 are corrected. The third function of the logic determination unit 21 becomes active only when the ignition switch is turned off by the ignition switch determination means 7.

  Furthermore, in the fourth function of the logic determination unit 21, a predetermined minimum value with respect to the remaining amount of the battery 1 is obtained from the remaining amount of the battery 1 obtained by the third function and the above power consumption. The above reference time is calculated. In this calculation, for example, a fourth reference table stored in advance in a nonvolatile storage device such as the above-described flash ROM may be referred to, or the remaining amount of the battery 1 and the above-mentioned power consumption amount and the above-mentioned standard Another predetermined function stored in advance in the non-volatile storage device may be used as an indication of the correlation with time. Note that the fourth function of the logic determination unit 21 is activated only when the ignition switch is turned off by the ignition switch determination means 7.

  In this embodiment, it has been described that various reference tables or various functions are used for the first to fourth functions in the logic determination unit 21, but all of the first to fourth functions are considered. A single lookup table or a single function may be used.

  Here, the ignition switch discriminating means 7, dark current storage means 17, elapsed time judging means 15, timer 15a and logic judging section 21 are in a CPU (microphone processor) of a general computer to which a ROM and a RAM are connected. It is a functional component that operates according to a predetermined software program stored in the above nonvolatile storage device or the like. And the battery running prevention device including the ignition switch discriminating means 7, the dark current storage means 17, the elapsed time judging means 15, the timer 15a, and the logic judging section 21 can detect the dark current even when the ignition switch is off. It operates with the supplied power.

<Operation>
The operation of the battery rising prevention device having the above configuration will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, in step S01, when the ignition switch is turned off, the ignition switch determination means 7 outputs that fact to the elapsed time determination means 15 and the logic determination section 21.

  The elapsed time judging means 15 judges whether or not the operating load detecting means 9 has detected the operating load 3 when the ignition switch is turned off, and the occupant detecting means 13 It is determined whether or not it is detected that there is no passenger in the seat. When the operating load detection means 9 detects the operating load 3 and the occupant detection means 13 detects that no occupants are present in all seats, the elapsed time determination means 15 The elapsed time from the determined time is determined based on the time measured by the predetermined timer 15a, and the elapsed time is stored in a predetermined nonvolatile storage device such as a built-in flash ROM.

  In parallel with this operation, the logic determination unit 21 refers to the first reference table stored in advance in a nonvolatile storage device such as the above-mentioned flash ROM in step S02, for example. The power consumption is recognized on the basis of the type. Then, the recognized power consumption amount of the load 3 and the dark current value stored in the dark current storage means 17 are added to calculate the total power consumption amount of both.

  In the next step S03, the logic determination unit 21 refers to the second reference table stored in advance in the nonvolatile storage device such as the flash ROM described above, or is stored in advance in the nonvolatile storage device. By using the predetermined function, the remaining amount of the battery 1 is estimated from the voltage state of the battery 1 detected by the battery state detection unit 11.

  Subsequently, in step S04, the logic determination unit 21 refers to the third reference table stored in advance in the nonvolatile storage device such as the flash ROM described above, or stores in advance in the nonvolatile storage device. By using the other predetermined function, the power consumption amount and the remaining amount of the battery 1 are corrected based on the outside air temperature detected by the outside air temperature detecting means 19.

  Then, in step S05, the logic determination unit 21 performs the above process from the remaining amount of the battery 1 obtained in step S04 and the above-described power consumption amount to a predetermined minimum value allowed for the remaining amount of the battery 1. Calculate the reference time. In such a calculation, for example, a fourth reference table stored in advance in a nonvolatile storage device such as the above-described flash ROM may be referred to, or the remaining amount of the battery 1 and the above-mentioned power consumption amount and the above-mentioned standard Another predetermined function stored in advance in the non-volatile storage device may be used as an indication of the correlation with time.

  In the next step S06, the logic determination unit 21 periodically determines (for example, every minute) whether or not the elapsed time determined and stored by the elapsed time determination means 15 has exceeded the reference time. Then, when the elapsed time has passed the reference time, the process proceeds to step S07, and the power cutoff for the load 3 is controlled through the load power cutoff means 5.

  In this way, in addition to the type of load 3 operating after the ignition switch is turned off, various parameters such as the battery state, dark current value, and outside air temperature are taken into consideration, so that the battery can be reliably discharged. Can be prevented. Therefore, for example, even when the capacity of the battery 1 has already decreased before the ignition switch is turned off, it is possible to prevent a situation where the battery runs out before the discharge time reaches the predetermined set time.

  In particular, since it is possible to prevent the battery from running out in consideration of dark current, it is possible to cut off the power to the load 3 while leaving the minimum necessary voltage value in consideration of dark current for a predetermined number of days, for example. Thereby, it becomes possible to leave the battery amount required when the engine is restarted in consideration of the power consumption due to the dark current after the load 3 is shut off.

  Further, since the elapsed time judging means 15 measures the elapsed time in the absence of the occupant, while the user is operating the load 3 such as the car audio with the ignition switch turned off and the vehicle stopped, The situation where the power supply to 3 is forcibly cut off can be prevented. Conversely, when there is no occupant, useless power consumption of the battery 1 can be saved.

  From the above, if this battery rise prevention device is used, battery rise can be prevented appropriately.

  In addition, the dark current value stored in the dark current storage means 17 is used to prevent the battery from being taken into consideration, so that it is possible to easily prevent the battery from rising easily with a simple process.

  In the above embodiment, all the determinations for preventing the battery from running out are performed by the logic determination unit 21. However, as shown in FIG. 3, for example, a battery capacity storage capable of storing a battery voltage value required when the engine is restarted. The means 23 may be provided separately from the logic judgment unit 21. In this case, when the logic determination unit 21 calculates the reference time, the battery voltage value required when the engine is restarted is read from the battery capacity storage unit 23, for example, taking into account the dark current for a predetermined number of days. However, the reference time is set such that the required battery voltage value can be secured. It goes without saying that the same effect as in the above embodiment can be obtained by this.

  Further, the reference time in the above embodiment has been described as being set only by the logic determination unit 21, but the reference time required by the logic determination unit 21 can be maximized and a shorter time can be set. Therefore, for example, the user may freely set a time shorter than the reference time required by the logic determination unit 21 using a predetermined operation input installed on the instrument panel.

  Furthermore, since the minimum amount required for the remaining amount of the battery 1 in consideration of the dark current may be more than the capacity required at the time of engine restart, the remaining amount of the battery 1 is required at the time of restart. A value larger than the capacity to be set may be freely set by the user using, for example, a predetermined operation input installed on the instrument panel.

  Furthermore, the change in battery capacity from the stop of power supply to the load 3 to the time of engine restart is set in advance as a function based on experience and the like, and this function is stored in advance in a nonvolatile storage device. Also good. In this case, the time and frequency of the user leaving the vehicle in the past are statistically stored in the nonvolatile storage device, and the vehicle leaving time and the like are predicted when the ignition switch is turned off. The minimum battery requirement and the reference time may be changed and adjusted.

It is a block diagram which shows the battery rising prevention apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the battery rising prevention apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the battery rising prevention apparatus which concerns on the modification of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Battery 3 Load 5 Load electric power interruption means 7 Ignition switch discrimination means 9 Operating load detection means 11 Battery state detection means 13 Passenger detection means 15 Elapsed time judgment means 15a Timer 17 Dark current storage means 19 Outside air temperature detection means 21 Logic judgment part 23 Battery capacity storage means

Claims (6)

A load power cut-off means for switching on / off of a power supply given to the load from the battery;
Main switch discriminating means for discriminating the on / off state of the main switch;
An operation load detecting means for detecting a load during operation;
A reference time at which the load should be cut off after the main switch determining means determines the OFF state of the main switch is set based on at least the type of load detected by the operating load detecting means. And controlling the load power shut-off means to turn off the power to the load when the elapsed time since the main switch discriminating means discriminates the off state of the main switch exceeds the reference time. A battery run-out prevention device comprising a logic determination unit that performs the operation. A load power cut-off means for switching on / off of a power supply given to the load from the battery;
Main switch discriminating means for discriminating the on / off state of the main switch;
A reference time for shutting off the load after the main switch determining means determines that the main switch is off is set based on at least a dark current flowing through the vehicle, and the main switch determining means turns off the main switch. A battery rise prevention device comprising: a logic determination unit that controls the load power cut-off means to turn off a power supply to a load when an elapsed time after the state is determined exceeds the reference time. The battery rising prevention device according to claim 2,
A dark current storage means for storing the dark current value in advance;
The battery judgment apparatus, wherein the logic determination unit sets the reference time based on the dark current value stored in the dark current storage means. The battery rising prevention device according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
A battery state detecting means for detecting the output state of the battery;
The battery determination apparatus, wherein the logic determination unit sets the reference time based on a detection result of the battery state detection means. The battery rising prevention device according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
It further comprises occupant detection means for detecting the presence or absence of an occupant in each seat,
The battery rising prevention device, wherein the elapsed time is started at least after a point in time when information indicating that no occupant is present is received from the occupant detection means. The battery rising prevention device according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
It further comprises an outside air temperature detecting means for detecting the outside air temperature around the automobile,
The battery determination apparatus, wherein the logic determination unit sets the reference time based on a detection result of the outside air temperature detection unit.

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