JP2010063234A - Fuel cell vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a fuel cell vehicle suppressing the number of components, improving a degree of arrangement freedom and miniaturizing a motor room. <P>SOLUTION: The fuel cell vehicle includes: a capacitor 23 which a vehicle driving motor and a compressor driving motor shares; and a PDU case 12 storing INV14, INV18 and the capacitor 23. The vehicle includes also an intermediate wall 38 dividing inner space of the case into an upper space part 37 and a lower space part 36, and a through part 47 passing through the intermediate wall 38 and communicating the upper space part 37 and the lower space part 36. INV14 is disposed in the upper space part 37 or the lower space part 36. INV18 is installed in the other part. The capacitor 23 is disposed over the upper space part 37 and the lower space part 36 through the through part 47. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a fuel cell vehicle in which a motor for driving a vehicle and a motor for driving a fuel cell compressor are provided in the same motor room.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a fuel cell vehicle is known in which a vehicle driving motor is disposed in a motor room and an inverter is disposed above the vehicle driving motor (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
JP 2004-181979 A

  By the way, in the fuel cell vehicle described above, an air pump for supplying fuel gas to the fuel cell is mounted in addition to the vehicle driving inverter, an air pump motor for driving the air pump, and the air pump An air pump inverter for driving the motor may be disposed in the motor room. Generally, in a motor room, since there are many installation parts, the freedom of arrangement | positioning of an apparatus is low, and the subject that size reduction of a motor room becomes difficult occurs. Therefore, in recent years, miniaturization of air pump inverters and drive motor inverters has been desired.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides a fuel cell vehicle capable of improving the degree of freedom in arrangement and reducing the size of a motor room by suppressing the number of parts.

  In order to solve the above problems, the invention described in claim 1 is a fuel cell (for example, the fuel cell stack 6 in the embodiment) that is supplied with fuel gas and oxidant gas to generate power, and the fuel cell. Compressor for supplying fuel gas (for example, compressor unit 7 in the embodiment), compressor drive motor for driving the compressor (for example, compressor motor CM in the embodiment), and vehicle drive for driving wheels A motor (for example, the driving motor TM in the embodiment) and a vehicle driving motor switching element (for example, the embodiment) that converts a direct current output from the fuel cell into an alternating current and supplies the alternating current to the vehicle driving motor. INV14), and a direct current output from the fuel cell is converted into an alternating current to convert the compressor In a fuel cell vehicle provided with a compressor drive motor switching element (for example, INV18 in the embodiment) supplied to the servo drive motor, a smoothing capacitor (for example, the embodiment) shared by the vehicle drive motor and the compressor drive motor is used. Capacitor unit 23) and a storage box (for example, PDU case 12 in the embodiment) for storing the vehicle drive motor switching element, the compressor drive motor switching element, and the smoothing capacitor. Further, an intermediate floor (for example, an intermediate wall in the embodiment) that divides the internal space into an upper space (for example, the upper space portion 37 in the embodiment) and a lower space (for example, the lower space portion 36 in the embodiment). 38, 55) and through the intermediate floor Penetrating part (for example, penetrating part 47 in the embodiment) that communicates the upper space and the lower space, and the vehicle drive motor switching element is provided in one of the upper space and the lower space. The compressor driving switching element is disposed on the other side, and the smoothing capacitor is disposed across the upper space and the lower space via the through portion.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the storage box is disposed above the vehicle drive motor, and the vehicle drive motor switching element is disposed in the lower space. It is characterized by.

  The invention described in claim 3 is the invention described in claim 1 or 2, wherein the switching element for the compressor drive motor is attached to one of the upper surface and the lower surface of the intermediate floor, and is used for the vehicle drive motor. The switching element is attached to the other surface of the upper surface or the lower surface of the intermediate floor, and the connection terminal of the smoothing capacitor is disposed in the through portion.

The invention described in claim 4 is the invention described in claim 3, characterized in that a cooling portion (for example, the passage 56 in the embodiment) is formed on the intermediate floor.
The invention described in claim 5 is characterized in that, in the invention described in any one of claims 1 to 4, a discharge resistor for discharging the electric charge in the smoothing capacitor is provided.

  According to the invention described in claim 1, by using the smoothing capacitor of the vehicle drive motor and the smoothing capacitor of the compressor drive motor in common, as compared with the conventional case where the smoothing capacitor is individually provided in each motor. Thus, the overall capacity of the smoothing capacitor can be suppressed and the size can be reduced. Furthermore, since the smoothing capacitor is placed over the upper space and the lower space through the through portion, the space of the through portion can be used effectively, so the storage box is downsized and the degree of freedom in placement in the motor room is improved. There is an effect that the motor room can be downsized.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effect of the first aspect, the storage box in which the switching element for the vehicle drive motor is disposed in the lower space is disposed above the vehicle drive motor. Since the distance between the vehicle drive motor switching element and the vehicle drive motor switching element is relatively short, the wiring between the vehicle drive motor and the vehicle drive motor switching element can be shortened to reduce noise and improve power efficiency. There is.

  According to the invention described in claim 3, in addition to the effect of claim 1 or 2, the wiring between the smoothing capacitor and the switching element for the vehicle drive motor and the switching element for the compressor drive motor can be connected with the shortest distance. Therefore, there is an effect that noise suppression and power efficiency can be improved.

  According to the invention described in claim 4, in addition to the effect of claim 3, the switching element for the compressor drive motor and the switching element for the vehicle drive motor can be cooled by the common cooling portion that is the intermediate floor, so that the cooling efficiency There is an effect that further space saving can be achieved as compared with the case where the cooling unit is individually provided.

  According to the fifth aspect of the invention, in addition to the effect of any one of the first to fourth aspects, since the discharge resistor is provided only for the shared smoothing capacitor, the smoothing capacitor is individually provided for each motor. The number of parts can be reduced as compared with the case of providing a discharge resistor for each smoothing capacitor.

Next, a fuel cell vehicle according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the fuel cell vehicle 1 according to the first embodiment includes a motor room 3 that is spaced forward of the dash panel 2. Between the left and right front wheels Wf of the motor room 3 (only the left front wheel is shown in FIG. 1), a drive motor unit 5 in which a drive motor TM and a transmission (not shown) are unitized is accommodated. Then, the output of the drive motor TM is transmitted to the left and right front wheels Wf via the mission.
The drive motor TM is a so-called three-phase motor, and is driven by electric power output from a fuel cell stack (FC) 6 disposed under the floor tunnel of the passenger compartment. Here, the fuel cell stack 6 is formed by laminating a large number of unit cells (unit cells) along the vehicle longitudinal direction, for example, supplying hydrogen gas as fuel gas to the anode side and oxygen as oxidant gas to the cathode side. By supplying the air containing, electric power and water are generated by an electrochemical reaction.

  A compressor unit 7 having an air pump (A / P) for pumping hydrogen gas to the fuel cell stack 6 is fixed to the upper part of the motor housing of the drive motor unit 5 placed in the motor room 3. The compressor unit 7 includes a compressor motor CM that is a three-phase motor, and the compressor motor CM is driven using electric power output from the fuel cell stack 6 in the same manner as the drive motor TM.

  A drive motor power drive unit (Mot PDU) 10 for controlling the power supplied to the drive motor TM is interposed between the lines connecting the drive motor TM and the fuel cell stack 6. Further, a compressor power drive unit (A / P PDU) 11 for controlling electric power supplied to the compressor motor CM is interposed between the compressor motor CM and the fuel cell stack 6. The drive motor power drive unit 10 and the compressor power drive unit 11 are housed in the same PDU case 12, and the PDU case 12 is supported by a frame (not shown) provided in the motor room 3 to be a compressor unit. 7 is fixed above.

  The drive motor power drive unit 10 includes an INV (inverter) 14 that converts a DC current input from the fuel cell stack 6 into a three-phase AC current, and a DC voltage sensor that measures a line voltage on the input side of the INV 14. 15 is attached. Furthermore, current sensors 16 for measuring phase currents are attached to the U, V, and W phases on the output side of the INV 14, respectively.

  On the other hand, the compressor power drive unit 11 includes an INV 18 that converts a DC current input from the fuel cell stack 6 into a three-phase AC current. The compressor power drive unit 11 is also provided with a DC voltage sensor 19 for measuring the line voltage on the input side, as in the drive motor power drive unit 10 described above. A current sensor 20 for measuring the phase current is attached to each phase. The drive motor power drive unit 10 and the compressor power drive unit 11 are individually controlled by the integrated ECU 21. The integrated ECU 21 outputs a control signal to the INV 14 based on the detection results of the voltage sensor 15 and the current sensor 16 described above, and sends a control signal to the INV 18 based on the detection results of the voltage sensor 19 and the current sensor 20 described above. Output.

  The drive motor power drive unit 10 and the compressor power drive unit 11 described above are branched on the input side, and are shared by both the drive motor power drive unit 10 and the compressor power drive unit 11 in the vicinity of the branch connection. A smoothing capacitor unit 23 is connected between the lines. Further, the capacitor unit 23 is connected in parallel with a resistor 24 for discharging the charged charge.

As shown in FIG. 3, the PDU case 12 includes a lower case portion 26, an upper case portion 27, and a cover portion 28.
The lower case portion 26 is formed in a bottomed cylindrical shape composed of a bottom wall 30 and a side wall 31 rising upward from the peripheral edge of the bottom wall 30, and constitutes the motor drive power drive unit 10 on the bottom wall 30. INV (MOTPDU inverter) 14 is installed.
In addition, a lower through portion 33 through which the three-phase cable TL for the drive motor passes is formed in the side wall 31, and a flange portion 32 is formed on the outer side of the upper edge of the side wall 31.

  The upper case portion 27 is stacked and fixed on the lower case portion 26 described above, and includes a side wall 35 continuous with the side wall 31 of the lower case portion 26 and a lower space portion in the lower case portion 26 as a bottom wall thereof. 36 and an intermediate wall 38 that separates the upper space portion 37 in the upper case portion 27 from each other. An INV (A / PUMP PDU inverter) 18 constituting the compressor power drive unit 11 is installed on the intermediate wall 38.

  An upper through portion 39 through which the compressor three-phase cable CL passes is formed in the side wall 35 of the upper case portion 27, and a lower space portion 36 and an upper case portion defined in the lower case portion 26 are formed in the intermediate wall 38. A through hole 27 is formed to communicate with the upper space portion 37 defined by 27. A control line 40 of the integrated ECU 33 is routed from the upper space portion 37 to the lower space portion 36 through the through hole 27.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the intermediate wall 38 has an upper space portion 37 and a lower space portion 36 on the side wall 35 facing the side wall 35 where the upper through portion 39 of the upper space portion 37 is formed. Is formed, and the capacitor unit 23 is disposed across the upper space 37 and the lower space 36 along the side wall 31 and the side wall 35 via the through part 47. In the capacitor unit 23, connection terminals are arranged in the vicinity of the through-hole 47, and one end of a positive electrode side bus bar 48 and a negative electrode side bus bar 49 whose other ends are connected to the INVs 14 and 18 are connected to these connection terminals.

  Further, a through hole 52 is formed in one of the side walls 35 orthogonal to the side wall 35 in which the through hole 39 is formed (see FIG. 4), and the positive side input bus bar 50 and the negative side input are passed through the through hole 52. A bus bar 51 is connected to a DC cable DCL for supplying electric power output from the fuel cell stack 6. The positive electrode side input bus bar 50 and the negative electrode side input bus bar 51 are connected to the positive electrode side bus bar 48 and the negative electrode side bus bar 49, respectively, and the resistor 24 described above is connected between the positive electrode side input bus bar 50 and the negative electrode side input bus bar 51. Has been.

Flange portions 42 and 43 are respectively formed on the upper edge outer side and the lower edge outer side of the side wall 35 of the upper case portion 27, and the flange portion 42 on the lower edge outer side is formed on the flange portion 32 of the lower case portion 26 by screws or the like. The upper case portion 27 is fixed to the lower case portion 26 by being fastened.
A flange portion 45 provided on the outer periphery of the cover portion 28 that closes the upper opening portion 44 of the upper case portion 27 is connected to the flange portion 43 outside the upper edge of the upper case portion 27 so that the upper case portion 27 covers the upper case portion 27. The part 28 is fixed. A waterproof O-ring 54 is provided between the flange portion 43 and the flange portion 45.

Next, the work of the above-described capacitor unit 23 will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 5A is a graph showing changes in the speed of the fuel cell vehicle when the vertical axis represents vehicle speed and the horizontal axis represents time. 5 (b) to 5 (d), the horizontal axis is the same as that in FIG. 5 (a), and (b) is the capacitor unit (C) for the drive motor power drive unit (MOTPDU) 10 on the vertical axis. (C) is the work amount of the capacitor unit (C) 23 with respect to the compressor power drive unit (A / PUMPPDU) 11, and (d) is the vertical axis is the power drive unit 10 for the drive motor and the compressor power. The total work of the capacitor unit (C) 23 with respect to the drive unit 11 is shown.

The time t0 to t1 in FIG. 5A is an acceleration state in which the vehicle speed gradually increases from the stop state, and the time t1 to t3 is a cruise state in which the vehicle speed is constant.
At this time, the work amount (see FIG. 5B) of the capacitor unit 23 with respect to the power drive unit 10 for the drive motor linearly increases in accordance with the increase in the vehicle speed in the acceleration state at time t0 to t1, and the cruise state at time t1. When entering, it rapidly decreases and becomes substantially constant at a work amount (for example, about 0.5) sufficiently lower than the peak during acceleration (for example, about 1.5).

  Furthermore, the work amount of the capacitor unit 23 relative to the compressor power drive unit 11 (see FIG. 5C) is slightly delayed because the power generation of the fuel cell stack 6 is slightly delayed with respect to the increase in vehicle speed. The peak (for example, about 1.0) is reached at time t2 later than time t1. After that, with the decrease in the amount of power generated due to entering the cruise state, the work amount suddenly decreases at time t2 and is substantially constant at a work amount sufficiently lower than the peak (for example, about 0.2 to 0.4). It becomes.

Next, at time t3, the vehicle state leaves the cruise state, the vehicle speed gradually decreases, and stops at time t4 (see FIG. 5 (a)). The amount of work of the capacitor unit 23 relative to the drive motor power drive unit 10 at this time becomes slightly higher than that in the cruise state, and then becomes “0” when the vehicle stops (time t4).
Further, the work amount of the capacitor unit 23 with respect to the compressor power drive unit 11 at this time is maintained at a very small work amount until the acceleration (time t5) is resumed because the power generation of the fuel cell stack 6 becomes about the living power at the same time as the deceleration. Is done. 5A to 5D show a case where acceleration is started again at time t5 and a cruise state is reached at time t6. The work amount of the capacitor unit 23 from time t0 to time t3 described above is shown. The same transition is repeated.

  As shown in FIG. 5 (d), the total work shown in FIGS. 5 (b) and 5 (c) has a first peak (about 2.25) at time t1. A second peak (about 1.5) is generated at time t2 immediately after dropping from the peak. Here, since the peak time t1 in FIG. 5B and the peak time t2 in FIG. 5C are shifted, the first peak is the work of the capacitor unit 23 with respect to the power drive unit 10 for the drive motor. The peak of the amount (for example, 1.5) and the work amount (about 0.75) of the capacitor unit 23 with respect to the compressor power drive unit 11 at the time t1 are added to each other. For example, it becomes a value (for example, about 2.25) lower than a value (for example, 2.5) obtained by adding 1.5) and the peak (for example, 1.0) in FIG.

  That is, as described above, the capacitor unit 23 is shared by the drive motor power drive unit 10 and the compressor power drive unit 11, so that each capacitor unit (for example, 1.5 And 1.0), the capacity of the entire capacitor can be suppressed and the capacitor unit 23 can be downsized.

  Therefore, according to the first embodiment described above, the smoothing capacitor unit 23 of the drive motor power drive unit 10 that drives and controls the drive motor TM and the compressor power drive unit 11 that drives and controls the compressor motor CM. The smoothing capacitor unit 23 is shared, so that the entire capacitor unit 23 is compared with the case where the smoothing capacitor unit is provided separately for the drive motor power drive unit 10 and the compressor power drive unit 11. It is possible to reduce the size by suppressing the capacity. Further, by arranging the capacitor unit 23 across the upper space portion 37 and the lower space portion 36 via the penetration portion 47, the space of the penetration portion 47 can be effectively utilized. It is possible to improve the degree of freedom of arrangement of parts in the motor 3 and to reduce the size of the motor room 3.

  In addition, since the PDU case 12 in which the drive motor power drive unit 10 is disposed in the lower space 36 is disposed above the drive motor TM, the distance between the drive motor TM and the drive motor power drive unit 10 is relatively short. Therefore, the wiring between the drive motor TM and the drive motor power drive unit 10 can be shortened to suppress noise and improve power efficiency.

  Furthermore, compared with the case where the smoothing capacitor unit is provided individually for the drive motor power drive unit 10 and the compressor power drive unit 11, the number of parts can be reduced and the number of assembling operations can be reduced.

  In the first embodiment described above, the case where the intermediate wall 38 is formed integrally with the upper case portion 27 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this configuration. For example, the upper case portion 27 and the intermediate wall 38 may be formed separately, and the intermediate wall 38 may be sandwiched between the upper case portion 27 and the lower case portion 26.

  Next, a fuel cell vehicle according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In addition, this 2nd Embodiment changes the arrangement | positioning of the power drive unit 10 for drive motors of the 1st Embodiment mentioned above, and while using FIG. 2 of 1st Embodiment, it is the same part Are described with the same reference numerals.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the PDU case 12 of the second embodiment is composed of a lower case portion 26, an upper case portion 27, and a cover portion 28, as in the first embodiment described above. The integrated ECU 21 is accommodated in the upper space portion 37 of the portion 27. Further, the smoothing capacitor unit 23 is disposed across the lower space portion 36 and the upper space portion 37, and the lower space portion 36 and the upper space portion 37 are separated between the lower case portion 26 and the upper case portion 27. An intermediate wall 55 is provided.

The intermediate wall 55 has a so-called heat sink function, and is formed of a metal having a high thermal conductivity, and a passage 56 through which a refrigerant can flow is formed. The INV 18 of the compressor power drive unit 10 is fixed to the upper surface of the intermediate wall 55, while the INV 14 of the drive motor power drive unit 11 is fixed to the lower surface of the intermediate wall 55.
The capacitor unit 23 is connected to a positive bus bar (not shown) having one end connected to the INVs 14 and 18 and a negative bus bar 49 at substantially the center position in the vertical direction.

  Therefore, according to the second embodiment described above, the condenser unit 23, the drive motor power drive unit 10, and the INVs 14 and 18 of the compressor power drive unit 11 are fixed to the upper and lower surfaces of the intermediate wall 55. Since the INVs 14 and 18 and the capacitor unit 23 can be connected by the positive electrode side bus bar 48 and the negative electrode side bus bar 49 at the shortest distance, noise suppression and improvement in power efficiency can be achieved.

  Further, since the INVs 14 and 18 of the compressor power drive unit 11 and the drive motor power drive unit 10 can be cooled via the refrigerant flowing through the passage 56 of the common intermediate wall 55, the cooling efficiency can be improved while the cooling efficiency is improved. As compared with the case where the heat sink is individually provided for the power drive unit 11 for driving and the power drive unit 10 for driving motor, further space saving can be achieved.

  In the first and second embodiments described above, only the case where the capacitor unit 23 is arranged over the upper space portion 37 and the lower space portion 36 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this configuration. For example, as another embodiment, a part of the capacitors constituting the capacitor unit 23 may be arranged in an empty space in the PDU case 12. As an example of this, as shown in FIG. 7, for example, when the INV 14 is fixedly provided on the bottom wall 30 of the lower case portion 26, the capacitor unit 23 is configured together with the capacitor unit 23a in the space between the INV 14 and the intermediate wall 38. The capacitor unit 23b may be provided by being suspended and fixed to the lower surface of the intermediate wall 38. With this configuration, it is possible to effectively use the space, and as a result, it is possible to improve the degree of freedom of arrangement of components in the PDU case 12 and to reduce the size of the PDU case 12.

  The present invention is not limited to the first and second embodiments described above. For example, the compressor power drive unit 11 is disposed in the lower space 36 and the drive motor power drive unit is disposed in the upper space 37. It may be arranged.

1 is a front side view of a fuel cell vehicle according to a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a schematic block diagram of the power drive unit for drive motors and the power drive unit for compressors in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a fragmentary longitudinal cross-sectional view of the PDU case in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a top view of the PDU case in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a graph which shows the vehicle speed and the work of a capacitor | condenser with respect to time in embodiment of this invention, (a) is an example of the change of the vehicle speed with respect to time, (b) is the change of the work of the capacitor | condenser with respect to the power drive unit for drive motors. For example, (c) shows an example of a change in the work of the capacitor with respect to the compressor power drive unit, and (d) shows an example of a change in the total work of the capacitor. It is a schematic block diagram corresponded in FIG. 2 in the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the components arrangement | positioning in the PDU case in the other aspect of the 1st, 2nd embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

14 INV (Vehicle drive motor switching element)
18 INV (Switching element for compressor drive motor)
23 Capacitor (smoothing capacitor)
12 PDU case (storage box)
37 Upper space (upper space)
36 Lower space (lower space)
38,55 Intermediate wall (intermediate floor)
47 Penetration part 56 Passage (cooling part)
CM Compressor motor (Compressor drive motor)
TM drive motor (vehicle drive motor)

Claims (5)

A fuel cell that is supplied with fuel gas and oxidant gas to generate electricity;
A compressor for supplying fuel gas to the fuel cell;
A compressor drive motor for driving the compressor;
A vehicle drive motor for driving the wheels;
A vehicle drive motor switching element that converts a direct current output from the fuel cell into an alternating current and supplies the alternating current to the vehicle drive motor;
In a fuel cell vehicle comprising a compressor drive motor switching element for converting a direct current output from the fuel cell into an alternating current and supplying the alternating current to the compressor drive motor,
A smoothing capacitor shared by the vehicle drive motor and the compressor drive motor;
A storage box for storing the vehicle drive motor switching element, the compressor drive motor switching element, and the smoothing capacitor;
An intermediate floor that divides the internal space into an upper space and a lower space in the storage box,
A penetrating portion that penetrates the intermediate floor and communicates the upper space and the lower space;
The vehicle drive motor switching element is arranged in one of the upper space and the lower space, and the compressor drive switching element is arranged in the other, and the smoothing capacitor is connected via the through portion. A fuel cell vehicle arranged over the upper space and the lower space.   2. The fuel cell vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the storage box is disposed above the vehicle drive motor, and the vehicle drive motor switching element is disposed in the lower space.   The compressor drive motor switching element is attached to one of the upper and lower surfaces of the intermediate floor, and the vehicle drive motor switching element is attached to the other of the upper and lower surfaces of the intermediate floor, The fuel cell vehicle according to claim 1, wherein a connection terminal of the smoothing capacitor is disposed in the through portion.   The fuel cell vehicle according to claim 3, wherein a cooling portion is formed on the intermediate floor.   The fuel cell vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising a discharge resistor for discharging electric charges in the smoothing capacitor.

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