JP2010143315A - In-vehicle power transmission device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an in-vehicle power transmission device capable of surely and quickly discharging electric load stored in a power storage element such as a capacitor, etc. during a vehicle collision. <P>SOLUTION: This power transmission device 10 is arranged in a vehicle, and includes a plurality of cables 13 and 14 for power transmission and a connector 21 for connecting the plurality of cables 13 and 14. The connector 21 is fixed in the vehicle, and a projection body 26 arranged oppositely to the connector 21 is provided. By deformation of the connector 21, a plurality of terminals 19 (or 20) in the connector 21 are brought into contact with each other, and the terminals 19 (or 20) are electrically short-circuited. When the power storage element is arranged between the plurality of cables 13 and 14, the electric load stored in the power storage element is discharged by short circuit between the terminals 19 (or 20) in the connector 21. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an in-vehicle power transmission device mounted on a vehicle.

As a prior art related to the in-vehicle power transmission device, for example, there is a vehicle control device disclosed in Patent Document 1.
In this vehicle control device, the DC power of the battery is converted into AC power by an inverter, and power is supplied to the three-phase AC motor.
An electric circuit for power conversion is provided with a smoothing capacitor for reducing noise.
During the operation of the vehicle, high voltage power is stored in this capacitor.
For this reason, when the vehicle collides, there is a risk of electric leakage through the high voltage line due to the impact, and electric shock due to the electric power stored in the capacitor after the collision.
Therefore, in this vehicle control device, an HV_ECU (Electronic Control Unit) detects whether or not the vehicle has collided, and if detected, issues a command signal to put the automatic transmission in the parking lock state, The smoothing capacitor is discharged by zero torque processing.
JP 2006-141158 A

However, in the prior art, since the HV_ECU detects the vehicle collision and then performs the discharge process, there is a possibility that the discharge is not performed immediately after the collision.
Further, if the HV_ECU that performs the discharge process is damaged due to a collision, the discharge process of the smoothing capacitor based on the command of the HV_ECU becomes impossible.

  An object of the present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and provides an in-vehicle power transmission device that can reliably and quickly discharge charges stored in a power storage element such as a capacitor in the event of a vehicle collision. There is.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an in-vehicle power transmission device that is arranged in a vehicle and includes a plurality of cables for power transmission and a connector that connects the plurality of cables. It is characterized in that a protrusion is provided which is fixed inside and disposed opposite to the connector.

According to the present invention, when the vehicle collides, the protrusion deforms the connector using the impact at the time of the collision.
Due to the deformation of the connector, the cable in the connector is deformed and the cable is electrically short-circuited.
When the power storage element is disposed between the plurality of cables, the charge stored in the power storage element is discharged due to a short circuit of the cable in the connector.
By deforming the connector using the impact at the time of collision, the cable in the connector is short-circuited, so that the discharge of the storage element can be completed more reliably and more quickly than in the past.
Moreover, since the connector is fixed in the vehicle, the movement of the protrusion to the connector due to an impact at the time of collision can be received, and the connector can be reliably deformed. Thereby, a cable can be deform | transformed reliably and a cable can be short-circuited.

Further, in the present invention, in the above-described in-vehicle power transmission apparatus, the cable includes a pair of cables each having a terminal, the pair of terminals are arranged in parallel in the connector, and the protrusion is It may be arranged on the same plane as the pair of terminals.
In this case, the pair of terminals in the connector are arranged in parallel, and the protrusions are arranged in the same plane as the pair of terminals.
When the projecting body moves along the same plane and deforms the connector at the time of collision of the vehicle, the pair of terminals approach each other due to the deformation of the connector.

In the present invention, in the above-described in-vehicle power transmission device, the protrusion may be formed of a conductive material.
In this case, when the protrusion deforms the connector at the time of collision, the cable can be short-circuited via the protrusion even if the deformation of the cable is insufficient and the short-circuit cannot be achieved only by the deformation of the cable. For example, even if a pair of terminals are not in direct contact with each other, if both terminals are in contact with the protrusion, a short circuit between the terminals via the protrusion is realized.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the vehicle-mounted power transmission apparatus which can discharge the electric charge currently stored in electrical storage elements, such as a capacitor | condenser, reliably and rapidly at the time of a vehicle collision can be provided.

Hereinafter, an in-vehicle power transmission device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
The in-vehicle power transmission device 10 illustrated in FIG. 1 includes a plurality of power transmission cables 13 and 14 that transmit high-voltage power, and a connector 21 that connects the plurality of cables 13 and 14.
The cables 13 and 14 are cables arranged in the vehicle.
The cable 13 is a pair of battery side cables (hereinafter referred to as “battery side cable 13”) connected to the battery 11.
The cable 14 is a pair of component-side cables (hereinafter referred to as “component-side cable 14”) connected to the component.
The component in this embodiment refers to the inverter 12 that receives the DC power supplied from the battery 11.

The battery 11 is a secondary battery mounted on the vehicle, and can be charged by an external power source or power generation of an in-vehicle engine.
The inverter 12 converts the DC power of the battery 11 mounted on the vehicle into three-phase AC power.
Inside the inverter 12, a switching element unit (not shown) as an electronic component forming a circuit, a smoothing capacitor (not shown), and the like are disposed.
The smoothing capacitor is a smoothing capacitor (capacitor) for reducing voltage fluctuations that occur during power conversion by the inverter 12.

The in-vehicle power transmission device 10 includes a connector 21 that connects the battery side cable 13 and the component side cable 14.
The connector 21 is fixed to an inner wall portion W1 in the vehicle, and a wedge body 26 that is a protrusion is fixed to another inner wall portion W2 so as to face the connector 21.
One end of the battery side cable 13 and the other end of the component side cable 14 are connected by a connector 21.
The other end of the battery side cable 13 is connected to the battery 11, and one end of the component side cable 14 is connected to the inverter 12.
A system relay 24 is provided in the middle of the battery side cable 13.
The system relay 24 interrupts energization of the battery side cable 13 at the time of a vehicle collision, and prevents direct discharge of the battery 11 due to a short circuit of the battery side cable 13 at the time of a vehicle collision or the like.

The battery side cable 13 will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, a conductive portion 15 made of a conductive material is formed at the center of the battery side cable 13.
A film portion (referred to as “inner film portion”) 16 formed of an insulating material covers the periphery of the conductive portion 15.
Around the inner coating portion 16, a grounding shield portion 17 formed of a conductive material is provided.
On the outermost peripheral side of the battery side cable 13, another coating portion (referred to as “outer coating portion”) 18 different from the inner coating portion 16 covers the shield portion 17.
The outer coating 18 is made of an insulating material.
Since the component side cable 14 has the same structure as the battery side cable 13, the description of the battery side cable 13 is cited for the description of the component side cable 14.
Each of the pair of battery side cables 13 includes a terminal (referred to as “battery side terminal”) 19.
Each of the pair of component side cables 14 includes a terminal (referred to as “component side terminal”) 20.

Next, the connector 21 will be described.
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the connector 21 incorporates a battery-side connector portion 22 containing a battery-side terminal 19 connected to the battery-side cable 13 and a component-side terminal 20 connected to the component-side cable 14. The component side connector part 23 to be configured.
The battery side connector part 22 and the component side connector part 23 are mutually connected.
By connecting the battery-side connector portion 22 and the component-side connector portion 23, the pair of battery-side terminals 19 and the pair of component-side terminals 20 are respectively connected, and power transmission between the battery-side cable 13 and the component-side cable 14 is performed. Make it possible.

The battery side connector portion 22 is formed of a resin material and includes a hollow resin case 22A.
In the resin case 22A, a terminal block 22B for fixing the pair of battery side terminals 19 in parallel is provided.
The component-side connector portion 23 is formed of a metal material and includes a hollow metal case 23A.
A terminal holder 23B for holding the component side terminal 20 is provided in the metal case 23A.
The component-side terminal 20 includes a pin 20A that protrudes from the terminal holding body 23B.
As shown in FIG. 3, the pin 20 </ b> A is inserted into the battery-side connector portion 22 and connected to the battery-side terminal 19 when the battery-side connector portion 22 and the component-side connector portion 23 are coupled to each other.
In a state where the two connector portions 22 and 23 are connected to each other, the two connector portions 22 and 23 are locked to each other, and even if a force in the direction of separating the two connector portions 22 and 23 acts on the cables 13 and 14. The connection between the connector portions 22 and 23 is not easily eliminated.

As described above, the connector 21 in which the battery side connector portion 22 and the component side connector portion 23 are connected to each other is fixed in the vehicle.
Specifically, the connector 21 is fixed to an inner wall portion W1 forming an engine room in the vehicle via a fixing tool 25.
The inner wall portion W1 of this embodiment is formed so as to face the traveling direction of the vehicle.
The connector 21 is fixed to the inner wall portion W1 so that each of the pair of battery side terminals 19 and the pair of component side terminals 20 is located side by side in the traveling direction of the vehicle.
The connector 21 is not limited to the inner wall portion W1, and may be a member fixed in the vehicle such as a bracket or a fixed structure to which the connector 21 can be attached.

A wedge body 26 as a projecting body is fixed to an inner wall portion W2 disposed to face the inner wall portion W1, and the wedge body 26 is disposed to face the connector 21.
The wedge body 26 is provided to deform the connector 21 by using an impact at the time of a vehicle collision, and to short-circuit between the pair of battery side terminals 19 or the pair of component side terminals 20 in the connector 21. Yes.
The wedge body 26 is formed of a conductive material. Specifically, the wedge body 26 is formed by press molding or forging using an iron-based material as the conductive material.
The wedge body 26 and the connector 21 are arranged in the assumed collision direction so that the wedge body 26 can easily approach the connector 21 in the event of a vehicle collision.
The distance between the wedge body 26 and the connector 21 is set based on various conditions for discharging the smoothing capacitor when the vehicle collides.
The arrangement conditions of the wedge body 26 and the connector 21 are set so that the wedge body 26 does not deform the connector 21 except at the time of a collision.

As shown in FIG. 3A, when the position of the wedge body 26 in the left-right direction (left-right direction in FIG. 3A) is seen, the pair of battery-side terminals 19 are positioned on the extension of the tip of the wedge body 26. To do.
As shown in FIG. 3B, when the position of the wedge body 26 in the vertical direction (vertical direction in FIG. 3B) is viewed, the tip of the wedge body 26 has a pair of battery side terminals 19 and a pair of component sides. It is located at almost the same height as the terminal 20.
For this reason, it can be said that a part of the wedge body 26 is arranged on the same plane as the pair of battery side terminals 19 and the pair of component side terminals 20 arranged in parallel in the connector 21.
The wedge body 26 is not limited to the inner wall portion W2, and may be a fixed structure in which a member fixed in the vehicle, such as a bracket, or the wedge body 26 can be attached.

Next, the effect | action of the vehicle-mounted power transmission apparatus 10 which concerns on embodiment of this invention is demonstrated.
When the vehicle travels, the DC power of the battery is supplied to the inverter 12 through the battery side cable 13 and the component side cable 14.
In the inverter 12, DC power is converted into AC power, and charges are stored in the smoothing capacitor during the power conversion.
The AC power converted by the inverter 12 drives the electric motor.

When a traveling vehicle collides with another vehicle or a ground object, the vehicle is damaged by receiving an impact generated at the time of the collision, but the impact at the time of impact also reaches the wedge body 26.
For example, when the vehicle collides with a ground object ahead and a shock of a predetermined level or more acts in the front-rear direction of the vehicle, the system relay 24 receives a signal that detects the collision and cuts off the energization of the battery side cable 13.
Direct discharge of the battery 11 is avoided by operating the system relay 24 to cut off the battery side cable 13.
On the other hand, the wedge body 26 and the connector 21 collide with the deformation of the vehicle due to the collision.
That is, the wedge body 26 abuts against the side surface of the battery side connector portion 22 due to deformation of the vehicle.
At this time, since the connector 21 (battery side connector 22) is fixed to the inner wall portion W1 in the vehicle, the movement of the wedge body 26 due to the impact at the time of collision can be received.
Since the tip of the wedge body 26 causes the impact of the collision to concentrate on the battery-side connector 22, the tip of the wedge 26 has a resin case 22 </ b> A of the battery-side connector 22 and a metal case 23 </ b> A of the component-side connector 23. Crush.

As shown in FIG. 4, the wedge body 26 crushes the battery side connector portion 22 and the component side connector portion 23 and the connector 21 is deformed, whereby the battery side cable 13 is deformed. Thereby, a pair of battery side terminals 19 contact each other.
At this time, the pair of battery-side terminals 19 are in contact with each other while the contact between the battery-side terminals 19 and the component-side terminals 20 is maintained.
Thereby, a pair of battery side terminals 19 (battery side cable 13) are electrically short-circuited, and the electric charge stored in the smoothing capacitor is quickly discharged.
FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically showing an example of the state of the connector 21 deformed at the time of the collision. In the actually deformed connector 21, a part of the connector 21 is scattered and the wedge body 26 is scattered. It may be deformed.
When the conditions for deforming the connector 21 are different, such as the number of impacts, the deformed state of the connector 21 is different from the state of FIG.

In this embodiment, the pair of battery-side terminals 19 are in contact with each other due to the collision between the wedge body 26 and the connector 21, but the pair of component-side terminals 20 may be in contact with each other by deformation of the connector 21.
Although not shown, a plurality of connectors 21 corresponding to the assumed collision direction are provided, and a wedge body 26 that faces the connector 21 from a different direction is provided for each connector 21.
Thereby, even if there are a plurality of vehicle collision directions, one of the connectors 21 is deformed at the time of the collision, and a short circuit between the pair of battery side terminals 19 or the pair of component side terminals 20 can be achieved.

Next, another modified example of the connector 21 at the time of a vehicle collision will be described.
FIG. 5 schematically shows a state after the collision of the in-vehicle power transmission device 10, and the wedge body 26 is in a position where the connector 21 is deformed.
In the state of FIG. 5, the system relay 24 receives the signal that has detected the collision, cuts off the battery-side cable 13 and stops the power supply, and the direct discharge of the battery 11 is avoided.

In this modified example of the connector 21, the wedge body 26 breaks through the connector 21 when the vehicle collides, and the connector 21 is deformed to a substantially broken state.
In FIG. 5, the pair of component-side terminals 20 are not in contact with each other, and the pair of component-side terminals 20 are in contact with the wedge bodies 26 that break through the connector 21.
Since the wedge body 26 is formed of a conductive material, the pair of component side terminals 20 are electrically short-circuited via the wedge body 26.
Therefore, the electric charge stored in the smoothing capacitor is quickly discharged by an indirect short circuit between the component side terminals 20 (component side cable 14) via the wedge body 26.

As described above, in the modification of the connector 21 shown in FIG. 5, even when the connector 21 is deformed at the time of a vehicle collision and the pair of component side terminals 20 do not contact each other, the pair of component side terminals 20 come into contact with the wedge body 26. In this case, a short circuit between the pair of component side terminals 20 can be realized.
When the wedge body 26 is formed of a conductive material, compared to a case where the wedge body 26 is not formed of a conductive material, when the connector 21 is deformed due to a vehicle collision, between the pair of component-side terminals 20. The possibility of an electrical short is increased.

This embodiment has the following effects.
(1) When the vehicle collides, the wedge body 26 deforms the connector 21 using the impact at the time of the collision. Due to the deformation of the connector 21, the cable (battery side cable 13 or component side cable 14) in the connector 21 is deformed and the cable is electrically short-circuited. As a result, the charge stored in the smoothing capacitor can be discharged quickly.
(2) When the vehicle collides, the wedge body 26 and the connector 21 are impacted and the connector 21 collides, whereby the connector 21 is deformed and a pair of terminals (the pair of battery side terminals 19 or the pair of components in the connector 21). The side terminals 20) are in contact with each other. As a result, the terminals are electrically short-circuited, and the charge stored in the smoothing capacitor can be quickly discharged.
(3) The wedge body 26 deforms the connector 21 by using an impact at the time of the collision of the vehicle, and the pair of terminals (the pair of battery side terminals 19 or the pair of component side terminals 20) in the connector 21 contact each other. Therefore, control on the circuit side is not necessary, and even if the control means for controlling the circuit is damaged and does not function at the time of collision, the smoothing capacitor can be discharged reliably and promptly at the time of collision.

(4) A gap between the wedge body 26 and the connector 21 is set in response to an impact at the time of a collision that requires a short circuit between the pair of terminals (the pair of battery side terminals 19 or the pair of component side terminals 20). Therefore, the connector 21 is not deformed during normal driving of the vehicle. Therefore, the connector 21 can be deformed only at the time of a vehicle collision involving a predetermined impact or more, and a short circuit between the terminals can be realized by the deformation of the connector 21.
(5) Since the wedge body 26 is formed of a conductive material, the pair of component-side terminals 20 when the connector 21 is deformed due to a vehicle collision is compared with a case where the wedge body 26 is not formed of a conductive material. The possibility of electrical shorting between them becomes higher.
(6) Since the connector 21 is fixed in the vehicle, the movement of the wedge body 26 to the connector 21 due to an impact at the time of a vehicle collision can be received, and the connector 21 can be reliably deformed. Thereby, the cable (battery side cable 13 or component side cable 14) can be reliably deformed, and the cable can be electrically short-circuited.

  Note that the in-vehicle power transmission device according to the above embodiment shows an embodiment of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and the gist of the invention is as follows. Various changes can be made within the range.

In the above embodiment, the component is an inverter, but the component is not limited to an inverter. The component may be, for example, a DC-DC converter having a capacitor in the circuit.
In the above embodiment, the wedge body has been described as an example of the projection body. However, the projection body is not limited to the wedge body, for example, it may be a cone body, and at least the impact at the time of collision is used to deform the connector portion. It is only necessary to have a configuration capable of realizing a short circuit between the cables or terminals in the connector portion.
In the above embodiment, the case where an existing connector is used has been described. However, the connector may be configured to be more easily deformed. For example, a strength-decreasing portion where the strength of the connector is partially reduced may be formed, for example, by forming a groove or a thin portion in a portion (connector case or the like) facing the tip of the protrusion. In this case, since the protrusion strongly presses the strength reduction portion of the connector at the time of the collision, the deformation of the connector at the time of the collision becomes more reliable.
In the above embodiment, an example in which a pair of terminals contact each other and short-circuit between the terminals and an example in which the terminals are short-circuited via the protrusions of the conductive material have been described. May short circuit. For example, when a connector is deformed by a protrusion during a vehicle collision, the conductive material protrusion and another conductive member are in contact, and one terminal contacts the protrusion and the other This is a case where the terminal contacts the conductive member. Examples of the conductive member include a cable shield part, bolts and nuts used in connectors, and fixing brackets.
In the above embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3 (b), the case where the pair of terminals and the protrusions in the connector are arranged on the same plane in the horizontal direction has been described. For example, a pair of terminals in the connector may be arranged in the vertical direction. And you may face a protrusion from a horizontal direction with respect to both the terminals arrange | positioned at an up-down direction. In this case, if the protrusion is a conductive material, both terminals can abut on the protrusion as in the other example shown in FIG.

It is a schematic perspective view which shows the vehicle-mounted power transmission apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a top view which fractures | ruptures and shows the connector of the state which is not connected. (A) is a top view which fractures | ruptures and shows a vehicle-mounted power transmission apparatus, (b) is an arrow line view of the AA line in (a). It is a top view which fractures | ruptures and shows the state of the deformed connector after a vehicle collision. It is a top view which fractures | ruptures and shows another state of the deformed connector after a vehicle collision.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 In-vehicle power transmission device 12 Inverter 13 Battery side cable 14 Component side cable 19 Battery side terminal 20 Component side terminal 20A Pin 21 Connector 22 Battery side connector part 23 Component side connector part 24 System relay 26 Wedge body (projection body)
W1 inner wall (connector side)
W2 inner wall (wedge side)

Claims (3)

In a vehicle-mounted power transmission device that is arranged in a vehicle and includes a plurality of cables for power transmission and a connector that connects the plurality of cables.
The connector is fixed in the vehicle,
A vehicle-mounted power transmission device, characterized in that a protrusion is provided to face the connector. The cable is composed of a pair of cables each having a terminal,
The pair of terminals are arranged in parallel in the connector,
The in-vehicle power transmission device according to claim 1, wherein the protrusion is disposed on the same plane as the pair of terminals.   The in-vehicle power transmission device according to claim 1, wherein the protrusion is made of a conductive material.