JP2013103584A - Protective structure for power control unit - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a protective structure for a power control unit, which can protect the power control unit by preventing a contact between a high-strength part and a low-rigidity part near a through hole in a radiator or the like, while reducing the cost and the weight.SOLUTION: A PCU 5 includes a casing 25 and a DCDC converter 46 housed inside the casing 25. The PCU 5 is disposed opposite to a radiator 6 along the back and forth direction, and disposed rear of a low-voltage battery at a position avoiding the low-voltage battery along the right and left direction. In the casing 25, a side wall part 82b on a low-voltage battery side along the right and left direction is provided with a first through hole 86, through which a first power line connecting the DCDC converter 46 and the low-voltage battery to each other is to be passed.

Description

  The present invention relates to a protective structure for a power control unit.

  Conventionally, in an electric vehicle or the like, in a motor room arranged at the front part of a vehicle body, for example, a motor and a power control unit (hereinafter referred to as a PCU) arranged above the motor to control driving of the motor, A motor and a radiator disposed in front of the PCU are accommodated.

In such a vehicle, for example, in the case of a frontal collision (hereinafter referred to as a frontal collision), peripheral members such as a radiator are pushed toward the PCU by an impact load input from the front part of the vehicle body.
On the other hand, for example, Patent Document 1 describes a configuration in which a cooling unit is provided in a lower portion of an electric component unit, and a front end portion of the cooling unit is disposed in front of the front end portion of the electric unit. According to this configuration, the peripheral member pushed rearward at the time of the front collision can interfere with the cooling means before the electric component unit, thereby protecting the electric component unit.

JP 2007-99239 A

By the way, a power line for connecting a high voltage device such as a DCDC converter housed in the PCU to a low voltage battery or the like disposed around the PCU is provided on the front wall of the casing of the PCU. Generally, a through-hole that is drawn out from the inside is formed.
In this case, in the front wall portion, the peripheral portion of the through hole is lower in rigidity than other portions (portions where no through hole is formed). Therefore, when a high-strength part of the peripheral member at the time of the front collision, for example, a joint part to which the refrigerant pipe of the radiator is connected contacts the peripheral part of the through-hole, the peripheral part of the through-hole is the starting point. There is a risk that the housing may be damaged. On the other hand, it is conceivable to increase the rigidity and strength of the housing itself, but there are problems that the manufacturing cost increases and the weight increases.

  Further, in the configuration of Patent Document 1 described above, a specific configuration such as the position of the through hole is not considered, and there is still room for improvement with respect to protecting the PCU.

  Therefore, the present invention is a power control unit protection structure that can protect the power control unit by reducing the cost and weight and preventing contact between high-strength parts such as a radiator and a low-rigidity portion around the through hole. The purpose is to provide.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention described in claim 1 is a low-voltage battery (for example, the low-voltage battery 7 in the embodiment) that is a power source of a weak electric system electrical component of a vehicle (for example, the electric vehicle 1 in the embodiment). ) And a radiator (for example, the radiator 6 in the embodiment), and a power control unit (for example, the PCU 5 in the embodiment) provided in a motor room (for example, the motor room 3 in the embodiment) in front of the vehicle. In the protective structure, the power control unit includes a housing (for example, the housing 25 in the embodiment) and a DCDC converter (for example, the DCDC converter 46 in the embodiment) housed in the housing. The power control unit is configured to move the radiator along the longitudinal direction of the vehicle. And the rear side of the low-voltage battery at a position avoiding the low-voltage battery along the width direction of the vehicle. A first through hole (for example, the first through hole in the embodiment) for passing a first power line (for example, the power line 88 in the embodiment) connecting the DCDC converter and the low voltage battery is provided on the front side of the side surface on the voltage battery side. A hole 86) is provided.

  In a second aspect of the present invention, a unit support frame (for example, a unit support in the embodiment) that supports the power control unit is provided, and the unit support frame surrounds the first through hole from the outside in the width direction. It is arranged so that it may be arranged.

  In the invention described in claim 3, the unit support frame includes a first protection portion extending along the vertical direction at a position overlapping the first through hole when viewed from the width direction, and the first protection portion. And a second protection part extending along the width direction after branching and extending along the front-rear direction.

  In the invention described in claim 4, the second power line (for example, the power line 88 in the embodiment) for supplying electric power to other electrical components other than the low-voltage battery is provided, and the side surface of the housing has the second power line. A second through hole (for example, the second through hole 87 in the embodiment) through which the second power line passes is provided adjacent to the first through hole.

  The invention described in claim 5 is characterized in that the DCDC converter is disposed in the casing and close to the low voltage battery along the width direction.

  In the invention described in claim 6, the casing includes an upper case (for example, the upper case 51 in the embodiment) and a lower case (for example, the lower case 52 in the embodiment) in which a high-voltage device is accommodated, and the upper case. And a heat sink housing (for example, the heat sink housing 53 in the embodiment) for partitioning the lower case and exchanging heat between the upper case and the lower case, and on the lower surface side of the heat sink housing The DCDC converter of the high voltage device is fixed, and the high voltage device other than the DCDC converter of the high voltage device (for example, PM45 in the embodiment) is disposed on the upper surface side of the heat sink housing. The first through hole is fixed to the lower case on the side surface. It is characterized in that is.

According to the invention described in claim 1, by providing the first through hole on the front side of the side surface of the housing, it is not necessary to form a through hole on the front surface of the housing. Therefore, when a high-strength component such as a radiator joint is present in front of the power control unit, it is possible to prevent the high-strength component from contacting a low-rigidity portion around the first through hole at the time of a collision such as a front collision. Thereby, since the rigidity and intensity | strength of power control unit itself are not made high, a power control unit can be protected, aiming at cost reduction and weight reduction.
Moreover, it becomes easy to access at the time of a maintenance by arrange | positioning a low voltage battery ahead of a power control unit.

  According to the invention described in claim 2, even when a peripheral member (for example, a low voltage battery) of the power control unit is pushed toward the first through hole at the time of the collision, the periphery toward the first through hole The movement of the member can be restricted by the unit support frame. Thereby, it can prevent reliably that a peripheral member contacts a 1st through-hole, and can protect a power control unit.

According to the invention described in claim 3, by disposing the first protection portion so as to overlap the first through hole, the movement of the peripheral member toward the power control unit particularly along the left-right direction is restricted at the time of the collision. it can. Moreover, since the 2nd protection part is extended in front of the 1st through-hole, especially the movement toward the power control unit of the peripheral member along a front-back direction can be controlled.
Thereby, while being able to protect a power control unit, the 1st electric power line pulled out from the 1st penetration hole can be controlled to be pulled and pulled out.

  According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the second through-hole through which the second power line passes is provided adjacent to the first through-hole, the formation of the low-rigidity portion on the front surface of the housing is prevented. be able to.

  According to the invention described in claim 5, since the first power line can be shortened by arranging the first through-hole for drawing out the first power line closer to the low-voltage battery in the housing, the layout in the motor room is possible. Can be improved.

  According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, when the configuration in which the power control unit is supported from below by the unit support frame is adopted, the DCDC converter is fixed to the lower surface side of the heat sink housing, A through hole is formed on the lower case side. For this reason, the layout can be easily protected by the unit support frame.

It is a schematic block diagram which shows the front part side surface of the electric vehicle in this embodiment. It is a top view which shows the inside of a motor room. It is a side view which shows the inside of a motor room. It is a front view which shows the inside of a motor room. It is a perspective view of PCU and a unit support frame. It is the perspective view which looked at the heat sink housing | casing from the downward direction. It is the perspective view which looked at the lower case from the upper part. It is the D section enlarged view of FIG.

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
(Electric car)
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a front portion of an electric vehicle according to the present embodiment as viewed from the side. Note that the directions such as front, rear, left and right in the following description are the same as those in the vehicle unless otherwise specified.
As shown in FIG. 1, in an electric vehicle (vehicle) 1 of the present embodiment, a motor room 3 is defined at the front portion of a vehicle body 2. In the motor room 3, a motor 4 as a drive source, a PCU 5 disposed above the motor 4 to control the driving of the motor 4, a radiator 6 disposed in front of the motor 4 and the PCU 5, and the periphery of the PCU 5 And a low-voltage battery 7 arranged in the main.

  Note that a dashboard 8 is provided at the rear of the motor room 3 to partition a vehicle interior (not shown) and the motor room 3 in the front-rear direction. The dashboard 8 includes a dashboard lower 9 that extends along the vertical direction behind the PCU 5 and a dashboard upper 10 that is continuously provided forward from the upper end of the dashboard lower 9. .

The motor 4 is formed in a cylindrical shape, and is elastically supported by the vehicle body 2 via a vibration isolating member (not shown) in a state where its rotation shaft is directed in the left-right direction.
The low voltage battery 7 is a power source for driving various auxiliary machines which are weak electric system electrical parts of the electric vehicle 1, and is disposed on the left side in the motor room 3.

2 is a plan view showing the inside of the motor room, FIG. 3 is a side view, and FIG. 4 is a front view. In each figure, the motor 4 described above and a power line 88 described later are omitted.
As shown in FIGS. 1-4, the radiator 6 is formed in the rectangular plate shape which makes thickness direction the front-back direction, the refrigerant | coolant which circulates between the radiator 6, the motor 4, and PCU5, the external air which is driving | running | working wind, The refrigerant is cooled by exchanging heat between the two. Specifically, the radiator 6 includes a radiator core 11, and an upper tank 12 and a lower tank 13 that are integrally attached to the upper and lower portions of the radiator core 11, respectively. Note that a cooling fan 14 and a fan shroud 15 that covers a space between the rear of the radiator 6 and the cooling fan 14 are provided behind the radiator 6.

  As shown in FIG. 4, an inlet radiator joint 21 that protrudes rearward is formed on the left side of the upper tank 12 of the radiator 6, specifically, at a position overlapping with a lower case 52 (to be described later) of the PCU 5 when viewed from the front-rear direction. ing. The inlet radiator joint 21 communicates with the inside and outside of the upper tank 12 and opens rearward. On the other hand, an outlet radiator joint 22 (not shown) that protrudes rearward is formed on the right side of the lower tank 13 of the radiator 6. The outlet radiator joint communicates with the inside and outside of the lower tank 13 and opens rearward.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, a refrigerant pipe 23 made of an elastic material is connected to each of the radiator joints 21 and 22. One end of the refrigerant pipe 23 is connected to the outlet radiator joint 22, and then connected in series to a water pump (not shown), the PCU 5, and the motor 4, and the other end is connected to the inlet radiator joint 21. The refrigerant flowing through the radiator 6 is supplied from the outlet radiator joint 22 to the refrigerant pipe 23 by driving the water pump. The refrigerant flowing through the refrigerant pipe 23 is sequentially supplied to a water jacket 47 (to be described later) of the PCU 5 and a water jacket (not shown) of the motor 4, and after heat exchange is performed, the refrigerant is returned from the inlet radiator joint 21 into the radiator 6. It is.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the PCU and the unit support frame.
As shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, the PCU 5 uses, for example, three-phase (U-phase, V-phase, W-phase) AC power supplied from a high-voltage battery (not shown) disposed below the passenger compartment. The motor 4 is driven and controlled by converting it into electric power and supplying the converted AC power to the motor 4. Specifically, the PCU 5 includes a housing 25 formed in a rectangular parallelepiped shape with the left-right direction (vehicle width direction) as a longitudinal direction, and the housing 25 is supported by the vehicle body 2 via a unit support frame 31. .

(Unit support frame)
As shown in FIGS. 2 to 5, the unit support frame 31 is a pipe-like member, and is disposed so as to surround the entire circumference of the PCU 5 in the central portion in the left-right direction in the motor room 3 when viewed from the vertical direction. Yes. Specifically, the unit support frame 31 includes a right side support frame 32 disposed on the right side of the PCU 5, a left side support frame 33 disposed on the left side, and front end portions of the side support frames 32 and 33. It has a front support frame 34 that joins each other, and a rear support frame 35 that joins the rear ends of the side support frames 32 and 33.

First, the front support frame 34 extends in the left-right direction at the lower part of the casing 25 in front of the casing 25, and is bent backward at both ends along the extending direction. A bent portion (second protective portion) 36 is formed.
The rear support frame 35 extends at the rear of the casing 25 in the PCU 5 along the left-right direction at the upper portion of the casing 25 and is bent downward at both ends along the extending direction. . The rear support frame 35 is fastened to the dashboard 8 described above at a plurality of locations along the left-right direction. Further, both end portions along the extending direction of the rear support frame 35 constitute leg portions 37 for fixing the unit support frame 31 to the vehicle body 2. In the drawing, only the leg 37 on the left side of the rear support frame 35 among the legs 37 is shown.

The right side support frame 32 extends along the front-rear direction in the middle portion in the vertical direction of the housing 25 on the right side of the housing 25. The front end of the right side support frame 32 is joined to the right end of the front support frame 34, while the rear end is joined to the right end of the rear support frame 35.
A leg portion 38 extends downward from a joint portion between the right side support frame 32 and the front support frame 34. The leg portion 38 gradually extends outward (right side) from the upper end portion toward the lower end portion, and the unit support frame 31 is fixed to the vehicle body 2 via the leg portion 38.

  The left side support frame 33 includes, on the left side of the PCU 5, a front / rear frame 39 extending in the front / rear direction, and a vertical frame (first protection unit) 40 continuously provided downward from the front end of the front / rear frame 39. It is equipped with.

  The front / rear frame 39 extends on the left side of the housing 25 along the front / rear direction of the upper portion of the housing 25. A rear end portion of the front and rear frames 39 is joined to an intermediate portion along the vertical direction among the left end portions of the rear support frame 35 described above. On the other hand, the front end of the front / rear frame 39 is positioned in front of a PCU-side terminal box 56 (described later) of the PCU 5 in the front / rear direction.

  The vertical frame 40 is formed by bending downward from the front end of the front and rear frame 39. A bent portion 36 of the front support frame 34 is joined to the lower portion of the vertical frame 40. Further, the lower end portion of the vertical frame 40 constitutes a leg portion 41 bent toward the outer side (left side) in the left-right direction with respect to the PCU 5, and the unit support frame 31 is fixed to the vehicle body 2 via the leg portion 41. Has been.

(PCU)
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the PCU 5 has the above-described casing 25 supported on the inside of the unit support frame 31. Specifically, the PCU 5 is arranged on the right side (inside the motor room 3) on the right side of the low-voltage battery 7 described above in the left-right direction and at a position avoiding the low-voltage battery 7 in the left-right direction, It is arranged behind the battery 7. Inside the housing 25, a power module (hereinafter referred to as PM) 45, a DCDC converter 46 (see FIG. 3) for stepping down the power from the high voltage battery, and the power from the external power source can be stored in the battery. Various high-voltage devices such as charging devices are accommodated.

As shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, the housing 25 includes an upper case 51, a lower case 52 disposed below the upper case 51, and a heat sink housing 53 that partitions the upper case 51 and the lower case 52. It is divided into three stages along the vertical direction.
The upper case 51 is made of an aluminum material or the like and has a rectangular frame shape that opens in the vertical direction. The upper end opening of the upper case 51 is covered with an upper cover 54. In the upper case 51, PM45 is stored. The PM 45 includes an inverter that converts electric power from the high-voltage battery from direct current to alternating current, a control device that controls the inverter, and the like.

  Further, a PCU side terminal box 56 that protrudes toward the outer side (left side) in the left-right direction is formed on the side wall part 55a located on one side (left side) in the left-right direction among the peripheral wall part 55 of the upper case 51. Yes. A plurality of motor harnesses 57 for connecting the motor 4 and the PCU 5 for each phase are mounted on the PCU side terminal box 56.

  The motor harnesses 57 are arranged side by side in the front-rear direction along the side wall portion 55a. One end of the motor harness 57 is mounted in the PCU side terminal box 56 from below, and is electrically connected to the PCU 5 in the PCU side terminal box 56 via a plurality of bus bars (not shown). On the other hand, the other end side of each motor harness 57 is attached to a motor-side terminal box (not shown) of the motor 4 and is electrically connected to the motor 4 via a plurality of bus bars (not shown) in the motor-side terminal box.

  Further, an intermediate portion along the extending direction of each motor harness 57 is held by the left side support frame 33 via the first bracket 61. The first bracket 61 is formed in a plate shape extending along the arrangement direction of the motor harness 57, that is, the front-rear direction, in a portion located below the front-rear frame 39 and behind the vertical frame 40. Holding each. The first bracket 61 has one end fixed to the vertical frame 40 and the other end fixed to the front and rear frame 39.

  A plurality of mounting pieces 62 protrude from the upper end portion of the PCU side terminal box 56 toward the left side. These attachment pieces 62 are formed at two locations along the front-rear direction in the PCU-side terminal box 56, and these attachment pieces 62 are fixed to the front-rear frame 39 from above.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the heat sink housing as viewed from below.
As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the heat sink housing 53 is made of a material that is higher in rigidity than the upper case 51 and the lower case 52 out of an aluminum material. The heat sink housing 53 includes a rectangular plate-shaped partitioning portion 65 (see FIG. 6) having a shape in plan view equivalent to that of the upper case 51, and is provided so as to close the lower end opening of the upper case 51. . And PM45 mentioned above is being fixed to the upper surface side of the partition part 65 (refer FIG. 3).

  A peripheral wall portion 66 that surrounds the entire periphery of the partition portion 65 is suspended downward from the outer peripheral edge of the partition portion 65. The peripheral wall portion 66 is fixed in a state where the lower end edge thereof is abutted against a ceiling wall portion 67 (see FIG. 7) described later of the lower case 52. The space surrounded by the ceiling wall portion 67 of the lower case 52 and the partitioning portion 65 and the peripheral wall portion 66 of the heat sink housing 53 constitutes a water jacket 47 through which the refrigerant supplied from the radiator 6 flows. . In other words, in this embodiment, the water jacket 47 is disposed between the cases 51 and 52, and a high voltage device (for example, PM45) stored in the upper case 51 or a high voltage device stored in the lower case 52. The heat generated in the DCDC converter 46 (for example, the DCDC converter 46) is radiated to the water jacket 47, whereby each high voltage device is cooled.

  A plurality of attachment pieces 71 protrude from the right edge of the peripheral wall 66 toward the outer side in the left-right direction (right side). These attachment pieces 71 are formed at two locations along the front-rear direction, and these attachment pieces 71 are fixed to the right side support frame 32 from above.

  A refrigerant inlet port 72 and a refrigerant outlet port 73 that communicate the inside and outside of the water jacket 47 are provided at the front edge portion of the peripheral wall portion 66 with an interval in the left-right direction. The refrigerant inlet port 72 is provided on the left side of the front edge portion of the peripheral wall portion 66. Specifically, the base end side opens from the inner surface of the peripheral wall portion 66 into the water jacket 47, while the distal end side extends downward from the peripheral wall portion 66 and is then bent forward and forward. Open toward. The refrigerant outlet port 73 has the same configuration as the refrigerant inlet port 72 described above, and is provided on the right side of the front edge portion of the heat sink housing 53.

  The refrigerant pipe 23 described above is connected to the front end side of the refrigerant inlet port 72, and the water jacket 47 and the outlet radiator joint 22 communicate with each other via the water pump described above. In addition, the refrigerant pipe 23 is connected to the front end side of the refrigerant outlet port 73 so that the inside of the water jacket 47 and the inside of the water jacket of the motor 4 communicate with each other.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the lower case as viewed from above.
As shown in FIGS. 5 and 7, the lower case 52 has a top-like cylindrical shape that is open downward, and is formed of the same material as that of the upper case 51 so that the outer shape in plan view is the same as that of the upper case 51. . The peripheral wall portion 66 of the heat sink housing 53 described above is fixed to the outer peripheral portion of the ceiling wall portion 67 of the lower case 52.

  Among the high voltage devices described above, for example, a DCDC converter 46 is accommodated in the lower case 52. The DCDC converter 46 is fixed to the left side of the lower surface of the top wall portion 67, that is, the low voltage battery 7 side. The lower end opening of the lower case 52 is covered with a lower cover 81.

  Further, the front wall portion 82a of the peripheral wall portion 82 of the lower case 52 is formed with an accommodation recess 83 for accommodating the refrigerant inlet port 72 and the refrigerant outlet port 73 described above. Specifically, each storage recess 83 is formed to be recessed rearward at a position where it overlaps with the refrigerant inlet port 72 and the refrigerant outlet port 73 in the left-right direction. And the refrigerant | coolant inlet port 72 and the refrigerant | coolant outlet port 73 are opened toward the front in the state where the back and the side were enclosed in the accommodation recessed part 83. FIG.

  A plurality of attachment pieces 84 project forward from the front wall portion 82a of the lower case 52. These attachment pieces 84 are formed at two locations along the left-right direction, and these attachment pieces 84 are fixed to the front support frame 34 from above.

  Here, as shown in FIG. 3, among the peripheral wall portions 82 of the lower case 52, a side wall portion (side surface) 82 b located on the left side (low voltage battery 7 side) has a plurality of side walls 82 b penetrating in the left-right direction. Through-holes 86 and 87 (first through-hole 86 and second through-hole 87) are formed. These through holes 86 and 87 are formed adjacent to each other in the front-rear direction on the front side of the side wall portion 82b. In this case, the vertical frame 40 described above is positioned between the first through hole 86 and the second through hole 87, specifically, the rear end portion of the first through hole 86 and the front end portion of the second through hole 87. It extends to. The bent portion 36 of the front support frame 34 is joined to a portion of the vertical frame 40 located below the through holes 86 and 87. That is, the vertical frame 40 branches to the bent portion 36 at a portion located below the through holes 86 and 87, and the first through hole 86 and the second through hole are branched by the vertical frame 40 and the bent portion 36. The hole 87 is enclosed from the outside of the PCU 5.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged view of a portion D in FIG.
As shown in FIGS. 5, 7, and 8, the through holes 86 and 87 are connected to the DCDC converter 46 in the lower case 52 and the above-described low-voltage battery 7 and other electric components, respectively, through power lines 88 (first A power line 88a and a second power line 88b) are inserted through a grommet 89 (see FIG. 5).

  The power line 88 described above is guided at one end side through the through holes 86 and 87 into the lower case 52 and connected to the DCDC converter 46 described above within the lower case 52. On the other hand, the other end side of each power line 88 is pulled out downward from the through holes 86 and 87 and then held together by the second bracket 90 provided on the vertical frame 40 described above. After that, the power lines 88 are routed upward after the first bracket 61 described above wraps around from the lower side behind the vertical frame 40. The other end side of the first power line 88a of the power line 88 is routed forward and then connected to the low voltage battery 7 described above. The other end side of the second power line 88b is connected to other electrical components (not shown) other than the low-voltage battery 7.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 to 5 and 8, on the left side of the front wall portion 82 a of the lower case 52 (the position overlapping the inlet radiator joint 21 of the radiator 6 as seen from the front-rear direction), a guard that covers the lower case 52 from the front. A bracket 91 is provided. The guard bracket 91 is a plate material made of, for example, iron or the like, and a pair of lower end connecting portions 92 extending in the left-right direction and a pair of upper ends extending from both ends in the extending direction of the lower end connecting portions 92. , And is formed in a U shape when viewed from the front-rear direction.

As for the lower end connection part 92, the attachment location 94 in the both ends of the left-right direction is attached to the front support frame 34 from the front.
Each extending portion 93 is formed so as to straddle the lower case 52 after the lower end portion bulges toward the front as it goes upward and then the upper end portion is inclined toward the rear as it goes upward. The upper end of the extending portion 93 is fixed to the peripheral wall portion 66 of the heat sink housing 53.

Here, each extending part 93 is arrange | positioned at the left-right direction both sides of the refrigerant | coolant inlet port 72 mentioned above, and is arrange | positioned so that the refrigerant inlet port 72 may be pinched | interposed in the left-right direction seeing from the front-back direction. Therefore, the refrigerant inlet port 72 is disposed so as to be exposed from between the extending portions 93 when viewed from the front-rear direction.
Further, in the left-right direction, the left mounting piece 84 among the mounting pieces 84 of the PCU 5 described above is disposed between the mounting portions 94 of the lower end connecting portion 92 and the front support frame 34. Specifically, the attachment piece 84 is disposed behind the left extension portion 93 among the extension portions 93, and the left extension portion 93 is arranged so as to cover the attachment piece 84 from the front. Yes.

As described above, in this embodiment, the first through hole 86 for passing the power line 88 connecting the DCDC converter 46 and the low voltage battery 7 is provided in the side wall portion 82 b of the lower case 52.
According to this configuration, by providing the first through hole 86 in the side wall portion 82b, it is not necessary to form a through hole in the front surface (for example, the front wall portion 82a) of the PCU 5. Therefore, when there are high-strength parts such as the inlet radiator joint 21 in front of the PCU 5, it is possible to prevent the high-strength parts from coming into contact with the low-rigidity portion around the first through hole 86 at the time of the front collision. As a result, the PCU 5 can be protected without increasing the rigidity of the PCU 5 itself, so that the cost and weight can be reduced.
Moreover, since the power line 88 can be shortened by providing the through holes 86 and 87 through which the power line 88 is drawn out on the side surface (side wall portion 82b) on the low voltage battery 7 side of the PCU 5, the layout in the motor room 3 is improved. be able to.
Moreover, it becomes easy to access at the time of a maintenance by arrange | positioning the low voltage battery 7 ahead of PCU5.

Further, by arranging the left side support frame 33 of the unit support frame 31 so as to surround the through holes 86 and 87 from the outside, the peripheral member (for example, the low voltage battery 7) of the PCU 5 is allowed to pass through the through hole 86 at the time of collision. , 87, the movement of the peripheral members toward the through holes 86, 87 can be restricted by the left side support frame 33. Thereby, it can prevent reliably that a peripheral member contacts the through-holes 86 and 87, and can protect PCU5.
In this case, by disposing the vertical frame 40 so as to overlap with the through holes 86 and 87, it is possible to restrict movement of the peripheral member toward the PCU 5 particularly along the left-right direction at the time of collision. Further, since the bent portion 36 of the front support frame 34 extends in front of the through holes 86 and 87, the movement of the peripheral member toward the PCU 5 can be restricted particularly along the front-rear direction.
Thereby, while being able to protect PCU5, it can suppress that the electric power line 88 pulled out from the through-holes 86 and 87 is pulled and pulled out.

  Further, since the second through hole 87 through which the other power line 88 passes is provided adjacent to the first through hole 86, it is possible to prevent a low rigidity portion from being formed on the front surface of the PCU 5. Furthermore, the unit support frame 31 can protect the first through hole 86 and the second through hole 87.

  In addition, since the power line 88 can be shortened by disposing the DCDC converter 46 on the left side, that is, on the low voltage battery 7 side in the lower case 52, the layout in the lower case 52 can be improved.

  Further, when the configuration in which the PCU 5 is supported from below by the unit support frame 31 as in the present embodiment is adopted, the DCDC converter 46 is fixed to the lower surface side of the heat sink housing 53, so that the lower case 52 side of the PCU 5 is disposed. The through holes 86 and 87 are formed. For this reason, the unit support frame 31 can provide a layout in which the through holes 86 and 87 can be easily protected.

The technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and includes those in which various modifications are made to the above-described embodiments without departing from the spirit of the present invention. In other words, the configuration described in the above-described embodiment is merely an example, and can be changed as appropriate.
For example, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to the electric vehicle 1 that drives a battery as a power source has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this and is also applied to a fuel cell vehicle that uses a power source as a fuel cell. Is possible.
Further, the layout in the motor room 3 and the configuration of the PCU 5 can be changed as appropriate.
In the above-described embodiment, the case where the two through holes 86 and 87 are formed in the side wall portion has been described. However, the through hole may be one place or a plurality of three or more places.

  In addition, it is possible to appropriately replace the components in the above-described embodiments with known components without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Electric vehicle (vehicle) 3 ... Motor room 5 ... PCU (power control unit) 6 ... Radiator 7 ... Low voltage battery 25 ... Housing 31 ... Unit support frame 36 ... Bending part (2nd protection part) 40 ... Vertical frame (First protective part) 45 ... PM (other high voltage device) 46 ... DCDC converter 51 ... upper case 52 ... lower case 53 ... heat sink housing 82b ... side wall part (side surface) 86 ... first through hole 87 ... second through hole Hole 88a ... 1st power line 88b ... 2nd power line

Claims (6)

In the protection structure of the power control unit provided in the motor room in front of the vehicle in which the low-voltage battery that is the power source of the weak electrical system electrical component of the vehicle and the radiator is housed,
The power control unit includes a housing,
A DCDC converter housed in the housing,
The power control unit is disposed opposite to the radiator along the front-rear direction of the vehicle, and is disposed behind the low-voltage battery at a position avoiding the low-voltage battery along the width direction of the vehicle. And
A first through hole for passing a first power line connecting the DCDC converter and the low-voltage battery is provided on the front side of the low-voltage battery side along the width direction in the casing. A protective structure for the power control unit. A unit support frame for supporting the power control unit;
The power control unit protection structure according to claim 1, wherein the unit support frame is disposed so as to surround the first through hole from the outside in the width direction. The unit support frame includes a first protection portion extending in a vertical direction at a position overlapping the first through hole as viewed from the width direction;
3. A second protection portion extending from the first protection portion and extending along the front-rear direction and then extending along the width direction, and a second protection portion extending along the width direction. Power control unit protection structure. A second power line for supplying power to other electrical components other than the low voltage battery;
4. The device according to claim 1, wherein a second through hole through which the second power line passes is provided adjacent to the first through hole in the side surface of the housing. 5. The protection structure of the power control unit described in 1.   5. The protection of a power control unit according to claim 1, wherein the DCDC converter is disposed near the low-voltage battery along the width direction in the casing. 6. Construction. The housing includes an upper case and a lower case in which a high-voltage device is housed, and a heat sink housing that partitions the upper case and the lower case and exchanges heat between the upper case and the lower case. Prepared,
The DCDC converter of the high voltage device is fixed to the lower surface side of the heat sink housing,
The high voltage device other than the DCDC converter among the high voltage devices is fixed to the upper surface side of the heat sink casing,
The power control unit protection structure according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the first through hole is provided in the lower case on the side surface.

Images