JP5760759B2 - Drive device and cooling device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a cooling device suitable for being applied mainly to a traveling system of a vehicle such as a passenger car, a truck, and a bus, and a driving device in the cooling device.

  Conventionally, in order to cool the engine block part of the engine while the vehicle is running and prevent a decrease in thermal efficiency due to overheating of the engine and so-called overheating, a water jacket is provided in the engine block of the engine to provide cooling water or equivalent cooling. Liquid (hereinafter referred to as cooling water or the like) is filled to cool the engine block, and the cooling water or the like is sent to the radiator by a pump operated by the engine, and the cooling water or the like is cooled by the radiator. .

  Further, in the transmission as well as the engine, the heat generating portion is cooled by a refrigerant such as oil instead of the cooling water. The cooling device used for such cooling is the same in a fuel cell or the like, and has, for example, the form shown in Patent Document 1. In Patent Document 1, it is assumed that a communication abnormality occurs between the controller and the pump. When a communication abnormality occurs, it is proposed to perform autonomous control by a pump controller that is a drive device provided on the pump side. Has been.

JP 2008-153112 A

  However, in such a drive device and a cooling device, it is necessary to provide a pump controller on the pump side that is separate from the controller and has the same performance, which makes the system too redundant, increasing the number of parts and complicating the structure. There is a problem in that the manufacturing cost is increased.

  In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a driving device and a cooling device that can appropriately perform cooling corresponding to a communication abnormality without causing an increase in cost.

In order to solve the above problem, the drive device according to the present invention is:
Based on a command by communication from the command means, including a drive means for controlling the drive and stop of the motor of the pump, and a voltage detection means for detecting the voltage of the vehicle battery,
The driving means drives the motor when the communication abnormality occurs in the communication and the voltage is equal to or higher than a predetermined value, and drives the motor when the voltage is lower than the predetermined value. It is characterized by stopping.

Moreover, the cooling device according to the present invention comprises:
Command means for outputting a drive command or stop command for the pump motor by communication, drive means for controlling drive and stop of the pump motor based on the drive command or the stop command, and detecting the voltage of the vehicle battery Voltage detecting means for
The drive means drives the motor when the communication abnormality occurs in the communication and the voltage is equal to or higher than a predetermined value, and drives the motor when the voltage is lower than the predetermined value. It is characterized by stopping.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to appropriately perform cooling corresponding to a communication abnormality without incurring an increase in cost, and to avoid limiting the vehicle speed due to the communication abnormality.

It is a schematic diagram which shows one Embodiment of the drive device of the Example which concerns on this invention, and a cooling device containing the same. It is a flowchart which shows the control content of the drive device of an Example. It is a flowchart which shows the control content other than the drive device of the cooling device of an Example.

  Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the cooling device 1 according to the present embodiment includes an ECU 2, a driver 3, a motor 4, and a temperature sensor 5. The battery 6 is a power source of a vehicle having an in-vehicle device to which the cooling device 1 is applied. The ECU 2 and the driver 3 are connected by communication lines L1 and L2.

  The temperature sensor 5 is connected to the ECU 2 by a signal line L3. The positive side of the battery 6 is connected to the positive side of the driver 3 via a power supply line L4, and the driver 3 and the motor 4 are connected via a supply line L5.

  The ECU 2 (Electronic Control Unit) includes, for example, a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, a flash memory, and the like, and a data bus and an input / output interface that connect them to each other. The ECU 2 performs each control described below in accordance with a program stored in the ROM or the flash memory, and constitutes the command means 2a.

  The driver 3 includes a microcomputer that is simpler than the ECU 2 described above and a drive circuit such as a known inverter that drives the motor 4. The microcomputer includes, for example, a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, a data bus that connects them, and an input / output interface, and constitutes a drive means 3a and a voltage detection means 3b. It is assumed that the microcomputer is provided with appropriate noise countermeasures and heat countermeasures because it is installed close to the drive circuit.

  The motor 4 is an electric motor that drives a pump by forming a part of a pump (not shown) installed in or near an in-vehicle device of a traveling system such as an engine, and is configured by, for example, a DC brushless motor.

  Although not shown, the cooling device 1 of the present embodiment includes a radiator, a cooling fan, a thermostat, a pump, and a water jacket provided in an engine block of the engine as a well-known hardware configuration. Is done.

  Further, the coolant outlet (cooling water) outlet of the water jacket, the inlet of the radiator and the first inlet of the thermostat are connected in a liquid-tight manner, for example, by aluminum piping, and the outlet of the radiator and the second outlet of the thermostat are connected. The inlet is also fluid-tightly connected by aluminum piping, the thermostat outlet and the pump inlet are also fluidly connected by aluminum piping, and the pump outlet and the water jacket inlet are Liquid communication is achieved by aluminum piping.

  The cooling liquid filled in the cooling device 1 is pressurized so as not to boil at 100 ° C., and has a long life so as not to freeze and expand even in an environment where the outside air temperature is below 0 ° C. Coolant (LLC), antifreeze, etc. are added.

  As described above, the water jacket is provided in the engine block of the engine, and cools the heat generated from the combustion chamber in the engine block with the coolant.

  The radiator includes an inflow port, an upper tank (not shown), a core portion, a lower tank, and an outflow port. The upper tank is supplied from the inflow port and supplies hot core coolant heated by the engine in the water jacket to the core portion. The high temperature coolant supplied to the core portion is not shown from the front of the vehicle. A plurality of water tubes constituting the core portion and the cooling air that flows through the outer peripheral surfaces of the corrugated fins pass through the grill, and the cooled coolant is supplied to the outlet by the lower tank.

  The cooling fan is operated when traveling on an uphill road or idling, and supplies air to the core portion of the radiator from a front grill (not shown) in front of the vehicle to promote cooling of the high-temperature coolant supplied to the core portion. It is.

  The thermostat communicates the second inlet and outlet so as to supply the water jacket coolant to the radiator only when the temperature of the coolant is equal to or higher than the threshold value α. This is a temperature-sensitive switching valve provided to shut off the second inlet and the outlet and to connect the first inlet and the outlet so as not to supply the coolant to the radiator.

  When the pump is driven by the motor 4, the coolant in the cooling device 1 is circulated in the order of the water jacket, the radiator, the thermostat, and the pump in accordance with the valve operation of the thermostat if the coolant is equal to or greater than the threshold value α. When the cooling water is below the threshold value α, the water jacket, the thermostat, and the pump are circulated in this order.

  The temperature sensor 5 is installed in any part of the coolant circulation path in the cooling device 1, measures the coolant temperature T, and outputs the measurement result to the ECU 2 via the signal line L3. It is.

  The command means 2a of the ECU 2 outputs a drive command or a stop command for the pump motor 4 to the driver 3 by communication using the communication line L1. The command means 2a outputs a drive command when the coolant temperature T is equal to or higher than the specified value Tth, and outputs a stop command when it is lower than the specified value Tth. The drive means 3a of the driver 3 controls the drive and stop of the pump motor 4 based on the drive command or stop command from the command means 2a. Moreover, the voltage detection means 3b of the driver 3 detects the voltage V of the battery 6 of the vehicle having the above-described engine.

  Here, the drive means 3a of the driver 3 drives the motor 4 when the communication abnormality occurs in the communication via the communication line L1, and the voltage V is equal to or higher than the predetermined value Vth. If it is less than Vth, the motor 4 is stopped.

  Note that the communication abnormality refers to disconnection, short circuit, or the like of the communication line L1, and refers to a case where the drive unit 3a cannot receive either the stop command or the drive command from the command unit 2a. The stop command and the drive command are transmitted by assigning a lower duty ratio to the stop command and assigning a higher duty ratio to the drive command, for example, by setting the duty ratio of the digital signal that pressurizes the communication line L1 in two stages. Shall be.

  In addition, when a communication abnormality occurs and the voltage V is equal to or lower than the predetermined value Vth, the driving unit 3a transmits a evacuation required signal to the command unit 2a via the communication line L2. Further, when the command means 2a receives the evacuation signal, the command means 2a restricts the vehicle speed by reducing the throttle opening of the engine and the fuel injection amount. Note that the communication mode in the communication line L2 uses a multi-stage duty ratio as in the communication line L1.

  With the above configuration, when the drive command is output, the cooling device 1 cools the heat generated by the engine with the coolant of the water jacket, and the hot coolant heated by the water jacket is supplied to the radiator. The cooled cooling liquid is supplied to the water jacket again by the action of the pump. Thereby, the engine is continuously cooled as appropriate, and the temperature of the coolant is set within a certain temperature range.

  Hereinafter, the control contents of the driver 3 (drive device) and the cooling device 1 including the driver 3 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, respectively.

  As shown in step S1 of FIG. 2, the drive means 3a of the driver 3 receives a drive command or a stop command from the command means 2a via the communication line L1, and the voltage detection means 3b detects the voltage V of the battery 6. To do.

  Subsequently, in step S2, the drive means 3a determines whether or not a drive command or a stop command has been received. If negative, the process proceeds to step S3, and if positive, the process proceeds to step S8. In step S3, the driving means 3a turns on the communication failure flag in the microcomputer and proceeds to step S4. In step S4, the driving unit 3a determines whether or not the voltage V of the battery 6 is equal to or higher than the predetermined value Vth. If the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to step S5. If the determination is negative, the process proceeds to step S6.

  In step S5, the driving unit 3a controls the duty ratio of the inverter to supply a voltage for constant driving to the supply line L5, drives the motor 4, and transmits a communication abnormality signal to the command unit 2a of the ECU 2. In step S6, the driving means 3a turns off all the transistors in the inverter, stops the motor 4, proceeds to step S7, and sends a required signal to the command means 2a of the ECU 2.

  In step S8, the drive means 3a turns off the communication failure flag in the microcomputer, drives or stops the motor 4 based on the drive command or stop command, and sends a drive execution signal or a command to the command means 2a of the ECU 2. A stop execution signal is transmitted via the communication line L2.

  As shown in FIG. 3, in step S11, the command means 2a of the ECU 2 receives various signals (a drive execution signal, a stop execution signal, a communication abnormality signal, a evacuation signal required), detects the coolant temperature T, and The vehicle speed is detected from the brake ECU or meter ECU via a communication standard such as CAN (Controller Area Network).

  In step S12, the command unit 2a determines whether or not the cooling system temperature T is equal to or higher than the specified value Tth. If the result is affirmative, the process proceeds to step S13, and the driving unit 3a of the driver 3 is communicated via the communication line L1. If the result is negative, the process proceeds to step S14, and a stop command is output to the driving means 3a of the driver 3.

  In step S15, the command means 2a of the ECU 2 determines whether or not a evacuation required signal has been received from the drive means 3a of the driver 3 via the communication line L2. If yes, the process proceeds to step S16, and if not, Proceed to step S19.

  In step S16, the command means 2a of the ECU 2 turns on the retreat travel flag in the ECU 2, determines whether or not the vehicle speed exceeds the limit value in step S17, and proceeds to step S18 if affirmative. If no, go to END. In step S18, the command means 2a of the ECU 2 decelerates the vehicle by reducing the throttle opening of the engine and the fuel injection amount. In step S19, the retreat travel flag is turned off.

  The flowchart shown in FIG. 2 and the flowchart shown in FIG. 3 are repeatedly executed in parallel. Steps S13 and S14 in FIG. 3 correspond to steps S1 and S2 in FIG. 2, and step S8 shown in FIG. Corresponds to step S15 shown in FIG.

  According to the cooling device 1 and the driver 3 (driving device) included in the cooling device 1 of the present embodiment described above, the following advantageous effects can be obtained. That is, in the prior art, any of the ECU 2, the driver 3, the motor 4, the temperature sensor 5, the communication line L 1, the communication line L 2, the signal line L 3, the power supply line L 4, and the supply line L 5 that are the respective elements constituting the cooling device 1. Even if a failure occurs, all of the evacuation travel is performed with the vehicle speed equal to or less than the limit value. However, in this embodiment, communication abnormality due to disconnection of the communication line L1 is treated separately. Can do.

  That is, in the communication abnormality caused by the communication line L1, the drive means 3a of the driver 3 cannot receive the drive command or the stop command from the command means 2a of the ECU 2, but the motor that the driver 3 itself has. Based on the constant drive of the motor 4, the pump can be driven at all times using the drive function for constant drive 4.

  For this reason, using this, the driver 3 is made to determine whether or not the communication abnormality of the communication line L1 has occurred. If it has occurred, the engine 3 is continuously driven to continue cooling the engine. Thus, it is possible to prevent as much as possible from inconvenience to the user due to deceleration of the vehicle due to retreating travel and deceleration of the vehicle.

  In the present embodiment, since the driver 3 uses the IG system of the battery 6 of the vehicle as the power source, the voltage detection means 3b is provided with a function for monitoring the voltage V of the battery 6 so that the voltage V of the battery 6 is Only when the detected voltage V becomes less than the predetermined value Vth and there is a concern about so-called battery exhaustion, the pump motor 4 is stopped to determine whether to save. Along with this, a required retraction signal is transmitted to the command means 2a of the ECU 2, and the command means 2a automatically shifts to required retreat travel.

  By these things, the mode used as evacuation travel can be restricted as much as possible, and it can prevent that a user's inconvenience is caused as much as possible. In addition, when the evacuation traveling is really necessary, the evacuation traveling can be promptly performed to improve the safety of the vehicle and the user. In addition, the voltage of the battery 6 can be secured to prevent the battery from going up.

  In addition, the microcomputer including the driver 3 does not need to have the same specifications as the ECU 2 as compared with the prior art as disclosed in Patent Document 1, which leads to system redundancy and cost increase. Can also be prevented.

  Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications and substitutions are made to the above-described embodiments without departing from the scope of the present invention. be able to.

  For example, in the above-described embodiments, the ECU 2 is an engine ECU that controls the engine. However, the ECU 2 may be an HVECU applied to a hybrid vehicle or an EV ECU applied to an electric vehicle. In this case, in the deceleration of step S18 in FIG. 3, the current value of the traveling motor is limited instead of or in addition to the engine. The deceleration may be accompanied with a brake as appropriate.

  In addition, the communication form between the ECU 2 and the driver 3 is not limited to the above-described form, and the above-described LAN such as CAN or LIN may be used. In this case, the drive command and the stop command are It is composed of appropriate data frames.

  Further, the object to which the cooling device 1 and the driver 3 (driving device) are applied may be a transmission. In this case, the coolant is replaced with cooling oil instead of cooling water. Or the path | route of the hardware constitutions which the cooling device 1 contains is changed suitably.

  The present invention relates to a cooling device applied mainly to an in-vehicle device of a traveling system of a vehicle and a driving device included in the cooling device, and appropriately copes with a communication failure without causing an increase in cost and causes overheating. Therefore, it is useful when applied to various vehicles such as ordinary passenger cars, trucks and buses.

1 Cooling device 2 ECU
2a Command means 3 Driver (drive device)
3a drive means 3b voltage detection means 4 motor 5 temperature sensor 6 battery L1 communication line L2 communication line L3 signal line L4 power supply line L5 supply line V voltage Vth predetermined value T temperature (cooling liquid)
Tth specified value

Claims (5)

Based on a command by communication from the command means, including a drive means for controlling the drive and stop of the motor of the pump, and a voltage detection means for detecting the voltage of the vehicle battery,
The driving means drives the motor when the communication abnormality occurs in the communication and the voltage is equal to or higher than a predetermined value, and drives the motor when the voltage is lower than the predetermined value. A drive device characterized by stopping. Command means for outputting a drive command or stop command for the pump motor by communication, drive means for controlling drive and stop of the pump motor based on the drive command or the stop command, and detecting the voltage of the vehicle battery Voltage detecting means for
The drive means drives the motor when the communication abnormality occurs in the communication and the voltage is equal to or higher than a predetermined value, and drives the motor when the voltage is lower than the predetermined value. A cooling device characterized by stopping.   The cooling apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the communication abnormality is a case where neither the stop command nor the drive command is received from the command unit.   The said drive means is a case where the said communication abnormality arises, Comprising: When the said voltage is below a predetermined value, a evacuation required signal is transmitted to the said instruction means, The Claim 2 or 3 characterized by the above-mentioned. Cooling system.   The cooling device according to claim 4, wherein the command means limits a vehicle speed of the vehicle when the evacuation required signal is received.

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