WO2019193920A1

WO2019193920A1 - Electric compressor for vehicle

Info

Publication number: WO2019193920A1
Application number: PCT/JP2019/009260
Authority: WO
Inventors: 健郎塚本
Original assignee: サンデン・オートモーティブコンポーネント株式会社
Priority date: 2018-04-02
Filing date: 2019-03-08
Publication date: 2019-10-10
Also published as: JP2019183661A

Abstract

[Problem] To improve safety after a vehicle collision. [Solution] The present invention comprises: a compressor 11 that is mounted in a vehicle and that is driven by a built-in electric motor; a control circuit 55 that is provided to the compressor 11 and that executes drive control of the compressor 11; and an acceleration sensor 58 that is provided to the compressor 11 and that detects a vehicle collision. If a vehicle collision has been detected by the acceleration sensor 58, the control circuit 55 restricts the driving of the compressor 11 thereafter.

Description

Electric compressor for vehicles

The present invention relates to a vehicular electric compressor.

As shown in Patent Document 1, there is an electric compressor incorporated in a refrigerant cycle of a car air conditioner and driven by an electric motor.

Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2015-105578

When the vehicle collides, if the subsequent electric compressor is not provided with safety protection measures, it is conceivable that the driving of the electric compressor is continued or stopped.
An object of the present invention is to improve safety after a vehicle collision.

An electric compressor for a vehicle according to an aspect of the present invention is provided.
A compressor mounted on a vehicle and driven by a built-in electric motor;
A control unit provided in the compressor for driving and controlling the compressor;
A detection unit that is provided in the compressor and detects a collision of the vehicle,
The control unit
When the detection unit detects a vehicle collision, the driving of the compressor is limited thereafter.

According to the present invention, when the collision of the vehicle is detected, the driving of the compressor is limited thereafter, so that the safety after the vehicle collision is improved.

It is sectional drawing along the front-back direction and the up-down direction in a compressor. It is a flowchart which shows an example of a control process. It is a flowchart which shows a modification.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Each drawing is schematic and may differ from an actual one. Further, the following embodiments exemplify apparatuses and methods for embodying the technical idea of the present invention, and the configurations are not specified as follows. That is, the technical idea of the present invention can be variously modified within the technical scope described in the claims.

<< One Embodiment >>
"Constitution"
In the following description, three directions orthogonal to each other are referred to as a front-rear direction, a left-right direction, and a vertical direction for convenience.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of the compressor along the front-rear direction and the vertical direction.
The compressor 11 is an electric scroll compressor used in a refrigerant circuit of a car air conditioner, for example, and sucks in a refrigerant (heat medium), compresses it, and then discharges it.

The compressor 11 is integrated with a front housing 12, a center housing 13, and a rear housing 14 arranged in order from the front side along the front-rear direction so as to maintain airtightness. A suction port (not shown) for sucking refrigerant is formed in the upper portion of the front housing 12, and a discharge port 16 for discharging compressed refrigerant is formed in the upper portion of the rear housing 14.
The front housing 12 includes a suction chamber 21 communicating with a suction port (not shown), and an electric motor 22 is accommodated in the suction chamber 21. The rotating shaft 23 of the electric motor 22 is rotatably supported at the front side by the front housing 12 and is rotatably supported by the center housing 13 at the rear side.

A fixed scroll 24 and a movable scroll 25 are accommodated in the center housing 13.
The disk-shaped fixed scroll 24 is fixed so as to close the rear side of the center housing 13, and a spiral fixed-side wrap 26 is formed on the front surface. The disc-shaped movable scroll 25 is disposed in front of the fixed scroll 24, and a spiral movable side wrap 27 is formed on the rear surface. The front surface of the fixed scroll 24 and the rear surface of the movable scroll 25 face each other, and the fixed side wrap 26 and the movable side wrap 27 are engaged with each other. The tip of the fixed side wrap 26 slidably contacts the rear surface of the movable scroll 25 via a tip seal (not shown), and the tip of the movable side wrap 27 slides on the front surface of the fixed scroll 24 via a tip seal (not shown). Contact is possible. A pressure chamber 28 for compressing the refrigerant is formed by a section surrounded by the front surface of the fixed scroll 24, the fixed side wrap 26, the rear surface of the movable scroll 25, and the movable side wrap 27. When viewed from the front-rear direction, the pressure chamber 28 is a crescent-shaped sealed space.

A back pressure chamber 29 is formed on the front side of the movable scroll 25. The back pressure chamber 29 is supplied with high-pressure oil, which will be described later, so that the movable scroll 25 is pressed against the fixed scroll 24 and the hermeticity of the pressure chamber 28 is enhanced.
A boss 31 is formed on the front surface of the movable scroll 25, an eccentric crank end 32 is formed at the rear end of the rotary shaft 23, and the crank end 32 is fitted into the boss 31 in a rotatable state. Yes. The rotating motion of the rotating shaft 23 is transmitted to the movable scroll 25 as a turning motion by the crank end portion 32. The movable scroll 25 is prevented from rotating, for example, via a ball coupling, and is allowed to revolve with respect to the fixed scroll 24.

A discharge hole 33 penetrating in the front-rear direction is formed in the center of the fixed scroll 24, and a discharge valve 34 capable of opening and closing the rear end side of the discharge hole 33 is provided on the rear surface of the fixed scroll 24. The discharge valve 34 is an elastically deformable plate material, and closes the rear end side of the discharge hole 33 on the lower end side with the upper end side fastened to the rear surface of the fixed scroll 24 via the bolt 35.
When the movable scroll 25 revolves with respect to the fixed scroll 24, the pressure chamber 28 is displaced toward the scroll center as seen from the front-rear direction, and the volume is reduced. The pressure chamber 28 communicates with the suction chamber 21 when the pressure chamber 28 is outside the scroll, and sucks the refrigerant. When the pressure chamber 28 is located at the center of the scroll, the pressure chamber 28 communicates with the discharge hole 33 and discharges the compressed refrigerant. When receiving the discharge pressure, the discharge valve 34 causes the lower end side to bend backward by elastic deformation, thereby discharging the refrigerant.

Next, the oil separation structure will be described.
On the rear surface of the fixed scroll 24, a baffle 36 is formed at a position where a refrigerant containing oil is discharged from the discharge valve 34 and collides with it, and the refrigerant and the oil are separated by the collision. When the fixed scroll 24 is viewed from the front side on the discharge side, the baffle 36 is formed in a U shape with the upper side opened so as to surround the lower end side of the discharge valve 34.
The rear housing 14 covers the discharge side of the fixed scroll 24 and forms a separation chamber 41 for separating the refrigerant and the oil and a storage chamber 42 for storing the separated oil. The separation chamber 41 communicates with the discharge hole 33 and communicates with the discharge port 16. Although the separation chamber 41 and the storage chamber 42 are continuous sections, a shielding portion 43 that protrudes toward the lower end of the baffle 36 is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the rear housing 14. There is a gap 44 between the baffle 36 and the shielding portion, and the separated oil drops from the lower part of the inner peripheral surface of the baffle 36 to the lower storage chamber 42 through the gap 44. On the other hand, the shielding part 43 prevents the refrigerant scattered from the baffle 36 from flowing into the storage chamber 42 and winding up the oil.

In the rear housing 14, an oil return channel 45 communicating with the bottom of the storage chamber 42 is formed. The center housing 13 is formed with an oil return channel 46, one of which communicates with the oil return channel 45 and the other which communicates with the back pressure chamber 29. Therefore, the oil stored in the storage chamber 42 receives the discharge pressure of the separation chamber 41 and is supplied to the back pressure chamber 29 through the oil return channel 45 and the oil return channel 46 in order. As a result, a back pressure is applied to the movable scroll 25 to lubricate each sliding portion including the bearing. In addition, an oil return passage 47 that extends along the front-rear direction and communicates with the back pressure chamber 29 is formed inside the rotary shaft 23. Accordingly, the oil supplied to the back pressure chamber 29 is further supplied to the front end side of the rotating shaft 23 via the oil return passage 47. Thereby, each sliding part including a bearing is lubricated.

Next, the control system will be described.
An inverter accommodating chamber 51 is formed on the front end side of the front housing 12 (housing) and is closed by a front cover 52. In the inverter accommodating chamber 51, an inverter 53 for controlling the drive of the electric motor 22 is accommodated. The inverter 53 includes a substrate 54, a control circuit 55 (control unit), a switching element 56, an electronic component 57, and an acceleration sensor 58 (detection unit).
The substrate 54 is supported by the front housing 12 by, for example, screwing in the inverter accommodating chamber 51.

The control circuit 55 includes a CPU, RAM, ROM and the like.
The switching element 56 is a drive circuit configured by, for example, an IPM (Intelligent Power Module).
The electronic component 57 is a component such as a coil or a capacitor.
The acceleration sensor 58 detects acceleration in three axis directions. For example, the displacement of the movable electrode relative to the fixed electrode is detected as a change in capacitance, converted into a voltage signal proportional to the acceleration / deceleration and the direction, and output. Note that acceleration is processed as a positive value and deceleration is processed as a negative value.

Next, control processing executed by the control circuit 55 will be described.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the control process.
In step S101, it is determined whether or not there is a drive command from the vehicle-side main controller. When there is a drive command from the main controller on the vehicle side, the process proceeds to step S102. On the other hand, when there is no drive command from the main controller on the vehicle side, the process returns to the main program as it is.
In step S102, it is determined whether or not the collision flag indicating the collision detection state of the vehicle has been reset to Fc = 0. The collision flag is reset to Fc = 0 in the initial setting, and when this state is maintained, it is determined that no vehicle collision is detected, and the process proceeds to step S103. On the other hand, when the collision flag is set to Fc = 1, it is determined that a vehicle collision is detected, and the process returns to the predetermined main program as it is.

In step S103, drive control of the electric motor 22 is performed according to a drive command from the main controller. The inverter 53 controls the on / off of the compressor 11 and the rotation speed when the compressor 11 is on in accordance with the drive command.
In step S104, the acceleration a detected by the acceleration sensor 58 is read.
In step S105, it is determined whether or not the absolute value of the acceleration a is greater than or equal to a predetermined value a1. When the absolute value of the acceleration a is greater than or equal to the predetermined value a1, it is determined that the vehicle has collided and the process proceeds to step S106. On the other hand, when the absolute value of the acceleration a is less than the predetermined value a1, it is determined that no collision has occurred and the process returns to the predetermined main program.

The predetermined value a1 is a value for detecting an impact such as when the vehicle collides with an obstacle at a speed of, for example, 25 [km / h] or more, and is in a range of 150 to 500 [m / s ² ], for example, 15 It is set in the range of 51 to 51 [G]. The acceleration a acting on the acceleration sensor 58 varies depending on the structure of the vehicle body and the type of vehicle. A vehicle having a large crushable zone easily absorbs collision energy, but a vehicle that cannot sufficiently secure the crushable zone does not easily absorb collision energy. . Therefore, it is desirable to adjust the predetermined value a1 according to the structure of the vehicle body and the vehicle type.
In step S106, the collision flag is set to Fc = 1.
In step S107, the driving of the compressor 11 is stopped and then the process returns to a predetermined main program.

<Action>
Next, main effects of the embodiment will be described.
When a vehicle collides, if the measures for safety protection are not taken for the subsequent compressor 11, the drive command from the main controller on the vehicle side is received and the drive of the compressor 11 is continued or the stoppage is delayed. Can be considered.
Therefore, in the present embodiment, when a vehicle collision is detected according to the detection value of the acceleration sensor 58 (“Yes” in S105), the driving of the compressor 11 is stopped (S107), and the driving is stopped thereafter. Is maintained (“No” in S101). Thereby, it can prevent that the drive of the compressor 11 is continued or a stop is delayed. That is, even if a drive command is input from the main controller on the vehicle side, the electric motor 22 is not energized, so that safety after a vehicle collision is improved.

Since the acceleration sensor 58 is provided on the substrate 54 on which the control circuit 55 is mounted, space saving can be realized as compared with the case where the acceleration sensor 58 is provided on the front housing 12, the center housing 13, the rear housing 14, and the like. Further, it is not necessary to redesign the front housing 12, the center housing 13, the rear housing 14, and the like, and can be easily added to the existing compressor 11. In addition, since the acceleration sensor 58 can immediately detect that an abnormality has occurred in the substrate 54 due to an impact when a collision occurs, the abnormality detection accuracy is improved.

In addition, if the acceleration sensor 58 is attached to a highly rigid housing such as the front housing 12, the center housing 13, and the rear housing 14, an impact at the time of occurrence of a collision acts directly, so that the acceleration tends to increase. On the other hand, when the acceleration sensor 58 is attached to the substrate 54 accommodated in the housing like the inverter 53, the impact is indirectly acting, so that the acceleration is hardly increased. Therefore, when the acceleration sensor 58 is attached to the substrate 54, the maximum measurable acceleration can be reduced as compared with the case where the acceleration sensor 58 is attached to the housing, and the sensor can be realized with a cheaper sensor.

The substrate 54 is supported in the inverter housing chamber 51 by, for example, screwing with respect to the front housing 12. Therefore, if the acceleration sensor 58 is provided in the vicinity of the support point of the substrate 54, the impact at the time of occurrence of the collision acts on the acceleration sensor 58 so quickly, and the responsiveness is improved. On the other hand, if the acceleration sensor 58 is provided at a position away from the support point of the substrate 54, the substrate 54 bends with respect to the impact in the direction perpendicular to the plane, so that the impact energy is absorbed. Therefore, the maximum acceleration that can be measured can be reduced, and can be realized with a cheaper sensor.

<Modification>
In one embodiment, when the collision of the vehicle is detected, the subsequent driving of the compressor 11 is stopped. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Even if the driving of the compressor 11 is not completely stopped, the driving may be limited.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a modification.
Here, except that the process of step S201 is newly added, the process is the same as the process of FIG. 2 described above, and thus the description of the common parts is omitted.

If the collision flag is set to Fc = 1 in step S102, it is determined that a vehicle collision has been detected, and the process proceeds to step S201.
In step S201, the electric motor 22 is driven and controlled in accordance with a drive command from the main controller, and then the process returns to a predetermined main program. However, the inverter 53 decelerates the rotational speed of the compressor 11 by reducing and correcting the drive command.
In this way, even if only the drive of the compressor 11 is limited, the energization current to the electric motor 22 is reduced, so that the safety is improved while leaving the air conditioning function.

In one embodiment, when a vehicle collision is detected, the subsequent drive of the compressor 11 is restricted, but a return condition may be added. For example, when the abnormality diagnosis is performed by the external device and a signal indicating that there is no abnormality is input to the control circuit 55 from the external device, a process for resetting the collision flag to Fc = 0 is added. 11 may be restored to a drivable state. This improves the reliability of the air conditioning system.
In one embodiment, the scroll type compressor 11 is employed, but the present invention is not limited to this. As long as the compressor 11 is mounted on the vehicle and driven by the built-in electric motor 22, it can be applied to any other form of compressor.

The above description has been made with reference to a limited number of embodiments. However, the scope of rights is not limited thereto, and modifications of the embodiments based on the above disclosure are obvious to those skilled in the art.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Compressor, 12 ... Front housing, 13 ... Center housing, 14 ... Rear housing, 16 ... Discharge port, 21 ... Suction chamber, 22 ... Electric motor, 23 ... Rotating shaft, 24 ... Fixed scroll, 25 ... Moveable scroll, 26 ... Fixed side wrap, 27 ... Movable side wrap, 28 ... Pressure chamber, 29 ... Back pressure chamber, 31 ... Boss, 32 ... Crank end, 33 ... Discharge hole, 34 ... Discharge valve, 35 ... Bolt, 36 ... Baffle , 41 ... separation chamber, 42 ... storage chamber, 43 ... shielding part, 44 ... gap, 45 ... oil return channel, 46 ... oil return channel, 47 ... oil return channel, 51 ... inverter accommodation chamber, 52 ... front Cover, 53 ... Inverter, 54 ... Board, 55 ... Control circuit, 56 ... Switching element, 57 ... Electronic component, 58 ... Acceleration sensor

Claims

A compressor mounted on a vehicle and driven by a built-in electric motor;
A controller provided in the compressor, for driving and controlling the compressor;
A detection unit that is provided in the compressor and detects a collision of a vehicle;
The controller is
When the vehicle collision is detected by the detection unit, the drive of the compressor is limited thereafter.
The controller is
The vehicular electric compressor according to claim 1, wherein when the detection unit detects a vehicle collision, the compressor is stopped thereafter.
The controller is
The vehicular electric compressor according to claim 1, wherein when the vehicle collision is detected by the detection unit, the compressor is decelerated thereafter.
The detector is
The electric compressor for a vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein when an acceleration of a predetermined value or more acts on the compressor, it is detected as a vehicle collision.
The controller is
A control circuit housed in a housing;
The detector is
The vehicle electric compressor according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the electric compressor is provided on a board on which the control circuit is mounted.