ALTERNATOR CONTROLLING APPARATUS

• US 20100289460A1
• Filed: 01/29/2009
• Published: 11/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Otake, Hirotada
• Granted Patent: US 8,504,240 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 322/19
• CPC Class Codes: H02P 9/04 Control effected upon non-electric prime mover and dependent upon electric output value of the generator

Abstract

Provided is an alternator controller that sets a target current value based on a target voltage as a control reference of an alternator mounted on a vehicle, and controls the alternator based on the set target current value. The alternator controller includes a filter processing unit that performs filter processing of a target power generation torque as a conversion physical amount used until the target current value is set from the target voltage. The filter processing unit performs a filter processing that attenuates or removes a frequency component f of the pitch resonance frequency of the vehicle among the waveforms of the target power generation torque. Thus, it is possible to surely suppress fluctuations of a vehicle behavior attributed to torque fluctuations of an alternator load torque.

Claims

1. An alternator controlling apparatus that sets a control amount based on a reference physical amount as a control reference of an alternator mounted on a vehicle and controls the alternator based on the set control amount, the alternator controlling apparatus comprising:

a filter processing unit that performs a filter processing of a filter target amount that is any one of the reference physical amount, the control amount and a conversion physical amount used until the control amount is set from the reference physical amount, wherein

the filter processing unit performs a filter processing that attenuates or removes a frequency component of at least any one of a pitch resonance frequency, a yaw resonance frequency and a roll resonance frequency of the vehicle among waveforms of the filter target amount.

2. The alternator controlling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the filter processing unit sets a gain of the frequency based on at least any one of a vehicle speed of the vehicle, a frictional situation of a road surface on which the vehicle travels and a steering angle speed of the vehicle.

3. The alternator controlling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

a battery charged by power generation of the alternator is mounted on the vehicle, and

the filter processing unit prohibits or limits the filter processing based on a status of the battery.

4. The alternator controlling apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising:

a battery voltage detecting estimating unit that detects a battery voltage of the battery, wherein

the filter processing unit prohibits or limits the filter processing when the detected battery voltage is lower than a lower limit voltage value or higher than an upper limit voltage value.

5. The alternator controlling apparatus according to claim 4, wherein

a driving system device mounted on the vehicle is controlled based on a plurality of control modes, and

at least either one of the upper limit voltage value and the lower limit voltage value is changed based on the control mode.

6. The alternator controlling apparatus according to claim 5, wherein

the control mode has at least a sports mode that requires to improve an output to be transmitted to the vehicle and an eco mode that requires to improve fuel consumption, and

the lower limit voltage value is set to be higher when the control mode is the eco mode than when the control mode is the sports mode.

7. The alternator controlling apparatus according to claim 2, wherein

the filter processing unit sets the gain of the frequency to be low in accordance with decrease in the vehicle speed.

8. The alternator controlling apparatus according to claim 2, wherein

the filter processing unit prohibits or limits the filter processing when the vehicle speed is not higher than the lower limit vehicle speed.

9. The alternator controlling apparatus according to claim 8, wherein

the lower limit vehicle speed is a vehicle speed when the vehicle is in a substantially stopped state.

10. The alternator controlling apparatus according to claim 3, wherein

the filter processing unit sets the gain of the frequency to be low in accordance with decrease in the vehicle speed.

11. The alternator controlling apparatus according to claim 4, wherein

the filter processing unit sets the gain of the frequency to be low in accordance with decrease in the vehicle speed.

12. The alternator controlling apparatus according to claim 5, wherein

the filter processing unit sets the gain of the frequency to be low in accordance with decrease in the vehicle speed.

13. The alternator controlling apparatus according to claim 6, wherein

the filter processing unit sets the gain of the frequency to be low in accordance with decrease in the vehicle speed.

14. The alternator controlling apparatus according to claim 3, wherein

the filter processing unit prohibits or limits the filter processing when the vehicle speed is not higher than the lower limit vehicle speed.

15. The alternator controlling apparatus according to claim 4, wherein

the filter processing unit prohibits or limits the filter processing when the vehicle speed is not higher than the lower limit vehicle speed.

16. The alternator controlling apparatus according to claim 5, wherein

the filter processing unit prohibits or limits the filter processing when the vehicle speed is not higher than the lower limit vehicle speed.

17. The alternator controlling apparatus according to claim 6, wherein

the filter processing unit prohibits or limits the filter processing when the vehicle speed is not higher than the lower limit vehicle speed.