VEHICLE

• US 20180281605A1
• Filed: 03/29/2018
• Published: 10/04/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation, Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation, Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: SAWAZAKI, Keisuke, YAMANAKA, Kenshi, BABA, Ryusuke, YAMASAKI, Hiromi, IMURA, Hitoshi, TACHIBANA, Hideaki
• Granted Patent: US 10,434,884 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 6/26 characterised by the motors or the generators
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 6/405 Housings
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 6/442 Series-parallel switching type
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 6/52 Driving a plurality of drive axles, e.g. four-wheel drive
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 1/00 Supplying electric power to auxiliary equipment of vehicles circuit arrangements for charging batteries H02J7/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 15/007 Physical arrangements or structures of drive train converters specially adapted for the propulsion motors of electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2210/14 Boost converters
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2210/40 DC to AC converters
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2210/42 Voltage source inverters
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/525 Temperature of converter or components thereof
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 50/51 characterised by AC-motors
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 23/4012 for stacked arrangements of a plurality of semiconductor devices assemblies per se H01L25/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 23/473 by flowing liquids H01L23/4332, H01L23/4338 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 1/007 Plural converter units in cascade push-pull DC/DC converters with pre-regulator H02M3/3374; DC-AC converters following a DC-DC stage including a high frequency transformer H02M7/4807; DC-AC converters following a DC-DC conversion stage generating periodically varying voltages H02M7/4826
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 3/003 Constructional details, e.g. physical layout, assembly, wiring or busbar connections
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 3/1584 with a plurality of power processing stages connected in parallel
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 7/003 Constructional details, e.g. physical layout, assembly, wiring or busbar connections
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 7/5387 in a bridge configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/1432 specially adapted for power drive units or power converters
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/14329 specially adapted for the configuration of power bus bars
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/20927 : Liquid coolant without phase change
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/64 : Electric machine technologies in electromobility
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/70 : Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/7072 : Electromobility specific charging systems or methods for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/72 : Electric energy management in electromobility
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/14 : Plug-in electric vehicles

Abstract

A vehicle includes a motor housing accommodating motors for driving wheels, and a power control unit fixed on the motor housing. The power control unit includes: a stacked unit in which multiple power modules accommodating power semiconductor elements for electric power conversion and multiple coolers are stacked; and reactors. The stacked unit is disposed in the case of the power control unit such that the stacking direction of the power modules and the coolers is directed toward the vehicle-longitudinal direction. The reactors are disposed in the case so as not to overlap with the stacked unit as viewed from the stacking direction.

Claims

1. A vehicle comprising:

an electric power source;

a motor housing accommodating motors for driving wheels; and

a power control unit fixed on the motor housing, the power control unit being configured to control drive electric power of the motors by using electric power of the electric power source,

wherein the power control unit includes reactors, and a stacked unit in which multiple power modules and multiple coolers are stacked, the multiple power modules accommodating power semiconductor elements for electric power conversion,

the stacked unit is arranged such that in a case of the power control unit, a stacking direction of the power modules and the coolers is directed toward a longitudinal direction of the vehicle, and

the reactors are disposed, in the case, at positions where the reactors do not overlap with the stacked unit as viewed from the stacking direction.

2. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein

the power control unit includes first voltage converter circuits and inverter circuits,

the first voltage converter circuits is configured to boost voltage of the electric power source,

the inverter circuits is configured to convert output electric power of the first voltage converter circuits to alternating current,

a first capacitor is connected between a first positive-electrode terminal and a first negative-electrode terminal that are located on an electric power source side of the first voltage converter circuits,

a second capacitor is connected between a second positive-electrode terminal and a second negative-electrode terminal on an inverter circuit side of the first voltage converter circuits, and

the first capacitor and the second capacitor are disposed, in the case, on the same side in a vehicle-width direction so as to be adjacent to the stacked unit.

3. The vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising:

a rear motor; and

an auxiliary-device battery,

wherein the motors are for driving front wheels,

the motor housing is installed in a front compartment of the vehicle,

the power control unit further includes a rear inverter circuit and a second voltage converter circuit,

the rear inverter circuit is configured to convert direct current electric power to drive electric power of the rear motor for driving rear wheels,

the second voltage converter circuit is configured to step down the voltage of the electric power source and provide the voltage to the auxiliary-device battery,

the second voltage converter circuit is disposed rearward of the reactors in the case,

a rear motor connector connected to a rear motor power cable that sends electric power to the rear motor is provided on a surface of the case, the surface provided with the rear motor connector is directed toward a rearward direction of the vehicle, and

an auxiliary-device battery connector connected to an auxiliary-device battery power cable that sends electric power from the second voltage converter circuit to the auxiliary-device battery is provided on a surface of the case, the surface provided with the auxiliary-device battery connector is directed toward the vehicle-width direction.

4. The vehicle according to claim 1 further comprising an air conditioner,

wherein the motor housing is installed in a front compartment of the vehicle,

a main power connector connected to a main power cable that supplies the electric power of the electric power source to the power control unit is provided on a surface of the case, the surface provided with the main power connector is directed toward a rearward direction of the vehicle,

an air-conditioner connector is provided at a rearward position of a side surface of the case, the side surface provided with the air-conditioner connector is directed toward the vehicle-width direction and is located closer to the main power connector,

the air-conditioner connector is electrically connected to the main power connector inside the case, and

the air-conditioner connector is connected to an air-conditioner cable that supplies the electric power of the electric power source to the air conditioner.

5. The vehicle according to claim 2, wherein

the motor housing is installed in a front compartment of the vehicle,

a main power connector connected to a main power cable that supplies the electric power of the electric power source to the power control unit is provided on a surface of the case, the surface provided with the main power connector is directed toward a rearward direction of the vehicle,

the first capacitor is disposed frontward of the main power connector as viewed from above, and

the first capacitor and the main power connector are connected to each other.

6. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein

the reactors are disposed under the stacked unit, and

the power control unit further includes a circuit board on which an electric-power control circuit is mounted, the circuit board is disposed above the stacked unit.