Control apparatus of electric vehicle

• US 6,456,909 B1
• Filed: 08/30/2000
• Issued: 09/24/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Sekizawa, Toshihiko, Toyota, Eiichi, Shimada, Motomi, Kojima, Tetsuo, Nakata, Kiyoshi
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, TAN QUANG
• Application Number:
  US09/651,721
• Time in Patent Office: 755 Days
• Field of Search: 701/22, 701/70, 701/84, 701/90, 180/65.1, 180/65.2, 318/139, 318/432
• US Class Current: 701/22
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2200/26 Rail vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 7/26 Controlling the braking effect
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/72 Electric energy management in electromobility

Abstract

To determine the timing of the electrical brake for completely stopping in electrical braking control, and also to achieve both sure stopping and good riding comfort in an electric vehicle powered by the motor by decreasing the braking force at a prescribed rate of change, the torque of the electric motor is controlled by controlling the power converter which powers the motor using a power converter controller. The deceleration of the motor is computed based on the detected speed of the electric motor which is as an output of the speed detection means, the subsequent speed of the electric motor is estimated based on the detected speed and the deceleration rate of the electric motor at the time the detected rotational speed of the electric motor falls below a prescribed speed, and torque control is carried out using an electric power converter controller, based on the estimated speed.

Claims

1. A control apparatus for an electric vehicle comprising an electric power converter for at least an electric motor, a speed detector for detecting the speed of said electric motor, a controller for controlling said electric power converter to control the torque of said electric motor, and a computing unit for computing deceleration, based on the detected speed of said electric motor which is output by said speed detector, wherein

on the basis of the detected speed of said electric motor and the deceleration at the time when the detected speed of said electric motor falls below a prescribed speed, a subsequent speed of said electric motor is estimated;

and

torque control of said electric motor is carried out by said controller, based on the estimated speed.

2. A control apparatus for an electric vehicle according to claim 1, wherein said torque control is carried out so that the torque of the electric motor is decreased at a predetermined deceleration at the time that the estimated speed of the electric motor falls below said prescribed speed.

3. A control apparatus of electric vehicle according to claim 2, wherein said controller controls the torque of said electric motor so as to be decreased in a ramp fashion to zero.

4. A control apparatus for an electric vehicle comprising an electric power converter for at least an electric motor, an electric motor speed detector for detecting the speed of said electric motor, and a controller for controlling said electric power converter to control the torque of said electric motor, wherein when the detected speed of said electric motor reaches a prescribed speed while said power converter is being controlled on the basis of a torque pattern outputted from said controller so that the speed of said electric motor decreases, said controller controls the torque of said electric motor so that a brake torque of said electric motor decreases to zero in a prescribed time.

5. A control apparatus for an electric vehicle according to claim 4, wherein

there is provided a speed estimating unit for estimating, on the basis of the detected speed of said electric motor at the time when the detected speed of said electric motor falls below said prescribed speed, the subsequent speed of said electric motor, and

the torque control is carried out so that the torque is decreased at a prescribed rate of change at the time that the detected speed of said electric motor or the estimated speed of said electric motor falls below said prescribed speed.

6. A control apparatus of electric vehicle according to claim 5, wherein said controller controls the torque of said electric motor so as to be decreased in a ramp fashion to zero.

7. A control apparatus for electric vehicles according to claim 4, wherein

there is provided a speed estimating unit for estimating, on the basis of the detected speed of said electric motor at the time when the detected speed of said electric motor falls below said prescribed speed, a subsequent speed of said electric motor, and

said controller carries out torque control so that the torque is decreased at a prescribed rate of change at the time that the detected speed of said electric motor and the estimated speed of said electric motor falls below said prescribed speed.

8. A control apparatus of electric vehicle according to claim 7, wherein said controller controls the torque of said electric motor so as to be decreased in a ramp fashion to zero.

9. A control apparatus of electric vehicle according to claim 4, wherein said controller controls the torque of said electric motor so as to be decreased in a ramp fashion to zero.

10. A control apparatus for an electric vehicle comprising an electric power converter for at least an electric motor, an electric motor speed detector for detecting the speed of said electric motor, a controller for controlling said electric power converter to control the torque of said electric motor, and a computing unit for computing deceleration, based on the detected speed of said electric motor, wherein

based on the detected speed of said electric motor and the deceleration at the time when the detected speed of said electric motor falls below a prescribed speed, speed of said electric motor subsequent to the time is estimated, and

said controller carries out torque control so that brake torque of said electric motor decreases to zero when at least one of the detected speed and the estimated speed reach a prescribed speed.

11. A control apparatus of electric vehicle according to claim 10, wherein said controller controls the torque of said electric motor so as to be decreased in a ramp fashion to zero.