Power distribution apparatus for a motor vehicle
First Claim
1. A power distribution apparatus for a motor vehicle having a plurality of electric loads, a power supply for supplying a power to said electric loads, and distribution control means for independently controlling distribution of said power to said electric loads, said distribution control means further comprising:
- storing means for storing priorities of said electric loads for classifying said electric loads into a plurality of groups;
detection means for detecting an error in a power feeding system including said power supply and said distribution control means and detecting a condition that it is possible to partially distribute said power to said electric loads in the presence of said error; and
control means for distributing said power to a portion of said groups of said electric loads having said priority which is relatively high and cutting off said power to remainder of said groups of said electric loads having said priority which is relatively low when said detection means detects said condition, wherein said storing means further stores class data for classifying said electric loads into an essential group and a non-essential group, said detection means further detects, in the presence of said error, a second condition that said error will make it impossible to run said motor vehicle and a third condition that said error allows said motor vehicle to run, and said control means cuts off said power to at least said essential group of said electric loads on the basis of said class data when said detection means detects said second condition and distributes said power to said essential group of said electric loads and cuts off said power to at least a portion of said non-essential group of electric loads on the basis of said class data when said detection means detects said third condition.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
If there is an error in the feeding system and the error condition allows the motor vehicle to run, the power to electric load systems having a low priority is cut off. If the error condition does not allow the motor vehicle to run, the power to all electric loads is cut off. If there is an error in an electric load system having a high priority, the power to all electric loads is cut off. If there is an error in an electric load system having a low priority, the power to this electric load is cut off.
61 Citations
13 Claims
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1. A power distribution apparatus for a motor vehicle having a plurality of electric loads, a power supply for supplying a power to said electric loads, and distribution control means for independently controlling distribution of said power to said electric loads, said distribution control means further comprising:
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storing means for storing priorities of said electric loads for classifying said electric loads into a plurality of groups;
detection means for detecting an error in a power feeding system including said power supply and said distribution control means and detecting a condition that it is possible to partially distribute said power to said electric loads in the presence of said error; and
control means for distributing said power to a portion of said groups of said electric loads having said priority which is relatively high and cutting off said power to remainder of said groups of said electric loads having said priority which is relatively low when said detection means detects said condition, wherein said storing means further stores class data for classifying said electric loads into an essential group and a non-essential group, said detection means further detects, in the presence of said error, a second condition that said error will make it impossible to run said motor vehicle and a third condition that said error allows said motor vehicle to run, and said control means cuts off said power to at least said essential group of said electric loads on the basis of said class data when said detection means detects said second condition and distributes said power to said essential group of said electric loads and cuts off said power to at least a portion of said non-essential group of electric loads on the basis of said class data when said detection means detects said third condition. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
second detection means for detecting whether there is an electric load error in said electric loads and detecting said priority of said electric load having said electric load error; and
second control means for cutting off said power to at least one of said groups of said electric loads having a high priority when said detected priority is higher than a reference and distributing said power to said groups of said electric loads having high priorities and cutting off said power to said detected electric load when said second detection means detects said electric load error and said detected priority is not higher than said reference.
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4. The power distribution apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein said second control means cuts off power to said electric load on which the error is detected in the second detection means, and cuts off power to said electric leads in said group having the high priority when said detected priority is higher than the reference.
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5. The power distribution apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein, at start up of said motor vehicle, said detection means detects said error and, in the presence of said error, detects said second condition and said third condition, and said control means cuts off said power to at least said essential group of said electric loads and alarms the operator on the basis of said class data when said detection means detects said second condition and distributes said power to said essential group of said electric loads and cuts off said power to at least a portion of said non-essential group of electric loads and alarms the operator on the basis of said class data when said detection means detects said third condition.
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6. The power distribution apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said non-essential group includes said electric loads, and said essential group includes said electric loads that are more important to allow the motor vehicle to run than said electric loads in said non-essential group.
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7. A power distribution apparatus for a motor vehicle having a plurality of electric loads, a power supply for supplying a power to said electric loads, and distribution control means for independently controlling distribution of said power to said electric loads, said distribution control means further comprising:
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storing means for storing priorities of said electric loads for classifying said electric loads into a plurality of groups;
detection means for detecting whether there is an error in said electric loads and, in the presence of said error, detecting said priority of said electric load having said error; and
control means for cutting off said power to at least one of said groups of said electric loads having said priority higher than a reference when said detected priority is higher than said reference and distributing said power to said groups of said electric loads having said priorities higher than said reference and cutting off said power to said detected electric load when said detection means detects said error and said detected priority is not higher than said reference, wherein said storing means stores class data for classifying said electric loads into an essential group and a non-essential group, said detection means further detects, in the presence of said error, whether said electric load having said error belongs to said essential group or non-essential group on the basis of said class data, and said control means cuts off said power to at least all of said electric loads in said essential group when said electric load having said error belongs to said essential group and cuts off said power to said electric load having said error when said electric load having said error belongs to said non-essential group. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
second detection means for detecting a power feeding error in a power feeding system including said power supply and said distribution control means, and detecting a condition that it is possible to partially distribute said power to said electric loads in the presence of said power feeding error; and
second control means for distributing said power to a portion of said groups of said electric loads having a higher priority and cutting off said power to remains of said groups of said electric loads having a lower priority when said second detection means detects said condition.
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10. The power distribution apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein said second control means distributes power to a portion of said groups of said electric loads having a higher priority in a predetermined range, and cuts off power to all of said groups of said electric loads having a lower priority out of said predetermined range when said second detection means detects said condition.
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11. The power distribution apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein, at start up of said motor vehicle, said detection means further detects, in the presence of said error, whether one of said electric loads having said error belongs to said essential group or non-essential group on the basis of said class data, and said control means cuts off said power to at least all of said electric loads in said essential group and alarms the operator on the basis of said class data when said electric load having said error belonging to said essential group and cuts off said power to said electric load having said error and alarms the operator on the basis of said class data when said electric load having said error belongs to said non-essential group.
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12. The power distribution apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein said non-essential group includes said electric loads, and said essential group includes said electric loads that are more important to allow the motor vehicle to run than said electric loads in said non-essential group.
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13. The power distribution apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein said second control means cuts off power to said electric load on which the error is detected in the second detection means, and cuts off power to said electric leads in said group having the high priority when said detected priority is higher than the reference.
Specification