Power control unit for electric vehicle

• US 6,907,947 B2
• Filed: 07/18/2002
• Issued: 06/21/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 07/18/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Morita, Hideki, Yamagishi, Tomoya
• Primary Examiner(s): Dickson, Paul N.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Avery, Bridget
• Application Number:
  US10/198,815
• Publication Number:
  US 20030034186A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,069 Days
• Field of Search: 180/65.1, 180/301, 180/302, 180/65.2, 165/185, 165/80.4, 361/699, 361/257, 361/704, 361/707, 361/710, 361/826, 361/827, 361/822, 361/823
• US Class Current: 180/65.1
• 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 3/0015 Prevention of collisions
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 50/71 Arrangement of fuel cells within vehicles specially adapted for electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/33 by cooling
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/40 for controlling a combination of batteries and fuel cells
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 8/003 Converting light into electric energy, e.g. by using photo-voltaic systems
• 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 90/16 Information or communication technologies improving the operation of electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/40 Application of hydrogen technology to transportation, e.g. using fuel cells

Abstract

A power control unit for electric vehicle which can easily detach the high voltage cables even if the motor room is deformed, for example, by head-on collision and/or rear-end collision of the vehicle, which is difficult to be deformed, which can make small, and which can avoid an influence of heat generated by the reactor is disclosed. The power control unit 1 includes a box 10 which accommodates devices for controlling electric power supply of the electric vehicle; a reactor receiver 11a which is provided on a given external surface around the box 10 and supports a reactor R; a heat sink 12 connected to the lower end of the reactor receiver 11a, covering the bottom surface of the box 10, possessing passages including passage wall inside thereof, and performing heat-exchange with the box 10 by allowing coolant water to flow within the passage; and a partition 13a, which is laid on at least one side of the box 10 extending toward the longitudinal direction of the vehicle EV, and is detachably communicated with cables to be connected to the traction motor 4 disposed below the heat sink 12 to supply power.

Claims

1. A power control unit for an electric vehicle comprising:

a box which accommodates devices for controlling an electric power supply of said electric vehicle;

a reactor receiver which is provided on a given external surface around said box and which supports a reactor;

a heat sink, which is connected to a lower end of said reactor receiver, which covers a bottom surface of said box, which possesses passages comprising a passage wall inside thereof, and which performs heat-exchange with said box by allowing coolant water to flow within said passage; and

a beam member, which is laid on at least one side of said box extending toward a longitudinal direction of said vehicle, and which is detachably communicated with cables to be connected to the traction motor disposed below the heat sink to supply power.

2. The power control unit according to claim 1, which further comprises a second beam member, one end of which is fixed on the reactor receiver provided on a front portion or a rear portion of said vehicle, and the other end of which is fixed on a wall surface of the box extending longitudinally and facing the reactor receiver in the longitudinal direction thereof.

3. The power control unit according to claim 1, wherein a number of wall surface components extending along the longitudinal direction of the vehicle is larger than a perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the vehicle.

4. The power control unit according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of electric cables are arranged from a side of the box toward the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, wherein a first set of the electric cables are connected to a traction motor disposed below said box and having an outputting shaft directed toward a width direction of the vehicle, and a second set of the electric cables are passed through a side portion at a side of non-outputting shaft of the traction motor and arranged in such a manner that they extend towards a rear side of the vehicle.

5. The power control unit according to claim 2, wherein a number of wall surface components extending along the longitudinal direction of the vehicle is larger than a perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the vehicle.

6. The power control unit according to claim 4, wherein said second set of the electric cables pass through the side portion at the side of non-outputting shaft of the traction motor and are arranged in such a manner that they extend towards the rear side of the vehicle, so that a first portion of said second set of the electric cables can be connected to a power supply apparatus and a second portion of the second set of the electric cables can be connected to a battery means.

7. The power control unit according to claim 4, which comprises a connector case or connecter cases having connectors for connecting said electric cables provided on one sides or both sides of said box.

8. The power control unit according to claim 6, wherein said power supply apparatus comprises a fuel cell and said battery means comprises a capacitor.