Power supply control device for on-vehicle electrical loads

• US 7,504,743 B2
• Filed: 03/07/2007
• Issued: 03/17/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/24/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• Inventors: Nishizawa, Osamu, Motonobu, Masao, Matsumoto, Shuuiti
• Primary Examiner(s): PALADINI, ALBERT WILLIAM
• Application Number:
  US11/714,864
• Publication Number:
  US 20080093924A1
• Time in Patent Office: 741 Days
• Field of Search: 307/10.18, 361/98, 361/18, 361/101, 318/798
• US Class Current: 307/10.1
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/006 on road vehicles, e.g. automobiles or trucks testing of ignition installations peculiar to internal combustion engines F02P17/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/50 Testing of electric apparatus, lines, cables or components for short-circuits, continuity, leakage current or incorrect line connections testing of sparking plugs H01T13/58
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/52 Testing for short-circuits, leakage current or ground faults
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/54 Testing for continuity
• CPC Class Codes: H02H 7/268 for dc systems

Abstract

A power supply control device for on-vehicle electric loads is proposed, the control device being capable of detecting breakages at a plurality of electrical loads, a positive side wiring thereof, a negative side wiring thereof, and a commutation circuit. Energization of electrical loads from driving power supply is controlled using switching elements. Anode terminals of commutation diodes connected in parallel with the electrical loads are connected to a load ground by an external common negative line or external individual negative lines. A breakage abnormality at the external common negative line or external individual negative lines is detected by negative line breakage abnormality detection circuit. Load currents at the electrical loads are detected by current detection resistors and current detecting differential amplifier circuits, and it is determined that there is an individual abnormality when a detected current is greatly different from a target current.

Claims

1. A power supply control device for on-vehicle electrical loads, comprising a power supply control unit including a plurality of load power supply circuits for supplying power from a DC driving power supply to a plurality of electrical loads respectively through switching elements, a plurality of load commutation circuits for commutating load currents to the electrical loads, and a power supply control circuit for supplying an energization command output to the switching elements, and the load power supply circuits, the load commutation circuits, and the power supply control circuit being contained in a housing of the power supply control unit, wherein:

commutation diodes are provided in the respective load commutation circuits, and the commutation diodes are connected in parallel with the respective electrical loads to cause currents which has been flowing through the electrical loads to flow back when the switching elements of the load power supply circuits are turned off, and the commutation diodes are connected to a vehicle body outside the housing separately from an internal ground circuit of the power supply control unit by an external common negative line;

the power supply control circuit includes an individual abnormality detection circuit, a negative line breakage abnormality detection circuit, abnormality processing means, and abnormality history storing means;

the power supply control circuit is configured by using a microprocessor, and the microprocessor is configured to operate in conjunction with a non-volatile program memory in which at least a control program serving as energization command means for the switching elements is stored, a data memory, a RAM memory for arithmetic processes, and a multi-channel A-D converter;

the individual abnormality detection circuit includes a plurality of power supply state detection circuits for detecting amounts of power supplied to the electrical loads and means for determining an individual abnormal state when the amount of power supplied to a certain electrical load among the electrical loads deviates from a target amount of supplied power, the individual abnormal state is either breakage or shorting of at least one of the certain electrical load, a positive side wiring of the certain electrical load, a negative side wiring of the certain electrical load, and the switching element associated with the certain electrical load;

the negative line breakage abnormality detection circuit is a circuit for determining a breakage abnormality of the external common negative line by detecting that an electric potential on an anode side of each commutation diode is different from an electric potential at the internal ground circuit of the power supply control unit;

the abnormality processing means is means for stopping the energization command output to the switching elements when at least either an individual abnormality or a breakage abnormality at the external common negative line is detected and for providing a notice of the abnormality; and

the abnormality history storing means is means for storing and retaining history of occurrence of individual abnormalities and breakage abnormalities at the external common negative line in the data memory with identification of the abnormalities.

2. The power supply control device for on-vehicle electrical loads, according to claim 1, wherein:

voltage clamping diodes are connected to the respective switching elements to suppress an off-voltage thereof;

the negative line breakage abnormality detection circuit includes a series circuit including a constant voltage diode which starts conducting at a voltage lower than the clamping voltage of the voltage clamping diode, a current limiting resistor connected in series with the constant voltage diode, and a clip diode whose anode is connected to the internal ground circuit of the power supply control unit, and a determination element operating in accordance with the state of energization of the series circuit;

the series circuit is connected between the internal ground circuit of the power supply control unit and an anode terminal each of the commutation diodes; and

the determination element detects a breakage at the external common negative line according to an induced surge voltage at the electrical load generated when there is a breakage at the external common negative line by detecting an electric potential at the cathode of the clip diode and supplies an alarm signal to the microprocessor.

3. The power supply control device for on-vehicle electrical loads, according to claim 1, wherein:

a bypass resistor is connected in parallel with each of the commutation diodes;

the negative line breakage abnormality detection circuit includes a detection resistor which is supplied with power from each of the bypass resistor through a block diode when there is a breakage at the external common negative line with the switching elements in an on-state, and a determination element; and

the determination element determines that a breakage has occurred at the external common negative line based on the fact that the detection resistor has been energized and supplies an alarm signal to the microprocessor.

4. The power supply control device for on-vehicle electrical loads, according to claim 1, wherein:

the anode terminals of the commutation diodes are connected to the vehicle body outside the housing through the external common negative line;

a separated ground connecting the external common negative line to the vehicle body is separated from at least a unit ground which connects the internal ground circuit of the power supply control unit to the vehicle body; and

the distance between a load ground connecting negative terminals of the electrical loads to the vehicle body and the separated ground is smaller than the distance between the unit ground and the separated ground.

5. The power supply control device for on-vehicle electrical loads, according to claim 1, wherein:

each of the power supply state detection circuits has a current detecting differential amplifier circuit, the current detecting differential amplifier circuit is a circuit for amplifying a differential voltage across a current detection resistor connected between the electrical load and the switching element associated with the same with a differential amplifier to generate a monitoring voltage Ef proportionate to a load current If at the electrical load;

a non-inverting input terminal of the differential amplifier is connected to a point of connection between the switching element and the current detection resistor through first and second series resistors, and a first negative voltage suppressing diode is connected between a point of connection between the first and second series resistors and the internal ground circuit of the power supply control unit;

an inverting input terminal of the differential amplifier is connected to a point of connection between the current detection resistor and the electrical load through third and fourth series resistors and, and a second negative voltage suppressing diode is connected between a point of connection between the third and fourth series resistors and the internal ground circuit of the power supply control unit; and

an excessively high negative voltage applied to the differential amplifier when there is a breakage at the external common negative line for the commutation diodes is suppressed by the first and second negative voltage suppressing diodes.

6. The power supply control device for on-vehicle electrical loads, according to claim 1, wherein:

each of the power supply state detection circuits has a load voltage monitoring circuit;

the load voltage monitoring circuit includes either an analog input circuit which provides the microprocessor with the input of a voltage proportionate to the load voltage applied to one of voltage dividing resistors connected between a point of connection between the electrical load and the current detection resistor associated therewith and the internal ground circuit of the power supply control unit or a comparison/determination circuit which provides the microprocessor with the input of the result of determination made by comparing the voltage proportionate to the load voltage applied to the one of the voltage dividing resistors with a predetermined threshold; and

a clip diode whose anode terminal is connected to the internal ground circuit is connected in parallel with the one of the voltage dividing resistors to suppress an excessively high negative voltage applied to the load voltage monitoring circuit when there is a breakage at the external common negative line for the commutation diodes.

7. The power supply control device for on-vehicle electrical loads, according to claim 5, wherein:

the microprocessor receives the input of an analog signal which is the monitoring voltage Ef supplied from the current detecting differential amplifier and the input of an analog signal which is a power supply voltage measurement signal supplied from a power supply voltage measuring circuit;

each of the power supply state detection circuits includes a comparison/determination circuit forming a load voltage monitoring circuit;

the non-volatile program memory includes a control program including negative feedback control means which forms the energization command means;

the negative feedback control means controls the turning on/off of the switching element by generating the energization command output having a variable duty in accordance with an integrated value of a deviation between an energization target current Is for the electrical load and the load current If detected by a current detecting differential amplifier circuit;

the power supply voltage measuring circuit includes a voltage dividing resistor for dividing a driving power supply voltage Vb provided by the DC driving power supply and inputting the resultant voltage to the microprocessor; and

the load voltage monitoring circuit includes a comparison/determination circuit which provides the microprocessor with the input of a determination made by comparing a voltage proportionate to a load voltage applied to one of voltage dividing resistors connected between a point of connection between the current detection resistor and the electrical load and the internal ground circuit of the power supply control unit with a predetermined threshold.

8. The power supply control device for on-vehicle electrical loads, according to claim 7, wherein:

the power supply control circuit includes leakage a resistor having a high resistance connected in parallel with the switching element and a load voltage dividing circuit provided on an output side of each of the switching elements;

the comparison/determination circuit includes first and second comparison/determination circuits for comparing a voltage applied to the one of the voltage dividing resistors of the load voltage monitoring circuit with each of first and second threshold voltages proportionate to the driving power supply voltage;

the leakage resistor supplies such a very small load current that the electrical load will not be activated when the switching element is off;

the load voltage dividing circuit includes a bypass resistor which is connected between either a point connecting the switching element and the current detection resistor or a point connecting the current detecting resistor and the electrical load and either the anode terminal of the commutation diode or the internal ground circuit of the power supply control unit;

the first threshold voltage is proportionate to a voltage applied to the bypass resistor through the leakage resistor at the time of occurrence of a breakage abnormality including a breakage at either the electrical load, or positive side wiring or negative side wiring of the electrical load;

the second threshold voltage is proportionate to a voltage applied to the bypass resistor at the time of occurrence of a shorting abnormality at the switching element and a power line shorting that the positive side wire of the electrical load is contacted to a power supply line;

when a breakage abnormality occurs, the output logic of the first comparison/determination circuit is inverted to supply an alarm signal indicating the breakage abnormality to the microprocessor; and

when either of a shorting abnormality at the switching element or a power line shorting abnormality at the positive side wiring of the electrical load is occurred, the output logic of the second comparison/determination circuit is inverted to supply an alarm signal indicating either of the shorting abnormality at the switching element or the power line shorting abnormality at the positive side wiring to the microprocessor.

9. The power supply control device for on-vehicle electrical loads, according to claim 7, wherein:

the non-volatile program memory includes a control program including load resistance estimation means and at least either under-resistance determination means or over-resistance determination means;

the load resistance estimation means performs a calculation to estimate a current resistance value of the electrical load, which is equivalent to γ

Vb/If, based on an energization duty γ

of the energization command output provided by the negative feedback control means, a driving power supply voltage Vb measured by the power supply voltage measuring circuit, and a load current If for the electrical load detected by the current detecting differential amplifier circuit;

the under-resistance determination means generates an abnormality determination output when the load resistance estimated by the load resistance estimation means is smaller than a minimum load resistance in a low temperature environment, thereby providing a notice of the occurrence of any of a shorting abnormality at the electrical load, a grounding abnormality that is contact between the positive side wiring and the vehicle body, and a shorting abnormality at the switching element in the duration of the energization command for the switching element; and

the over-resistance determination means generates an abnormality determination output when the load resistance estimated by the load resistance estimation means is greater than a maximum load resistance in a high temperature environment, thereby providing a notice of the occurrence of any of a breakage abnormality at the electrical load, a breakage abnormality at the positive side wiring, a breakage abnormality at the negative side wiring, a power line shorting abnormality that the positive side wiring of the electrical load is connected to a power supply line of the DC driving power supply, and a breakage abnormality at the switching element in the duration of the energization command for the switching element.

10. The power supply control device for on-vehicle electrical loads, according to claim 9, wherein:

the under-resistance determination means further includes confirmative determination means; and

when the under-resistance determination means determines that there is a state of under-resistance, the confirmative determination means stores the fact that no shorting abnormality has occurred at the switching element as abnormality history information if the load current If has become zero after the energization command output to the switching element was stopped.

11. The power supply control device for on-vehicle electrical loads, according to claim 5, wherein:

the power supply control circuit includes negative feedback control circuit;

the non-volatile program memory includes a control program including target current command means which constitutes the energization command means;

a power supply voltage measurement signal which is an analog signal supplied by a power supply voltage measurement circuit and a load voltage measurement signal which is an analog signal supplied by a load voltage monitoring circuit are input to the microprocessor;

the target current command means is means for generating a setting command output having a variable duty proportionate to an energization target current Is for the electrical load;

the negative feedback control circuit controls the turning on/off of the switching element by generating the energization command output having a variable duty in accordance with an integrated value of a deviation between a set voltage Es proportionate to a target current Is obtained by smoothing the setting command output and a monitoring voltage Ef proportionate to the load current If detected by the current amplifying differential amplifier circuit;

the power supply voltage measuring circuit includes a voltage dividing resistor for dividing the driving power supply voltage Vb supplied by the DC driving power supply and inputting the resultant voltage to the microprocessor; and

the load voltage monitoring circuit is an analog circuit which supplies the microprocessor with a load voltage measurement input proportionate to a load voltage applied to a voltage dividing resistor connected between a point connecting the current detection resistor and the electrical load and the internal ground circuit of the power supply control unit.

12. The power supply control device for on-vehicle electrical loads, according to claim 11, wherein:

the power supply control circuit includes a leakage resistors having a high resistance connected in parallel with the switching element and a load voltage dividing circuit provided on the output side of the switching element;

the non-volatile program memory includes a program including first and second comparison/determination means for comparing a load voltage obtained by the load voltage monitoring circuit with each of first and second threshold voltages;

the leakage resistor supplies such a very small load current that the electrical load will not be activated when the switching element is off;

the load voltage dividing circuit includes a bypass resistor which is connected between either a point connecting the switching element and the current detection resistor or a point connecting the current detection resistor and the electrical load and either the anode terminal of the commutation diode or the ground circuit of the power supply control unit;

the first threshold voltage is proportionate to a voltage applied to the bypass resistor through the leakage resistor at the time of occurrence of a breakage abnormality including a breakage at any of the electrical load, the positive side wiring of the electrical load, and the negative side wiring of the electrical load;

the second threshold voltage is proportionate to a voltage applied to the bypass resistor at the time of occurrence of either shorting abnormality at the switching element or the power line shorting that the positive wiring of the electrical load is contacted to a power supply line;

when the breakage abnormality occurs, the output logic of the first comparison/determination means is inverted to provide a notice of the breakage abnormality; and

when there is either shorting abnormality at the switching element or the power line shorting abnormality at the positive side wiring of the electrical load, the output logic of the second comparison/determination means is inverted to provide a notice of the abnormality.

13. The power supply control device for on-vehicle electrical loads, according to claim 11, wherein:

the non-volatile program memory includes a control program including load resistance estimation means and at least either under-resistance determination means or over-resistance determination means;

the load resistance estimation means performs a calculation to estimate a current resistance value of the electrical load, which is equivalent to Vf/Is, based on a load voltage Vf measured by the load voltage monitoring circuit and a target command current Is instructed by a target current command means;

the under-resistance determination means generates an abnormality determination output when the load resistance estimated by the load resistance estimation means is smaller than a minimum load resistance in a low temperature environment, thereby providing a notice of the occurrence of any of a shorting abnormality at the electrical load, a grounding abnormality that is contact between the positive side wiring and the vehicle body, and a shorting abnormality at the switching element in the duration of the energization command for the switching element; and

the over-resistance determination means generates an abnormality determination output when the load resistance estimated by the load resistance estimation means is greater than a maximum load resistance in a high temperature environment, thereby providing a notice of the occurrence of any of a breakage abnormality at the electrical load, a breakage abnormality at the positive side wiring, a breakage abnormality at the negative side wiring, a power line shorting abnormality that the positive side wiring of the electrical load is connected to a power supply line of the DC driving power supply, and a breakage abnormality at the switching element in the duration of the energization command for the switching element.

14. The power supply control device for on-vehicle electrical loads, according to claim 13, wherein:

the over-resistance determination means further includes confirmative determination means; and

when the over-resistance determination means determines that there is a state of over-resistance, the confirmative determination means stores the fact that neither the shorting abnormality at the switching element nor the power line shorting abnormality at the positive side wiring has occurred as abnormality history information if the load voltage Vf has dropped after the setting command output to the negative feedback control circuit was stopped.

15. The power supply control device for on-vehicle electrical loads, according to claim 7, wherein:

the power supply control circuit includes a control power supply circuit and an over-current detection circuit;

the control power supply circuit is configured to generate a stabilized control power supply voltage Vcc having a value lower than the driving power supply voltage Vb supplied by the DC driving power supply;

the power supply voltage applied to the differential amplifier is the driving power supply voltage Vb, the monitoring voltage Ef output by the differential amplifier being limited to the level of the control power supply voltage Vcc by the voltage clamping diode;

the over-current detection circuit is provided in association with each of the plurality of electrical loads to determine the presence of a shorting abnormality at the electrical load and a grounding abnormality at the positive side wiring of the same by detecting whether the load current at the electrical load associated is excessively high beyond a predetermined value; and

the over-current detection circuit includes a comparison circuit which generates an over-current determination output to supply an alarm signal indicating the occurrence of a shorting abnormality to the microprocessor when a voltage E0 upstream of the monitoring voltage Ef obtained by the current detecting differential amplifier circuit exceeds a predetermined value equal to or higher than the control power supply voltage Vcc.

16. The power supply control device for on-vehicle electrical loads, according to claim 11, wherein:

the power supply control circuit includes a control power supply circuit and an over-current detection circuit;

the control power supply circuit is configured to generate a stabilized control power supply voltage Vcc having a value lower than the driving power supply voltage Vb supplied by the DC driving power supply;

the power supply voltage applied to the differential amplifier is the driving power supply voltage Vb, the monitoring voltage Ef output by the differential amplifier being limited to the level of the control power supply voltage Vcc by the voltage clamping diode;

the over-current detection circuit is provided in association with each of the plurality of electrical loads to determine the presence of a shorting abnormality at the electrical load and a grounding abnormality at the positive side wiring of the same by detecting whether the load current at the electrical load associated is excessively high beyond a predetermined value; and

the over-current detection circuit includes a comparison circuit which generates an over-current determination output to supply an alarm signal indicating the occurrence of a shorting abnormality to the microprocessor when a voltage E0 upstream of the monitoring voltage Ef obtained by the current detecting differential amplifier circuit exceeds a predetermined value equal to or higher than the control power supply voltage Vcc.

17. The power supply control device for on-vehicle electrical loads, according to claim 1, wherein:

the abnormality processing means stops energization commands to the electrical loads and provides an abnormality notice not only when a breakage abnormality is detected at the negative line but also when either of a shorting abnormality at each of the electrical loads or a grounding abnormality at the positive side wiring of each of the electrical loads is detected; and

the abnormality history storing means stores and saves information on shorting abnormalities at the electrical loads and grounding abnormalities at the positive side wirings in the data memory in addition to the history of occurrence of breakage abnormalities.