Abnormality diagnosis apparatus for power control system

• US 9,002,558 B2
• Filed: 03/15/2013
• Issued: 04/07/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/05/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: Kurita, Toyoaki
• Primary Examiner(s): Olszewski, John R
• Assistant Examiner(s): Whittington, Jess
• Application Number:
  US13/834,300
• Publication Number:
  US 20130268158A1
• Time in Patent Office: 753 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 701/22
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 3/00 Electric devices on electrically-propelled vehicles for safety purposes; Monitoring operating variables, e.g. speed, deceleration or energy consumption methods or circuit arrangements for monitoring or controlling batteries or fuel cells B60L58/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 3/003 relating to inverters

Abstract

After turning a main relay to a full off-state and turning a charger relay to a full off-state or a half off-state only one of a positive-side switch and a negative-side switch is turned of voltage application processing is performed to control a bidirectional DC-DC converter to apply an output voltage of an accessory battery to a power cable after boosting. After the voltage application processing, check processing is performed to check whether a short-circuit is present in the charger relay by comparing a terminal voltage of a first capacitor and a terminal voltage of a second capacitor. After the check processing, discharge processing is performed to control the DC-DC converter to discharge at least the first capacitor.

Claims

1. An abnormality diagnosis apparatus for a power control system, which includes a main battery provided to supply electric power to a motor, which is a drive power source of a vehicle;

a main relay provided in a power cable, which connects the main battery and a charger device connectable to an external power source;

a charger relay provided between the main relay and the charger device in the power cable;

a bidirectional converter connected between the main relay and the charger relay in the power cable; and

an accessory battery connected to the bidirectional converter, the abnormality diagnosis apparatus comprising;

a first capacitor connected between the main relay and the charger relay in the power cable;

a first voltage sensor provided to detect a first voltage across the first capacitor;

a second capacitor connected between the charger relay and the charger device in the power cable;

a second voltage sensor provided to detect a second voltage across the second capacitor; and

a diagnosis unit configured to perform voltage application processing and check processing by turning off the main relay and the charger relay, the voltage application processing controlling the bidirectional converter to apply a voltage of the accessory battery to the power cable, and the check processing checking whether a short-circuit is present in the charger relay by comparing the first voltage and the second voltage after the voltage application processing.

2. The abnormality diagnosis apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the diagnosis unit is further configured to perform discharge processing to control the bidirectional converter to discharge at least the first capacitor after the check processing to the accessory battery.

3. The abnormality diagnosis apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the charger relay has a positive-side switch and a negative-side switch; and

the diagnosis unit is configured to perform both-side short-circuit check processing, as the check processing, to check whether the charger relay has both-side short-circuit, in which both of the positive-side switch and the negative-side switch are short-circuited, after performing the voltage application processing with both of the positive-side switch and the negative-side switch of the charger relay being turned off.

4. The abnormality diagnosis apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the charger relay has a positive-side switch and a negative-side switch; and

the diagnosis unit is configured to perform negative-side short-circuit check processing, as the check processing, to check whether the charger relay has a negative-side short-circuit, in which only the negative-side switch is short-circuited, after performing the voltage application processing with the positive-side switch and the negative-side switch of the charger relay being controlled to turn on and off, respectively.

5. The abnormality diagnosis apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the charger relay has a positive-side switch and a negative-side switch; and

the diagnosis unit is configured to perform positive-side short-circuit check processing, as the check processing, to check whether the charger relay has a positive-side short-circuit, in which only the positive-side switch is short-circuited, after performing the voltage application processing with the negative-side switch and the positive-side switch of the charger relay being controlled to turn on and off, respectively.

6. The abnormality diagnosis apparatus according to claim 2, wherein:

the charger relay has a positive-side switch and a negative-side switch;

the diagnosis unit is configured to perform both-side short-circuit check processing, as the check processing, to check whether the charger relay has both-side short-circuit, in which both of the positive-side switch and the negative-side switch are short-circuited, after performing the voltage application processing with both of the positive-side switch and the negative-side switch of the charger relay being turned off;

the diagnosis unit is configured to perform negative-side short-circuit check processing, as the check processing, to check whether the charger relay has a negative-side short-circuit, in which only the negative-side switch is short-circuited, after performing the voltage application processing with the positive-side switch and the negative-side switch of the charger relay being controlled to turn on and off, respectively; and

the diagnosis unit is configured to perform positive-side short-circuit check processing, as the check processing, to check whether the charger relay has a positive-side short-circuit, in which only the positive-side switch is short-circuited, after performing the voltage application processing with the negative-side switch and the positive-side switch of the charger relay being controlled to turn on and off, respectively.

7. A system comprising:

a main battery provided to supply electric power to a motor, which is a drive power source of a vehicle;

a main relay provided in a power cable, which connects the main battery and a charger device connectable to an external power source;

a charger relay provided between the main relay and the charger device in the power cable, the charger relay being provided at an output side of the charger device;

a bidirectional converter connected between the main relay and the charger relay in the power cable;

an accessory battery connected to the bidirectional converter;

a first capacitor connected between the main relay and the charger relay in the power cable;

a first voltage sensor provided to detect a first voltage across the first capacitor;

a second capacitor connected between the charger relay and the charger device in the power cable;

a second voltage sensor provided to detect a second voltage across the second capacitor; and

a controller configured to perform voltage application processing and check processing by turning off the main relay and the charger relay, the voltage application processing controlling the bidirectional converter to apply a voltage of the accessory battery to the power cable, and the check processing checking whether a short-circuit is present in the charger relay by comparing the first voltage and the second voltage after the voltage application processing.