Power converter and control method of power converter

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10425004-B2
Application number	US-201916267440-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 5, 2019
Priority date	Feb 7, 2018
Publication date	Sep 24, 2019
Grant date	Sep 24, 2019

Abstract

A power converter includes: a power conversion circuit; and an electronic control unit configured to output plural control commands for a first switching element and a second switching element to the power conversion circuit. The electronic control unit is configured to output a first drive command, a second drive command, a first drive stop command, and a second drive stop command. The first drive command is a command to turn on the first switching element. The second drive command is a command to turn on the second switching element. The first drive stop command is a command to turn off the first switching element regardless of presence or absence of the first drive command. The second drive stop command is a command to turn off the second switching element regardless of presence or absence of the second drive command.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A power converter comprising:
a power conversion circuit including a first switching element and a second switching element that is connected in series to the first switching element; and
an electronic control unit configured to output plural control commands for the first switching element and the second switching element to the power conversion circuit,
the electronic control unit being configured to output a first drive command, a second drive command, a first drive stop command, and a second drive stop command,
the first drive command being a command to turn on the first switching element, and the second drive command being a command to turn on the second switching element, and
the first drive command and the second drive command being selectively output from the electronic control unit in a form of a single drive signal that changes discretely between two values, the first drive stop command being a command to turn off the first switching element regardless of presence or absence of the first drive command, and the second drive stop command being a command to turn off the second switching element regardless of presence or absence of the second drive command.

2. The power converter according to claim 1 , wherein
the first drive stop command and the second drive stop command are selectively output from the electronic control unit in the form of a single drive stop signal that changes discretely between at least two values.

3. The power converter according to claim 2 , wherein
the single drive stop signal is a signal that changes discretely among at least three values, and one of the at least three values represents a command to permit turn-on of the first switching element and the second switching element.

4. The power converter according to claim 1 , wherein
the electronic control unit is configured to alternately output the first drive command and the second drive command in the form of the single drive signal when turning off both of the first switching element and the second switching element,
the electronic control unit is configured to output the first drive stop command in a period of outputting the first drive command and output the second drive stop command in a period of outputting the second drive command.

5. The power converter according to claim 1 , wherein
the electronic control unit is configured to execute either one of first control and second control when turning off both of the first switching element and the second switching element,
the first control being control to continuously output both of the first drive command and the first drive stop command, and the second control being control to continuously output both of the second drive command and the second drive stop command.

6. The power converter according to claim 1 , wherein
the power conversion circuit includes a DC-DC converter, and the DC-DC converter includes the first switching element and the second switching element.

7. A power converter comprising:
a power conversion circuit including a first switching element and a second switching element that is connected in series to the first switching element; and
an electronic control unit configured to output plural control commands for the first switching element and the second switching element to the power conversion circuit,
the electronic control unit being configured to output a first drive command, a second drive command, and a drive prohibition command,
the first drive command being a command to turn on the first switching element, and the second drive command being a command to turn on the second switching element, and
the first drive command and the second drive command being selectively output from the electronic control unit in a form of a single drive signal that takes two values, the drive prohibition command being a command to prohibit turn-on of the first switching element and the second switching element regardless of the value of the single drive signal, and

the electronic control unit being configured to alternately outputting the first drive command and the second drive command in a form of the single drive signal when the electronic control unit intermittently turns on only the first switching element in a state where the second switching element is turned off,
the electronic control unit being configured to output the drive prohibition command in a period of outputting the second drive command.

8. The power converter according to claim 7 , wherein
the electronic control unit is configured to alternately outputting the first drive command and the second drive command in the form of the single drive signal when the electronic control unit intermittently turns on only the second switching element in a state where the first switching element is turned off,
the electronic control unit is configured to output the drive prohibition command in a period of outputting the first drive command.

9. A control method of a power converter,
the power converter including: a power conversion circuit that includes a first switching element and a second switching element connected in series to the first switching element; and an electronic control unit configured to output plural control commands for the first switching element and the second switching element to the power conversion circuit,
the control method comprising:
outputting, by the electronic control unit, a first drive command, a second drive command, a first drive stop command, and a second drive stop command
the first drive command is a command to turn on the first switching element, and the second drive command is a command to turn on the second switching element, and
the first drive command and the second drive command are selectively output from the electronic control unit in a form of a single drive signal that changes discretely between two values, the first drive stop command is a command to turn off the first switching element regardless of presence or absence of the first drive command, and the second drive stop command is a command to turn off the second switching element regardless of presence or absence of the second drive command.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Momose Masafumi

Classifications

• H02M1/38

  Means for preventing simultaneous conduction of switches · CPC title

• H02M1/08

  Circuits specially adapted for the generation of control voltages for semiconductor devices incorporated in static converters · CPC title

• B60L15/007

  Physical arrangements or structures of drive train converters specially adapted for the propulsion motors of electric vehicles · CPC title

• B60L3/0092

  with use of redundant elements for safety purposes · CPC title

• H02M3/158

  including plural semiconductor devices as final control devices for a single load · CPC title