Control device comprising a processor and an IC

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11079730-B2
Application number	US-201716464675-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 24, 2017
Priority date	Dec 5, 2016
Publication date	Aug 3, 2021
Grant date	Aug 3, 2021

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a control device having versatility and extensibility of a load driving circuit. A control device includes a processor and an IC, in which the IC includes: a communication circuit that transmits a control signal from the processor; a first drive circuit that drives a first load; a second drive circuit that drives a second load and is provided outside the IC separately from the first drive circuit; and a third drive circuit that controls the second drive circuit, the processor transmits channel information corresponding to the number of switches of the second drive circuit to the IC, and the communication circuit changes the number of channels of the third drive circuit on the basis of the channel information.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A control device comprising a processor and an IC,
wherein the IC comprises:
a communication circuit that transmits a control signal from the processor by serial communication;
a first drive circuit that drives a first load;
a second drive circuit that drives a second load and is provided outside the IC separately from the first drive circuit; and
a third drive circuit that controls the second drive circuit,
the processor transmits channel information corresponding to the number of switches of the second drive circuit to the IC, and
the communication circuit changes the number of channels of the third drive circuit on the basis of the channel information.

2. The control device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the IC further comprises a channel number storage unit, and
the communication circuit changes the number of channels when a power supply of the control device is activated and stores the changed number of channels in the channel number storage unit.

3. The control device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the IC receives a command frame indicating whether or not to use the second drive circuit and the third drive circuit, and a data frame for controlling the third drive circuit from the processor.

4. The control device according to claim 3 ,
wherein the IC identifies the command frame and the data frame by the first one bit of a signal received from the processor.

5. The control device according to claim 4 ,
wherein the IC receives the command frame from the processor when a power supply of the control device is activated to change the number of channels, and
the processor changes a bit length of the data frame according to the changed number of channels.

6. The control device according to claim 4 ,
wherein the data frame further comprises data for controlling the first drive circuit.

7. The control device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the second drive circuit comprises a plurality of different switching elements according to characteristics of the second load.

8. The control device according to claim 7 ,
wherein the switching element is one of a MOSFET, a bipolar transistor, or an IGBT.

9. The control device according to claim 7 ,
wherein the switching element comprises a breakdown voltage protection circuit for limiting a voltage equal to or smaller than a breakdown voltage of the switching element, the breakdown voltage protection circuit comprises a Zener diode and a diode,
anodes of both the Zener diode and the diode are connected, a cathode of the Zener diode is connected to the second load side, and a cathode of the diode is connected to a node for controlling the second drive circuit from the third drive circuit.

10. The control device according to claim 7 ,
wherein the switching element comprises a Zener diode, and
the switching element comprises a breakdown voltage protection circuit in which a cathode of the Zener diode is connected to an upstream side of the switching element and an anode of the Zener diode is connected to a downstream side of the switching element.

11. The control device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the second drive circuit controls an engine auxiliary machine to drive.

Assignees

• Hitachi Automotive Systems Ltd

Inventors

• Oyama Katsuya
• Watanabe Mitsuhiko
• Konno Takeshi
• Sugiyama Yasushi
• Sato Chihiro

Classifications

• B60R16/02

  electric {constitutive elements} · CPC title

• H03K17/08142

  in field-effect transistor switches · CPC title

• F02P5/15

  Digital data processing · CPC title

• F02D41/266 Primary

  the computer being backed-up or assisted by another circuit, e.g. analogue · CPC title

• F02P5/045

  combined with electronic control of other engine functions, e.g. fuel injection (in general F02D37/02) · CPC title