Motor system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11211889-B2
Application number	US-201916360463-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 21, 2019
Priority date	Mar 22, 2018
Publication date	Dec 28, 2021
Grant date	Dec 28, 2021

Abstract

A control unit distributes a motor voltage vector corresponding to an output request for a motor to a first and a second inverter voltage vectors associated with outputs from a first inverter and a second inverter, and determines whether a switching condition for three-phase-on mode is satisfied. Determining that the switching condition is satisfied, the control unit switches to three-phase-on mode in which every high-side switching element or every low-side switching element of one inverter is turned on and one end of a coil in each phase of the motor is brought into common connection, and the control unit drives the motor with an output from the other inverter. Herein, the switching condition for three-phase-on mode includes failure of one inverter and an inverter voltage vector of an output from one inverter being approximate to 0 when neither of the inverters fails.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A motor system comprising:
a first inverter provided with a plurality of arms, each arm including a high-side switching element and a low-side switching element connected in series and having both ends to which direct current power from a first power supply is supplied and having an intermediate point from which alternating current power is output;
a second inverter provided with a plurality of arms, each arm including a high-side switching element and a low-side switching element connected in series and having both ends to which direct current power from a second power supply is supplied and having an intermediate point from which alternating current power is output
a motor which is driven by the alternating current power from the first inverter and the alternating current power from the second inverter, the motor having a plurality of phase coils, the first inverter is connected to one end of each of the phase coils of the motor and the second inverter is connected to the other end of each of the phase coils of the motor; and
a control unit which is configured to control the first inverter and the second inverter,
the control unit is configured to distribute a motor voltage vector corresponding to an output request for the motor to a first inverter voltage vector associated with an output from the first inverter and a second inverter voltage vector associated with an output from the second inverter and determines whether a switching condition for three-phase-on mode is satisfied, and
when the control unit determines that the switching condition for three-phase-on mode is satisfied, the control unit switches to three-phase-on mode in which every high-side switching element or every low-side switching element of one of the first inverter and the second inverter is turned on and one end of a coil in each phase of the motor is brought into common connection to connect the motor into a star connection, and the control unit drives the motor with an output from the other of the first inverter and the second inverter,
when the control unit determines that the switching condition for three-phase-on mode is not satisfied, the control unit drives the motor by passing a current from one of the first inverter and the second inverter to the other of the first inverter and the second inverter,
wherein the switching condition for three-phase-on mode includes failure of one of the first inverter and the second inverter and when the first inverter voltage vector or the second inverter voltage vector being approximate to 0 when neither of the first inverter and the second inverter fails, and
when the switching condition for three-phase-on mode for the first inverter voltage vector or the second inverter voltage vector being approximate to 0 when neither of the first inverter and the second inverter fails is satisfied, the motor voltage vector corresponding to the output request is distributed to the first inverter voltage vector and the second inverter voltage vector, the first inverter voltage vector or the second inverter voltage vector is set to 0 and the one of the first inverter and the second inverter is set to three-phase-on mode, and the other of the first inverter voltage vector or the second inverter voltage vector is set to a value corresponding to the motor voltage vector.

2. The motor system according to claim 1 ,
wherein, in a situation where one switching element of the one of the first inverter and the second inverter is short-circuited, when the short-circuited switching element is a high-side switching element, the control unit turns on every high-side switching element, or when the short-circuited switching element is a low-side switching element, the control unit turns on every low-side switching element.

3. The motor system according to claim 1 ,
wherein, in a situation where neither of the first inverter and the second inverter fails and an inverter voltage vector of an output from one of the first inverter and the second inverter is approximate to 0, when a change in the motor voltage vector is equal to a predetermined value or more, the control unit prohibits switching to three-phase-on mode.

4. The motor system according to claim 2 ,
wherein, in a situation where neither of the first inverter and the second inverter fails and an inverter voltage vector of an output from one of the first inverter and the second inverter is approximate to 0, when a change in the motor voltage vector is equal to a predetermined value or more, the control unit prohibits switching to three-phase-on mode.

5. The motor system according to claim 1 , wherein the star connection is formed when every high-side switching element or every low-side switching element of one of the first inverter and the second inverter is turned on and when every high-side switching element or every low-side switching element of the one of the first inverter and the second inverter is turned off opposite of the every high-side switching element or every low-side switching element of the one of the first inverter and the second inverter that is turned on, the one end of the coil in each phase of the motor is brought into common connection.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd
• Denso Corp

Inventors

• Matsubara Kiyotaka
• Nakamura Makoto
• Nobe Daigo
• Omata Ryuji

Classifications

• H02P25/16

  characterised by the circuit arrangement or by the kind of wiring · CPC title

• H02M1/325

  with means for allowing continuous operation despite a fault, i.e. fault tolerant converters · CPC title

• B60L2210/40

  DC to AC converters · CPC title

• H02P21/22

  Current control, e.g. using a current control loop · CPC title

• B60L2240/423

  Torque · CPC title