Control device and control method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11658557-B2
Application number	US-202117445720-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 23, 2021
Priority date	Aug 25, 2020
Publication date	May 23, 2023
Grant date	May 23, 2023

Abstract

A control device for a converter including a one-phase or multiple-phase converter circuit includes: a magnetic coupling determination unit configured to determine whether the converter circuit is a magnetically coupled circuit in which a reactor of the converter circuit is in a magnetically coupled state; and a control unit configured to change a control method for the converter according to a determination result of the magnetic coupling determination unit.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A control device for a converter including a one-phase or multiple-phase converter circuit, comprising:
a magnetic coupling determination unit configured to determine whether the converter circuit is a magnetically coupled circuit in which a reactor of the converter circuit is in a magnetically coupled state; and
a control unit configured to change a control method for the converter according to a determination result of the magnetic coupling determination unit.

2. The control device according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to change at least one control method for the converter according to the determination result of the magnetic coupling determination unit, the control method being selected from a group including feedforward control, feedback control, and shutdown control.

3. The control device according to claim 2 , wherein the control unit is configured to, when the magnetic coupling determination unit determines that the converter circuit is the magnetically coupled circuit, perform the feedback control in which the control unit changes a feedback gain such that the feedback gain becomes (L2−M)/L1 times as large as the feedback gain when the magnetic coupling determination unit determines that the converter circuit is a non-magnetically coupled circuit in which the reactor of the converter circuit is in a non-magnetically coupled state, where L1 represents self-inductance of a non-magnetically coupled reactor, L2 represents self-inductance of a magnetically coupled reactor, and M represents mutual inductance of the magnetically coupled reactor.

4. The control device according to claim 2 , further comprising a failure determination unit configured to determine whether each of multiple phases of the converter circuit has failed, wherein the control unit is configured to, when the magnetic coupling determination unit determines that the converter circuit is the magnetically coupled circuit and the failure determination unit determines that one or more phases included in the multiple phases of the converter circuit have failed, perform the shutdown control in which the control unit stops operation of the failed one or more phases of the converter circuit and stops operation of one or more phases that are included in the remainder of the multiple phases of the converter circuit and that are magnetically coupled to the failed one or more phases of the converter circuit.

5. The control device according to claim 1 , wherein
each of multiple phases of the converter circuit is provided with a switch unit, and
the magnetic coupling determination unit is configured to determine that each of the multiple phases of the converter circuit is the magnetically coupled circuit when a slope of a waveform of a current flowing through one of the multiple phases of the converter circuit with respect to time changes at a timing of operation of switching on or off the switch unit of another phase included in the remainder of the multiple phases of the converter circuit, while the control unit switches on or off the switch units of the multiple phases of the converter circuit at different timings.

6. The control device according to claim 1 , wherein
each of multiple phases of the converter circuit is provided with a switch unit, and
the magnetic coupling determination unit is configured to determine that each of the multiple phases of the converter circuit is the magnetically coupled circuit when a slope of a waveform of a current flowing through one of the multiple phases of the converter circuit with respect to time changes at a timing that is other than a timing when the switch unit of the one of the multiple phases of the converter circuit is switched on or off and a timing when a value of the current becomes zero, while the control unit switches on or off the switch units of the multiple phases of the converter circuit at different timings.

7. The control device according to claim 1 , wherein the magnetic coupling determination unit is configured to determine that the converter circuit is the magnetically coupled circuit when a change in an inlet current of the converter that occurs at a timing when the control unit changes a duty cycle of the converter circuit from 0.25 to 0.50 while an outlet voltage of the converter is twice or more an inlet voltage of the converter is 3 A or less.

8. The control device according to claim 1 , further comprising an operating state acquisition unit configured to acquire an operating state of the converter circuit during operation of the converter, wherein the magnetic coupling determination unit is configured to determine whether the converter circuit is the magnetically coupled circuit according to the operating state acquired by the operating state acquisition unit.

9. The control device according to claim 8 , wherein:
the operating state acquisition unit is configured to acquire the number of driving phases of the converter circuit; and
the magnetic coupling determination unit is configured to determine whether the converter circuit is the magnetically coupled circuit when the number of the driving phases of the converter circuit changes.

10. The control device according to claim 8 , wherein:
the operating state acquisition unit is configured to acquire at least one operating state value selected from a group including an inlet current value of the converter and an inlet voltage value of the converter; and
the magnetic coupling determination unit is configured to determine whether the converter circuit is the magnetically coupled circuit when the operating state value is equal to or larger than a predetermined value.

11. A control method for a converter including a one-phase or multiple-phase converter circuit, the control method comprising:
determining by a magnetic coupling determination unit of a control device whether the converter circuit is a magnetically coupled circuit in which a reactor of the converter circuit is in a magnetically coupled state; and
changing by a control unit of the control device a control method for the converter according to a determination result of the magnetic coupling determination unit.

12. The control method according to claim 11 , wherein at least one control method for the converter, the control method being selected from a group including feedforward control, feedback control, and shutdown control, is changed by the control unit according to the determination result of the magnetic coupling determination unit.

13. The control method according to claim 12 , wherein when the magnetic coupling determination unit determines that the converter circuit is the magnetically coupled circuit, the feedback control is performed in which the control unit changes a feedback gain such that the feedback gain becomes (L2−M)/L1 times as large as the feedback gain when the magnetic coupling determination unit determines that the converter circuit is a non-magnetically coupled circuit in which the reactor of the converter circuit is in a non-magnetically coupled state, where L1 represents self-inductance of a non-magnetically coupled reactor, L2 represents self-inductance of a magnetically coupled reactor, and M represents mutual inductance of the magnetically coupled reactor.

14. The control method according to claim 12 , further comprising determining by a failure determination unit of the control device whether each of multiple phases of the converter circuit has failed, wherein when the magnetic coupling determination unit determines that the converter circuit is the magnetically coupled circuit and the failure determination unit determines that one

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kaneko Tomohiko
• Ito Masayuki

Classifications

• H02M1/0025 Primary

  Arrangements for modifying reference values, feedback values or error values in the control loop of a converter · CPC title

• H02M3/1586

  switched with a phase shift, i.e. interleaved · CPC title

• H02M3/1584

  with a plurality of power processing stages connected in parallel · CPC title

• G05F1/67

  to the maximum power available from a generator, e.g. from solar cell · CPC title

• H01M8/04895

  Current · CPC title