Relay drive control device, control method, and storage medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11901146-B2
Application number	US-202318159790-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 26, 2023
Priority date	Mar 16, 2022
Publication date	Feb 13, 2024
Grant date	Feb 13, 2024

Abstract

A relay drive control device is configured to control drive of a relay for connecting a battery mounted on a vehicle and an external power supply. The relay drive control device includes a controller configured to, when driving the relay, supply an output voltage of the battery to the relay after increasing the output voltage to a voltage value at which the relay is drivable.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A relay drive control device configured to control drive of a relay for connecting a battery mounted on a vehicle and an external power supply, the relay drive control device comprising a controller configured to, when driving the relay, supply an output voltage of the battery to the relay after increasing the output voltage to a voltage value at which the relay is drivable.

2. The relay drive control device according to claim 1 , further comprising a voltage converter configured to output the output voltage converted into a drive voltage to the controller, wherein:
the output voltage is input from the battery;
the controller is configured to, when driving the relay, control the voltage converter to increase the drive voltage input from the voltage converter to a first voltage value at which the relay is drivable; and
the controller is configured to supply the drive voltage to the relay when the relay is to be driven and the drive voltage reaches the first voltage value.

3. The relay drive control device according to claim 2 , wherein the controller is configured to, when the controller has started to control the voltage converter to increase the drive voltage to the first voltage value in a situation in which the relay is to be driven and then a predetermined period has elapsed before the drive voltage reaches the first voltage value, supply the drive voltage to the relay at a timing when the predetermined period has elapsed.

4. The relay drive control device according to claim 3 , wherein the controller is configured to change, based on information related to a temperature of the relay, at least one of the predetermined period and a rate of increase in the drive voltage to the first voltage value.

5. The relay drive control device according to claim 2 , wherein the controller is configured to control the voltage converter to reduce the drive voltage to a second voltage value after the relay has been driven by supplying the drive voltage to the relay.

6. The relay drive control device according to claim 5 , wherein the second voltage value is a voltage value at which the relay that is being driven is not switched to an open state.

7. The relay drive control device according to claim 2 , wherein the first voltage value is a voltage value at which the relay is drivable at an upper limit value of a predetermined temperature range in which use of the relay is permitted.

8. The relay drive control device according to claim 2 , wherein the controller is configured to determine whether the relay is drivable based on states of the battery and the voltage converter.

9. The relay drive control device according to claim 1 , wherein the external power supply is external charging equipment to be plugged into the vehicle to supply electric power to the vehicle.

10. A control method to be executed by a computer of a relay drive control device configured to control drive of a relay for connecting a battery mounted on a vehicle and an external power supply, the control method comprising:
determining whether to drive the relay;
increasing, when driving the relay, an output voltage of the battery to a drive voltage at which the relay is drivable; and
supplying the drive voltage to the relay when the output voltage reaches the drive voltage.

11. A non-transitory storage medium storing instructions that are executable by one or more processors of a computer of a relay drive control device and that cause the one or more processors to perform functions, the relay drive control device being configured to control drive of a relay for connecting a battery mounted on a vehicle and an external power supply, the functions comprising:
determining whether to drive the relay;
increasing, when driving the relay, an output voltage of the battery to a drive voltage at which the relay is drivable; and
supplying the drive voltage to the relay when the output voltage reaches the drive voltage.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Narematsu Tomohiro
• Umemoto Akira
• Itoh Takuya
• Morishita Yasuyuki
• Shimizu Yu
• Kuribara Fumiyoshi
• Takesue Ippei
• Takayama Daiki
• Aoki Tomoya
• Kamikihara Daisuke

Classifications

• H02J2105/37

  exchanging power with electric vehicles [EV] or with hybrid electric vehicles [HEV] · CPC title

• H02J7/663

  using battery or load disconnect circuits (H02J9/002 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H01M2220/20

  Batteries in motive systems, e.g. vehicle, ship, plane · CPC title

• H01H47/22 Primary

  for supplying energising current for relay coil · CPC title

• H01H47/002

  Monitoring or fail-safe circuits · CPC title