Electric power control apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016208762-A1
Application number	US-201615000707-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 19, 2016
Priority date	Jan 19, 2015
Publication date	Jul 21, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

An electric power control apparatus for a vehicle includes a first determination section determining an activation of a jump start, a second determination section determining a connection of an external power source having a higher voltage than a battery voltage of the vehicle, a third determination section determining whether the engine switches to an engine start completed state, a keep section keeping an electric power generation unit of the vehicle in an electric power generation deactivated state when determining that the engine switches to the engine start completed state, a fourth determination section determining a disconnection of the external power source, and an instruction section instructing an immediate activation of the electric power generation to the electric power generation unit when determining the disconnection of the external power source.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An electric power control apparatus for a vehicle, the vehicle including an engine, an electric power generation unit rotating with a driving power supplied from the engine for generating an electric power, a battery charged by the electric power generated by the electric power generation unit, and a voltage detection unit detecting a battery voltage outputted from the battery, the electric power control apparatus comprising:
a first determination section determining an activation of a jump start of the engine with an external power source; a second determination section determining whether the external power source, which supplies a voltage higher than the battery voltage, is connected to the battery; a third determination section determining whether the engine switches to an engine start completed state after the jump start of the engine under a condition that the activation of the jump start is determined by the first determination section and a connection of the external power source is determined by the second determination section; a keep section keeping the electric power generation unit in an electric power generation deactivated state when the third determination section determines that the engine switches to the engine start completed state; a fourth determination section determining whether the external power source is disconnected from the battery, based on a battery voltage detection signal acquired from the voltage detection unit, after the third determination section determines that the engine has switched to the engine start completed state; and an instruction section instructing an immediate start of an electric power generation to the electric power generation unit when the external power source is determined to be disconnected from the battery by the fourth determination section.

2 . The electric power control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the electric power generation unit includes an alternating current power generator and an electric power converter, the battery voltage outputted from the battery is a direct current voltage, the electric power converter includes a plurality of switching elements disposed between the battery and the AC power generator, the plurality of switching elements included in the electric power converter perform a switching operation to implement an electric power conversion between AC power and DC power, the keep section controls the plurality of switching elements in off states for keeping the AC power generator in the electric power generation deactivated state, and the instruction section activates the switching operation of the plurality of switching elements in response to a disconnection of the external power source from the battery and instructs the AC power generator to start a generation of the electric power.

3 . The electric power control apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein
the vehicle further includes a superior control unit that monitors a charging state of the battery and outputs a control signal for controlling the AC power generator and the electric power converter based on a monitoring result of the charging state of the battery, the electric power converter performs the switching operation based on the control signal outputted from the superior control unit, when the third determination section determines that the engine has switched to the engine start completed state, the keep section keeps the AC power generator in the electric power generation deactivated state even though the control signal for activating the electric power generation is outputted from the superior control unit, and when the fourth determination section determines that the external power source is disconnected from the battery, the instruction section instructs the immediate start of the electric power generation to the AC power generator even though the control signal for deactivating the electric power generation is outputted from the superior control unit.

4 . The electric power control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the battery of the vehicle has a voltage of 12 volts and the external power source is provided by a different battery having a voltage of 24 volts, and the second determination section determines a connection of the different battery to the battery of the vehicle.

Assignees

• Denso Corp

Inventors

• Morita Tetsuo

Classifications

• Y02T10/72

  Electric energy management in electromobility · CPC title

• F02N11/04

  the motors being associated with current generators · CPC title

• B60L2260/26

  Transition between different drive modes · CPC title

• B60L50/13

  using AC generators and AC motors · CPC title

• B60L15/20

  for control of the vehicle or its driving motor to achieve a desired performance, e.g. speed, torque, programmed variation of speed · CPC title