Vehicle control apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018097464-A1
Application number	US-201715720638-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 29, 2017
Priority date	Oct 3, 2016
Publication date	Apr 5, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

A vehicle control apparatus is provided with: a modulator configured to generate modulation signals; a first corrector configured to perform a first correction process in which a center value of the modulation signals is corrected to reduce a loss in the inverter; a second corrector configured to perform a second correction process in which an amplitude shift and a phase shift of the third harmonic signal with respect to the voltage command signals are reduced; and a controller configured (i) to control the first corrector to perform the first correction process if the DC voltage is greater than or equal to first predetermined voltage and (ii) to control the second corrector to perform the second correction process if the DC voltage is less than the first predetermined voltage, when a number of revolutions of the AC motor is less than a predetermined number of revolutions.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A vehicle control apparatus configured to control a vehicle, which includes an alternating current (AC) motor as a power source and an inverter configured to convert direct current (DC) voltage to AC voltage and supply the AC voltage to the AC motor, said vehicle control apparatus comprising:
a modulator configured to generate modulation signals by superimposing a third harmonic signal on voltage command signals for controlling voltage of the inverter; a first corrector configured to perform a first correction process in which a center value of the modulation signals is corrected to reduce a loss in the inverter; a second corrector configured to perform a second correction process in which an amplitude shift and a phase shift of the third harmonic signal with respect to the voltage command signals are reduced if a modulation factor of each of the modulation signals is greater than or equal to a predetermined value; and a controller configured (i) to control said first corrector to perform the first correction process if the DC voltage is greater than or equal to first predetermined voltage and (ii) to control said second corrector to perform the second correction process if the DC voltage is less than the first predetermined voltage, when a number of revolutions of the AC motor is less than a predetermined number of revolutions.

2 . The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said controller is configured to control the said first corrector to perform the first correction process regardless of whether or not the DC voltage is greater than or equal to the first predetermined voltage, if temperature of coolant of the inverter or temperature of elements included in the inverter is greater than or equal to first predetermined temperature.

3 . A vehicle control apparatus configured to control a vehicle, which includes an alternating current (AC) motor as a power source and an inverter configured to convert direct current (DC) voltage to AC voltage and supply the AC voltage to the AC motor, said vehicle control apparatus comprising:
a modulator configured to generate modulation signals by superimposing a third harmonic signal on voltage command signals for controlling voltage of the inverter; a first corrector configured to perform a first correction process in which a center value of the modulation signals is corrected to reduce a loss in the inverter; a second corrector configured to perform a second correction process in which an amplitude shift and a phase shift of the third harmonic signal with respect to the voltage command signals are reduced if a modulation factor of each of the modulation signals is greater than or equal to a predetermined value; and a controller configured (i) to control said first corrector to perform the first correction process if temperature of coolant of the inverter or temperature of elements included in the inverter is greater than or equal to second predetermined temperature and (ii) to control said second corrector to perform the second correction process if the temperature of the coolant of the inverter or the temperature of the elements included in the inverter is less than the second predetermined temperature, when a number of revolutions of the AC motor is less than a predetermined number of revolutions.

4 . The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein said controller is configured to control the said first corrector to perform the first correction process while the DC voltage is maintained to be greater than or equal to second predetermined voltage, if the temperature of the coolant of the inverter or the temperature of the elements included in the inverter is greater than or equal to the second predetermined temperature.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Yamakawa Toshifumi
• Tsujii Shintaro
• Okamura Masaki

Classifications

• H02P29/64

  Controlling or determining the temperature of the winding · CPC title

• H02P9/04 Primary

  Control effected upon non-electric prime mover and dependent upon electric output value of the generator · CPC title

• H02P27/085

  wherein the PWM mode is adapted on the running conditions of the motor, e.g. the switching frequency · CPC title

• H02M7/5395

  by pulse-width modulation · 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