Hybrid vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9707957-B2
Application number	US-201615252607-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 31, 2016
Priority date	Sep 25, 2015
Publication date	Jul 18, 2017
Grant date	Jul 18, 2017

Abstract

When a malfunction occurs in communication between an HV-ECU and an MG-ECU, inverterless running is performed to ensure that a driving torque of a vehicle is applied, by setting inverters in a gate shutoff state and using a braking torque generated in a motor generator rotated by an engine. When the inverterless running resulting from the malfunction in communication is performed, the MG-ECU uses a converter to control a system voltage VH to a predetermined voltage. During the inverterless running resulting from the malfunction in communication, the HV-ECU sets an assumed power range of a battery based on a detected value regarding a vehicle running state and the predetermined voltage. When an actual electric power determined from the voltage and current of the battery is out of the assumed power range, the HV-ECU performs a process for stopping the vehicle from running.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A hybrid vehicle comprising:
an engine;
a first rotating electric machine including a first rotor equipped with a permanent magnet;
an output shaft coupled to drive wheels;
a planetary gear device mechanically coupled to the engine, the first rotor, and the output shaft, and configured to transmit a torque between the first rotating electric machine, the engine, and the output shaft;
a second rotating electric machine including a second rotor coupled to the output shaft;
a power storage device configured to be rechargeable;
a monitoring unit configured to detect a voltage and a current of the power storage device;
a converter configured to perform a bidirectional DC voltage conversion between the power storage device and an electric power line;
a first inverter connected between the electric power line and the first rotating electric machine;
a second inverter connected between the electric power line and the second rotating electric machine;
a first controller configured to control an operation of the engine; and
a second controller configured to control the first rotating electric machine and the second rotating electric machine through the first inverter and the second inverter, and to control a voltage on the electric power line through the converter,
the hybrid vehicle including a fail-safe running mode to perform inverterless running in which each of the first inverter and the second inverter is set in a gate shutoff state, the engine is controlled to mechanically rotate the first rotating electric machine with a braking torque generated by electric power generation, and the hybrid vehicle is caused to run by a torque acting on the output shaft as a counterforce of the braking torque,
in each of the first inverter and the second inverter in the gate shutoff state, each switching element being kept in an OFF state and a diode connected in anti-parallel with the switching element forming a current path,
when detecting a malfunction in communication with the second controller, the first controller controlling a rotational speed of the engine so that the inverterless running is performed,
when detecting a malfunction in communication with the first controller, the second controller setting each of the first inverter and the second inverter in the gate shutoff state and controlling an operation of the converter to control the voltage on the electric power line so that the voltage is equal to a predetermined first voltage, so as to cause the inverterless running to be performed,
the first controller stopping the hybrid vehicle from running when an actual electric power calculated from the voltage and the current of the power storage device is out of an assumed electric power range during the inverterless running,
the assumed electric power range being set as an electric power range including a predicted input-output electric power of the power storage device, and
the predicted input-output electric power being determined from the first voltage, a rotational speed of the second rotating electric machine converted from a detected value of a vehicle speed, a detected value of the rotational speed of the engine, and a gear ratio of the planetary gear device.

2. The hybrid vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein
the first controller is configured to be capable of detecting information about a temperature of the first rotating electric machine while malfunction occurs in communication between the first controller and the second controller, and
when the temperature of the first rotating electric machine is not lower than a predetermined temperature, an upper limit of the assumed electric power range is set to cause charging electric power of the power storage device to decrease, relative to the upper limit of the assumed electric power range when the temperature of the first rotating electric machine is lower than the predetermined temperature.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Shimizu Yu
• Ando Takashi
• Kishimoto Takeshi
• Amano Masaya

Classifications

• B60W10/08

  including control of electric propulsion units, e.g. motors or generators · CPC title

• Y10S903/93

  Conjoint control of different elements · CPC title

• B60W2510/087

  Temperature · CPC title

• B60W20/50 Primary

  Control strategies for responding to system failures, e.g. for fault diagnosis, failsafe operation or limp mode · CPC title

• B60W2710/0644

  Engine speed · CPC title