Nippon Soken, Inc.

Denso Corporation

Other

Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Nagoya Institute of Technology

Shoji Sakai

Mitsuo Inagaki

Hironori Asa

Sadahisa Onimaru

Satoru Mizuno

Atsushi Hashikawa

Akira Kato

Katsunori Tanaka

Kenji Ueda

Toshiyuki Kawai

Takaharu Kozawa

Naoki Mizuno

Takeshi Sada

Tetsuya Kobayashi

Hiroaki Ono

Hiromi Ichijo

Yoshifumi Morita

Yoshiyuki Nakayama

Atsushi Ichikawa

Masahiro Sou

Teruhiko Sakakibara

An electric power converter has a semiconductor module that has a switching element therein, cooling pipes that contact with heat radiating surfaces of the semiconductor module and cool the semiconductor module, and a capacitor module formed by sealing a capacitor element therein by a potting material. A piled unit is formed by piling the semiconductor module and the cooling pipes. A direction in which the semiconductor module and the cooling pipes are piled is defined as a piling direction. The piled unit is sandwiched between the capacitor module disposed in a first end side in the piling direction of the piled unit and a pressing member disposed in a second end side in the piling direction of the piled unit. The first end of the piled unit is contacted to a potting surface that is a surface of the potting material in the capacitor module.

Electric power converter

A current Ibe and a voltage Vbe before a large current discharge in a secondary battery are stored in a memory. Plural voltage-current pairs are detected and stored in the memory during the large current discharge. Next, a regression curve (or a regression line) is obtained based on the plural voltage-current pairs stored in the memory using a well-known method. A discharge current Ip which exceeds a current-sensor detectable range is input in the regression curve to obtain a voltage Vp. A maximum discharge coordinate is set using the discharge current Ip and the voltage Vp. An internal resistance Rin of the secondary battery is calculated based on an inclination of a line that connects the coordinates (Ibe, Vbe) and (Ip, Vp).

Method of calculating internal resistance of secondary battery for vehicle

An apparatus is provided to control a power voltage on a power-supplying line extending from a generator and connecting to a battery and eclectic loads. The apparatus is mounted on a vehicle and comprises a detecting device, a calculator, and a controller. The detecting device detects pairs of voltage and current of the battery. The calculator calculating a control current on the basis of the detected pairs of voltage and current and a target voltage for the power voltage. The pairs of voltage and current are used to calculate an internal resistance and/or a regression line of the battery. The controller controlling a charge and discharge current of the battery on the basis of the control current so that the power voltage is controlled to the target voltage.

Method and apparatus for calculating battery state and apparatus for controlling power voltage in vehicle

A charged state detecting apparatus for a secondary battery is provided, which can suppress deterioration in the accuracy of detecting a charged state, such as an SOC, the deterioration being caused by variation of a polarization state of a battery. The charged state detecting apparatus stabilizes an amount of polarization of the battery, stops power generation upon confirmation of the stabilization of the polarization amount, and sufficiently alters the current of the battery to sample a required number of data pairs of voltage and current of the battery. Using these data pairs, the charged state detecting apparatus detects a charged state, such as the SOC, of the battery.

Apparatus for detecting charged state of secondary battery

A neural network type of apparatus is provided to detect an internal state of a secondary battery implemented in a battery system. The apparatus comprises a detecting unit, producing unit and estimating unit. The detecting unit detects electric signals indicating an operating state of the battery. The producing unit produces, using the electric signals, an input parameter required for estimating the internal state of the battery. The input parameter reflects calibration of a present charged state of the battery which is attributable to at least one of a present degraded state of the battery and a difference in types of the battery. The estimating unit estimates an output parameter indicating the charged state of the battery by applying the input parameter to neural network calculation.

Method and apparatus for detecting charged state of secondary battery based on neural network calculation

A state-of-charge detector device for detecting the state of charge of a secondary battery is provided. The device has a current detector that detects an electric current through the secondary battery, a voltage detector that detects a voltage between terminals of the secondary battery, and an internal resistance calculator that calculates an internal resistance of the secondary battery based on the detected current and the detected voltage. Furthermore, an internal resistance changing rate calculator is provided which calculates a rate of change in the internal resistance calculated, with respect to an amount of charge stored in the secondary battery. A state-of-charge determinator determines a state of charge of the secondary battery based on the rate of change in the internal resistance calculated.

State-of-charge detector, program, method and charge-discharge control device utilizing rate of change of internal resistance

A battery control system is provided which charges or discharges a storage battery installed in a hybrid vehicle to bring a state-of-charge of the storage battery into agreement with a target one. The system determines whether the state-of-charge lies within a given narrower range defined around the target state-of-charge and corrects the state-of-charge based on an open-circuit voltage of the battery when the state-of-charge lies within the given narrower range, thereby eliminating a cumulative error in calculating the state-of-charge of the battery caused by a variation in charge/discharge efficiency of the battery.

Battery control method for hybrid vehicle

A hybrid vehicle comprises a motor driving the vehicle's wheels, multiple batteries supplying electric power to the motor, and a generator driven by an internal combustion engine to generate electric power for charging the batteries. Battery sensors detect terminal voltages of the batteries. An ECU controls a DC/DC converter to distribute electric power to independently charge the batteries through charge lines in accordance with the shortage of charge in respective batteries when excess electrical power is available from the generator even after a required amount of electrical power from the generator is used to rotate wheels.

Battery charge control system for a hybrid vehicle driven by an electric

A series hybrid vehicle includes a generator to be driven by an engine, a battery to be charged by the output power of the generator, and a motor for driving the vehicle using the output power sent from the generator and the output power sent from the battery. In an engine control system for the series hybrid vehicle, the values of power demanded by the vehicle when the vehicle is running (i.e., power demand values) are derived based on various engine operation indicative sensor signals, and a running state of the vehicle is estimated based on a frequency distribution of the power demand and a mean value of such power demand values. The system selects one of prestored control patterns depending on the estimated vehicle running state and controls the engine based on the selected control pattern so as to further control the output power of the generator. The system is also applicable to a parallel hybrid vehicle.

Engine control system for hybrid vehicle

A series hybrid vehicle comprises a generator 30 driven by an internal combustion engine 40, a battery 20 chargeable by generator 30, an electric motor 10 rotated by electric power of generator 30 and battery 20. A parallel hybrid vehicle comprises. a battery 200 chargeable by an electric motor 100, and selectively uses an internal combustion engine 400 and electric motor 100 as driving source for driving vehicle wheels 900. In these -hybrid vehicles, there is provided a sensor 21 or 201 for detecting the state of charge (SOC) of battery 20 or 200. An output of generator 30 or internal combustion engine 400 is controlled based on each the SOC and a variation the SOC.

Generator control system for a hybrid vehicle driven by an electric

A charging apparatus for a rechargeable storage battery is disclosed which charges the battery at a constant current. The charging apparatus monitors a variation in voltage of the battery during charge and finds a minimum value thereof to estimate the amount of capacity of the battery consumed before charge for determining the charge time required for charging the battery fully based on the estimate of the amount of capacity and the temperature of the battery.

Apparatus for charging a battery for a charge time determined based on

A battery condition monitoring system which may be employed in an electric vehicle is disclosed. This system determines a terminal voltage of a battery under discharge of a given current and a consumption of electric energy stored in the battery and calculates a rate of change in terminal voltage of the battery relative to change in consumption of electric energy. When a difference between the rate of change in terminal voltage of the battery and a reference rate representing a rate of change in terminal voltage of a normal battery relative to change in consumption of electric energy is greater than a given value, the system determines that memory effect is occurring in the battery.

Memory effect sensitive battery monitoring apparatus for electric

A battery power monitoring apparatus for use in an electric automobile is provided. The battery power monitoring apparatus determines the amount of available reserve electric power remaining in a storage battery based on electric power discharged from the storage battery to an electric motor and a battery characteristic stored in a memory, representing a relation between a voltage level at which a given level of current flows from the storage battery and the then discharged electric power. The battery characteristic is updated based on the latest detected voltage of the storage battery and current flowing from the storage battery. The battery power monitoring apparatus determines that charge polarization has occurred when a voltage level of the storage battery from which the given level of current flows is increased, and prohibits the updating of the battery characteristic. With this operation, the amount of available electric power is calculated correctly even under the influence of charge polarization.

Battery power monitoring apparatus for vehicle

A battery state judging apparatus comprising a voltage detector detecting a voltage at a terminal of a battery, a current detector detecting a charge/discharge current of the battery and an arithmetic operation circuit calculating a residual capacity index of the battery relating to a value obtained by subtracting a quantity of electric charge from a reference capacity value of the battery and calculating a power consumption of the battery from the detected terminal voltage and charge/discharge current. The arithmetic operation circuit estimates a charge/discharge current as a function of the battery residual capacity index and battery power consumption and successively estimates a charge/discharge current in a predetermined power consumption pattern to successively calculate a battery residual capacity index from the estimated charge/discharge current. A battery operable threshold is judged when a battery discharge current, estimated on the basis of an updated battery residual capacity index exceeds a threshold current at that power consumption, and a result is displayed via a display circuit.

Growing community of inventors

Toyota, Japan

Shoji Sakai