The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 22, 2019
Filed:
Jan. 05, 2018
Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha, Toyota-shi, Aichi-ken, JP;
Kazuhiro Sugimoto, Susono, JP;
Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha, Toyota-shi, Aichi-ken, JP;
Abstract
A malfunction detection device is provided for a power generator that includes a thermoelectric transducer module including, as a plurality of thermoelectric transducers, a plurality of semiconductor single crystals in which the band gap energy of an intrinsic semiconductor part is lower than the band gap energies of an n-type semiconductor part and a p-type semiconductor part. The malfunction detection device performs a malfunction detection of the power generator on a transducer-to-transducer basis. According to this malfunction detection process, the temperatures at three points of the thermoelectric transducer are detected or estimated. An estimated electromotive voltage is calculated on the basis of the temperatures at three points that are defected or estimated. A malfunction of the power generator is detected when the absolute value of the difference between the estimated electromotive voltage and an actual electromotive voltage is greater than or equal to a threshold value.