US 12,233,788 B2
Control apparatus
Izumi Honda, Tokyo (JP); Takashi Moriyama, Tokyo (JP); Takashi Kobayashi, Tokyo (JP); and Tomoya Takeda, Tokyo (JP)
Assigned to SUBARU CORPORATION, Tokyo (JP)
Filed by SUBARU CORPORATION, Tokyo (JP)
Filed on Nov. 16, 2022, as Appl. No. 18/055,933.
Claims priority of application No. 2021-191700 (JP), filed on Nov. 26, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2023/0166679 A1, Jun. 1, 2023
Int. Cl. B60R 16/023 (2006.01); H01H 50/18 (2006.01); H01H 50/54 (2006.01)
CPC B60R 16/0231 (2013.01) [H01H 50/18 (2013.01); H01H 50/54 (2013.01)] 16 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A control apparatus to be mounted on a vehicle, the control apparatus comprising:
one or more processors configured to control a relay, the relay comprising a fixed contact and a movable contact; and
one or more memories coupled to the one or more processors, wherein
the one or more processors are configured to
determine whether an ice generation condition is satisfied on a basis of at least one or both of a state of a heat source of the vehicle and an outside air temperature after a stop of an operation of a drive source of the vehicle, the ice generation condition being a condition in which ice is expected to be generated on the fixed contact and the movable contact of the relay due to freezing, and
intermittently repeat, in a case where the ice generation condition is satisfied, an ice-crushing operation at a predetermined time interval in a predetermined ice-crushing time period after a time point when the relay is turned off in accordance with the stop of the operation of the drive source, by turning on the relay having been turned off and thereafter turning off the relay to collide the movable contact against the fixed contact,
the predetermined ice-crushing time period is determined on a basis of a temperature difference between a temperature of the fixed contact or the movable contact of the relay and a temperature of an internal atmosphere inside the relay, and
the predetermined time interval is a time period in which the ice on the fixed contact and the movable contact of the relay grows to a predetermined size.