US 12,119,736 B2
Power supply unit capable of reducing possibility of overcurrent and current shortage
Tomohiko Kaneko, Yokohama (JP); Nobuyuki Kitamura, Minamitsuru-gun (JP); Takahiro Umehara, Susono (JP); and Masayuki Ito, Sunto-gun (JP)
Assigned to TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA, Toyota (JP)
Filed by TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA, Toyota (JP)
Filed on Aug. 22, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/821,454.
Claims priority of application No. 2021-145199 (JP), filed on Sep. 7, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2023/0070203 A1, Mar. 9, 2023
Int. Cl. H02M 1/00 (2007.01); H01M 8/04537 (2016.01); H01M 8/04858 (2016.01)
CPC H02M 1/0009 (2021.05) [H01M 8/04552 (2013.01); H01M 8/04873 (2013.01); H02M 1/0043 (2021.05)] 9 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A power supply unit comprising:
a power supply; and
a converter, wherein:
the converter is configured to perform at least one operation selected from a group consisting of boosting and stepping down of an output voltage of the power supply;
the converter includes a reactor in which n-phase coils are magnetically coupled to each other (where n is an integer of 2 or more), n-phase switches each connected to a corresponding one of the n-phase coils, and a control unit;
the control unit is configured to control duty cycles of the n-phase switches;
the control unit is configured to monitor a value of current flowing through the n-phase coils;
the control unit is configured to perform phase switching control in a case where the control unit determines that a first operation condition is satisfied, the phase switching control including phase switching from in phase to out of phase in a case where the n-phase switches are being driven in phase, and phase switching from out of phase to in phase in a case where the n-phase switches are being driven out of phase; and
the first operation condition is that, when an inlet voltage and an outlet voltage of the converter have predetermined voltage values, the converter is operated in a discontinuous mode in a case where the n-phase switches are being driven in phase, and the converter is operated in a continuous mode in a case where the n-phase switches are being driven out of phase, the discontinuous mode being a mode having a period in which the value of current flowing through the n-phase coils is zero during one cycle of duty cycle control, and the continuous mode being a mode having no period in which the value of current flowing through the n-phase coils is zero during one cycle of the duty cycle control.