Patent ID: 6020811
Filing Date: 2000-02-01
Classification: B60G,B60R

Abstract:
An apparatus for multiplexing between processing units and a battery unit of a vehicle which are connected to one another by wire harnesses, by grouping a variety of controlled on-board objects into a plurality of neighboring controlled objects and controlling each of the groups by respective processing units, in which said wire harness comprises:electric conductors having an outer peripheral portion covered with a first insulating layer,electric conductivity layer which covers said electric conductors,a second insulating layer which covers the outer peripheral portion of said electric conductivity layer,means for applying an electric potential for monitoring shorting to said electric conductivity layer, andmeans for monitoring the electric potential of said electric conductivity layer,further comprising:means for monitoring the electric potential of said electric conductivity layer between respective groups,means for detecting the short-circuit of the electric conductive layer to the around on the basis of the output of said monitoring means, andcircuit breaker for cutting off a current passing through said electric conductor from the power source when the short-circuit of the wire harness to the ground is detected by said detecting means,data storing means for storing the data used to estimate damages by using at least one of a frequency of the short-circuit of the electric conductive layer to the ground, a time period of the short-circuit, a position of the short-circuit and a level of importance of the short circuit as parameters, andcontrol means for setting the condition of cut-off of the circuit breaker on the basis of the data stored in the data storing means.