Patent ID: 6422331
Filing Date: 2002-07-23
Classification: B60K,B60L,B60W,Y02T,Y10S

Abstract:
A hybrid vehicle comprising:an engine; a motor which operates with electrical energy; a power drive unit having switching elements to control the flow of current to operate said motor; and a control apparatus for generating control signals to operate said switching elements; wherein said power drive unit is further provided with a self-protection circuit to interrupt the supply of said current to said switching elements temporarily for a specified interval when a temperature of at least one of said switching elements is higher than a specific temperature value or the value of current flowing through said power drive unit is greater than a specific current value, and to output a signal indicating that said power drive unit is in a self-protection state caused by a current flow interruption; and said control apparatus receives said signal from said self-protection circuit indicating that said power drive unit is in the self-protection state, and if a number of times said self-protection state is greater than a predetermined number or if the cumulative time in said self-protection state is greater than a predetermined time, said control apparatus prohibits said control signal from operating said switching elements.