The present disclosure relates to an electronic device having an electronic circuit substrate and an electric power steering apparatus.
In a conventional electronic device, a substrate ground, a connector ground line, and a frame ground (controller holding member) are electrically connected directly to each other, to reduce a common mode noise and reduce leakage of the common mode noise to outside (for example, see Patent Document 1). In general, a housing of the electronic device (electric power steering apparatus in Patent Document 1) is electrically connected to a body of a vehicle in many cases. In these cases, power supply current supplied from a battery of an automobile is returned through the body to the battery. In a case where a connector has a ground harness returning to a battery ground, return current is divided so as to flow in the body and the harness, and the ratio in the division is determined by their wiring resistances.
In another conventional electronic device, a shield pattern is disposed in an inner layer of a substrate in order to inhibit noise flowing into an electronic component (first electronic component) to which a connector directly connects and which is mounted on a surface or a back face of a multilayer substrate from being transmitted to a built-in electronic component (for example, see Patent Document 2). In this case, the shield pattern is connected to a ground layer, thereby enhancing a shielding effect.
However, in the configuration disclosed in Patent Document 1, there is an inconvenience that, if a current division ratio is not determined, wiring cannot be designed. Therefore, the wiring resistance needs to be designed to have a predetermined value, that is, the current division ratio needs to be designed to have a fixed value.
Particularly, for example, using, as a bolt for fixing members, a specific bolt for assuring electric connection separately from mechanical fixing needs to be considered for designing a configuration of a body system, thereby increasing cost. The same applies to a case where current is returned to the body only.
Total current can be designed to be returned to a harness ground without dividing the flow of the current. However, in this case, an insulating process needs to be performed to electrically insulate the electronic device from the body. Therefore, cost is increased as in the above-described case.
Furthermore, in the configuration disclosed in Patent Document 2, a ground layer of the substrate may not necessarily provide a ground that is stable with respect to a common mode noise. Particularly in an inverter circuit in which switching of large current is performed, the ground layer may become a noise source. In this case, use of the ground layer for the shield pattern may cause a problem that a path for transmitting a noise to an electronic component (second electronic component) mounted in the multilayer substrate is generated, and, further, noise is transmitted to outside of the device through the first electronic component and the connector.
The present disclosure has been made in view of the aforementioned problems, and an object of the present disclosure is to provide an electronic device capable of effectively reducing a common mode noise which leaks from the electronic device and effectively preventing a noise from coming from outside, at low cost.
An electronic device according to the present disclosure includes:
a substrate having an electronic circuit formed therein;
a housing for housing the substrate; and
a connector disposed on the substrate and serving as an interface between outside and inside of the housing, in which
the substrate has a main circuit pattern portion that forms a main circuit and a frame ground pattern portion that forms a frame ground,
the main circuit pattern portion and the frame ground pattern portion are disposed so as not to overlap each other on the substrate and in the substrate, and
a terminal of the connector is disposed in the frame ground pattern portion.
In the electronic device according to the present disclosure, electrostatic coupling between the main circuit pattern portion and the frame ground pattern portion is made sparse, thereby reducing leakage of a common mode noise generated in the main circuit to outside through the electrostatic coupling.
Embodiment 1 will be described below with reference to
The substrate 100 is divided into a main circuit pattern portion 101 that forms a main circuit and a frame ground pattern portion 102 that forms a frame ground. The main circuit pattern portion 101 and the frame ground pattern portion 102 are wired such that electrostatic coupling is sparse. The frame ground pattern portion 102 is connected to the housing 500 by a frame ground terminal 401 at a low impedance. A noise filter 600 is inserted in a line connected from the main circuit pattern portion 101 to the connector 300. Components of the noise filter 600 are disposed near a boundary between the main circuit pattern portion 101 and the frame ground pattern portion 102, or disposed on the frame ground pattern portion 102 side. Among the components of the noise filter 600, a ground is connected to the frame ground pattern portion 102, and a connector terminal 301 that connects between the connector 300 and the noise filter 600 is disposed on the frame ground pattern portion 102 side. Wiring 105 represents a pattern connected from the main circuit pattern portion 101 to the connector 300 (the wiring 105 is not shown in
As shown in the A-A′ cross-sectional view in
Next, the behavior of a common mode noise in the electronic device shown in
The switching power supply 700 has a several ten KHz to several hundred KHz clock source for operating the circuit. The clock source becomes a noise source, and high-frequency noise is superimposed into a power supply line, a ground line, and a peripheral pattern. Similarly, several MHz to several ten MHz of high-frequency noise is superimposed also into the oscillator 801 of the microcomputer 800. The high-frequency noise including harmonic components generally increases up to several hundred KHz to several hundred MHz (up to several GHz in some cases). If the noise leaks through the connector 300 to a harness, the noise may interfere with an external device. In an on-vehicle state, the noise mainly becomes interfering radio waves to a radio receiver.
Noise generated between the power supply and the ground is a normal mode noise, and noise generated between the circuit and the housing is a common mode noise.
It is generally known that the normal mode noise can be removed by a low pass filter that includes a coil 601-a and a capacitor 603 in
A capacitor (stray capacitance) 901 indicated by a broken line is a stray capacitance between the main circuit pattern portion 101 and the housing 500, and is not provided as a component. Similarly, a capacitor (stray capacitance) 902 is a stray capacitance between the main circuit pattern portion 101 and the frame ground pattern portion 102, and is not provided as a component. In a case where the stray capacitance is large, electrostatic coupling is dense. In a case where the stray capacitance is small, electrostatic coupling is sparse. In the circuit block diagram shown in
A specific value of the stray capacitance indicated by the capacitor (stray capacitance) 902 in the case of the electrostatic coupling being dense is considered by using an example of a four layer FR4 printed board which is often used. In a case where a 10 mm square pattern on the inner layer opposes that on the surface layer, the stray capacitance (coupling capacitance) is about 20 pF since the relative permittivity is about 4.7, and a distance between the layers is about 0.21 mm. This indicates that the capacitance is enough for transmitting a high-frequency noise signal.
Next, a noise transmission route will be described with reference to the circuit block diagrams shown in
Meanwhile, in the configuration of the electronic device according to embodiment 1 of the present disclosure shown in
The example of the B line of the connector terminal has been described above. Similarly, the electrostatic coupling is made sparse for another line such as a G line and an S line, whereby leakage of noise can be prevented. The line connected from a G terminal shown in
As described above, in a case where the coupling capacitance between the main circuit pattern portion 101 and the frame ground pattern portion 102 is made sparse, the noise filter effectively acts, and noise generated in the electronic device can be prevented from leaking to the outside of the device.
The example where noise is superimposed in the line connecting to the connector has been described. In a case where noise is not superimposed in the line itself which connects to the connector, the noise filter need not be inserted in the line since the electrostatic coupling between the main circuit pattern portion 101 and the frame ground pattern portion 102 is made sparse and influence of a line in which another noise is superimposed is not exerted.
Furthermore, in the present embodiment, the description has been made according to electrostatic coupling between the main circuit pattern portion 101 and the frame ground pattern portion 102 being dense or sparse. However, the electronic device can be configured by applying a similar idea to magnetic coupling.
In the present embodiment, the number of the substrates of the electronic circuit is one. However, also in a case where the number of the substrates is plural, the electronic device can be configured in a similar manner.
In embodiment 1, the example where the bypass route for noise is disconnected, that is, the coupling capacitance between the main circuit pattern portion 101 and the frame ground pattern portion 102 is made sparse, has been described. Another important measure for addressing noise is, for example, to enhance performance of the noise filter. The technique therefor will be described below.
As described with reference to
Furthermore, the configurations of an LC, an LCL, a CLC, and the like which include coils and capacitors are known as a noise filter. Each of them is selected and used according to a position at which the filter is inserted, or the required performance. In the case of a low pass filter, one of the terminals of each capacitor is grounded. It is well known that, at this time, the performance of the filter is degraded in a case where an inductance component that enters the capacitor in series increases due to wiring and a component lead. The coil may be any element that electrically has an inductance component. Therefore, ferrite beads may substitute for the coil.
In order to address this, the frame ground pattern portion 102 is widely disposed on the substrate, a chip capacitor is used, and the components are connected by the shortest wire, whereby lead inductance can be easily reduced. Furthermore, the frame ground pattern portion 102 and the housing 500 may be connected at a low impedance as described in embodiment 1.
An example where the frame ground and the housing 500 are connected by a substantially 0.6 mm square terminal is represented by the frame ground terminal 401 shown in
An example where the wall stands from each of the bottom surface and the top surface of the housing 500, and is electrically connected to the upper and lower faces of the frame ground pattern portion 102 of the substrate 100 is represented by the frame ground terminal 401 shown in
In embodiments 1 and 2, the entirety of the housing is made of metal. An example where noise performance is not degraded even when only a part of the housing is made of metal, will be described with reference to
In
Application of the electronic device described in each of embodiments 1 to 3 to an electric power steering apparatus will be described.
In the drawings, the diagonal line portion represents the frame ground terminal 401, and is a wall that stands from the case and is in electrical surface contact with the back face of the substrate. A screw 402 has a function to press the substrate 100 against the frame ground terminal 401 to assure the electrical connection.
A portion on the connector terminals 301 side from the frame ground terminal 401 indicated by the diagonal lines is the frame ground pattern portion 102. A portion on the lower side from a line indicated by an alternate long and short dash line is the main circuit pattern portion 101. The main circuit pattern portion 101 and the frame ground pattern portion 102 are designed such that wiring patterns including the inner layers do not overlap each other, and electrostatic coupling and magnetic coupling are made sparse as described in embodiments 1 to 3.
An appropriate noise filter 600 is disposed on a line connected from the main circuit pattern portion 101 to the connector terminals 301 in a boundary portion between the main circuit pattern portion 101 and the frame ground pattern portion 102, or on the frame ground pattern portion 102 side, which are not shown, thereby preventing noise from leaking to outside.
Thus, the main circuit pattern portion and the frame ground pattern portion on the substrate are designed without using specific components so as not to overlap each other, whereby an ECU having excellent noise performance can be provided.
As described above, electrostatic coupling between the main circuit pattern portion 101 and the frame ground pattern portion 102 is made sparse, whereby a bypass route for noise can be disconnected to reduce a common mode noise. The frame ground pattern portion 102 and the housing 500 made of metal are connected to each other at a low impedance, whereby the performance of the noise filter can be effectively exhibited to reduce a common mode noise. The metal portion of the housing 500 is disposed at a necessary place relative to the noise source of the electronic device, thereby enhancing cost performance.
A common mode noise that leaks from the electronic device to outside has been described above. In the configuration of the present disclosure, impedance to the housing 500 is clearly reduced in the electronic device as viewed from an external harness. Therefore, a noise coming from the outside flows via the connector 300 and the capacitor 602 to the housing 500 made of metal and does not flow into the main circuit. This means that external noise resistance of the electronic device has been improved.
Various electronic devices generally have specifications that are required based on an official standard for noise. For example, for on-vehicle devices, five classes of class 1 to class 5 are defined in CISPR 25 of the IEC in many cases. In a case where high performance is required for connection between a housing and a frame ground, configuration designing is restricted, and the size and the cost of the device tend to increase. The technique according to any of embodiments 1 to 3 can be adopted according to the required specifications to optimize the designing, thereby achieving an electronic device which has high performance and good cost performance.
The technique of the present disclosure is adopted for a controller of an on-vehicle electric power steering apparatus which has such characteristics and principle as to generate multiple noises based on the circuit mode and which typifies an inverter circuit for driving an inductance load such as a motor, as described in embodiment 4, thereby effectively improving EMC.
Although the disclosure is described above in terms of various exemplary embodiments and implementations, it should be understood that the various features, aspects, and functionality described in one or more of the individual embodiments are not limited in their applicability to the particular embodiment with which they are described, but instead can be applied, alone or in various combinations to one or more of the embodiments of the disclosure.
It is therefore understood that numerous modifications which have not been exemplified can be devised without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. For example, at least one of the constituent components may be modified, added, or eliminated. At least one of the constituent components mentioned in at least one of the preferred embodiments may be selected and combined with the constituent components mentioned in another preferred embodiment.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/JP2018/018485 | 5/14/2018 | WO | 00 |