1. An electronic control unit mounted on a vehicle comprising:
a capacitor that smoothes voltage of a DC power source electrically isolated from a body of the vehicle;
a resistor circuit including a plurality of resistors connected in series, which is connected in parallel to the capacitor to discharge electric charge stored in the capacitor; and
a fault judging circuit that judges whether or not the resistor circuit is in a fault condition by comparing the voltage across a resistor included in the resistor circuit with a fault threshold value, wherein the fault judging circuit changes the fault threshold value based on the voltage of the DC power source.
2. The electronic control unit according to claim 1, wherein the resistor circuit includes at least three resistors,
the fault judging circuit includes an operational amplifier, a non-inverting input side resistor connected between a first series-connected point at a resistor included in the resistor circuit and a non-inverting input terminal of the operational amplifier, and an inverting-input side resistor connected between a second series-connected point of which potential is lower than the first series-connected point and an inverting input terminal of the operational amplifier so as to constitutes a differential amplifier circuit that amplifies voltage across the resistor in the resistor circuit, wherein
among the resistors included in the resistor circuit, a resistance value of the resistor disposed at the higher potential side of the first series-connected point and a resistance value of the resistor disposed at the lower potential side of the second series-connected point are set to be identical, and a resistance value of the non-inverting input side resistor and a resistance value of the inverting-input side resistor are set to be identical.
3. The electronic control unit according to claim 2, wherein the resistor circuit and the differential amplifier circuit are mounted on the same circuit board.
4. The electronic control unit according to claim 2, further comprising an overvoltage detection circuit that detects whether or not voltage of the DC power source is overvoltage based on an output of the differential amplifier and stops operation in the electronic control unit when the overvoltage detection circuit detects the overvoltage of the DC power source.
5. The electronic control unit according to claim 4, wherein among the resistor circuit, a resistance value of the resistor disposed at higher potential side than the first series-connected point and a resistance value of the resistor disposed at lower potential side than the second series-connected point are set to be lower than a resistance value of the resistor disposed between the first series-connected point and the second series-connected point.
6. The electronic control unit according to claim 4, wherein the overvoltage detection circuit is configured by a hardware circuit.
7. The electronic control unit according to claim 1, further comprising a monitoring device for monitoring a voltage of the DC power source, and the fault judging circuit is configured to change the fault threshold value based on the voltage of the DC power source detected by the monitoring device.
8. The electronic control unit according to claim 1, further comprising an alert circuit configured by a hardware circuit, wherein the alert circuit judges whether or not the resistor circuit is in a fault condition based on the output of the differential amplifier and outputs an alert towards outside the electronic control unit when the alert unit judges that the resistor circuit is in a fault condition.
9. The electronic control unit according to claim 1, wherein the electronic control unit is configured to control a motor used for driving the vehicle.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A directional neutron detecting apparatus comprising:
a first neutron detector, said first neutron detector including
a planar sheet of neutron-reactive material;
a first ohmic electrode operably coupled directly to one side of said planar sheet of neutron-reactive material;
a second ohmic electrode operably coupled directly to a second side of said planar sheet of neutron-reactive material;
a voltage source operably coupled to said first and second ohmic electrodes; and
an electrical current detector operably coupled in series between said first ohmic electrode and said voltage source, and
a second neutron detector, said second neutron detector including
a planar sheet of neutron-reactive material;
a first ohmic electrode operably coupled directly to one side of said planar sheet of neutron-reactive material;
a second ohmic electrode operably coupled directly to a second side of said planar sheet of neutron-reactive material;
a voltage source operably coupled to said first and second ohmic electrodes; and
an electrical current detector operably coupled in series between said first ohmic electrode and said voltage source,
wherein said first and second neutron detectors are arranged so that their planar sheets of neutron-reactive material are substantially parallel, opposing and are spaced from each other and wherein said planar sheets of neutron-reactive material each have a thickness and a planar face, said planar face having a linear dimension wherein said planar sheet is categorized by an aspect ratio, said aspect ratio being a ratio of said linear dimension to said thickness of said neutron-reactive material sheet, and further wherein said aspect ratio is at least 10.
2. The directional neutron detecting apparatus of claim 1 wherein said second ohmic electrode of said first neutron detector and said second ohmic electrode of said second neutron detector are one and the same.
3. The directional neutron detecting apparatus of claim 1 wherein a separating layer is positioned between said neutron detectors.
4. The directional neutron detecting apparatus of claim 3 wherein said separating layer is a supporting substrate.
5. The directional neutron detecting apparatus of claim 3 wherein said separating layer is substantially opaque to neutrons.
6. The directional neutron detecting apparatus of claim 1 wherein each of said first and second neutron detectors further include a resistor operably coupled between the corresponding detector’s voltage source and second ohmic electrode.
7. The directional neutron detecting apparatus of claim 1 wherein a first said directional neutron detecting apparatus is disposed orthogonally with respect to another said directional neutron detecting apparatus.
8. The directional neutron detecting apparatus of claim 1 wherein three of said directional neutron detecting apparatuses are configured into a cube configuration.
9. The directional neutron detecting apparatus of claim 1 wherein three of said directional neutron detecting apparatuses are configured into a cube-corner configuration.
10. The directional neutron detecting apparatus of claim 1 wherein said aspect ratio is approximately 1000.
11. The directional neutron detecting apparatus of claim 10 wherein said neutron-reactive material is selected from the group consisting essentially of boron, gadolinium, lithium, cadmium, samarium, europium, a boron compound, a gadolinium compound, a lithium compound, a cadmium compound, a samarium compound and a europium compound.
12. The directional neutron detecting apparatus of claim 1 wherein said neutron-reactive material is selected from the group consisting essentially of boron, gadolinium, lithium, cadmium, samarium, europium, a boron compound, a gadolinium compound, a lithium compound, a cadmium compound, a samarium compound and a europium compound.