Power control apparatus and power control system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10525835-B2
Application number	US-201715455962-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 10, 2017
Priority date	Nov 26, 2015
Publication date	Jan 7, 2020
Grant date	Jan 7, 2020

Abstract

A power control apparatus according to an embodiment includes acquisition circuitry and determination circuitry. The acquisition circuitry is configured to acquire a voltage of a secondary battery during charging. The determination circuitry is configured to determine a maximum current to be used during charging of the secondary battery using a difference between an upper limit voltage and the acquired voltage.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A power control apparatus comprising:
acquisition circuitry configured to acquire a voltage of a secondary battery during charging; and
determination circuitry configured to:
determine a maximum current to be used during charging of the secondary battery using a difference between an upper limit voltage and the voltage,
repeatedly determine the maximum current,
determine, in a case where the difference between the upper limit voltage and the voltage is smaller than a first predetermined voltage, a value obtained by subtracting a step voltage from an immediately previous maximum current as the maximum current to be used during charging of the secondary battery,
multiply the difference between the upper limit voltage and the voltage by a first gain, that is different from a second gain to be used during discharging, to generate a multiplication result, and
determine the maximum current to be used during charging of the secondary battery using the multiplication result.

2. The power control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the determination circuitry is configured to set the maximum current as a maximum current to be used during charging of the secondary battery in a case where the difference between the upper limit voltage and the voltage is larger than the first predetermined voltage.

3. A power control apparatus comprising:
acquisition circuitry configured to acquire a voltage of a secondary battery during discharging; and
determination circuitry configured to:
determine a maximum current to be used during discharging of the secondary battery using a difference between a lower limit voltage and the voltage,
repeatedly determine the maximum current,
determine, in a case where the difference between the lower limit voltage and the voltage is smaller than a second predetermined voltage, a value obtained by subtracting a step voltage from an immediately previous maximum current as the maximum current to be used during discharging of the secondary battery,
multiply the difference between the lower limit voltage and the voltage by a first gain, that is different from a second gain to be used during charging, to generate a multiplication result, and
determine the maximum current to be used during discharging of the secondary battery using the multiplication result.

4. The power control apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the determination circuitry is configured to set the maximum current as a maximum current to be used during discharging of the secondary battery in a case where the difference between the lower limit voltage and the voltage is larger than the second predetermined voltage.

5. The power control apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein
in a case where a first gradient of a characteristic curve of the secondary battery at a first intersection between the characteristic curve and the lower limit voltage is larger than a second gradient of the characteristic curve of the secondary battery at a second intersection between the characteristic curve of the secondary battery and the lower limit voltage, the first gain to be used during charging is set to be larger than the second gain to be used during discharging, and
in a case where the first gradient is smaller than the second gradient, the first gain to be used during charging is set to be smaller than the second gain to be used during discharging.

6. The power control apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein
the acquisition circuitry acquires a state of charge of the secondary battery as information relating to the voltage, and
the determination circuitry sets a voltage converted from the state of charge of the secondary battery as the voltage of the secondary battery.

7. A power control system comprising:
the power control apparatus according to claim 3 ; and
one or more of secondary batteries.

8. The power control apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein
the acquisition circuitry acquires a state of charge of the secondary battery as information relating to the voltage, and
the determination circuitry sets a voltage converted from the state of charge of the secondary battery as the voltage of the secondary battery.

9. A power control system comprising:
the power control apparatus according to claim 3 ; and
one or more of secondary batteries.

Assignees

• Toshiba Kk

Inventors

• Ikeda Sonoka
• Kosugi Shinichiro
• Sekino Masahiro
• Kuroda Kazuto
• Yamazaki Osamu

Classifications

• B61C7/04

  Locomotives or motor railcars with two or more different kinds or types of engines, e.g. steam and IC engines · CPC title

• B60L50/10

  using propulsion power supplied by engine-driven generators, e.g. generators driven by combustion engines · CPC title

• H02J7/1438

  in combination with power supplies for loads other than batteries · CPC title

• H02J7/1492

  by means of controlling devices between the generator output and the battery · CPC title

• B60L58/14

  Preventing excessive discharging · CPC title