Prediction of a voltage dip in a motor vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10670640-B2
Application number	US-201615762718-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 15, 2016
Priority date	Sep 25, 2015
Publication date	Jun 2, 2020
Grant date	Jun 2, 2020

Abstract

An embodiment relates to a method for predicting a voltage dip in a vehicle electrical system before a planned start of a load in a motor vehicle. The embodiment operates to ascertain a value of supply current expected to be required after the start of the load. An electrical voltage source and an energy store connected in parallel to a voltage source via the vehicle electrical system provide the supply current for operating the load. The energy store blocks a charge current into the energy store or blocks a discharge current out of the energy store based on a vehicle electrical system voltage of the vehicle electrical system being greater than a maximum value. Based on an instantaneous value of the vehicle electrical system voltage, the embodiment further ascertains a proportion of the supply current that the voltage source generates as a source current without the energy store until the vehicle electrical system voltage has fallen to the maximum value.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for predicting a voltage dip in a vehicle electrical system before a planned start of a load in a motor vehicle, comprising:
ascertaining a value of supply current expected to be required after the start of the load,
wherein at least one electrical voltage source and an energy store in the motor vehicle are connected in a parallel circuit to the vehicle electrical system, the at least one electrical voltage source and the energy store provide the supply current for operating the load, and wherein the energy store neither receives a charging current nor discharges generated power if a vehicle electrical system voltage of the vehicle electrical system is greater than a predetermined maximum value; and
based on an instantaneous value of the vehicle electrical system voltage, ascertaining a proportion of the supply current that the at least one electrical voltage source generates as a source current without the energy store until the vehicle electrical system voltage has fallen to the predetermined maximum value.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
ascertaining the source current based on a respective internal resistance of the at least one electrical voltage source.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
ascertaining a residual current between the ascertained supply current and the ascertained source current; and
ascertaining, based on the predetermined maximum value, a final value of the vehicle electrical system voltage that results upon a current emission from the parallel circuit of the at least one electrical voltage source and the energy store.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:
ascertaining the final value based on the respective internal resistance of the at least one electrical voltage source and an internal resistance of the energy store.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the ascertaining the final value further comprises:
based on the instantaneous value of the vehicle electrical system voltage being less than thy: predetermined maximum value, ascertaining the final value based exclusively on the current emission from the parallel circuit of the at least one electrical voltage source and the energy store.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein a vehicle function of the motor vehicle plans the start of the load, and the vehicle function is deactivated based on the final value being less than a predetermined minimum voltage value.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the energy store is a lead accumulator and the predetermined maximum value is based on a maximum idle voltage plus an overvoltage of the lead accumulator.

8. A motor vehicle, comprising:
at least one electrical voltage source;
an energy store;
at least one voltage source;
a vehicle electrical system, wherein the at least one electrical voltage source and the energy store are connected in a parallel circuit to the vehicle electrical system, the at least one electrical voltage source and the energy store provide a supply current for operating a load, and wherein the energy store neither receives a charging current nor discharges generated power if a vehicle electrical system voltage of the vehicle electrical system is greater than a predetermined maximum value; and
a control unit that predicts a voltage drop before a planned start of the load, wherein the con trot unit is configured to:
ascertain a value of the supply current expected to be required after the start of the load; and
based on an instantaneous value of the vehicle electrical system voltage, ascertain a proportion of the supply current that the at least one electrical voltage source generates as a source current without the energy store until the vehicle electrical system voltage has fallen to the predetermined maximum value.

9. The motor vehicle of claim 8 , wherein the energy store is a lead accumulator.

10. The motor vehicle of claim 8 , wherein the at least one electrical voltage source comprises a lithium-ion battery, a generator, or a DC voltage converter.

11. The motor vehicle of claim 8 , wherein the control unit is further configured to:
ascertain the source current based on a respective internal resistance of the at least one electrical voltage source.

12. The motor vehicle of claim 11 , herein the control unit is further configured to:
ascertain a residual current between the ascertained supply current and the ascertained source current; and
ascertain, based on the predetermined maximum value, a final value of the vehicle electrical system voltage that results upon a current emission from the parallel circuit of the at least one electrical voltage source and the energy store.

13. The motor vehicle of claim 12 , wherein the control unit is further configured to:
ascertain the final value based on the respective internal resistance of the at least one electrical voltage source and an internal resistance of the energy store.

14. The motor vehicle of claim 13 , wherein the control unit is further configured to:
based on the instantaneous value of the vehicle electrical system voltage being less than the based on the instantaneous value of the vehicle electrical system voltage being less than the predetermined maximum value, ascertaining the final value based exclusively on the current emission from the parallel circuit of the at least one electrical voltage source and the energy store.

15. The motor vehicle of claim 12 , wherein a vehicle function of the motor vehicle plans the start of the load, and the vehicle function is deactivated based on the final value being less than a predetermined minimum voltage value.

16. The motor vehicle of claim 9 , wherein the predetermined maximum value is based on a maximum idle voltage plus an overvoltage of the lead accumulator.

Assignees

• Audi Ag

Inventors

• Renner Daniel
• Hackner Thomas

Classifications

• G01R31/379

  for lead-acid batteries · CPC title

• G01R19/2513 Primary

  Arrangements for monitoring electric power systems, e.g. power lines or loads; Logging · CPC title

• B60Y2300/45

  Engine shutdown at standstill · CPC title

• H02J7/34

  Parallel operation in networks using both storage and other DC sources, e.g. providing buffering (H02J7/14 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G01R19/16542

  for batteries (charge condition monitoring in G01R31/36) · CPC title