Three phase charger accommodating wide input voltage range with flexible single phase input options

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10693307-B2
Application number	US-201415537458-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 22, 2014
Priority date	Dec 22, 2014
Publication date	Jun 23, 2020
Grant date	Jun 23, 2020

Abstract

A system for charging a battery from various three phase or single phase grid supply voltages includes a full wave bridge rectifier for receiving the AC supply voltage, two DC to DC converters for receiving unregulated DC output voltage from the rectifier, a first switch connected to a first input line of a first one of the two converters and a second switch connected to a first input line of a second one of the two converters, wherein each of the switches is set to a first position when the supply voltage is at a lower one of the varying voltage levels and to a second position when the supply voltage is at a higher one of the varying voltage levels.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for charging a battery from a three phase grid supply AC voltage wherein the grid supply supplies varying voltage levels, the system comprising:
a full wave bridge rectifier receiving the AC supply voltage and outputting unregulated DC voltage;
two DC to DC converters receiving the unregulated DC voltage from the rectifier;
a first switch connected to a first input line of a first one of the two DC to DC converters; and
a second switch connected to a first input line of a second one of the two DC to DC converters, wherein the switches are set to a first position when the supply voltage is at a lower one of the varying voltage levels, and to a second position when the supply voltage is at a higher one of the varying voltage level;
wherein a second input line of the first converter of the pair of DC to DC converters is connected to a positive voltage output of the rectifier and the second input line of the second converter of the pair of DC to DC converters is connected to a negative voltage output of the rectifier; and
wherein when each of the switches is set to the second position, the first input line of each of the two DC to DC converters is connected to a neutral line of the phase grid supply via the respective switch.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein when each of the switches is set to the first position, the first input line of the first converter of the pair of DC to DC converters is connected to the negative voltage output of the rectifier and the first input line of the second converter of the pair of DC to DC converters is connected to the positive voltage output of the rectifier.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the higher voltage level corresponds to a three phase supply voltage of 480 Δ/277 Wye VAC.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein an average voltage output value from the rectifier is approximately ±374.1 VDC with respect to neutral.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the average voltage value input to the converters is 374.1 VDC.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the lower voltage level corresponds to a supply voltage of 208 Δ/120 Wye VAC.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein an average voltage output value from the rectifier is approximately ±162 VDC with respect to neutral.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the average voltage value input to the converters is 324 VDC.

9. A method for charging an electric vehicle battery from a three phase grid supply AC voltage having a varying voltage level, the method comprising the steps of:
determining a type of available supply voltage;
positioning a pair of switches in one of two positions in accordance with the determined supply voltage; and
charging the vehicle battery using the available supply voltage, wherein:
the switches are each connected to a respective first input line of a pair of DC to DC converters that receive unregulated DC voltage from a full wave bridge rectifier, the rectifier being supplied with varying grid AC voltages;
the switches are in a first position when the supply voltage is at a lower one of the varying voltage levels and in a second position when the supply voltage is at a higher one of the varying voltage levels;
the type of available voltage is one of three-phase grid supply AC voltage and a single-phase grid supply AC voltage;
a second input line of a first converter of the pair of DC to DC converters is connected to a positive voltage output of the rectifier and a second input line of a second converter of the pair of DC to DC converters is connected to a negative voltage output of the rectifier; and
when each of the switches is set to the second position, the first input line of each of the pair of DC to DC converters is connected to a neutral line of the phase grid supply via the respective switch.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the three phase grid supply voltage is one of 480/277 VAC and 208/120 VAC.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the single phase grid supply voltage is 240 VAC.

Assignees

• Volvo Truck Corp

Inventors

• Mclaughlin James
• Rane Amrita
• Richer Julien

Classifications

• H02M1/10 Primary

  Arrangements incorporating converting means for enabling loads to be operated at will from different kinds of power supplies, e.g. from AC or DC · CPC title

• H02J7/02 Primary

  for charging batteries from AC mains by converters · CPC title

• Y02T10/92

  Energy efficient charging or discharging systems for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors specially adapted for vehicles · CPC title

• Y02T10/7072

  Electromobility specific charging systems or methods for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors · CPC title

• Y02T90/14

  Plug-in electric vehicles · CPC title