Integrated vehicle-to-home energy management system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10938211-B2
Application number	US-201816198094-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 21, 2018
Priority date	Nov 21, 2018
Publication date	Mar 2, 2021
Grant date	Mar 2, 2021

Abstract

A vehicle includes a power system that is couplable to a power network. A controller is configured to communicate with appliances coupled to the power system and programmed to operate the appliances to prevent current demand of the appliances from exceeding a peak operating current of the power system and to balance current demand to prevent exceeding a nominal current rating of the power system for more than a predetermined time.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle comprising:
a power system couplable to a power network, and including a traction battery, and an engine coupled to an electric machine; and
a controller configured to communicate with appliances coupled to the power system and programmed to,
responsive to the power system providing a current and one of the appliances requesting a change in current demand predicted to cause the current to exceed a peak current limit of the power system, operate the appliances to prevent the current from exceeding the peak current limit, and
responsive to a power demand from the appliances exceeding an amount of power that can be provided by the traction battery, operate the engine and the electric machine to generate power to satisfy the power demand.

2. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein each of the appliances is associated with a priority level and the controller is further programmed to operate the appliances to delay activation of the one of the appliances until the current demand predicted is less than the peak current limit responsive to the one of the appliances having a priority level that is less than other appliances.

3. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein each of the appliances is associated with a priority level and the controller is further programmed to, responsive to the one of the appliances having a priority level that exceeds a priority level of a first appliance, reduce current to the first appliance before activating the one of the appliances.

4. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein each of the appliances is associated with a priority level and the controller is further programmed to, responsive to the one of the appliances having a priority level that exceeds a priority level of a first appliance, suspend operation of the first appliance before activating the one of the appliances.

5. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein the controller is further programmed to, responsive to one of the appliances requesting a change in current demand predicted to cause the current to exceed a nominal current rating of the power system, schedule operation of the appliances to prevent the current from exceeding the nominal current rating for greater than a predetermined time.

6. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein the controller is further programmed to, responsive to more than one of the appliances requesting a change in current demand due to an inrush current of each of the more than one of the appliances within a predetermined time interval, sequence operation of the more than one of the appliances to balance the current demand so that only one of the appliances demands a corresponding inrush current within the predetermined time interval.

7. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein the controller is further programmed to receive one or more parameters indicative of operating power requirements for the appliances, inrush power for each of the appliances, a predicted run time for each of the appliances, a duty cycle of the appliances, and a load profile for each of the appliances.

8. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein the controller is further programmed to, responsive to recognizing that the vehicle is parked in an enclosed space with a controllable door, request that the controllable door be opened while the engine is running.

9. A method comprising:
operating a vehicle power system coupled to a power network to supply a current to appliances coupled to the power network;
sequencing, by a controller, activation of the appliances to prevent the current from exceeding a peak current limit of the vehicle power system and to prevent the current from exceeding a nominal rated current of the vehicle power system for more than a predetermined time; and
causing, by the controller, a reduction in current demand of a first appliance responsive to a second appliance requesting an increase in the current that is predicted to cause the current to exceed the peak current limit, wherein the second appliance has a priority level that is greater than that of the first appliance.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising activating, by the controller, responsive to a first appliance and a second appliance requesting activation in a same time interval, the first appliance and the second appliance such that the first appliance is activated after an inrush current of the second appliance has dissipated, wherein the second appliance has a priority level that is greater than that of the first appliance.

11. The method of claim 9 further comprising sequencing, by the controller, operation of the appliances to minimize time intervals in which the current is between a nominal rated current of the vehicle power system and the peak current limit.

12. The method of claim 9 further comprising interrupting, by the controller, current demand of a first appliance responsive to a second appliance requesting activation predicted to cause the current to exceed a nominal rated current of the vehicle power system for greater than a predetermined time, wherein the second appliance has a priority level that is greater than that of the first appliance.

13. The method of claim 9 further comprising operating, by the controller, the appliances to minimize a peak current demand.

14. A vehicle power system comprising:
a traction battery coupled to an electric machine that is drivable by an engine;
power sources couplable to a power network; and
a controller configured to
communicate with appliances connected to the power network,
responsive to the power sources providing current to the appliances and one of the appliances requesting a change in current demand predicted to cause the current to exceed a power limit of the power sources, schedule operation of the appliances to prevent the current from exceeding the power limit,
responsive to the change in current demand exceeding a power limit of the traction battery while the engine is off, start the engine to drive the electric machine and command the electric machine to satisfy the current demand, and
responsive to recognizing that the vehicle power system is located in an enclosed space with a controllable door, request that the controllable door be opened while the engine is running.

15. The vehicle power system of claim 14 further comprising a traction battery coupled to an electric machine that is drivable by an engine and wherein the controller is further configured to, responsive to the electric machine being operated to supply current to the power network and one of the appliances requesting a change in current demand, operate the appliances to prevent the current from exceeding a peak current limit of the traction battery and the electric machine.

16. The vehicle power system of claim 14 wherein the controller is further configured to, responsive to the one of the appliances requesting a change in current demand predicted to cause the current to exceed a nominal rated current of the power sources for a predetermined time, schedule operation of the appliances to prevent the current from exceeding the nominal rated current for greater than the predetermined time.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Bell Christopher W

Classifications

• H02J2105/42

  Home appliances · CPC title

• H02J3/14 Primary

  by switching loads on to, or off from, the networks, e.g. progressively balanced loading · CPC title

• H02J3/322

  the battery being on-board an electric or hybrid vehicle, e.g. vehicle to grid arrangements [V2G], power aggregation, use of the battery for network load balancing, coordinated or cooperative battery charging · CPC title

• Y02E60/00

  Enabling technologies; Technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to GHG emissions mitigation · CPC title

• Y02T10/70

  Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries · CPC title