Electric vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10967748-B2
Application number	US-201715856990-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 28, 2017
Priority date	Jan 12, 2017
Publication date	Apr 6, 2021
Grant date	Apr 6, 2021

Abstract

An electric vehicle includes a battery that stores electric power for traveling, a sensor that detects the temperature of the battery, a communication circuitry configured to communicate with a server configured to collect information as to a plurality of vehicles, a temperature adjusting circuitry configured to adjust the temperature of the battery, and a control circuitry configured to control the temperature adjusting circuitry. The information as to the vehicles includes at least an ambient temperature in a surrounding area of each vehicle. The control circuitry selectively switches the mode of operation of the temperature adjusting circuitry by using the temperature of the battery and the ambient temperature collected in the server.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electric vehicle comprising:
a battery that stores electric power for traveling;
a sensor that detects a temperature of the battery;
a communication circuitry programmed to communicate with a server programmed to collect information as to a plurality of vehicles, the information as to the vehicles including at least an ambient temperature in a surrounding area of each vehicle;
a temperature adjusting circuitry programmed to adjust the temperature of the battery; and
a control circuitry programmed to control the temperature adjusting circuitry, the control circuitry programmed to selectively switch a mode of operation of the temperature adjusting circuitry using a first result of a first determination of whether to adjust the temperature of the battery based on whether the temperature of the battery is below a first predetermined value, and a second result of a second determination of whether to increase the temperature of the battery based on whether the ambient temperature collected in the server is below a second predetermined value.

2. The electric vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein:
the control circuitry is programmed to, based on the first result, operate the temperature adjusting circuitry in a first mode based on the control circuitry determining to adjust the temperature of the battery by using the temperature of the battery, and to, based on the second result, operate the temperature adjusting circuitry in a second mode having a different mode of operation of the temperature adjusting circuitry from the first mode based on the control circuitry determining to adjust the temperature of the battery by using the ambient temperature.

3. The electric vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein:
the temperature adjusting circuitry includes a temperature increasing circuitry programmed to increase the temperature of the battery by using electric power of the battery; and
the control circuitry is programmed to, based on the first result, operate the temperature increasing circuitry in a first mode having a target temperature of the battery equal to a first temperature based on the control circuitry determining, by using the temperature of the battery detected by the sensor, that the temperature of the battery needs to be increased, and to, based on the second result, operate the temperature increasing circuitry in a second mode having the target temperature of the battery equal to a second temperature lower than the first temperature based on the control circuitry determining, by using the ambient temperature collected in the server, that the temperature of the battery needs to be increased.

4. The electric vehicle according to claim 3 , wherein the control circuitry is programmed to, based on the first result, select the first mode based on the temperature of the battery detected in a current position of the electric vehicle having a history of being decreased below the first predetermined value, and to, based on the second result, select the second mode based on the ambient temperature in the surrounding area of the current position of the electric vehicle having a history of being decreased below the second predetermined value.

5. The electric vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein:
the temperature adjusting circuitry includes a cooling circuitry programmed to cool the battery; and
based on the control circuitry executing external charging that charges the battery with electric power from outside the vehicle, the control circuitry is programmed to execute pre-charging cooling control that cools the battery by operating the cooling circuitry before executing the external charging, based on the control circuitry determining, by using at least one of the temperature of the battery detected by the sensor and the ambient temperature collected in the server, that the battery needs to be cooled, and based on the control circuitry executing the external charging, the control circuitry is programmed to not execute the pre-charging cooling control based on the control circuitry determining, by using both the temperature of the battery detected by the sensor and the ambient temperature collected in the server, that the battery does not need to be cooled.

6. The electric vehicle according to claim 5 , wherein the control circuitry is programmed to determine that the battery needs to be cooled, based on the temperature of the battery detected at a time of executing the external charging being greater than or equal to a first predetermined value, and determine that the battery needs to be cooled, based on the ambient temperature in the surrounding area of a current position of the electric vehicle having a history of being increased to or above a second predetermined value.

7. The electric vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein the ambient temperature is an atmospheric temperature of a position of the vehicle.

8. The electric vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry is programmed to control the temperature adjusting circuitry based on the ambient temperature received from the server.

9. An electric vehicle comprising:
a battery that stores electric power for traveling;
a sensor that detects a temperature of the battery;
a communication circuitry programmed to communicate with a server programmed to collect information as to a plurality of vehicles, the information as to the vehicles including at least an ambient temperature in a surrounding area of each vehicle;
a cooling circuitry programmed to cool the battery; and
a control circuitry programmed to control the cooling circuitry, the control circuitry programmed to selectively execute pre-charging cooling control using a first result of a first determination of whether to cool the battery based on whether the temperature of the battery is greater than or equal to a first predetermined value, and a second result of a second determination of whether to cool the battery based on whether the ambient temperature collected in the server is greater than or equal to a second predetermined value.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Ichikawa Shinji

Classifications

• H01M10/486

  for measuring temperature · CPC title

• B60L58/12

  responding to state of charge [SoC] · CPC title

• H01M10/617

  for achieving uniformity or desired distribution of temperature · CPC title

• Y02T10/72

  Electric energy management in electromobility · CPC title

• Y02T10/7072

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