Integrated charge and discharge solution for inverter DC link capacitor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11046189-B2
Application number	US-201916246011-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 11, 2019
Priority date	Jan 11, 2019
Publication date	Jun 29, 2021
Grant date	Jun 29, 2021

Abstract

A controller of a vehicle power system closes a pre-charge contactor and one of a pair of main contactors to electrically connect a battery and inverter such that current flows through a pre-charge resistor. The controller also opens the pair to electrically disconnect the battery and inverter, and closes a switch configured to complete a circuit such that charge acquired by a capacitor of the inverter is dissipated via the pre-charge resistor.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle comprising:
a battery;
an inverter; and
a controller configured to,
close a pre-charge contactor and one of a pair of main contactors to electrically connect the battery and inverter such that current flows through a pre-charge resistor,
open the pair of main contactors to electrically disconnect the battery and inverter, and close a switch configured to complete a circuit such that charge acquired by a capacitor of the inverter is dissipated via the pre-charge resistor, and
open the switch upon expiration of a predefined time period that begins with opening the pair to electrically disconnect the battery and inverter.

2. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to open the switch responsive to the charge falling below a threshold level.

3. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to close the other of the pair of main contactors and open the pre-charge contactor responsive to the capacitor acquiring a desired charge.

4. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the switch is a metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor, an insulated-gate bipolar transistor, or a mechanical relay.

5. A method comprising:
by a controller,
closing a pre-charge contactor and one of a pair of main contactors to electrically connect a traction battery and inverter such that current from the traction battery to the inverter flows through a pre-charge resistor,
opening the pair of main contactors and closing a switch configured to complete a circuit between the pre-charge resistor and a capacitor of the inverter to dissipate charge acquired by the capacitor via the pre-charge resistor, and
opening the switch upon expiration of a predefined time period that begins with opening the pair to electrically disconnect the traction battery and inverter.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising opening the switch responsive to the charge falling below a threshold level.

7. The method of claim 5 further comprising closing the other of the pair of main contactors and opening the pre-charge contactor responsive to the capacitor acquiring a desired charge.

8. The method of claim 5 , wherein the switch is a metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor, an insulated-gate bipolar transistor, or a mechanical relay.

9. A vehicle power system comprising:
a traction battery;
an inverter; and
a controller configured to
open a pair of main contactors to electrically disconnect the traction battery and inverter, and to then close a switch configured to complete a circuit such that charge acquired by a capacitor of the inverter is dissipated via a pre-charge resistor electrically between the traction battery and capacitor, and
open the switch upon expiration of a predefined time period that begins with opening the pair to electrically disconnect the traction battery and inverter.

10. The vehicle power system of claim 9 , wherein the controller is further configured to close a pre-charge contactor and one of the pair of main contactors to electrically connect the traction battery and inverter.

11. The vehicle power system of claim 10 , wherein the controller is further configured to close the other of the pair of main contactors and open the pre-charge contactor responsive to the capacitor acquiring a desired charge.

12. The vehicle power system of claim 9 , wherein the controller is further configured to open the switch responsive to the charge falling below a threshold level.

13. The vehicle power system of claim 9 , wherein the switch is a metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor, an insulated-gate bipolar transistor, or a mechanical relay.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Curuvija Boris
• Chen Lihua
• Ge Baoming
• Xu Fan

Classifications

• H02J2105/37

  exchanging power with electric vehicles [EV] or with hybrid electric vehicles [HEV] · CPC title

• H02J7/855

  with circuits adapted for supplying loads from the battery · CPC title

• H02J7/62

  against overcurrent · CPC title

• Y02E60/10

  Energy storage using batteries · CPC title

• B60L3/0046 Primary

  relating to electric energy storage systems, e.g. batteries or capacitors · CPC title