Energy sharing system and method for a vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11155153-B2
Application number	US-201815995640-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 1, 2018
Priority date	Jun 1, 2018
Publication date	Oct 26, 2021
Grant date	Oct 26, 2021

Abstract

A vehicle including a hybrid battery pack includes a first battery pack and a second battery pack. The first battery pack has a higher energy density than the second battery pack. The second battery pack has a higher power density than the first battery pack. A power inverter module is connected between the hybrid battery pack and a motor generator unit (MGU) that is connected to a powertrain of the vehicle. The power inverter module is configured to regulate power flow between the hybrid battery pack and the MGU. A battery management module is configured to: control switching of the power inverter module; selectively charge and discharge at least one of the first battery pack and the second battery pack; and selectively charge the first battery pack with power from the second battery pack.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle comprising:
a hybrid battery pack including a first battery pack and a second battery pack, wherein:
the first battery pack has a higher energy density than the second battery pack; and
the second battery pack has a higher power density than the first battery pack;

a power inverter module that is connected between the hybrid battery pack and a motor generator unit (MGU) that is connected to a powertrain of the vehicle and that is configured to regulate power flow between the hybrid battery pack and the MGU;
a battery management module configured to:
control switching of the power inverter module;
selectively charge and discharge at least one of the first battery pack and the second battery pack; and
selectively charge the first battery pack with power from the second battery pack;

a first switch that is connected between the power inverter module and the second battery pack and that:
(i) when open, disconnects the second battery pack from at least one of the power inverter module and a charging station; and
(ii) when closed, connects the second battery pack and at least one of the power inverter module and the charging station; and

a second switch that is connected between the power inverter module and the first battery pack and that:
(i) when open, disconnects the first battery pack from at least one of the power inverter module and the charging station; and
(ii) when closed, connects the first battery pack and at least one of the power inverter module and the charging station.

2. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein the battery management module is further configured to:
determine a first state-of-charge (SOC) of the first battery pack; and
determine a second SOC of the second battery pack.

3. The vehicle of claim 2 wherein the battery management module is configured to, based on at least one of the first SOC and the second SOC, charge and discharge at least one of the first battery pack and the second battery pack.

4. The vehicle of claim 3 wherein:
the battery management module is configured to discharge the second battery pack when: (i) the vehicle is in a driving mode; (ii) the second SOC of the second battery pack is greater than a first predetermined SOC; and (iii) the first SOC of the first battery pack is less than a second predetermined SOC; and
the battery management module is configured to charge the first battery pack with power discharged from the second battery pack when: (i) the vehicle is in the driving mode; (ii) the second SOC of the second battery pack is greater than a third predetermined SOC; and (iii) the first SOC of the first battery pack is greater than a fourth predetermined SOC.

5. The vehicle of claim 4 wherein the battery management module is configured to discharge the first battery pack in response to determining that the second SOC of the second battery pack is less than the first predetermine SOC.

6. The vehicle of claim 2 wherein:
the battery management module is configured to determine whether the vehicle is plugged into a charging station; and
the battery management module is configured to determine a level of the charge station in response to determining that the vehicle is plugged into the charging station.

7. The vehicle of claim 6 wherein:
the battery management module is configured to, in response to determining that the charge station is a level three charging station, determine whether the first SOC of the first battery pack is less than a first predetermined SOC for the first battery pack;
the battery management module is configured to charge at least one of the second battery pack and the first battery pack with power from the charging station in response to determining that the first SOC of the first battery pack is less than the first predetermined SOC for the first battery pack; and
the battery management module is configured to charge the second battery pack with power from the charging station in response to determining that the first SOC of the first battery pack is greater than the first predetermined SOC for the first battery pack.

8. The vehicle of claim 7 wherein:
the battery management module is configured to, in response to determining that the charging station is not a level three charging station, determine whether the first SOC of the first battery pack is less than a second predetermined SOC for the first battery pack,
wherein the second predetermined SOC is greater than the first predetermined SOC;
the battery management module is configured to charge the first battery pack with power from the charging station in response to determining that the first SOC of the first battery pack is less than the second predetermined SOC for the first battery pack; and
the battery management module is configured to charge the second battery pack in response to determining that the first SOC of the first battery pack is greater than or equal to the second predetermined SOC for the first battery pack.

9. The vehicle of claim 6 wherein:
the battery management module is configured to, in response to determining that the vehicle is not plugged into the charging station, determine whether the second SOC of the second battery pack is greater than a first predetermined SOC for the second battery pack and whether the first SOC of the first battery pack is less than a second predetermined SOC for the first battery pack; and
the battery management module is configured to, in response to determining that at least one of (a) the second SOC of the second battery pack is less than the first predetermined SOC for the second battery pack and (b) the first SOC of the first battery pack is greater than the second predetermined SOC for the first battery pack, at least one of (i) disable discharging of the second battery pack and (ii) disable discharging of the first battery pack.

10. The vehicle of claim 9 wherein the battery management module is configured to:
determine whether an energy request has been received in response to determining that the second SOC of the second battery pack is greater than the first predetermined SOC for the second battery pack and the first SOC of the first battery pack is less than the second predetermined SOC for the first battery pack; and
in response to determining that the energy request has been received, at least one of (i) enable charging of the first battery pack with power from the second battery pack and (ii) selectively discharge the second battery pack to satisfy the energy request.

11. An energy share system comprising:
the vehicle of claim 10 ;
a second vehicle including a battery pack and a second battery management module,
wherein at least one of:
the second battery management module is configured to selectively charge the battery pack with power received from the hybrid battery pack of the vehicle; and
the battery management module is configured to selectively charge the hybrid battery pack with power received from the battery pack of the second vehicle.

12. The energy share system of claim 11 further comprising:
a first computing device that is associated with the vehicle and that is configured to, in response to receiving a first input from a user, transmit an energy request and a first location of the vehicle;
a second computing device that is associated with the second vehicle and that is configured to:
transmit a second location of the second vehicle; and
an amount of energy available for sale from the battery pack of the second vehicle.

13. The energy share system of claim 12 further comprising an energy share server configured to:
receive the energy request, the first loca

Assignees

• Gm Global Tech Operations Llc

Inventors

• Cafeo John A
• Raghavan Madhusudan
• Li Wei
• Bika Anil
• Sarwar Azeem
• Gazit Ran Y
• Ng Winson
• Sekol Ryan C
• Yersak Thomas A

Classifications

• H02J2105/37

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

• H02J7/50

  acting upon multiple batteries simultaneously or sequentially · CPC title

• H02J7/47 Primary

  Arrangements for checking compatibility or authentication between one component, e.g. a battery or a battery charger, and another component, e.g. a power source · CPC title

• B60K6/42 Primary

  characterised by the architecture of the hybrid electric vehicle · CPC title

• B60K6/28 Primary

  characterised by the electric energy storing means, e.g. batteries or capacitors · CPC title