Electric vehicle charging using downsized buck boost converter

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11235678-B1
Application number	US-202016945123-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jul 31, 2020
Priority date	Jul 31, 2020
Publication date	Feb 1, 2022
Grant date	Feb 1, 2022

Abstract

A charging system of an electrical automobile vehicle includes a converter unit and a first energy storage system of within a first automobile vehicle. A charging cable is releasably connected from the first energy storage system to a charging station or is releasably connected to a second energy storage system of a second automobile vehicle. A vehicle charging controller is connected to the converter unit and programmed to communicate with the charging station and to the second energy storage system. A plurality of low-loss switching devices of the converter unit are selectively operated by signals from the vehicle charging controller to position the plurality of low-loss switching devices in an on-state (ON) or an off-state (OFF) to control charging the first energy storage system from the charging station or charging the second energy storage system from the first energy storage system.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A charging system of an electrical automobile vehicle, the charging system comprising:
a converter unit within a first automobile vehicle;
a first energy storage system of the first automobile vehicle;
a charging cable releasably connected from the first energy storage system to a charging station or to a second energy storage system of a second automobile vehicle;
a vehicle charging controller connected to the converter unit and programmed to communicate with the charging station and the second energy storage system; and
a plurality of low-loss switching devices of the converter unit selectively operated by signals from the vehicle charging controller to position the plurality of low-loss switching devices in an on-state (ON) or an off-state (OFF) to control charging the first energy storage system from the charging station or charging the second energy storage system from the first energy storage system.

2. The charging system of the electrical automobile vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the converter unit includes:
a charge port individually connected to a positive bus and a negative bus; and
a bi-directional DC/DC (BDD) converter with or without a bypass switch connected to the positive bus and the negative bus.

3. The charging system of the electrical automobile vehicle of claim 2 , wherein:
a first one (SS 1 ) of the plurality of low-loss switching devices releasably connects the charge port to the positive bus; and
a second one (SS 2 ) of the plurality of low-loss switching devices releasably connects the charge port to the negative bus.

4. The charging system of the electrical automobile vehicle of claim 3 , wherein:
a third one (SS 3 ) of the plurality of low-loss switching devices releasably connects the charge port to the positive bus of the BDD converter; and
a fourth one (SS 4 ) of the plurality of low-loss switching devices releasably connects the charge port to the negative bus of the BDD converter.

5. The charging system of the electrical automobile vehicle of claim 4 , wherein the converter unit includes:
a battery;
a first battery switch defining a fifth one (SS 5 ) of the plurality of low-loss switching devices connecting the battery to the positive bus;
a second battery switch defining a sixth one (SS 6 ) of the plurality of low-loss switching devices connecting the battery to the negative bus; and
a pre-charging resistor connected to the battery and connected to or isolated from the positive bus using a pre-charging contactor defining a third battery switch (SS-PC).

6. The charging system of the electrical automobile vehicle of claim 5 , wherein during a driving operation of the first automobile vehicle, the plurality of low-loss switching devices and the BDD converter are positioned as follows:
SS 1 , SS 2 , SS 3 , SS 4 are OFF;
SS 5 and SS 6 are ON;
SS-PC is OFF; and
the BDD converter is energized ON.

7. The charging system of the electrical automobile vehicle of claim 5 , wherein during a pre-charging operation of the first automobile vehicle, the plurality of low-loss switching devices and the BDD converter are positioned as follows:
SS 1 , SS 2 , SS 3 , SS 4 are OFF;
SS 5 is OFF;
SS 6 is ON;
SS-PC is ON; and
the BDD converter is energized OFF.

8. The charging system of the electrical automobile vehicle of claim 5 , wherein during a charging operation of the second energy storage system using the first energy storage system, the plurality of low-loss switching devices and the BDD converter are positioned as follows:
SS 1 , SS 2 are OFF;
SS 3 , SS 4 are ON;
SS 5 and SS 6 are ON;
SS-PC is OFF; and
the BDD converter is energized ON.

9. The charging system of the electrical automobile vehicle of claim 5 , wherein during a charging operation of the first energy storage system from the charging station when the charging station is defined as a compatible charging station, the plurality of low-loss switching devices and the BDD converter are positioned as follows:
SS 1 , SS 2 are ON;
SS 3 , SS 4 are OFF;
SS 5 and SS 6 are ON;
SS-PC is OFF; and
the BDD converter is energized OFF.

10. The charging system of the electrical automobile vehicle of claim 5 , wherein during a charging operation of the first energy storage system from the charging station when the charging station is defined as an incompatible charging station, the plurality of low-loss switching devices and the BDD converter are positioned as follows:
SS 1 , SS 2 are OFF;
SS 3 , SS 4 are ON;
SS 5 and SS 6 are ON;
SS-PC is OFF; and
the BDD converter is energized ON.

11. The charging system of the electrical automobile vehicle of claim 5 , wherein the converter unit includes:
a module package having a traction power inverter module, an accessory power module and an air conditioning compressor module; and
an integrated power electronics module;
wherein the module package and the integrated power electronics module are connected across the positive bus and the negative bus.

12. The charging system of the electrical automobile vehicle of claim 11 , wherein the converter unit includes:
a seventh one (SS 7 ) of the plurality of low-loss switching devices releasably connecting the module package and the integrated power electronics module to the positive bus; and
an eighth one (SS 8 ) of the plurality of low-loss switching devices releasably connecting the module package and the integrated power electronics module to the negative bus;
wherein during a driving operation of the first automobile vehicle SS 7 and SS 8 are ON; and
wherein during a pre-charging operation of the first automobile vehicle; during a charging operation of the second energy storage system using the first energy storage system, and during a charging operation of the first energy storage system from the charging station SS 7 and SS 8 are OFF.

13. A charging system of an electrical automobile vehicle, the charging system comprising:
a converter unit within a first automobile vehicle having a bi-directional DC/DC (BDD) converter with or without a bypass switch connected to a positive bus and a negative bus;
a charge port connected to the positive bus and the negative bus;
a first energy storage system of the first automobile vehicle including a dual battery package;
a charging cable releasably connected from the first energy storage system via the charge port to a charging station or releasably connected to a second energy storage system of a second automobile vehicle;
a vehicle charging controller connected to the converter unit and programmed to communicate with the charging station and the second energy storage system; and
a plurality of low-loss switching devices of the converter unit selectively operated by signals from the vehicle charging controller to position the plurality of low-loss switching devices in an on-state (ON) or an off-state (OFF) to control charging the first energy storage system from the charging station or charging the second energy storage system from the first energy storage system.

14. The charging system of the electrical automobile vehicle of claim 13 , wherein the plurality of low-loss switching devices includes:
a first one (SS 1 ) releasably connecting the charge port to the positive bus;
a second one (SS 2 ) releasably connecting the charge port to the negative bus;
a third one (SS 3 ) releasably connecting the charge port to the positive bus of an input of the BDD converter;
a fourth one (SS 4 ) releasably connecting the charge port to the negative bus of an input of the BDD converter;
a fifth one (SS 5 ) defining a first battery sw

Assignees

• Gm Global Tech Operations Llc

Inventors

• Hao Lei
• Atluri Venkata Prasad
• Namuduri Chandra S
• Gopalakrishnan Suresh

Classifications

• H02J7/90

  Regulation of charging or discharging current or voltage · CPC title

• H02J7/70

  characterised by the mechanical construction · CPC title

• H02J2105/37

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

• H02J7/42

  with electronic devices having internal batteries, e.g. mobile phones · CPC title

• Y02T90/16

  Information or communication technologies improving the operation of electric vehicles · CPC title