Electric energy supply device comprising a plurality of usage units which are connected in order to form strands, and method for operating such an energy supply device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11329484-B2
Application number	US-201816625153-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 18, 2018
Priority date	Jun 23, 2017
Publication date	May 10, 2022
Grant date	May 10, 2022

Abstract

The disclosure relates to an electrical energy-supply device including several usage units, wherein each usage unit is adapted to generate or temporarily store electrical energy, and wherein a control means is adapted to control an exchange of power (E) between the energy-supply device and at least one device, The invention provides that the usage units of the energy-supply device are divided into strands and the usage units of each strand are connected to a series connection and the series connection is connected via a DC converter and at least one galvanically isolable switching unit is connected to a busbar arrangement.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An electrical energy-supply device comprising:
a plurality of usage units, wherein each usage unit is configured as a source of electrical energy, and wherein a control means is adapted to control an exchange of energy (E) between the energy-supply device, on the one hand, and at least one device coupled to the energy-supply device, on the other,
wherein in the energy-supply device, the usage units are divided into strands and the usage units of each strand are combined in a series connection, and the series connection is connected via a DC converter to a strand end of the strand, and each strand end of the strand is connected to a busbar arrangement via a respective galvanically isolatable switching unit, and a respective bridging circuit (N 11 ) is provided within each strand for each usage unit, and the control means is designed to control the energy exchange (E) by controlling the respective DC converter of each strand and the at least one switching unit of each strand and the respective bridging circuit (N 11 ) of each usage unit.

2. The energy-supply device according to claim 1 , wherein the control means is designed to determine which strand is involved in a current energy exchange operation by switching the at least one switching unit of each strand, and to adjust which current (I) is provided by the respective strand by controlling the respective DC converter of each participating strand, and to determine which usage unit in the series connection of the strand supplies the current (I) and which is bridged and therefore not involved in the energy exchange operation by switching the bridging circuits (N 11 ) of each participating strand.

3. The energy-supply device according to claim 1 , wherein each usage unit comprises at least one battery cell, in particular a battery cell module or a combination of several battery cell modules and/or at least one fuel cell and/or at least one solar panel and/or at least one capacitor and/or one generator.

4. The energy-supply device according to claim 1 , wherein a diagnostic unit (N 12 ) for detecting a current state value of a preset electric parameter of the respective usage unit is provided in the strands for each usage unit, and the control means is adapted to receive, via a communication device of the energy-supply device, the state values of all the usage units of a strand and, in the strand, to operate only those usage units for the energy exchange (E), whose state values meet a preset similarity criterion, and to electrically bridge each remaining usage unit of the strand by switching the bridging circuits (N 11 ).

5. The energy-supply device according to claim 4 , wherein the diagnostic units (N 12 ) are adapted to determine as the respective state value an impedance of the respective usage unit.

6. The energy-supply device according to claim 1 , wherein the busbar arrangement has several busbars and for each strand, at least one strand end is connected via the at least one switching unit to several strand terminals, each of which is connected to a different busbar, and the at least one switching unit of the strand is adapted to select one of the strand terminals dependent on a switching signal of the control means and to galvanically connect the respective strand end to the selected strand terminal.

7. The energy-supply device according to claim 1 , wherein in each strand the respective bridging circuit (N 11 ) of the usage units has at least one semiconductor switch (T) for electrically bridging the respective usage unit, and the DC voltage converter of the strand switches in adjacent switching cycles in order to adjust an output voltage (U) output to the busbar arrangement, and the control means is adapted to switch the bridging circuit (N 12 ) of one of the usage units between two switching cycles in order to bridge or switch to one of the usage units.

8. The energy-supply device according to claim 1 , wherein the control means is adapted to adjust the input voltage of the DC converter of the strands in the respective strand by means of the bridging circuits (N 11 ) in order to optimize the efficiency of the respective DC converter operation by selecting and connecting usage units according to a preset optimization criterion.

9. The energy-supply device according to claim 1 , wherein each strand is adapted to generate a sum voltage derived from the usage units by means of its series connection, and the control means is adapted to electrically isolate the usage units from one another for a fuse mode by switching their respective bridging circuits (N 11 ), such that only the individual voltages (V) of the usage units are present, instead of their sum voltage.

10. A method for operating an electrical energy-supply device comprising:
several usage units, each usage unit configured as a source of electrical energy, and a control means controlling an energy exchange (E) between the energy-supply device, on the one hand, and at least one device coupled to the energy-supply device, on the other,
wherein in the energy-supply device, the usage units are divided into strands and the usage units of each strand are combined to a series connection, and the series connection is connected via a DC converter to a strand end of the strand, and each of the usage units is combined to a series connection, the strand end of the strand is connected to a busbar arrangement via a respective galvanically isolatable switching unit, and a respective bridging circuit (N 11 ) is provided within each strand for each usage unit, and the control means is designed to control the energy exchange (E), controlling the respective DC converter of each strand and the at least one switching unit of each strand and the respective bridging circuit (N 11 ) of each usage unit in order to control the energy exchange (E).

11. The energy-supply device according to claim 2 , wherein each usage unit comprises at least one battery cell, in particular a battery cell module or a combination of several battery cell modules and/or at least one fuel cell and/or at least one solar panel and/or at least one capacitor and/or one generator.

12. The energy-supply device according to claim 2 , wherein a diagnostic unit (N 12 ) for detecting a current state value of a preset electric parameter of the respective usage unit is provided in the strands for each usage unit, and the control means is adapted to receive, via a communication device of the energy-supply device, the state values of all the usage units of a strand and, in the strand, to operate only those usage units for the energy exchange (E), whose state values meet a preset similarity criterion, and to electrically bridge each remaining usage unit of the strand by switching the bridging circuits (N 11 ).

13. The energy-supply device according to claim 3 , wherein a diagnostic unit (N 12 ) for detecting a current state value of a preset electric parameter of the respective usage unit is provided in the strands for each usage unit, and the control means is adapted to receive, via a communication device of the energy-supply device, the state values of all the usage units of a strand and, in the strand, to operate only those usage units for the energy exchange (E), whose state values meet a preset similarity criterion, and to electrically bridge each remaining usage unit of the strand by switching the bridging circuits (N 11 ).

14. The energy-supply device according to claim 2 , wherein the busbar arrangement has several busbars and for each strand, at least one strand end is connected via the at least one switching unit to several strand terminals, each of which is connected to

Assignees

• Audi Ag

Inventors

• Hinterberger Michael
• Hellenthal Berthold
• Blum André

Classifications

• H02J3/46

  Controlling the sharing of generated power between the generators, sources or networks · CPC title

• H02J1/12 Primary

  Parallel operation of DC sources having power converters with further DC sources without power converters · CPC title

• H02J1/10 Primary

  Parallel operation of DC sources · CPC title

• H02J7/34

  Parallel operation in networks using both storage and other DC sources, e.g. providing buffering (H02J7/14 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H02J1/08

  Three-wire DC power distribution systems; Systems having more than three wires · CPC title