Automated bidirectional energy transfer support selection for transient loads based on battery life modeling

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2023044022-A1
Application number	US-202117392673-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 3, 2021
Priority date	Aug 3, 2021
Publication date	Feb 9, 2023
Grant date	—

Abstract

Systems and methods may coordinate and provide bidirectional energy transfer events between electrified vehicles and other devices or structures, such as for supporting transient loads associated with the devices/structures. Battery life information and driving habit information may be leveraged for selecting an appropriate energy transfer strategy for any given vehicle, traction battery pack, structure, and/or grid power source condition. The proposed systems/methods may thereby align grid demand charge strategies to each vehicle's battery life, thereby preserving the life/warranty and asset utilization of the traction battery pack over the entire usage life of the vehicle.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A bidirectional energy transfer system, comprising:
a traction battery pack; and a control module programmed to control a bidirectional energy transfer output of the traction battery pack based at least on battery health information associated with the traction battery pack, wherein the control of the bidirectional energy transfer output includes selecting an energy transfer strategy for conducing the energy transfer output.

2 . The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the control module is further programmed to analyze the battery health information within a battery life modeler to derive an amount of battery aging.

3 . The system as recited in claim 2 , wherein the control module is further programmed to analyze the battery health information within the battery life modeler to determine a remaining warranty period of the traction battery pack.

4 . The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the control module is a component of an electrified vehicle that is powered by the traction battery pack.

5 . The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the control module is a component of a cloud-based storage system or a structure that is configured to receive the bidirectional energy transfer output from the traction battery pack.

6 . The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the control module is further programmed to control the bidirectional energy transfer output of the traction battery pack based on driving habit information of a user who is associated with an electrified vehicle that is powered by the traction battery pack.

7 . The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the control module is further programmed to select the energy transfer strategy from a plurality of energy transfer strategies, and further wherein the plurality of energy transfer strategies include at least one aggressive strategy, at least one assertive strategy, at least one reserved strategy, and at least one extremely reserved strategy.

8 . The system as recited in claim 7 , wherein the at least one assertive strategy is a less aggressive strategy than the at least one aggressive strategy, the at least one reserved strategy is a less aggressive strategy than the at least one assertive strategy, and the at least one extremely reserved strategy is a less aggressive strategy than the at least one reserved strategy.

9 . The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the control module is programmed to control the bidirectional energy transfer output from the traction battery pack to a structure for powering a transient load of the structure.

10 . The system as recited in claim 9 , wherein the structure is a household associated with an electrified vehicle that is powered by the traction battery pack.

11 . The system as recited in claim 9 , wherein the control module is further programmed to command a notification to a user of the electrified vehicle in response to determining that the traction battery pack has an insufficient amount of energy reserve available to support the transient load of the structure under current settings associated with the energy transfer strategy.

12 . A method, comprising:
controlling, via a control module of a bidirectional energy transfer system, a bidirectional energy transfer output from a traction battery pack of an electrified vehicle to a structure that is separate from the electrified vehicle, wherein controlling the bidirectional energy transfer output includes selecting an energy transfer strategy that is based at least on battery health information of the traction battery pack.

13 . The method as recited in claim 12 , wherein the structure is a household associated with the electrified vehicle.

14 . The method as recited in claim 12 , wherein selecting the energy transfer strategy includes:
inputting the battery health information into a battery life modeler; and deriving an amount of battery aging of the traction battery pack from the battery life modeler.

15 . The method as recited in claim 14 , comprising:
deriving a remaining warranty period of the traction battery pack from the battery life modeler.

16 . The method as recited in claim 15 , comprising:
selecting a more aggressive energy transfer strategy as the energy transfer strategy when the amount of the battery aging does not exceed a predefined amount of aging or when the remaining warranty period is not near an end of the warranty period; and selecting a less aggressive energy transfer strategy as the energy transfer strategy when the amount of the battery aging exceeds the predefined amount of aging or when the remaining warranty period is near the end of the warranty period.

17 . The method as recited in claim 12 , comprising:
determining a total energy requirement of the structure; determining an amount of energy available from the traction battery pack for supporting a transient load of the structure; and controlling the bidirectional energy transfer output from the traction battery pack to the structure only when the amount of energy available from the traction battery pack exceeds the total energy requirement of the vehicle.

18 . The method as recited in claim 17 , comprising:
notifying a user that the electrified vehicle is uncapable of supporting the transient load when the total energy requirement of the structure is greater than the amount of energy available from the traction battery pack.

19 . The method as recited in claim 18 , comprising:
prompting the user to adjust an energy setting associated with the bidirectional energy transfer output.

20 . The method as recited in claim 17 , wherein the amount of energy available from the traction battery pack is derived from driving habit information associated with the user of the electrified vehicle.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Salter Stuart C
• O'Gorman Ryan
• Phung Peter
• Howard-Cone Katherine

Classifications

• B60L53/63

  in response to network capacity · CPC title

• B60L53/68

  Off-site monitoring or control, e.g. remote control · CPC title

• B60L58/16 Primary

  responding to battery ageing, e.g. to the number of charging cycles or the state of health [SoH] · CPC title

• B60L55/00 Primary

  Arrangements for supplying energy stored within a vehicle to a power network, i.e. vehicle-to-grid [V2G] arrangements · CPC title

• Y02T10/70

  Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries · CPC title