Battery tester for electric vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9274157-B2
Application number	US-88868910-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 23, 2010
Priority date	Jul 17, 2007
Publication date	Mar 1, 2016
Grant date	Mar 1, 2016

Abstract

Testing or diagnostics are performed on an electric vehicle. The vehicle is operated and current flow through a system of the vehicle is monitored. A voltage related to the system is also monitored. Diagnostics are provided based upon the monitored voltage and the monitored current.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of testing an electrical system of an electric vehicle, comprising:
operating the electric vehicle;
coupling a test device to a databus of the electric vehicle;
monitoring data on the databus and retrieving information related to current flowing into a system of the electric vehicle with the test device during the step of operating;
monitoring data on the databus and retrieving information from a sensor of the vehicle related to a voltage of the electrical system with the test device during the step of operating;
providing instructions to an operator which instruct the operator to operate the electrical vehicle in a specific manner;
recognizing when certain conditions have been met with the test device during the step of operating the vehicle; and
diagnosing the electric vehicle with the test device based upon the monitored current and the monitored voltage.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein diagnosing includes comparing monitored current and monitored voltage with nominal values.

3. The method of claim 1 including wirelessly communicating the retrieved information to a mobile device.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the databus comprises an OBDII databus.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the system comprises a battery pack of the vehicle.

6. The method of claim 5 including monitoring a second system of the vehicle.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the second system comprises a regenerative braking system of the vehicle.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein diagnosing comprises monitoring energy output from the regenerative braking system and monitoring energy input into the battery pack.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the diagnosing further comprises determining efficiency of a transfer of energy recovered from the regenerative braking system and stored in the battery pack.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the system comprises a block of cells of a battery pack of the electric vehicle.

11. The method of claim 10 including monitoring a second block of at least one or more cells of the battery pack.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the diagnosing comprises comparing a parameter of the first block of cells with a parameter of the second block of cells.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the diagnosing comprises measuring a parameter of the system.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the parameter comprises a dynamic parameter.

15. The method of claim 1 including providing an output to an operator of the electric vehicle.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the output comprises instructions related to operation of the vehicle for use in performing the step of diagnosing.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the electric vehicle comprises a hybrid vehicle.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the system comprises an electric generator coupled to an internal combustion engine of the electric vehicle.

19. The method of claim 18 including monitoring a second system of the electric vehicle, wherein the second system comprises a battery pack and the step of diagnosing comprises determining efficiency of storage of energy from the generator by the battery pack.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein the diagnosing includes compensating for a difference between retrieving information related to current flowing into the system and retrieving information related to the voltage of the system.

21. The method of claim 1 including placing information onto the databus which affects operation of the electric vehicle.

22. The method of claim 1 including placing information onto the databus which affects operation of a system of the electric vehicle.

23. The method of claim 1 including providing an output to an operator of the vehicle to instruct the operator to operate the vehicle in a manner to increase energy efficiency of the vehicle.

24. An apparatus for testing an electric vehicle, comprising:
a databus connector configured to connect to a databus of the electric vehicle;
a microprocessor configured to:
retrieve voltage information from the databus of the electric vehicle provided by a voltage sensor of the vehicle coupled to an electrical system of the electric vehicle;
retrieve current information from the databus of the electric vehicle provided by a current sensor of the vehicle coupled to the electrical system of the electric vehicle;
instruct an operator to operate the electrical vehicle in a specified manner;
recognize when certain conditions have been met during the step of operating by monitoring the vehicle; and
diagnose the operation of the vehicle based upon the retrieved current information and the retrieved voltage information.

25. The apparatus of claim 24 wherein the microprocessor compares monitored current and monitored voltage or a function of monitored voltage and monitored current, with nominal values.

26. The apparatus of claim 24 wherein the databus comprises an OBDII databus.

27. The apparatus of claim 24 wherein the system comprises a battery pack of the vehicle.

28. The apparatus of claim 27 wherein the microprocessor monitors a second system of the vehicle.

29. The apparatus of claim 28 wherein the second system comprises a regenerative braking system.

30. The apparatus of claim 29 wherein the microprocessor monitors energy output from the regenerative braking system and monitors energy input into the battery pack.

31. The apparatus of claim 30 wherein the microprocessor further determines efficiency of the transfer of energy recovered from the regenerative braking system and stored in the battery pack.

32. The apparatus of claim 24 wherein the system comprises a block of one or more cells of a battery pack of the electric vehicle.

33. The apparatus of claim 32 wherein the microprocessor monitors a second block of one or more cells of the battery pack.

34. The apparatus of claim 33 wherein the microprocessor compares a parameter of the first block of cells with a parameter of the second block of cells.

35. The apparatus of claim 24 wherein the microprocessor measures a parameter of the system.

36. The apparatus of claim 35 wherein the parameter comprises a dynamic parameter.

37. The apparatus of claim 24 including an output provided to an operator of the electric vehicle.

38. The apparatus of claim 24 wherein the electric vehicle comprises a hybrid vehicle.

39. The apparatus of claim 24 wherein the system comprises an electric generator coupled to an internal combustion engine of the electric vehicle.

40. The apparatus of claim 39 wherein the microprocessor monitors a second system of the electric vehicle, wherein the second system comprises a battery pack and the microprocessor determines efficiency of storage of energy from the generator by the battery pack.

41. The apparatus of claim 24 wherein the microprocessor compensates for a difference between retrieving information related to current flowing into the system and retrieving information related to a voltage of the system.

42. The apparatus of claim 24 wherein the microprocessor is configured to place information onto the databus whic

Assignees

• Bertness Kevin I
• Midtronics Inc

Inventors

• Bertness Kevin I

Classifications

• G01R31/007 Primary

  using microprocessors or computers · CPC title

• G01R31/3842

  combining voltage and current measurements · CPC title

• B60L3/12

  Recording operating variables {; Monitoring of operating variables} · CPC title

• Y02T10/70

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

• B60L7/18

  Controlling the braking effect (B60L7/12, B60L7/14, B60L7/16 take precedence) · CPC title