Electric vehicle opportunistic charging systems and methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9987944-B2
Application number	US-201514935523-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 9, 2015
Priority date	Nov 9, 2015
Publication date	Jun 5, 2018
Grant date	Jun 5, 2018

Abstract

A vehicle includes an electric machine arranged to exchange power with a traction battery. The vehicle also includes a thermal conditioning system for influencing a battery temperature and a controller programmed to schedule battery charging. In response to a temperature of the traction battery exceeding a threshold, the controller issues a command to operate the thermal conditioning system prior to a scheduled battery charge to achieve a predetermined battery temperature at a start of battery charging.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle comprising:
a traction battery;
an engine to output power for propelling the vehicle and selectively charging the traction battery; and
a controller programmed to, responsive to receiving indication of upcoming stop-start traffic, schedule battery charging in advance of the stop-start traffic to store sufficient energy to propel the vehicle during the stop-start traffic with the engine off.

2. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein the controller is further programmed to, responsive to an accessory power demand greater than a threshold while a user-selected high efficiency mode is enabled, issue a command to reduce power available to a vehicle accessory to be less than the accessory power demand to maintain a predetermined traction battery charge rate.

3. The vehicle of claim 2 wherein the controller is further programmed to, responsive to an accessory power demand greater than a threshold while the user-selected high efficiency mode is disabled, issue a command to reduce a charging rate of the traction battery to be less than the predetermined traction battery charge rate to satisfy the accessory power demand.

4. The vehicle of claim 2 wherein the accessory power demand comprises a passenger cabin heating request, and the controller is further programmed to issue a command to reduce power provided to an electric heater and operate the engine as a heat source.

5. The vehicle of claim 2 wherein the predetermined traction battery charge rate is based on a brake specific fuel consumption of the engine.

6. A vehicle comprising:
a traction battery;
an engine to output power for propelling the vehicle and selectively charging the traction battery; and
a controller programmed to,
responsive to receiving indication of upcoming stop-start traffic, schedule battery charging in advance of the stop-start traffic to store sufficient energy to propel the vehicle during the stop-start traffic with the engine off, and
responsive to accessory power demand exceeding a threshold during a high efficiency mode, command a reduction of vehicle accessory power to be less than accessory power demand to maintain a predetermined battery charge rate.

7. The vehicle of claim 6 wherein the controller is further programmed to, responsive to transitioning out of the high efficiency mode, command a reduction of the predetermined battery charge rate.

8. The vehicle of claim 6 wherein the accessory power demand comprises a passenger cabin heating request.

9. The vehicle of claim 6 wherein the predetermined battery charge rate is based on a brake specific fuel consumption of the engine.

10. A method comprising:
by a controller,
responsive to receiving indication of upcoming stop-start traffic, scheduling battery charging in advance of the stop-start traffic to store sufficient energy to propel a vehicle during the stop-start traffic with engine off, and
responsive to accessory power demand exceeding a threshold during a high efficiency mode, commanding a reduction in vehicle accessory power to be less than accessory power demand to maintain a predetermined battery charge rate.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising, responsive to transitioning out of the high efficiency mode, commanding a reduction of the predetermined battery charge rate.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the accessory power demand comprises a passenger cabin heating request.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the predetermined battery charge rate is based on a brake specific fuel consumption of an engine.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Dunlap Brock
• Bolger Bryan Michael
• Porras Angel Fernando
• Treharne William David

Classifications

• B60L53/66

  Data transfer between charging stations and vehicles · CPC title

• B60W2710/246

  Temperature · CPC title

• B60W10/08

  including control of electric propulsion units, e.g. motors or generators · CPC title

• B60W10/26

  for electrical energy, e.g. batteries or capacitors · CPC title

• B60W20/00 Primary

  Control systems specially adapted for hybrid vehicles {(hybrid vehicle design, B60K6/00; electric vehicles B60L)} · CPC title