Patent Application
20250091456
The present disclosure relates to a system for charging an electric vehicle (EV).
Electric vehicles rely on a rechargeable high-capacity traction battery for providing electric energy to an electric machine for propulsion. In North America, the Combined Charging System (CCS) Type 1 connector is commonly used to charge electric vehicles. The CCS Type 1 connector combines the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) J1722 Type 1 plug with two high-speed DC fast charging pins. The J1722 Type-1 connector is configured to support 240V AC voltage up to 80 A current resulting in a maximum charging power of 19.2 kW.
A charge system for a vehicle includes a charge port with a plurality of terminals, and a switch arrangement operable to, as a result of an AC power source being electrically connected with the terminals, configure the terminals to pass three-phase AC current for an onboard charger of the vehicle, and as a result of a DC power source being connected with some of the terminals, configure the some of the terminals to pass DC current for a traction battery of the vehicle.
A vehicle includes a traction battery, an onboard charger, a charge port with a plurality of power terminals, and a controller. The controller selectively configures the power terminals to receive three-phase AC power for the onboard charger from an AC power source connected with the charge port, and configures some but not all of the power terminals to receive DC power for the traction battery from a DC power source connected with the charge port.
A method includes, responsive to an AC power source being connected to a charge port of a vehicle, establishing direct electrical paths between power terminals of the charge port and an onboard charger of the vehicle, and responsive to a DC power source being connected to the charge port, establishing direct electrical paths between the power terminals and a traction battery of the vehicle.
Embodiments are described herein. It is to be understood, however, that the disclosed embodiments are merely examples and other embodiments may take various and alternative forms. The figures are not necessarily to scale. Some features could be exaggerated or minimized to show details of particular components. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art.
Various features illustrated and described with reference to any one of the figures may be combined with features illustrated in one or more other figures to produce embodiments that are not explicitly illustrated or described. The combinations of features illustrated provide representative embodiments for typical applications. Various combinations and modifications of the features consistent with the teachings of this disclosure, however, could be desired for particular applications or implementations.
The present disclosure, among other things, proposes a system for charging a battery of an electric vehicle. More specifically, the present disclosure proposes a modified connector based on the CCS connector to provide an increased AC charging power.
A traction battery or battery pack 124 stores energy that may be used by the electric machines 114. A vehicle battery pack 124 may provide a high voltage DC output. The traction battery 124 may be electrically coupled to one or more battery electric control modules (BECM) 125. The BECM 125 may be provided with one or more processors and software applications configured to monitor and control various operations of the traction battery 124. The traction battery 124 may be further electrically coupled to one or more power electronics modules 126. The power electronics module 126 may also be referred to as a power inverter. One or more contactors 127 may isolate the traction battery 124 and the BECM 125 from other components when opened and couple the traction battery 124 and the BECM 125 to other components when closed. The power electronics module 126 may also be electrically coupled to the electric machines 114 and provide the ability to bi-directionally transfer energy between the traction battery 124 and the electric machines 114. For example, a traction battery 124 may provide a DC voltage while the electric machines 114 may operate using a three-phase AC current. The power electronics module 126 may convert the DC voltage to a three-phase AC current for use by the electric machines 114. In a regenerative mode, the power electronics module 126 may convert the three-phase AC current from the electric machines 114 acting as generators to the DC voltage compatible with the traction battery 124. The description herein is equally applicable to a pure electric vehicle. For a pure electric vehicle, the hybrid transmission 116 may be a gear box connected to the electric machine 114 and the engine 118 may not be present.
In addition to providing energy for propulsion, the traction battery 124 may provide energy for other vehicle electrical systems. A vehicle may include a DC/DC converter module 128 that converts the high voltage DC output of the traction battery 124 to a low voltage DC supply that is compatible with other low-voltage vehicle loads. An output of the DC/DC converter module 128 may be electrically coupled to an auxiliary battery 130 (e.g., 12V battery).
The vehicle 112 may be a battery electric vehicle (BEV) or a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) in which the traction battery 124 may be recharged by an external power source 136. The external power source 136 may be a connection to an electrical outlet. The external power source 136 may be an electrical power distribution network or grid as provided by an electric utility company. The external power source 136 may be electrically coupled to electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) 138. The EVSE 138 may provide circuitry and controls to manage the transfer of energy between the power source 136 and the vehicle 112. The external power source 136 may provide DC and/or AC electric power to the EVSE 138. The EVSE 138 may have a charge connector 140 for plugging into a charge port 134 of the vehicle 112. The charge port 134 may be any type of port configured to transfer power from the EVSE 138 to the vehicle 112. The charge port 134 may be electrically coupled to a charger or on-board power conversion module 132. The power conversion module 132 may condition the power supplied from the EVSE 138 to provide the proper voltage and current levels to the traction battery 124. For instance, the power conversion module 132 may be configured to convert an AC current received from the EVSE 138 into a DC current to charge the traction battery 124. The power conversion module 132 may interface with the EVSE 138 to coordinate the delivery of power to the vehicle 112. The EVSE connector 140 may have pins that mate with corresponding recesses of the charge port 134. Alternatively, various components described as being electrically coupled may transfer power using a wireless inductive coupling.
One or more electrical loads 146 may be coupled to the high-voltage bus. The electrical loads 146 may have an associated controller that operates and controls the electrical loads 146 when appropriate. Examples of electrical loads 146 may be a heating module, an air-conditioning module, or the like.
The various components discussed may have one or more associated controllers to control and monitor the operation of the components. The controllers may communicate via a serial bus (e.g., Controller Area Network (CAN)) or via discrete conductors. A system controller 150 may be present to coordinate the operation of the various components. It is noted that the system controller 150 is used as a general term and may include one or more controller devices configured to perform various operations in the present disclosure. For instance, the system controller 150 may be programmed for charging and discharging operations of the traction battery 124. The system controller 150 may be further programmed to enable a communication function with various entities such as the EVSE 138.
The system controller 150 and/or BECM 125, individually or combined, may be programmed to perform various operations with regard to the traction battery 124. The traction battery 124 may be a rechargeable battery made of one or more rechargeable cells (e.g. lithium-ion cells).
As discussed above, the EVSE connector 140 and the charging port 134 may be any type of port configured to transfer power from the EVSE 138 to the vehicle 112. In the present example, the charging port 134 may be a CCS Type 1 connector in support of a combination of SAE J1722 Type 1 port and a DC fast charging (DCFC) port. The CCS connector may support AC charging and DC charging which brings versatility to the vehicle charging options. Conventionally, when the DC fast charging option is available, the vehicle 112 may receive the DC fast charging current via two DC pins of the DC fast charging port. Although the DC charging may be faster compared with the AC charging, due to limited availability of DC fast charging facilities, the AC charging may be more commonly used. Thus, when the EVSE connector 140 is coupled to the charge port 134, only the SAE J1722 AC port is used to supply AC electricity to the vehicle and the DC port is not in operation in the conventional approach.
As illustrated in
The present disclosure proposes a system to modify the utilization of the two DCFC pins of the charge port 134 to receive AC current such that overall AC charging power is increased. More specifically, the present disclosure modifies the operation of the vehicle charge port 134 to utilize the DCFC pins to receive an extra phase of AC current in addition to the 2-phase current discussed above without modifying the physical structure of the charge port 134 or the EVSE connector 140. The modified operation may require a modified power control mechanism of both the EVSE 138 and the vehicle 112. The present disclosure focuses on the vehicle side operation and controls.
Referring to
Although the above description is made with reference to the CCS Type 1 connector, it is noted that the present disclosure is not limited thereto and the present disclosure may be applied to any combination of AC and DC charging connectors under essentially the same concept.
Referring back to
Referring to
If the system controller 150 determines the EVSE 138 supports the DCFC mode, the process proceeds from operation 606 to operation 608 and the system controller 150 commands to close the DC contactors 152 to directly supply the DC current to the traction battery 124 and open the AC contactors 154 to prevent the DC current being supplied to the power conversion module. In one example, both the DC contactors 152 and the AC contactors 154 may be open by default when the vehicle is not being charged. In this case, the system controller 150 may only need to command the DC contactors 152 to close. Responsive to detecting and confirming the DC contactors 152 have been closed, at operation 610, the system controller 150 communicates the contactor status to the EVSE 138 to indicate the vehicle 112 is ready to receive the DC current. In response, the EVSE 138 closes a DCFC contactor and starts to supply DCFC current to the traction battery 124 at operation 612.
If the system controller 150 determines the EVSE 138 supports the 3-phase AC charging mode at operation 606, the process proceeds to operation 614 and the system controller 150 commands to close the AC contactors 154 to supply the 3-phase AC current to the power conversion module 132 and open the DC contactors 152 to separate the modified DC/AC connector 404 from the traction battery 124. At operation 616, responsive to detecting and confirming the AC contactors 154 have been closed, the system controller 150 communicates the contactor status to the EVSE 138 to indicate the vehicle 112 is ready to receive the AC current. At operation 618, the EVSE 138 starts to supply the 3-phase AC current to the vehicle 112.
Additionally or alternatively, the vehicle 112 and/or EVSE 138 may offer the vehicle user with options to select from 2-phase or 3-phase AC charging as well as the corresponding charging power. In some cases, the user may prefer to use the slower 2-phase charging for various reasons such as to extend the life span of the battery 124. Responsive to receiving a user input via an interface, the vehicle 112 and/or EVSE 138 may switch to the corresponding AC charging mode accordingly.
Additionally or alternatively, in the case that the EVSE 138 supports both the DC fast charging mode and the AC 3-phase charging mode, the vehicle 112 and/or the EVSE 138 may offer the user with options to select from the DC or AC charging mode. The different modes of vehicle charging may be associated with different pricing rates. Responsive to receiving a user input via an interface, the vehicle 112 and/or EVSE 138 may switch to the corresponding charging mode accordingly.
The process 600 may be applied to various circuit configurations of the vehicle. Referring to
As discussed above, the charge port 134 may include an AC connector 402 and a modified DC/AC connector 404. The AC connector 402 of the charge port 134 may be directly connected to the power conversion module 132 (onboard charger). More specifically, the first AC line L1, the second AC line L2, the control pilot line CP and the control signal line CS may be directly connected between the charge port 402 and the power conversion module 132 without utilizing a switch or contactor. The modified DC/AC connector 404 may be selectively connected to the power conversion module 132 via the AC contactors 154 and to the traction battery 124 via the DC contactors 152. In the present example, the AC contactors 154 and the DC contactors 152 may be a part of the AC/DC charging circuit 704. It is noted that the DC contactors 152 and the AC contactors 154 may be operated by the controller in a mutually exclusive manner. For instance, when the DC contactors 152 are closed, the AC contactors 154 are configured to open. And vice versus, when the DC contactors 152 are open, the AC contactors 154 are configured to close. Thus, there may not be a situation in which both the DC contactors 152 and the AC contactors 154 are closed at the same time.
Referring to
Referring to
The algorithms, methods, or processes disclosed herein can be deliverable to or implemented by a computer, controller, or processing device, which can include any dedicated electronic control unit or programmable electronic control unit. Similarly, the algorithms, methods, or processes can be stored as data and instructions executable by a computer or controller in many forms including, but not limited to, information permanently stored on non-writable storage media such as read only memory devices and information alterably stored on writeable storage media such as compact discs, random access memory devices, or other magnetic and optical media. The algorithms, methods, or processes can also be implemented in software executable objects. Alternatively, the algorithms, methods, or processes can be embodied in whole or in part using suitable hardware components, such as application specific integrated circuits, field-programmable gate arrays, state machines, or other hardware components or devices, or a combination of firmware, hardware, and software components.
While exemplary embodiments are described above, it is not intended that these embodiments describe all possible forms encompassed by the claims. The words used in the specification are words of description rather than limitation, and it is understood that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. The words processor and processors may be interchanged herein, as may the words controller and controllers.
As previously described, the features of various embodiments may be combined to form further embodiments of the invention that may not be explicitly described or illustrated. While various embodiments could have been described as providing advantages or being preferred over other embodiments or prior art implementations with respect to one or more desired characteristics, those of ordinary skill in the art recognize that one or more features or characteristics may be compromised to achieve desired overall system attributes, which depend on the specific application and implementation. These attributes may include, but are not limited to strength, durability, marketability, appearance, packaging, size, serviceability, weight, manufacturability, ease of assembly, etc. As such, embodiments described as less desirable than other embodiments or prior art implementations with respect to one or more characteristics are not outside the scope of the disclosure and may be desirable for particular applications.
