The present disclosure relates to a power management system and an operating method thereof, and more particularly, to a vehicle power management system and an operating method thereof.
On the basis of regulatory requirements, when a vehicle is parked on the side of a road, it is necessary for the driver to turn off the vehicle engine, so as to prevent the vehicle from continuing emitting exhaust and causing air pollution. However, when the engine is turned off, the vehicle power supply also stops powering an in-vehicle load device (for example, a digital video recorder and a vehicle interior light) mounted in the vehicle, such that the driver becomes incapable of using the in-vehicle load device.
In addition to the above, power needed for operating in-vehicle load devices in the vehicle also needs to be supplied by the vehicle power supply. However, apart from the in-vehicle load devices that need the power of the vehicle power supply, ignition of the vehicle engine also needs power of the vehicle power supply. As the number of in-vehicle load devices mounted in the vehicle increases, the power stored in the vehicle power supply may be quickly depleted, resulting in insufficient power of the vehicle power supply for starting the engine.
A technical problem to be solved by the present disclosure is to provide a vehicle power management system and an operating method thereof for the drawbacks of the prior art.
To solve the above technical problems, a vehicle power management system is provided according to one technical solution of the present disclosure. The vehicle power management system is adapted for a vehicle load device and a vehicle power supply, and includes a control circuit, a charge/discharge circuit and a backup battery. The control circuit is electrically connected to the vehicle power supply and the vehicle load device, and monitors an output voltage of the vehicle power supply and determines according to the output voltage whether a vehicle engine is started. The charge/discharge circuit is electrically connected to the control circuit, the backup battery and the vehicle load device. When the vehicle engine is started, the charge/discharge circuit supplies power of the vehicle power supply to the backup battery and the vehicle load device. When the vehicle engine is not started, the backup battery discharges the charge/discharge circuit and the charge/discharge circuit supplies power of the backup battery to the vehicle load device.
To solve the above technical problems, a vehicle power management system is provided according to another technical solution of the present disclosure. The vehicle power management system is adapted for a vehicle load device, a vehicle power supply and a backup battery. The vehicle power management system includes a control circuit and a charge/discharge circuit. The control circuit is electrically connected to the vehicle power supply and the vehicle load device, and monitors an output voltage of the vehicle power supply and determines according to the output voltage whether a vehicle engine is started. The charge/discharge circuit is electrically connected to the control circuit, the backup battery and the vehicle load device. When the vehicle engine is started, the charge/discharge circuit supplies power of the vehicle power supply to the backup battery and the vehicle load device. When the vehicle engine is not started, the backup battery discharges the charge/discharge circuit and the charge/discharge circuit supplies power of the backup battery to the vehicle load device.
To solve the above technical problems, an operating method of a vehicle power management system is provided according to another technical solution of the present disclosure. The operating method includes: monitoring an output voltage of a vehicle power supply by a control circuit; determining according to the output voltage by the control circuit whether a vehicle engine is started; when the vehicle engine is started, supplying power of a vehicle power supply to a backup battery and a vehicle load device by a charge/discharge circuit; when the vehicle engine is not started, discharging the charge/discharge circuit by the backup battery; and supplying power of the backup battery to the vehicle load device by the charge/discharge circuit.
One beneficial effect of the present disclosure is that, the vehicle power management system and the operating method thereof provided by the present disclosure allow a driver to continue using the vehicle load device mounted in a vehicle when the vehicle engine is turned off. In addition, when the vehicle engine is turned off, the power needed for operating the vehicle load device is completely supplied by the backup battery and the vehicle load device does not at all use power of the vehicle power supply, thus preventing depletion of the power of the vehicle power supply and hence an engine re-start failure caused thereby.
To further understand the features and technical contents of the present disclosure, the present disclosure is described in detail with the accompanying drawings below. It should be noted that the drawings provided are for reference and illustration purposes, and are not to be construed as limitations to the present disclosure.
The implementation related to “a vehicle power management system and an operating method thereof” of the present disclosure are described by way of specific embodiments, and a person skilled in the art would be able to understand the advantages and effects of the present disclosure on the basis of the disclosure of the present application. The disclosure may be implemented or applied by other specific embodiments, and changes and modifications may also be made on the basis of different perspectives and applications to various details in the description without departing from the concept and spirit of the present disclosure. Moreover, it should be noted that the drawings of the present disclosure are depicted in brief for illustration purposes, and are not drawn to actual scales. Technical contents associated with the present disclosure are described in detail below, and it should be noted that the disclosure is not to be construed as limitations to the scope of protection of the present disclosure.
It is understandable that, although terms such as “first”, “second” and “third” are used in the literature to describe various elements or signals, these elements or signals are not to be limited by these terms. These terms are used to differentiate one element from another element, or one signal from another signal. In addition, the term “or” used in the literature may include one or more combinations of related enumerated items depending on actual conditions.
The control circuit 1 is, for example, any one of an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable field gate array (FPGA), a microcontroller unit (MCU) and a system-on-chip (SoC) or a combination thereof, and may coordinate with other related circuit elements and firmware so as to implement the functions below.
The control circuit 1 is set with an allowed input voltage range and a voltage threshold, wherein the voltage threshold is within the allowed input voltage range. The control circuit 1 is capable of continually monitoring or monitoring according to a predetermined cycle an output voltage of the vehicle power supply P. When the control circuit 1 learns that the monitored output voltage of the vehicle power supply P is within the allowed input voltage range and is greater than or equal to the voltage threshold, the control circuit 1 determines according to the output voltage of the vehicle power supply P that a vehicle engine is started. At this point, the control circuit causes the first switch circuit SW1 to be in an on state, so that the charge/discharge circuit 2 can then receive power from the vehicle power supply P.
For example, the allowed input voltage range is predetermined as 6 V to 20 V, and the voltage threshold is predetermined as 10 V. When the control circuit 1 learns that the monitored output voltage of the vehicle power supply P is greater than or equal to 10 V and smaller than or equal to 20 V, the control circuit 1 causes the first switch circuit SW1 to be in an on state.
The control circuit 1 is further set with rated values of a charging voltage and a charging current. When the control circuit 1 determines that the vehicle engine is started, the control circuit 1 sends a control signal to the charge/discharge circuit 2. When the charge/discharge circuit 2 receives the control signal, the charge/discharge circuit 2 supplies power of the vehicle power supply P individually to the backup battery 3 and the vehicle load device L according to the rated values of the charging voltage and the charging current set by the control circuit 1. The status indication device 4 is, for example, multiple light emitting diodes. When the charge/discharge circuit 2 supplies power individually to the backup battery 3 and the vehicle load device L, the light emitting diodes present light in a first color.
For example, assuming that the rated values of the charging voltage and the charging current are predetermined as 14.6 V and 6 A, respectively, it means that a maximum charging voltage and a maximum charging current provided by the charge/discharge circuit 2 for the backup battery 3 and the vehicle load device L can reach 14.6 V and 6 A, respectively.
Conversely, when the control circuit 1 learns that the monitored output voltage of the vehicle power supply P is not within the allowed input voltage range or is smaller than the voltage threshold, the control circuit 1 determines according to the output voltage of the vehicle power supply P that the vehicle engine is not started. At this point, the control circuit causes the first switch circuit SW1 to be in an off state, and sends a control signal to the charge/discharge circuit. Next, the charge/discharge circuit 2 cannot receive power from the vehicle power supply P and the backup battery 3 starts to discharge the charge/discharge circuit 2. Then, the charge/discharge circuit 2 supplies power of the backup battery 3 to the vehicle load device L. The status indication device 4 is, for example, multiple light emitting diodes. When power of the backup battery 3 is supplied to the vehicle load device L, the light emitting diodes present light in a second color.
Moreover, when the control circuit 1 determines that the vehicle engine is not started, the control circuit 1 sends first engine status information to the vehicle load device L, wherein the content of the first engine information indicates that the vehicle engine is started, for the vehicle load device L to learn a current engine status. If the vehicle engine is still not started after a predetermined period of time, the control circuit 1 again sends second engine status information to the vehicle load device L, wherein the content of the second engine information indicates that the vehicle engine is not started, for the vehicle load device L to learn the current engine status.
For example, the allowed input voltage range is predetermined as 6 V to 20 V, and the voltage threshold is predetermined as 10 V. When the control circuit 1 learns that the monitored output voltage of the vehicle power supply P is smaller than 6V or greater than 20 V, the control circuit 1 causes the first switch circuit SW1 to be in an off state. When the control circuit 1 learns that the monitored output voltage of the vehicle power supply P is greater than or equal to 6 V and smaller than 10 V, the control circuit 1 causes the first switch circuit SW1 to be in an off state.
For example, the allowed output voltage range is predetermined as 10 V to 14.6 V. When the control circuit 1 learns that the monitored output voltage of the charge/discharge circuit 2 is greater than or equal to 10 V and smaller than or equal to 14.6 V, the control circuit 1 causes the second switch circuit SW2 to be in an on state so that the vehicle load device L can receive power. When the control circuit 1 learns that the monitored output voltage of the charge/discharge circuit 2 is smaller than 10 V or greater than 14.6 V, the control circuit 1 causes the second switch circuit SW2 to be in an off state so that the vehicle load device L cannot receive power.
As shown in
In step S705, it is determined by the control circuit 1 whether the output voltage of the vehicle power supply P is greater than or equal to a voltage threshold. In step S707, the first switch circuit SW1 connected between the vehicle power supply P and the charge/discharge circuit 2 is caused to be in an off state by the control circuit 1. The method returns to step S701 after step S707.
Step S709 follows when the output voltage of the vehicle power supply P is greater than or equal to the voltage threshold. Step S711 follows when the output voltage of the vehicle power supply P is smaller than the voltage threshold. Specifically, when the control circuit 1 learns that the monitored output voltage of the vehicle power supply P is greater than or equal to the threshold voltage, the control circuit 1 determines that the vehicle engine is started. Conversely, when the control circuit 1 learns that the monitored output voltage of the vehicle power supply P is smaller than the threshold voltage, the control circuit 1 determines that the vehicle engine is not started.
Regarding step S709, the first switch circuit SW1 connected between the vehicle power supply P and the charge/discharge circuit 2 is caused to be in an on state by the control circuit 1. Regarding step S711, the first switch circuit SW1 connected between the vehicle power supply P and the charge/discharge circuit 2 is caused to be in an off state by the control circuit 1. Specifically, when the control circuit 1 determines that the vehicle engine is started, the control circuit 1 causes the first switch circuit SW1 to be in an on state. Conversely, when the control circuit 1 determines that the vehicle engine is not started, the control circuit 1 causes the first switch circuit SW1 to be in an off state.
Step S713 follows after step S709. Regarding step S713, power supplied by the vehicle power supply P is received by the charge/discharge circuit 2.
Step S715 follows after step S711. Regarding step S715, power supplied by the backup battery 3 is received by the charge/discharge circuit 2.
Step S717 follows after step S713. Regarding step S717, power of the vehicle power supply P is supplied to the backup battery 3 and the vehicle load device L by the charge/discharge circuit 2.
Step S719 follows after step S715. Regarding step S719, power of the backup battery 3 is supplied to the vehicle load device L by the charge/discharge circuit 2.
The operating method of the vehicle power management system in
As shown in
Step S825 follows when the power loss of the vehicle load device L is greater than or equal to the power threshold. The method returns to step S817 when the power loss of the vehicle load device L is smaller than the power threshold.
Regarding step S825, the first switch circuit SW1 connected between the vehicle power supply P and the charge/discharge circuit 2 is caused to be in an off state by the control circuit 1. Regarding step S827, power of the backup battery 3 is supplied to the vehicle load device L by the charge/discharge circuit 2.
The operating method of the vehicle power management system in
Step S921 follows after step S917. Step S923 follows after step S919. As shown in
Step S925 and step S927 follow when the output voltage of the charge/discharge circuit 2 is within the allowed output voltage range. Step S929 and step S931 follow when the output voltage of the charge/discharge circuit 2 is not within the allowed output voltage range.
Regarding step S925 and step S927, the second switch circuit SW2 connected between the charge/discharge circuit 2 and the vehicle load device L is caused to be in an on state by the control circuit 1. Regarding step S929 and step S931, the second switch circuit SW2 connected between the charge/discharge circuit 2 and the vehicle load device L is caused to be in an off state by the control circuit 1.
As shown in
Step S935 follows after step S927. Regarding step S935, power of the backup battery 3 is supplied to the vehicle load device L by the charge/discharge circuit 2.
One beneficial effect of the present disclosure is that, the vehicle power management system and the operating method thereof provided by the present disclosure allow a driver to continue using the vehicle load device mounted in a vehicle when the vehicle engine is turned off. In addition, when the vehicle engine is turned off, the power needed for operating the vehicle load device is completely supplied by the backup battery and the vehicle load device does not at all use power of the vehicle power supply, thus preventing depletion of the power of the vehicle power supply and hence an engine re-start failure caused thereby.
The disclosure above is merely preferred feasible embodiments of the present disclosure and is not to be construed as limitations to the scope of claims of the present disclosure. It should be noted that all equivalent technical variations made to the description and the drawings of the present disclosure are to be encompassed within the scope of claims of the present disclosure.
This application is a divisional application of U.S. application Ser. No. 18/180,808, filed on Mar. 8, 2023, which application is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Some references, which may include patents, patent applications and various publications, may be cited and discussed in the description of this disclosure. The citation and/or discussion of such references is provided merely to clarify the description of the present disclosure and is not an admission that any such reference is “prior art” to the disclosure described herein. All references cited and discussed in this specification are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties and to the same extent as if each reference was individually incorporated by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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63420467 | Oct 2022 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 18180808 | Mar 2023 | US |
Child | 18805492 | US |