Energy generation and storage system with electric vehicle charging capability

• US 10,183,583 B2
• Filed: 10/07/2016
• Issued: 01/22/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/03/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tesla Inc.
• Original Assignee: SolarCity Corporation (Tesla Inc.)
• Inventors: Narla, Sandeep
• Primary Examiner(s): Tso, Edward
• Application Number:
  US15/288,906
• Publication Number:
  US 20180037121A1
• Time in Patent Office: 837 Days
• Field of Search: 320104, 320107, 320114, 320128, 320140, 320101
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 1/04 of the electric storage means for propulsion exchanging batteries for electric propulsion of vehicles B60L53/80; for auxiliary purposes only B60R16/04; supplying batteries to, or removing batteries from, vehicles B60S5/06
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2210/10 DC to DC converters
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2210/40 DC to AC converters
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/00 Methods of charging batteries, specially adapted for electric vehicles; Charging stations or on-board charging equipment therefor; Exchange of energy storage elements in electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/20 characterised by converters located in the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/51 Photovoltaic means
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/53 Batteries
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 55/00 Arrangements for supplying energy stored within a vehicle to a power network, i.e. vehicle-to-grid [V2G] arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 8/003 Converting light into electric energy, e.g. by using photo-voltaic systems
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2300/24 of photovoltaic origin
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/38 Arrangements for parallely feeding a single network by two or more generators, converters or transformers
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/381 Dispersed generators
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/35 with light sensitive cells
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 9/061 for DC powered loads
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 3/04 by static converters
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 7/44 by static converters
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 7/48 using discharge tubes with control electrode or semiconductor devices with control electrode
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 10/10 Photovoltaic [PV]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 10/56 Power conversion systems, e.g. maximum power point trackers
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/00 Enabling technologies; Technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to GHG emissions mitigation
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/70 : Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/7072 : Electromobility specific charging systems or methods for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/72 : Electric energy management in electromobility
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/92 : Energy efficient charging or discharging systems for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors specially adapted for vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/12 : Electric charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/14 : Plug-in electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 10/126 : the energy generation units being or involving electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV], i.e. power aggregation of EV or HEV, vehicle to grid arrangements [V2G]

Abstract

An inverter includes a battery pack connection for supplying energy to or receiving energy from a photovoltaic string, a battery pack, an AC grid connection for supplying power to or receiving power from an AC grid, a connection for supplying power to a home back-up load, an electric vehicle connection for supplying to and receiving power from an electric vehicle (EV) battery, and a control input configured to receive one or more control signals for controlling the flow of power within the inverter. The inverter, under the control of the one or more control signals, converts power received from one of different power sources and provides the converted power to charge a battery of the EV.

Claims

1. An inverter comprising:

a battery pack connection for supplying energy to or receiving energy from a battery pack;

an AC grid connection for supplying power to or receiving power from an AC grid;

a connection for supplying power to a home back-up load;

an electric vehicle connection for supplying to and receiving power from an electric vehicle (EV) battery; and

a control input configured to receive one or more control signals for controlling the flow of power within the inverter,

wherein the inverter, under the control of the one or more control signals, inverts power received from the battery pack and provides the inverted power to the electrical vehicle connection to charge the EV battery.

2. The inverter of claim 1 wherein the inverter is a storage inverter that further comprises a DC/DC buck-boost stage configured to couple to the battery pack, and a DC/AC inverter configured to selectively couple to a PV inverter, to the AC grid and to the home back-up load.

3. The inverter of claim 2 wherein the storage inverter comprises a DC car port coupled to the DC/DC buck-boost stage and configured to supply DC power to and receive DC power from the EV battery.

4. The inverter of claim 1 wherein the inverter is a hybrid inverter that further comprises a first DC/DC buck-boost stage configured to couple to one or more PV strings, and a DC/AC inverter configured to selectively couple to the AC grid, to the home back-up load, and to the EV battery under the control of the one or more control signals.

5. The inverter of claim 4 wherein the hybrid inverter further comprises a second DC/DC buck-boost stage coupled between the first DC/DC buck-boost stage and the battery pack and configured to supply power to the battery pack or receive power from the battery pack.

6. The inverter of claim 5 wherein the hybrid inverter further comprises a DC car port connection coupled to the second DC/DC buck-boost stage and configured to supply DC power to or receive DC power from the EV battery.

7. A system for energy conversion with electric vehicle charging capability, the system comprising:

a photovoltaic (PV) inverter configured to receive DC power provided by a photovoltaic (PV) array and to generate AC power;

a storage inverter coupled to the PV inverter, the storage inverter comprising;

a battery pack connection for supplying energy to or receiving energy from a battery pack;

an AC grid connection for supplying power to or receiving power from an AC grid;

a connection for supplying power to a home back-up load;

an electric vehicle connection for supplying power to or receiving power from an electric vehicle (EV) battery; and

a controller for generating one or more control signal to control the flow of power through both the PV inverter and the storage inverter,

wherein the system, under the control of the one or more control signals, converts power received from one of a PV string and the battery pack to AC power and provides the converted power to the electric vehicle connection to charge the EV battery.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the storage inverter further comprises:

a buck-boost stage coupled to the battery pack;

a bidirectional DC-AC inverter coupled to the PV inverter and configured to;

convert the AC power received from the PV inverter to DC output power to charge the battery pack through the buck-boost stage, and

convert DC power received from the battery pack to AC power and selectively provide the AC power to the home back-up load and the AC grid; and

a DC link coupled between the buck-boost stage and the bidirectional DC-AC inverter.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the storage inverter further comprises a DC connection coupled to the buck-boost stage and configured to directly DC charge the EV battery.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the DC connection is coupled to the DC link.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the bidirectional DC-AC inverter is coupled to the EV battery through the electric vehicle connection.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the battery pack is integrated in the storage inverter.

13. The system of claim 7, wherein the storage inverter further comprises a plurality of switches configured to set the system into a plurality of operation modes under the one or more control signals provided by the controller.