Method of operating a three phase primary winding structure and a primary unit

• US 10,186,905 B2
• Filed: 11/18/2014
• Issued: 01/22/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/19/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bombardier Primove Gmbh
• Original Assignee: Bombardier Primove Gmbh
• Inventors: Woronowicz, Konrad, Czainski, Robert, Anders, Dominik, Safaee, Alireza
• Primary Examiner(s): Fureman, Jared
• Assistant Examiner(s): Barnett, Joel
• Application Number:
  US15/037,569
• Publication Number:
  US 20160301250A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,526 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2200/26 Rail vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2210/30 AC to DC 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 53/122 Circuits or methods for driving the primary coil, e.g. supplying electric power to the coil
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/126 Methods for pairing a vehicle and a charging station, e.g. establishing a one-to-one relation between a wireless power transmitter and a wireless power receiver
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/22 Constructional details or arrangements of charging converters specially adapted for charging electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60M 7/003 for vehicles using stored power (e.g. charging stations)
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/10 using inductive coupling
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 7/537 using semiconductor devices only, e.g. single switched pulse inverters
• 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 90/12 Electric charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/14 Plug-in electric vehicles

Abstract

The invention relates to a method of operating a three phase primary winding structure of a system for inductive power transfer, wherein the primary winding structure includes a first phase line, a second phase line and a third phase line, wherein in a standard operational mode a first phase input voltage, a second phase input voltage and a third phase input voltage are controlled such that a predetermined phase shift between all three phase input voltages is provided, wherein in a modified operational mode the first phase input voltage, the second phase input voltage and the third phase input voltage are controlled such that the set of phase shift values includes at most two non-zero values and all non-zero phase shift values are equal. Furthermore, the invention relates to a primary unit of a system for inductive power transfer.

Claims

1. A method of operating a three phase primary winding structure of a system for inductive power transfer, the method comprising:

providing a primary winding structure comprising a first phase line, a second phase line and a third phase line;

controlling, with a control unit and in a standard operational mode, a first phase input voltage, a second phase input voltage and a third phase input voltage such that a predetermined phase shift value between all three phase input voltages is provided; and

controlling, with the control unit and in a modified operational mode, the first phase input voltage, the second phase input voltage and the third phase input voltage such that a set of phase shift values comprises at most two non-zero values and all non-zero phase shift values are equal,

wherein controlling the first phase input voltage, the second phase input voltage, and the third phase input voltage in the modified operational mode comprises;

reducing one of the first phase input voltage, the second phase input voltage, or the third phase input voltage to zero; and

adjusting a phase shift value between the phase input voltages that are not reduced to zero;

generating a current in the primary winding structure that is greater than a current in the primary winding structure during the standard operational mode.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein reducing one of the first phase input voltage, the second phase input voltage, or the third phase input voltage to zero comprises:

switching off one of the first phase input voltage, the second phase input voltage, or the third phase input voltage to zero.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising controlling the phase input voltages that are not reduced to zero such that the non-zero phase shift value is 180°

phase angle.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising controlling two of the three phase input voltages such that their respective voltage curves are equal.

5. The method according to claim 4, further comprising shifting a phase angle of at least one of the two phase input voltages that are not reduced to zero by a multiple of +/−

60°

phase angle.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising varying a frequency of at least one phase input voltage.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising controlling the phase input voltages such that a predetermined secondary output power is provided.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising controlling the phase input voltages such that a current-voltage-curve of each of the phase lines is of non-capacitive character.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising controlling the phase input voltages such that a maximal DC primary-sided input voltage is smaller than or equal to a predefined threshold value.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising controlling the phase input voltages such that phase currents are minimized.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising controlling the first, the second and the third phase input voltage by a three-phase inverter;

and controlling switching states of the switching elements of the inverter such that the desired first phase input voltage, the desired second phase input voltage and the desired third phase input voltage is provided.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising adapting the control of the first, the second and the third phase input voltage to a geometric alignment of the primary winding structure and a secondary winding structure.

13. A primary unit of a system for inductive power transfer, wherein the primary unit comprises a three phase primary winding structure with a first phase line, a second phase line and a third phase line, wherein the primary unit further comprises:

at least one control unit for controlling a first phase input voltage, a second phase input voltage and a third phase input voltage; and

wherein in a standard operational mode the first phase input voltage, the second phase input voltage and the third phase input voltage are controllable such that a predetermined phase shift between all three phase input voltages is provided; and

wherein in a modified operational mode the first phase input voltage, the second phase input voltage and the third phase input voltage are controllable such that the set of phase shift values comprises at most two non-zero values and all non-zero phase shift values are equal;

wherein in the modified operational mode, the control unit reduces one of the first phase input voltage, the second phase input voltage, or the third phase input voltage to zero, adjusts a phase shift value between the phase input voltages that are not reduced to zero, and causes a current to be generated in the primary winding structure that is greater than a current in the primary winding structure during the standard operational mode.

14. The primary unit according to claim 13, wherein the primary unit comprises a three-phase inverter, wherein the first, the second and the third phase input voltage are providable by the three-phase inverter, wherein switching states of the switching elements of the inverter are controllable such that the desired first phase input voltage, the desired second phase input voltage and the desired third phase input voltage is provided.

15. A method of operating a three phase primary winding structure of a system for inductive power transfer, the method comprising:

providing a primary winding structure comprising a first phase line, a second phase line, and a third phase line;

controlling, with a control unit and in a standard operational mode, a first phase input voltage, a second phase input voltage, and a third phase input voltage such that a predetermined phase shift between all three phase input voltages is provided;

controlling, with the control unit and in a modified operational mode, the first phase input voltage, the second phase input voltage, and the third phase input voltage such that the set of phase shift values comprises at most two non-zero values and all non-zero phase shift values are equal;

varying a frequency of at least one phase input voltage;

adapting the frequency/frequencies of the phase input voltage(s) to a resonant frequency of a virtual single phase line; and

providing the virtual single phase line between the input terminals of the phase input voltages which provide the non-zero phase shift value(s).