Modular power electronics system for charging an electrically operated vehicle

• US 10,391,870 B2
• Filed: 12/06/2017
• Issued: 08/27/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dr Ing hc F Porsche AG (Volkswagen AG)
• Original Assignee: Dr Ing hc F Porsche AG (Volkswagen AG)
• Inventors: Gotz, Stefan, Reber, Volker
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhou, Zixuan
• Application Number:
  US15/833,010
• Publication Number:
  US 20180162229A1
• Time in Patent Office: 629 Days
• Field of Search: 320109, 701 22
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2210/10 DC to DC converters
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2210/30 AC to DC converters
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 3/00 Electric devices on electrically-propelled vehicles for safety purposes; Monitoring operating variables, e.g. speed, deceleration or energy consumption methods or circuit arrangements for monitoring or controlling batteries or fuel cells B60L58/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 3/0092 with use of redundant elements for safety purposes
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/11 DC charging controlled by the charging station, e.g. mode 4
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/22 Constructional details or arrangements of charging converters specially adapted for charging electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/30 Constructional details of charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/62 in response to charging parameters, e.g. current, voltage or electrical charge
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/13 Maintaining the SoC within a determined range
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/19 Switching between serial connection and parallel connection of battery modules
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/21 having the same nominal voltage
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2207/20 Charging or discharging characterised by the power electronics converter
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2207/40 adapted for charging from various sources, e.g. AC, DC or multivoltage
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/48 for electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV]
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0013 acting upon several batteries simultaneously or sequentially H02J7/1423 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0042 characterised by the mechanical construction
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/02 for charging batteries from ac mains by converters
• 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

A power electronics system for charging at least one electrically operated vehicle, wherein the power electronics system has at least two modules each having at least one terminal pair with DC output, at least one rectifier, at least one AC input, at least one DC link and a number of switching elements the switching elements are arranged at and/or between the DC outputs of the at least two modules in such a way that, between the at least two modules, at least one series and one parallel circuit configuration can be selectively dynamically set by suitable switching states of the switching elements.

Claims

1. A power electronics system for charging at least one electrically operated vehicle, the power electronics system comprising:

at least two modules, each module having at least one terminal pair with DC output, at least one rectifier, at least one AC input, at least one DC link, and switching elements having switching states, the switching elements arranged between the DC outputs of the at least two modules such that, between the at least two modules, at least one series and one parallel circuit configuration is selectively dynamically set by the switching states of the switching elements,

wherein;

the switching elements include an inner switching element connected between a respective terminal pair of the at least two modules;

for each module, the switching elements include a respective pair of outer switching elements connected to the respective terminal pair of each module,

when the inner switching element and the respective pair of outer switching elements are closed, the at least two modules are connected in the series circuit configuration, and

when all of the outer switching elements are closed and the inner switching element is open, the at least two modules are connected in the parallel circuit configuration.

2. The power electronics system as claimed in claim 1, which further comprises at least one high-voltage device.

3. The power electronics system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the switching elements are arranged at least one of at or between the respective terminal pairs of the at least two modules.

4. The power electronics system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the respective DC outputs of the at least two modules are connected selectively to the switching elements so as to form at least one charging point for charging the at least one electrically operated vehicle.

5. The power electronics system as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least one module of the at least two modules is at least one of controlled or regulated within at least one of a specific voltage or current range.

6. The power electronics system as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the at least two modules further comprises a rectifier.

7. The power electronics system as claimed in claim 6, wherein at least one of the at least two modules further comprises at least one DC/DC converter connected in series with the respective rectifier of the at least one module.

8. The power electronics system as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the at least two modules comprises a DC/DC converter, and wherein the DC/DC converters of the at least two modules are fed by at least one common rectifier.

9. The power electronics system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the respective at least one rectifier is DC-isolating.

10. The power electronics system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the power electronics system is configured such that each of the modules is connected to a DC-isolating transformer by the at least one AC connection.

11. The power electronics system as claimed in claim 7, wherein the respective at least one DC/DC converter of the at least one module is DC-isolating.

12. The power electronics system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the power electronics system is configured to connect the DC-isolating transformer to the respective AC connection of the respective modules by respective undervoltage taps.

13. The power electronics system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least two modules includes more than two modules, wherein each of the modules is interconnected with one another in a reconfigurable manner in series, in parallel, or in mixed series-parallel.

14. The power electronics system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the power electronics system is configured, at an approximately constant output power, to provide either a peak voltage at rated current or a reduced voltage at a correspondingly increased current depending on requirements by corresponding switching of the switching elements.

15. The power electronics system as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the switching elements is configured to enable reconfiguration of the power electronics system without interruption by changing the interconnection of the switching elements with one another during operation.

16. The power electronics system as claimed in claim 15, wherein the at least a portion of the switching elements comprises disconnectable switching elements.

17. The power electronics system as claimed in claim 16, wherein the disconnectable switching elements are disconnectable semiconductor switches.

18. The power electronics system as claimed in claim 17, wherein the disconnectable semiconductor switches are insulated-gate bipolar transistors of field effect transistors.

19. The power electronics system as claimed in claim 1, wherein reconfiguration of the power electronics system is realized without power by changing the interconnection of the switching elements with one another.

20. The power electronics system as claimed in claim 6, wherein the rectifiers of the respective modules is passive and comprises windings that are offset with respect to one another to improve voltage quality by reducing total harmonic distortion (THD).

21. The power electronics system as claimed in claim 1, wherein, in the event of a fault in one of the at least two modules, the faulty module is isolated or charge current bypasses the faulty module, respectively, by setting the switching states of the respective switching elements.

22. The power electronics system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

at least one redundancy module, which, in the event of a failure of one of the at least two modules, functionally replaces the faulty module by changing the switching states of the respective switching elements.

23. The power electronics system as claimed in claim 1, wherein respective clockings of the individual modules are offset either asynchronously or in a targeted manner against one another such that the offset emulates a higher effective switching rate.

24. A method for charging at least one electrically operated vehicle, wherein a power electronics system as claimed in claim 1 is used.

25. The method as claimed in claim 24, wherein the power electronics system is fed with a medium voltage by a transformer connected in between included with DC isolation.