Battery Charging Control Methods, Electric Vehicle Charging Methods, Battery Charging Apparatuses And Rechargeable Battery Systems

• US 20100289451A1
• Filed: 05/15/2009
• Published: 11/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Battelle Memorial Institute
• Original Assignee: Battelle Memorial Institute
• Inventors: Kintner-Meyer, Michael C.W., Tuffner, Francis K., Hammerstrom, Donald J., Pratt, Richard M.
• Granted Patent: US 8,183,826 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 320/109
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/80 Time limits
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2250/12 by confirmation, e.g. of the input
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/14 Conductive energy transfer
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/305 Communication interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/63 in response to network capacity
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/12 responding to state of charge [SoC]
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/34 Parallel operation in networks using both storage and other dc sources, e.g. providing buffering H02J7/14 takes precedence
• 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 90/12 Electric charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/14 Plug-in electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/16 Information or communication technologies improving the operation of 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

Battery charging control methods, electric vehicle charging methods, battery charging apparatuses and rechargeable battery systems are described. According to one aspect, a battery charging control method includes accessing information regarding a presence of at least one of a surplus and a deficiency of electrical energy upon an electrical power distribution system at a plurality of different moments in time, and using the information, controlling an adjustment of an amount of the electrical energy provided from the electrical power distribution system to a rechargeable battery to charge the rechargeable battery.

Claims

1. A battery charging control method comprising:

accessing information regarding a presence of at least one of a surplus and a deficiency of electrical energy upon an electrical power distribution system at a plurality of different moments in time; and

using the information, controlling an adjustment of an amount of the electrical energy provided from the electrical power distribution system to a rechargeable battery to charge the rechargeable battery.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the accessing comprises monitoring an electrical characteristic of the electrical energy provided from the electrical power distribution system.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the monitoring comprises monitoring the electrical characteristic of the electrical energy comprising frequency, and further comprising comparing the frequency of the electrical energy with respect to a nominal frequency of the electrical power distribution system, and wherein the controlling comprises controlling the amount of the electrical energy provided from the electrical power distribution system to charge the rechargeable battery as a result of the comparing.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the accessing comprises receiving the information from the electrical power distribution system.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the controlling comprises controlling an increase in the amount of the electrical energy provided from the electrical power distribution system to charge the rechargeable battery as a result of the information indicating that the surplus of electrical energy exists on the electrical power distribution system.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising detecting that the surplus of the electrical energy exceeds a threshold, and wherein the controlling comprises controlling the adjustment of the amount of the electrical energy provided from the electrical power distribution system to the rechargeable battery to be a maximum amount as a result of the detecting the surplus of the electrical energy exceeding the threshold.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the controlling comprises controlling a decrease in the amount of the electrical energy provided from the electrical power distribution system to charge the rechargeable battery as a result of the information indicating that the deficiency of electrical energy exists on the electrical power distribution system.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising detecting that the deficiency of the electrical energy exceeds a threshold, and wherein the controlling comprises controlling the adjustment of the amount of the electrical energy provided from the electrical power distribution system to the rechargeable battery to be a minimum amount as a result of the detecting the deficiency of the electrical energy exceeding the threshold.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

accessing a desired point in time in the future for the rechargeable battery to reach a desired state of charge;

monitoring a remaining amount of time until the desired point in time; and

controlling the adjustment of the amount of the electrical energy provided from the electrical power distribution system to charge the rechargeable battery as a result of the monitoring of the remaining amount of time.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing electrical energy to an electric vehicle which comprises the rechargeable battery.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising monitoring a rate of charging of the rechargeable battery and controlling the adjustment of the amount of the electrical energy provided from the electrical power distribution system to charge the rechargeable battery as a result of the monitoring the rate of charging of the rechargeable battery.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the controlling comprises controlling the adjustment of the amount of the electrical energy at a plurality of different moments in time during a common charge cycle of the rechargeable battery, and wherein the controlling further comprises controlling an increase of the amount of the electrical energy provided from the electrical power distribution system to the rechargeable battery at a first of the moments in time of the common charge cycle and controlling a decrease in the amount of electrical energy provided from the electrical power distribution system to the rechargeable battery at a second of the moments in time of the common charge cycle.

13. An electric vehicle charging method comprising:

coupling an electrical vehicle having a depleted state of charge with an electrical power distribution system;

charging the electrical vehicle using electrical energy from the electrical power distribution system;

monitoring an electrical characteristic of the electrical energy from the electrical power distribution system; and

adjusting an amount of the electrical energy provided from the electrical power distribution system to charge the electrical vehicle as a result of the monitoring.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the monitoring comprises monitoring passively at the location of the electrical vehicle without data communications to the electrical power distribution system.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein the monitoring comprises monitoring the electrical characteristic of the electrical energy comprising frequency, and further comprising comparing the frequency of the electrical energy with respect to a nominal frequency of the electrical power distribution system, and wherein the adjusting comprises adjusting the amount of the electrical energy provided from the electrical power distribution system to charge the rechargeable battery as a result of the comparing.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the adjusting comprises increasing the amount of the electrical energy provided from the electrical power distribution system to charge the rechargeable battery at a first moment in time as a result of the comparing detecting that the frequency of the electrical energy is greater than a nominal frequency at the first moment in time, and decreasing the amount of the electrical energy provided from the electrical power distribution system to charge the rechargeable battery at a second moment in time as a result of the comparing detecting that the frequency of the electrical energy is less than the nominal frequency at the second moment in time.

17. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

monitoring a remaining amount of time until the a desired point in time in the future for the electric vehicle to have a desired state of charge; and

adjusting of the amount of the electrical energy provided from the electrical power distribution system to charge the electrical vehicle as a result of the monitoring of the remaining amount of time.

18. A battery charging apparatus comprising:

processing circuitry configured to access information indicating at least one of a surplus and a deficiency of electrical energy upon the electrical power distribution system and to control an adjustment of an amount of electrical energy provided from the electrical power distribution system to a rechargeable battery to charge the rechargeable battery using the information.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the processing circuitry is configured to monitor an electrical characteristic of the electrical energy received from the electrical power distribution system to access the information.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein the processing circuitry is configured to monitor the electrical characteristic of the electrical energy comprising frequency, to compare the frequency of the electrical energy with respect to a nominal frequency of the electrical power distribution system, and to control the adjustment of amount of the electrical energy provided from the electrical power distribution system to charge the rechargeable battery as a result of the comparison.

21. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the processing circuitry is configured to control an increase in the amount of the electrical energy provided from the electrical power distribution system to charge the rechargeable battery as a result of the information indicating that the surplus of electrical energy exists on the electrical power distribution system at a first moment in time and to control a decrease in the amount of the electrical energy provided from the electrical power distribution system to charge the rechargeable battery as a result of the information indicating that the deficiency of electrical energy exists on the electrical power distribution system at a second moment in time.

22. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein the processing circuitry is configured to control the adjustment of the amount of the electrical energy provided from the electrical power distribution system to the rechargeable battery to be a maximum amount as a result of the surplus of the electrical energy exceeding a first threshold and to control the adjustment of the amount of the electrical energy provided from the electrical power distribution system to the rechargeable battery to be a minimum amount as a result of the deficiency of the electrical energy exceeding a second threshold.

23. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the processing circuitry is configured to access a desired point in time in the future for the rechargeable battery to have a desired state of charge, to monitor a remaining amount of time until the desired point in time, and to control the adjustment of the amount of the electrical energy provided from the electrical power distribution system to charge the rechargeable battery as a result of the monitoring of the remaining amount of time.

24. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the processing circuitry is configured to monitor a rate of charging of the rechargeable battery and to control the adjustment of the amount of the electrical energy provided from the electrical power distribution system to charge the rechargeable battery as a result of the monitoring of the rate of charging of the rechargeable battery.

25. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the processing circuitry is configured to control the adjustment of the amount of the electrical energy provided from the electrical power distribution system to the rechargeable battery at a plurality of different moments in time during a common charge cycle of the rechargeable battery, and wherein the processing circuitry is configured to control an increase of the amount of the electrical energy provided from the electrical power distribution system to the rechargeable battery at a first of the moments in time of the common charge cycle and to control a decrease in the amount of electrical energy provided from the electrical power distribution system to the rechargeable battery at a second of the moments in time of the common charge cycle.

26. A rechargeable battery system comprising:

a charger coupled with an electrical power distribution system and configured to provide electrical energy from the electrical power distribution system to a rechargeable battery to charge the rechargeable battery; and

processing circuitry configured to monitor for a presence of at least one of a surplus and a deficit of electrical energy upon the electrical power distribution system and to control the charger to adjust an amount of the electrical energy provided from the electrical power distribution system to the rechargeable battery as a result of the monitoring detecting the presence of the at least one of the surplus and the deficit of the electrical energy upon the electrical power distribution system.

27. The system of claim 26 wherein the processing circuitry is configured to monitor for the presence of the at least one of the surplus and the deficit passively at the location of the rechargeable battery system without data communications to the electrical power distribution system.

28. The system of claim 27 wherein the processing circuitry is configured to monitor an electrical characteristic of the electrical energy to monitor for the presence of the at least one of the surplus and the deficit of electrical energy.

29. The system of claim 26 wherein the processing circuitry is configured to monitor an electrical characteristic of the electrical energy comprising frequency to monitor for the presence of the at least one of the surplus and the deficit of electrical energy, to compare the frequency of the electrical energy with respect to a nominal frequency of the electrical power distribution system, and to control the charger to adjust the amount of the electrical energy provided from the electrical power distribution system to charge the rechargeable battery as a result of the comparison.

30. The system of claim 29 wherein the processing circuitry is configured to control the charger to provide an increase in the amount of the electrical energy provided from the electrical power distribution system to charge the rechargeable battery at a first moment in time as a result of the comparison detecting that the frequency is greater than a nominal frequency of the electrical power distribution system at the first moment in time, and to control the charger to provide a decrease in the amount of the electrical energy provided from the electrical power distribution system to charge the rechargeable battery at a second moment in time as a result of the comparison detecting that the frequency is less than the nominal frequency at the second moment in time.

31. The system of claim 26 wherein the processing circuitry is configured to monitor a remaining amount of time until the a desired point in time in the future for the rechargeable battery to have a desired state of charge, and to control the charger to adjust the amount of the electrical energy provided from the electrical power distribution system to charge the rechargeable battery as a result of the monitoring of the remaining amount of time.

32. The system of claim 26 further comprising the rechargeable battery.

33. The system of claim 26 wherein the charger is configured to provide the electrical energy to the rechargeable battery of an electrical vehicle.