VEHICLE BI-DIRECTIONAL POWER INVERTER SYSTEM AND METHOD

• US 20110204851A1
• Filed: 02/25/2010
• Published: 08/25/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Automotive Systems Company of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Automotive Systems Company of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Manotas, Jesus JR.
• Granted Patent: US 9,545,851 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 320/128
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2210/30 AC to DC converters
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/14 Conductive energy transfer
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/22 Constructional details or arrangements of charging converters specially adapted for charging electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/305 Communication interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/63 in response to network capacity
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/65 involving identification of vehicles or their battery types
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/665 Methods related to measuring, billing or payment
• 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: H02J 3/322 the battery being on-board an electric or hybrid vehicle, e.g. vehicle to grid arrangements [V2G], power aggregation, use of the battery for network load balancing, coordinated or cooperative battery charging
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/38 Arrangements for parallely feeding a single network by two or more generators, converters or transformers
• 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: Y02T 90/167 Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies for supporting the interoperability of electric or hybrid vehicles, i.e. smartgrids as interface for battery charging of electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV]
• 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]
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 30/14 Details associated with the interoperability, e.g. vehicle recognition, authentication, identification or billing

Abstract

An exemplary embodiment of the present invention provides a bi-directional inverter of a vehicle. The bi-directional inverter may include an alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC) inverter configured to receive AC power from a power grid and generate DC power on a DC bus operatively coupled to a vehicle battery. The bi-directional inverter may also include a DC to AC inverter configured to receive DC power from the DC bus and generate AC power delivered to the power grid. The bi-directional inverter may also include an energy management system operatively coupled to the AC to DC inverter and the DC to AC inverter and configured to selectively operate the bi-directional inverter in a charging mode or a generation mode. Additionally, the bi-directional inverter may include a power line communications (PLC) coupler configured to transfer electronic data between the energy management system and a power plant network through the power grid.

Claims

1. A bi-directional inverter of a vehicle, comprising:

an alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC) inverter configured to receive AC power from a power grid and generate DC power on a DC bus operatively coupled to a vehicle battery;

a DC to AC inverter configured to receive DC power from the DC bus and generate AC power delivered to the power grid;

an energy management system operatively coupled to the AC to DC inverter and the DC to AC inverter and configured to selectively operate the bi-directional inverter in a charging mode or a generation mode; and

a power line communications (PLC) coupler configured to transfer electronic data between the energy management system and a power plant network through the power grid.

2. The bi-directional inverter of claim 1, comprising a second PLC coupler communicatively coupled to a vehicle network, the vehicle network configured to receive electronic communications from the power plant network through the power grid.

3. The bi-directional inverter of claim 2, comprising a user interface operatively coupled to the vehicle network and configured to enable a user to interface with the energy management system.

4. The bi-directional inverter of claim 3, wherein interfacing with the energy management system comprises generating a charge/generation schedule based, at least in part, on an electricity rate provided by the power plant network through the power grid and storing the charge/generation schedule to the energy management system.

5. The bi-directional inverter of claim 2, wherein the electronic communications between the power plant network, the vehicle network, and the energy management system are conducted through a TCP/IP-based communications protocol.

6. The bi-directional inverter of claim 1, wherein the energy management system is configured to automatically generate a charge/generation schedule based, at least in part, on electricity rates received from the power plant network through the power grid.

7. The bi-directional inverter of claim 1, wherein an input of the AC to DC inverter is operatively coupled to a vehicle AC generator electrically that is coupled in series between the power grid and the AC to DC inverter and configured to power the DC bus through the AC to DC inverter.

8. The bi-directional inverter of claim 1, wherein the DC to AC inverter comprises a switched-mode power supply configured to generate a sinusoidal output waveform.

9. A vehicle comprising:

a battery configured to provide power to at least one vehicle system;

an AC to DC inverter configured to receive AC power from a power grid and generate DC power on a DC bus;

a DC to AC inverter configured to receive DC power from the DC bus and generate AC power delivered to the power grid;

an energy management system operatively coupled to the AC to DC inverter and the DC to AC inverter and configured to selectively operate the bi-directional inverter in a charging mode or a generation mode;

wherein the energy management system is configured to communicate with a power plant network through the power grid.

10. The vehicle of claim 9, comprising a vehicle network communicatively coupled to the power grid for communicating with the power plant network and the energy management system.

11. The vehicle of claim 10, comprising a first PLC coupler configured to transfer electronic data between the energy management system and the power grid and a second PLC coupler configured to transfer electronic data between the vehicle network and the power grid.

12. The vehicle of claim 10, wherein the electronic communications between the power plant network, the vehicle network, and the energy management system are conducted through a TCP/IP-based communications protocol.

13. The vehicle of claim 10, comprising a user interface communicatively coupled to the vehicle network wherein the user interface may be used to initiate the charging mode and the generation mode through the energy management system.

14. The vehicle of claim 13, wherein the user interface is configured to display information received from the power plant network, the information including an electricity rate schedule.

15. The vehicle of claim 10, wherein a global positioning system (GPS) navigation system is communicatively coupled to the vehicle network and configured to send travel data to the energy management system, wherein the energy management system is configured to automatically determine a charge/generation schedule, based, at least in part, on the travel data.

16. A method of managing power usage in a vehicle comprising:

receiving electronic data from a power plant network through a power grid; and

switching a power system of the vehicle to a generation mode or charging mode based, at least in part, on the electronic communications received from the power plant network through the power grid;

wherein the generation mode causes the vehicle to draw DC electrical power from a vehicle battery and generate an AC output power delivered to the power grid; and

wherein the charging mode causes the vehicle to draw AC electrical power from the power grid and generate DC electrical power for charging the vehicle battery.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein receiving electronic data comprises receiving an electricity rate from the power plant network.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein receiving electronic data comprises receiving an instruction from the power plant network instructing the power system of the vehicle to initiate or terminate a charge mode or generation mode depending, at least in part, on a combined electrical demand on the power grid.

19. The method of claim 16, comprising determining a charge/generation schedule based, at least in part, on an electricity rate schedule provided by the power plant network through the power grid.

20. The method of claim 16, comprising switching a power system of the vehicle to a generation mode or charging mode based, at least in part, on input provided by a user through a user interface communicatively coupled to the power grid.