HYBRID WORKING MACHINE HAVING BATTERY PROTECTING FUNCTION

• US 20110254513A1
• Filed: 04/12/2011
• Published: 10/20/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/14/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kobelco Construction Machinery Company Limited (Kobe Steel Limited)
• Original Assignee: Kobelco Construction Machinery Company Limited (Kobe Steel Limited)
• Inventors: KAGOSHIMA, Masayuki
• Granted Patent: US 8,421,415 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 320/162
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 6/48 Parallel type
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/26 for electrical energy, e.g. batteries or capacitors
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/30 including control of auxiliary equipment, e.g. air-conditioning compressors or oil pumps
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 20/13 in order to stay within battery power input or output limits; in order to prevent overcharging or battery depletion
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/18054 at stand still, e.g. engine in idling state hill holding B60W30/18118
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/1888 Control of power take off [PTO]
• CPC Class Codes: E02F 9/2075 of the hybrid type for vehicles in general B60W20/00
• CPC Class Codes: E02F 9/2091 Control of energy storage means for electrical energy, e.g. battery or capacitors energy recovery arrangements in hydraulic or pneumatic drives E02F9/2217
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/62 Hybrid vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/92 Energy efficient charging or discharging systems for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors specially adapted for vehicles

Abstract

Provided is a hybrid working machine capable of performing battery charging control both for a working period and a standby period. The hybrid working machine includes a hydraulic actuator, an engine, a hydraulic pump driven by the engine to supply hydraulic fluid to the hydraulic actuator, a battery, a generator motor connected to the engine to serve as a generator by an output power of the engine to charge the battery and serve as a motor for assisting the engine by supply of an electric power from the battery, a battery monitor detecting a battery SOC, a controller which controls a charging power of the battery depending on the battery SOC, and a working state detector detecting a working state as information for discriminating between a working period during which the hydraulic actuator is actuated and a standby period during which the hydraulic actuator is not actuated. The controller limits the charging power in the standby period in comparison with in the working period.

Claims

1. A working machine having a battery protecting function, comprising:

a hydraulic actuator;

an engine;

a hydraulic pump which is connected to the engine and driven by an output power of the engine to supply hydraulic fluid to the hydraulic actuator;

a battery;

a generator motor which is connected to the engine to serve as a generator by the output power of the engine to charge the battery and serve as a motor for assisting the engine by supply of an electric power from the battery;

a battery monitor which detects a battery SOC indicating a charging state of the battery;

a controller which controls a charging power of the battery depending on the battery SOC detected by the battery monitor; and

a working state detector which detects a working state as information for discriminating between a working period during which the hydraulic actuator is actuated and a standby period during which the hydraulic actuator is not actuated, wherein

the controller limits the charging power in the standby period in comparison with in the working period.

2. The hybrid working machine according to claim 1, wherein

the controller determines a required charging power based on a predetermined charging map for working period as to a relation between battery SOC and charging power during the working period, and determines a required charging power based on a predetermined charging map for standby period based on battery SOC/charging power characteristics different from the charging map for working period so as to limit the charging power in the standby period in comparison with in the working period.

3. The hybrid working machine according to claim 2, wherein

an upper limit of the charging power in the charging map for standby period is set lower than that in the charging map for working period.

4. The hybrid working machine according to claim 2, wherein:

the battery monitor detects a battery temperature;

the controller stores a plurality of maps corresponding to respective predetermined different battery temperatures, as the charging map for working period, and stores a single kind of a map having no relation to a battery temperature as the charging map for standby period; and

the controller selects, during the standby period, a lower value of the charging power based on the charging map for working period corresponding to the detected battery temperature and the charging power based on the charging map for standby period, as the required charging power.

5. The hybrid working machine according to claim 2, wherein

the controller performs a rate limiter process of setting a change amount of the charging power to a lower value than a value determined by both of the charging map for working period and the charging map for standby period upon switching between the charging map for working period and the charging map for standby period.

6. The hybrid working machine according to claim 1, wherein

the working state detector detects, as a working state, presence or absence of an operation of an operating device to be operated for actuating the hydraulic actuator.