Method And System For Determining A Target State of Charge To Charge A Battery In A Vehicle Using External Electric Power

• US 20130015860A1
• Filed: 07/14/2011
• Published: 01/17/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Crombez, Dale Scott
• Granted Patent: US 9,751,424 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 324/433
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/62 Vehicle position
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/662 Temperature
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2250/00 Driver interactions
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2260/54 Energy consumption estimation
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/13 Maintaining the SoC within a determined range
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 7/10 Dynamic electric regenerative braking B60L7/22 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/36 Arrangements for testing, measuring or monitoring the electrical condition of accumulators or electric batteries, e.g. capacity or state of charge [SoC]
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/44 Methods for charging or discharging circuits for charging H02J7/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/48 Accumulators combined with arrangements for measuring, testing or indicating the condition of cells, e.g. the level or density of the electrolyte constructional details of current conducting connections for detecting conditions inside cells or batteries, e.g. details of voltage sensing terminals, H01M50/569
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/10 Energy storage using batteries
• 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 10/92 Energy efficient charging or discharging systems for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors specially adapted for vehicles
• 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

Abstract

A system and method is provided for determining a target state of charge (SOC) to charge a storage battery in an electric vehicle using electric power from an external power source. Charging the storage battery to the target SOC occurs prior to starting a drive cycle of the vehicle. The target SOC is determined based on a profile of regenerative braking energy expected to be recovered and a profile of energy expected to be used from the battery during a portion of a future drive cycle.

Claims

1. A method of charging a vehicle propulsion battery prior to beginning a drive cycle, the method comprising:

charging the battery from a power source external to the electric vehicle based on a profile of regenerative braking energy expected to be recovered during a portion of a future drive cycle of the vehicle and a profile of energy expected to be used from the battery during the portion of the future drive cycle.

2. A method of determining a target state of charge (SOC) to charge a storage battery in an electric vehicle using electric power from a power source external to the electric vehicle, the method comprising:

determining a profile of regenerative braking energy expected to be recovered during a portion of a future drive cycle of the electric vehicle;

determining a profile of energy expected to be used from the battery during the portion of the future drive cycle; and

determining the target SOC to charge the battery to prior to starting the drive cycle, the target SOC being based on the profiles of energy determined.

3. The method of claim 2 further including determining the target SOC based an amount of regenerative braking energy expected to be recovered in an initial portion of the future drive cycle.

4. The method of claim 3 further including determining the initial portion of the future drive cycle to be the portion of the future drive cycle from the beginning of the drive cycle to a time interval where the profile of energy expected to be used from the battery substantially exceeds the profile of regenerative braking energy expected to be recovered within the time interval.

5. The method of claim 3 further including determining a charge rate to charge the battery during the initial portion of the future drive cycle based on the regenerative braking energy expected to be recovered during the initial portion and determining the target SOC in response to the charge rate.

6. The method of claim 5 further including determining an amount of battery energy required to complete the future drive cycle and determining the charge rate to charge the battery during the initial portion of the future drive cycle based on the amount of battery energy required to complete the future drive cycle.

7. The method of claim 2 further including determining a charge rate to charge the battery based on the regenerative braking energy expected to be recovered and determining the target SOC in response to the charge rate.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein determining the target SOC including calculating the target SOC as being inversely proportional to the charge rate determined.

9. The method of claim 2 further including determining an amount of battery energy required to complete the future drive cycle and determining the target SOC to be an upper limit of a predetermined operating range of SOC when the upper limit provides at least the amount of battery energy required to complete the future drive cycle.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the target SOC is determined in an effort to maximize time that the battery operates in the predetermined operating range of SOC during the future drive cycle.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the predetermined range of SOC is between ten percent (10%) and ninety percent (90%) of the maximum SOC of the battery.

12. The method of claim 2 wherein the target SOC is determined in an effort to maximize the amount of regenerative braking energy that the vehicle captures during the future drive cycle.

13. The method of claim 2 further including processing information indicating an expected travel path of the vehicle during the drive cycle and determining the profile of regenerative braking energy expected to be recovered and the profile of energy expected to be used based on the expected travel path.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the information indicating the expected travel path includes information indicating lengths and grades for respective sections of the expected travel path and determining the profile of regenerative braking energy expected to be recovered and the profile of energy expected to be used based on the lengths and the grades.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein the information indicating the expected travel path of the vehicle is based on one or more user inputs including information indicating an intended destination of the vehicle.

16. The method of claim 13 wherein the information indicating the expected travel path of the vehicle is based on amounts of regenerative braking energy recovered during previous drive cycles of the vehicle occurring along at least a portion of the expected travel path.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the information indicating the expected travel path of the vehicle is based on a time of day when the amounts of regenerative braking energy were recovered.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein the information indicating the expected travel path of the vehicle is based on a day of week when the amounts of regenerative braking energy were recovered.

19. A system comprising:

at least one logic device configured to determine a target state of charge (SOC) to charge a storage battery in an electric vehicle prior to starting a drive cycle of the vehicle using electric power from a power source external to the electric vehicle, the target SOC being based on a profile of regenerative braking energy expected to be recovered during a portion of a future drive cycle of the vehicle and a profile of energy expected to be used from the battery during the portion of the future drive cycle.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the logic device is a controller including a processor operable to execute software instructions, a computer memory operable to store software instructions accessible by the processor, and a set of software instructions stored in the memory to determine the target SOC to charge the storage battery using electric power from the external power source.