CHARGER SYSTEM WITH SAFETY GUARDIAN

• US 20130038283A1
• Filed: 08/08/2011
• Published: 02/14/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/08/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lear Corporation
• Original Assignee: Lear Corporation
• Inventors: Ghabbour, Youssef, Acea, Miguel Angel
• Granted Patent: US 8,917,054 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 320/109
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2210/30 AC to DC converters
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/14 Conductive energy transfer
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/20 characterised by converters located in the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/60 Monitoring or controlling charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/65 involving identification of vehicles or their battery types
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/20 having different nominal voltages
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/48 for electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV]
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/1423 with multiple 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 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 30/14 Details associated with the interoperability, e.g. vehicle recognition, authentication, identification or billing

Abstract

A safety guardian operable to facilitate notifying an Electronic Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) system whether a vehicle charging system is ready to accept energy. The safety guardian may be configured to facilitate control of a vehicle interface used to provide a reference voltage to the EVSE reflective of whether the charging system is ready to accept energy. The guardian may control the vehicle interface in the absence of a suitable control signal from the vehicle charging system in order to ensure the EVSE is notified when the vehicle charging system is not ready to accept energy.

Claims

1. A safety guardian operable with a vehicle interface having a switch operable between an open position and a closed position to control a voltage of a reference voltage output to an Electronic Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) system, the EVSE system requiring the voltage of the reference voltage to be greater than a threshold before delivering energy to a vehicle charger power plant, the safety guardian being operable to:

to control the switch to the closed position upon receipt of a first signal from a controller associated with the vehicle charger power plant;

to control the switch to the open position upon receipt of a second signal from the controller; and

to control the switch to the open position in the absence of the first signal and the second signal.

2. The safety guardian of claim 1 being operable to receive the first signal as a pulse width modulated (PWM) signal and to output a non-PWM signal to the switch to control the switch between the open and closed positions.

3. The safety guardian of claim 1 being operable to control the switch to the open position when either one of the first signal in the second signal failed to include an edge within a predefined period of time.

4. The safety guardian of claim 1 being operable to control the switch to the open position in the event power is lost to the controller.

5. A safety guardian operable with a vehicle charger system, the vehicle charger system including a charger power plant operable to invert AC energy received from a mains output of an Electronic Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) system to DC energy sufficient for charging a high voltage (HV) vehicle battery, the EVSE system delivering the AC energy when a first reference voltage is received and preventing delivery of the AC energy when a second reference voltage is received, the vehicle charger system including a vehicle interface operable using a control pilot output of the EVSE to generate the first reference voltage when the charger power plant is ready to charge the HV vehicle battery and to output the second reference voltage when the charger power plant is not ready to charge the HV vehicle battery, the vehicle interface including a first switch operable between an open position and a closed position and a second switch operable between an open position and a closed position, the vehicle interface generating the first reference voltage when the first and second switches are both in the closed position and the second reference voltage when either one of the first and second switches are in the open position, the vehicle charger system including a controller operable to output a first signal to control the first switch between the open and closed positions and a second signal to control the second switch between the open and closed positions according to whether the charger power plant is ready to charge the HV vehicle battery, the safety guardian comprising:

a device operable to intercept the first signal output from the safety controller and to output a third signal to the first switch, the third signal being based on the first signal and operable to control the first switch between the open position and the closed position according to whether the charger power plant is ready to charge the HV vehicle battery, the device being operable in the absence of the first signal to automatically generate the third signal such that the first switch is controlled to the open position.

6. The safety guardian of claim 5 wherein the device is a retriggerable monostable.

7. The safety guardian of claim 6 wherein the retriggerable monostable generates the third signal to control the first switch to the open position when the first signal fails to include an edge within a pre-defined period of time.

8. The safety guardian of claim 6 wherein the retriggerable monostable generates the third signal to control the first switch to the closed position when the first signal includes an edge within a pre-defined period of time.

9. The safety guardian of claim 6 wherein the first signal alternates between a first voltage and a second voltage at a first frequency and the third signal alternates between a third voltage and a fourth voltage depending on the first frequency, the third signaling having the third voltage when the first frequency is greater than a threshold and the third signaling having the fourth voltage when the first frequency is less than the threshold.

10. The safety guardian of claim 5 further comprising a voltage regulator configured to maintain operation of the device when the controller loses power while energy is still available from a low voltage (LV) vehicle battery.

11. A charger system comprising:

a charger power plant operable to invert AC energy received from a mains output of an Electronic Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) system to DC energy sufficient for charging a high voltage (HV) vehicle battery;

an input operable to receive a control pilot from the EVSE system;

a vehicle interface operable with the input to generate a first reference signal using the control pilot when the charger power plant is ready to invert the AC energy to the DC energy and to generate a second reference signal using the control pilot when the charger power plant is not ready to invert the AC energy to the DC energy, the vehicle interface including a first switch operable between an open position and a closed position and a second switch operable between an open position and a closed position, wherein the vehicle interface generates the first reference signal when the first and second switches are both in the closed position and the second reference signal when either one of the first and second switches are in the open position;

a safety controller operable to output a first signal for controlling the first switch between the open position and the closed position;

a vehicle charger controller operable to output a second signal to the second switch, the second signal controlling the second switch between the open position and the closed position; and

a safety guardian operable to receive the first signal output from the safety controller, the safety guardian operable to output a third signal to the first switch, the third signal being based on the first signal and operable to control the first switch between the open position and the closed position.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the safety guardian includes a retriggerable monostable operable to generate the third signal based on the first signal.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the retriggerable monostable generates the third signal to control the first switch to the open position when the first signal fails to include an edge within a pre-defined period of time.

14. The system of claim 12 wherein the retriggerable monostable generates the third signal to control the first switch to the closed position when the first signal includes an edge within a pre-defined period of time.

15. The system of claim 12 wherein the first signal alternates between a first voltage and a second voltage at a first frequency and the third signal alternates between a third voltage and a fourth voltage depending on the first frequency, the third signaling having the third voltage when the first frequency is greater than a threshold and the third signaling having the fourth voltage when the first frequency is less than the threshold.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the first voltage equals the third voltage.

17. The system of claim 11 further comprising a first power supply unit (PSU) operable to power the safety controller and a separate, second PSU operable to power the vehicle charger controller, each of the first PSU and second PSU regulate current from a low voltage (LV) vehicle battery to facilitate powering the respective one of the safety controller and the charger controller.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the safety guardian regulates current from the LV vehicle battery to facilitate generating the third signal, the safety guardian regulating current from the LV battery separately and independently from the first PSU and the second PSU.

19. The system of claim 11 wherein the vehicle interface includes a first resistor and a second resistor arranged relative to the first resistor and the second resistor such that the first resistor and a second resistor are connected in parallel only when both of the first switch and the second switch are in the closed position.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the first switch and the second switch are connected in series with the second resistor.