SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR OPERATING A HYBRID VEHICLE SYSTEM

• US 20140012446A1
• Filed: 06/26/2013
• Published: 01/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/05/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GE Global Sourcing LLC (Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation)
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: KUMAR, Ajith Kuttannair, Daum, Wolfgang, Ioannidis, Dimitrios
• Granted Patent: US 9,008,879 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/22
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 1/00 Supplying electric power to auxiliary equipment of vehicles circuit arrangements for charging batteries H02J7/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2200/26 Rail vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/547 Voltage
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 3/0023 Detecting, eliminating, remedying or compensating for drive train abnormalities, e.g. failures within the drive train
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 50/53 in combination with an external power supply, e.g. from overhead contact lines
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 50/66 Arrangements of batteries
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/00 Methods of charging batteries, specially adapted for electric vehicles; Charging stations or on-board charging equipment therefor; Exchange of energy storage elements in electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/19 Switching between serial connection and parallel connection of battery modules
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/20 having different nominal voltages
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/22 Balancing the charge of battery modules
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 9/18 fed from dc supply lines
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 9/24 fed from ac supply lines
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/08 including control of electric propulsion units, e.g. motors or generators
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/30 including control of auxiliary equipment, e.g. air-conditioning compressors or oil pumps
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 20/00 Control systems specially adapted for hybrid vehicles hybrid vehicle design, B60K6/00; electric vehicles B60L
• 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 90/14 Plug-in electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 903/93 Conjoint control of different elements

Abstract

System including a switch control module that is configured to control operation of a first contactor and a second contactor in a vehicle system. The first and second contactors are configured to selectively connect front-end and direct-current (DC) buses, respectively, to an energy storage system of the vehicle system. The front-end bus is configured to receive electrical power from an external power source and provide the electrical power to a converter device. The converter device is configured to supply DC power to the DC bus. The switch control module is configured to close the second contactor when the vehicle system is operably coupled to the external power source so that the energy storage system is charged by the DC power. The switch control module is configured to close one of the first contactor or the second contactor when the vehicle system is operably decoupled to the external power source.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a switch control module configured to control operation of a first contactor and a second contactor in a vehicle system, the first and second contactors configured to selectively connect front-end and direct-current (DC) buses, respectively, to an energy storage system of the vehicle system, the front-end bus configured to receive electrical power from an external power source and provide the electrical power to a converter device, the converter device configured to supply DC power to the DC bus, the DC bus configured to be coupled to a propulsion system of the vehicle system and configured to have a designated traction voltage for powering the propulsion system that is approximately equal to a charging voltage of the energy storage system;

wherein the switch control module is configured to close the second contactor when the vehicle system is operably coupled to the external power source, the converter device configured to provide the DC power to the DC bus so that the energy storage system is charged and the propulsion system receives the DC power; and

wherein the switch control module is configured to close one of the first contactor or the second contactor when the vehicle system is operably decoupled to the external power source, the energy storage system configured to supply the electrical power to the propulsion system when the vehicle system is operably decoupled to the external power source.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the switch control module is configured to close the first contactor to supply the electrical power from the energy storage system to the converter device, the system further comprising a device-control module operably coupled to the converter device, the device-control module configured to control operation of the converter device so that the converter device changes a voltage of the electrical power supplied by the energy storage system.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising a device-control module operably coupled to the converter device, the device-control module configured to control operation of the converter device so that the converter device changes a voltage of the electrical power supplied by the external power source.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a voltage monitor that is configured to determine a voltage parameter of the DC bus and is communicatively coupled to the switch control module, the switch control module configured to determine whether to at least one of close the first contactor or close the second contactor based on the voltage parameter.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the switch control module is configured to control the first and second contactors during a regenerative mode in which the second contactor is closed while the vehicle system is braking.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising an energy management module that is operably coupled to the energy storage system, the energy management module configured to determine whether a ground fault exists in the energy storage system.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising an energy management module that is operably coupled to bypass circuits of the energy storage system in which the energy storage system includes a plurality of energy storage units selectively connected to one another, the energy management module configured to control the bypass circuits to selectively connect more or fewer of the storage units to achieve a designated voltage or power.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the electrical power remains in an uncoverted state between an output of the energy storage system and an input of the propulsion system when the electrical power is supplied through the second contactor.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the electrical power remains in an untransformed state between an output of the energy storage system and an input of the propulsion system when the electrical power is supplied through the second contactor.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the electrical power from an output of the energy storage system to an input of the propulsion system is only converted by the converter device when the electrical power is supplied through the first contactor.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising the energy storage system, wherein the energy storage system includes a set of energy modules that are configured to supply power to a plurality of bus systems, the set of energy modules including dedicated modules and remainder modules, each of the bus systems being exclusively supplied electrical power from a respective plurality of the dedicated modules, the dedicated modules in each respective plurality being electrically parallel to the other dedicated modules in the respective plurality, wherein the remainder modules are configured for load balancing such that the remainder modules are configured to switch from supplying one of the bus systems with electrical power to supplying another of the bus systems with electrical power.

12. A power train of a vehicle system comprising:

a converter device configured to receive electrical power from an external power source;

front-end and direct-current (DC) buses electrically interconnected by the converter device, the converter device configured to receive the electrical power from the external power source through the front-end bus and provide DC power to the DC bus;

a propulsion system configured to provide tractive effort for moving the vehicle system, the propulsion system being operably connected to the DC bus and configured to receive the DC power from the DC bus;

an energy storage system configured to be selectively connected to the front-end and DC buses through first and second contactors, respectively; and

a switch control module configured to control operation of the first and second contactors, the switch control module configured to close the second contactor when the power train is operably coupled to the external power source such that the energy storage system is charged and the propulsion system receives the DC power, the switch control module configured to close one of the first contactor or the second contactor when the power train is operably decoupled to the external power source, the energy storage system configured to supply the electrical power to the propulsion system when the vehicle system is operably decoupled to the external power source.

13. The power train of claim 12, wherein the electrical power remains in an uncoverted state between an output of the energy storage system and an input of the propulsion system when the electrical power is supplied through the second contactor.

14. The power train of claim 12, wherein the electrical power remains in an untransformed state between an output of the energy storage system and an input of the propulsion system when the electrical power is supplied through the second contactor.

15. The power train of claim 12, wherein the electrical power from an output of the energy storage system to an input of the propulsion system is only converted by the converter device when the electrical power is supplied through the first contactor.

16. The power train of claim 12, wherein the switch control module is configured to close the first contactor to supply the electrical power from the energy storage system to the converter device, the power train further comprising a device-control module operably coupled to the converter device, the device-control module configured to control operation of the converter device so that the converter device increases or decreases a voltage of the electrical power supplied by the energy storage system.

17. The power train of claim 12, further comprising a device-control module operably coupled to the converter device, the device-control module configured to control operation of the converter device so that the converter device increases or decreases a voltage of the electrical power supplied by the external power source.

18. The power train of claim 12, wherein the electrical power received from the external power source is alternating current (AC) power, the converter device configured to convert the AC power to the DC power that is supplied to the DC bus.

19. The power train of claim 12, wherein the switch control module is configured to control the first and second contactors during a regenerative mode in which the second contactor is closed while the vehicle system is braking.

20. The power train of claim 12, wherein the energy storage system includes a set of energy modules that are configured to supply power to a plurality of bus systems, the set of energy modules including dedicated modules and remainder modules, each of the bus systems being exclusively supplied electrical power from a respective plurality of the dedicated modules, the dedicated modules in each respective plurality being electrically parallel to the other dedicated modules in the respective plurality, wherein the remainder modules are configured for load balancing such that the remainder modules are configured to switch from supplying one of the bus systems with electrical power to supplying another of the bus systems with electrical power.

21. The power train of claim 12, further comprising an energy management module that is operably coupled to bypass circuits of the energy storage system, the energy storage system including a plurality of energy storage units selectively connected to one another, the energy management module configured to control the bypass circuits to selectively connect more or fewer of the storage units to achieve a designated voltage or power.

22. The power train of claim 12, wherein the energy storage system includes a plurality of storage units coupled to one another in a parallel-series arrangement, the storage units being allocated into first and second sets of storage units in which each of the first and second sets is held within a grounded module housing.

23. A method of powering a vehicle system that is configured to receive electrical power from an external power source and that includes an energy storage system, the method comprising:

supplying the electrical power to a converter device through a front-end bus when the vehicle system is operably connected to the external power source, the converter device configured to convert the electrical power to DC power and supply the DC power to a DC bus;

charging an energy storage system that is selectively connected to the DC bus when the vehicle system is operably connected to the external power source while simultaneously powering a propulsion system connected to the DC bus;

determining that the vehicle system is operably decoupled to the external power source; and

supplying electrical power from the energy storage system to one of the front-end bus or the DC bus to power the propulsion system when the vehicle system is operably decoupled to the external power source.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein supplying electrical power from the energy storage system to one of the front-end bus or the DC bus includes closing a first contactor to electrically connect the energy storage system to the front-end bus.

25. The method of claim 23, further comprising increasing or decreasing a voltage of the electrical power that is supplied by the energy storage system to the front-end bus using the converter device.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein a voltage of the electrical power from the energy storage is only converted by the converter device prior to powering the propulsion system.

27. The method of claim 23, wherein the energy storage system includes an output and the propulsion system includes an input, the electrical power remaining in an untransformed state between the output of the energy storage system and the input of the propulsion system when the electrical power is supplied through the second contactor.