POWER CONVERTER SYSTEM AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THEREOF

• US 20160096437A1
• Filed: 10/07/2015
• Published: 04/07/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/07/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nanyang Technology University
• Original Assignee: Nanyang Technology University
• Inventors: Tripathi, Anshuman, Athlekar, Satyajit, Duraisamy, Nishanthi
• Granted Patent: US 10,245,959 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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: H02J 2300/24 of photovoltaic origin
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2300/28 The renewable source being wind energy
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/48 for electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV]
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/381 Dispersed generators
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 4/00 Circuit arrangements for mains or distribution networks not specified as ac or dc
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00 Circuit arrangements for charging or depolarising batteries or for supplying loads from batteries
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 3/158 including plural semiconductor devices as final control devices for a single load
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 10/56 Power conversion systems, e.g. maximum power point trackers
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 10/76 Power conversion electric or electronic aspects
• 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 90/14 Plug-in electric vehicles
• 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]

Abstract

There is provided a power converter system including a power bus, a plurality of power converter modules connected to the power bus in parallel, a plurality of energy storage modules, each energy storage module coupled to the power bus via a corresponding one of the plurality of power converter modules, and a controller module configured to control at least one of the power converter modules to operate in one of a plurality of operating modes. In particular, the plurality of operating modes of the power converter module includes a plurality of charging power conversion modes for connecting an input power source to the corresponding energy storage module for charging power to the corresponding energy storage module. There is also provided a corresponding method of manufacturing the power converter system.

Claims

1. A power converter system comprising:

a power bus;

a plurality of power converter modules connected to the power bus in parallel;

a plurality of energy storage modules, each energy storage module coupled to the power bus via a corresponding one of the plurality of power converter modules; and

a controller module configured to control at least one of the power converter modules to operate in one of a plurality of operating modes,

wherein the plurality of operating modes of the power converter module comprises a plurality of charging power conversion modes for connecting an input power source to the corresponding energy storage module for charging power to the corresponding energy storage module.

2. The power converter system according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of charging power conversion modes comprises an alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC) power conversion mode and a DC to DC power conversion mode.

3. The power converter system according to claim 2, wherein the plurality of charging power conversion modes further comprises a DC to AC power conversion mode.

4. The power converter system according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of operating modes of the power converter module further comprises a plurality of discharging power conversion modes for connecting the corresponding energy storage module to an electrical load for discharging power to the electrical load.

5. The power converter system according to claim 4, wherein the plurality of discharging power conversion modes of the power converter module comprises a direct coupling mode for coupling power from the corresponding energy storage module to the electrical load without power conversion, a DC to AC power conversion mode, and a DC to DC power conversion mode.

6. The power converter system according to claim 1, wherein the power converter module comprises a power converter circuit configured to be switchable by the controller module to operate in any one of the plurality of operating modes.

7. The power converter system according to claim 6, wherein the power converter circuit comprises a plurality of switches that may be actuated by the controller module for switching the power converter circuit to operate in any one of the plurality of operating modes.

8. The power converter system according to claim 6, wherein the controller module is configured to detect a type of the input power source coupled to the power converter system and control the at least one power converter module to operate in one of the plurality of operating modes based on the type of the input power source detected.

9. The power converter system according to claim 6, wherein the controller module is configured to detect a type of an electrical load connected to the power converter system and control the at least one power converter module to operate in one of the plurality of operating modes determined based on the type of electrical load detected.

10. The power converter system according to claim 8, wherein the type of the input power source is AC or DC.

11. The power converter system according to claim 1, wherein the controller module is further configured to monitor the performance of at least one of the energy storage modules and control at least one of the power converter modules corresponding to said at least one of the energy storage modules based on the performance detected.

12. The power converter system according to claim 11, wherein the plurality of operating modes of the power converter module further comprises an isolation mode for isolating the corresponding energy storage module from the power bus, and the controller module is configured to switch the power converter module to the isolation mode when the corresponding energy storage module is detected to be faulty based on the performance monitored.

13. The power converter system according to claim 1, wherein the controller module is further configured to selectively set the plurality of power converter modules to operate in one of a plurality of operating modes based on a type and a power demand of the electrical load detected.

14. The power converter system according to claim 1, wherein the power bus is a source power bus and the power converter system further comprises a load power bus and a plurality of power converter modules connected to the load power bus in parallel, and wherein said each energy storage module is further coupled to the load power bus via a corresponding one of the plurality of power converter modules connected to the load power bus.

15. The power converter system according to claim 14, wherein one or more of the power converter modules coupled to the source power bus is operable to transfer power from the input power source to the corresponding one or more energy storage modules and one or more of the power converter modules coupled to the load power bus is operable to transfer power discharged from the corresponding one or more energy storage modules to an electrical load simultaneously.

16. The power converter system according to claim 1, comprising a plurality of the controller module, wherein each of the power converter modules comprises a respective one of the controller modules.

17. The power converter system according to claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of energy storage modules is a hybrid energy storage module comprising at least two types of energy storage devices.

18. A method of manufacturing a power converter system, the method comprising:

providing a power bus;

connecting a plurality of power converter modules to the power bus in parallel;

providing a plurality of energy storage modules, and coupling each energy storage module to the power bus via a corresponding one of the plurality of power converter modules; and

providing a controller module configured to control at least one of the power converter modules to operate in one of a plurality of operating modes,

wherein the plurality of operating modes of the power converter module comprises a plurality of charging power conversion modes for connecting an input power source to the corresponding energy storage module for charging power to the corresponding energy storage module.