SOLAR BATTERY CONTROL APPARATUS

• US 20160181970A1
• Filed: 11/03/2015
• Published: 06/23/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: SATO, Daisuke
• Granted Patent: US 9,762,178 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 15/2045 for optimising the use of energy
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 8/003 Converting light into electric energy, e.g. by using photo-voltaic systems
• CPC Class Codes: G05F 1/67 to the maximum power available from a generator, e.g. from solar cell
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 31/04 adapted as photovoltaic [PV] conversion devices testing thereof during manufacture H01L22/00; testing thereof after manufacture H02S50/10
• CPC Class Codes: H02S 20/32 specially adapted for solar tracking
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 10/50 Photovoltaic [PV] energy
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/64 Electric machine technologies in electromobility
• 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

Abstract

There is provided a solar battery control apparatus comprising: a solar battery in a vehicle; a vehicle speed detecting unit; a load circuit capable of be controlled to vary a generated current; and a control unit configured to perform MPPT control while controlling the load circuit to vary the generated current, wherein the control unit varies the generated current within a range having a certain upper limit value upon the speed of the vehicle being detected to be greater than a predetermined speed. The predetermined speed is set to be less than a speed at which the generated current becomes unable to be varied to correspond to a change in an i-V output characteristic of the solar battery, and the certain upper limit value is set to be less than a value of short-circuiting current having been reduced according to the change.

Claims

1. The solar battery control apparatus comprising:

a solar battery installed in a vehicle;

a vehicle speed detecting unit configured to detect a speed of the vehicle;

a load circuit connected to the solar battery and configured to be capable of being controlled to vary a generated current input thereto from the solar battery; and

a control unit configured to perform Maximum Power Point Tracking MPPT control to search for a Maximum Power Point MPP of the solar battery while controlling the load circuit to vary the generated current of the solar battery, wherein the control unit varies the generated current within a range having a certain upper limit value upon the speed of the vehicle being detected by the vehicle speed detecting unit to be greater than a predetermined speed;

wherein

the predetermined speed is set to be less than a speed of the vehicle at which the generated current in the MPPT control becomes unable to be varied to correspond to a change in an i-V output characteristic of the generated current and a generated voltage of the solar battery, the change being caused by a variance of a solar radiation angle to the solar battery according to movement of the traveling vehicle, and

the certain upper limit value is set to be less than a value of short-circuiting current of the solar battery having been reduced according to the change in the i-V output characteristic.

2. The solar battery control apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the change in the i-V output characteristic is caused based on the variance of a solar radiation angle to the solar battery according to the movement of the traveling vehicle caused by irregularity of the road surface.

3. The solar battery control apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the certain upper limit value is set based on respective solar radiation angles to the solar battery before the variance and after the variance.