CHARGING DEVICE, SYSTEM AND METHOD

• US 20170288423A1
• Filed: 03/30/2017
• Published: 10/05/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: WU, Tao, LI, Fei, ZHU, Pengcheng, LIU, Changjin
• Granted Patent: US 10,498,146 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0013 acting upon several batteries simultaneously or sequentially H02J7/1423 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0019 using switched or multiplexed charge circuits

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a charging device for charging a battery back, comprising: a plurality of charging assemblies for charging a plurality of battery cells connected electrically in series in the battery back, wherein the plurality of charging assemblies are configured to charge a first set of the plurality of battery cells in a first time period and a second set of the plurality of battery cells in a second time period, any two of the plurality of battery cells that neighbor with each other are from different sets of the plurality of battery cells, and each of the plurality of charging assemblies comprises: an AC/DC converter for converting an inputted AC voltage to a first DC voltage; and a DC/DC converter for converting the first DC voltage to a second DC voltage for charging the battery cell. The present disclosure further relates to a charging system and method.

Claims

1. A charging device for charging a battery back, comprising:

a plurality of charging assemblies for charging a plurality of battery cells connected electrically in series in the battery back, wherein the plurality of charging assemblies are configured to charge a first set of the plurality of battery cells in a first time period and a second set of the plurality of battery cells in a second time period, any two of the plurality of battery cells that neighbor with each other are from different sets of the plurality of battery cells, and each of the plurality of charging assemblies comprises;

an AC/DC converter for converting an inputted AC voltage to a first DC voltage; and

a DC/DC converter for converting the first DC voltage to a second DC voltage for charging the battery cell.

2. The charging device of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of charging assemblies is configured to connect with one battery cell, the charging assemblies for connecting with the first set of the plurality of battery cells are in a charging mode in the first time period and in a sleeping mode in the second time period, and the charging assemblies for connecting with the second set of the plurality of battery cells are in the sleeping mode in the first time period and in the charging mode in the second time period.

3. The charging device of claim 1, wherein all of the plurality of charging assemblies are configured to connect with the first set of the plurality of battery cells in the first time period and connect with the second set of the plurality of battery cells in the second time period.

4. The charging device of claim 1, wherein the AC/DC converter comprises a plurality of bridge arms, and each of the plurality of bridge arms comprises a plurality of switching cells.

5. The charging device of claim 4, comprising a control assembly for generating drive signals of the plurality of switching cells.

6. The charging device of claim 5, wherein the drive signals are configured based on an input voltage of each of the charging assemblies in a charging mode.

7. The charging device of claim 5, wherein the drive signals are configured based on a quantity of charging assemblies in a charging mode and a pre-determined harmonic order.

8. The charging device of claim 1, wherein the DC/DC converter comprises:

a first converter for converting the first DC voltage to a first AC square wave;

a transform module for converting the first AC square wave to a second AC square wave electrically isolated from the first AC square wave;

a second converter for converting the second AC square wave to the second DC voltage.

9. A charging system, comprising:

a battery back comprising a plurality of battery cells connected electrically in series; and

a charging device comprising a plurality of charging assemblies for charging the plurality of battery cells, each of the plurality of charging assemblies comprising;

an AC/DC converter for converting an inputted AC voltage to a first DC voltage;

a DC/DC converter for converting the first DC voltage to a second DC voltage for charging the battery cell;

wherein the plurality of charging assemblies charge a first set of the plurality of battery cells in a first time period and a second set of the plurality of battery cells in a second time period, and any two of the plurality of battery cells that neighbor with each other are from different sets of the plurality of battery cells.

10. A charging method for charging a battery back, wherein the battery back comprises a plurality of battery cells connected electrically in series, and the method comprises:

charging, in a first time period, a first set of the plurality of battery cells by a first set of charging assemblies;

charging, in a second time period, a second set of the plurality of battery cells by a second set of charging assemblies;

wherein any two of the plurality of battery cells that neighbor with each other are from different sets of the plurality of battery cells.

11. The charging method of claim 10, further comprising:

setting the first set of charging assemblies in a charging mode in the first time period and in a sleeping mode in the second time period; and

setting the second set of charging assemblies in the sleeping mode in the first time period and in the charging mode in the second time period.

12. The charging method of claim 10, further comprising:

connecting all of the first and second set of charging assemblies with the first set of the battery cells in the first time period; and

connecting all of the first and second set of charging assemblies with the second set of the battery cells in the second time period.