DUAL INDUCTIVE/CONDUCTIVE DC-COUPLED CHARGING SYSTEM

• US 20180015833A1
• Filed: 07/15/2016
• Published: 01/18/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/15/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Namou, Andrew J., Steele, Russell K., Cesiel, Douglas S.
• Granted Patent: US 10,124,686 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/11 DC charging controlled by the charging station, e.g. mode 4
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/12 Inductive energy transfer
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/122 Circuits or methods for driving the primary coil, e.g. supplying electric power to the coil
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/126 Methods for pairing a vehicle and a charging station, e.g. establishing a one-to-one relation between a wireless power transmitter and a wireless power receiver
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/36 by positioning the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/37 using optical position determination, e.g. using cameras
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2207/40 adapted for charging from various sources, e.g. AC, DC or multivoltage
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/48 for electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV]
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/10 using inductive coupling
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/90 involving detection or optimisation of position, e.g. alignment
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00 Circuit arrangements for charging or depolarising batteries or for supplying loads from 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 90/12 Electric charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/14 Plug-in electric vehicles

Abstract

An electrical system connectable to an offboard power supply includes a battery pack, parallel DC-coupled conductive and inductive charging systems, and a controller. The controller initiates charging of the battery pack using analog low-voltage signals. A charging preference may prioritize charging via a designated one of the charging systems. Another electrical system includes a battery pack connected to a DC voltage bus, a charge coupler connectable to the offboard power supply to establish a plug-in charging connection, parallel DC-coupled conductive and inductive charging systems, and a controller. The controller commands charging using the analog low-voltage control signals, doing so via the conductive charging system when the charge coupler is plugged into the power supply and via the wireless charger when the charge coupler is not plugged into the power supply and the controller detects proximity of the system to the primary induction coil.

Claims

1. An electrical system that is connectable to an offboard power supply, the electrical system comprising:

a direct current (DC) voltage bus;

a battery pack connected to the DC voltage bus;

a DC-coupled conductive charging system operable for conductively charging the battery pack via the offboard power supply;

a DC-coupled wireless charger in electrical parallel with the DC-coupled conductive charging system and operable for wirelessly charging the battery pack via the offboard power supply; and

a controller programmed to selectively initiate charging of the battery pack according to a charging preference using analog low-voltage control signals, wherein the charging preference prioritizes charging of the battery pack via a designated one of the DC-coupled conductive and wireless charging systems.

2. The electrical system of claim 1, wherein the controller includes a human-machine interface device programmed to display a plurality of charging preferences, and for receiving an input as the charging preference that corresponds to a selected one of the displayed plurality of charging preferences.

3. The electrical system of claim 1, wherein the DC-coupled wireless charging system includes an AC-DC converter, the DC-coupled inductive charging system includes a wireless charger, and the AC-DC converter and the wireless charger share a high-voltage bus rail and pre-charge circuit.

4. The electrical system of claim 1, wherein the electrical system is part of a vehicle having a park, reverse, neutral, drive, low (PRNDL) state, and wherein the controller is programmed to temporarily immobilize the vehicle when the PRNDL state is a park state and wireless or conductive charging is active.

5. The electrical system of claim 4, wherein the controller is programmed to selectively transmit a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal to the wireless charger to wake up or enable the wireless charger after the vehicle enters the park state.

6. The electrical system of claim 5, wherein the controller is programmed to discontinue transmitting the PWM signal to the wireless charger when a wireless charging circuit is not detected within a calibrated duration of a key-off event upon entering the park state.

7. The electrical system of claim 5, wherein the controller is programmed to discontinue the PWM signals to the wireless charger in response to an application of brakes and an attempt to change the PRNDL state from the park state to a drive state or a reverse state.

8. The electrical system of claim 1, wherein the controller is programmed to initiate conductive charging of the battery pack upon detecting a plug-in event while wirelessly charging the battery pack only when the charging preference corresponds to conductive charging.

9. An electrical system that is connectable to an offboard power supply, the electrical system comprising:

a direct current (DC) voltage bus;

a battery pack connected to the DC voltage bus;

a charge coupler connectable to the offboard power supply to establish a plug-in charging connection;

a DC-coupled conductive charging system electrically connected to the charge coupler and operable for conductively charging the battery pack via the plug-in charging connection;

a DC-coupled wireless charger in electrical parallel with the DC-coupled conductive charging system and operable for wirelessly charging the battery pack via the offboard power supply and an offboard primary induction coil when the electrical system is in proximity to an offboard primary induction coil; and

a controller programmed to selectively initiate charging of the battery pack using analog low-voltage control signals, wherein the controller is programmed to charge the battery pack via the DC-coupled conductive charging system when the charge coupler is plugged into the offboard power supply, and via the wireless charger when the charge coupler is not plugged into the offboard power supply and the controller detects the proximity of the system to the primary induction coil.

10. The electrical system of claim 9, wherein the system is part of a vehicle having an ignition switch relay, further comprising:

a normally-closed electromagnetic relay that is electrically connected to the charge coupler and that has a relay induction coil, wherein the ignition switch, when the vehicle is turned off, delivers auxiliary power to the relay induction coil to cause the electromagnetic relay to open.

11. The electrical system of claim 10, wherein the electromagnetic relay is a single pole, single-throw (SPST) switch that, when closed, causes the system to default to conductive charging and that opens only during wireless charging.

12. The electrical system of claim 11, wherein the SPST switch is selectively opened to discontinue transmission of a pilot signal between the charge coupler and the controller, and wherein the pilot signal describes an available charging amperage.

13. The electrical system of claim 11, wherein the electromagnetic relay is a double-pole, double-throw (DPDT) switch that, when closed, causes the system to default to conductive charging and that opens only during wireless charging.

14. The electrical system of claim 13, wherein the DPDT switch is selectively opened to discontinue transmission of the pilot signal and a proximity signal from the charge coupler to the controller, and wherein the proximity signal describes a detected presence of a primary induction coil for wireless charging of the battery pack.

15. The electrical system of claim 11, wherein the wireless charger includes a control chip in the form of a inductive charging module that, when the charge coupler is not plugged in to the AC power supply, provides a proximity signal indicative of the proximity to the offboard primary induction circuit and a pilot signal describing an available amperage for wireless charging.

16. The electrical system of claim 15, further comprising a differentiator and an AND logic gate, wherein the differentiator measures the proximity signal at an output side of the electromagnetic relay and feeds the proximity signal into the AND logic gate, and wherein a high/low voltage signal from the ignition switch relay is inverted and fed into the AND logic gate such that the AND logic gate does not output a high value unless the proximity signal is detected by the differentiator and the ignition switch relay outputs a low/0 VDC value.

17. The electrical system of claim 16, further comprising a semiconductor switch connected to a programmable pulse width modulation (PWM) chip, wherein the output of the AND logic gate is time-delayed and fed into the semiconductor switch, and wherein the PWM chip receives the pilot signal from an input side and an output side of the electromagnetic relay, and receives the proximity signal only from the output side of the electromagnetic relay.