Performance monitor for electric vehicle
First Claim
1. In an electric vehicle having a battery supplying current to both a traction motor and a noncritical electrical component, a system for monitoring the usage of said battery'"'"'s maximum-available current comprising:
- a first means connected to said battery for generating a signal representative of the current being drawn from said battery;
a second means connected to said battery for generating a signal representative of the maximum current available for immediate use from said battery;
a third means responsive to the drawn-current signal and the maximum-available-current signal for generating a usage signal representative of the ratio of the drawn-current signal to the maximum-available-current signal;
a display responsive to the usage signal for displaying the relative usage of maximum-available current to an operator of said vehicle; and
a relay, responsive to the usage signal, for interrupting the supply of current from said battery to said noncritical electrical component when the usage signal exceeds a first maximum threshold level.
20 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system (10) and method for monitoring usage of current immediately available from the traction batteries (12) of an electric vehicle includes a means (18) for generating a signal representative of the current being drawn from the batteries (12); a means (20) for generating a signal representative of the maximum current available from the batteries (12) for immediate use; and a means (22) responsive to the drawn-current signal and the maximum-available-current signal for generating a usage signal representing the ratio of drawn current to maximum-available current. A display, such as an analog meter (24) responsive to the usage signal and calibrated from zero-percent to one-hundred-percent available current usage, displays the transitory current usage as a percentage of maximum-available current. Where the batteries (12) supply current to both the vehicle'"'"'s traction motors (14) and noncritical electrical components (16), a relay (28) responsive to the usage signal sheds the noncritical component'"'"'s load from the batteries (12) when current usage rises above a given level. A current limiter (30) responsive to the usage signal is preferably also provided to limit the supply of current to the traction motors (14) when current usage rises above a still higher level.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. In an electric vehicle having a battery supplying current to both a traction motor and a noncritical electrical component, a system for monitoring the usage of said battery'"'"'s maximum-available current comprising:
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a first means connected to said battery for generating a signal representative of the current being drawn from said battery; a second means connected to said battery for generating a signal representative of the maximum current available for immediate use from said battery; a third means responsive to the drawn-current signal and the maximum-available-current signal for generating a usage signal representative of the ratio of the drawn-current signal to the maximum-available-current signal; a display responsive to the usage signal for displaying the relative usage of maximum-available current to an operator of said vehicle; and a relay, responsive to the usage signal, for interrupting the supply of current from said battery to said noncritical electrical component when the usage signal exceeds a first maximum threshold level. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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5. A method for monitoring, in a vehicle having a battery supplying current to both a traction motor and a noncritical electrical component, the transitory usage of said battery'"'"'s maximum-available current, said method comprising the steps of:
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generating a first signal representative of the current being drawn from said battery; generating a second signal representative of the maximum current available for immediate use from said battery; generating a usage signal representing the ratio of the drawn-current signal to the maximum-available-current signal; displaying the usage signal to an operator of said vehicle; and comparing the usage signal to a first maximum threshold level; and
interrupting the supply of current from said battery to said noncritical electrical component when the usage signal exceeds the first maximum threshold level. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification