Switching current spike limiter for three phase coupled inductor conductive battery charger

• US 5,666,042 A
• Filed: 08/21/1995
• Issued: 09/09/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 08/21/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: General Motors Corporation (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: Delco Electronics Corporation (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Lewis, Dave
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong, Peter S.
• Assistant Examiner(s): TOATLEY, GREGORY J
• Application Number:
  US08/515,084
• Time in Patent Office: 750 Days
• Field of Search: 320/21, 320/49, 320/57, 320/39, 320/40, 361/18, 361/88, 361/86, 361/84, 361/90, 361/118, 361/100, 361/101, 363/89, 363/124, 363/46, 363/50, 363/57, 363/78, 363/79, 363/84
• US Class Current: 320/163
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2207/20 Charging or discharging characterised by the power electronics converter
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/02 for charging batteries from ac mains by converters
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 3/1584 with a plurality of power processing stages connected in parallel
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 7/062 Avoiding or suppressing excessive transient voltages or currents
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 7/217 using semiconductor devices only

Abstract

A polyphase boost inductor battery charger having a switching current spike limiter that employs a switching transistor, such as a bipolar, MOSFET, or IGBT transistors, for example. The switching current spike limiter includes a controller whose inputs are coupled to receive AC line voltage from a power source and battery voltage from a battery. A comparator is coupled to receive the AC line voltage and the battery voltage. Outputs from the controller and the comparator are coupled to an OR gate. An output of the OR gate is coupled through a switch driver to a series pass switch which comprises the switching transistor. The switching transistor is coupled to the inductor. A flyback diode is coupled across the output of the switching current spike limiter. The switching current spike limiter controls current spikes that flow when the AC line voltage (V_AC) peak is greater than the battery voltage (V_batt). To determine the condition V_AC peak>V_batt necessary for the switching transistor to be held OFF, the AC line voltage is compared to the battery voltage in the comparator. Hysteresis is applied to the comparator to avoid high frequency oscillation at its output.

Claims

1. An input current limited polyphase boost inductor battery charger comprising:

an AC power source;

a diode bridge coupled across the AC power source to define a rectified power source, such rectified power source being coupled to a boost inductor circuit through a current limiting switch, said boost inductor circuit including an inductor having a plurality of windings, a plurality of bridge switches coupled to respective windings of the inductor, a plurality of bridge diodes coupling respective windings to a battery to be charged, and a bridge controller for turning the bridge switches on and off to charge the battery with current delivered to said battery through said bridge diodes; and

a current limit controller for monitoring the voltages of said AC power source and said battery and for turning the current limiting switch off to interrupt the coupling between the AC power source and the boost inductor circuit when the voltage of said AC power source is greater than the voltage of said battery.

2. The charger of claim 1 wherein the current limit controller comprises:

a comparator having inputs coupled to receive the voltages of the AC power source and the battery;

a switch driver coupled between the comparator and the current limiting switch; and

a flyback diode coupled across said boost inductor circuit between said boost inductor circuit and said current limiting switch.

3. The charger of claim 1, wherein the current limit controller comprises:

a controller having inputs coupled to receive the voltages from the AC power source and the battery;

a comparator having inputs coupled to receive the voltages from the AC power source and the battery;

an OR gate coupled to outputs from the controller and the comparator;

a switch driver coupled between the output of the OR gate and the current limiting switch; and

a flyback diode coupled across said boost inductor circuit between said boost inductor circuit and said current limiting switch.