Power controller and vehicle equipped with power controller

• US 7,891,451 B2
• Filed: 05/24/2007
• Issued: 02/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/29/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Asano, Katsuhiro, Watanabe, Yoshitoshi, Oyobe, Hichirosai, Ishikawa, Tetsuhiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Shriver, II; J. Allen
• Assistant Examiner(s): Gurari; Erez
• Application Number:
  US12/226,916
• Publication Number:
  US 20090067205A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,370 Days
• Field of Search: 307/9.1, 307/10.1, 180/65.1, 180/65.21, 180/65.265, 180/65.27, 180/65.275, 180/65.285
• US Class Current: 180/65.275
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 1/02 comprising more than one electric motor
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 6/365 with the gears having orbital motion
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 6/445 Differential gearing distribution type
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 15/007 Physical arrangements or structures of drive train converters specially adapted for the propulsion motors of electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2210/20 AC to AC converters
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2220/12 Induction machines
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2220/14 Synchronous machines
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2220/54 Windings for different functions
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 50/16 with provision for separate direct mechanical propulsion
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 50/61 by batteries charged by engine-driven generators, e.g. series hybrid electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/11 DC charging controlled by the charging station, e.g. mode 4
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/14 Conductive energy transfer
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/24 Using the vehicle's propulsion converter for charging
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 55/00 Arrangements for supplying energy stored within a vehicle to a power network, i.e. vehicle-to-grid [V2G] arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2207/20 Charging or discharging characterised by the power electronics converter
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/322 the battery being on-board an electric or hybrid vehicle, e.g. vehicle to grid arrangements [V2G], power aggregation, use of the battery for network load balancing, coordinated or cooperative battery charging
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0044 specially adapted for holding portable devices containing batteries H02J7/0045 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/02 for charging batteries from ac mains by converters
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/00 Enabling technologies; Technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to GHG emissions mitigation
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 80/10 Efficient use of energy, e.g. using compressed air or pressurized fluid as energy carrier
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/62 : Hybrid vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/64 : Electric machine technologies in electromobility
• 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 10/72 : Electric energy management in electromobility
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/92 : Energy efficient charging or discharging systems for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors specially adapted for vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/12 : Electric charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/14 : Plug-in electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 10/126 : the energy generation units being or involving electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV], i.e. power aggregation of EV or HEV, vehicle to grid arrangements [V2G]

Abstract

An ECU detects an effective value and phase of a voltage from a commercial power supply, based on a voltage from a voltage sensor. Further, ECU generates a command current, which is a command value of current caused to flow through power lines and in-phase with the voltage of the commercial power supply, based on the detected effective value and the phase and on a charge/discharge power command value for a power storage device. Then, ECU controls zero-phase voltage of inverters based on the generated command current.

Claims

1. A power controller capable of executing either one of charging of a power storage device mounted on a vehicle from an AC power supply outside of the vehicle and power feed from said power storage device to said AC power supply comprising:

a first AC rotating electric machine including a star-connected first poly-phase winding as a stator winding;

a second AC rotating electric machine including a star-connected second poly-phase winding as a stator winding;

a first inverter connected to said first poly-phase winding and performing power conversion between said first AC rotating electric machine and said power storage device;

a second inverter connected to said second poly-phase winding and performing power conversion between said second AC rotating electric machine and said power storage device;

a pair of power lines connected to a first neutral point of said first poly-phase winding and a second neutral point of said second poly-phase winding, and configured to allow exchange of electric power between said AC power supply and said first and second neutral points;

a first voltage detecting device detecting a voltage of said AC power supply;

a command current generating unit detecting an effective value and phase of said AC power supply based on a detected voltage value from said first voltage detecting device, and based on the detected effective value and the phase and on a charge/discharge power command value for said power storage device, generating a command value of a current caused to flow to said pair of power lines having its phase adjusted with respect to the voltage of said AC power supply; and

an inverter control unit controlling zero-phase voltage of at least one of said first and second inverters, based on the command current value generated by said command current generating unit.

2. The power controller according to claim 1, wherein said command current generating unit generates a command current value of the same phase as the voltage of said AC power supply.

3. The power controller according to claim 1, wherein said command current generating unit includes an effective value operating unit operating an effective value of the voltage of said AC power supply based on said detected voltage value, a phase detecting unit detecting phase of the voltage of said AC power supply based on said detected voltage value, a sinusoidal wave generating unit generating a sinusoidal wave phase-adjusted with respect to the phase detected by said phase detecting unit, and an operating unit dividing said charge/discharge power command value by said effective value, and multiplying the result of operation by the sinusoidal wave from said sinusoidal wave generating unit to generate said command current value.

4. The power controller according to claim 3, wherein said sinusoidal wave generating unit generates a sinusoidal wave of the same phase as the phase detected by said phase detecting unit.

5. The power controller according to claim 1, wherein said inverter control unit controls zero-phase voltage of either one of said first and second inverters based on said command current value, and holds the zero-phase voltage of the other one of the inverters at a fixed value.

6. The power controller according to claim 5, wherein said inverter control unit turns off an upper arm and turns on a lower arm of arms of respective phases of the said other inverter, when potential of a neutral point corresponding to said one inverter is higher than potential of a neutral point corresponding to the said other inverter, and turns on said upper arm and turns off said lower arm, when the potential of the neutral point corresponding to said one inverter is lower than the potential of the neutral point corresponding to the said other inverter.

7. The power controller according to claim 6, wherein said inverter control unit periodically switches said first and second inverters as an inverter controlling said zero-phase voltage based on said command current value.

8. The power controller according to claim 5, wherein said inverter control unit turns off upper and lower arms of the arms of respective phases of the said other inverter, when said power storage device is charged from said AC power supply.

9. The power controller according to claim 1, wherein said inverter control unit controls the zero-phase voltage of said first and second inverters based on said command current value such that the zero-phase voltage of said second inverter attains to zero-phase voltage of said first inverter with its sign inverted.

10. The power controller according to claim 9, wherein said inverter control unit generates a first driving signal for controlling switching of said first inverter dependent on a relation of magnitude between a prescribed carrier wave and a first signal wave generated based on said command current value, and generates a second driving signal for controlling switching of said second inverter dependent on a relation of magnitude between said carrier wave and a second signal wave obtained by inverting sign of said first signal wave.

11. The power controller according to claim 9, wherein said inverter control unit generates a first driving signal for controlling switching of said first inverter dependent on a relation of magnitude between a prescribed first carrier wave and a signal wave generated based on said command current value, and generates a second driving signal for controlling switching of said second inverter dependent on a relation of magnitude between a second carrier wave obtained by inverting sign of said first carrier wave and said signal wave.

12. The power controller according to claim 9, wherein said inverter control unit generates a first driving signal for controlling switching of said first inverter dependent on a relation of magnitude between a prescribed carrier wave and a signal wave generated based on said command current value, and generates a second driving signal that changes complementary to said first driving signal, for controlling switching of said second inverter.

13. The power controller according to claim 1, further comprising a first current detecting device detecting a current flowing through said pair of power lines;

wherein said inverter control unit includes a current control unit generating a zero-phase command voltage of said first and second inverters based on a deviation between a detected current value from said first current detecting device and said command current value, and a driving signal generating unit generating a driving signal for driving said first and second inverters based on the generated zero-phase command voltage.

14. The power controller according to claim 1, further comprising a plurality of second current detecting devices for detecting current flowing through respective phases of each of said first and second AC rotating electric machines;

wherein said inverter control unit includes a plurality of current control units provided corresponding to respective phases of each of said first and second AC rotating electrical machines, generating a command voltage of the corresponding phase of the corresponding inverter, based on a deviation between a detected current value of the corresponding said second current detecting device and the command current value of each phase obtained by uniformly distributing said command current value to respective phases, and a driving signal generating unit generating a driving signal for driving said first and second inverters based on the generated command voltage of each phase.

15. The power controller according to claim 13, wherein said current control unit or each of said plurality of current control units includes an internal model compensating unit calculating a control compensation amount using a sinusoidal wave function corresponding to said command current value.

16. The power controller according to claim 15, wherein said internal model compensating unit includes a first mean value operating unit calculating a mean value of magnitude of said command current value or said command current value of each phase, a second mean value operating unit calculating a mean value of magnitude of said detected current value, and an operating unit multiplying a deviation between an output from said first mean value operating unit and an output from said second mean value operating unit by a gain, and further multiplying the result of operation by a sinusoidal function of the same phase as said AC power supply to provide said control compensation amount.

17. The power controller according to claim 13, wherein said current control unit or each of said plurality of current control units includes a repetition control unit for successively calculating, for each phase of said AC power supply, said zero-phase command voltage or said command voltage for each phase, based on said deviation of last period of said AC power supply.

18. The power controller according to claim 1, further comprising a second voltage detecting device detecting a DC voltage applied to said first and second inverters;

wherein said command current generating unit includes a voltage control unit correcting, based on a deviation between a detected voltage value from said second voltage detecting device and a target voltage of said DC voltage, said charge/discharge power command value such that said DC voltage is adjusted to said target value.

19. The power controller according to claim 1, further comprising:

a boost converter provided between said power storage device and said first and second inverters;

a second voltage detecting device detecting a DC voltage applied to said first and second inverters; and

a converter control unit controlling said boost converter such that said DC voltage is adjusted to a target voltage, based on a detected voltage value from said second voltage detecting device.

20. The power controller according to claim 19, further comprising a third current detecting device detecting a current input to/output from said power storage device;

wherein said converter control unit includes a voltage control unit configured to adjust said DC voltage to said target voltage, based on a detected voltage value from said second voltage detecting device; and

a current control unit configured to adjust a current input to/output from said power storage device to a target current, based on a detected current value from said third current detecting device.

21. The power controller according to claim 20, wherein said converter control unit stops said boost converter when a deviation between said detected current value and said target current exceeds a threshold value.

22. A vehicle, comprising:

a power storage device; and

a power controller capable of executing either one of charging of said power storage device from an AC power supply outside of the vehicle and power feed from said power storage device to said AC power supply wherein said power controller includes a first AC rotating electric machine including a star-connected first poly-phase winding as a stator winding;

a second AC rotating electric machine including a star-connected second poly-phase winding as a stator winding, a first inverter connected to said first poly-phase winding and performing power conversion between said first AC rotating electric machine and said power storage device;

a second inverter connected to said second poly-phase winding and performing power conversion between said second AC rotating electric machine and said power storage device;

a pair of power lines connected to a first neutral point of said first poly-phase winding; and

a second neutral point of said second poly-phase winding, and configured to allow exchange of electric power between said AC power supply and said first and second neutral points;

a first voltage detecting device detecting a voltage of said AC power supply;

a command current generating unit detecting an effective value and phase of said AC power supply based on a detected voltage value from said first voltage detecting device, and based on the detected effective value and the phase and on a charge/discharge power command value for said power storage device, generating a command value of a current caused to flow to said pair of power lines having its phase adjusted with respect to the voltage of said AC power supply; and

an inverter control unit controlling zero-phase voltage of at least one of said first and second inverters, based on the command current value generated by said command current generating unit;

said vehicle further comprising a wheel receiving driving torque from at least one of said first and second AC rotating electric machines.