Electric charging system, electric vehicle and electric charger

• US 8,669,739 B2
• Filed: 06/26/2012
• Issued: 03/11/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/05/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Subaru Corp.
• Original Assignee: Fuji Heavy Industries Limited (Subaru Corp.)
• Inventors: Ohtomo, Yosuke
• Primary Examiner(s): Tso, Edward
• Assistant Examiner(s): Boateng, Alexis
• Application Number:
  US13/533,887
• Publication Number:
  US 20130009598A1
• Time in Patent Office: 623 Days
• Field of Search: 320/104, 320/109, 320/134, 320/138, 320/160, 307/10.1, 307/72, 307/75, 307/80, 307/84, 307/85, 307/87, 180/65.1
• US Class Current: 320/109
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 3/12 Recording operating variables ; Monitoring of operating variables
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/00 Methods of charging batteries, specially adapted for electric vehicles; Charging stations or on-board charging equipment therefor; Exchange of energy storage elements in electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/3278 of relays, solenoids or reed switches measuring contact resistance G01R27/205; high voltage magnetic switches G01R31/3271, G01R31/333; testing electric windings G01R31/72; monitoring of fail safe circuits H01H47/002
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/48 for electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV]
• 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 7/0031 using battery or load disconnect circuits H02J9/002 takes precedence
• 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 90/14 Plug-in electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/167 Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies for supporting the interoperability of electric or hybrid vehicles, i.e. smartgrids as interface for battery charging of electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV]
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 30/12 Remote or cooperative charging

Abstract

There are provided an electric charging system, an electric vehicle and an electric charger. Upon charging a battery, power supply lines of an electric charger are connected to the power receiving lines of an electric vehicle 12. The power receiving lines have a relay. The electric charger has a voltage sensor that measures a voltage between the power supply lines. The electric charger has a voltage processing portion that applies filtering to the voltage. Upon charging when charging power is supplied from the electric controller, a filtering process with a stability-oriented first filter is applied to the voltage. Upon a relay failure diagnosis that performs a failure diagnosis of the relay based on a change in the voltage due to opening and closing of the relays, a filtering process with a second filter that has a higher responsiveness is applied to the voltage.

Claims

1. An electric charging system in which an electric vehicle is provided with a charging port that is connected to an electric storage device, and an electric charger that has an electric controller generating supply power is connected to the charging port, and the electric charger is used to charge the electric storage device, the electric charging system comprising:

a pair of current carrying lines that connects the electric storage device and the power controller via the charging port and supplies charging power to the electric storage device from the power controller;

a relay that is disposed on at least either one of the pair of the current carrying lines between the electric storage device and the charging port and is switched between a connection state and a disconnection state;

a voltage measure that is connected to the pair of the current carrying lines between the relay and the power controller and measures a voltage between the current carrying lines;

a relay diagnosis unit that, under a state where charging of the electric storage device is interrupted, switches the relay to the connection state or the disconnection state and examines a failure state of the relay based on a change in the voltage due to switching of the relay; and

a voltage processor that processes the voltage with a first filter when the electric storage device is charged and processes the voltage with a second filter that has a higher responsiveness than the first filter when a failure diagnosis of the relay is performed based on the change in the voltage due to switching of the relay.

2. An electric vehicle that has a charging port detachably connected to an electric charger and is equipped with an electric storage device connected to the charging port via a pair of current carrying lines, the electric vehicle comprising:

a relay that is disposed on at least either one of the pair of the current carrying lines and is switched between a connection state and a disconnection state;

a voltage measure that is connected to the pair of the current carrying lines between the relay and the charging port and measures a voltage between the current carrying lines; and

a voltage processor that processes the voltage measured by the voltage measure with a predetermined filter,

wherein the voltage processor processes the voltage with a first filter when the electric charger is connected to the charging port to charge the electric storage device, and

wherein the voltage processor processes the voltage with a second filter that has a higher responsiveness than the first filter when, under a state the power supply from the power controller is interrupted, the relay is switched to a connection state or a disconnection state and a failure diagnosis of the relay is performed based on a change in the voltage due to switching of the relay.

3. An electric charger that, when in use, is connected to an electric vehicle that includes an electric storage device connected to a charging port via a pair of power receiving lines and a relay disposed on at least either of the pair of the power receiving lines, the electric charger comprising:

a connector that is attachable and detachable to the charging port;

a power controller that is connected to the connector via a pair of power supply lines and generates charging power;

a voltage measure that is connected to the pair of the power supply lines and measures a voltage between the power supply lines; and

a voltage processor that processes the voltage measured by the voltage measure with a predetermined filter,

wherein the voltage processor processes the voltage with a first filter when the power controller supplies supply power from the power controller to charge the electric storage device under a state where the connector is connected to the charging port, and

wherein the voltage processor processes the voltage with a second filter that has a higher responsiveness than the first filter when, under a state the connector is connected to the charging port and the power supply from the power controller is interrupted, the relay is switched to a connection state or a disconnection state and a failure diagnosis of the relay is performed based on a change in the voltage due to switching of the relay.