Charger system with safety guardian

• US 8,917,054 B2
• Filed: 08/08/2011
• Issued: 12/23/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/08/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lear Corporation
• Original Assignee: Lear Corporation
• Inventors: Acena, Miguel Angel, Ghabbour, Youssef
• Primary Examiner(s): Tso, Edward
• Assistant Examiner(s): BOATENG, ALEXIS ASIEDUA
• Application Number:
  US13/204,939
• Publication Number:
  US 20130038283A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,233 Days
• Field of Search: 320/104, 320/107, 320/134, 320/135, 320/136, 320/137
• US Class Current: 320/104
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2210/30 AC to DC converters
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/14 Conductive energy transfer
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/20 characterised by converters located in the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/60 Monitoring or controlling charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/65 involving identification of vehicles or their battery types
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/20 having different nominal voltages
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/48 for electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV]
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/1423 with multiple 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 10/72 Electric energy management in electromobility
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/12 Electric charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/14 Plug-in electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/16 Information or communication technologies improving the operation of 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 30/14 Details associated with the interoperability, e.g. vehicle recognition, authentication, identification or billing

Abstract

A safety guardian operable to facilitate notifying an Electronic Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) system whether a vehicle charging system is ready to accept energy. The safety guardian may be configured to facilitate control of a vehicle interface used to provide a reference voltage to the EVSE reflective of whether the charging system is ready to accept energy. The guardian may control the vehicle interface in the absence of a suitable control signal from the vehicle charging system in order to ensure the EVSE is notified when the vehicle charging system is not ready to accept energy.

Claims

1. A safety guardian operable with a vehicle charger system, the vehicle charger system including a charger power plant operable to invert AC energy received from a mains output of an Electronic Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) system to DC energy sufficient for charging a high voltage (HV) vehicle battery, the EVSE system delivering the AC energy when a first reference voltage is received and preventing delivery of the AC energy when a second reference voltage is received, the vehicle charger system including a vehicle interface operable using a control pilot output of the EVSE system to generate the first reference voltage when the charger power plant is ready to charge the HV vehicle battery and to output the second reference voltage when the charger power plant is not ready to charge the HV vehicle battery, the vehicle interface including a first switch operable between an open position and a closed position and a second switch operable between an open position and a closed position, the vehicle interface generating the first reference voltage when the first and second switches are both in the closed position and the second reference voltage when either one of the first and second switches are in the open position, the vehicle charger system including a controller operable to output a first signal to control the first switch between the open and closed positions and a second signal to control the second switch between the open and closed positions according to whether the charger power plant is ready to charge the HV vehicle battery, the safety guardian comprising:

a device operable to intercept the first signal output from the controller and to output a third signal to the first switch, the third signal being based on the first signal and operable to control the first switch between the open position and the closed position according to whether the charger power plant is ready to charge the HV vehicle battery, the device being operable in the absence of the first signal to automatically generate the third signal such that the first switch is controlled to the open position.

2. The safety guardian of claim 1 wherein the device is a retriggerable monostable.

3. The safety guardian of claim 2 wherein the retriggerable monostable generates the third signal to control the first switch to the open position when the first signal fails to include an edge within a pre-defined period of time.

4. The safety guardian of claim 2 wherein the retriggerable monostable generates the third signal to control the first switch to the closed position when the first signal includes an edge within a pre-defined period of time.

5. The safety guardian of claim 2 wherein the first signal alternates between a first voltage and a second voltage at a first frequency and the third signal alternates between a third voltage and a fourth voltage depending on the first frequency, the third signaling having the third voltage when the first frequency is greater than a threshold and the third signaling having the fourth voltage when the first frequency is less than the threshold.

6. The safety guardian of claim 1 further comprising a voltage regulator configured to maintain operation of the device when the controller loses power while energy is still available from a low voltage (LV) vehicle battery.