In-vehicle charging apparatus

• US 9,917,470 B2
• Filed: 03/07/2014
• Issued: 03/13/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/22/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PANASONIC AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS CO., LTD. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Iisaka, Atsushi
• Primary Examiner(s): Dunn, Drew A
• Assistant Examiner(s): Dibenedetto, Michael
• Application Number:
  US14/778,377
• Publication Number:
  US 20160172897A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,467 Days
• Field of Search: 320104, 320140, 320141
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2210/10 DC to DC converters
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2210/30 AC to DC converters
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2250/16 by display
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 3/00 Electric devices on electrically-propelled vehicles for safety purposes; Monitoring operating variables, e.g. speed, deceleration or energy consumption methods or circuit arrangements for monitoring or controlling batteries or fuel cells B60L58/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/16 Connectors, e.g. plugs or sockets, specially adapted for charging electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/18 Cables specially adapted for charging electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/30 Constructional details of charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/66 Data transfer between charging stations and vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/20 having different nominal voltages
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/44 Methods for charging or discharging circuits for charging H02J7/00
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2207/10 Control circuit supply, e.g. means for supplying power to the control circuit
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/1469 Regulation of the charging current or voltage otherwise than by variation of field
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/10 Energy storage using 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

Abstract

An in-vehicle charging apparatus (100) has: a charge control ECU (10), which operates with power supplied from a low-voltage battery (16), and which controls charging; an S2 switch, which is on/off controlled by means of the charge control ECU (10), and which reduces a voltage of the pulse signals when the switch is in the on-state; and a switch (SW1), which is controlled to be in an on-state by means of units other than the charge control ECU (10), and which reduces the voltage of the pulse signals when the switch is in the on-state. In the cases where the switch (SW1) is turned on, power from a charging cable (200) is supplied to the low-voltage battery (16) or the charge control ECU (10).

Claims

1. An in-vehicle charging apparatus that charges a high voltage battery and a low voltage battery with use of a charging cable configured to start supply of power to the in-vehicle charging apparatus based on a state of a voltage of a pulse signal preliminarily sent to the in-vehicle charging apparatus, the in-vehicle charging apparatus comprising:

a charging control section that operates with power supplied from the low voltage battery, and controls the charging;

a voltage drop switch whose on/off is controlled by the charging control section, the voltage drop switch being configured to reduce the voltage of the pulse signal sent by the charging cable when the voltage drop switch is in an on state; and

a first switch that is turned on by a physical auxiliary charging switch and reduces the voltage of the pulse signal sent by the charging cable when the first switch is in an on state, wherein

the power from the charging cable is supplied to the low voltage battery or the charging control section when the first switch is turned on.

2. The in-vehicle charging apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising:

an AC/DC conversion section that converts the power from the charging cable from AC to DC; and

a second switch that is turned on by the physical auxiliary charging switch to allow the power from the charging cable to be supplied to the AC/DC conversion section, wherein,

when the first switch is turned on, the second switch is turned on to allow the power from the charging cable to be supplied to the AC/DC conversion section, and

the AC/DC conversion section converts the power from the charging cable from AC to DC and supplies the power to the charging control section.

3. The in-vehicle charging apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising:

an AC/DC conversion section that converts the power from the charging cable from AC to DC; and

a second switch that is turned on by the physical auxiliary charging switch to allow the power from the charging cable to be supplied to the AC/DC conversion section, wherein,

when the first switch is turned on, the second switch is turned on to allow the power from the charging cable to be supplied to the AC/DC conversion section, and

the AC/DC conversion section converts the power from the charging cable from AC to DC and supplies the power to the low voltage battery that serves as a power source of the charging control section.

4. The in-vehicle charging apparatus according to claim 2 further comprising a third switch that is turned on by the physical auxiliary charging switch to prevent the power from the AC/DC conversion section from being supplied to the low voltage battery, wherein,

when the first switch and the second switch are turned on, the third switch is turned off to prevent the power from the AC/DC conversion section from being supplied to the low voltage battery.

5. The in-vehicle charging apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the physical auxiliary charging switch is configured to turn on the first switch and the second switch and turn off the third switch at a same time.

6. The in-vehicle charging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the charging cable is configured to start supply of power to the in-vehicle charging apparatus when it is detected that the voltage of the pulse signal is a predetermined value.

7. The in-vehicle charging apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the second switch is a switch for turning on or off a power supply line between a connecting part of the in-vehicle charging apparatus and the AC/DC conversion section, the connecting part being fitted to a connecting part of the charging cable.

8. The in-vehicle charging apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the third switch is a switch for turning on or off a power supply line between the low voltage battery and the charging control section.