CN111384732A

CN111384732A - Method for charging a battery of a vehicle, battery charging device and vehicle

Info

Publication number: CN111384732A
Application number: CN201811613713.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 徐波
Original assignee: Qoros Automotive Co Ltd
Current assignee: Qoros Automotive Co Ltd
Priority date: 2018-12-27
Filing date: 2018-12-27
Publication date: 2020-07-07

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a method for charging a battery of a vehicle, comprising determining at least one operating parameter of the battery; determining a charging voltage for the battery based on the determined at least one operating parameter; and charging the battery based on the determined charging voltage. In this way, the battery can be in an optimal state during charging, thereby improving the service life of the battery. The present disclosure also provides a battery charging apparatus, a computer readable medium, and a vehicle including the battery charging apparatus.

Description

Method for charging a battery of a vehicle, battery charging device and vehicle

Technical Field

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to energy management, and more particularly, to a method for charging a battery of a vehicle, a battery charging apparatus, and a vehicle.

Background

Vehicles, particularly electric vehicles, may consume the amount of electricity in the battery even in a non-running state by certain electronic components inside the vehicle, such consumption current being referred to as "dark current". When the battery is low, the battery may request to feed a power supply, such as a direct current power supply (DC-DC), to power the battery.

Conventionally, a direct current power supply (DC-DC) (e.g., for a pure electric vehicle) or a generator (e.g., for a fuel-fired vehicle or a hybrid vehicle) is fixed to charge a battery with a voltage during driving. This can result in overcharging or undercharging, which can affect the life of the battery. In severe cases, the vehicle will not start properly. In addition, charging the battery at a constant voltage also increases power consumption (e.g., for pure electric vehicles) or fuel consumption (e.g., for fuel-powered or hybrid vehicles).

Disclosure of Invention

Embodiments of the present disclosure aim to provide a method for charging a battery of a vehicle, a battery charging apparatus, and a vehicle, to at least partially solve the above-mentioned problems in the prior art.

In a first aspect of the disclosure, a method for charging a battery of a vehicle is provided. The method includes determining at least one operating parameter of the battery; determining a charging voltage for the battery based on the determined at least one operating parameter; and charging the battery based on the determined charging voltage.

According to some embodiments, the at least one operating parameter is selected from one or more of the following parameters: the charge of the battery, the temperature of the battery, the current of the battery, or the voltage of the battery.

According to some embodiments, determining at least one operating parameter of the battery comprises determining a temperature of the battery; and determining the charging voltage for the battery comprises determining the charging voltage as the first charging voltage in response to the determined temperature of the battery being in the first temperature interval.

According to some embodiments, determining the charge voltage for the battery further comprises: the charging voltage is determined as a second charging voltage in response to the determined temperature of the storage battery being in a second temperature interval.

According to some embodiments, determining the charge voltage for the battery further comprises: in response to the determined temperature of the storage battery being in a third temperature interval, the charging voltage is determined as a third charging voltage.

According to some embodiments, the first charging voltage is a constant value in a first voltage range.

According to some embodiments, the second charging voltage is a constant value in a second voltage range.

According to some embodiments, the third charging voltage is a linear function of the temperature of the battery.

According to some embodiments, the temperature in the first temperature interval is lower than the temperature in the second temperature interval.

According to some embodiments, the temperature in the first temperature interval is lower than the temperature in the third temperature interval, and the temperature in the third temperature interval is lower than the temperature in the second temperature interval.

According to some embodiments, the vehicle comprises an electric vehicle.

In a second aspect of the present disclosure, a battery charging apparatus is provided. The battery charging apparatus comprises at least one processor, and at least one memory including computer program instructions, the at least one memory and the computer program instructions configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the battery charging apparatus to perform the method according to the first aspect.

In a third aspect of the disclosure, a computer-readable medium is provided. The computer readable medium comprising machine executable instructions which, when executed, cause a machine to perform the method according to the first aspect.

In a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, a vehicle is provided. The vehicle includes a battery and the battery charging device according to the second aspect.

According to some embodiments, the vehicle comprises one or more of an electric bicycle, an electric motorcycle, and an electric automobile.

Further features of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the attached drawings. It should be understood that this summary is not intended to identify key or critical features of the embodiments of the disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following description.

Drawings

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present disclosure will become more apparent by describing in more detail exemplary embodiments thereof in conjunction with the attached drawings. In the example embodiments of the present disclosure, like reference numerals generally refer to like parts.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of an exemplary scenario in which embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic diagram of a battery charging apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 shows a flow chart of a method for charging a battery of a vehicle according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 4 shows a schematic diagram of the temperature versus charging voltage of a battery according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 5 shows a schematic block diagram of an apparatus that may be used to implement embodiments of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

The present disclosure will now be described with reference to several example embodiments. It should be understood that these examples are described only for the purpose of enabling those skilled in the art to better understand and thereby enable the present disclosure, and are not intended to set forth any limitations on the scope of the technical solutions of the present disclosure.

As used herein, the term "include" and its variants are to be read as open-ended terms meaning "including, but not limited to. The term "based on" will be read as "based at least in part on". The terms "one embodiment" and "an embodiment" should be understood as "at least one embodiment". The term "another embodiment" should be understood as "at least one other embodiment". The terms "first," "second," and the like may refer to different or the same object. Other explicit and implicit definitions may be included below. The definitions of the terms are consistent throughout the specification unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

As described hereinabove, in a conventional manner, a direct current power supply (DC-DC) (e.g., for a pure electric vehicle) or a generator (e.g., for a fuel-powered vehicle or a hybrid vehicle) of a vehicle, particularly an electric vehicle, charges a battery with a fixed voltage. Since various parameters (e.g., ambient temperature) may affect the optimal charge acceptance voltage of the secondary battery, the conventional constant voltage charging mode may affect the lifespan of the secondary battery when the state of the secondary battery is unknown. In addition, overcharging may cause vehicle energy losses, resulting in increased charge losses (e.g., for pure electric vehicles) or fuel consumption (e.g., for fuel-fired or hybrid vehicles).

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and potentially other problems, based on the research of the present inventors on the charging characteristics of the storage battery, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method for charging the storage battery of a vehicle, a storage battery charging apparatus, and a vehicle. The charging method and the charging device can provide a method for intelligently adjusting the charging voltage for the power supply system of the vehicle. The method can ensure that the storage battery is always in an optimal charging state, thereby effectively prolonging the service life of the storage battery, reducing the damage rate of storage battery parts on the vehicle and reducing the energy loss of the whole vehicle. Some example embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to fig. 1 to 5.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of an exemplary scenario in which embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented. As shown in fig. 1, in a vehicle 100, particularly an electric vehicle, a battery charging device 110 capable of managing operations related to charging, discharging, and performance monitoring of a battery (not shown) for the vehicle 100 is generally included.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic diagram of a battery charging apparatus 110 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 2, in general, the battery charging apparatus 110 may include a battery 111, a smart battery sensor (IBS)112, an Electronic Control Unit (ECU)113, and a power supply 114. The battery 111 of the vehicle 100 may be charged by any power source 114 in a wired or wireless manner. The power source 114 may be, for example, a direct current-to-direct current (DC-DC) power source, or may be, for example, a generator operated by an engine. Although the power supply 114 is disposed inside the vehicle in the present embodiment, it should be understood that the power supply 114 may be disposed outside the vehicle.

The battery 111 is one of the main power supply sources of the vehicle 100. Even in the case where the vehicle 100 is not started, the battery 111 supplies some of the low-voltage electric appliances inside the vehicle 100 with power, and the supplied current is referred to as "dark current". The battery 111 is used as a starting power supply when the vehicle 100 is started, and is charged by the power supply 114 as an electrical appliance after the start. When the electrical load of the vehicle 100 exceeds the capacity of the power supply 114, the storage battery 111 assists in discharging, ensuring the stability of the vehicle power supply system.

The IBS112 is configured to monitor battery operating parameters such as the charge level (also referred to as state of charge (SOC)), temperature, current, and voltage of the battery 111, and feed the monitoring results of the parameters back to the ECU113 via the bus for processing.

The ECU113 is configured to control the battery according to the parameters provided by the IBS 112. For example, the ECU113 may include predetermined algorithms and strategies to determine the charging voltage to charge the battery 111 based on the operating parameters of the battery 111 provided by the IBS 112. It should be understood that the ECU113 may be a separate control module, a battery management module integrated in the battery, a vehicle control system integrated in the vehicle, or the like.

The IBS112 and ECU113 can communicate over a Local Interconnect Network (LIN), which follows the protocol of LIN 2.1. In the battery charging apparatus 110, the IBS112 may be a slave node, the master node may be an ECU113 supporting LIN communication, and communication between the ECU113 and the power supply 114 may be CAN bus communication.

The power supply 114 is the primary power source for the entire vehicle. The power supply 114 is typically used to power low voltage electrical loads throughout the vehicle, as well as to charge the battery 111. The charging voltage rating of the power supply 114 is generally controlled by the ECU 113.

In addition, the battery charging apparatus 110 may further include a Body Control Module (BCM)115 and a Gateway (GW) 116. BCM115 is typically used to control a plurality of electrical loads of the vehicle body. The GW116 is generally used as a core of an internal communication local area network of the vehicle, and information sharing on each bus and network management and fault diagnosis functions inside the vehicle can be realized through the GW 116.

The steps of the control method according to the present disclosure may be implemented in one of the ECU113, the BCM115, the GW116, or a power management control module (not shown) of the vehicle, or may be implemented by two or more of the above respective control modules working in cooperation. The present disclosure is not limited in this respect.

FIG. 3 shows a flow chart of a method 300 for charging a battery of a vehicle, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the method 300 may be implemented by the battery charging apparatus 110 shown in fig. 1 and 2, for example, by the ECU113 in the battery charging apparatus 110. Alternatively, the method 300 may be implemented by another processing unit independent of the vehicle 100. For ease of discussion, the method 300 will be discussed in conjunction with fig. 1 and 2.

As shown in fig. 3, at block 310, at least one operating parameter of the battery 111 is determined. The at least one operating parameter is indicative of an operating state of the battery 111.

In some embodiments, the operating parameter may be selected from one or more of the following parameters: the state of charge SOC of the battery 111, the temperature of the battery 111, the current of the battery 111, or the voltage of the battery 111. It should be appreciated that the present disclosure determines the operating parameter for purposes of charging the battery 111 based on the relationship of the operating parameter to the optimal charging voltage. Therefore, the present disclosure does not make particular limitations on the type of operating parameters. One or more parameters capable of indicating the operating state of the battery 111 are within the scope of the present disclosure. For convenience of explanation, the following description will be made of an embodiment of the present disclosure taking the temperature of the battery 111 as an example.

Referring again to fig. 3, at block 320, a charging voltage for the battery 111 is determined based on the determined at least one operating parameter. The inventor discovers that based on the research on the charging characteristics of the storage battery:

(1) when the temperature of the storage battery is too low, the activity of the battery is reduced, and charging is difficult. Therefore, in this case, the charging voltage is to be raised. Preferably, charging is performed at a high voltage constant voltage in order to improve charging efficiency.

(2) When the temperature of the storage battery is too high, if the charging voltage is also too high, gas evolution is too fast, and water loss and polar plate corrosion are caused. Therefore, in this case, the charging voltage should be lowered to charge at a low voltage constant voltage in order to reduce damage to the battery.

(3) When the temperature is in the interval between low temperature and high temperature, if the temperature of the storage battery is lower, the charging voltage should be increased so as to rapidly increase the electric quantity of the storage battery and prevent the over-discharge of the storage battery (the over-discharge can affect the service life of the storage battery); if the battery temperature is high, the battery charging voltage should be lowered to prevent overcharging.

Thus, to adjust the charging voltage based on the temperature of the battery 111 such that the charging voltage is always in the most favorable interval for the battery 111, in some embodiments, the charging voltage may be determined to be the first charging voltage in response to the determined temperature of the battery 111 being in the first temperature interval. For example, the first temperature interval may represent a lower temperature interval, e.g., a temperature interval of 0 ℃ or less. In this case, preferably, the first charging voltage may be determined as a constant value in a voltage range (also referred to herein as "first voltage range"). For example, the charging voltage may be determined to be a constant value (e.g., 15.5V) within this voltage range (15.5V, 16.0V). Thus, the embodiment of the method according to the present disclosure can charge at a high voltage constant voltage in a case where the temperature of the secondary battery 111 is low, so as to improve the charging efficiency.

In some embodiments, the charging voltage may be determined to be a second charging voltage in response to the determined temperature of the battery 111 being in a second temperature interval. For example, the second temperature interval may represent a higher temperature interval, e.g., a temperature interval greater than or equal to 40 ℃. In this case, the second charging voltage may preferably be determined as a constant value in a voltage range (also referred to herein as "second voltage range"). For example, the charging voltage may be determined to be a constant value (e.g., 13.5V) within this voltage range (13.0V, 13.5V). Thus, the embodiment of the method according to the present disclosure can reduce the charging voltage to charge at a low voltage and a constant voltage in order to reduce damage to the battery in the case where the temperature of the secondary battery 111 is high.

In some embodiments, the charging voltage may be determined to be a third charging voltage in response to the determined temperature of the storage battery 111 being in a third temperature interval. For example, the third temperature interval may represent a temperature interval (e.g., greater than 0 ℃ and less than 40 ℃) between the first temperature interval and the second temperature interval. In this case, preferably, the third charging voltage may be set as a function of the temperature of the secondary battery 111. For example, the third charging voltage may be a linear function of the temperature of the battery 111, as shown in the following equation (1):

U＝C-D*T(1)

wherein U represents a charging voltage; t represents the temperature of battery 111; the parameter C represents a constant; the parameter D represents the slope in a linear function. The values of the above parameters may be, for example: t is more than 0 ℃ and less than 40 ℃; c ═ 15.5, 16.0; d ═ 0.05, 0.075.

By expressing the third charging voltage as a linear function of the temperature of the secondary battery 111, the charging voltage can be linearly adjusted according to the actual temperature of the secondary battery 111, thereby effectively preventing the secondary battery from being overdischarged and overcharged.

From the above description of the relationship between the temperature and the charging voltage of the secondary battery 111, in some embodiments, the relationship between the temperature and the charging voltage of the secondary battery 111 may be represented by a piecewise function shown in the following equation (2):

wherein U represents a charging voltage; t represents the temperature of battery 111; a and B represent voltage ranges, respectively; the parameter C represents a constant; the parameter D represents the slope in a linear function.

Based on the above formula (2), for example, in some embodiments, if a is 15.5, B is 13.5, C is 15.5, and D is 0.05, the above formula (2) becomes the following formula (3):

the relationship of the above equation (3) is shown as a piecewise function in fig. 4.

Referring again to fig. 3, at block 330, the battery 111 is charged based on the determined charging voltage.

Further, in some embodiments, the vehicle involved in the method according to the present disclosure includes an electric vehicle, for example, an electric bicycle, an electric motorcycle, an electric automobile, and the like.

Therefore, the method can determine the proper charging voltage according to the actual operation parameters of the storage battery, so that the storage battery is always in the optimal charging state, the service life of the storage battery is effectively prolonged, the damage rate of storage battery parts on a vehicle is reduced, and the energy loss of the whole vehicle is reduced.

Fig. 5 illustrates a simplified block diagram of an apparatus 500 suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the apparatus 500 may be used to implement a battery charging apparatus, such as the battery charging apparatus 110 shown in fig. 1 and 2.

As shown in fig. 5, the apparatus 500 includes a controller 510. The controller 510 controls the operation and functions of the device 500. For example, in certain embodiments, controller 510 may perform various operations by way of instructions 530 stored in memory 520 coupled thereto.

The memory 520 may be of any suitable type suitable to the local technical environment and may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, including but not limited to semiconductor-based memory devices, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems. It is to be appreciated that although only one memory 520 is illustrated in FIG. 5, a plurality of physically distinct memory units may be present in the apparatus 500.

The controller 510 may be of any suitable type suitable to the local technical environment, and may include, but is not limited to, one or more of general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microcontrollers, digital signal controllers (DSPs), and controller-based multi-core controller architectures. The apparatus 500 may also include a plurality of controllers 510. The controller 510 is coupled to a transceiver 540, which transceiver 540 may facilitate the reception and transmission of information by way of one or more antennas 550 and/or other components.

When the apparatus 500 is acting as the battery charging apparatus 110, the controller 510, the memory 520, the instructions 530, and the transceiver 540 may operate in cooperation to implement the method 300 described above with reference to the figures. All of the features described above with reference to fig. 3 apply to the apparatus 500 and are not described in detail herein.

It should be noted that the embodiments of the present disclosure can be realized by hardware, software, or a combination of software and hardware. The hardware portion may be implemented using dedicated logic; the software portions may be stored in a memory and executed by a suitable instruction execution system, such as a microprocessor or specially designed hardware. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the apparatus and methods described above may be implemented using computer executable instructions and/or embodied in processor control code, such code being provided, for example, in programmable memory or on a data carrier such as an optical or electronic signal carrier.

By way of example, embodiments of the disclosure may be described in the context of machine-executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, being executed in a device on a target real or virtual processor. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. In various embodiments, the functionality of the program modules may be combined or divided between program modules as described. Machine-executable instructions for program modules may be executed within local or distributed devices. In a distributed facility, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage media.

Computer program code for implementing the methods of the present disclosure may be written in one or more programming languages. These computer program codes may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus, such that the program codes, when executed by the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, cause the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks to be performed. The program code may execute entirely on the computer, partly on the computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server.

In the context of the present disclosure, computer program code or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable a device, apparatus or processor to perform various processes and operations described above. Examples of a carrier include a signal, computer readable medium, and the like. Examples of signals may include electrical, optical, radio, acoustic, or other forms of propagated signals, such as carrier waves, infrared signals, and the like.

The computer readable medium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable medium may include, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination thereof. More detailed examples of a computer-readable storage medium include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a Random Access Memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination thereof.

Further, while the operations of the methods of the present disclosure are depicted in the drawings in a particular order, this does not require or imply that these operations must be performed in this particular order, or that all of the illustrated operations must be performed, to achieve desirable results. Rather, the steps depicted in the flowcharts may change the order of execution. Additionally or alternatively, certain steps may be omitted, multiple steps combined into one step execution, and/or one step broken down into multiple step executions. It should also be noted that the features and functions of two or more devices according to the present disclosure may be embodied in one device. Conversely, the features and functions of one apparatus described above may be further divided into embodiments by a plurality of apparatuses.

It is to be understood that the above detailed embodiments of the disclosure are merely illustrative of or explaining the principles of the disclosure and are not limiting of the disclosure. Therefore, any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement and the like made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the protection scope of the present invention. Also, it is intended that the following claims cover all such changes and modifications that fall within the scope and boundaries of the claims or the equivalents of the scope and boundaries.

Claims

1. A method for charging a battery of a vehicle, comprising:

determining at least one operating parameter of the battery;

determining a charging voltage for the battery based on the determined at least one operating parameter; and

charging the battery based on the determined charging voltage.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one operating parameter is selected from one or more of the following parameters: an amount of power of the battery, a temperature of the battery, a current of the battery, or a voltage of the battery.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining at least one operating parameter of the battery comprises: determining a temperature of the battery; and is

The determining a charging voltage for the battery comprises: determining the charging voltage as a first charging voltage in response to the determined temperature of the storage battery being in a first temperature interval.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the determining a charge voltage for the battery further comprises: determining the charging voltage as a second charging voltage in response to the determined temperature of the storage battery being in a second temperature interval.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the determining a charge voltage for the battery further comprises: determining the charging voltage as a third charging voltage in response to the determined temperature of the storage battery being in a third temperature interval.

6. The method of any of claims 3 to 5, wherein the first charging voltage is a constant value in a first voltage range.

7. The method of claim 4 or 5, wherein the second charging voltage is a constant value in a second voltage range.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the third charging voltage is a linear function of the temperature of the battery.

9. The method according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the temperature in the first temperature interval is lower than the temperature in the second temperature interval.

10. The method of claim 5, wherein the temperature in the first temperature interval is lower than the temperature in the third temperature interval, and the temperature in the third temperature interval is lower than the temperature in the second temperature interval.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle comprises an electric vehicle.

12. A battery charging apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program instructions, the at least one memory and the computer program instructions configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the battery charging apparatus to perform the method of any of claims 1-11.

13. A computer readable medium comprising machine executable instructions which, when executed, cause a machine to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 11.

14. A vehicle comprising a battery and the battery charging apparatus according to claim 12.

15. The vehicle of claim 14, wherein the vehicle comprises one or more of an electric bicycle, an electric motorcycle, and an electric automobile.