Patent
System and method for precharging and discharging a high power ultracapacitor pack
| العنوان: | System and method for precharging and discharging a high power ultracapacitor pack |
|---|---|
| Patent Number: | 7,633,271 |
| تاريخ النشر: | December 15, 2009 |
| Appl. No: | 12/324161 |
| Application Filed: | November 26, 2008 |
| مستخلص: | This invention is a system and a method that uses the braking resistor, commonly used and available in electrically or hybrid-electrically propelled vehicles, to limit the precharge current during the startup of a high power ultracapacitor pack energy storage device and/or safely and rapidly discharge an ultracapacitor pack for maintenance work or storage to lengthen the life of the individual ultracapacitor cells and, correspondingly, the whole pack. The use of the braking resistor for precharging an ultracapacitor energy storage pack is an effective and less expensive method compared to other methods such as a separate DC-to-DC converter. This method includes the control logic sequence to activate and deactivate switching devices that perform the connections for the charging and discharging current paths. |
| Inventors: | Schulte, Juergen J. (San Diego, CA, US); Ruppert, Swen O. (Moehrendorg, DE); Holl, Eugen (Langenzenn, DE) |
| Assignees: | ISE Corporation (Poway, CA, US) |
| Claim: | 1. A method for discharging an energy storage in a hybrid electric vehicle, the energy storage including a plurality of ultracapacitor energy storage cells, the hybrid electric vehicle including an internal combustion engine, a generator, a DC power bus, and at least one braking resistor, the method comprising: shutting off fuel to the internal combustion engine; electrically coupling the energy storage to the generator; spinning the internal combustion engine via the generator; discharging the energy storage to a first voltage at least in part via the spinning the internal combustion engine; electrically coupling the energy storage to the braking resistor; and, discharging the energy storage from the first voltage to a second voltage through the braking resistor. |
| Claim: | 2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the discharging the energy storage to the first voltage comprises discharging the energy storage down to the minimum operating voltage of the generator. |
| Claim: | 3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising cooling the braking resistor. |
| Claim: | 4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the cooling the braking resistor comprises operating an engine coolant pump via an engine power take off to circulate a coolant through the braking resistor. |
| Claim: | 5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hybrid electric vehicle further includes at least one multi-phase inverter, the method further comprising operating a first phase of the at least one multi-phase inverter to electrically couple the braking resistor to the DC power bus. |
| Claim: | 6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising operating a second phase of the at least one multi-phase inverter to electrically couple the energy storage to the DC power bus. |
| Claim: | 7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the discharging the energy storage to a first voltage comprises discharging the energy storage by at least 30 kW of power. |
| Claim: | 8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the discharging the energy storage from the first voltage to a second voltage comprises discharging the energy storage by at least 60 kW of power. |
| Claim: | 9. A system for discharging an energy storage in a hybrid electric vehicle, the energy storage including a plurality of ultracapacitor energy storage cells, the hybrid electric vehicle including an internal combustion engine, a generator, the system comprising: a DC power bus; at least one braking resistor; and, a controller configured to shut off fuel to the internal combustion engine, electrically couple the energy storage to the generator, spin the internal combustion engine via the generator, discharge the energy storage to a first voltage at least in part via the internal combustion engine, electrically couple the energy storage to the braking resistor, and, discharge the energy storage from the first voltage to a second voltage through the braking resistor. |
| Claim: | 10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the first voltage is associated with the minimum operating voltage of the generator. |
| Claim: | 11. The system of claim 9 , further comprising a coolant loop configured to cool the braking resistor. |
| Claim: | 12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the coolant loop includes an engine coolant pump powered by an engine power take off, and is configured to circulate a coolant through the braking resistor. |
| Claim: | 13. The system of claim 9 , wherein the hybrid electric vehicle further includes at least one multi-phase inverter, the controller further configured to operate a first phase of the at least one multi-phase inverter to electrically couple the braking resistor to the DC power bus. |
| Claim: | 14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the controller is further configured to operate a second phase of the at least one multi-phase inverter to electrically couple the energy storage to the DC power bus. |
| Claim: | 15. The system of claim 9 , wherein the controller is further configured to discharge the energy storage to the first voltage by at least 30 kW of power. |
| Claim: | 16. The system of claim 9 , wherein the controller is further configured to discharge the energy storage to the second voltage by at least 60 kW of power. |
| Current U.S. Class: | 320/167 |
| Patent References Cited: | 3890551 June 1975 Plunkett 4612495 September 1986 Yamauchi et al. 5751137 May 1998 Kiuchi et al. 5914542 June 1999 Weimer 6317343 November 2001 Okamura et al. 6615118 September 2003 Kumar 6664766 December 2003 Desprez et al. 6714391 March 2004 Wilk et al. 6737847 May 2004 Watanabe et al. 6777909 August 2004 Aberle et al. 6844704 January 2005 Wilk et al. 6938606 September 2005 Chung et al. 2002/0195821 December 2002 Wacknov 2004/0080165 April 2004 Geis et al. 2004/0149160 August 2004 Foesel et al. 2004/0189248 September 2004 Boskovitch et al. 2004/0252525 December 2004 Aldridge et al. 2005/0041370 February 2005 Wilk et al. |
| Primary Examiner: | Boateng, Alexis |
| Attorney, Agent or Firm: | Beuerle, Stephen C. Procopio Cory Hargreaves & Savitch LLP |
| رقم الانضمام: | edspgr.07633271 |
| قاعدة البيانات: | USPTO Patent Grants |
| الوصف غير متاح. |