Ford Global Technolgoies, LLC

Lan Yu

Michael W Degner

Chingchi Chen

Zhuxian Xu

Xi Lu

Guangyin Lei

Richard William Kautz

Krishna Prasad Bhat

An energy facility, such as a charge station operable for charging electrified vehicles, includes a controller. The controller selects from a group of energy management solutions which achieve favorable energy management activities with a same price of operation of the energy facility, an energy management solution resulting in favorable energy management results soonest. The controller controls the energy facility according to the selected energy management solution.

Energy facility arranged to prioritize favorable energy management actions to happen earlier and non-favorable energy management actions to happen later

A method includes responsive to indication that a predicted electricity price will exceed a predefined threshold during a timeframe, charging one or more power storage devices to a target amount, that is based on a predicted power demand of the building during the timeframe, before the timeframe begins, and discharging the one or more power storage devices to supply power to the building during the timeframe.

Control of vehicle and home energy storage systems

An energy system of a building includes a power storage device, and a controller that, during a period of time for which energy costs are lowest, charges a power storage device to a maximum state of charge, and during a period of time for which energy costs are not lowest and an immediate subsequent period of time is predicted to have higher energy costs, charges the power storage device to a target state of charge that is less than the maximum state of charge and that depends on predicted power demand during the subsequent period of time.

A method for managing energy for a building includes connecting a power line of the building to a battery of a vehicle via a charger; responsive to occurrence of a power outage, supplying electric energy to the building from the battery and from an energy storage separate from the vehicle; and instructing the vehicle to recharge the battery and return to the building at a predefined time before stored energy of the energy storage falls below a predefined value.

Vehicle recharge of home energy storage

An energy facility, such as a charge station operable for charging electrified vehicles, includes a controller. The controller controls the energy facility to charge at a current time an EV present at the charge station with electricity stored in an onsite battery of the charge station in response to an amount of renewable energy expected to be available at the charge station at a future time during which the EV is expected to not be present at the charge station exceeding an available electricity storage capacity of the onsite battery.

Energy facility leveraging electric vehicle charging to increase usage of renewable energy

A vehicle-based microgrid includes a controller and a vehicle having a power source and a network. The controller is operable to operate the power source to supply power to the network for consumption by loads on the network and to adjust operation of the power source in supplying power to the network upon a battery source being added to the network. The power source may be (i) a traction battery, (ii) an electrical generator, or (iii) a non-traction battery. The battery source may be (i) a battery that is on-board the vehicle and that is not the power source or (ii) a battery that is off board the vehicle.

Vehicle-based microgrid having dynamically addable and removable battery systems

A system for managing energy of a building includes a controller in communication with a charger and configured to responsive to predicting (i) a coming power outage of an expected duration and (ii) a total energy reserve of a battery of a vehicle and an electric energy storage being less than an anticipated amount of energy to be used by the building during the expected duration, instruct the vehicle to recharge the battery at a target charge station and return before stored energy of the energy storage falls below a predefined value, and responsive to encountering the power outage, command the charger to supply electric energy to the building from the battery and electric energy storage.

A hands-free charging system includes a power source and a charging unit electrically connected to the power source. The charging unit includes an energy-storage device and a robotic coupler connectable to a charge port of a vehicle. The charging unit is configured to charge the vehicle with the power source, and the energy-storage device is configured to independently power the robotic coupler irrespective of an energization state of the power source. A controller is programmed to, in response to the power source becoming de-energized during a vehicle charging session, retract the robotic coupler from the charge port using power from the energy-storage device.

Hands free charging system with power loss detection and management

A hands-free charging system includes an electrical power source and a ground unit electrically connected to the power source. The ground unit includes an energy-storage device and a robotic coupler having a connector and an actuator configured to move the connector into engagement with a vehicle charge port. The energy-storage device is configured to power the actuator. A switching arrangement is configured to selectively electrically connect the power source to the energy-storage device and to the connector. A controller is programmed to, in response to a request to charge a vehicle, connect the connector to a charge port when the connector is electrically disconnected from the power source using an internal power source.

Hands-free charging system with internal power source

The methods and systems for correcting for an inductive load when testing high voltages devices are described. A high voltages device is a device under test (DUT) in a double-pulse test, which may require the inductive load. The method can include in a low current, high voltage time period, estimating an inductor current contribution range after a turn on of the device-under-test connected to an inductive load with an air core inductor. The method subtracts the estimated inductor current contribution from a device-under-test collector current to output a corrected collector current. This allows the double pulse test to be conducted with an air-core inductor. Vehicles can use the DUT in traction power applications.

Double-pulse test systems and methods

A method includes measuring an impedance of a shunt as a function of frequency and converting the impedance to an admittance in a time domain. The method further includes connecting the shunt in a circuit and measuring voltage data across the shunt over a predetermined interval. The method includes outputting a signal indicative of a current through the shunt derived from the voltage data convolved with the admittance. The method may be implemented in a controller configured to interface with the shunt.

Ultra-high bandwidth current shunt

A controller is configured to select a rate of change direction of an output voltage of a variable voltage converter (VVC) based on a direction of current flow associated with a capacitor of the VVC, and to adjust a magnitude of the rate of change direction based on directions of current flow associated with the capacitor and an electric machine coupled to the VVC.

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Canton, MI, United States of America

Lan Yu