Volvo Truck Corporation

Maxime Valero

David De Brito

Julien Maitre

Frédéric Leroy

Frederic Leroy

Hans Westerlind

Bart Potts

Benjamin Foras

Robert Niemczyk

Jean-Daniel Bonnet

Joshua Smith

Gregoire Artur Du Plessis

A method to control operation of electrical converter units in an electrical system of a vehicle comprising a first and a second electrical network, the first and the second electrical network being coupled respectively to a positive terminals of a first battery and a second battery, each converter of a plurality of converters having an active state in which the converter output supplies current to the second electrical network, and a rest state in which the converter output does not supply current to the second electrical network, each converter of the plurality of converters exhibiting a respective cumulative operation time in each of a plurality of different current ranges, wherein a single converter is active in a vehicle rest mode, and a balance of converters is carried out upon cumulative respective usage of each converter.

System and method for balancing use of several DC/DC converters in a vehicle

A method for controlling an electrical system of an electric vehicle. The electrical system comprises a vehicle network and an external network having one or more external loads and connectable to an on-board network. The vehicle network comprises a converter unit adapted for connecting a traction voltage network and an on-board network having a battery unit and one or more internal loads and connected to the converter unit; and a switching unit adapted for controlling power output to the external network by connecting and disconnecting the on-board network and external network. The method comprises the steps of determining at least one current information of the electrical system and at least one safety current value; and controlling the switching unit to control the power output from the on-board network to the external network depending on the at least one current information and the at least one safety current value.

Method and a master control unit for controlling an electrical system of an electric vehicle

A vehicle power supply system (), comprising: —a vehicle battery () with a charging voltage, —a DC-to-DC converter () comprising two first connection terminals () connected to the vehicle battery () and two second connection terminals () for connecting an external charger to recharge the vehicle battery () or for connecting an external battery to be recharged, wherein, in a first mode in which an external charger is connected to the two second connection terminals (), the voltage Vbetween the two second connection terminals () is an input voltage of the converter and the voltage Vbetween the two first connection terminals () is an output voltage of the converter, wherein, in a second mode in which an external battery to be recharged is connected to the two second connection terminals (), the voltage Vbetween the two first connection terminals () is an input voltage of the converter and the voltage Vbetween the two second connection terminals () is an output voltage of the converter, wherein the system also includes means for determining at least the voltage Vbetween the two second connection terminals () and preferably also the voltage Vbetween the two first connection terminals (), and wherein the DC-to-DC converter () is controlled so that the output voltage of the converter is equal to the charging voltage of the vehicle battery () in the first mode and to a charging voltage of the external battery in the second mode.

Vehicle power supply system, vehicle comprising such system and method for recharging a vehicle battery

The invention relates to a method for protecting an on-board electrical network of a truck having a base-line equipment provided by a truck manufacturer, and having base-line loads having a current consumption, an auxiliary equipment fitted a posteriori by a truck body builder, and having auxiliary loads having a current consumption, and a battery. The method further comprises, when the engine of the truck is ON: determining that the engine is to be turned off, determining a total current consumption of the truck, determining the battery maximum capacity, if the total current consumption is lower than the battery maximum capacity, turning off the engine, and, if the total current consumption is higher than the battery maximum capacity, reducing the current consumption of at least one adjustable auxiliary load.

Method for protecting an on-board electrical network of a truck

A control method for determining an operational status of an electrical load of a heavy-duty vehicle includes measuring a global current consumption of the electrical network when the electrical load is not activated, detecting an activation of the electrical load, measuring the global current consumption of the electrical network after the electrical load has been activated, determining an electrical current consumption of the electrical load, determining a reference current consumption of the electrical load, if the difference between the determined electrical current consumption of the electrical load and the determined reference current consumption is higher than a first predetermined threshold and lower than a second predetermined threshold, the second predetermined threshold being higher than the first predetermined threshold, set the operational status of the electrical load to a first status called 'nominal operation'.

Method for determining an operational status of an electrical load of a heavy-duty vehicle

The invention relates to a method for reducing the overall power consumption of a parked vehicle, whereby said vehicle comprises a DC power network including two batteries connected in series and an equalizer circuit, whereby the equalizer circuit includes a DC/DC converter for converting an input voltage corresponding to the sum of the voltages of the two batteries into an output voltage to be applied to a first battery of the two batteries. The method consists in i) activating the DC/DC converter only when the State of Charge (SoC) of the first battery reaches a first level below the State of Charge (SoC) of the second battery; and u) keeping the DC/DC converter active until the State of Charge (SoC) of the first battery reaches a second level above the State of Charge (SoC) of the second battery.

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Meyzieu, France

Maxime Valero