Gm Global Technolgoy Operations, Inc.

Mohamed Kamel

Chandra S Namuduri

Muhammad Hussain Alvi

Suresh Gopalakrishnan

Jun-Mo Kang

Rashmi Prasad

Alireza Fatemi

Lyall Kenneth Winger

Dave G Rich

Yilun Luo

Patrick Frost

Garrett M Seeman

Junghoon Kim

James Morrison

Khorshed Mohammed Alam

Balance control for a rechargeable energy storage system (RESS) having a plurality of power modules. The balance control may include determining a state deviation for each of the power modules and implementing a balance control strategy to individually control power transfer capabilities of the power modules for purposes of driving the state deviation associated therewith toward a state target.

Balance control for rechargeable energy storage system

An energy storage system for an electric vehicle includes multiple battery modules, multiple DC-DC power converters, a DC bus configured to supply power to one or more loads, and a vehicle control module configured to obtain a temperature of each of the plurality of DC-DC power converters, assign a first output voltage setpoint to a first one of the plurality of DC-DC power converters having a lowest temperature, and in response to the temperature of the first one of the plurality of DC-DC power converters being greater than or equal to the temperature of another one of the plurality of DC-DC power converters, assign a second output voltage setpoint to a second one of the plurality of DC-DC power converters, and reduce the output voltage setpoint of the first one of the plurality of DC-DC power converters to a value less than the second output voltage setpoint.

Vehicle energy storage systems including multiple DC-DC power converters

An example vehicle battery control system includes an electric motor, a vehicle battery pack configured to supply power to the electric motor, the vehicle battery pack including multiple battery modules each including multiple rechargeable battery cells, and a vehicle control module configured to measure an output current of the vehicle battery pack, estimate a state of charge of the vehicle battery pack using a coulomb counter, and for each of the multiple battery modules, measure an output voltage of the battery module, determine a state of charge shifting bias value for the battery module, estimate an individual state of charge of the battery module by applying the state of charge shifting bias value to the state of charge of the vehicle battery pack, and control at least one of a charging current and a discharging current according to the individual state of charge of the battery module.

State of charge control system for vehicle battery modules

A power supply system for a vehicle is provided. The power supply system includes a high-voltage battery pack having a plurality of batteries, a primary isolated converter connected to the high-voltage battery pack, and a plurality of distributed isolated converters, each of the plurality of distributed isolated converters being connected to one of the plurality of batteries. Each of the distributed isolated converters includes a primary stage configured to receive power from one of the plurality of batteries and an isolated stage configured to provide power to a low-voltage bus. The bias signals configured to control the operation of each of the plurality of distributed isolated converters are powered by the connected one of the plurality of batteries and activated based on an enable signal provided by the primary isolated converter.

Generating and supplying bias power to isolated power converters

Examples described herein provide a method for managing current in a low voltage bus of a vehicle. The method includes receiving an electrical load request for an electrical load of the vehicle. The method further includes, prior to enabling the electrical load, adjusting a current provided by a direct current (DC)/DC converter for a period of time based at least in part on the electrical load. The method further includes, responsive to expiration of the period of time, enabling or disabling the electrical load based at least in part on the electrical load request.

Managing current or voltage in low voltage buses of vehicles

A system includes an electronic device including a circuit having a semiconductor switch, and a switching control system operably connected to the semiconductor switch. The switching control system is configured to control a switching speed of the semiconductor switch based on a received voltage by altering at least one of a gate resistance and a gate capacitance of the semiconductor switch.

Electronic control of switching slew rates

A method and apparatus for electrical energy transfer between a pair of series connected batteries coupled between positive and negative DC rails of a power inverter operatively connected to a plurality of stator phase windings of a stator winding of a motor may include coupling a midpoint of the pair of series connected batteries to the stator winding of the motor, and controlling the power inverter to operate the power inverter and the stator winding as a switched-mode power converter to charge at least one of the stator phase windings from one of the pair of series connected batteries and to discharge the at least one of the stator phase windings to the other of the pair of series connected batteries.

Rechargeable energy storage system balancing

Fuse configurations for a distributed power architecture of a vehicle is provided. The distributed power architecture includes a high-voltage battery pack having a plurality of batteries and a plurality of converters, each of the plurality of converters being configured to receive high-voltage power from one of the plurality of batteries and to provide low-voltage power to a low-voltage bus. The distributed power architecture also includes a plurality of fuses disposed on one or more of an input side and an output side of each of the plurality of converters and a vehicle controller with at least one communication link to each of the plurality of power converters. Each of the plurality of fuses are configured to selectively prevent current flow through one of the plurality of converters.

Distributed power architecture including fuses

An optimal control strategy for a distributed low voltage system with unidirectional DC/DC converters is provided. DC/DC converters regulate high electrical voltages from high voltage battery modules and output regulated electrical currents to a low voltage battery. A control system differentially varies electrical currents input to the DC/DC converters to balance states of charge in high voltage battery modules, by: calculating sets of electrical currents that balance states of charge in high voltage battery modules based on values for a low voltage regulator electrical current, in advance to knowing a value for the low voltage regulator electrical current, interpolating the sets of electrical currents to be input to the DC/DC converters in response to receiving the value for low voltage regulator electrical current, and selecting an interpolated set of the electrical currents from the sets as input to the DC/DC converters in accordance with the value received.

Optimal control strategy for a distributed low voltage system with unidirectional direct current converters

A rechargeable energy storage system may include a series arrangement of a plurality of batteries coupled to a first DC bus at a first DC voltage. A DC to DC converter may include a multi-input DC input stage coupled to a multi-output DC output stage. The multi-input DC input stage may include multiple distributed DC inputs, each distributed DC input being coupled to a respective one of the plurality of batteries. The multi-output DC output stage may include multiple aggregated DC outputs. At least one controllable switch may couple one or more of the multiple aggregated DC outputs to one or more other DC buses.

Growing community of inventors

Rochester, MI, United States of America

Mohamed Kamel