Ford Global Technolgoies, LLC

Tuyen Quoc Tran

Benjamin A Tabatowski-Bush

Ben A Tabatowski-Bush

Philip Michael Gonzales

Thanh Pham

Kevin Vander Laan

Richard Kai Wong

Shane Schulze

Jesus Cardosa

A battery simulator is configured to provide large energy pulses for hot plug testing while maintaining the ability to quickly respond during random order testing. A simulator can comprise a plurality of cell simulators 'cellsims' coupled to a DC power supply. Each cellsim can include a bidirectional DC converter, a bulk capacitor on the primary side of the converter, and a switchable discharge capacitor on the secondary side of the converter. The bidirectional DC converter enables the simulator to cooperate with a battery control module (BCM) to perform active cell balancing. Energy received from the BCM can be stored at the bulk capacitor. The discharge capacitor can be coupled to an output link to provide a high energy pulse to the BCM to simulate hot plug conditions, and can be decoupled from the link during random order testing. Output link voltage and current can be monitored for fault detection.

Bidirectional DC converter-based battery simulator

Systems and methods for controlling a vehicle having a traction battery with a plurality of cell groups each having a plurality of serially connected battery cells include balancing each cell of each cell group with a corresponding autonomous cell balancing circuit, and coupling a single output associated with each cell group to an associated battery monitoring circuit. An integrated driver and switch circuit adapts the voltage from an associated cell group for powering battery monitoring integrated circuits with a voltage range corresponding to a single cell voltage range to facilitate use of an existing battery monitoring integrated circuit design and subsequent input to a microprocessor-based battery controller. Cell balancing is performed at each cell with a battery monitor circuit associated with each group of cells.

Autonomous charge balancing circuit and method for battery pack

A portable high voltage charging apparatus (HVCA) can be configured to controllably charge a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) traction battery using energy provided by a low voltage (LV) lead acid vehicle battery. An HVCA can include a DCDC converter configured to boost a lower input voltage from the LV battery to a higher output voltage provided to the HV battery. The HVCA can be configured with a traction battery interlock, allowing offline charging of the traction battery. In an example embodiment, an HVCA can be configured to communicate with an HV battery control module via a CAN bus. An HVCA can be configured to transfer energy to the HV battery for a predetermined time period, then automatically stop the transfer process. An HVCA can be configured to receive user input to start and/or stop a charging process. An example embodiment can include a supplemental charger to boost LV battery voltage.

High voltage charge pack

A power system for an automotive vehicle includes a plurality of power storage units, a multiplexer electrically connected with the power storage units, and a switching converter electrically connected with the multiplexer. The switching converter is configured to selectively act as a flyback switchmode power converter or a forward switchmode power converter.

Automotive power system

A vehicle may include an electric machine, a battery, a driver interface and one or more controllers. The one or more controllers may be configured to determine whether a battery imbalance condition exists, to cause an alert to be generated via the driver interface if a battery imbalance condition exists, to determine whether a response to the alert is received, and to cause the battery to be rebalanced in a single cycle if a response to the alert is received.

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Dearborn, MI, United States of America

Tuyen Quoc Tran