The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 23, 2017
Filed:
Jan. 22, 2014
Ford Global Technologies, Llc, Dearborn, MI (US);
Fazal U. Syed, Canton, MI (US);
Siwei Cheng, Canton, MI (US);
Daniel R. Luedtke, Beverly Hills, MI (US);
FORD GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES, LLC, Dearborn, MI (US);
Abstract
A drive system for an electric vehicle includes an input capacitor selectably coupled to a DC power source (e.g., battery) by a contactor. A variable voltage converter couples the input capacitor to a main link capacitor, and an inverter couples the main capacitor to a machine load (e.g., motor and/or generator). During a normal or emergency shutdown, the contactor is opened. In order to quickly discharge the input capacitor when the contactor opens, A) the converter operates in a boost mode to transfer charge from the input capacitor to the main capacitor until the input capacitor discharges to less than a threshold voltage, B) the converter deactivates to prevent transferring charge from the main capacitor to the input capacitor, and C) the main capacitor can then be discharged through the inverter.