Bidirectional energy converter with controllable filter stage
The invention provides a bidirectional converter that operates under an AC generation mode or a charge mode. The bidirectional converter may be a single component or circuit, which may include a DC-DC conversion stage using a unique “Smith 2 Stage conversion” technique and a DC-AC conversion stage or AC-DC conversion stage using a switchable filter depending on the mode. During the charge mode, the converter may be able to control the voltage and current of the DC output using a software algorithm, to match the battery being charged, or the DC receiver. This may enable the converter to control the nature of the DC output so it can be adapted to any energy storage technology. The controllable output voltage and synchronizable frequency may allow the converter to be used in series combinations to achieve a variety of high voltage outputs from simpler building blocks.
1. A battery charger comprising:
one or more synchronous rectifiers that provide a voltage and current;
a DC to DC converter driver stage;
a current sense configured to sense current between a battery and the DC to DC converter driver stage; and
a digital signal processor separate from the current sense, the digital signal processor configured to:
provide a pulse width modulated output to the one or more synchronous rectifiers, and
receive current sensing data from the current sense,
wherein the digital signal processor controls the pulse width modulated output to achieve a desired voltage and current based on the received current sensing data.
2. The battery charger of claim 1 comprising a plurality of digital signal processors.
3. The battery charger of claim 2 wherein the pulse width modulated output controls the voltage on a bus across a capacitor.
4. The battery charger of claim 3 wherein the voltage on the bus is inputted to a second digital signal processor and relied upon by the second digital signal processor to control the pulse width modulated output.
5. The battery charger of claim 1 , further comprising a filter that eliminates high frequency noise from the output of the DC to DC converter drive stage when the battery charger is operating in a charge mode, and that isolates noise and electrical transients generated in the DC to DC converter driver stage from being reflected to a battery bus circuit when the battery charger is operating in an inverter mode.
6. The battery charger of claim 2 wherein an isolated data path is provided between the plurality of digital signal processors.
7. The battery charger of claim 1 wherein the one or more synchronous rectifiers utilizes a switchable filter to provide the voltage and current.
8. A battery charger comprising:
one or more synchronous rectifiers that provide a voltage and current;
a current sense configured to sense current into or out of a battery;
a digital signal processor configured to provide a pulse width modulated output to the one or more synchronous rectifiers and receive current sensing data from the current sense, wherein the digital signal processor controls the pulse width modulated output to achieve a desired voltage and current based on the received current sensing data;
a DC to DC converter driver stage; and
a filter that eliminates high frequency noise from the output of the DC to DC converter drive stage when the battery charger is operating in a charge mode and that isolates noise and electrical transients generated in the DC to DC converter driver stage from being reflected to a battery bus circuit when the battery charger is operating in an inverter mode.