INTEGRATED CHARGER UNIT WITH INVERTER AND MOTOR
An integrated charger unit including a synchronous motor comprising two or more phase winding sets, where the synchronous motor is operably magnetizable and de-magnetizable, and one or more inverter modules configured to allow power to be supplied to the synchronous motor and/or a battery. The charger unit is operably shiftable between at least one of, a driving mode where the inverter modules supply power from the battery through the phase winding sets to drive the synchronous motor, or a charging mode where power from an external power source is received by the inverter modules through the synchronous motor and supplied to the battery for charging, thereby adapting the synchronous motor to operate as a filter inductor, which reduces, cost, complexity, weight, and power ripples in the charger unit. Using multiple phase winding sets enables the charger unit to operate on a plurality of power phases.
1 . An charger operable with a power source and a battery, the charger comprising:
a synchronous motor comprising at least two phase winding sets; and
at least one inverter that operably couples the power source with at least one of the synchronous motor and the battery,
wherein the charger is operably configured to shift between at least one of:
a driving mode where the at least one inverter operably couples the battery through the at least two phase winding sets to drive the synchronous motor; and
a charging mode where the at least one inverter operably couples the synchronous motor with the battery for charging.
2 . The charger of claim 1 , wherein each phase winding set of the at least two phase winding sets comprises a multi-phase winding.
3 . The charger of claim 2 , wherein the multi-phase winding comprises a three-phase winding.
4 . The charger of claim 1 , wherein the at least two phase winding sets comprise a star winding configuration.
5 . The charger of claim 4 , wherein the star winding configuration comprises a star point operably coupled with the power source.
6 . The charger of claim 1 , wherein the at least one inverter operably couples the battery with a corresponding phase winding set of the at least two phase winding sets.
7 . The charger of claim 6 , wherein the at least one inverter comprises a plurality of semiconductor dies coupled with the corresponding phase winding.
8 . The charger of claim 1 , wherein the at least one inverter operably couples a single-phase power from the power source.
9 . The charger of claim 1 , wherein a subset of phase windings of each of the at least two phase winding sets is operably decoupled in the charging mode.
10 . The charger of claim 1 , wherein, the power source is operably decoupled from the battery in the charging mode.
11 . The charger of claim 1 , further comprising a switch operably configured to at least one of:
couple one phase winding set of the at least two phase winding sets with the battery and decouple the battery from at least one inverter in the charging mode; or
decouple the phase winding set from the battery and couple the battery to the at least one inverter in the driving mode.
12 . The charger of claim 1 , wherein the at least one inverter is configured to receive a multi-phase power from the power source.
13 . The charger of claim 1 , wherein the at least one inverter comprises at least one bidirectional inverter.
14 . The charger of claim 1 , wherein:
the synchronous motor is operably demagnetized to prevent torque generation at a rotor of the synchronous motor and the at least two phase winding sets are operably coupled with the power source to enable the charging mode.
15 . The charger of claim 1 , wherein the synchronous motor comprises at least one coil wound on a stator, the at least one coil operably providing inductive reactance to the power source and operably opposing torque generation by the de-magnetized synchronous motor.
16 . The charger of claim 1 , further comprising an Electro-Magnetic Interference (EMI) filter that operably suppresses switching noise from reaching the power source and operably provides electromagnetic compatibility according to grid codes.
17 . The charger of claim 1 , wherein the charger is operably configured to shift to a power supplying mode to supply power to the power source.
18 . The charger of claim 1 , wherein the charger is operably configured to shift to a regenerative charging mode to operably configure the synchronous motor is to generate and power to charge the battery.
19 . The charger of claim 1 , wherein the synchronous motor comprises at least one of a variable flux memory motor (VFMM) and a Wound field Synchronous Motor (WFSM).
20 . The charger of claim 8 , wherein a peak phase voltage of the single-phase power is operably coupled with a step-down transformer.
21 . The charger of claim 20 , wherein the step-down transformer operably steps down the peak phase voltage to below a voltage capacity of the battery.
22 . The charger of claim 12 , wherein a peak line voltage of the multi-phase power is operably coupled with a step-down transformer.
23 . The charger of claim 22 , wherein the step-down transformer operably steps down the peak line voltage to below a voltage capacity of the battery in response to a step down signal.
24 . The charger of claim 23 , wherein the step down signal is operably triggered if a voltage of the power supply is higher than the voltage capacity of the battery.
25 . The charger of claim 14 , wherein the synchronous motor is operably re-magnetized to drive the rotor and the at least two phase winding sets are operably coupled with the battery and the at least one inverter to enable the driving mode.
26 . The charger of claim 15 , wherein the synchronous motor operates as a filter inductor to the at least one inverter.