Systems and methods for on-board EV charger and regenerative braking
Systems, circuits, and methods are disclosed herein for charging (recharging) one or more batteries of an electric vehicle through an on-board charge shaping (or tuning) circuit. The charge shaping circuit may alter the charge signal received from a charging station and/or a regenerative charge signal from the vehicle motor based on one or more charge conditions at the battery. The charge shaping circuit and/or a motor controller/inverter of the electric vehicle may include circuitry that is controllable to generate a shaped power signal in a similar manner as above, with or without the charge shaping circuit discussed above. In some implementations, one or more heat transfer systems may be included to transfer heat generated from the battery charging system to the battery.
1 . A system for discharging an electrochemical device of an electric vehicle, the system comprising:
a controller operably coupled with the electrochemical device, the controller including a first pair of switching elements in electrical communication with an inductor, the first pair of switching elements controlled to generate a first shaped discharge signal from the electrochemical device corresponding to a first phase of the motor and a second pair of switching elements controlled to generate a second shaped discharge signal corresponding to a second phase of the motor; and
a motor operably coupled with the controller to receive the first shaped discharge signal and the second shaped discharge signal from the controller.
2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the first pair of switching elements are associated with a first motor inductor of the motor.
3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the first pair of switching elements are configured to receive a pulse-width modulation (PWM) control signal to control operation thereof and generate the first shaped discharge signal.
4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the second pair of switching elements is arranged in parallel with the first pair of switching elements.
5 . The system of claim 4 , wherein the controller further comprises a third pair of switching elements operable to generate a third shaped discharge signal corresponding to a third phase of the motor.
6 . The system of claim 5 , wherein the third pair of switching elements is arranged in parallel with the first and second pairs of switching elements.
7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the first shaped discharge signal and the second shaped discharge signal are provided to a motor controller in electrical communication with the motor.
8 . A method for discharging an electrochemical device of an electric vehicle to power a motor, the method comprising:
generating a first shaped discharge signal and a second shaped discharge signal from the electrochemical device providing power to the motor; and
receiving, at a motor controller, the first shaped discharge signal and the second shaped discharge signal;
wherein generating the first shaped discharge signal comprises receiving, at a first pair of switching elements coupled with an inductor within the motor controller, a first PWM control signal to control the first pair of switching elements to form the first shaped discharge signal and generating the second shaped discharge signal comprises receiving, at a second pair of switching elements within the motor controller, a second PWM control signal to control the second pair of switching elements to form the second shaped discharge signal.
9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the first shaped discharge signal comprises a sequence of pulses each with a shaped leading edge.
10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the shaped leading edge is shaped based on harmonics associated with selected ranges of electrical impedance.
11 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising delivering the first shaped discharge signal to a portion of the motor controller associated with a first phase of the motor.
12 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising delivering the second shaped discharge signal to a portion of the motor controller associated with a second phase of the motor.
13 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
receiving, at a third pair of switching elements, a third PWM control signal; and
operating the third pair of switching elements according to the third PWM control signal to form a third shaped discharge signal.
14 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising delivering the third shaped discharge signal to a portion of the motor controller associated with a third phase of the motor.
15 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the motor controller comprises a buck circuit.
16 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the motor controller comprises a boost circuit.