System and method for electrical vehicle battery management

摘要

A powered system has a charging system and a controller arrangement. The charging system is capable of recharging the multi-cell power supply for the system and the controller arrangement enables selection between alternative modes of operation of the system. The charging system is arranged to operate in different regimes in which a target charging voltage across one or more cells or batteries is set to a different level dependent upon the selected mode of operation. There is provided a mode for optimizing the battery management for maximum range or, alternatively, a mode for extending charge and discharge cycle life of the multi-cell power supply. There is also a storage mode where the target voltage is set to a minimum value.

主权项

1. A control system for use with an electrically powered vehicle having a rechargeable multi-cell power supply including a plurality of rechargeable power cells as well as motor drive circuitry that is selectively activated to drive at least one motor/generator, the control system including:
a vehicle controller that is in communication with but discrete from a charge controller, wherein the vehicle controller and the charge controller have a first configuration different from a second configuration; wherein, in the first configuration, the motor drive circuitry is decoupled from the rechargeable multi-cell power supply and the charge controller couples an external power supply to the rechargeable multi-cell power supply and charges the rechargeable power cells of the power supply by i) switching amongst different regimes in which a target charging voltage across one or more of the rechargeable power cells is set to different levels, and ii) calculating first data representative of the amount of charge delivered to the power supply in the first configuration; and wherein, in the second configuration, the motor drive circuitry is coupled to the rechargeable multi-cell power supply and the vehicle controller controls the motor drive circuitry for driving the at least one motor/generator in response to operator input whereby the at least one motor/generator uses current supplied by the rechargeable multi-cell power supply or generates charging current for supply to the rechargeable multi-cell power supply, and the vehicle controller calculates and renders information concerning level of charge of the power supply based on the first data calculated in the first configuration, and the vehicle controller calculates a difference between second data representative of the charge drawn from the power supply in the second configuration and third data representative of the amount of charge delivered to the power supply in the second configuration and then subsequently uses the difference between the second and third data to update and render the information concerning level of charge of the power supply.