Method and system for controlling a vehicle battery

摘要

A method and system for manipulating, adjusting or otherwise controlling a state-of-charge (SOC) operating range for a high voltage vehicle battery, such as the type used for hybrid or electric vehicle propulsion. By providing a dynamic SOC operating range that changes in response to changing battery conditions, the battery performance may be improved so that the battery life is extended. Depending on the particular embodiment, the dynamic SOC operating range may have different combinations of hard and/or soft boundaries or limits.

主权项

1. A method for controlling a vehicle battery, comprising the steps of:
(a) determining a present state of the vehicle battery, wherein the vehicle battery is at least partially used for vehicle propulsion; (b) evaluating the present state of the vehicle battery to determine if the vehicle battery has experienced a reduction in battery performance that indicates the vehicle battery is at or near an end of its operational life; and (c) if the vehicle battery has experienced a reduction in battery performance that indicates the vehicle battery is at or near an end of its operational life, then adjusting a state-of-charge (SOC) operating range by establishing an upper soft boundary in response to the indication that the vehicle battery is at or near an end of its operational life so that the battery performance is improved to an acceptable level where the need to immediately replace the vehicle battery is avoided and the operational life of the vehicle battery is extended, wherein the adjusted SOC operating range includes an upper hard boundary that partially defines a hard window and the upper soft boundary that is less than the upper hard boundary and partially defines a soft window, when the SOC of the vehicle battery is less than the upper soft boundary both regenerative braking charging and opportunity charging are permitted, when the SOC of the vehicle battery is greater than the upper soft boundary but less than the upper hard boundary only regenerative braking charging is permitted, and when the SOC of the vehicle battery is greater than the upper hard boundary no charging is permitted.