Vehicle charger system with safety guardian

摘要

A safety guardian is operable to facilitate notifying an Electronic Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) system whether a vehicle charging system is ready to accept energy. The safety guardian may be configured to facilitate control of a vehicle interface used to provide a reference voltage to the EVSE reflective of whether the charging system is ready to accept energy. The guardian may control the vehicle interface in the absence of a suitable control signal from the vehicle charging system in order to ensure the EVSE is notified when the vehicle charging system is not ready to accept energy.

主权项

1. A charger system comprising:
a charger power plant operable to invert AC energy received from a mains output of an Electronic Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) system to DC energy sufficient for charging a high voltage (HV) vehicle battery; an input operable to receive a control pilot from the EVSE system; a vehicle interface operable with the input to generate a first reference signal using the control pilot when the charger power plant is ready to invert the AC energy to the DC energy and to generate a second reference signal using the control pilot when the charger power plant is not ready to invert the AC energy to the DC energy, the vehicle interface including a first switch operable between an open position and a closed position and a second switch operable between an open position and a closed position, wherein the vehicle interface generates the first reference signal when the first and second switches are both in the closed position and the second reference signal when either one of the first and second switches are in the open position; a safety controller operable to output a first signal for controlling the first switch between the open position and the closed position; a vehicle charger controller operable to output a second signal to the second switch, the second signal controlling the second switch between the open position and the closed position; and a safety guardian operable to receive the first signal output from the safety controller, the safety guardian operable to output a third signal to the first switch, the third signal being based on the first signal and operable to control the first switch between the open position and the closed position.