DE102020119492A1 - charger arrangement - Google Patents

Abstract

A charger arrangement (23) has a control unit (28), a charger (30), a battery contactor arrangement (40) and a housing (231), which charger (30) has first terminals (321), an AC/DC converter (32), a DC intermediate circuit (34), a DC/DC converter (36) and second terminals (363, 364), which battery contactor arrangement (40) has third terminals (401, 402) and fourth terminals (403, 404 ) and which housing (231) contains the control unit (28), the charger (30) and the battery contactor arrangement (40), which control unit (28) for controlling the AC/DC converter (32), the DC/ DC converter (36) and the battery contactor arrangement (40) is formed, and on which DC intermediate circuit (34) DC consumer connections (51, 52, 53, 54) for connecting DC consumers (55, 56, 57, 58) are provided are.

Description

The invention relates to a charger arrangement.

the DE 10 2018 104 914 A1 , the EP 3 183 795 B1 , the CN 104 494 535 A , the CN 209 617 055 U , the CN 209 972 203 U , the US 2009 / 103 341 A1 and the U.S. 2016/016 479 A1 each show AC chargers for electric vehicles.

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a new charger arrangement.

This object is solved by the subject matter of claim 1.

A charger arrangement has a control unit, a charger, a battery contactor arrangement and a housing, which charger has first terminals, an AC/DC converter, a DC intermediate circuit, a first DC/DC converter and second terminals, which battery contactor arrangement has third Has connections and fourth connections, and which housing contains the control unit, the charger and the battery contactor arrangement, which control unit is designed to control the AC/DC converter, the first DC/DC converter and the battery contactor arrangement, and on which DC intermediate circuit DC consumer connections are provided for connecting DC consumers.

The provision of the charger, the battery contactor arrangement and the control unit in one housing has resulted in great synergy effects. The required volume, the weight and the technical effort for the cabling, for plugs and pin headers, for interfaces and for the wiring have been greatly reduced as a result of the integration. In addition, the control unit can control several of the components, and hardware is saved as a result. The provision of direct current consumer connections on the direct current intermediate circuit enables the direct current intermediate circuit to be used multiple times and thus additionally simplifies the circuitry.

According to a preferred embodiment, the first DC/DC converter is designed as a bidirectional DC/DC converter to enable conversion of a first DC voltage at the DC intermediate circuit into a second DC voltage at the second terminals in a charging mode, and conversion of a to enable the third DC voltage at the second terminals into a fourth voltage on the DC intermediate circuit, and the control unit is designed to enable a corresponding activation of the first DC/DC converter. This enables the DC intermediate circuit to be used to supply DC consumers with power when the vehicle is not being charged. Since it is power electronics, the multiple use of the first DC/DC converter leads to a significant weight reduction of the vehicle. In addition, the voltage range at the DC intermediate circuit can be reduced compared to the voltage range of the battery, and this means that the DC loads can be designed with less circuitry than DC loads with a large input voltage range, as required for direct connection to the battery.

According to a preferred embodiment, the control unit has a voltage regulator, which voltage regulator is designed to regulate the voltage at the DC intermediate circuit to a desired voltage value in consumption mode, in order to enable the fourth voltage to be determined by the voltage regulator. The use of a voltage controller is also possible, but a voltage regulator has proven to be very advantageous with regard to the direct current consumers connected to the direct current intermediate circuit, since the circuit complexity for the direct current consumers for the voltage adjustment is reduced.

According to a preferred embodiment, the control unit has an interface, which interface is designed to receive first information from at least one direct current consumer, which first information characterizes the energy requirement of the direct current consumer, and which control unit is designed to determine the level of the fourth voltage in the consumption mode to be determined at the DC intermediate circuit as a function of the first information of the at least one DC consumer and to control the first DC/DC converter accordingly.

According to a preferred embodiment, the control unit is designed to receive first information from at least two direct current loads via the interface. By receiving such information, the control unit can advantageously determine the level of the fourth voltage.

According to a preferred embodiment, the control unit is designed to weight the direct current load that has the highest energy requirement more heavily than the respective other direct current loads when determining the fourth voltage. The direct current company Consumers with the highest energy requirement often also have the highest power loss, and since the power loss is dependent on the voltage at the DC intermediate circuit, the greater weighting of this DC consumer enables the fourth voltage to be specified in an advantageous manner.

According to a preferred embodiment, the control unit is designed to calculate the fourth voltage using an optimization method, which optimization method is designed to reduce the total power loss of the first DC/DC converter and the direct current consumers. In battery-powered vehicles in particular, a reduction in the total power loss allows the range of the vehicle to be increased.

According to a preferred embodiment, the control unit is designed to change the fourth voltage in the consumption mode and to check whether or not the electrical power at the DC intermediate circuit or at the second terminals is reduced by this change, in order to thereby enable a reduction in the power loss. Such a configuration enables the power dissipation to be optimized by maintaining a positive change and reversing a negative change. By making only small changes at a time, the DC loads can work with the new voltage without major adjustment, and this enables the fourth voltage to be optimized comparatively quickly.

According to a preferred embodiment, the control unit has a microcontroller or microprocessor, which is designed to control the AC/DC converter, the first DC/DC converter and the battery contactor arrangement. The multiple use of a microcontroller or microprocessor simplifies communication and enables good optimization.

According to a preferred embodiment, a direct current consumer is provided in the housing, which direct current consumer is connected to the direct current intermediate circuit and is designed as a heating device for heating a fluid. Such a heater can be used to heat the high-voltage battery or the passenger compartment. The arrangement of such a direct current consumer in the housing has proven to be extremely advantageous, since the heat loss of the charging arrangement can also be used to heat the fluid, and cooling of the charging arrangement is possible at the same time. The weight saving and increase in efficiency as a result is large.

• - zweiter DC/DC-Wandler,
• - Heizgerät für ein Fluid,
• - elektrischer Klimakompressor,
• - Wankstabilisierungsanordnung, und
• - Innenraumheizer.

According to a preferred embodiment, at least one first direct current load from the group of direct current loads consisting of:

• - second DC/DC converter,
• - heater for a fluid,
• - electric air conditioning compressor,
• - roll stabilization arrangement, and
• - Interior heater.

With these consumers, large increases in efficiency are possible through the connection to the direct current intermediate circuit and a corresponding activation of the first DC/DC converter of the charging arrangement.

According to a preferred embodiment, a second DC/DC converter is connected to the direct current load connections, and the control unit is designed to control the second DC/DC converter. As a result, the control unit can directly influence the second DC/DC converter and control it in an optimized manner with regard to the charger arrangement.

According to a preferred embodiment, a heater for a fluid is connected to the DC load connections, and the control unit is designed to control the heater for the fluid. As a result, the control unit can directly influence the heating device and control it in an optimized manner with regard to the charger arrangement.

According to a preferred embodiment, a second DC/DC converter is connected to the direct current consumer connections in order to enable the voltage in the direct current intermediate circuit to be converted. This conversion can include increasing or decreasing the voltage as required. For example, a voltage suitable for the low-voltage vehicle electrical system can be generated.

• 1 ein Fahrzeug mit einer Ladegerätanordnung an einer Ladestation, und
• 2 eine mögliche Optimierung der Spannung an einem Gleichstromzwischenkreis.

Further details and advantageous developments of the invention result from the exemplary embodiments described below and illustrated in the drawings, which are in no way to be understood as limiting the invention, and from the dependent claims. Show it:

• 1 a vehicle with a charger assembly at a charging station, and
• 2 a possible optimization of the voltage on a DC intermediate circuit.

In the following, parts that are the same or have the same effect are provided with the same reference symbols and are usually only described once. The description builds on one another across figures in order to avoid unnecessary repetition.

1 shows a schematic representation of an exemplary embodiment with a vehicle 10 which is connected to a charging station 12 . The vehicle 10 has a charger arrangement 23 which can be connected to the charging station 12 via a charging connection 24 and which can be connected to a battery 26 via a battery connection 25, in particular to a high-voltage battery. The charger arrangement 23 has a control unit 28, a charger 30, a battery contactor arrangement 40 and a housing 231. The charger 30 has first terminals 321 for connection to the charging terminal 24, an AC/DC converter 32, a DC intermediate circuit 34, a DC /DC converter 36, which is connected to the AC/DC converter via the DC link 34, and second terminals 363, 364 for connecting the DC/DC converter 36 to the battery contactor assembly 40. The battery contactor assembly 40 has third Connections 401, 402 for connection to the DC/DC converter 36 and fourth connections 403, 404 for connection to the battery connection 25. The housing 231 preferably contains at least the control unit 28, the charger 30 and the battery contactor arrangement 40. The control unit 28 is designed to control the AC/DC converter 32, the DC/DC converter 36 and the battery contactor arrangement 40, and the direct current intermediate circuit 34 is connected via lines 49, 50 to direct current loads connections 51, 52, 53, 54 for connecting DC loads 55, 56, 57, 58 are provided.

The battery contactor assembly 40 enables separation between the battery 26 and the charger 30. It is also referred to as a battery junction box.

The DC consumer 57 is preferably a heater, in particular a heater for a fluid such as water. Heated water is advantageous for preconditioning battery 26, for example. The DC loads 55, 56 are, for example, an electric air conditioning compressor, a roll stabilization arrangement, an interior heater or another device that is operated with a DC voltage.

The charger 30 can be galvanically isolated (e.g. via a transformer) or galvanically connected to the charging station 12 .

The control unit 28 preferably has a microcontroller or microprocessor 281, and it enables various devices, in particular the AC/DC converter 32, the DC/DC converter 36 and the battery contactor arrangement 40, to be controlled via the microcontroller or microprocessor 281.

The control unit 28 preferably has a voltage regulator 282, which is designed to regulate the voltage at the DC intermediate circuit 34 to a desired voltage value in a consumption mode.

The control unit 28 has an interface 61 which is connected to the direct current consumers 55, 56, 57, 58 via data lines 60. Wireless transmission is also possible. Interface 61 allows input and/or output.

The DC/DC converter 36 is preferably designed as a bidirectional DC/DC converter 36 . In a charging mode, it enables the conversion of a first DC voltage at the DC intermediate circuit 34 into a second DC voltage at the second connections 363, 364. This enables, for example, a charging process in which an alternating current is supplied to the AC/DC converter 32 via the charging station 12 , the alternating current is converted by the AC/DC converter 32 into a direct current at the direct current intermediate circuit 34 and then the voltage at the direct current intermediate circuit 34 is converted by the DC/DC converter into a voltage suitable for the battery 26 at the terminals 363, 364.

The DC intermediate circuit 34 has a first line 341 (plus line) and a second line 342 (minus line) which are connected to terminals 323, 324 of the AC/DC converter 32 and to terminals 361, 362 of the DC/DC converter 36 are connected. The lines 341, 342 are connected to one another by a capacitor arrangement 343. Capacitor array 343 is exemplary. In addition, more complex filter circuits are usually provided to smooth the current and the voltage and to improve the EMC (Electromagnetic Compatibility) in the DC intermediate circuit.

In contrast, in a consumption mode in which energy from the battery 26 is used to operate the direct-current consumers 55, 56, 57, 58 and the vehicle 10 is not connected to a charging station 12 for charging, there is at least time wise convert a third DC voltage at the second terminals 363, 364, which can be generated by the battery 26, into a fourth voltage at the DC intermediate circuit 34. This enables the DC/DC converter 36 to be used twice, both for the charging process and for providing a fourth voltage suitable for the direct-current loads 55, 56, 57, 58 when the vehicle 10 is not connected to the charging station 12 for charging.

The control unit 28 is preferably designed to receive first information from at least one of the direct current loads 55, 56, 57, 58 via the interface 61, which first information characterizes the energy requirement of the direct current load 55, 56, 57, 58. This first information can be, for example, a value for the required electrical power of the DC load, or, for example, a value between zero and one, with zero corresponding to a switched-off DC load and one to a DC load operated at full power. The first piece of information can, for example, also include the current power loss of the direct current load, which depends, among other things, on the energy requirement.

The control unit 28 is preferably designed to receive such first information from at least two direct current consumers 55, 56, 57, 58 via the interface 61.

In practice, the different direct current loads work with different levels of efficiency at different input voltages, so an air conditioning compressor can, for example, work most efficiently at a voltage of 700 volts at the direct current intermediate circuit 34, while, for example, a roll stabilization arrangement works most efficiently at a voltage of 400 volts.

The control unit 28 preferably contains data about the power loss of the individual direct current loads as a function of the first information.

The control unit 28 preferably determines the fourth voltage as a function of that direct current load 55, 56, 57, 58 which has the highest energy requirement. For this purpose, the direct current consumer that has the highest energy requirement can preferably be weighted more heavily, and the other direct current consumers can be given less consideration.

2 shows an example of a plot of the power loss P_V in watts over the fourth voltage U at the DC link 34 in volts for a first consumer V1 and a second consumer V2 for a given energy requirement in each case. Overall, the first consumer V1 has a higher power loss P_V than the second consumer V2. The first consumer V1 has a low point at a voltage U of approximately 570 volts, and the power loss P_V rises sharply at lower and higher voltages U. This is an approximately parabolic curve.

The second direct current load V2, on the other hand, has a power loss P_V that rises comparatively flat and has a slightly positive curvature.

The curve V1 + V2 shows the sum of the power loss P_V of consumers V1 and V2. The low point is at a slightly lower voltage of approximately 550 volts than the low point of the curve of the first direct current load V1. An optimization method preferably takes place in the control unit 28, via which the fourth voltage is calculated. The optimization method is preferably designed to reduce the overall power loss of the DC/DC converter and the direct current consumers 55, 56, 57, 58. In the exemplary embodiment, the voltage at the low point of the curve V1+V2 can be selected as the optimized fourth voltage. Of course, more complicated methods are also possible, for example the use of a Lagrange optimization method in which secondary conditions are taken into account as Lagrange multipliers.

It is also possible to measure the current flowing on the battery side of the DC/DC converter or the current flowing at the DC intermediate circuit 34 and to find a minimum or at least an improvement by varying the fourth DC voltage at the DC intermediate circuit 34 . Such an optimization method can take place at the beginning of the consumption mode or continuously.

Of course, a wide variety of variations and modifications are possible within the scope of the invention.

QUOTES INCLUDED IN DESCRIPTION

This list of documents cited by the applicant was generated automatically and is included solely for the better information of the reader. The list is not part of the German patent or utility model application. The DPMA assumes no liability for any errors or omissions.

Patent Literature Cited

• DE 102018104914 A1 [0002]
• EP 3183795 B1 [0002]
• CN 104494535A [0002]
• CN 209617055 U [0002]
• CN 209972203 U [0002]
• US 2009/103341 A1 [0002]
• US 2016/016479 A1 [0002]

Claims (14)

Charger arrangement (23), which has a control unit (28), a charger (30), a battery contactor arrangement (40) and a housing (231), which charger (30) has first terminals (321), an AC/DC converter (32), a DC intermediate circuit (34), a first DC/DC converter (36) and second terminals (363, 364), which battery contactor arrangement (40) has third terminals (401, 402) and fourth terminals (403, 404), and which housing (231) contains the control unit (28), the charger (30) and the battery contactor arrangement (40), which control unit (28) for controlling the AC/DC converter (32), the first DC/DC converter (36) and the battery contactor arrangement (40), and on which DC intermediate circuit (34) DC consumer connections (51, 52, 53, 54) for connecting DC consumers (55, 56, 57, 58 ) are provided. Charger arrangement (23) according to claim 1 , in which the first DC/DC converter (36) is designed as a bidirectional DC/DC converter (36) for converting a first DC voltage at the DC link (34) into a second DC voltage at the second terminals (363 , 364) and to enable a conversion of a third DC voltage at the second terminals (363, 364) into a fourth voltage at the DC intermediate circuit (34) in a consumption mode, and which control unit (28) is designed to correspondingly control the To allow first DC / DC converter (36). Charger arrangement (23) according to claim 2 , in which the control unit (28) has a voltage regulator (282), which voltage regulator is designed to regulate the voltage at the DC intermediate circuit (34) to a voltage setpoint in the consumption mode, in order to enable the fourth voltage to be determined by the voltage regulator. Charger arrangement (23) according to claim 2 or 3 , in which the control unit (28) has an interface (61), which interface (61) is designed to receive first information from at least one direct current load (55, 56, 57, 58), which first information indicates the energy requirement of the direct current load (55, 56, 57, 58), and which control unit (28) is designed to determine the level of the fourth voltage at the DC intermediate circuit (34) in the consumption mode as a function of the first information of the at least one DC consumer (55, 56, 57, 58) and to control the first DC/DC converter (36) accordingly. Charger arrangement (23) according to claim 4 , in which the control unit (28) is designed to receive a first piece of information from at least two direct current loads (55, 56, 57, 58) via the interface. Charger arrangement (23) according to claim 5 , in which the control unit (28) is designed to weight that direct current consumer (55, 56, 57, 58) that has the highest energy requirement more heavily than the other direct current consumers in each case when determining the fourth voltage. Charger arrangement (23) according to claim 5 or 6 , in which the control unit (28) is designed to calculate the fourth voltage using an optimization method, which optimization method is designed to reduce the total power loss of the first DC/DC converter (36) and the direct current loads (55, 56, 57, 58). is. Charger arrangement (23) according to one of claims 2 until 7 , in which the control unit (28) is designed to change the fourth voltage in the consumption mode and to check whether the electrical power at the DC intermediate circuit 34 or at the second terminals (363, 364) is reduced by this change or not, in order to thereby enabling a reduction in power loss. Charger arrangement (23) according to one of the preceding claims, in which the control unit (28) has a microcontroller or microprocessor (281) which is used to control the AC/DC converter (32), the first DC/DC converter (36) and the battery contactor arrangement (40) is formed. Charger arrangement (23) according to one of the preceding claims, in which a DC consumer is provided in the housing (231), which DC consumer is connected to the DC intermediate circuit (34) and is designed as a heater for heating a fluid. Charger arrangement (23) according to one of the preceding claims, in which at least one first direct current consumer is connected to the direct current load connections (51, 52, 53, 54) from the direct current load group consisting of: - second DC/DC converter (58) , - heater (57) for a fluid, - electric air conditioning compressor (55), - roll stabilization arrangement (56), and - interior heater. Charger arrangement (23) according to claim 11 , in which a second DC/DC converter (58) is connected to the direct current consumer connections (51, 52, 53, 54), and in which the control unit (28) is designed to use the second DC/DC converter ( 58) to control. Charger arrangement (23) according to claim 11 or 12 , in which a heater (57) for a fluid is connected to the DC consumer connections (51, 52, 53, 54), and in which the control unit (28) is designed to control the heater (57) for the fluid. Charger arrangement (23) according to one of the preceding claims, in which a second DC/DC converter (58) is connected to the DC consumer connections (51, 52, 53, 54) in order to convert the voltage from the DC intermediate circuit (34). enable.

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