# US 11,027,625 B2 · Battery charging control method and system

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- Number: US 11,027,625 B2
- Document ID: US11027625B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 15/839,487
- Filed: 2017-12-12
- Published: 2019-03-14
- Granted: 2021-06-08
- Earliest claimed: 2017-09-12
- Assignees: Hyundai Motor Company; Kia Motors Corporation
- Applicants: Hyundai Motor Company; Kia Motors Corporation
- Inventors: Young Jin Jang; Soung Han Noh; Jun Yeon Park; Hyung Souk Kang
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11027625B2

## CPC

- B60L 1/00: Supplying electric power to auxiliary equipment of vehicles (circuit arrangements for charging batteries H02J7/00)
- B60L 58/13: Maintaining the SoC within a determined range
- B60L 50/15: with additional electric power supply (with capacitors charged by engine-driven generators B60L50/40; with batteries charged by engine-driven generators B60L50/61)
- B60L 50/60: using power supplied by batteries (in combination with fuel cells B60L50/75)
- B60L 53/00: Methods of charging batteries, specially adapted for electric vehicles; Charging stations or on-board charging equipment therefor; Exchange of energy storage elements in electric vehicles
- B60L 58/20: having different nominal voltages
- B60R 16/03: for supply of electrical power to vehicle subsystems {or for (circuit arrangements for charging batteries H02J7/00)}
- G01C 21/36: Input/output arrangements for on-board computers
- H02J 7/00: Circuit arrangements for charging or discharging batteries or for supplying loads from batteries
- H02J 7/92: with prioritisation of loads or sources
- B60L 2240/622: by satellite navigation
- B60L 2240/80: Time limits
- B60L 2260/54: Energy consumption estimation
- G01C 21/3469: {Fuel consumption; Energy use; Emission aspects}
- H02J 2105/33: exchanging power with road vehicles
- Y02T 10/70: Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries
- Y02T 90/16: Information or communication technologies improving the operation of electric vehicles
- B60L: PROPULSION OF ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES (arrangements or mounting of electrical propulsion units or of plural diverse prime-movers for mutual or common propulsion in vehicles B60K1/00, B60K6/20; arrangements or mounting of electrical gearing in vehicles B60K17/12, B60K17/14; preventing wheel slip by reducing power in rail vehicles B61C15/08; dynamo-electric machines H02K; control or regulation of electric motors H02P); SUPPLYING ELECTRIC POWER FOR AUXILIARY EQUIPMENT OF ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES (electric coupling devices combined with mechanical couplings of vehicles B60D1/64; electric heating for vehicles B60H1/00); ELECTRODYNAMIC BRAKE SYSTEMS FOR VEHICLES IN GENERAL (control or regulation of electric motors H02P); MAGNETIC SUSPENSION OR LEVITATION FOR VEHICLES; MONITORING OPERATING VARIABLES OF ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES; ELECTRIC SAFETY DEVICES FOR ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES
- B60R: VEHICLES, VEHICLE FITTINGS, OR VEHICLE PARTS, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- G01C: MEASURING DISTANCES, LEVELS OR BEARINGS; SURVEYING; NAVIGATION; GYROSCOPIC INSTRUMENTS; PHOTOGRAMMETRY OR VIDEOGRAMMETRY (measuring liquid level G01F; radio navigation, determining distance or velocity by use of propagation effects, e.g. Doppler effects, propagation time, of radio waves, analogous arrangements using other waves G01S)
- H02J: ELECTRIC POWER NETWORKS; CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS OR SYSTEMS FOR SUPPLYING OR DISTRIBUTING ELECTRIC POWER; SYSTEMS FOR STORING ELECTRIC ENERGY
- Y02T: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO TRANSPORTATION

## Abstract

A battery charging control method includes receiving a destination input to a navigation device. When a vehicle starts, a switch is turned on to charge a battery. When a State Of Charge (SOC) of the battery becomes larger than a preconfigured value, the switch is turned off for a first time interval derived on the basis of an estimated destination arrival time derived from the navigation device. The switch is turned on again at a time point at which the first time interval has passed. The switch i turned on again to charge the battery for a second time interval.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A system comprising:
a battery;
a DC-DC converter configured to convert a voltage level to charge the battery;
a switch connected between the DC-DC converter and the battery;
a navigation device configured to receive a destination from a user so as to derive an estimated destination arrival time; and
a control unit, configured to:
turn on the switch to charge the battery when a vehicle is on;
when a State Of Charge (SOC) of the battery is larger than a preconfigured value, turn off the switch for a first time interval derived on the basis of an estimated destination arrival time transmitted from the navigation device; and
turn on the switch again at a time point at which the first time interval has passed, so as to charge the battery for a second time interval,
wherein the first time interval decreases as a discharging power increases;
wherein the discharging power corresponds to power loss for a predetermined time after the switch is turned off and an output power of the DC-DC converter is maintained;
wherein the power loss is measured through a sensor connected to the battery; and
wherein the discharging power is derived through an average value measured for the predetermined time from a time point at which the switch is turned off.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, further comprising an electrical load electrically connected, together with the battery, in parallel to an output terminal of the DC-DC converter, wherein the control unit is configured to turn off the switch for the first time interval and adjust output voltage of the DC-DC converter when an SOC of the battery becomes larger than the preconfigured value, the output voltage being adjusted according to magnitude of the electrical load.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the estimated destination arrival time is a time duration from a time point of turning off the switch to a time point of arrival.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The system of claim 3, wherein the first time interval is derived with an equation
first time interval=T*(Pchg−2Pdiff−Pload)/(Pchg−Pdiff−Pload),
wherein T indicates the estimated destination arrival time, Pchg indicates a charging power, Pdiff indicates a discharging power, and Pload indicates a load power.

### Claim 5 (depends on 3)

The system of claim 3, wherein the second time interval is derived with an equation
second time interval=T*(Pdiff)/(Pchg−Pdiff−Pload).

### Claim 6

A control unit for an electric or hybrid vehicle, the control unit comprising:
a processor; and
a memory coupled to the processor, the memory storing a program to be executed by the processor, the program including instructions for:
receiving destination information;
turning on a switch to charge a battery when the vehicle starts;
turning off the switch for a first time interval when a State Of Charge (SOC) of the battery is larger than a preconfigured value, the first time interval derived based on an estimated destination arrival time derived from the destination information; and
turning on the switch again at a time point at which the first time interval has passed, the switch being turned on again to charge the battery for a second time interval;
wherein the first time interval decreases as a discharging power increases;
wherein the discharging power corresponds to power loss for a predetermined time after the switch is turned off and an output power of a DC-DC converter is maintained;
wherein the power loss is measured through a sensor connected to the battery; and
wherein the discharging power is derived through an average value measured for the predetermined time from a time point at which the switch is turned off.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The control unit of claim 6, wherein turning off of the switch comprises turning off the switch and adjusting output voltage of the DC-DC converter according to magnitude of an electrical load electrically connected, together with the battery, in parallel to an output terminal of the DC-DC converter.

### Claim 8 (depends on 6)

The control unit of claim 6, wherein the estimated destination arrival time is a time duration from a time point of turning off the switch to a time point of arrival.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The control unit of claim 8, wherein turning off the switch comprises deriving the first time interval by using an equation
first time interval=T*(Pchg−2Pdiff−Pload)/(Pchg−Pdiff−Pload),
wherein T indicates the estimated destination arrival time, Pchg indicates a charging power, Pdiff indicates a discharging power, and Pload indicates a load power.

### Claim 10 (depends on 8)

The control unit of claim 8, wherein turning off the switch comprises deriving the second time interval by using an equation
second time interval=T*(Pdiff)/(Pchg−Pdiff−Pload).

### Claim 11 (depends on 6)

A vehicle comprising:
the control unit of claim 6;
the battery;
the switch;
the DC-DC converter configured to convert a voltage level to charge the battery, wherein the switch connected between the DC-DC converter and the battery; and
a navigation device configured to receive a destination from a user and provide the destination information to the control unit.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The vehicle of claim 11, further comprising an electrical load electrically connected, together with the battery, in parallel to an output terminal of the DC-DC converter, wherein the control unit is configured to turn off the switch for the first time interval and adjust output voltage of the DC-DC converter when an SOC of the battery becomes larger than the preconfigured value, the output voltage being adjusted according to magnitude of the electrical load.

### Claim 13 (depends on 11)

The vehicle of claim 11, wherein the estimated destination arrival time is a time duration from a time point of turning off the switch to a time point of arrival and wherein the first time interval is derived with an equation
first time interval=T*(Pchg−2Pdiff−Pload)/(Pchg−Pdiff−Pload)
and wherein the second time interval is derived with an equation
second time interval=T*(Pdiff)/(Pchg−Pdiff−Pload),
wherein T indicates the estimated destination arrival time, Pchg indicates a charging power, Pdiff indicates a discharging power, and Pload indicates a load power.

### Claim 14 (depends on 11)

The vehicle of claim 11, wherein the vehicle comprises a hybrid vehicle.

### Claim 15 (depends on 11)

The vehicle of claim 11, wherein the vehicle comprises an electric vehicle.

### Claim 16

A system comprising:
a battery;
a DC-DC converter configured to convert a voltage level to charge the battery;
a switch connected between the DC-DC converter and the battery;
a navigation device configured to receive a destination from a user so as to derive an estimated destination arrival time; and
a control unit, configured to:
turn on the switch to charge the battery when a vehicle is on;
when a State Of Charge (SOC) of the battery is larger than a preconfigured value, turn off the switch for a first time interval derived on the basis of an estimated destination arrival time transmitted from the navigation device; and
turn on the switch again at a time point at which the first time interval has passed, so as to charge the battery for a second time interval;
wherein the estimated destination arrival time is a time duration from a time point of turning off the switch to a time point of arrival; and
wherein the first time interval is derived with an equation
first time interval=T*(Pchg−2Pdiff−Pload)/(Pchg−Pdiff−Pload),
where T indicates the estimated destination arrival time, Pchg indicates a charging power, Pdiff indicates a discharging power, and Pload indicates a load power.

### Claim 17 (depends on 16)

The system of claim 16, further comprising an electrical load electrically connected, together with the battery, in parallel to an output terminal of the DC-DC converter.

### Claim 18 (depends on 17)

The system of claim 17, wherein the control unit is configured to turn off the switch for the first time interval and adjust output voltage of the DC-DC converter when an SOC of the battery becomes larger than the preconfigured value, the output voltage being adjusted according to magnitude of the electrical load.

### Claim 19 (depends on 16)

The system of claim 16, wherein the second time interval is derived with an equation: second time interval=T*(Pdiff)/(Pchg−Pdiff−Pload).

### Claim 20 (depends on 16)

The system of claim 16, wherein the system is part of a hybrid vehicle or an electric vehicle.