HEV charger/generator unit

A motor vehicle electrical power generating system for powering an electrical load external to the vehicle, comprising:

• an internal combustion engine;
• a battery;
• an electric generator coupled to said internal combustion engine for generating AC electrical power when said internal combustion engine is running;
• a generator inverter disposed between said electric generator and said battery for converting the AC electrical power generated by said electric generator to DC electrical power;
• a DC-to-DC converter coupled between said electric generator and said generator inverter for generating lower voltage DC electrical power from the DC electrical power produced by said generator inverter;
• an inverter coupled to said DC-to-DC converter for converting the lower voltage DC electrical power to an AC power output to power the external electrical load;
• means for powering the external electrical load only if a safety condition is satisfied;
• and
• means for prohibiting movement of the vehicle when powering the external electrical load.

A method for operating a hybrid electric vehicle having a battery, inverter and at least one electric motor, the method comprising:

• applying DC electrical power stored in the battery to the inverter to generate AC electrical power for the motor;
• diverting the AC electrical power to an external load so as to operate the vehicle in a generator mode;
• operating the vehicle in the generator mode only if a safety condition is satisfied;
• and
• prohibiting movement of the vehicle when operating the vehicle in the generator mode.

A method for operating a hybrid electric vehicle having a battery, DC-to-DC converter, at least one electric generator coupled to an internal combustion engine, and a generator inverter the method comprising:

• operating the internal combustion engine to generate AC electrical power from the generator;
• applying the generated AC electrical power to the generator inverter in order to generate DC electrical power;
• applying the DC electrical power to the DC-to-DC converter to generate a lower voltage DC electrical power;
• inverting the lower voltage DC electrical power to a generate an AC power output for an external load, thereby operating the vehicle in a generator mode;
• operating the vehicle in the generator mode only if a safety condition is satisfied;
• and
• prohibiting movement of the vehicle when operating the vehicle in the generator mode.