US-20260125010-A1 - ELECTRICAL POWER SUPPLY SYSTEM FOR A VEHICLE

US20260125010A1US 20260125010 A1US20260125010 A1US 20260125010A1US-20260125010-A1

Abstract

An electric power supply system for an electric or hybrid vehicle. The vehicle includes an electric power supply bus able to supply power to electrical equipment installed in the vehicle. The system including: a DC-DC voltage converter; at least two power supply cells, each including: i) a rectifier, ii) a battery, and iii) a switching cell; and a distribution module intended to be connected to a recharging module external to the vehicle. The power supply system is configured to operate in an operating mode in which: the batteries are connected in series by the first set of switches, and the distribution module connects one or more batteries to the external recharging module.

Inventors

Damien Verdier
Jérôme LACHAIZE
NICOLAS LETO

Assignees

Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20231121
Priority Date: 20221128

Claims (7)

1 . An electric power supply system intended to be installed in an electric or hybrid vehicle, the vehicle comprising an electric power supply bus able to supply power to electrical equipment installed in the vehicle, said system comprising: a) a DC-DC voltage converter, b) at least two power supply cells each comprising: i) a rectifier able to provide an AC voltage from a DC voltage and vice versa, ii) a battery which is electrically connected to the rectifier able to operate in a discharge mode in which the battery is able to provide a first DC voltage and able to operate in a charge mode in which the battery is able to recharge from a DC voltage, iii) a switching cell comprising switches able to connect the battery to the converter, c) a first set of switches able to connect the battery of a power supply cell to the battery of the neighboring power supply cell in order to connect the set of batteries in series, d) a second set of switches able to connect the set of batteries connected in series to the electric power supply bus, e) a control unit configured to control the first set of switches, the second set of switches and each switch of each switching cell, f) a distribution module intended to be connected to a recharging module external to the vehicle, said recharging module being configured to provide a supply voltage, the distribution module being configured to electrically connect at least one battery to the external recharging module in order to recharge the at least one battery from the voltage provided by the recharging module, g) a connection module configured to connect a single-phase voltage or a three-phase voltage to each power supply cell, the power supply system is configured to operate in an operating mode in which: the batteries are connected in series by the first set of switches, the distribution module connects one or more batteries to the external recharging module.
2 . The power supply system as claimed in claim 1 , in which the distribution module is configured to: a) in a first operating mode: connect the set of batteries connected in series to the external recharging module, b) in a second operating mode: connect half of the set of batteries to the external recharging module.
3 . The power supply system as claimed in claim 2 , in which the distribution module comprises: a first switch able to connect a first terminal of the external recharging module to the first battery of the set of batteries connected in series or to a battery located between the first battery and the last battery of the set of batteries connected in series, a second switch able to connect a second terminal of the external recharging module to a battery located between the first battery and the last battery of the set of batteries connected in series or to the last battery.
4 . The power supply system as claimed in claim 1 , in which each power supply cell comprises a coil, connected to the rectifier, on the one hand, and intended to be connected to an AC voltage, on the other hand.
5 . The power supply system as claimed in claim 1 , comprising three power supply cells.
6 . A motor vehicle comprising an electric power supply bus able to supply power to electrical equipment installed in the vehicle, and an electric power supply system as claimed in claim 1 .
7 . A method for controlling a system as claimed in claim 1 , said method being implemented by the control unit and comprising: a) connecting the set of batteries in series, and b) connecting the set of batteries, or some of the batteries, connected in series to the external recharging module.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is the U.S. National Phase Application of PCT International Application No. PCT/EP 2023/082555, filed Nov. 21, 2023, which claims priority to French Patent Application No. FR 2212379, filed Nov. 28, 2022, the contents of such applications being incorporated by reference herein. FIELD OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to the field of hybrid or electric vehicles, and more specifically to an electric power supply system for a hybrid or electric vehicle. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In a known manner, an electric or hybrid vehicle comprises an electric machine for propulsion of the vehicle, as well as a storage battery able to be connected to the electric machine. An inverter is connected between the battery and the electric machine and makes it possible to convert the DC voltage provided by the battery into an AC voltage, in particular three-phase AC voltage, in order to supply power to each phase of the electric machine. The vehicle also comprises an internal electric power supply network, which makes it possible to supply power to the electrical equipment of the vehicle (for example the windscreen wipers, the headlights, the warning lights of the dashboard, etc.). The voltage provided by the network is, for example, 12 or 14 V. The vehicle also comprises an auxiliary battery able to supply power to the network and a DC-DC voltage converter connected between the auxiliary battery and the battery in order to recharge the auxiliary battery. This has the drawback of having to install and configure numerous converters in the vehicle. In addition, each battery is in reality made up of a set of battery cells statically connected to one another. The charge level of each battery depends on the state of charge of each cell. However, the cells might not all have identical electrical and energy characteristics. The dimensioning of each battery must therefore take into consideration aging phenomena and the performance of each cell, which is restrictive. Moreover, the components of the converter and of the inverter are dimensioned such that the voltage provided by the converter and the inverter are each defined over a wide range of voltages. Therefore, since each of these elements is not dimensioned for an optimal operating voltage, this may cause losses after each conversion implemented by the converter or the inverter, on the one hand, and difficulty in accurately controlling the output voltage of each converter and/or inverter, on the other hand. There is therefore the need for a solution which makes it possible to overcome, at least in part, the drawbacks described above. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION To this end, an aspect of the invention relates to an electric power supply system for an electric or hybrid vehicle, the vehicle comprising an electric power supply bus able to supply power to electrical equipment installed in the vehicle, said system comprising: a) a DC-DC voltage converter,b) at least two power supply cells, each comprising: i) a rectifier able to provide an AC voltage from a DC voltage and vice versa,ii) a battery, which is electrically connected to the rectifier, able to operate in a discharge mode in which the battery is able to provide a first DC voltage and able to operate in a charge mode in which the battery is able to recharge from a DC voltage,iii) a switching cell comprising switches able to connect the battery to the converter, c) a first set of switches able to connect the battery of a power supply cell to the battery of the neighboring power supply cell in order to connect the set of batteries in series,d) a control unit configured to control the first set of switches, the second set of switches and each switch of each switching cell,e) a distribution module intended to be connected to a recharging module (60) external to the vehicle, said recharging module being configured to provide a supply power, the distribution module being configured to electrically connect at least one battery to the external recharging module in order to recharge the at least one battery from the power provided by the recharging module,the power supply system is configured to operate in an operating mode in which: the batteries are connected in series by the first set of switches,the distribution module connects one or more batteries to the external recharging module. The recharging module supports a fixed supply voltage. This supply voltage may depend on the external equipment connected to the recharging module and/or may be inherent to said charging module. Therefore, when the supply voltage supported by the recharging module and available to the power supply system is sufficient to simultaneously recharge the set of batteries connected in series, then the distribution module connects all the batteries to the recharging module. By contrast, if this supply voltage supported by the recharging module makes it possible to recharge only