A charging control system and method

Abstract

This invention provides a charging control system and method, including an electric vehicle communication controller, a battery management system, an on-board charger, and a vehicle controller all connected to a CAN bus. During vehicle charging, the system communicates with an external charging station via a charging protocol converter to obtain charging information from the external charging station. The electric vehicle communication controller parses and adapts the charging information, and sends a charging command to the battery management system or the on-board charger via the CAN bus. Upon receiving the charging command, the battery management system or the on-board charger charges the vehicle battery, thereby supporting adaptation to multiple charging protocols and improving the reliability of the charging system.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of automotive charging technology, and in particular to a charging control system; furthermore, this invention also relates to a charging control method. Background Technology

[0002] With the rapid development of the new energy vehicle market and the gradual maturation of new energy technologies, the demand for import and export of new energy vehicles has been greatly boosted. However, charging standards vary from country to country. The communication methods in charging systems across different countries are mainly divided into two types: one is CAN communication, with China and Japan using GB / T27930 and CHAdeMO standards; the other is PLC communication, with Europe and North America using a combined charging system that implements standards such as ISO15118 and DIN SPEC70121. Therefore, whether importing or exporting new energy vehicles, it is necessary to modify the vehicle charging system accordingly to ensure that the new energy vehicles support local charging protocols.

[0003] If a country's new energy vehicles can support charging protocols of other countries, the usual approach is to directly integrate the charging system for that specific protocol into the battery management system (BMS). However, since the BMS is located inside the battery pack, the limited space within the battery pack makes integrating the charging system into the BMS cluttered with wiring, reducing the reliability of the charging system. Furthermore, because different charging protocols have different data requirements, only one charging protocol can be supported at a time. Summary of the Invention

[0004] To address the problems existing in the prior art, this invention provides a charging control system that can support and adapt to multiple charging protocols, thereby improving the reliability of the charging system. To this end, this invention also provides a charging control method.

[0005] In a first aspect, the present invention provides a charging control system, comprising: A charging protocol converter that communicates with external charging piles and connects to the vehicle's communication bus. It is used to communicate with external charging piles and send charging commands to the battery management system or on-board charger through the vehicle's communication bus when the vehicle is charging. The battery management system connects to the vehicle's communication bus and is used to manage the status of the vehicle's battery and control the DC charging MOSFETs. The on-board charger connects to the vehicle's communication bus and is used to convert AC charging voltage and control AC charging MOSFETs. The vehicle controller connects to the vehicle's communication bus and is used to manage the charging status and interact with various vehicle networks.

[0006] Preferably, the charging control system provided by the present invention includes a charging protocol converter comprising a CAN interface and a PLC interface.

[0007] Preferably, the charging control system provided by the present invention uses an electric vehicle communication controller as the charging protocol converter.

[0008] Preferably, the charging control system provided by the present invention uses a CAN bus for vehicle communication.

[0009] In a second aspect, the present invention also provides a charging control method, which applies the charging control system of the first aspect, comprising: When the vehicle is charging, it communicates with the external charging station through a charging protocol converter to obtain the charging information of the external charging station; The charging protocol converter parses and adapts the charging information, and sends charging commands to the battery management system or on-board charger through the vehicle communication bus. The battery management system or on-board charger charges the vehicle battery after receiving a charging command. The vehicle controller manages the charging status and interacts with various vehicle networks.

[0010] Preferably, the charging control method provided by the present invention includes parsing and adapting charging information using a charging protocol converter, comprising: By configuring different parameters, the charging protocols of different external charging piles can be parsed and adapted.

[0011] Preferably, the charging control method provided by the present invention further includes: The process involves handshaking according to the charging protocol and requesting and responding to charging requests.

[0012] Preferably, the charging control method provided by the present invention includes charging protocol and charging type as charging information.

[0013] Preferably, the charging control method provided by the present invention, which sends charging commands to the battery management system or on-board charger via the vehicle communication bus, includes: The charging protocol converter determines whether the vehicle's status allows charging based on the parsed and adapted information. If charging is allowed, it sends a charging command to the battery management system or on-board charger via the vehicle's communication bus.

[0014] Preferably, the charging control method provided by the present invention, wherein the battery management system or on-board charger charges the on-board battery after receiving a charging command, includes: After receiving a charging command, the battery management system turns on the DC charging MOSFET to perform DC fast charging of the vehicle battery. After receiving a charging command, the on-board charger turns on the AC charging MOSFET to perform slow AC charging of the vehicle battery.

[0015] As can be seen, the charging control system and method provided by the present invention connects the electric vehicle communication controller, battery management system, on-board charger and vehicle controller on the same CAN bus. After the electric vehicle communication controller communicates with the external charging pile, it directly sends relevant charging information through the CAN bus, thereby supporting and adapting to multiple charging protocols and improving the reliability of the charging system. Attached Figure Description

[0016] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort.

[0017] Figure 1 The diagram shows a framework schematic of a charging control system according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2 The diagram shown is a flowchart of a charging control method according to an embodiment of the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0018] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention clearer, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present invention, not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative effort are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0019] It should be noted that, in this document, relational terms such as "first" and "second" are used merely to distinguish one entity or operation from another, and do not necessarily require or imply any such actual relationship or order between these entities or operations. In this document, the terms "comprising," "including," or any other variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements includes not only those elements but also other elements not expressly listed, or elements inherent to such a process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitations, an element defined by the phrase "comprising one..." does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus that includes that element.

[0020] Example 1 In existing technologies, new energy vehicles manufactured in a country can support charging protocols of other countries, typically by directly integrating a charging system for a specific charging protocol into the battery management system (BMS). However, the BMS is deployed inside the battery pack. Due to the limited space inside the battery pack, integrating the charging system into the BMS leads to congested wiring harnesses, reducing the reliability of the charging system. Furthermore, different charging protocols have different data requirements, and only one charging protocol can be supported at a time. This invention provides the following solution: like Figure 1 As shown, an embodiment of the present invention provides a charging control system, including: A charging protocol converter that communicates with external charging piles and the vehicle's communication bus. It is used to communicate with external charging piles and send charging commands to the battery management system or on-board charger via the vehicle's communication bus when the vehicle is charging.

[0021] The Battery Management System (BMS) connects to the vehicle's communication bus and is used to manage the status of the vehicle's battery and control the DC charging MOSFETs. An on-board charger (OBC) connects to the vehicle's communication bus and is used to convert AC charging voltage and control AC charging MOSFETs. The Vehicle Control Unit (VCN) connects to the vehicle's communication bus and is used to manage the charging status and interact with various vehicle networks.

[0022] It should be noted that external charging stations include those implementing multiple charging protocol standards, such as the Chinese standard, Japanese standard, European standard, and North American standard. External charging stations use PLC communication or CAN communication. For example, when the CP / PP using PLC communication is only connected to the charging protocol converter, the OBC no longer needs to identify the voltage and current information during slow charging via the PP line. All the information required by the OBC is obtained from the charging protocol converter through the vehicle communication bus. This avoids the risk of charging failure due to inconsistencies between the information interpreted by the charging protocol converter and the OBC, and also effectively reduces the design complexity of the OBC. The OBC only needs to focus on the control logic of AC charging.

[0023] Furthermore, the charging protocol converter is connected to the BMS, OBC, and VCU on the same vehicle communication bus. In this case, any request or response from the charging protocol converter to the charging pile can be directly sent to the corresponding Electronic Control Unit (ECU) for processing through the vehicle communication bus, without the need for the BMS to forward information. This effectively reduces information latency and also reduces the workload of the BMS and the complexity of the vehicle communication bus inside the vehicle.

[0024] The charging protocol converter parses and adapts to the charging protocols of different external charging piles by configuring different parameters. It can also use different software variants from the software library for parsing and adaptation. However, the software that interacts with the internal BMS, OBC, VCU, etc., remains consistent and requires no modification. This ensures that regardless of the type of external charging pile, it only interacts with the charging protocol converter. The internal BMS and OBC do not need to worry about how to communicate with the external charging pile, reducing the complexity of the vehicle's wiring harness.

[0025] In some embodiments, the automotive communication bus is a CAN bus. The CAN bus ensures reliability through differential signaling, real-time performance through non-destructive arbitration, and security through a short frame structure and fault-tolerant mechanisms.

[0026] In some embodiments, the charging protocol converter is an Electric Vehicle Communication Controller (EVCC), which includes a CAN interface and a PLC interface.

[0027] It's important to note that the EVCC has fixed interface types for both external and internal use. For external charging stations, it provides both PLC and CAN interfaces, while for internal components like the vehicle controller, it only provides a CAN interface. Different hardware variants are needed for different charging protocols. Therefore, regardless of the type of external charging station, it only interacts with the EVCC; the internal BMS and OBC do not need to worry about communication with external charging stations, reducing the complexity of the vehicle's wiring harness.

[0028] Example 2 like Figure 2 As shown, this embodiment of the invention also provides a charging control method, applying the charging control system of embodiment 1, including: Step 1: When the vehicle is charging, it communicates with the external charging station through a charging protocol converter to obtain the charging information of the external charging station.

[0029] In some embodiments, the charging protocol converter employs an electric vehicle communication controller. The electric vehicle communication controller parses and adapts the charging protocols of different external charging piles by configuring different parameters, thereby obtaining charging information including the charging protocol and charging type. Then, it performs a handshake according to the charging protocol and requests and responds to the charging function.

[0030] Step two: The charging protocol converter parses and adapts the charging information, and sends charging commands to the battery management system or on-board charger through the vehicle communication bus.

[0031] In some embodiments, the vehicle communication bus adopts the CAN bus. The electric vehicle communication controller determines whether the vehicle's status allows charging based on the information after parsing and adapting the charging information. If charging is allowed, a charging command is sent to the battery management system or on-board charger via the CAN bus.

[0032] Step 3: After receiving the charging command, the battery management system or on-board charger will charge the vehicle battery.

[0033] It should be noted that after the battery management system receives a charging command, the DC charging MOSFET is turned on to perform DC fast charging of the vehicle battery; after the on-board charger receives a charging command, the AC charging MOSFET is turned on to perform AC slow charging of the vehicle battery.

[0034] Step four: The vehicle controller manages the charging status and interacts with various vehicle networks.

[0035] In summary, embodiments 1-2 of the present invention provide a charging control system and method in which the electric vehicle communication controller, battery management system, on-board charger and vehicle controller are connected on the same CAN bus. After communicating with the external charging pile, the electric vehicle communication controller directly sends relevant charging information through the CAN bus, thereby supporting and adapting to multiple charging protocols and improving the reliability of the charging system.

[0036] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of this application, and the scope of protection of this application is not limited thereto. Those skilled in the art can make changes or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed in this application, and all such changes or substitutions should be within the scope of protection of this application.

[0037] Those skilled in the art will understand that although some embodiments described herein include certain features included in other embodiments but not others, combinations of features from different embodiments are meant to be within the scope of the invention and form different embodiments.

[0038] Although embodiments of the invention have been described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, those skilled in the art can make various modifications and variations without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, and such modifications and variations all fall within the scope defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A charging control system, characterized in that, include: A charging protocol converter is connected to an external charging pile and to the vehicle communication bus. It is used to communicate with the external charging pile and send charging commands to the battery management system or the on-board charger through the vehicle communication bus when the vehicle is charging. A battery management system, connected to the vehicle communication bus, is used to manage the status of the on-board battery and control the DC charging MOSFETs. The on-board charger is connected to the vehicle communication bus and is used to convert AC charging voltage and control AC charging MOSFETs. The vehicle controller is connected to the vehicle communication bus and is used to manage the charging status and interact with various vehicle networks.

2. The charging control system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The charging protocol converter includes a CAN interface and a PLC interface.

3. The charging control system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The charging protocol converter is an electric vehicle communication controller.

4. The charging control system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The vehicle communication bus is a CAN bus.

5. A charging control method, characterized in that, The application of the charging control system as described in any one of claims 1-4 includes: When the vehicle is charging, it communicates with the external charging station through a charging protocol converter to obtain the charging information of the external charging station; The charging protocol converter parses and adapts the charging information, and sends charging commands to the battery management system or on-board charger through the vehicle communication bus. The battery management system or on-board charger charges the on-board battery after receiving the charging command. The vehicle controller manages the charging status and interacts with various vehicle networks.

6. The charging control method according to claim 5, characterized in that, The charging protocol converter parses and adapts the charging information, including: By configuring different parameters, the charging protocols of different external charging piles can be parsed and adapted.

7. The charging control method according to claim 6, characterized in that, Also includes: The process involves handshaking according to the charging protocol and requesting and responding to charging requests.

8. The charging control method according to claim 5, characterized in that, The charging information includes the charging protocol and charging type.

9. The charging control method according to claim 5, characterized in that, Sending charging commands to the battery management system or on-board charger via the vehicle communication bus includes: The charging protocol converter determines whether the vehicle's status allows charging based on the parsed and adapted information. If charging is allowed, it sends a charging command to the battery management system or on-board charger via the vehicle communication bus.

10. The charging control method according to claim 5, characterized in that, The charging of the vehicle battery by the battery management system or on-board charger after receiving the charging command includes: After receiving the charging command, the battery management system turns on the DC charging MOSFET to perform DC fast charging of the vehicle battery. After receiving the charging command, the on-board charger turns on the AC charging MOSFET to perform AC slow charging on the on-board battery.

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