12V BATTERY CONTROL SYSTEM FOR A MOTOR VEHICLE

Abstract

The invention relates to a control system for a 12V motor vehicle battery (V), comprising a housing which includes: - an on-board recorder (L) configured to be connected to a terminal (P, N) of the 12V battery, the on-board recorder (L) recording current data entering and leaving the 12V battery; and - a control unit (U) connected to the on-board recorder (L), the control unit (U) analyzing current data from the on-board recorder (L). The invention also relates to a vehicle, a method, and a program based on such a system. Figure 1

Description

Title of the invention: 12 V BATTERY CONTROL SYSTEM OF A MOTOR VEHICLE

[0001] The invention relates to the field of battery control systems for low voltage batteries of on-board electronic systems of motor vehicles, such as 12 Volt motor vehicle batteries.

[0002] More and more problems with 12V battery discharge are due to new phases of life of the motor vehicle without contact: - phases where the motor vehicle is connected to a traction battery charging terminal (or “PlugIN phases” in English); - live update phases of the vehicle's computers via OTA transmission (for "over the air" in English); - permanently active sensors to enable the vehicle to be opened when approaching and locked when moving away. - thermal pre-conditioning phases of the passenger compartment. - monitoring phases of the traction battery management system. - etc.

[0003] These phases increasingly lead to a discharge of the 12V battery and consequently a potential breakdown of the vehicle or unavailability of the zero-emission system on hybrid vehicles, or of electronic functions such as stopping and restarting the thermal engine (or "stop and start" in English).

[0004] Solutions are available, but are not fully satisfactory: - current sensors exist but are not compatible with all current measurement ranges, from 1 milliamp for standby current phases up to 1500 amps in use; - the solutions are not autonomous for use on board the vehicle or impact the vehicle's energy system and distort the result; - current sensors are not designed to continuously record and time-stamp measurements over several days; - the solutions do not include anomaly detection functions on the vehicle's electrical consumption to prevent potential failures of the 12V battery.

[0005] An objective of the present invention is to remedy the defects of the prior art, and in particular to carry out measurements and recordings of the current 24 / 24 hours in the varied conditions of use of the motor vehicle (vehicle in motion, plugged in (or "PlugIN" in English), parked, etc.) and to detect a abnormal battery consumption.

[0006] To achieve this objective, the invention proposes a system for controlling a 12V battery of a motor vehicle, comprising a housing which comprises: - an on-board recorder configured to be connected to a positive terminal or a negative terminal of the 12V battery, the on-board recorder recording data on currents entering and leaving the 12V battery; and - a control unit connected to the on-board recorder, the control unit analyzing current data from the on-board recorder.

[0007] Advantageously, the invention makes it possible to have a recorder to be fitted to vehicles for: - analyze the cause of low voltage battery discharge in the user's field of activity (engineering, factories, after-sales); - regularly check the vehicle's ampere-hour consumption on the battery during the vehicle assembly process; - facilitate validation during the development of new vehicles and obtain more frequent measurements on different vehicle configurations to detect an anomaly in the vehicle's energy management system. - inform the vehicle user of an anomaly on their on-board system or on a mobile device, before their vehicle breaks down (for example via an application on a smartphone); - monitor statistics and current consumption balance of a fleet of vehicles in varied vehicle use.

[0008] According to a variant, the on-board recorder and / or the control unit further comprises a time-stamping means for assigning a time-stamp to the 12V battery current data.

[0009] This allows for better monitoring of recorded data.

[0010] According to a variant, the control system further comprises a control screen, connected to the control unit, for viewing analyses of the control unit.

[0011] This allows a user to be informed of the current battery status in real time, continuously. The screen allows for synthetic information. A USB output can provide detailed information on an external device.

[0012] According to one variant, the control screen is an electronic paper screen.

[0013] This allows for a means of visualization that does not consume energy.

[0014] According to one variant, the on-board recorder and / or the control unit further comprises an autonomous power supply.

[0015] This allows information to be obtained independently of the vehicle's electrical energy and the state of the 12V battery.

[0016] According to a variant, the on-board recorder comprises a first sensor configured to be connected to the positive terminal, and a second sensor configured to be connected to the negative terminal.

[0017] This allows the most accessible terminal of the battery to be used.

[0018] According to a variant, the control unit is configured to determine consumption data in amperes and ampere-hours, detections of untimely wake-ups of computers, in different phases of the vehicle's life, and statistics of this data.

[0019] This allows for real-time information on the vehicle based on battery consumption data.

[0020] The invention further relates to a motor vehicle comprising a 12 V battery and a control system according to the invention, the recorder of which is connected to a positive terminal or to a negative terminal of said 12 V battery.

[0021] The invention further relates to a method for monitoring a 12V battery of a motor vehicle by means of a control system according to the invention, comprising the following steps: - a measurement step to record data on incoming and outgoing currents from the 12 V battery; and - an analysis step to analyze the current data.

[0022] Another object of the invention relates to a computer program comprising program code instructions for executing the steps of the monitoring method according to the invention, when said program operates on a computer.

[0023] The invention will be further detailed by the description of non-limiting embodiments, and on the basis of the appended figures illustrating variants of the invention, in which: - [Fig.l] schematically illustrates a motor vehicle according to a preferred embodiment, comprising a recorder and a screen or indicator; - [Fig.2] schematically illustrates a first example of a current evolution profile; and - [Fig.3] schematically illustrates a second example of a current evolution profile.

[0024] The invention relates to a system for controlling a 12 VB battery of a motor vehicle V.

[0025] The control system comprises a recorder L which comprises at least one current sensor (or preferably two sensors), coupled to a control unit (control card U).

[0026] The current sensor can be of the intelligent type (or IBS for “Intelligent Battery Sensor” in English), with a range of 1mA to 1500A and a sampling of 10ms).

[0027] The sensor is inserted independently on one of the two terminals P, N of the 12V battery B and is adaptable to all types of vehicles thanks to a set of three flat, angled and orientable busbars.

[0028] The recording box may include an integrated internal battery providing autonomy of 36 hours or adaptable to energy needs of several weeks.

[0029] The housing further comprises the control board U for generating, recording and visualizing the current sensor data with a time stamp of the data (year, days, months, minutes, seconds, milliseconds).

[0030] This U control card also allows specific functions such as the calculation and statistics of energy consumption in Ampere hours, the detection of untimely awakening of computers when the vehicle should be asleep or the synchronization of other instrumentation by specific inputs and outputs.

[0031] This control card U can include an input for recording certain data from the vehicle's multiplexed networks in order to have context elements available for analyzing the evolution of the measured current (life phase, vehicle running, etc.)

[0032] The control card U includes an output for viewing the measured data instantly and graphically on a computer or for transmitting the data to an external recording device.

[0033] The control card also manages an internal electronic paper display E (or "e-paper" in English) to display the current and the Ampere hours measured when pressing a trigger button on the recording box in order to inform the user.

[0034] Finally, all data (current, Ah, statistics) are recorded and can be retrieved from the internal memory of the recording box via a USB connection for detailed analysis in post-processing.

[0035] The invention makes it possible to visualize the evolution of the current entering and leaving the 12V battery B of the vehicle in the different phases of its life of use in order to detect abnormal consumption of the vehicle.

[0036] [Fig.2] shows an example of battery current measurements (I in mA) and consumption in mAh (A).

[0037] The first plateau shows that the motor vehicle's computers are in the standby phase (for example at -15 mA at point II). The current measurements fall below 0 mA when current leaves the battery. The battery activity results in peaks while the standby phases correspond to plateaus.

[0038] [Fig.3] shows an example of standby monitoring. The plateau phases have slight peaks when the scale is enlarged. The current originally measured at the first plateau is for example -20mA. The current drop shows a detection anomaly, namely an untimely awakening. The current measured in the second plate is for example -300mA, before returning to -20mA.

Claims

Claims

1. System for monitoring a 12V battery of a motor vehicle (V), comprising a housing which comprises: - an on-board recorder (L) configured to be connected to a positive terminal (P) or a negative terminal (N) of the 12V battery, the on-board recorder (L) recording data on currents entering and leaving the 12V battery; and - a control unit (U) connected to the on-board recorder (L), the control unit (U) analyzing current data from the on-board recorder (L).

2. Control system according to claim 1, characterized in that the on-board recorder (L) and / or the control unit (U) further comprises a time-stamping means for assigning a time-stamp to the current data of the 12V battery (B).

3. Control system according to any one of claims 1 to 2, further comprising a control screen (E), connected to the control unit (U), for viewing analyses of the control unit (U).

4. Control system according to claim 3, characterized in that the control screen (E) is an electronic paper screen.

5. Control system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the on-board recorder (L) and / or the control unit (U) further comprises an autonomous power supply.

6. Control system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the on-board recorder comprises a first sensor configured to be connected to the positive terminal (P), and a second sensor configured to be connected to the negative terminal (N).

7. Control system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the control unit (U) is configured to determine consumption data in amperes and ampere-hours, detections of untimely awakening of computers, in different phases of life of the vehicle, and statistics of this data.

8. A motor vehicle comprising a 12V battery and a control system according to any one of claims 1 to 7, the recorder of which is connected to a positive terminal (P) or to a negative terminal (N) of said 12V battery (B).

9. Method for monitoring a 12V battery of a motor vehicle (V) by means of a control system according to any one of the re- claims 1 to 7, comprising the following steps: - a measurement step to record data on incoming and outgoing currents from the 12 V battery (B); and - an analysis step to analyze the current data.

10. A computer program comprising program code instructions for performing the steps of the monitoring method according to claim 9, when said program is running on a computer.

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