Patent ID: 11970067
Assignee: THE GOVERNING COUNCIL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
Field: Electrical machinery, apparatus, energy (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC B  H  Y | IPC B  H

Claim 22:
23. A DC front-end circuit for controlling charging input from a DC power source to (i) a first inverter circuit, including a first traction inverter and a first battery, adapted to be coupled to an electric motor configured for drive and charging functionality from the DC power source, and (ii) a second inverter circuit, including a second traction inverter and a second battery, adapted to be coupled to the electric motor and the DC front-end circuit, the DC front-end circuit comprising:
a first connection node connecting the negative terminal of the second battery and the DC front-end circuit, the second battery connected in parallel with the second traction inverter;
a second connection node connecting the positive terminal of the first battery and the DC front-end circuit, the first battery connected in parallel with the first traction inverter;
a diode or an active switch coupled between the first connection node and the second connection node;
a capacitor connected in parallel with the diode or the active switch;
at least one switching device, positioned on a circuit connection between the diode or the active switch and the capacitor, configured to control the charging input provided from the DC power source to at least one of the first and the second batteries, the at least one switching device controllable in conjunction with switches in the at least one of the first inverter circuit and the second inverter circuit wherein when a sum of the voltages of the first battery and the second battery are less than or equal to an input voltage of the DC power source, the at least one switching device is configured to control the charging input by operating in a first mode that inserts both the first battery and the second battery into a circuit conduction path by either modulating the at least one switching device or modulating the switches of the first traction inverter and the second traction inverter; and
when the sum of the voltages of the first battery and the second battery are greater than the input voltage of the DC power source, the at least one switching device is configured to control the charging input by operating in a second mode switching on the at least one switching device and modulating the switches of the first traction inverter and the second traction inverter.