Patent ID: 8761978

Claim:
A propulsion system comprising: an energy system for supplying power to an electric drive, the energy system comprising: a bi-directional boost converter coupled to a direct current (DC) link, the bi-directional boost converter comprising a plurality of input channels; and a first energy storage device coupled to a first input channel of the bi-directional boost converter via a DC bus; an auxiliary system coupled to the energy system, the auxiliary system comprising: an auxiliary energy source; an auxiliary load; and an auxiliary load controller coupled to the auxiliary energy source and to the auxiliary load; and a system controller configured to: determine an amount of propulsion power desired to be supplied to the electric drive; receive feedback information of the DC link from one of a current sensor and a voltage sensor; determine, based on the feedback information, a capability of the first energy storage device to supply the amount of propulsion power to the DC link; determine a power difference between the amount of propulsion power desired to be supplied to the electric drive and an amount of power capable of being supplied by the first energy storage device; cause the auxiliary load controller to reduce a power draw of the auxiliary load from the auxiliary energy source by at least an amount equal to the power difference; and cause the bi-directional boost converter to boost a voltage supplied by the auxiliary energy source based on the reduction in power draw and to supply the boosted voltage to the DC link.