Recharge systems and methods

Abstract

A charging device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may include: a battery adapted and configured to store a DC voltage, first and second motors adapted and configured to operate as a motor or a generator, first and second inverters adapted and configured to operate the first and second motors, a voltage transformer adapted and configured to boost the DC voltage of the battery to supply it to the first and second inverters and boosts the DC voltage of the inverter to supply it to the battery, and a charging controller adapted and configured to operate the first and second inverters as a booster or operate the voltage transformer as a buck booster according to a voltage that is input through a neutral point of the first and second motors and the voltage of the battery.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A charging device comprising;
 a battery adapted and configured to store DC voltage;   first and second motors adapted and configured to operate as a motor or a generator;   first and second inverters adapted and configured to operate the first and second motors;   a voltage transformer adapted and configured to boost the DC voltage of the battery to supply it to the first and second inverters and boost the DC voltage of the inverter to supply it to the battery; and   a charging controller adapted and configured to operate the first and second inverters as a booster or operate the voltage transformer as a buck booster according to a voltage that is input through a neutral point of the first and second motors and the voltage of the battery.   
     
     
         2 . The charging device of  claim 1 , wherein the charging controller controls the first and second inverters to be turned off and controls the voltage transformer to be a buck booster, if the voltage that is input through the neutral point of the first and second motors exceeds a battery voltage. 
     
     
         3 . The charging device of  claim 2 , wherein the charging controller bypasses the voltage that is input through the neutral point of the first and second motors to the voltage transformer while the first and second inverters are turned off. 
     
     
         4 . The charging device of  claim 1 , wherein the charging controller switches the first and second inverters according to the input voltage of the neutral point such that the first and second inverters are boosters and continuously turns on an upper switching element of the voltage transformer, if the battery voltage exceeds the voltage that is input through the neutral point of the first and second motors. 
     
     
         5 . The charging device of  claim 1 , wherein the charging controller controls such that the voltage transformer boosts voltage and performs DC voltage transformation to charge the battery, if the input voltage of the neutral point of the first and second motors exceeds a battery voltage. 
     
     
         6 . The charging device of  claim 1 , wherein the charging controller only uses the first and second inverters to perform voltage boosting and DC voltage transformation such that the boosted and DC transformed voltage is supplied to the battery as a charging voltage, if the input voltage that is input through the neutral point of the first and second motors is less than the battery voltage. 
     
     
         7 . The charging device of  claim 1 , wherein the charging controller cuts off the voltage that is input to the neutral point of the first and second motors, if it is determined that the battery is fully charged. 
     
     
         8 . The charging device of  claim 4 , wherein the charging controller operates the first inverter as a booster, if the battery voltage exceeds the input voltage of the neutral point of the first and second motors and the phase of the input voltage has a positive value (V in >0). 
     
     
         9 . The charging device of  claim 4 , wherein the charging controller operates the second inverter as a booster, if the battery voltage exceeds the input voltage of the neutral point of the first and second motors and the phase of the input voltage has a negative value (V in <0). 
     
     
         10 . A charging method comprising:
 detecting a connection of a charging plug;   detecting a voltage that is input through a neutral point of first and second motors and a voltage of a battery, if the connection of the charging plug is detected; and   charging a battery by operating first and second inverters as boosters or operating a voltage transformer as a buck booster depending on a relation between a voltage input through the neutral point of the first and second motors and a battery voltage.   
     
     
         11 . The charging method of  claim 10 , wherein the input voltage is boosted only by the voltage transformer to charge the battery, if the voltage input through the neutral point of the first and second motors exceeds the battery voltage. 
     
     
         12 . The charging method of  claim 10 , wherein the input voltage is boosted only by the first and second inverters to charge the battery, if the voltage input through the neutral point of the first and second motors is less than the battery voltage. 
     
     
         13 . The charging method of  claim 11 , wherein the first and second inverters maintains a turned-off condition and the voltage input through the neutral point of the first and second motors is bypassed to the voltage transformer, if the voltage input through the neutral point of the first and second motors exceeds the battery voltage. 
     
     
         14 . The charging method of  claim 12 , wherein the first and second inverters are switched depending on the phase of the input voltage such that the first and second inverters are operated as boosters and an upper switching element of the voltage transformer is controlled to be continuously turned on, if the voltage input through the neutral point of the first and second motors is less than the battery voltage. 
     
     
         15 . The charging method of  claim 14 , wherein in a condition that the voltage input through the neutral point of the first and second motors is less than the battery voltage, if the phase of the input voltage is a positive value (V in >0), the first inverter is operated as a booster, and if the phase of the input voltage is a negative value (V in <0), the second inverter is operated as a booster. 
     
     
         16 . A charging method comprising:
 detecting a connection of a charging plug;   detecting a voltage that is input through a neutral point of first and second motors and a voltage of a battery, if the connection of the charging plug is detected;   charging a battery by boosting the input voltage through a voltage transformer, if the voltage input through the neutral point of the first and second motors exceeds the battery voltage; and   charging a battery by boosting the input voltage through first and second inverters depending on the input voltage, if the voltage input through the neutral point of the first and second motors is less than the battery voltage.   
     
     
         17 . The charging method of  claim 16 , wherein the first and second inverters are maintained in a turned-off condition such that a switching loss does not occur while the input voltage is boosted by the voltage transformer. 
     
     
         18 . The charging method of  claim 16 , wherein when the first and second inverters boost the input voltage, an upper switching element of the voltage transformer is controlled to be continuously turned on such that a switching loss of the voltage transformer does not occur. 
     
     
         19 . The charging method of  claim 16 , wherein when the voltage input through the neutral point of the first and second motors is less than the battery voltage, if the phase of the input voltage is a positive value (V in >0), the first inverter is controlled to boost the input voltage, and if the phase of the input voltage is a negative value (V in <0), the second inverter is controlled to boost the input voltage. 
     
     
         20 . A charging method comprising:
 detecting a connection of a charging plug;   detecting a voltage that is input through a neutral point of first and second motors and a voltage of a battery, if the connection of the charging plug is detected;   boosting an input voltage by operating a first inverter or a second inverter as a booster depending on a phase of the voltage input through the neutral point of the first and second motors; and   charging a battery by operating a voltage transformer as a buck booster or to maintain its switching off condition depending on a relation between the voltage input through the neutral point of the first and second motors and the battery voltage.   
     
     
         21 . The charging method of  claim 20 , wherein if the voltage input through the neutral point of the first and second motors is a positive value (V in >0), the first inverter is operated as a booster, and if the phase of the input voltage is a negative value (V in <0), the second inverter is operated as a booster. 
     
     
         22 . The charging method of  claim 20 , wherein the voltage transformer is controlled to be a buck booster such that the input voltage that is boosted by the first inverter or the second inverter is repressed to charge the battery, if the voltage input through the neutral point of the first and second motors exceeds the battery voltage. 
     
     
         23 . The charging method of  claim 20 , wherein the voltage transformer is switched off and the voltage that is boosted by the first inverter or the second inverter charges the battery, if the voltage input through the neutral point of the first and second motors is less than the battery voltage. 
     
     
         24 . The charging method of  claim 23 , wherein the voltage transformer bypasses the voltage that is boosted by the first inverter or the second inverter to the battery so as to charge the battery, if the voltage input through the neutral point of the first and second motors is less than the battery voltage. 
     
     
         25 . A charging method comprising:
 detecting a voltage that is input through a neutral point of first and second motors and a voltage of a battery, if a connection of a charging plug is detected;   operating a first inverter as a booster, if a phase of the voltage that is input through the neutral point of the first and second motors is a positive value (V in >0), and operating a second inverter as a booster to boost the voltage, if the phase of the voltage is a negative value (V in <0);   operating the voltage transformer as a buck booster such that the input voltage that is boosted by the first inverter or the second inverter is suppressed to charge the battery, if the voltage input through the neutral point of the first and second motors exceeds the battery voltage; and   switching off the voltage transformer such that the voltage boosted by the first inverter or the second inverter charges the battery, if the voltage input through the neutral point of the first and second motors is less than the battery voltage.   
     
     
         26 . A charging device comprising:
 a battery adapted and configured to store DC voltage;   first and second motors adapted and configured to operate as a motor or a generator;   an inverter adapted and configured to operate a motor and boost a voltage supplied to a plug-in;   a rectifier adapted and configured to rectify an AC voltage supplied through the plug-in to supply it to a neutral point of a motor;   a voltage transformer adapted and configured to boost the DC voltage of the battery to supply it to the inverter and supply the voltage boosted by the inverter to supply it to the battery as a charging voltage or suppress the voltage to supply it to the battery as a charging voltage; and   a charging controller adapted and configured to operate the inverter as a booster or operate the voltage transformer as a buck booster to supply the battery with a charging voltage depending on the voltage input to the neutral point of the motor through the plug-in and the voltage of the battery.   
     
     
         27 . The charging device of  claim 26 , further comprising a switch that cuts off a commercial voltage that is supplied to a rectifier through a plug-in according to the control signal of the charging controller, if it is detected that the charging of the battery is completed. 
     
     
         28 . The charging device of  claim 26 , wherein the charging controller turns off the inverter to bypass the input voltage to the voltage transformer and operates the voltage transformer as a buck booster to suppress the input voltage, if the voltage that is input through the neutral point of the motor exceeds the battery voltage. 
     
     
         29 . The charging device of  claim 26 , wherein the charging controller operates the inverter as a booster to boost the input voltage and continuously turns on an upper side power switch element of the voltage transformer such that the voltage boosted by the inverter is supplied to the battery to charge it, if the voltage that is input through the neutral point of the motor is less than the battery voltage. 
     
     
         30 . A charging method comprising:
 detecting a battery voltage and an input voltage that is transformed to a DC by a rectifier to be input through a neutral point of a motor when a charging plug is connected;   controlling the inverter to be turned off, operating a voltage transformer as a buck booster to suppress the input voltage, and supplying the suppressed voltage to the battery to charge it, if the input voltage exceeds the battery voltage;   boosting the input voltage by operating the inverter as a booster and continuously turning on an upper side power switch element of a voltage transformer to supply a battery with the boosted voltage as a charging voltage, if the input voltage is less than the battery voltage; and   if charging is completed, prohibiting transmission of a commercial voltage to the neutral point.   
     
     
         31 . A charging method comprising:
 detecting a battery voltage and an input voltage that is transformed to a DC voltage by a rectifier to be input through a neutral point of a motor when a charging plug is connected;   boosting the input voltage by operating an inverter as a booster;   operating the voltage transformer as a buck booster to suppress the input voltage that is boosted by the inverter and supplying the suppressed voltage to the battery to charge it, if the input voltage exceeds the battery voltage by comparing the input voltage with the battery voltage;   turning off the voltage transformer to supply the boosted voltage to the battery as a charging voltage, if the input voltage is less than the battery voltage; and   if charging is completed, prohibiting transmission of a commercial voltage to the neutral point.