DESC:FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present disclosure relates to an integrated controller for an electric vehicle. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to an integrated controller for a charging circuit and a motor circuit of the electric vehicle in order to reduce size requirements of such a system.

BACKGROUND
Electric vehicles offer great advantages in terms of reducing emissions & running cost, when compared to their IC engine counterparts. The prime mover of an electric vehicle is a motor. A motor circuit drives the motor, drawing power from a battery. The motor circuit is controlled by a motor controller. Further, the battery is charged through a charger circuit. It is a common practice in the industry to use an on board charger to regulate the voltage and current as required by the electric vehicle. The charger circuit is controlled by a charger controller. As there are separate controllers for controlling the motor circuit and a charger circuit it increases the number of components and also creates packaging constraints. It also increases the overall size and the weight of such a system.
Therefore, there is a need of an improved controlling scheme for the charger and the motor circuit of the electric vehicle to eliminate the above problem.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
It is an objective of the present disclosure to provide a charging and motor controlling system with improved packaging characteristics.
It is another objective of the present disclosure to provide a charging and motor controlling system with improved performance characteristics.
It is another objective of the present disclosure to provide a charging and motor controlling system suitable for use in an electric or hybrid vehicle.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The drawings shown in the present disclosure are exemplary and the present disclosure may be understood when read in conjunction with the following drawings:
Fig. 1 illustrates an exemplary charging and motor controlling system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.
Fig. 2 illustrates a block diagram showing a control scheme of a conjoint controller according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.
Fig. 3 illustrates a state diagram showing a control scheme of the charging and motor circuit system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSURE
The present disclosure relates to a charging and motor controlling system. The present disclosure relates to a conjoint charging and controlling circuit. The present disclosure also relates to a conjoint controller that is configured to control switching in between a charging module and a drive module. The present disclosure also relates to a conjoint control scheme that is configured to disable the motor circuit/driver, when the charger circuit is receiving power.

The foregoing principles are illustrated hereunder in conjunction with the various figures as described below.

Fig. 1 illustrates a charging and motor controlling system 100 (hereinafter referred to as the system 100), in accordance to an embodiment of the invention. The charging and motor controlling system 100 may further include a battery 104 that stores charge for the functioning of an electric vehicle. Further, the system includes a charger circuit 102, that gets connected to an external grid power source. The external grid power source may be an alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC) power source. The charger circuit 102 is further connected to the battery 104 in order to provide charge to the battery when connected to the external grid power source. According to an embodiment of the invention the charger circuit 102 may include a boost power factor correction circuit followed by an isolated half bridge LLC converter. According to another embodiment of the invention the charger circuit 102 operates in constant voltage, constant current and a constant power charging modes.
The system 100, further includes a motor circuit 106, which is connected to a battery, on one side and to a traction motor (not shown in the figure) on the other side. Once, the motor receives charge from the motor circuit 106, it is able to provide motion to the electric vehicle, during a drive mode operation. According to an embodiment of the invention, the motor circuit 106 is a three-phase half bridge inverter. The system 100 also includes a conjoint controller 108. The conjoint controller 108 is operationally connected to the charger circuit 102 and the motor circuit 106. The conjoint controller 108 is provided with a plurality of control profiles.
According to an embodiment of the invention, the control profiles include a first control profile wherein the first control profile enables the charger circuit 102 to initiate charging of the battery 104 when input voltage of power from the grid power source is within the specified operating range. According to yet another embodiment the first control profile is enabled when voltage from a line-fed bias module 110 is greater than or equal to the threshold reference voltage.
According to another embodiment of the invention, the control profiles include a second control profile wherein the second control profile enables/controls the motor circuit 106 to enable the drive functionality by controlling the speed/torque characteristics of the motor as per specification. The second control profile is enabled when the input voltage of power from the grid power source is below the specified operating range. According to another embodiment of the invention, the second profile is enabled when a state of charge of the battery 104 is within certain provided specifications. According to yet another embodiment, the second control profile is enabled when the voltage from the line-fed bias module 110 is lesser than the threshold reference voltage which implies that the charger circuit is disconnected from the external grid power source or when the state of charge of the battery 104 is within specifications provided.
The conjoint controller 108 is further configured to include the line-fed bias module 110, a battery fed bias module 112, a low-voltage bias module 114 and a control circuit 116. In configuration, the line-fed bias module 110 is configured to receive power from the charger circuit 102 at one end and is connected to a low-voltage bias module 114 to provide power to the control circuit 116. The battery-fed bias module 112 is configured to receive power from the battery 104 at one end and is connected to the low-voltage bias module 114. The low-voltage bias module 114 is configured to receive power either of the line fed-module 110 and the battery fed module 112. Further, the low-voltage bias module 114 is connected to a control circuit 116 which is in turn operationally connected to the charger circuit 102 and the motor circuit 106. The control circuit 116 is configured for a control scheme (to be described in conjunction with Fig. 2) that helps in switching in between the charger circuit 102 and the motor circuit 106. In other words, the conjoint controller 108 disables the motor circuit 106 when the charger circuit 102 is receiving power from the grid power source or is in charging mode.
Now, referring to Fig. 2, illustrating a block diagram showing a control scheme 200 of in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. The control scheme 200 includes the line fed bias module 110, the battery fed bias module 112, the low-voltage bias module 114 and the control circuit 116. As described above, the line-fed bias module 110 is fed with power from the external grid power source. An output 202 of the line-fed bias module 110 is fed to the low-voltage bias module 114. Further, the output 202 of the line-fed bias module 110 is also fed to an input of the battery-fed bias module 112. The input of the battery-fed bias module 112, to which the output 202 is fed, is a disable data line for the battery-fed bias module 112. Further, the battery-fed bias module 112, as also disclosed above, is fed with an output from the battery 104.
Thus, when the charger circuit 102 is connected to the external grid power source i.e. 400V DC or Vin, the line-fed bias module 110 is activated. The output 202 (V1out) is sent to the battery-fed bias module 112 which disables the battery-fed bias module 112. Hence, the low-voltage bias module 114 senses the input (V1out) from the line-fed bias module 110 and in turn, through the control circuit 116, chooses operational mode as “charge” thus activating the charger circuit 102 that starts charging the battery 104. During the charging operational mode, the motor circuit 106 is disabled.
Further, when the external grid power source is not connected, and key-in is engaged in the electric vehicle, thus Vin for the line-fed bias module 110 is not present, thus there is no V1out. Further, due to the key-in engagement, input from the battery 104 i.e. Vbat is fed into the battery-fed bias module 112 thus activating the battery-fed bias module 112. Hence, due to this output i.e. Vbat from the battery-fed bias module 112 i.e. V2out is fed to the low-voltage bias module 114, that senses the activation of the battery-fed bias module 112 and chooses operational mode as “drive” thus activating the motor circuit 106 thereby enabling drive operation of the electric vehicle.
Along with the bias power supply outputs, PFC output voltage & a Kill switch are also being sensed. For “charge” function the PFC output voltage shall be on in addition to the corresponding line-fed bias power supply output V1out. For drive function, the PFC output voltage shall be off in addition to the battery-fed bias power supply output V2out.
Now, referring to Fig. 3 illustrating a state diagram depicting a control scheme 300 of the charging and motor circuit system 100 according to an embodiment of the invention. At state 302, which is a standby state the system will be in standby mode. The conjoint controller 108 monitors bias power supplies i.e. line-fed bias module 110 and the battery-fed bias module 112, and selects the functional mode accordingly. When the functional mode is “drive” at state 304 i.e. Drive init., the conjoint controller 108 initializes all peripherals of the electric vehicle for a drive functionality. Further at state 306 i.e. Drive wait, the conjoint controller 108 waits for a kill switch input to enable inverter for drive functionality of the electric vehicle. In case the kill switch is on and if there is no fault, then at state 308 i.e. Drive Run, the conjoint controller 108 enables the inverter & starts drive function.
However, in case the kill switch is off, then the control scheme 300 moves to state 306 i.e. Drive wait. In case, in addition to kill switch being off and the charger circuit 102 being connected to the external grid power source, the control scheme 300 moves to state 302 i.e. standby. Also, while on state 308 i.e. Drive run, in case kill switch is on, but, charger is connected then the control scheme 300 moves to state 310 i.e. Drive fault. From state 310, the control scheme 300 may move to state 306 i.e. Drive wait in case there is no fault except OCP, or if kill switch is off or in case charger is on.
Further, in case at state 302 i.e. standby the functional mode is “charge”, then the control scheme 300 moves to state 312 i.e. Charger init. where the conjoint controller 108 initializes the peripherals for charger functionality. The control scheme 300 then moves on to the next state 314 i.e. Charger Run in case charger initialization is completed and PFC is ok. At 314 the conjoint controller 108 enables the charging function. At state 314, if the charging is disconnected from the external gird power source then the control scheme moves to state 302 i.e. standby. However, in case there is any fault during the charger function then the control scheme 300 moves to a Charger fault state i.e. 316.
As disclosed above, the advantage of having the integrated charging and motor controlling system described has an advantage of reduced packaging space. As the charger circuit 102 and motor circuit 106 functions are complementary, only one function is enabled at any point of time. Therefore, in the integrated charger and motor controller system, heatsink (not shown in the figure) and conjoint controller 108 are shared between the charger circuit and motor circuit. This integration results in a reduction of form-factor and weight of the integrated module thereby helping in improving packaging of such a system.
Although the present disclosure has been described with reference to certain preferred embodiments and examples thereof, other embodiments and equivalents are also possible and are encompassed by this disclosure. Despite the fact that various characteristics and advantages of the present disclosure have been laid down in the description, various modifications are still possible in the presently disclosed system without deviating from the intended scope and spirit of the present disclosure.

,CLAIMS:We claim;
1. An integrated charging and motor controlling system of an electric vehicle, the system comprising:
a battery, configured to store charge;
a traction motor configured to drive the electric vehicle;
a charger circuit, configured to provide charge to the battery from a grid power source during a charging mode;
a motor circuit, operationally connected to the battery and the traction motor, configured to provide power to the traction motor during a drive mode;
a conjoint controller operationally connected to the charger circuit and the motor circuit characterized in that the conjoint controller is configured with a plurality of control profiles.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein the conjoint controller comprises:
a line-fed bias module, configured to receive power from the charger circuit;
a battery-fed bias module, configured to receive power from battery;
a low-voltage bias module configured to receive power from either of the line-fed module and the battery-fed module; and
a control circuit that is programmed to control switching in between the charging circuit or the motor circuit.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one output of the line-fed bias module is at least one input for the battery-fed bias module.
4. The system of claim 2, wherein at least one input to the battery-fed bias module is a disable data line.
5. The system of claim 1, conjoint controller controls the line-fed bias module and the battery-fed bias module in such a way that only one of the line-fed bias module and the battery-fed bias module is active at any instant of time.
6. The system of claim 1, wherein the conjoint controller disables the motor circuit, when the charger circuit is receiving power from the grid power source.
7. The system of claim 1, wherein the motor circuit is a three phase half bridge inverter.
8. The system of claim 1, wherein the charger circuit comprises a boost power factor correction (PFC) circuit followed by an isolated half-bridge LLC converter.
9. The system of claim 8, wherein the charger circuit operates in constant voltage, constant current, and a constant power charging mode.
10. The system of claim 1, wherein the grid power source is an alternating current power source or a direct current power source.
11. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of control profiles for the conjoint controller comprises:
a first control profile is enabled when voltage from the grid power source is greater than or equal to a threshold reference voltage;
a second control profile is enabledwhen at least one of the voltage from the grid power source is less than or equal to a threshold reference voltage and when a state of charge of the battery is within specifications.
12. The system of claim 11, wherein the first control profile enables the charger circuit to initiate charging of the battery.
13. The system of claim 11, wherein the second control profile enables the motor circuit to provide power to the motor.