US 12,015,299 B1
Method for recharging a vehicle battery
Ala A. Hussein, Canton, MI (US); Abdulmajeed Al-Abdusalam, Dhahran (SA); Hasan Ali Alseni, Dhahran (SA); Meenhal Al-Najjar, Dhahran (SA); and Hani Quraish, Dhahran (SA)
Assigned to Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University, Dhahran (SA)
Filed by Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University, Dhahran (SA)
Filed on Feb. 20, 2024, as Appl. No. 18/581,431.
Application 18/581,431 is a continuation of application No. 18/080,334, filed on Dec. 13, 2022.
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. H02J 7/00 (2006.01); G01R 27/08 (2006.01); H02M 7/5387 (2007.01)
CPC H02J 7/00712 (2020.01) [G01R 27/08 (2013.01); H02J 7/0047 (2013.01); H02M 7/53871 (2013.01)] 7 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for recharging a vehicle battery, comprising:
connecting a first DC voltage source to an input terminal of an H-bridge circuit, wherein the H-bridge circuit comprises four transistor switches, wherein each transistor switch includes a gate contact;
connecting a microcontroller to the gate contacts of each of the four transistor switches;
connecting an output terminal of the H-bridge circuit to a positive terminal of a rechargeable battery of a vehicle;
connecting a second DC voltage source to the positive terminal of the rechargeable battery, wherein the second DC voltage source is a lead battery;
generating, by the microcontroller, drive signals configured to control the four transistor switches;
transmitting the drive signals to the gates of each of the four transistor switches, wherein the drive signals cause the H-bridge circuit to form a sinusoidal with ripple current at the output terminal of the H-bridge circuit;
measuring, by an impedance meter connected to the microcontroller, an internal impedance of the rechargeable battery, wherein the impedance meter is connected to a negative terminal of the rechargeable battery;
performing, by the microcontroller, an autosearch algorithm to identify a frequency of the sinusoidal with ripple current at which the rechargeable battery has a minimum internal impedance by iteratively incrementing the frequency by a frequency step size which has an initial large value which is decreased after each iteration by dividing the frequency step size by two;
after each iteration, measuring, by the impedance meter, the internal impedance of the battery;
calculating, by the microcontroller, a phase value of the internal impedance after each iteration;
comparing the phase value at each step of the iteration to a phase error threshold ε;
when the phase value is less than the phase error threshold ε, identifying, by the microcontroller, the frequency as a minimum frequency at which an imaginary part of the battery impedance is zero;
measuring, by the impedance meter, a phase of a voltage at the input terminal of the battery and a phase of a current between the output terminal of the H-bridge and the input terminal of the battery at each iteration;
calculating, by the microcontroller, a phase difference between the phase of the current and the phase of the voltage;
comparing the phase difference to the phase error threshold ε;
when the phase difference is greater than the phase error threshold ε, iteratively incrementing the frequency by incrementing a previous frequency fk−1 by an amount given by: −α(512/2N), where α is a sign of the phase difference, and Nis a number of the sign changes in the phase difference from k equals one to k equals k−1, where k equals an iteration number, where N equals zero at k equals one until the phase difference is less than the phase error threshold ε;
identifying, by the microcontroller, the frequency as a minimum frequency at which an imaginary part of the battery impedance is zero;
adjusting, by the microcontroller, the drive signals to generate the sinusoidal with ripple current at the minimum frequency;
transmitting, by the microcontroller, the adjusted drive signals to the gates of each of the four transistor switches;
injecting the sinusoidal with ripple current at the minimum frequency into the rechargeable battery; and
recharging the battery with the sinusoidal with ripple current at the minimum frequency.