POWER SUPPLY DEVICE
Embodiments of the present invention include a power supply device having one or more converters (DC/DC and/or AC/DC) that convert input power supplied from one or more power sources, and a secondary battery which is charged by receiving power supplied from power sources. In addition, however, the power supply device has the unique feature of increasing power output by serially connecting the secondary battery to the DC/DC converter and/or AC/DC converter. In this regard, the secondary battery may comprise a Lithium Ion battery.
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This application claims priority to Japanese Application JP 2013-13002 U, filed Feb. 5, 2013, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference herein.
TECHNOLOGICAL FIELDExample embodiments of the present invention relate generally to power supply devices, and, more particularly, to power supply devices having voltage converters.
BACKGROUNDGenerally, it is common for home power sources that supply power to electronic devices (e.g., TVs, Radios, CD Radio Cassette Players, or the like) or electrical devices (e.g., power tools, or the like) to include a power source that supplies power and a converter that converts the supplied power to a voltage appropriate for use by the electronics and electrical devices, as shown in
These conventional power supply devices that include DC/DC converters (or AC/DC converters) may be sufficient for many small scale applications that do not need much power. However, for devices that require a larger power supply, using conventional technology necessitates increasing the scale of the power supply device. Increasing the size of a DC/DC converter, though, reduces the efficiency of the converter. In addition, the larger a power supply device gets, the larger its corresponding power consumption. Moreover, the inefficiencies of scale of conventional power supply devices prevent their use for transferring power between a wider array of objects.
Accordingly, it would be useful to improve the efficiency and shrink the size of power supply devices, as well as increase the flexibility of the power supply devices, such that a single system can receive power from and supply power to a variety of sources.
BRIEF SUMMARYAccordingly, a method, apparatus, and computer program product are provided to improve power transfer and voltage conversion efficiency.
In an example embodiment, an apparatus is provided for increasing power supply efficiency. The apparatus includes a converter for converting and outputting power and a secondary battery, wherein the converter and the secondary battery are configured to receive power simultaneously, and wherein the secondary battery is further configured to serially output power to the converter. In this regard, the secondary battery may comprise a Lithium Ion battery.
In some embodiments, the converter comprises a DC/DC converter. In one such embodiment, the converter and the secondary battery may receive power from a DC power supply. In another such embodiment, the apparatus further includes a second converter connected to a first power supply, wherein the converter and the secondary battery are configured to receive power from the second converter. In this case, the apparatus may further include a third converter connected to a second power supply, wherein the second converter comprises a DC/DC converter connected to a DC power supply and the third converter comprises an AC/DC converter connected to an AC power supply, and wherein the converter and the secondary battery are configured to receive power from the third converter. In addition, the apparatus may further include an electric vehicle charging interface, wherein the converter is configured to output power to an electric vehicle through the electric vehicle interface. In this regard, the electric vehicle interface may be further configured to receive power from the electric vehicle, and the third converter may be a bidirectional converter.
In another embodiment, the converter may be an AC/DC converter. In this case, the converter may be configured to receive power from an AC power source. In one such embodiment, however, the secondary battery may receive power from a DC power source.
The above summary is provided merely for purposes of summarizing some example embodiments to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. Accordingly, it will be appreciated that the above-described embodiments are merely examples and should not be construed to narrow the scope or spirit of the invention in any way. It will be appreciated that the scope of the invention encompasses many potential embodiments in addition to those here summarized, some of which will be further described below.
Having thus described certain example embodiments of the present disclosure in general terms, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, and wherein:
Some embodiments of the present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which some, but not all embodiments of the inventions are shown. Indeed, these inventions may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will satisfy applicable legal requirements. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.
Conventional power supply devices that include DC/DC converters (or AC/DC converters), as described above, may be sufficient for many small scale devices that do not need much power. For devices that require a larger power supply, using such conventional technology necessitates increasing the scale of the power supply device. However, increasing the size of a DC/DC converter reduces the efficiency of the converter. In addition, the larger a power supply device gets, the larger its corresponding power consumption becomes. These inefficiencies can be explained with reference to
For example, in
Example embodiments of the present invention solve this problem of inefficiency, providing devices and systems that reduce power consumption, are smaller, and accordingly less expensive.
An apparatus and system are provided in accordance with an example embodiment of the present invention to manage home power consumption from a variety of power sources. It should be noted that while
Embodiments of the present invention include a power supply device having one or more converters (DC/DC and/or AC/DC) that convert input power supplied from one or more power sources, and a secondary battery which is charged by receiving power supplied from power sources. In addition, however, embodiments described herein have the unique feature of increasing power output by serially connecting the secondary battery to the DC/DC converter and/or AC/DC converter. In some such embodiments, the secondary battery may comprise a Lithium Ion battery.
Moreover, in devices having only a DC power source, embodiments described herein may have a DC/DC converter that converts the voltage of the DC power source to a DC voltage usable to charge the secondary battery. Similarly, in devices having both a DC power source and an AC power source, the device may additionally use an AC/DC converter to convert power from the AC power source to a form that can charge the secondary battery.
In embodiments of the present invention, the secondary battery output is serially connected with the output of either a DC/DC convertor or an AC/DC convertor, such that the output of both devices may be added together to produce an overall output power of the power supply device. By reducing the power throughput of the DC/DC converter by sourcing a part of the output power directly from the secondary battery, the overall efficiency of the power supply device is greatly improved when compared to conventional power supply devices that do not include a secondary battery.
For a similar reason, embodiments of the present invention cost less to produce. In this regard, because the overall output power of the device includes the output from the DC/DC convertor and the output from the secondary battery, the DC/DC convertor can be smaller than the corresponding converter in conventional power supply devices, which in turn results in lower comparative power consumption and a lower cost of hardware.
Turning now to
DC/DC Voltage Converting Section 4 comprises DC/DC Convertor 1A and Secondary Battery 2. As shown in
Turning now to
Embodiments of a power supply converting device described above improve the overall efficiency of the converting device comparing to conventional devices that only have a DC/DC convertor, as will be now discussed in connection with
Turning now to
Based on the above descriptions, the overall efficiency η0 of the DC/DC Converting Section 4 (the improved DC/DC Convertor) can be calculated as follows:
Turning now to
As a result, the DC/DC Converting Section 4 (the improved DC/DC Convertor) has an overall efficiency of 0.96, versus the efficiency of the DC/DC converter standing alone, which has an efficiency of 0.90. As such, use of Secondary Battery 2 in a DC/DC converter, as shown above, improves the efficiency of DC/DC conversion when compared to a conventional convertor.
Turning now to
As with the device described above in conjunction with
To illustrate this point, the device shown in
By contrast, the efficiency of the example power supply device shown in
because Equation 1 does not factor the effect of converter 6 on the efficiency of the power supply device. This efficiency can be described as:
Accordingly, multiplying both sides by η3 to solve for the overall efficiency η0, the following equation is produced for calculating the efficiency of the power supply device of
Consider the example of a 48 Volt (V) output from Convertor 6 to charge Secondary Battery 2, such that the Secondary Battery 2 is charged up to a maximum of 48V. 48V is output from Output Terminals 3a and 3b, and the voltage at the terminals combines a 6V output from the DC/DC Convertor 1A with a 42V output from the serially connected Secondary Battery 2. As a result, using Equation 2 above to calculate the efficiency of the device of
Accordingly, the overall efficiency η0 of the power supply device of
Turning now to
AC/DC Convertor Section 9 includes AC/DC Convertor 1B and Secondary Battery 2. While AC/DC Convertor 1B receives electric power from AC Power Supply 7, another DC voltage from DC Power Supply 8 is received by and charges Secondary Battery 2. Accordingly, the power supply device of
The power supply device of
In this fashion, the power supply device of
Turning now to
Bidirectional AC/DC convertor 104 receives and converts electric power from AC power supply 102 while DC voltage from DC power supply 106 is received by DC/DC converter 108. Either power supply (or both) can thus be used to charge secondary battery 110. Moreover, either power supply (or both) can provide power, in parallel, to DC/DC converter 112 and secondary battery 110. Accordingly, the power supply device of
The power supply device of
In this fashion, the power supply device of
Many modifications and other embodiments of the inventions set forth herein will come to mind to one skilled in the art to which these inventions pertain having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is to be understood that the inventions are not to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims. Moreover, although the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings describe example embodiments in the context of certain example combinations of elements and/or functions, it should be appreciated that different combinations of elements and/or functions may be provided by alternative embodiments without departing from the scope of the appended claims. In this regard, for example, different combinations of elements and/or functions than those explicitly described above are also contemplated as may be set forth in some of the appended claims. Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.
Claims
1. An apparatus for increasing power supply efficiency, the apparatus comprising:
- a converter for converting and outputting power; and
- a secondary battery,
- wherein the converter and the secondary battery are configured to receive power simultaneously, and
- wherein the secondary battery is further configured to serially output power to the converter.
2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the converter comprises a DC/DC converter.
3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the converter and the secondary battery receive power from a DC power supply.
4. The apparatus of claim 2, further comprising:
- a second converter connected to a first power supply,
- wherein the converter and the secondary battery are configured to receive power from the second converter.
5. The apparatus of claim 4, further comprising:
- a third converter connected to a second power supply,
- wherein the second converter comprises a DC/DC converter connected to a DC power supply and the third converter comprises an AC/DC converter connected to an AC power supply, and
- wherein the converter and the secondary battery are configured to receive power from the third converter.
6. The apparatus of claim 5, further comprising an electric vehicle charging interface, wherein the converter is configured to output power to an electric vehicle through the electric vehicle interface.
7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the electric vehicle interface is further configured to receive power from the electric vehicle, and wherein the third converter comprises a bidirectional converter.
8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the converter comprises an AC/DC converter.
9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the converter receives power from an AC power source.
10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the secondary battery receives power from a DC power source.
11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the secondary battery comprises a Lithium Ion battery.
Type: Application
Filed: Oct 21, 2013
Publication Date: Feb 5, 2015
Patent Grant number: 9627909
Applicant: IKS CO., LTD. (Kyoto)
Inventor: Takashi Imai (Kyoto)
Application Number: 14/058,633
International Classification: H02J 7/00 (20060101);