Balance of Electrical Power Requirements through Smart Electric Power Management

This paper examines Smart Electric Power Management as it pertains to when the vehicle charging system is active. Over the past decade there have been several factors at play which have stressed the demands placed upon the vehicle electrical power system. Many of these factors present challenges to electrical power that are at cross-purposes with one another. For example, demands of new and existing electrical loads, customer expectations about load performance and battery life, and the push by governments' world-wide for increased fuel economy (FE) and reduced CO2 emissions all have direct impact and can be directly impacted by decisions made in electric power design. As the electrification of the vehicle has progressed we now have much more specific vehicle state data available and the means to share this information among on-board computers through serial data link connectivity. This paper will introduce Electric Power Management/Regulated Voltage Control (EPM/RVC) and how through the usage of vehicle state data and associated electric power algorithms the EPM/RVC will look to achieve a balance of the sometimes opposing requirements placed upon the vehicle electrical power system.