Device and method for positioning by means of triangulation

• US 10,081,264 B2
• Filed: 02/26/2018
• Issued: 09/25/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/09/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bayerische Motoren Werke AG
• Original Assignee: Bayerische Motoren Werke AG
• Inventors: Berger, Jens, Krammer, Josef
• Primary Examiner(s): Tso, Edward
• Assistant Examiner(s): PIGGUSH, AARON C
• Application Number:
  US15/905,669
• Publication Number:
  US 20180178659A1
• Time in Patent Office: 211 Days
• Field of Search: 320104, 320108, 320109
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/32 Driving direction
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/62 Vehicle position
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/12 Inductive energy transfer
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/126 Methods for pairing a vehicle and a charging station, e.g. establishing a one-to-one relation between a wireless power transmitter and a wireless power receiver
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/305 Communication interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/36 by positioning the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/38 specially adapted for charging by inductive energy transfer
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/65 involving identification of vehicles or their battery types
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 15/0285 Parking performed automatically
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02 using radio waves using satellite radio beacon systems for determining position G01S19/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0225 involving docking at a fixed facility, e.g. base station or loading bay parking aids B62D15/027
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/028 using a RF signal
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/48 for electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV]
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/10 using inductive coupling
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/80 involving the exchange of data, concerning supply or distribution of electric power, between transmitting devices and receiving devices
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/90 involving detection or optimisation of position, e.g. alignment
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00034 Charger exchanging data with an electronic device, i.e. telephone, whose internal battery is under charge
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/70 Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/7072 Electromobility specific charging systems or methods for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/72 Electric energy management in electromobility
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/12 : Electric charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/14 : Plug-in electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/16 : Information or communication technologies improving the operation of electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/167 : Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies for supporting the interoperability of electric or hybrid vehicles, i.e. smartgrids as interface for battery charging of electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV]
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 30/14 : Details associated with the interoperability, e.g. vehicle recognition, authentication, identification or billing

Abstract

A method for determining a charging position for a charging system comprising a vehicle and an induction charging unit, includes measuring a magnetic field vector for the at least one positioning signal, wherein the magnetic field vector is unambiguously assigned to at least one transmitting antenna by virtue of a coding of the position signal, and calculating a local position of the at least one transmitting antenna with respect to at least one receiving antenna. The method further includes detecting a travel trajectory for the vehicle, along which the charging position can be taken up.

Claims

1. A method for determining a charging position for a charging system comprising a vehicle and an induction charging unit,

wherein the induction charging unit comprising a primary coil and the vehicle comprising a secondary coil and wherein, during a charging operation in the charging position, electric power is inductively transmissible from the primary coil to the secondary coil,

wherein the vehicle has a charging control device that comprises a first high-frequency communication unit, and the induction charging unit has an induction control device that comprises a second high-frequency communication unit,

wherein the vehicle has at least one low-frequency receiving antenna and the induction charging unit has at least one low-frequency transmitting antenna, and

wherein the method comprises the acts of:

a) sending a coded search signal from one of the first and second high-frequency communication units to the other of the first and second high-frequency communication units;

b) sending a coded confirmation signal from the other of the first and second high-frequency communication units to the charging control device;

c) performing, by the charging control device and the induction control device, an initialization routine between the at least one transmitting antenna and the at least one receiving antenna;

d) emitting, by the at least one transmitting antenna, a coded electromagnetic positioning signal, with respect to a vehicle coordinate system, wherein a magnetic fraction of the positioning signal having a specified field orientation and a specified field intensity;

e) receiving, by the at least one receiving antenna, the positioning signal emitted by the at least one transmitting antenna;

f) measuring, by one of the charging control device or the induction control device, a magnetic field vector for the at least one positioning signal, wherein the magnetic field vector is unambiguously assigned to the at least one transmitting antenna by virtue of a coding of the position signal;

g) transmitting, by one of the induction control device and the charging control device, the magnetic field vector to the other of the charging control device and the induction control device;

h) calculating, by the one of the charging control device and the induction control device, a local position of the at least one transmitting antenna with respect to the at least one receiving antenna; and

i) detecting, by one of the charging control device, the induction control device and a further control device of the vehicle, a travel trajectory, along which the charging position can be taken up by the secondary coil.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

assigning the charging control device to the at least one low-frequency receiving antenna as a measuring unit for electromagnetic distance and angle measuring; and

measuring, by the charging control device, induction signals of the at least one low-frequency receiving antenna.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

assigning the induction control device to at least one of the low-frequency receiving antennas as a measuring unit for electromagnetic distance and angle measuring; and

measuring, by the induction control device, induction signals of the at least one low-frequency receiving antenna.

4. The method according to claim 2, further comprising transmitting the induction signals between the induction control device and the charging control device.

5. The method according to claim 3, further comprising transmitting the induction signals between the induction control device and the charging control device.

6. The method according to claim 4, further comprising detecting, by the charging control device, the local position of the at least one transmitting antenna using the inductions signals, according to a triangulation method.

7. The method according to claim 5, further comprising detecting, by the induction control device, the local position of the at least one transmitting antenna using the inductions signals, according to a triangulation method.

8. The method according to claim 6, wherein said detecting the travel trajectory comprises detecting the travel trajectory, by one of the charging control device, the induction control device and a further control device of the vehicle, based on the detected local position.

9. The method according to claim 7, wherein said detecting the travel trajectory comprises detecting the travel trajectory, by one of the charging control device, the induction control device and a further control device of the vehicle, based on the detected local position.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein

during a driving maneuver of the vehicle, the method further comprises repeating acts d) to i) in real time in order to update the travel trajectory.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein when the charging position has been reached, the updated travel trajectory describes a stopping maneuver.

12. The method according to claim 1, further comprising automatically carrying out a driving maneuver corresponding to the travel trajectory.

13. The method according to claim 1, further comprising notifying a driver of the vehicle concerning a driving maneuver corresponding to the travel trajectory.