Electric vehicle automatic charging station

• US 10,604,027 B2
• Filed: 05/10/2016
• Issued: 03/31/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Dow, Eli M., Gilchrist, James P., Lewis, Brendan C., McMillan, Khaalid P., Nycz, Christopher J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Henze-Gongola, David V
• Assistant Examiner(s): Rankine, Tarikh Kanem
• Application Number:
  US15/150,500
• Publication Number:
  US 20170106762A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,421 Days
• Field of Search: 320109
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 50/60 using power supplied by batteries in combination with fuel cells B60L50/75
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 50/61 by batteries charged by engine-driven generators, e.g. series hybrid electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/16 Connectors, e.g. plugs or sockets, specially adapted for charging electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/20 characterised by converters located in the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/305 Communication interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/34 Plug-like or socket-like devices specially adapted for contactless inductive charging of electric vehicles positioning means for charging devices using inductive energy transfer B60L53/38
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/36 by positioning the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/37 using optical position determination, e.g. using cameras
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/51 Photovoltaic means
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/65 involving identification of vehicles or their battery types
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/48 for electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV]
• 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: H02J 7/00045 Authentication, i.e. circuits for checking compatibility between one component, e.g. a battery or a battery charger, and another component, e.g. a power source
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0013 acting upon several batteries simultaneously or sequentially H02J7/1423 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0042 characterised by the mechanical construction
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0045 concerning the insertion or the connection of the batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/62 Hybrid vehicles
• 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 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 structure is provided. The structure may include an alignment mechanism used to align an electric vehicle in a parking lane of an electric vehicle charging station, and a coupler assembly including an arm and a charging coupler located in the parking lane and positioned beneath the electric vehicle, the charging coupler is positioned at one end of the arm, and is moveable in a vertical direction relative to the parking lane, and another end of the arm is pivotally mounted in the parking lane, where the charging coupler includes one or more electrical contacts in a shape of a right conical frustum extending from the charging coupler in the vertical direction.

Claims

1. A structure comprising:

an alignment mechanism used to align an electric vehicle in a parking lane of an electric vehicle charging station;

a terminal comprising a display and an interface and a wireless communication device, the wireless communication device receives vehicle information, the vehicle information comprises charging parameters specific to the electric vehicle;

an electromagnetic sensor used to detect a presence of the electric vehicle in the parking lane and to activate the terminal to initiate charging of a battery in the electric vehicle;

a coupler assembly comprising an arm and a charging coupler located in the parking lane and positioned beneath the electric vehicle, the charging coupler is positioned at one end of the arm, and is moveable in a vertical direction relative to the parking lane, and another end of the arm is pivotally mounted in the parking lane, wherein the charging coupler comprises one or more electrical contacts in a shape of a right conical frustum extending from the charging coupler in the vertical direction, wherein each of the electrical contacts partially overlaps a circular protrusion mount, an insulator surrounding each of the protrusion mounts, and a compression spring surrounding each of the insulators, wherein the protrusion mount, the insulator and the compression spring are mounted on a main slide, wherein the main slide is mounted directly on the charging coupler and is held in place by one or more spring clips, wherein the charging coupler is removably mounted to the coupler assembly and is replaceable when worn out,

wherein a receptacle housing of the battery in the electric vehicle aligns with the coupler assembly when the electric vehicle is in the parking lane, wherein the receptacle housing is removably mounted and is replaceable when worn out; and

a cleaning device for cleaning a corresponding receptacle of the electric vehicle, wherein the receptacle aligns with the coupler assemble.

2. The structure according to claim 1, wherein the alignment mechanism comprises a visual indicator to identify a boundary of the parking lane to an operator of the electric vehicle and ensure alignment of the electric vehicle in the parking lane.

3. The structure according to claim 1, wherein the alignment mechanism comprises an optical sensor and an alignment indicator, wherein the optical sensor detects a position of the electric vehicle in the parking lane and the alignment indicator is coupled to the optical sensor and indicates an alignment of the electric vehicle based on its position to an operator of the electric vehicle.

4. The structure according to claim 1, wherein the coupler assembly is movable in a horizontal direction relative to the parking lane.

5. The structure according to claim 1, wherein the wireless communication device comprises a Radio-Frequency Identification (hereinafter referred to as “

RFID”

) reader.