SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING AND POWER MANAGEMENT

• US 20100017249A1
• Filed: 07/13/2009
• Published: 01/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/11/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Charge Fusion Technologies, LLC
• Original Assignee: Charge Fusion Technologies, LLC
• Inventors: Fincham, Carson C.K., Ambroziak, Jeffrey R.
• Granted Patent: US 9,853,488 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/8
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2200/26 Rail vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2210/40 DC to AC converters
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/72 Charging station selection relying on external data
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/80 Time limits
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2250/10 by alarm
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2250/16 by display
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2260/52 drive range estimation, e.g. of estimation of available travel distance
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2260/54 Energy consumption estimation
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2260/58 Departure time prediction
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2270/32 of electricity
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 3/12 Recording operating variables ; Monitoring of operating variables
• 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 53/14 Conductive energy transfer
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/305 Communication interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/64 Optimising energy costs, e.g. responding to electricity rates
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/65 involving identification of vehicles or their battery types
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/665 Methods related to measuring, billing or payment
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 55/00 Arrangements for supplying energy stored within a vehicle to a power network, i.e. vehicle-to-grid [V2G] arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 8/003 Converting light into electric energy, e.g. by using photo-voltaic systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 : Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 : Energy or water supply
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/1446 : in response to parameters of a vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/00 : Enabling technologies; Technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to GHG emissions mitigation
• 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 10/92 : Energy efficient charging or discharging systems for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors specially adapted for vehicles
• 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 10/126 : the energy generation units being or involving electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV], i.e. power aggregation of EV or HEV, vehicle to grid arrangements [V2G]
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 30/14 : Details associated with the interoperability, e.g. vehicle recognition, authentication, identification or billing
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 50/12 : Billing, invoicing, buying or selling transactions or other related activities, e.g. cost or usage evaluation
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 50/14 : Marketing, i.e. market research and analysis, surveying, promotions, advertising, buyer profiling, customer management or rewards

Abstract

Systems and methods for charging electric vehicles and for quantitative and qualitative load balancing of electrical demand are provided.

Claims

1. An electrical charging system, comprising:

a vehicle sensor;

a communication device;

a processor in communication with the vehicle sensor and the communication device; and

a memory in communication with the processor, the memory storing instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to;

receive, from the vehicle sensor, information indicative of a presence of a vehicle in a parking space;

receive, from the communication device, information indicative of an identifier of the vehicle;

determine, based at least on the information indicative of the identifier of the vehicle, a charging schedule for the vehicle; and

charge, in accordance with the charging schedule, the vehicle.

2. The electrical charging system of claim 1, wherein a receiving, from the vehicle sensor, of the information indicative of the presence of the vehicle in the parking space, comprises:

receiving information indicative of a position of the vehicle within the parking space.

3. The electrical charging system of claim 2, wherein the memory stores instructions that when executed by the processor further cause the processor to:

determine that the vehicle is properly positioned in the parking space to allow charging of the vehicle.

4. The electrical charging system of claim 1, wherein a receiving, from the vehicle sensor, of the information indicative of the presence of the vehicle in the parking space, comprises:

receiving information indicative of a position of the vehicle with respect to a charging device associated with the parking space.

5. The electrical charging system of claim 1, wherein the memory stores instructions that when executed by the processor further cause the processor to:

receive, from the communication device, information indicative of one or more charging preferences associated with the vehicle.

6. The electrical charging system of claim 5, wherein a determining of the charging schedule for the vehicle is further based on the information indicative of the one or more charging preferences associated with the vehicle.

7. The electrical charging system of claim 6, wherein the one or more charging preferences associated with the vehicle comprise a preference that specifies that the vehicle needs to be charged to a certain percentage of total charge capacity by a certain time.

8. The electrical charging system of claim 6, wherein the one or more charging preferences associated with the vehicle comprise a preference that specifies that the vehicle needs to be charged to a certain level to allow travel of a specified distance by a certain time.

9. The electrical charging system of claim 6, wherein the one or more charging preferences associated with the vehicle comprise a preference that specifies that the vehicle only be charged if an available charging rate cost is less than a specified threshold.

10. The electrical charging system of claim 1, further comprising:

a vehicle charge device coupled to conduct a charging of the vehicle.

11. The electrical charging system of claim 10, wherein the vehicle charge device is coupled to wirelessly conduct the charging of the vehicle.

12. The electrical charging system of claim 1, wherein the information indicative of the identifier of the vehicle comprises one or more of:

(i) a Vehicle Identification Number (VIN);

(ii) an EZ-Pass®

Account number;

(iii) an power supply entity account number; and

(iv) a PayPal®

Account Number.

13. The electrical charging system of claim 1, wherein a determining of the charging schedule for the vehicle, comprises:

retrieving from a central server, utilizing the information indicative of the identifier of the vehicle, an indication of a definition of the charging schedule for the vehicle.

14. The electrical charging system of claim 1, wherein a determining of the charging schedule for the vehicle, comprises:

determining an estimated amount of power required to charge the vehicle;

determining an estimated amount of time required to charge the vehicle;

retrieving, from a power supplying entity, information indicative of how power supply rates change based on the time of day; and

determining, based on the estimated amount of time required to charge the vehicle and based on the information indicative of how power supply rates change based on the time of day, a time window during which the vehicle can be charged for the lowest cost.

15. An electrical charging system, comprising:

a plurality of vehicle charging devices;

a plurality of vehicles, each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles being coupled to one of the plurality of vehicle charging devices;

a communication device;

a processor in communication with the plurality of vehicle charging devices and the communication device; and

a memory in communication with the processor, the memory storing instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to;

determine an estimated amount of power required to charge the plurality of vehicles to desired levels;

provide, via the communication device, and to a power supplying entity, information indicative of the required power;

receive, via the communication device, and from the power supplying entity, information indicative of a time when a best available rate will be available to purchase the required power; and

charge, at the indicated time and via the plurality of vehicle charging devices, the plurality of vehicles.

16. An electrical flow management device, comprising:

one or more electrical switches;

a processor in communication with the one or more electrical switches; and

a memory in communication with the processor, the memory storing instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to;

determine an electrical load that requires electrical power;

determine a plurality of available sources of electrical power;

determine a characteristic of each of the plurality of available sources of power;

select, based at least in part on the determined characteristics of the plurality of available sources of power, one or more of the available sources of power; and

activate at least one of the one or more electrical switches to cause electrical power from the selected one or more of the available sources of power to be provided to the electrical load.

17. The electrical flow management device of claim 16, wherein the characteristic of each of the plurality of available sources of power comprises an indication of a distance of each of the plurality of available sources of power from the electrical load.

18. The electrical flow management device of claim 17, wherein a selecting, based at least in part on the determined characteristics of the plurality of available sources of power, one or more of the available sources of power, comprises:

selecting the one or more of the available sources of power that are located closest to the electrical load.

19. The electrical flow management device of claim 16, wherein the characteristic of each of the plurality of available sources of power comprises an indication of a type of power generation utilized by each of the plurality of available sources of power.

20. The electrical flow management device of claim 19, wherein a selecting, based at least in part on the determined characteristics of the plurality of available sources of power, one or more of the available sources of power, comprises:

selecting the one or more of the available sources of power that utilize the most environmentally friendly type of power generation.