METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR RECONCILIATION OF A CHARGING EVENT

• US 20120109797A1
• Filed: 10/27/2011
• Published: 05/03/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AES Corporation
• Original Assignee: AES Corporation
• Inventors: SHELTON, John Christopher, Zahurancik, John Michael
• Granted Patent: US 9,358,894 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/34
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/545 Temperature
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 3/0069 relating to the isolation, e.g. ground fault or leak current
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 3/04 Cutting off the power supply under fault conditions protective devices and circuit arrangements in general H01H; H02H
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/16 Connectors, e.g. plugs or sockets, specially adapted for charging electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/18 Cables specially adapted for charging electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/305 Communication interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/31 Charging columns specially adapted for electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/51 Photovoltaic means
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/53 Batteries
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/54 Fuel cells
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/62 in response to charging parameters, e.g. current, voltage or electrical charge
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/63 in response to network capacity
• 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 53/68 Off-site monitoring or control, e.g. remote control
• 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 58/12 responding to state of charge [SoC]
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/26 for electrical energy, e.g. batteries or capacitors
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40 Authorisation, e.g. identification of payer or payee, verification of customer or shop credentials; Review and approval of payers, e.g. check credit lines or negative lists
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 : Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 : Accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 : Energy or water supply
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 15/005 : dispensed for the electrical charging of vehicles electrical charging as such, B60L50/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 15/008 : Rewarding for providing delivery of electricity to the network
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/0005 : the elements or equipment being or involving power plugs or sockets
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/00 : The network for supplying or distributing electric power characterised by its spatial reach or by the load
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/22 : The load being a portable electronic device
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 4/00 : Circuit arrangements for mains or distribution networks not specified as ac or dc
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00032 : characterised by data exchange
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00036 : Charger exchanging data with battery
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00047 : with provisions for charging different types of batteries
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0014 : Circuits for equalisation of charge between batteries
• 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 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 50/00 : Market activities related to the operation of systems integrating technologies related to power network operation or related to communication or information technologies
• 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 50/16 : Energy services, e.g. dispersed generation or demand or load or energy savings aggregation

Abstract

Methods and systems for reconciling a charging event are disclosed. In an embodiment, a method establishes an identity tag at a grid connection point that uniquely identifies the point and receives tag information to uniquely identify the point at a mobile charging device. The method monitors charge event information indicating attributes of the charging event, associates event information with the identity tag information, and sends the information for reconciliation of billing accounts associated with the point and the mobile device. In another embodiment, a method receives an energy storage device for powering a mobile asset, couples the storage device to an electric grid during a connection event, realizes energy services from the connected storage device to the grid, determines a quantity of energy services realized by the storage device during the connection event, and reports the quantity of energy services realized and a unique identifier of the energy storage device.

Claims

1. A method of identifying a grid connection point for bill processing of a charging event, comprising:

establishing an identity tag at the grid connection point that uniquely identifies the grid connection point;

receiving, at a mobile charging device, identity tag information to uniquely identify the grid connection point;

monitoring, by the mobile charging device, charge event information indicating attributes of the charging event;

associating, by the mobile charging device, the charge event information with the identity tag information, as associated information; and

sending, by the mobile charging device, the associated information for reconciliation of utility billing accounts associated with the grid connection point and the mobile charging device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

reconciling, by a reconciler, the utility billing account associated with the grid connection point and the utility billing account associated with the mobile charging device using the associated information; and

sending out, by the reconciler, the reconciled bills.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

verifying, by the mobile charging device whether the mobile charging device has authorization to charge based on at least an identity of the mobile charging device;

responsive to the mobile charging device having authorization to charge at the grid connection point, initiating, by a verifier to the grid connection point, the charging event.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the initiating of the charging event includes powering on the grid connection point to charge the mobile device.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

verifying, by the mobile charging device whether the mobile charging device has authorization to charge based on at least an identity of the mobile charging device; and

in response to determining that the mobile charging device does not have authorization to charge at the grid connection point, blocking, by a verifier, any charging event.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the blocking of any charging event includes one of:

maintaining the grid connection point in a power off state;

or

powering off the grid connection point.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the reconciliation of the utility billing account associated with the grid connection point and the further utility billing account associated with the mobile charging device includes:

receiving, by a reconciler, the associated information;

determining, by the reconciler, from the charging event information which includes at least energy stored by the mobile charging device during the charging event, the energy costs associated with the charging event;

during a predetermined period, storing the energy cost associated with the charging event and the charging event information for each charging event associated with the mobile charging device;

determining, for each charging event associated with the mobile charging device during the predetermined period, whether the identity tag information is associated with a respective utility billing account; and

responsive to the identity tag information being associated with the respective utility billing account;

adjusting the respective utility billing account associated with the identity tag information based on at least the energy stored during the charging event.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising adjusting the utility billing account associated with the mobile charging device based on one or more of:

the energy stored during the charging event;

a time associated with the charging event;

VAR support associated with the charging event;

or

whether the mobile charging device controlled charging event parameters including energy draw.

9. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having program instructions stored thereon for identifying a grid connection point for bill processing of a charging event, executable on a computing device, the instructions comprising:

instructions for receiving, at a mobile charging device from an identity tag located at the grid connection point, identity tag information to uniquely identify the grid connection point;

instructions for monitoring, by the mobile charging device, charge event information indicating attributes of the charging event;

instructions for associating, by the mobile charging device, the charge event information with the identity tag information, as associated information; and

instructions for sending, by the mobile charging device, the associated information for reconciliation of utility billing accounts associated with the grid connection point and the mobile charging device.

10. A method of managing an energy service supplied by a mobile asset to an electric grid, comprising:

receiving an energy storage device configured to power a mobile asset;

coupling the energy storage device to an electric grid during a connection event;

realizing the energy services from the connected energy storage device to the electric grid;

determining a quantity of the energy service realized by the energy storage device during the connection event; and

reporting the determined quantity of energy services realized and a unique identifier of the energy storage device.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

decoupling the energy storage device from the electric grid after the connection event; and

powering the mobile asset using the energy storage device while the mobile asset is moving.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

lending the energy storage device configured to power the mobile asset;

receiving a report of the quantity of energy services realized during the connection event and the unique identifier of the lent energy storage device;

aggregating, for a billing period, the quantity of energy services realized during the connection event with one or more other quantity of energy services realized during other connection events; and

billing a utility account associated with the lent energy storage device based on the lease of the lent energy storage device and the aggregated quantity of energy services realized for the billing period.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the lending of the energy storage device includes one of:

leasing the energy storage device for payment;

or

providing the energy storage device exclusive of payment.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the lending of the energy storage device includes replacing the energy storage device with a replacement energy storage device when the energy storage device does not provide sufficient power to operate the mobile asset or when the energy storage device has failed.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

controlling, by an energy services controller, energy services realized by the energy storage device when the energy storage device is connected to the electric grid.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the energy storage device and the mobile device are separately owned, the method further comprising:

controlling, by a grid operator, an operation of the energy storage device powering the mobile asset, when the mobile asset is coupled to the electric grid.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the controlling of the energy services realized by the energy storage device includes:

determining an estimated power to be used for the mobile asset and the energy services to be realized for the electric grid, as determined results;

controlling, by the energy services controller, operation of the energy storage device during the connection event to satisfy the determined results.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein the billing of the utility account associated with the energy storage device includes:

providing the energy storage device exclusive of any lease payment, when the aggregated quantity of energy services realized or the composite time for each connection event during a billing period exceeds a threshold.

19. A reconciler configured to adjust utility billing accounts associated with energy storage units coupled to mobile devices, comprising:

a reconciliation table configured to store records, each record including;

an identifier associated with a respective mobile device;

an identifier associated with the energy storage unit corresponding to the respective mobile device; and

an identifier associated with a utility billing account corresponding to the respective mobile device; and

a controller configured to receive one of;

the identifier associated with a specified mobile device used during a connection event;

or

the identifier associated with the energy storage unit corresponding to the specified mobile device along with a quantity of energy services realized by the energy storage unit of the specified mobile device used during the connection event;

looking up the corresponding utility billing account associated therewith; and

determining an aggregated adjustment to the corresponding utility billing account.

20. A plug-in electric vehicle configured to be coupled to an energy storage device configured to power the plug-in electric vehicle, comprising:

an energy storage device receiving unit configured to couple to the energy storage device and to selectively couple to an electric grid;

a motor configured to be coupled to the energy storage device configured to drive the plug-in electric vehicle when the when the plug-in electric vehicle is moving; and

a controller configured to;

control the energy storage device to realize energy services for the electric grid during a connection event;

determine a quantity of the energy service realized by the energy storage device during the connection event; and

report the determined quantity of energy services realized and a unique identifier of the energy storage device.