Portable Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment

• US 20150303737A1
• Filed: 02/25/2015
• Published: 10/22/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Webasto Charging Systems, Inc. (Webasto Beteiligungs Verwaltung Gbr)
• Original Assignee: Aerovironment
• Inventors: Steinbuchel, Herman Joseph IV, Flack, Albert Joseph, Zanteson, Richard Elliott
• Granted Patent: US 10,243,394 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/80 Time limits
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2250/10 by alarm
• 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 50/51 characterised by AC-motors
• 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 53/65 involving identification of vehicles or their battery types
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/25 by controlling the electric load
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/3646 for indicating electrical conditions or variables, e.g. visual or audible indicators
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/389 Measuring internal impedance, internal conductance or related variables
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 13/447 Shutter or cover plate
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 13/7038 making use of a remote controlled switch, e.g. relais, solid state switch activated by the engagement of the coupling parts
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 29/00 Coupling parts for selective co-operation with a counterpart in different ways to establish different circuits, e.g. for voltage selection, for series-parallel selection, programmable connectors
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0042 characterised by the mechanical construction
• 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

An electric vehicle service equipment (EVSE) system includes an EVSE case having a front plug face, a rear face, and left and right gripping sides that collectively define a trapezoidal prism cross section, the left and right gripping sides further having left and right convex gripping portions, respectively, a relay positioned within the EVSE case, and a controller positioned within the EVSE case and in communication with the relay, the controller responsive to a pilot duty signal, when a pilot duty signal is present.

Claims

1. An electric vehicle service equipment (EVSE) system, comprising:

an EVSE case having a front plug face, a rear face, and left and right gripping sides that collectively define a trapezoidal prism cross section, the left and right gripping sides further having left and right convex gripping portions, respectively;

a relay positioned within the EVSE case; and

a controller positioned within the EVSE case and in communication with the relay, the controller responsive to a pilot duty signal, when a pilot duty signal is present.

2. The EVSE system of claim 1, wherein a portion of the rear face has a base cutout to form a conning tower.

3. The EVSE system of claim 2, further comprising a cable connected to the conning tower at an orientation that is perpendicular to the front plug face so that the cable extends initially parallel to the front plug face.

4. The EVSE system of claim 1, wherein the distance from the front plug face to the rear face is less than or equal to 3.1 inches.

5. The EVSE system of claim 1, further comprising:

power and neutral plug blades extending from the front plug face; and

a thermistor in thermal communication with the power and neutral plug blades.

6. The EVSE system of claim 1, further comprising:

a transformer.

7. The EVSE system of claim 6, wherein the transformer is a flyback-based transformer.

8. The EVSE system of claim 1, further comprising:

an outdoor plug enclosure encompassing the EVSE case.

9. The EVSE system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the left and right gripping sides are at an angle (Anglex) of less than or equal to 72 degrees with the front plug face.

10. An electric vehicle service equipment (EVSE) system, comprising:

an interior tapered electronics volume extending away from a front plug face, the interior tapered electronics volume encompassing a relay and a relay controller, the relay controller responsive to a pilot duty signal, when a pilot duty signal is present; and

an expanding volume complementary to the interior tapered electronics volume, the expanding volume defined between an interior of an outdoor protective cover and an exterior of the interior tapered electronics volume.

11. The EVSE system of claim 10, wherein the interior tapered electronics volume is an interior of an EVSE case.

12. The EVSE system of claim 11, wherein the EVSE case has a front plug face and a gripping side, and wherein the gripping side is at an angle (Anglex) of less than 72 degrees with the front plug face.

13. The EVSE system of claim 11, wherein the EVSE case has a case length CaseD of less than 3.1 inches.

14. An method of operating an electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE), comprising:

plugging an EVSE connector into an AC power outlet;

pressing and holding a plug release button on a SAE-J1772-compliant connector coupled to the EVSE connector for greater than three seconds;

releasing the plug release button;

signaling a user that the SAE-J1772-compliant connector has entered a program mode; and

pressing the plug release button at least one time to select an electric vehicle (EV) current draw profile selected from the group consisting of

     1) a AC power frequency-dependent EV current draw,

     2) a time-of-day dependent current draw, and

     3) a reduced current draw.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

monitoring a plug release button signal in a controller to determine if the plug release button is being pressed; and

exiting the program mode in response to at least three seconds of plug release button inactivity.

16. A method of determining faults in an electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE), comprising:

applying a differential direct current (DC) bias voltage to first and second output lines of a SAE-J1772-compliant connector; and

measuring respective voltages of the first and second output lines to determine if a fault exists in the SAE-J1772-compliant connector.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

indicating to a user a connector fault in response to either the voltage of the first output or the voltage of the second output failing to attain its respective DC bias voltage;

wherein the failure of either the voltage of the first output or the voltage of the second output failing to attain its respective DC bias voltage indicates an output line fault or welded relay fault.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

connecting the SAE-J1772-compliant connector to an electric vehicle (EV) charge connector.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

indicating to a user a connector fault in response to said measuring indicating a differential voltage of zero volts;

wherein the differential voltage of zero volts indicates a low impedance condition through the EV charge connector.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

indicating to a user a connector fault in response to said measuring indicating only one of said first output and said second output at zero volts;

wherein the measured voltage of zero volts at the only one output indicates the measured zero volts output line is shorted to ground.

21. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

closing first and second relays in electrical communication with said first and second outputs, respectively;

measuring respective voltages of first and second input lines that are in electrical communication with said first and second output lines, respectively, through first and second relays, respectively; and

indicating to a user a connector fault in response to said measuring indicating said measured voltages of first and second input lines equal said measured voltages of said first and second output lines, respectively;

wherein said equal measured voltages indicate a relay fault.

22. A method of avoiding excessive electrical-induced heat, comprising:

measuring a plug blade temperature at a blade location between a power plug blade and neutral plug blade of an electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE);

measuring a reference temperature at a location removed from the blade location; and

calculating a temperature differential between the plug blade temperature and reference temperature.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

stopping electric vehicle (EV) charging in response to the temperature differential being greater than a predetermined temperature differential limit.

24. The method of claim 22, further comprising;

reducing electric vehicle (EV) charging in response to the temperature differential being greater than a predetermined temperature differential limit.

25. A method of avoiding excessive electrical-induced heat, comprising:

measuring a plug blade temperature at a blade location between a power plug blade and neutral plug blade of an electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE);

comparing the plug blade temperature to a predetermined plug blade cut-off temperature; and

stopping electric vehicle (EV) charging in response to the plug blade temperature being greater than the predetermined plug blade cut-off temperature.

26. A configurable AC plug apparatus, comprising:

a rotatable first plug blade on a plug body;

a rotatable second plug blade on said plug body, said rotatable second plug blade coupled to a switch armature; and

an indicator switch on said plug body, said switch armature coupled to close said indicator switch as said rotatable second plug switch rotates.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, further comprising:

a controller in communication with the indicator switch, said controller configured to receive a voltage signal indicating a voltage of said first plug blade and a voltage of said second plug blade

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein said rotatable first plug, rotatable second plug, indicator switch and controller are configured to identify use of the first and second plugs with at least one National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) standardized AC power receptacle selected from the group consisting of NEMA 5-15, 5-20, 6-15 and 6-20 receptacles.