VEHICLE CHARGER AND CONTROL PILOT SIGNAL DETECTION METHOD THEREOF

• US 20160096442A1
• Filed: 06/17/2015
• Published: 04/07/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai Motor Group), Kia Motors Corporation (Kia Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai Motor Group), Kia Motors Corporation (Kia Corp.)
• Inventors: Lee, Jae Won, Na, Jung Hwan, Chung, Tae Hwan
• Granted Patent: US 10,232,726 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/665 Methods related to measuring, billing or payment
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 21/38 Starting, stopping or resetting the counter counters with a base other than a power of two H03K23/48, H03K23/66
• 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 control pilot (CP) signal detection method for a vehicle charger includes: counting CP signals based on signal levels of the CP signals during a set period of time, when an input of the CP signals is detected while an ignition of a vehicle is turned off; determining whether a count of high-level CP signals among the CP signals is within a reference range, when the set period of time elapses; and outputting state information of the CP signals based on the determination of whether the count of high-level CP signals is within the reference range.

Claims

1. A control pilot (CP) signal detection method for a vehicle charger, the CP signal detection method comprising:

counting CP signals based on signal levels of the CP signals during a set period of time, when an input of the CP signals is detected while an ignition of a vehicle is turned off;

determining whether a count of high-level CP signals among the CP signals is within a reference range, when the set period of time elapses; and

outputting state information of the CP signals based on the determination of whether the count of high-level CP signals is within the reference range.

2. The CP signal detection method according to claim 1, wherein the counting of the CP signals comprises:

verifying the signal levels of the CP signals at a set period;

classifying the CP signals into the high-level CP signals and low-level CP signals based on the verified signal levels;

counting the high-level CP signals; and

counting the low-level CP signals.

3. The CP signal detection method according to claim 1, wherein the outputting of state information of the CP signals comprises outputting state information indicating that the CP signals have been inputted and are pulse width modulation (PWM) signals, when the count of the high-level CP signals is within the reference range.

4. The CP signal detection method according to claim 1, wherein the outputting of state information of the CP signals comprises outputting state information indicating that the CP signals have been inputted and are direct current (DC) signals, when the count of the high-level CP signals exceeds an upper limit threshold of the reference range.

5. The CP signal detection method according to claim 1, wherein the outputting of state information of the CP signals comprises outputting state information indicating that the CP signals have not been detected, when the count of the high-level CP signals is less than a lower limit threshold of the reference range.

6. A vehicle charger for charging a battery mounted in an electric vehicle (EV) by receiving power supplied from an electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE), the vehicle charger comprising:

a charging controller configured to control a charging operation of the vehicle charger;

a main power source configured to supply main power to the charging controller and to cut-off the main power;

a sub-power source configured to supply power to the battery as sub-power, when CP signals generated by the EVSE are input; and

a power controller configured to monitor the CP signals generated by the EVSE while an ignition of the EV is turned off and to turn the main power source and the sub-power source on or off, respectively.

7. The vehicle charger according to claim 6, wherein the power controller includes:

a CP detector configured to classify and count the CP signals based on signal levels of the CP signals during a set period of time, to determine whether a count of the CP signals is within a reference range, and to output state information of the CP signals based on the determination of whether the count of the CP signals is within the reference range;

an on/off controller configured to turn the main power source and the sub-power source on or off, based on the outputted state information; and

a clock generator configured to generate a clock signal to synchronize the CP detector and the on/off controller.

8. The vehicle charger according to claim 7, wherein the CP detector is further configured to verify the signal levels of the CP signals every time the clock signal is generated, to classify the CP signals into high-level CP signals and low-level CP signals based on the verified signal levels, to count the high-level CP signals, and to count the low-level CP signals.

9. The vehicle charger according to claim 8, wherein the CP detector is further configured to output state information indicating that the CP signals have been inputted and are PWM signals, when a count of the high-level CP signals is within the reference range.

10. The vehicle charger according to claim 8, wherein the CP detector is further configured to output state information indicating that the CP signals have been inputted and are DC signals, when a count of the high-level CP signals exceeds an upper limit threshold of the reference range.

11. The vehicle charger according to claim 8, wherein the CP detector is further configured to output state information indicating that the CP signals have not been detected, when a count of the high-level CP signals is less than a lower limit threshold of the reference range.

12. A CP signal detection method for a vehicle charger, the CP signal detection method comprising:

classifying CP signals into high-level CP signals and low-level CP signals based on signal levels of the CP signals, and counting the high-level CP signals and the low-level CP signals, respectively, during a set period of time, while an ignition of a vehicle is turned off;

determining which of a count of the high-level CP signals and a count of the low-level CP signals exceeds a threshold; and

determining that a CP signal with a corresponding level is detected, based on which of the count of the high-level CP signals and the count of the low-level CP signals exceeds the threshold.

13. The CP signal detection method according to claim 12, further comprising invalidating a detection of the high-level CP signal, when the low-level CP signal is detected after the high-level CP signal is determined to be detected.

14. The CP signal detection method according to claim 12, further comprising invalidating a detection of the low-level CP signal, when the high-level CP signal is detected after the low-level CP signal is determined to be detected.