CHARGING STATION AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATICALLY CHARGING AN ELECTRICAL ENERGY STORAGE MEANS IN A VEHICLE

• US 20180001777A1
• Filed: 10/19/2015
• Published: 01/04/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2014
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
• Original Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
• Inventors: Kilic, Ahmet
• Application Number:
  US15/537,559
• Publication Number:
  US 20180001777A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/70 Interactions with external data bases, e.g. traffic centres
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/14 Conductive energy transfer
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/16 Connectors, e.g. plugs or sockets, specially adapted for charging electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/305 Communication interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/35 Means for automatic or assisted adjustment of the relative position of charging devices and vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/37 using optical position determination, e.g. using cameras
• 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: H02J 2310/48 for electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV]
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0045 concerning the insertion or the connection of the batteries
• 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 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

The invention relates to a device and a method for automatically charging an electrical energy storage means in a vehicle. For this purpose, firstly, the position of a charging socket on a vehicle is determined, based on vehicle-specific data. Subsequently, a charging robot travels on the ground near to the charging socket. Then, the charging robot establishes a galvanic connection between the charging station and charging socket. For this purpose, the charging robot introduces a contact head connected to the charging station into the charging socket of the vehicle. After termination of the charging process, the contact head is removed from the charging socket, thereby releasing the vehicle.

Claims

1. A charging station (1) for automatically charging an electrical energy storage means (50) in a vehicle (5), the charging station comprising:

a communication device (10) configured to receive vehicle-specific data from the vehicle (5) and to ascertain a position of a charging socket (51) on the vehicle (5) using received vehicle-specific data; and

a charging robot (20) which includes a contact head (21) having a plurality of contacts, wherein the contacts are connected to a voltage source (30);

wherein the charging robot (20) is configured to travel to a charging position based on an ascertained position of the charging socket (51) on the vehicle (5), and after reaching the charging position, to insert the contact head (21) into the charging socket (51) of the vehicle (5) and to electrically connect the contacts of the contact head (21) to contacts of the charging socket (51).

2. The charging station (1) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the contact head (21) of the charging robot (20) includes funnel-shaped or groove-shaped recesses (21-1, 21-2), in which the contacts of the contact head (21) are arranged.

3. The charging station (1) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the contact head (21) includes a guiding device (201) which is configured to adjust a position of the contact head (21) during insertion into the charging socket (51).

4. The charging station (1) as claimed in claim 3, wherein the guiding device (201) comprises a roller, a ball wheel, a peg, a groove, and/or a slide rail.

5. The charging station (1) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the contact head (21) has a conical exterior geometry which tapers in a direction of the contacts.

6. The charging station (1) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the charging robot (20) includes a rotating device (23) which is configured to rotate the contact head (21) about a predetermined axis of rotation.

7. The charging station (1) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the charging robot (20) includes an extensible charging arm (22), and the contact head (21) is arranged on the extensible charging arm (22).

8. The charging station (1) as claimed in claim 7, wherein the charging arm (22) includes a flexible compensating element (24).

9. The charging station (1) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the charging robot (20) includes a surroundings sensor (25) configured to detect an object in surroundings of the charging robot (20).

10. The charging station (1) as claimed in claim 9, wherein the surroundings sensor (25) includes a camera, an ultrasonic sensor, a laser detector (LiDAR), a radar sensor, and/or a contact sensor.

11. The charging station (1) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the communication device comprises a radio interface, an infrared interface, a camera, a barcode scanner, and/or a QR code scanner,

12. A method for automatically charging an electrical energy storage means (50) in a vehicle (5), the method comprising the steps of:

providing (S1) a charging robot (20) which includes a contact head (21) having a plurality of contacts, wherein the contacts are connected to a voltage source (30);

receiving (S2) vehicle-specific data from the vehicle (5);

ascertaining (S3) a position of a charging socket (51) on the vehicle (5) using received vehicle-specific data;

determining (S4) a charging position based on an ascertained position of the charging socket (51) on the vehicle (5);

traveling (S5) to the charging position by means of the charging robot (20); and

inserting (S6) the contact head (21) of the charging robot (20) into the charging socket (51) of the vehicle (5), and electrically connecting the contacts of the contact head (21) to contacts of the charging socket (51) after the charging robot (20) has reached the charging position.

13. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the step for ascertaining (S3) the position of the charging socket (51) on the vehicle (5) reads out the position of the charging socket (51) using the received vehicle-specific data from an internal or external database (15, 3).

14. The method as claimed in claim 12, further comprising a step for ascertaining charging parameters for charging the electrical energy storage means (50) in the vehicle (5), based on the received vehicle-specific data.

15. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the charging parameters include information about the charging voltage, charging current, amount of energy to be transmitted, start time for charging, end time for charging, time period for charging, and/or billing data.