Vehicle charging apparatus

• US 9,694,701 B2
• Filed: 02/21/2013
• Issued: 07/04/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Autonetworks Technologies, Ltd. (Sumitomo Corporation), Sumitomo Electric Industries Limited (Sumitomo Corporation), Sumitomo Wiring Systems Limited (Sumitomo Corporation), Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Autonetworks Technologies, Ltd. (Sumitomo Corporation), Sumitomo Electric Industries Limited (Sumitomo Corporation), Sumitomo Wiring Systems Limited (Sumitomo Corporation), Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Isoyama, Yoshikazu, Nakagawa, Nobuyuki, Ochiai, Yuta, Miyashita, Yukihiro, Nagao, Hiroshi, Hagihara, Takeshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Memula, Suresh
• Application Number:
  US14/379,569
• Publication Number:
  US 20150022152A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,594 Days
• Field of Search: 320109
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/70 Interactions with external data bases, e.g. traffic centres
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/80 Time limits
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2270/32 of electricity
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2270/34 of parts
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 3/0084 relating to control modules
• 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 50/40 using propulsion power supplied by capacitors
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 50/51 characterised by AC-motors
• 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 53/30 Constructional details of charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/65 involving identification of vehicles or their battery types
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/66 Data transfer between charging stations and vehicles
• 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

A vehicle charging apparatus mounted on a vehicle for charging an on-vehicle battery from an external power supply, with a charging plug connected to the vehicle, includes a communication device that is configured to perform communication with a charging facility providing the external power supply with the charging plug connected and locked to the vehicle. The communication device prohibits disconnection of the communication when an unlocking operation to unlock the charging plug is executed during charging from the external power supply to the on-vehicle battery.

Claims

1. A vehicle charging apparatus mounted on a vehicle for charging an on-vehicle battery from an external power supply with a charging plug connected to the vehicle, the vehicle charging apparatus comprising:

a communication device having an electronic control unit, the electronic control unit being configured to;

perform communication with a charging facility providing the external power supply with the charging plug connected and locked to the vehicle, and

to prohibit disconnection of the communication when an unlocking operation to unlock the charging plug is executed during charging from the external power supply to the on-vehicle battery,

wherein the electronic control unit is configured to perform the communication based on an OSI reference model having a layered structure, the layered structure including an Application layer, a Session layer, and layers therebelow,

wherein the electronic control unit is configured to prohibit disconnection of the communication by stopping communication in the Application layer of the OSI reference model, while retaining an established state of a communication session in the Session layer and the layers therebelow.

2. The vehicle charging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the electronic control unit is configured to disconnect the communication when the unlocking operation is executed continuously for a predetermined time period during charging from the external power supply to the on-vehicle battery.

3. The vehicle charging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the electronic control unit is configured to disconnect the communication when the charging plug is physically removed from the vehicle during charging from the external power supply to the on-vehicle battery.

4. The vehicle charging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the electronic control unit is configured to disconnect the communication session in the Session layer and the layers therebelow in the OSI reference model based on which the communication is performed.

5. The vehicle charging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the electronic control unit is configured to:

perform communication with the charging facility in the Application layer in the OSI reference model based on which the communication is performed after performing communication for user verification and authentication with the charging facility when the charging plug is connected and locked to the vehicle, and

resume the communication in the Application layer without performing the communication for user verification and authentication when an unlocking operation to unlock the charging plug is executed during charging from the external power supply to the on-vehicle battery but the unlocking operation is cancelled without being continued for the predetermined time period, and the charging plug is locked again.

6. The vehicle charging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the electronic control unit is configured to communicate information on an amount of charged electricity with the charging facility in the Application layer in the OSI reference model based on which the communication is performed, during charging from the external power supply to the on-vehicle battery.

7. The vehicle charging apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a charge controller that is configured to perform charging from the external power supply to the on-vehicle battery when the charging plug is connected and locked to the vehicle, and a user verification and authentication are successful through communication between the communication device and the charging facility.

8. The vehicle charging apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the charge controller is configured to suspend the charging from the external power supply to the on-vehicle battery when an unlocking operation to unlock the charging plug is executed during charging from the external power supply to the on-vehicle battery.