Motor vehicle with indication of a state of charge of an energy storage device

• US 9,818,268 B2
• Filed: 07/11/2013
• Issued: 11/14/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Audi AG (Volkswagen AG)
• Original Assignee: Audi AG (Volkswagen AG)
• Inventors: Muntada Roura, Cesar
• Primary Examiner(s): Wu, Zhen Y
• Application Number:
  US14/421,396
• Publication Number:
  US 20150243141A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,587 Days
• Field of Search: 340455
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2250/16 by display
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/14 Conductive energy transfer
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/12 responding to state of charge [SoC]
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 1/38 using immovably-mounted light sources, e.g. fixed flashing lamps
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 1/543 for indicating other states or conditions of the vehicle indicating taxis' state of hire or fare G07B13/045
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 5/38 using flashing light
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0049 Detection of fully charged condition
• 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 90/14 Plug-in electric vehicles

Abstract

A motor vehicle includes an energy storage device which can be charged by connecting a charge cable to a vehicle-sided terminal device, and an optical lighting device which indicates the ongoing charging process or at least the complete charge status of the energy storage device. A blinker light provided on the side of the vehicle on which the terminal device is located, is used as lighting device.

Claims

1. A motor vehicle, comprising:

an energy storage device chargeable through connection of a charging cable to a vehicle-mounted terminal device; and

an optical lighting device constructed to indicate an ongoing charging process or at least a full state of charge of the energy storage device, said optical lighting device being adapted to issue a first light signal to indicate the ongoing charging process, and a different second light signal to indicate the full state of charge, when the charging cable is connected, and also a third light signal to indicate a normal flashing operating mode of the optical lighting device non-related to the charging process, when the charging cable is disconnected,

said optical lighting device configured as an external blinker light outside the motor vehicle issuing direction signals on a side of the motor vehicle, which optical lighting device is configured to issue the first light signal indicative of the ongoing charging process, the second light signal which is indicative of the full state of charge, and the third light signal non-related to the charging process which is a directional flashing signal of a normal typical flashing operation of the blinker light of the motor vehicle, so that no additional optical lighting device is needed to indicate the ongoing charging process or at least the full state of charge of the energy storage device.

2. The motor vehicle of claim 1, wherein the first signal is a flashing signal and the second signal is a constant light signal.

3. The motor vehicle of claim 1, wherein the first and second light signals differ in the color of light.

4. The motor vehicle of claim 3, wherein the first light signal has a red light color and the second light signal has a green light color.

5. The motor vehicle of claim 1, wherein the third light signal has a color of light which corresponds to a light color of a flashing signal generated by the blinker light in the normal operating mode.

6. The motor vehicle of claim 1, wherein the blinker light includes one or more four-color light-emitting diodes or red-green-blue light-emitting diodes for issuance of the first and second light signals.

7. The motor vehicle of claim 1, wherein said optical lighting device simultaneously configured as the blinker light of the motor vehicle issues the first light signal indicative of the ongoing charging process and having a changing flashing frequency during the ongoing charging process.

8. The motor vehicle of claim 1, wherein said optical lighting device simultaneously configured as the blinker light of the motor vehicle issues the first light signal indicative of the ongoing charging process and having a changing flashing frequency during the ongoing charging process such that when the energy storage device is fairly empty the blinker light flashes at a relatively low frequency and as a charging process progresses and stored energy increases the flashing rate increases.