Systems, methods, and apparatus related to mutual detection and identification of electric vehicle and charging station

• US 9,925,886 B2
• Filed: 08/22/2016
• Issued: 03/27/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: WiTricity Corporation
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Halker, Ravi, Tripathi, Manish, Dimke, Bernward
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Hung T
• Application Number:
  US15/243,683
• Publication Number:
  US 20170101024A1
• Time in Patent Office: 582 Days
• Field of Search: 340455, 3406361, 340901, 340933, 320108, 320109, 320137, 701 1, 701 22, 705 5, 705 35, 705 39, 705 65
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/627 by WLAN
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2250/20 by driver identification
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/122 Circuits or methods for driving the primary coil, e.g. supplying electric power to the coil
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/124 Detection or removal of foreign bodies
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/126 Methods for pairing a vehicle and a charging station, e.g. establishing a one-to-one relation between a wireless power transmitter and a wireless power receiver
• 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 53/38 specially adapted for charging by inductive energy transfer
• 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: G08G 1/123 indicating the position of vehicles, e.g. scheduled vehicles; Managing passenger vehicles circulating according to a fixed timetable, e.g. buses, trains, tramstransmission of navigation instructions to vehicles G08G1/0968
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• 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

Systems, methods, and apparatus are disclosed for communicating with a charging system comprising a plurality of charging stations configured to charge an electric vehicle. At least one first signal is transmitted to the charging system via a first communication link while the electric vehicle is a first distance from at least one charging station of the plurality of charging stations. The at least one first signal is indicative of a vehicle identifier of the electric vehicle. At least one second signal is received from the at least one charging station of the plurality of charging stations via a second communication link while the electric vehicle is a second distance from the at least one charging station, the second distance less than the first distance. The at least one second signal is indicative of a charging station identifier of the at least one charging station.

Claims

1. A method of communicating with a charging system comprising a plurality of charging stations and a communications controller, the charging system configured to charge an electric vehicle via a magnetic field, the method comprising:

identifying the charging system configured to charge the electric vehicle via the magnetic field;

establishing a first communication link between the electric vehicle and the communications controller of the charging system;

exchanging, between the electric vehicle and the charging system via the first communication link, service information indicative of one or more wireless power transfer capabilities of the electric vehicle or the charging system;

sending, from the electric vehicle via the first communication link to the charging system, a guidance request for guiding the electric vehicle to a first charging station of the plurality of charging stations, the first charging station comprising a charging interface that generates the magnetic field;

retrieving an identifier of the first charging station from a guidance beacon received in response to the guidance request; and

pairing the electric vehicle with the first charging station based on the retrieved identifier of the first charging station.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the guidance beacon is received via a second communication link established between the electric vehicle and the charging system, the second communication link different from the first link and communicating via the magnetic field.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising validating an alignment of the electric vehicle with the charging interface of the first charging station based on a sense current transmitted by the first charging station before receiving charging power from the first charging station.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising confirming the alignment of the electric vehicle with the charging interface of the first charging station based on a communication transmitted by the first charging station to the electric vehicle.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein communicating via the magnetic field comprises at least one of magnetic field modulation by the charging system and load modulation by the electric vehicle.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein pairing the electric vehicle with the first charging station comprises sending, from the electric vehicle via the first communication link to the charging system, a message including the retrieved identifier of the first charging station.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the received guidance beacon comprises one or more components of a vector between the electric vehicle and the first charging station.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving power at the electric vehicle via the magnetic field generated by the charging interface of the first charging station once pairing of the electric vehicle with the first charging station is completed and alignment of the electric vehicle with the first charging station is confirmed.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the charging system comprises scanning for the charging system and determining that the charging system is in a vicinity of the electric vehicle.

10. An apparatus for communicating with a charging system comprising a plurality of charging stations and a communications controller, the charging system configured to charge an electric vehicle via a magnetic field, the apparatus comprising:

a hardware processor configured to;

identify the charging system configured to charge the electric vehicle via the magnetic field, and

retrieve an identifier of the first charging station from a guidance beacon received in response to the guidance request; and

a communication circuit coupled to the hardware processor and configured to;

communicate service information indicative of one or more wireless power transfer capabilities of the electric vehicle or the charging system,

establish a first communication link between the electric vehicle and the communications controller of the charging system, and

send, from the electric vehicle via the first communication link to the charging system, a guidance request for guiding the electric vehicle to a first charging station of the plurality of charging stations, the first charging station comprising a charging interface that generates the magnetic field,

wherein the hardware processor is further configured to pair the electric vehicle with the first charging station based on the retrieved identifier of the first charging station.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, further comprising a power receiving circuit configured to receive the guidance beacon, wherein the guidance beacon is received via a second communication link established between the electric vehicle and the charging system, the second communication link different from the first link and communicating via the magnetic field.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the hardware processor is further configured to validate an alignment of the electric vehicle with the charging interface of the first charging station based on a sense current transmitted by the first charging station before receiving charging power from the first charging station.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the processor is further configured to receive confirmation of the alignment of the electric vehicle with the charging interface of the first charging station based on a communication transmitted by the first charging station to the electric vehicle.

14. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein communicating via the magnetic field comprises magnetic field modulation by the charging system and load modulation by the hardware processor.

15. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein pairing the electric vehicle with the first charging station comprises sending, from the electric vehicle via the first communication link to the charging system, a message including the retrieved identifier of the first charging station.

16. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the received guidance beacon comprises one or more components of a vector between the electric vehicle and the first charging station.

17. The apparatus of claim 10, further comprising a power receiving circuit configured to receive power at the electric vehicle via the magnetic field generated by the charging interface of the first charging station once pairing of the electric vehicle with the first charging station is completed and alignment of the electric vehicle with the first charging station is confirmed.

18. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein identifying the charging system comprises scanning for the charging system and determining that the charging system is in a vicinity of the electric vehicle.