SAFETY SUPERVISORY MODULE OF AN ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING STATION

• US 20110279082A1
• Filed: 05/14/2010
• Published: 11/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Chargepoint, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Chargepoint, Inc.
• Inventors: Eldridge, Gary, Geber, Charles R., Baxter, David, Hagenmaier, Carl F. JR., Matsuno, Craig T.
• Granted Patent: US 8,278,875 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 320/109
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/18 Cables specially adapted for charging electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/305 Communication interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/62 in response to charging parameters, e.g. current, voltage or electrical charge
• 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 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

Abstract

A safety supervisory module (SSM) of an electric vehicle charging station that controls flow of current from the electric vehicle charging station to an electric vehicle. The SSM includes a set of two or more processors to control operation of a contactor control circuitry of the SSM to open and close a set of contacts of a set of power supply lines to control flow of current from the charging station to an electric vehicle. Each processor independently determines whether an unsafe condition exists and asserts a relay enable signal to the contactor control circuitry only when an unsafe condition does not exist. The contactor control circuitry generates a current to energize a relay to close the set of contacts responsive to the relay enable signal being asserted by each and every processor of the set of processors, and inhibits closure of the set of contacts or opens the set of contacts to prevent electricity from flowing between the charging station and an electric vehicle when any of the set of processors is not asserting the relay enable signal.

Claims

1. A safety supervisory module of an electric vehicle charging station that controls flow of current from the electric vehicle charging station to an electric vehicle, comprising:

a set of two or more processors to control operation of a contactor control circuitry to open and close a set of one or more contacts of a set of one or more power supply lines to control flow of current from the electric vehicle charging station to an electric vehicle, wherein each of the set of processors is to independently determine whether an unsafe condition exists and is to assert a relay enable signal to the contactor control circuitry only when an unsafe condition does not exist;

the contactor control circuitry to;

generate a current to energize a relay to close the set of contacts responsive to the relay enable signal being asserted by each and every processor of the set of processors, and

inhibit closure of the set of contacts or open the set of contacts to prevent electricity from flowing between the electric vehicle charging station and an electric vehicle when any of the set of processors is not asserting the relay enable signal; and

wherein each and every processor of the set of processors must be operating and asserting the relay enable signal for the set of contacts to be closed and any one or more processors of the set of processors are capable of inhibiting closure of the set of contacts and causing the set of contacts to open in the event of an unsafe condition.

2. The safety supervisory module of claim 1, further comprising:

a charge circuit interrupt device (CCID) circuitry coupled with the set of two or more processors, the CCID circuitry to measure an amount of differential current existing in the set of one or more power supply lines and output a fault signal to the set of two or more processors indicating a fault responsive to an amount of differential current exceeding a threshold.

3. The safety supervisory module of claim 2, further comprising the CCID circuitry to, responsive to assertion of a CCID test signal from each of the set of processors, generate a self-test differential amount of current to verify that the CCID circuitry will output a fault signal to the set of two or more processors when a threshold amount of differential current exists.

4. The safety supervisory module of claim 3, further comprising the set of processors to assert the CCID test signal responsive to receipt of a signal from a host system that indicates a charging request and after determining that an electric vehicle is connected to the charging station.

5. The safety supervisory module of claim 4, wherein the set of processors are to assert the relay enable signal after verifying that the CCID circuitry will output a fault signal when a threshold amount of differential current exists.

6. The safety supervisory module of claim 1, further comprising the contactor control circuitry to output a signal to the set of two or more processors that indicates position of the set of one or more contacts.

7. The safety supervisory module of claim 1, further comprising the set of processors to output a set of one or more signals that indicate status of the safety supervisory module and to drive an evident indicator of the electric vehicle charging station.

8. The safety supervisory module of claim 1, further comprising a pilot conditioning circuitry coupled with the set of processors to convert an analog control pilot signal into a form suitable for use by the set of processors, wherein the analog control pilot signal indicates whether an electric vehicle is connected to the electric vehicle charging station and is ready to accept energy.

9. A method performed by a safety supervisory module of an electric vehicle charging station, comprising:

receiving, at a first processor and second processor of the safety supervisory module, a charge request input that indicates a request to close a set of one or more contacts to allow current to flow between the electric vehicle charging station and an electric vehicle;

responsive to the charge request input, the first and second processors each verifying that a charge circuit interrupting device (CCID) circuitry will generate a fault signal to the first and second processors respectively when a threshold amount of differential current exists through the one or more power supply lines;

after verifying that the CCID circuitry will generate the fault signal, the first processor and second processor each asserting a signal to a contactor control circuitry to cause it to generate a current output to close the set of one or more contacts, wherein the contactor control circuit only generates the current output to close the set of one or more contacts when both of the first and second signals are asserted.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

prior to the first and second processors asserting the first and second signals to the contactor control circuit, each of the first and second processors to determine that an electric vehicle is connected to the electric vehicle charging station.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first and second processors determine that the electric vehicle is connected to the electric vehicle charging station by performing the following:

determining a charging level by examining a charging level input signal from a host system; and

based on the determined charging level, examining one of a door sense input signal used in a first charging level and a pilot detect signal used in a second charging level, wherein the door sense input signal indicates position of a locking door of the electric vehicle charging station, and wherein the pilot detect signal indicates an electric vehicle is connected and is ready to accept energy.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

responsive to either of the first and second processors receiving a fault signal from the CCID circuitry, that processor de-asserting the signal to the contactor control circuitry to cause it to stop generating current to open the set of one or more contacts.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

the first and second processors to output a set of one or more signals that indicate status of the safety supervisory module and to drive an evident indicator of the electric vehicle charging station.

13. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

the first and second processors starting a first and second automatic retry timer respectively; and

responsive to the first and second automatic retry timer expiring, the first and second processors each respectively asserting the signal to the contactor control circuitry to cause it to generate current to close the set of one or more contacts.

15. An electric vehicle charging station, comprising:

a relay including a set of one or more contacts that closes the set of contacts when energized to allow current to flow through a set of one or more power supply lines and opens the set of contacts when de-energized to prevent current from flowing through the set of power supply lines; and

a safety supervisory module coupled with the relay that controls flow of current from the electric vehicle charging station to an electric vehicle, the safety supervisory module including;

a set of two or more processors to control operation of a contactor control circuitry that controls opening and closing of the set of one or more contacts in the relay to control flow of current from the electric vehicle charging station to an electric vehicle, and

the contactor control circuitry to generate a current to energize the relay to close the set of one or more contacts responsive to assertion of a relay enable signal from each of the set of processors and to de-energize the relay to open the set of one or more contacts responsive to one or more of the set of two or more processors de-asserting the relay enable signal.

16. The electric vehicle charging station of claim 15, further comprising the safety supervisory module including:

a charge circuit interrupt device (CCID) circuitry coupled with the set of processors, the CCID circuitry to measure an amount of differential current existing in the set power supply lines and output a fault signal to the set of two or more processors indicating a fault responsive to an amount of differential current exceeding a threshold.

17. The electric vehicle charging station of claim 16, further comprising the CCID circuitry to, responsive to assertion of a CCID test signal from each of the set of processors, generate a self-test differential amount of current to verify that the CCID circuitry will output a fault signal to the set of two or more processors when a threshold amount of differential current exists.

18. The electric vehicle charging station of claim 17, further comprising:

a host system to assert a charging request signal to the set of processors that indicates a request to close the set of contacts, and to assert one or more signals that indicate that an electric vehicle is connected to the electric vehicle charging station; and

wherein the set of processors are to assert the CCID test signal responsive to assertion of the charging request signal and the one or more signals that indicate that an electric vehicle is connected to the electric vehicle charging station.

19. The electric vehicle charging station of claim 18, wherein the set of processors are to assert the relay enable signal after verifying that the CCID circuitry will output a fault signal when a threshold amount of differential current exists.

20. The safety supervisory module of claim 18, further comprising the set of processors to output a set of one or more signals to the host system that indicate status of the safety supervisory module and to drive an evident indicator of the electric vehicle charging station.

21. The electric vehicle charging station of claim 15, further comprising the contactor control circuitry to output a signal to the set of two or more processors that indicates position of the set of one or more contacts.

22. The electric vehicle charging station of claim 15, further comprising the safety supervisory module to include a pilot conditioning circuitry coupled with the set of processors to convert an analog control pilot signal into a form suitable for use by the set of processors, wherein the analog control pilot signal indicates whether an electric vehicle is connected to the electric vehicle charging station and is ready to accept energy.