METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MANAGING AND CONTROLLING ELECTRICAL VEHICLE CHARGING EVENTS

• US 20140046499A1
• Filed: 09/27/2012
• Published: 02/13/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/08/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cognizant Technology Solutions India Private Limited (Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Cognizant Technology Solutions India Private Limited (Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp.)
• Inventors: Raskar, Hemant Babanrao
• Granted Patent: US 9,440,548 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/297
• 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 53/305 Communication interfaces
• 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: B60L 58/10 for monitoring or controlling batteries
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/30 Profiles
• 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 30/12 Remote or cooperative charging
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 30/14 Details associated with the interoperability, e.g. vehicle recognition, authentication, identification or billing

Abstract

A system and method for managing and controlling charging of electric vehicles via charging stations over an advanced metering infrastructure is provided. Smart meters are deployed in the charging stations. Electric vehicle clusters which are logical representations of at least the charging stations are created. Policies for controlling electric vehicle charging based on data obtained using the electric vehicle clusters are generated. Further, it is analyzed if meter data obtained from the smart meters using the electric vehicle clusters comply with the generated policies. The meter data is obtained using the electric vehicle clusters identified with electric vehicle charging events. Policy violation action data is generated by applying predetermined rules if it is determined that the policies are violated. The policy violation action data is then sent to the identified electric vehicle clusters for controlling electric vehicle charging.

Claims

1. A system for managing and controlling charging of electric vehicles via one or more charging stations over an advanced metering infrastructure, wherein one or more smart meters are deployed in the one or more charging stations, the system comprising:

an electric vehicle cluster unit in communication with a processor and configured to create one or more electric vehicle clusters, the one or more electric vehicle clusters being logical representations of at least the one or more charging stations in one or more distribution circuit areas;

a smart meter management unit in communication with the processor and configured to;

generate one or more policies for controlling electric vehicle charging based on data obtained using the one or more electric vehicle clusters;

analyze if meter data obtained from the one or more smart meters using the one or more electric vehicle clusters are in compliance with the generated one or more policies, wherein the meter data is obtained using the one or more electric vehicle clusters identified with one or more electric vehicle charging events;

generate one or more policy violation action data by applying one or more predetermined rules if it is determined that the one or more policies are violated; and

send the policy violation action data to the one or more smart meters via the identified one or more electric vehicle clusters for controlling electric vehicle charging.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the electric vehicle cluster unit creates the one or more electric vehicle clusters based on predetermined geo-location information.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more electric vehicle clusters are polygon shaped clusters, the vertices of the polygon shaped clusters representing actual geographical latitude and longitude of predetermined locations.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the smart meter management unit comprises an electric vehicle cluster manager in communication with the processor and configured to obtain at least one of:

cluster data and substation data from the one or more electric vehicle clusters, wherein the cluster data comprises one or more attributes of the one or more electric vehicle clusters, and further wherein the substation data comprises electric utility projected load data based on at least one of;

time, day and area related to an electric vehicle charging event.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the smart meter management unit comprises an electric vehicle policy manager in communication with the processor and configured to:

generate the one or more policies for controlling electric vehicle charging based on policy configuration data obtained from at least one of;

the cluster data, the substation data and user provisioned data; and

enforce the generated one or more policies on the one or more smart meters using the one or more electric vehicle clusters, wherein the one or more policies are enforced by defining charging profiles of the one or more smart meters based on the one or more policies.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the smart meter management unit comprises an electric vehicle policy monitor in communication with the processor and configured to send status read requests to the one or more smart meters using the one or more electric vehicle clusters at predefined time intervals for obtaining the meter data and ascertaining any policy violation.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the smart meter management unit comprises a rule engine in communication with the processor and configured to generate the policy violation action data by applying the one or more predetermined rules if it is determined that the one or more policies are violated.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein the smart meter management unit comprises a data repository for storing the cluster data, the substation data, the user provisioned data, the policy configuration data, the policy violation action data and the meter data.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more generated policies comprises:

timestamp based electric vehicle charging policy, geographic location based electric vehicle charging policy and electric vehicle load threshold based electric vehicle charging policy.

10. The system of claim 4, wherein the cluster data comprises:

cluster name, cluster type, number of electric vehicle charging stations, charging load threshold, geographic boundaries of the charging stations and geographic distribution circuit area.

11. The system of claim 4, wherein the substation data comprises:

off-peak load conditions, on-peak load conditions, predefined power control conditions for allowing or denying electric vehicle charging, and load based threshold data obtained from an electric utility for particular calendar days, time and geographic area.

12. The system of claim 5, wherein the policy configuration data comprises:

electric utility projected off-peak load condition for particular calendar days and time, electric utility projected on-peak load condition for particular calendar days and time, electric utility projected off-peak or on-peak load condition for a particular distribution circuit area, electric utility projected allow or deny conditions for electric vehicle charging and a load threshold data.

13. The system of claim 5, wherein the electric vehicle policy manager further configures the generated one or more policies based on one or more configuration attributes, the one or more configuration attributes being at least one of:

policy name, policy type, policy category, electric vehicle cluster, substation, policy start time, policy end time, electric vehicle charger level, electric utility projected allow or deny condition for electric vehicle charging and electric vehicle charging load threshold.

14. A computer-implemented method for managing and controlling charging of electric vehicles via one or more charging stations over an advanced metering infrastructure, wherein one or more smart meters are deployed in the one or more charging stations, the method comprising:

generating, via a processor, one or more policies for controlling electric vehicle charging events, wherein the one or more policies are generated based on data obtained using the one or more electric vehicle clusters, the one or more electric vehicle clusters being logical representations of at least the one or more charging stations;

monitoring, via the processor, the one or more electric vehicle clusters for a predefined time interval for identifying uncontrolled electric vehicle charging events;

receiving, via the processor, meter data from the one or more smart meters of the identified one or more electric vehicle clusters;

analyzing, via the processor, the received meter data to determine if the one or more policies are violated;

generating, via the processor, one or more policy violation action data by applying one or more predetermined rules based on the analysis; and

sending, via the processor, the one or more policy violation data to the one or more smart meters using the identified one or more electric vehicle clusters for controlling the electric vehicle charging.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14 further comprising enforcing, via the processor, the generated one or more policies on the one or more smart meters using the one or more electric vehicle clusters based on one or more parameters, wherein the one or more policies are enforced by defining charging profiles of the one or more smart meters based on the one or more policies.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the one or more parameters comprise:

type of electric vehicle cluster, type of electric vehicle charger, calendar day and time zone related to the electric vehicle charging event.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein monitoring the one or more electric vehicle clusters for a predefined time interval comprises sending status read requests to the one or more smart meters using the one or more electric vehicle clusters for obtaining the meter data.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein the data obtained from the one or more electric vehicle clusters comprises:

cluster data and substation data, the cluster data defining one or more attributes of the one or more electric vehicle clusters, and the substation data defining electric utility projected load data based on at least one of;

time, calendar day and geographic area related to an electric vehicle charging event.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein generating the one or more policy violation action data by applying the one or more predetermined rules comprises applying surcharge, notifying owner of electric vehicles, applying high rate upon occurrence of a predefined condition and disconnecting electric vehicle charging upon occurrence of a predefined condition.

20. A computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-readable program code stored thereon, the computer-readable program code comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to;

generate one or more policies for controlling electric vehicle charging events, wherein the one or more policies are generated based on data obtained using the one or more electric vehicle clusters, the one or more electric vehicle clusters being logical representations of at least the one or more charging stations in one or more distribution circuit areas;

monitor the one or more electric vehicle clusters for a predefined time interval for identifying uncontrolled electric vehicle charging events;

receive meter data from the one or more smart meters using the identified one or more electric vehicle clusters;

analyze the received meter data to determine if the one or more policies are violated;

generate one or more policy violation action data by applying one or more predetermined rules based on the analysis; and

send the one or more policy violation data to the one or more smart meters via the identified one or more electric vehicle clusters for controlling the electric vehicle charging.