Method and apparatus for providing communications between an electric vehicle and a charging station

• US 8,830,039 B1
• Filed: 04/13/2012
• Issued: 09/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/19/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Marvell Asia Pte Limited (Marvell Technology Group Limited)
• Original Assignee: Marvell International Limited (Marvell Technology Group Limited)
• Inventors: Egan, John
• Primary Examiner(s): Phan, Hai
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wu, Zhen Y
• Application Number:
  US13/446,816
• Time in Patent Office: 879 Days
• Field of Search: 340/12.32, 340/568, 340/538, 320/109, 320/137, 180/65.21, 180/65.1, 375/257, 375/260, 375/219
• US Class Current: 340/12.32
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/18 Cables specially adapted for charging electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/63 in response to network capacity
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/64 Optimising energy costs, e.g. responding to electricity rates
• 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 55/00 Arrangements for supplying energy stored within a vehicle to a power network, i.e. vehicle-to-grid [V2G] arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/00 Enabling technologies; Technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to GHG emissions mitigation
• 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
• 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 10/126 the energy generation units being or involving electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV], i.e. power aggregation of EV or HEV, vehicle to grid arrangements [V2G]
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 30/14 Details associated with the interoperability, e.g. vehicle recognition, authentication, identification or billing

Abstract

The present disclosure includes systems and techniques relating to communications between an electric vehicle and a charging station. In some implementations, a system includes a charging station, a dual signaling path to connect the charging station with an electric vehicle to charge the electric vehicle from the charging station, and processing electronics configured to communicate information to the electric vehicle using the dual signaling path, wherein the dual signaling path comprises a first path to support charging of the electric vehicle and a second path to support receiving control data from the electric vehicle, and wherein the processing electronics are configured to selectively use the first path or the second path in communicating the information to the electric vehicle.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a charging station;

a dual signaling path to connect the charging station with an electric vehicle, wherein the electric vehicle is chargeable from the charging station using the dual signaling path; and

processing electronics configured to communicate information to the electric vehicle using the dual signaling path,

wherein the dual signaling path comprises i) a first path to support charging of the electric vehicle and ii) a second path to support receiving control data from the electric vehicle, and wherein the processing electronics are configured to selectively use the first path or the second path in communicating the information to the electric vehicle; and

wherein the second path is separate and distinct from the first path.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the processing electronics are configured to selectively use solely the first path, solely the second path, or both the first and second paths in communicating the information to the electric vehicle.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the dual signaling path comprises a J-1772 cable.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the processing electronics comprise a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) wideband powerline communications (PLC) transceiver.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein only one of the first path and second path is used to communicate the information at any one time.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the MIMO wideband PLC transceiver comprises a G.hn transceiver, and the processing electronics are configured to use

i) wideband PLC over the first path and ii) robust mode wideband PLC over the second path.

7. An apparatus comprising:

a first analog front end part connected with a power lead of an electric vehicle charging system;

a second analog front end part connected with a control lead of the electric vehicle charging system; and

a powerline communications (PLC) multiple input multiple output (MIMO) transceiver coupled with each of i) the first analog front end part and ii) the second analog front end part,

wherein the PLC MIMO transceiver is configured to selectively use the power lead or the control lead to communicate information in the electric vehicle charging system, and

wherein the control lead is separate and distinct from the power lead.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the PLC MIMO transceiver is configured to transmit and receive using only the power lead, only the control lead, or both the power lead and the control lead.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising a J-1772 cable, wherein the J-1772 cable comprises the power lead and the control lead.

10. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the PLC MIMO transceiver comprises a Green PHY (GP) transceiver.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the PLC MIMO transceiver is configured to use only one of the power lead and the control lead to communicate information at any one time.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the PLC MIMO transceiver is configured to use i) wideband PLC over the power lead and ii) robust mode wideband PLC over the control lead.

13. A method comprising:

receiving a signal on a control lead of an electric vehicle charging system, the signal indicating an electric vehicle is attached;

communicating initial data over the control lead;

determining whether a power lead of the electric vehicle charging system is available for data exchange;

using wideband PLC in robust mode over the control lead to communicate additional data when the power lead is not available for data exchange; and

using wideband PLC over the power lead to communicate additional data when the power lead is available for data exchange;

wherein the control lead is separate and distinct from the power lead.

14. The method of claim 13, comprising:

determining whether both the power lead and the control lead can be used together for data exchange; and

if so

using wideband PLC over both the power lead and the control lead to communicate additional data.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the power lead and the control lead are parts of a J-1772 cable.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein using the wideband PLC comprises using the wideband PLC in accordance with G.hn.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein using the wideband PLC comprises using only one of the power and control leads to communicate data at any one time.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium embodying a program operable to cause data processing apparatus to perform operations as recited in claim 13.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the operations comprise:

determining whether both the power lead and the control lead can be used together for data exchange; and

if so using wideband PLC over both the power lead and the control lead to communicate additional data.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein using the wideband PLC comprises using the wideband PLC in accordance with G.hn, and using only one of the power and control leads to communicate data at any one time.