Aid for inductive battery charging of a motor vehicle

• US 9,836,972 B2
• Filed: 08/22/2014
• Issued: 12/05/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Kees, Donatus Andreas Josephine, Petridis, Anthemios Philemon
• Primary Examiner(s): Swarthout, Brent
• Application Number:
  US14/466,572
• Publication Number:
  US 20150061897A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,201 Days
• Field of Search: 3409322, 701 22, 320104, 320108, 320109
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/62 Vehicle position
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/667 Precipitation
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/80 Time limits
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2250/10 by alarm
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2250/16 by display
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2260/44 by parameter estimation
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 3/0023 Detecting, eliminating, remedying or compensating for drive train abnormalities, e.g. failures within the drive train
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 50/16 with provision for separate direct mechanical propulsion
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 50/52 characterised by DC-motors
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 50/60 using power supplied by batteries in combination with fuel cells B60L50/75
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 50/61 by batteries charged by engine-driven generators, e.g. series hybrid electric vehicles
• 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 53/36 by positioning the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/37 using optical position determination, e.g. using cameras
• 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: B60L 58/12 responding to state of charge [SoC]
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0968 Systems involving transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/62 : Hybrid 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 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 method for assisting with the positioning of a motor vehicle for inductive charging of a battery of the motor vehicle comprises reading a number plate associated with the motor vehicle using the number plate information to produce a location on the vehicle of a vehicle inductive coupling point (VICP) with reference to at least one reference point on the motor vehicle, comparing a predicted current position of the VICP to a fixed inductive coupling point (ICP) located in or on a road surface upon which the motor vehicle is to be positioned, and providing feedback to one of the driver and the motor vehicle indicative of the required action required to produce alignment of the VICP with the ICP. The method may further comprise energizing the ICP to charge the battery of the motor vehicle when the VICP is predicted to be aligned with the ICP.

Claims

1. A charging apparatus comprising:

a charger for supplying power to a ground inductive coupler;

a recognition system for reading data from a tag on a vehicle and retrieving from memory a location, cross-referenced with the data, of an inductive coupler on the vehicle; and

a processing system for generating output to guide positioning of the inductive coupler relative to the ground inductive coupler based on the location.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the tag is a vehicle number plate or license plate.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the tag is an RFID tag.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing system is further for sending the output to the vehicle.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the recognition system is a vision system.

6. A vehicle charging method comprising:

responsive to reading data from a tag on a vehicle,

retrieving from memory a location, cross-referenced with the data, of an inductive coupler on the vehicle, and

generating output to guide positioning of the inductive coupler relative to a ground inductive coupler based on the location; and

responsive to alignment of the vehicle and ground inductive coupler, powering the ground inductive coupler.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising sending the output to the vehicle.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the tag is a vehicle number plate or license plate.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the tag is an RFID tag.