Energy infrastructure and method for reducing energy expenditure in updating information

Abstract

The invention relates to an infrastructure and a method for reducing the energy expenditure in a first vehicle (10) in combination with a continuous update of information relating to the charging of a plurality of electrically drivable vehicles (10, 20, 21, 30, 31, 32). The method comprises the following steps: determining (S100) a temporal sequence (1) of files each containing the information, comparing (S200) a first file (1b) of the sequence (1) of files with a predefined reference, and transmitting (S300) or not transmitting the first file (1b) to the first vehicle (10) as a result.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to an energy infrastructure and a method for reducing energy expenditure in a first vehicle. The invention relates in particular to improved processing of information to be continuously updated for an electrically drivable vehicle. Background Art

[0002] At present, the electrification of personal transportation is developing rapidly. The supply of electric energy for vehicles that can be driven by electricity has brought great challenges to power supply networks and energy supply companies. Through price incentives for electric energy acquisition, energy suppliers can regulate consumption to a certain extent. To this end, energy suppliers can, for example, influence the charging plan of electric vehicles according to ISO-15118-2. In this process, a price list is sent to the vehicle, and then the price list is processed into a charging plan by the vehicle (for example, based on other regulations). The optimal charging plan seeks to charge the vehicle in the right amount and at the right time, and generates the minimum charging cost during this period. Although energy suppliers can make predictions about possible energy supply bottlenecks. However, since the actual current state deviates from the predicted state, it may be necessary to make corrections in real time. To this end, the rate used by users can be changed in real time. For example, during the bottleneck period of available energy, operators can provide energy more expensively to encourage consumers to reduce energy acquisition. On the contrary, in the case of excess electric energy, energy suppliers can make energy cheaper in order to encourage energy consumption by users.

[0003] The calculations in the vehicle are temporarily carried out on a control device, which goes dormant again after the calculation of the charging plan has been completed. This means that in order to process a new price list (renegotiation), the control devices involved have to be "woken up" again each time, which has a negative impact on the service life of these components and their energy balance. As a result, the number of new negotiation processes accepted by a vehicle is sometimes limited. If this limit is reached, the vehicle can no longer participate in new negotiations and its owner may lose the possibility of charging at a cheaper rate. In addition, from the perspective of the energy supplier, this has the disadvantage that the vehicle can no longer be fully involved in the control loop through price negotiations. In other words, the demand can no longer be controlled while taking the vehicle into full consideration. Summary of the invention

[0004] The object of the present invention is to meet the needs set forth above.

[0005] For this purpose, a method for reducing energy expenditure in a first vehicle is implemented in combination with continuous updating of information related to charging of multiple electrically driven vehicles. The method can also be referred to as a method for reducing the loss or aging of onboard power grid components of electrically driven vehicles during renegotiation of energy supply rates. The electrically driven vehicle can be, for example, a car, a van, a truck, a motorcycle, an air vehicle and / or a water vehicle. The information can be, for example, a price list, a table of electrical characteristic parameters of the power supply network, or other information, based on which the vehicle makes a decision: at which moment the vehicle obtains or feeds how much electrical energy from the network. Continuous updating can be performed in particular in seconds, minutes or hours. However, the update is generally not continuous, but is performed by individual messages or files sent by the energy supplier to the controllable electrical appliances. The multiple electrically driven vehicles can be distributed on roads, blocks, cities, states, one or more countries. In a first step, a time sequence of files containing the information is determined. This can be performed in a server or on a computer of the energy supplier. The time sequence of the files represents different update phases of files that are preferably identical in other respects. For example, the price per kilowatt-hour, the rated voltage of the energy supply network, the frequency of the energy supply network, the frequency stability of the energy supply network, etc. can be characterized. Therefore, the time sequence of the files basically outputs the same parameters with different (time) values ​​to the multiple electrically driven vehicles. These vehicles can be all vehicles that can process the information. In other words, the information can in principle be received, interpreted, and used to construct a charging plan by all electrically driven vehicles. However, according to the present invention, not every file is received, checked, and processed by every transport at every moment. For this purpose, the first file in the sequence of the files is compared with a predefined reference. The predefined reference can, for example, be stored on the same server where the time sequence of the files is determined or created, and compared with the first file. Alternatively or additionally, the predefined reference can also be stored on the charging wall box of the user of the first electrically driven vehicle and used to compare with the first file. Of course, the predefined reference can also be stored on another computer, in particular between the server of the energy supply company and the charging wall box (also called "charging station"), and retained for comparison with the first file. Depending on the comparison result, the first file is then transferred to the first vehicle or not. In other words, depending on the comparison result, the first file or the information contained in the first file is provided to the vehicle, or on the contrary, so that the vehicle is not disturbed by the first file.In the latter case, the electronic control device responsible for developing the charging plan will not be awakened, thus no corresponding losses, no corresponding heat generation, and no corresponding energy expenditure will be generated. Only when the predefined reference regulations are transmitted to the first vehicle (or a control device, in particular the Media Graphic Unit (MGU), i.e. the main graphics processor, or the Body Control Processor (BCP)), can the first vehicle be awakened and the content of the first file be taken into account when developing the charging plan. In this way, continuous updating of information can be taken into account according to actual conditions and the disadvantages known in the prior art can be alleviated.

[0006] The dependent claims describe preferred further developments of the invention.

[0007] In the predefined reference, for example, a minimum difference in information between a first file in the sequence of files and a file determined at an earlier time can be specified in order to recognize a sufficient relevance of the first file and to transfer the first file to the first vehicle. In particular, if the information contained in the first file and the file determined at an earlier time is (almost) identical, a check of the charging plan in the vehicle may not be necessary and energy expenditure, waste heat and wear can be saved.

[0008] For example, the predefined reference may identify the first vehicle as belonging to the first group in order to determine the relevance of the first file for the first vehicle. The first group may be determined, for example, by means of a vehicle frame number and / or by means of a geographical location and / or by means of a brand and / or by means of other circumstances that appear suitable for grouping all of the multiple electrically driven vehicles to which continuous updates of the information are to be supplied. Thus, the energy supplier or the server is able to determine which of the determined groups are to be addressed first by the first file. Conversely, the server or the energy supplier may determine in this way which of the groups have a smaller relevance to the current first file. In this way, the updating of the charging plan can be carried out in a more appropriate or more efficient manner.

[0009] For example, different groups of electrically driven vehicles can be assigned different time cycles, according to which files are provided or the information to be updated is updated. This can also take into account how much energy or consumption is required to recalculate the charging plan for the vehicles of the corresponding group. Groups that include vehicles with high computing efficiency can be urged to recalculate more frequently, for which the cycle can be increased. Groups of vehicles with lower computing efficiency can be addressed by these files at a lower cycle. A high cycle can, for example, mean that a vehicle obtains every second, third, fourth or fifth file / update, while a low cycle can mean that a vehicle obtains and evaluates every sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth or tenth file.

[0010] In particular, in the case where energy suppliers have to deal with energy surpluses or supply bottlenecks in geographically (narrowly) defined areas, the predetermined reference value can mark the first group as belonging to a geographical location or a predefined geographical area relative to the second group. Thus, the groups can be formed dynamically depending on the current location of the individual vehicles participating in the method. This can be determined, for example, using a satellite-based positioning system. The above-mentioned file to be received by the vehicle can be set in particular for waking up the control device of the vehicle. In other words, as long as the file is not received (or the vehicle is not woken up for other reasons), the control device is not woken up. In response to the evaluation of the file, the control device is again configured to implement the charging process in a modified manner or at a modified time.

[0011] The information in the first file relates to the charging of the vehicle, wherein the availability of electrical energy for charging or other characteristic variables (voltage, frequency, frequency stability, voltage stability, maximum charging current, etc.) are indicated. In particular, the price per kilowatt-hour can also be defined by the first file. In other words, the current reference price for kilowatt-hours of electrical energy is indicated in the file, but in particular also the future reference price. Based on this, the vehicle can predefine the current or future charging process in order to charge efficiently and cost-effectively and, on the other hand, ensure the best possible mobility or availability of the vehicle.

[0012] According to a second aspect of the invention, an energy infrastructure (server) for reducing energy expenditure in a first vehicle is proposed in combination with the continuous updating of information concerning the charging of a plurality of electric vehicles. The energy infrastructure comprises a server with a data input and a data output. In this way, the server is configured to determine a first time sequence of files containing the information and to send it to a first number of electrically drivable vehicles addressed by the information. In order not to disturb all vehicles managed by the server from sleep in principle and thus not to contribute to energy, waste heat and losses, the first file in the sequence of the files is compared by the server with a predefined reference. Depending on the result, the first file is transferred or not transferred to the first vehicle. In other words, the method according to the invention is preferably executed only on a single server, for which all the information required for this is present. The features, feature combinations and the resulting advantages of the energy infrastructure according to the invention obviously correspond to those explained above in conjunction with the method according to the invention, so that reference is made to the above embodiments to avoid repetition.

[0013] According to a third aspect of the invention, a (second) energy infrastructure for reducing energy expenditure in a first vehicle is proposed in combination with continuous updating of information related to the charging of multiple electric vehicles. The energy infrastructure has a server with a data input and a data output and a charging wall box with a data input and a data output. The server is configured to determine a first sequence of files containing the information in time and send them (in particular all) to the charging wall box. The charging wall box is configured to compare the first file in the sequence of the files with a predefined reference and, depending on the result, to pass or not pass the first file to the first vehicle (the first vehicle is connected to the charging wall box in particular in terms of information technology and / or in terms of traction energy). In other words, in this case, the charging wall box decides which files are suitable for the vehicle, or at least are so promising in terms of their content that it is worth waking up the first vehicle or the control device of the first vehicle to update the charging plan. With regard to the second energy infrastructure, for the advantages, features and feature combinations, reference is also made to the above-mentioned embodiments to avoid repetition.

[0014] According to the core concept of the present invention, it is proposed to compare the new price list with the previous version in the components upstream of the vehicle and to prevent renegotiation if the difference is too small, in order to save the energy and computing technology expenses required for this in the vehicle. Additionally or alternatively, the addressed vehicles can be strategically or geographically divided into groups, wherein each individual group is supplied at a rate lower than the basic rate at which the price list is generated in principle. Therefore, not every vehicle receives every file. However, the energy supplier can decide by adjusting the rate (basic rate) how important it is to update the charging plan in the long term at present. An example is described below for illustration:

[0015] Energy operators must react highly dynamically to fluctuations in the network in real time. To this end, they use a control loop with a cycle of 5 minutes, in which they adjust the prices for their customers. To this end, they divide their customers into 20 groups that are geographically distributed and evenly distributed.

[0016] The energy operator now informs group 1 of the first binding changes to the price list based on its real-time regulation.

[0017] After 5 minutes, the energy operator informs group 2 of the first binding changes to the price list based on its real-time regulation.

[0018] After 10 minutes, the energy operator informs group 3 of the first binding changes to the price list based on its real-time regulation.

[0019] After (i-1)*5 minutes, the energy operator informs group i of the first binding change to the price list based on its real-time regulation.

[0020] After 95 minutes, the energy operator informs group 20 of the first binding changes to the price list based on its real-time regulation.

[0021] This slower cycle then repeats starting again from the first group:

[0022] After 100 minutes, the energy operator informs group 1 of a second binding change in the price list based on its real-time regulation. After 105 minutes, the energy operator informs group 2 of a second binding change in the price list based on its real-time regulation.

[0023] After 100+(i-1)*5 minutes, the energy operator informs group i of the second binding change in the price list based on its real-time regulation.

[0024] Thus, the entire ecosystem reacts to fluctuations in the energy supply in 5-minute cycles, but the individual customers are only notified every 100 minutes and their vehicles also have to be woken up at most every 100 minutes, which has a more favorable effect on the service life of the components. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0025] Further details, features and advantages of the present invention are apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings. In the drawings:

[0026] Figure 1 A schematic diagram showing a scenario in which an energy infrastructure according to the invention supplies power to a plurality of electrically drivable vehicles and continuously updates information about the network status; and

[0027] Figure 2 A flow chart showing the steps of an exemplary embodiment of a method according to the invention for reducing energy expenditure in a first vehicle, which method is combined with a continuous updating of information relating to the charging of a plurality of electrically drivable vehicles. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0028] Figure 1A plurality of electrically drivable vehicles 10, 20, 21, 30, 31, 32 are shown, which are divided into geographical groups 100, 200, 300. The first vehicle 10 has a data memory 7, an electronic control device 6 connected to the data memory information technology, an antenna 8 and a charging socket 9. A charging plug 9 of a charging wall box 3 is plugged into the charging socket to supply power to the group 100. The charging wall box 4 is not currently in use. The server 2 of the energy supply enterprise calculates the current and future rates for the charging wall boxes 3, 4. Basically, the result of the calculation is a table of the conditions that the vehicles 10 to 32 can obtain from the energy supply network 11. Via a transmitting rod 5, the server 2 sends a sequence 1 of files 1a, 1b, 1c arranged in chronological order to the groups 100, 200, 300 or charging wall boxes 3, 4. The parameters in the files 1a, 1b, 1c are respectively the same, while their values ​​are the oldest in the file 1a and the latest in the file 1c. In order not to have to wake up the electrically driven vehicles 10 to 32 in accordance with the basic rhythm of the file sequence 1 shown and so that they do not have to be disturbed by recalculating the corresponding charging plan, the file 1a is sent to the group 200, the file 1b is sent to the charging wall boxes 3, 4 and the file 1c is sent to the group 300. In other words, only the members of the corresponding groups 100, 200, 300 will receive the same update of information. Of course, the energy supplier can influence which file 1a, 1b, 1c is sent to which group 100, 200, 300. As a result, as long as the groups 100, 200, 300 are localized definitions of the respective groups, a localized response to local energy surpluses or energy bottlenecks can be made.

[0029] Figure 2 The steps of the method according to the invention for reducing energy expenditure in a first vehicle are shown, which method is combined with a continuous update of charging information. In step S100, a time sequence of files is determined by a server of an energy supply company, wherein the files contain charging information (prices, network characteristic parameters and future parameters and price models). All files of this time sequence have a similar or even identical structure, wherein each of the files differs in particular only in the values ​​of the respectively identical parameters. In step S200, the first file of the file sequence is compared with a predefined reference. This can be done on a server or on a computer or other evaluation unit located between the energy supply server and the vehicle. Depending on the result of the comparison, the first file is transferred or not transferred to the first vehicle in step S300. Therefore, only the file currently suitable for the first vehicle reaches the vehicle through the reference, and the vehicle is protected from unnecessary recalculation of the charging plan and the associated expenditure in energy and computing power.

[0030] This mechanism can also be used locally where several consumers compete with each other due to power limitations of the service line, especially in multi-family homes where, for example, several electric vehicles are charged simultaneously. Here, the home energy management system must control the energy distribution.

[0031] Other examples are fleet management for industrial customers (eg charging in parking garages) once power limits (of the energy supply or infrastructure (eg lines, transformers)) are reached.

[0032] List of reference numerals:

[0033] 1 Time Series

[0034] 1a, 1b, 1c files

[0035] 2 Server

[0036] 3.4 Charging wall box

[0037] 5 Launch rod

[0038] 6 Evaluation unit (electronic control equipment)

[0039] 7Data storage

[0040] 8 Antenna

[0041] 9 Charging plug

[0042] 10. Electric powered vehicles

[0043] 11Energy supply network

[0044] 20, 21, 30, 31, 32 Electric vehicles

[0045] 100-300 groups

[0046] S100-S300 Method Steps

Claims

1. A method for reducing energy expenditure in a first vehicle (10) in conjunction with the continuous updating of information relating to the charging of a plurality of electrically drivable vehicles (10, 20, 21, 30, 31, 32), the method comprising the following steps: - determining (S100) a chronological sequence (1) of files respectively containing said information, - comparing the first file (1b) in the sequence of files (1) with a predefined reference (S200), and according to the result - delivering ( S300 ) the first file ( 1 b ) to the first vehicle ( 10 ) or not.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The predefined reference represents the minimum difference in information between a first file (1b) in the sequence of files (1) and a file (1a) determined at an earlier time.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: The predefined reference identifies the first vehicle (10) as belonging to a first group (100) not addressed by the first file (1b).

4. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: The predefined reference identifies the first vehicle (10) as belonging to a second group addressed by the first file (1b).

5. The method according to claim 3 or 4, wherein: For addressing of each file (1a, 1b) in a sequence (1) through the files, the first group (100) belongs to a first time tick and the second group (200) belongs to a second time tick different from the first time tick.

6. The method according to claim 3, 4 or 5, wherein: The predefined reference marks the first group (100) as belonging to a geographical location or a geographical area.

7. The method according to any one of claims 3 to 6, wherein: One or more of the groups are addressed by the file at a corresponding beat that is slower than the basic beat with which the chronological sequence is determined.

8. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein: The transmission or non-transmission is performed through the server (2) and / or the charging wall box (3) and / or the home energy management control device and / or the smart meter.

9. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein: The first file (1b) is designed to wake up the control device (6) when received by the vehicle (10).

10. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein: The information relating to the charging of the vehicle (10, 20, 21, 30, 31, 32) represents the availability of electrical energy or other characteristic variables of the electrical energy for charging.

11. An energy infrastructure for reducing energy expenditure in a first vehicle (10) in combination with continuous updating of information concerning charging of a plurality of electric vehicles (10, 20, 21, 30, 31, 32), the energy infrastructure comprising: - a server (2) having a data input and a data output, the server being configured to - determining a first chronological sequence of files containing said information (1), - comparing the first file (1b) in the sequence of files (1) with a predefined reference and according to the result - delivering or not delivering said first file (1b) to a first vehicle (10).

12. An energy infrastructure for reducing energy expenditure in a first vehicle (10) in combination with continuous updating of information concerning charging of a plurality of electric vehicles (10, 20, 21, 30, 31, 32), the energy infrastructure comprising: - a server (2) having a data input and a data output, and - a charging wall box (3) having a data input terminal and a data output terminal, The server (2) is configured to - determining a first time sequence (1) of files containing said information and sending said first sequence to a charging wall box (3), and said charging wall box (3) is configured to - comparing the first file (1b) in the sequence of files (1) with a predefined reference and according to the result - delivering or not delivering said first file (1b) to a first vehicle (10).

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