Electric vehicle AC charging system

Abstract

One or more embodiments of the present invention disclose an AC charging system for electric vehicles, comprising: a control terminal and at least two AC charging management units. The input terminal of the control terminal is connected to the power grid, and the output terminal is connected to the input terminal of each of the AC charging management units via AC power supply lines. The AC charging management units are used to connect to the charging interface of the electric vehicle via a charging gun. After the electric vehicle is fully charged, the control terminal generates charging data for the electric vehicle and sends the charging data to the control terminal. The control terminal is used to provide AC output to the electric vehicle through the AC charging management units. After receiving the charging data sent from the AC charging management units, the control terminal sends the charging data to a server, thereby reducing the size and cost of the AC charging management units.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of electric vehicle charging technology, and more particularly to an AC charging system for electric vehicles. Background Technology

[0002] Currently, for electric vehicles, each parking space typically has one charging station. Each charging station has fixed infrastructure such as waterproof steps and pillars. Simultaneously, each charging station is equipped with an independent 4G (4th generation mobile communication technology) module to communicate with the internet platform, and also has a set of surge protectors and leakage protection devices. This not only leads to high costs for the charging station's power distribution system but also results in a large number of internal components, making the charging station bulky. For vertical charging stations, high-strength pillars are needed to support the large size, while for wall-mounted charging stations, numerous positioning holes are required. Clearly, the excessive size of the charging station makes installation inconvenient. Furthermore, the charging station's casing must meet the IP54 standard, and the large size of the charging station also increases its structural cost. Moreover, currently, the ratio of charging stations to parking spaces is typically 1:1, with hundreds of charging stations commonly installed in underground parking garages. In this situation, each charging station requires a 4G module for network connection, resulting in a large number of signal amplifier nodes. Summary of the Invention

[0003] In view of this, one or more embodiments of the present invention provide an AC charging system for electric vehicles that can reduce the size and cost of the AC charging management unit.

[0004] One or more embodiments of the present invention provide an AC charging system for electric vehicles, comprising: a control terminal and at least two AC charging management units. The input terminal of the control terminal is connected to the power grid, and the output terminal is connected to the input terminal of each of the AC charging management units via AC power supply lines. The AC charging management units are used to connect to the charging interface of the electric vehicle via a charging gun, generate charging data of the electric vehicle after the electric vehicle is fully charged, and send the charging data to the control terminal. The control terminal is used to provide AC output to the electric vehicle through the AC charging management units, and after receiving the charging data sent from the AC charging management units, send the charging data to a server.

[0005] Optionally, the AC charging management unit is installed near the parking space in the form of a charging pile.

[0006] Optionally, each of the at least two AC charging management units is located near a parking space in a row of parking spaces.

[0007] Optionally, the AC charging management unit includes: a first communication module, an AC meter, and a first display screen; the first communication module is used to communicate with the control terminal; the AC meter is used to measure the charging amount of the electric vehicle; and the first display screen is used to display the charging information of the electric vehicle.

[0008] Optionally, the control terminal includes: a control motherboard, a surge protector, at least two leakage current protection switches corresponding to the at least two AC charging management units, and a second communication module; the control motherboard is used to distribute the AC input to each AC charging management unit after passing through the surge protector and the leakage current protection switches corresponding to each AC charging management unit; the second communication module is used to communicate with the server and the AC charging management units.

[0009] Optionally, the control motherboard is equipped with a power-off retention circuit, which is used to retain the charging data of the current charge and send the charging data of the current charge to the server when an abnormal power failure occurs during the charging of the electric vehicle through the AC charging management unit.

[0010] Optionally, the control motherboard further includes a first CAN bus interface, and the AC charging management unit further includes a second CAN bus interface. The control terminal is connected to the second CAN bus interface of the AC charging management unit through the first CAN bus interface.

[0011] Optionally, the control terminal further includes:

[0012] A second display screen is used to display multimedia information and / or information from the at least two AC charging management units.

[0013] Optionally, the control terminal is also used to receive a charging command issued by the server, wherein the charging command specifies a target AC charging management unit, and sends a start charging command to the target charging management unit to control the target charging management unit to start.

[0014] Optionally, the AC charging management unit further includes: an overvoltage protection circuit for disconnecting the charging path when the charging voltage exceeds a voltage threshold; an overcurrent protection circuit for disconnecting the charging path when the charging current exceeds a current threshold; and an overtemperature protection circuit for disconnecting the charging path when a component of the AC charging management unit is detected to exceed a temperature threshold.

[0015] The electric vehicle AC charging system of one or more embodiments of the present invention controls at least two AC charging management units through a control terminal. The AC power management units are connected to the electric vehicle, and the control terminal controls the AC charging management units to charge the electric vehicle. This reduces the number of components required in the AC charging management units, thereby reducing the size and cost of the AC charging management units. Attached Figure Description

[0016] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention or the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort.

[0017] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of an AC charging system for an electric vehicle according to one or more embodiments of the present invention;

[0018] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of an AC charging management unit according to one or more embodiments of the present invention;

[0019] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of a control motherboard according to one or more embodiments of the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0020] The embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0021] It should be understood that the described embodiments are merely some, not all, of the embodiments of the present invention. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of the present invention without inventive effort are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0022] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of an AC charging system for an electric vehicle according to one or more embodiments of the present invention, such as... Figure 1 As shown, the system includes:

[0023] The control terminal and at least two AC charging management units, such as Figure 1 The example uses AC charging management units 1 to N. The input terminal of the control terminal is connected to the power grid, and the output terminal is connected to the input terminal of each of the AC charging management units via AC power supply lines; for example... Figure 1 In the middle, the control terminal is connected to AC charging management unit 1 and AC charging management unit N through AC power supply line 1 and AC power supply line 2 respectively.

[0024] The AC charging management unit is used to connect to the charging interface of the electric vehicle via a charging gun. After the electric vehicle is fully charged, it generates charging data for the electric vehicle and sends the charging data to the control terminal. Figure 1 In this example, the charging interface of the AC charging management unit is exemplified by the charging gun interface of the AC charging gun cable.

[0025] In this embodiment of the invention, the AC charging management unit and the control terminal are two independent devices, each with its own independent housing. The AC charging management unit, as part of a charging device directly connected to an electric vehicle, can have its housing designed in the form of a charging pile. However, since the internal structure of the AC charging management unit in this embodiment is simpler and has fewer internal components compared to existing charging piles, its housing can be designed as a smaller charging pile. The housing of the control terminal, for example, can be designed as an electrical cabinet to protect its internal components.

[0026] The charging data for the aforementioned electric vehicles may include, for example, charging account information (such as user account information), the amount of electricity charged, or charging duration. The AC charging management unit can transmit the charging data to the control terminal via wired or wireless communication.

[0027] The control terminal provides AC output to the at least two AC charging management units via the AC power supply line. After receiving the charging data from the AC charging management units, it sends the charging data to a server. This server can be, for example, a cloud server on a cloud platform, and the control terminal can communicate with the cloud server via wireless or wired communication. Upon receiving the charging data, the server generates charging billing information and sends it to the corresponding client device for the electric vehicle. The user can view the charging billing information and pay for the current charge through an app running on the client device.

[0028] The electric vehicle AC charging system of one or more embodiments of the present invention controls at least two AC charging management units through a control terminal. The AC power management units are connected to the electric vehicle, and the control terminal controls the AC charging management units to charge the electric vehicle. This reduces the number of components required in the AC charging management units, thereby reducing the size and cost of the AC charging management units.

[0029] In one or more embodiments of the present invention, the AC charging management unit can be installed near the parking space in the form of a charging pile. For example, one AC charging management unit can be installed for each parking space. The AC charging management unit can be installed near the parking space by means of a column support, or it can be installed on a wall near the parking space through positioning holes. Since the AC charging management unit of the present invention only exists as an intermediate device between the control terminal and the electric vehicle, it is not necessary to install communication modules for communication with the server, surge protectors, power-off retention circuits, and door magnetic detectors, etc., inside the AC charging management unit. Therefore, the AC charging management unit of the present invention, as a charging pile installed near the parking space, has a relatively simple internal structure, fewer components, smaller size, is easy to install, and occupies less space.

[0030] In one or more embodiments of the present invention, each of the at least two AC charging management units is respectively located near each parking space in a row of parking spaces. That is, one of the aforementioned control terminals can be connected to the AC charging management units in at least one row of parking spaces to manage these AC charging management units, thereby enabling multiple AC charging management units in at least one row of parking spaces to share a single control terminal to communicate with the server, thus reducing the number of wireless nodes that need to be set up. Especially for underground parking lots, due to the poor communication environment, it is usually necessary to connect signal amplification devices to the wireless modules of the charging piles communicating with the server for signal amplification. However, the number of nodes that the signal amplification device can connect to is usually limited. For this reason, a large number of signal amplification devices are usually required. However, in the embodiments of the present invention, the number of wireless nodes can be reduced, and the signal amplification device can be directly connected to the control terminal, thus requiring only a small number of signal amplification devices, which can significantly reduce costs. In addition, multiple AC charging management units in the embodiments of the present invention can also share a surge protector, power failure retention module, and some auxiliary devices in a single control terminal, reducing costs by reducing the number and size of internal components of the AC charging unit.

[0031] In one or more embodiments of the present invention, the charging management unit may include:

[0032] The first communication module, the AC meter, and the first display screen;

[0033] The first communication module is used to communicate with the control terminal; wherein, the first communication module can be a wireless communication module or a wired communication module, and the embodiments of the present invention do not limit it.

[0034] The AC meter is used to measure the charging amount of the electric vehicle.

[0035] The first display screen is used to display charging information for the electric vehicle. For example, the first display screen can be used to display information such as the current charging voltage, charging current, charging time, and amount of charge.

[0036] by Figure 2 The AC charging management unit shown is used as an example to illustrate the above-mentioned AC charging management unit. Figure 2 As shown, the AC charging management unit may include: a CAT1 4G wireless connection module (an example of the first communication module), an LCD display interface for connecting to an LCD screen (an example of the first display screen), an AC meter, a CAN (Controller Area Network) bus interface for CAN bus communication with the control terminal, a wall-penetrating terminal for mounting the AC charging management unit on a wall, LED indicators for indicating charging status, an RS-232 interface, a wireless connection unit for establishing a wireless connection with the control terminal, a vehicle connection interface (an example of the charging interface) for charging connection with an electric vehicle, and a power supply for powering the AC charging management unit's circuit board.

[0037] In one or more embodiments of the present invention, the control terminal may include:

[0038] Control motherboard, surge protector, and at least two residual current circuit breakers (RCCBs) corresponding to the at least two AC charging management units. Figure 1 The control terminal may include a set of surge protectors and a second communication module. The number of leakage protection switches shall be consistent with the number of AC charging management units connected to the control terminal, and one leakage protection switch shall be connected to one AC charging management unit.

[0039] The control motherboard is used to ensure that the AC input, after passing through the surge protector, is distributed to each AC charging management unit via the leakage protection switch corresponding to each AC charging management unit; the control terminal can be connected to each AC charging management unit through the AC power supply line, thereby inputting AC power to each charging management unit through the AC power supply line.

[0040] The second communication module is used to communicate with the server and the AC charging management unit.

[0041] by Figure 1 The control terminal in the AC charging system for electric vehicles shown in the illustration is used as an example to illustrate the control terminal of this embodiment of the invention. Figure 1 As shown, the control terminal may include:

[0042] The system includes a control motherboard, a display screen assembly, a surge protector, a multi-channel leakage current protection switch, and an AC power supply interface. The display screen assembly can be used to display multimedia information and / or information from the at least two AC charging management units. The AC power supply interface is used to connect to the power grid to obtain AC power. It should be noted that the display screen assembly is an optional component of the control terminal; that is, it can be installed on the control terminal as needed, or it can be omitted if the control terminal does not require display functionality.

[0043] In one or more embodiments of the present invention, the control motherboard may be provided with a power-down retention circuit, used to retain the charging data of the current charge in the event of an abnormal power outage during the charging of the electric vehicle through the AC charging management unit, and to send the charging data of the current charge to the server. This allows the server to complete the billing for the current charge based on the charging data, avoiding the problem of being unable to complete the billing for the current charge due to the loss of charging data caused by an abnormal power outage during the charging process. By placing the power-down retention circuit on the control motherboard within the control terminal, multiple AC charging management units connected to the control terminal can share the power-down retention circuit, thus eliminating the need to set up separate power-down retention circuits in each AC charging management unit. This not only reduces costs but also further reduces the size of the AC charging management unit.

[0044] In addition, if an abnormal power outage occurs during charging, the control terminal can also report the abnormal power outage information of the AC charging management unit to the server, so as to facilitate timely maintenance of the AC charging management unit that has malfunctioned.

[0045] In one or more embodiments of the present invention, the control motherboard may further include a first CAN bus interface, and the AC charging management unit may further include a second CAN bus interface. The control terminal is connected to the second CAN bus interface of the AC charging management unit through the first CAN bus interface. Based on this, the control terminal can communicate with the AC charging management unit it controls based on the CAN bus.

[0046] In one or more embodiments of the present invention, the control terminal may further include: a second display screen (the display screen assembly as described above), for displaying multimedia information and / or information of the at least two AC charging management units. Taking one control terminal corresponding to a row of parking spaces as an example, the control terminal may be set on one side of the row of parking spaces. The second display screen may be embedded in the control terminal, for example, displaying information of the AC charging management units managed by the control terminal. For example, it may display the identifier of each AC charging management unit managed by the control terminal, as well as the charging status information of each AC charging management unit. For example, it may display in real time whether the AC charging management unit is charging or in standby mode. The second display screen may be a touch screen, for example, allowing users to interact with the control terminal. For example, users may select the AC charging management unit they want to use on the control terminal, or view the charging status information of each AC charging management unit managed by the control terminal. In addition, the second display screen may play multimedia information, such as advertisements, in a loop in the default state for users to watch. Since one control terminal can correspond to multiple charging piles in multiple parking spaces, it is not necessary to play multimedia information on the display screen of each charging pile, or even to play multimedia information on the display screen of each charging pile. This reduces unnecessary disturbance to users and also reduces costs.

[0047] The following is Figure 3 As shown, the control motherboard is illustrated by example, such as Figure 3 As shown, the control motherboard may be equipped with: a CAT1 4G wireless connection module (an example of the second communication module mentioned above), an LCD screen display interface for connecting to an LCD screen (an example of the second display screen mentioned above), an Ethernet module (an example of the second communication module mentioned above), based on which the control terminal can communicate with the cloud platform via wired communication, a CAN bus interface for communicating with the AC charging management unit managed by the control terminal, an RTC (Real-Time Clock), a power-off retention circuit, a voice playback module for playing voice in multimedia information, a wireless connection unit for establishing a wireless connection with the AC charging management unit managed by the control terminal and the server, a USB (Universal Serial Bus) interface for establishing a USB connection with external devices, and a board power supply for supplying power to the control motherboard.

[0048] In one or more embodiments of the present invention, the control terminal can also be used to receive charging commands issued by the server. The charging command may specify a target AC charging management unit and send a start charging command to the target AC charging management unit to control its activation. In one example, each AC charging management unit has an independent QR code, which may be placed on the outer wall of the AC charging management unit's casing or displayed on its screen. After the user scans the QR code of the target AC charging management unit using an electric vehicle charging app running on the mobile terminal, the app sends the scanned information to the cloud platform. The cloud platform then issues a command (an example of the charging command) to the control terminal responsible for managing the target AC charging management unit. The control terminal issues a start charging command to the target AC charging management unit via the control bus. Upon receiving the start charging command, the target AC charging management unit starts. The user can then connect the charging interface of the target AC charging management unit to the charging interface of the electric vehicle, interact with the electric vehicle to complete the charging, obtain the charging data, and send the charging data to the control terminal via the control bus. The control terminal uploads the charging data to the cloud platform. The cloud platform calculates the charging billing information based on the charging data and sends the charging billing information to the user's App. The user can then pay for the charging in the App.

[0049] In one or more embodiments of the present invention, the AC charging management unit may further include:

[0050] The overvoltage protection circuit is used to disconnect the charging path when the charging voltage exceeds the voltage threshold.

[0051] An overcurrent protection circuit is used to disconnect the charging path when the charging current exceeds the current threshold.

[0052] An over-temperature protection circuit is used to disconnect the charging path when it detects that a component of the AC charging management unit (such as the charging interface of the AC charging management unit, the charging cable, etc.) exceeds a temperature threshold.

[0053] Therefore, during the charging of an electric vehicle via the AC charging management unit, overvoltage, overcurrent, and overtemperature protection can be implemented through the AC charging management unit. If any of these conditions is detected, one end of the AC charging management unit can control the disconnection of the current charging path to achieve charging protection and improve charging safety. The AC charging management unit may also include a relay, which can be used to connect or disconnect the charging path by closing or opening the relay.

[0054] It should be noted that, in this document, relational terms such as "first" and "second" are used only to distinguish one entity or operation from another, and do not necessarily require or imply any such actual relationship or order between these entities or operations. Furthermore, the terms "comprising," "including," or any other variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements includes not only those elements but also other elements not expressly listed, or elements inherent to such a process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitations, an element defined by the phrase "comprising one..." does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus that includes said element.

[0055] The various embodiments in this specification are described in a related manner. The same or similar parts between the various embodiments can be referred to each other. Each embodiment focuses on describing the differences from other embodiments.

[0056] In particular, the device embodiment is basically similar to the method embodiment, so the description is relatively simple. For relevant details, please refer to the description of the method embodiment.

[0057] For ease of description, the above apparatus is described by dividing it into various functional units / modules. Of course, in implementing this invention, the functions of each unit / module can be implemented in one or more software and / or hardware.

[0058] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of the present invention, but the scope of protection of the present invention is not limited thereto. Any variations or substitutions that can be easily conceived by those skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in the present invention should be included within the scope of protection of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present invention should be determined by the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. An AC charging system for electric vehicles, characterized in that, include: The system includes a control terminal and at least two AC charging management units. The input terminal of the control terminal is connected to the power grid, and the output terminal is connected to the input terminal of each of the AC charging management units via AC power supply lines. The AC charging management unit includes: a first communication module and an AC meter; the first communication module is used to communicate with the control terminal; the AC meter is used to measure the charging amount of the electric vehicle. The AC charging management unit is used to connect to the charging interface of the electric vehicle through the charging gun. After the electric vehicle is fully charged, it generates the charging data of the electric vehicle and sends the charging data to the control terminal. The control terminal is used to provide AC output to the electric vehicle through the AC charging management unit. After receiving the charging data sent from the AC charging management unit, it sends the charging data to the server. After receiving the charging data, the server generates charging billing information. The AC charging management unit does not have a communication module for communicating with the server. The AC charging management unit shares a single control terminal to communicate with the server, thereby reducing the size of the AC charging management unit. The control terminal includes a control motherboard, at least two leakage protection switches corresponding to the at least two AC charging management units, and a surge protector; the control motherboard is used to distribute the AC input to each AC charging management unit after passing through the surge protector and the leakage protection switch corresponding to each AC charging management unit; the AC charging management units share one surge protector in the control terminal. The control motherboard is equipped with a power-off retention circuit, which is used to retain the charging data of the current charge and send the charging data of the current charge to the server when an abnormal power failure occurs during the charging of the electric vehicle through the AC charging management unit.

2. The electric vehicle AC charging system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The AC charging management unit is installed near the parking space in the form of a charging pile.

3. The electric vehicle AC charging system according to claim 2, characterized in that, Each of the at least two AC charging management units is located near a parking space in a row of parking spaces.

4. The electric vehicle AC charging system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The AC charging management unit further includes: First display screen; The first display screen is used to display charging information for electric vehicles.

5. The electric vehicle AC charging system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The control terminal also includes: Second communication module; The second communication module is used to communicate with the server and the AC charging management unit.

6. The electric vehicle AC charging system according to claim 5, characterized in that, The control motherboard also includes a first CAN bus interface, and the AC charging management unit also includes a second CAN bus interface. The control terminal is connected to the second CAN bus interface of the AC charging management unit through the first CAN bus interface.

7. The electric vehicle AC charging system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The control terminal also includes: A second display screen is used to display multimedia information and / or information from the at least two AC charging management units.

8. The electric vehicle AC charging system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The control terminal is also used to receive charging commands issued by the server, wherein the charging command specifies a target AC charging management unit, and sends a start charging command to the target charging management unit to control the target charging management unit to start.

9. The AC charging system for electric vehicles according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that, The AC charging management unit also includes: The overvoltage protection circuit is used to disconnect the charging path when the charging voltage exceeds the voltage threshold. An overcurrent protection circuit is used to disconnect the charging path when the charging current exceeds the current threshold. An over-temperature protection circuit is used to disconnect the charging path when it detects that a component of the AC charging management unit exceeds a temperature threshold.

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