Method and system for enabling wireless charging of an electric vehicle

Abstract

Method for enabling wireless charging of an electric vehicle (100a), EV (100a), the method comprising: Conducting a service discovery and negotiation via a Neighborhood Aware Network, NaN, by an EV (100a) to determine the charging compatibility of a WiFi-enabled charging station (120) or another EV (100b) with the EV (100a); Requesting a reservation from the charging station (120) or a charge from the other EV (100b) by the EV (100a), based on determining that the EV (100a) is compatible with the charging station (120) or the other EV (100b), by transmitting a request message containing a packet with the request via the NaN; the broadcasting of a message via the NaN by the charging station (120), wherein the message indicates a charging service provided by the charging station (120), wherein the broadcasting of the message by the charging station (120) includes indicating, by the charging station (120), vehicle classes supported by the charging station (120), a charging station (120) capability, a preferred payment method, an alignment support capability, a charging rate or charging costs, or a current waiting time to charge at the charging station (120); the receiving of the reservation from the charging station (120) by the EV (100a) via a reservation message transmitted over the NaN by broadcasting, and establishing a connection to complete wireless charging, the connection being made over a network other than the NaN; and encrypting the packet in the request message; Determining the compatibility of the charging station (120) or the other EV (100b) with the EV (100a) involves determining whether the vehicle classes supported by the charging station (120) or the other EV (100b) and the performance of the charging station (120) or the other EV (100b) match a vehicle class of the EV (100a) and the power requirements of the EV (100a).

Description

Technical area

[0001] The subject matter of the disclosure relates to packet communication to enable wireless charging of electric vehicles (EVs). introduction

[0002] EVs (e.g., automobiles, agricultural equipment, construction machinery) are becoming increasingly popular. As such, the infrastructure required to support these vehicles must evolve. Wireless charging stations for EVs are among the emerging technologies. Wireless charging stations can use Wi-Fi to both communicate with and charge EVs. Wireless charging stations can use Wi-Fi for communication and provide inductive charging to EVs by using an electromagnetic field to transfer energy. While gas station occupancy is a good indicator of wait time due to the one-to-one correspondence between each car and each pump, wait time at an EV charging station is difficult to estimate. Additionally, the type of vehicle being charged by a given charging station and its capabilities may not be apparent.Thus, a charging station can broadcast information over the Wi-Fi Neighbor Aware Network (NaN). While broadcast information can provide general information about the charging station (e.g., performance) to vehicles within the NaN communication range (e.g., less than one mile), this one-way communication may be insufficient to enable efficient charging.

[0003] DE 10 2016 209 192 A1 describes an electric vehicle charging station for multiple users. The electric vehicle charging station includes a mobile charging device intended for use at multiple parking spaces, as well as a controller operatively connected to the mobile charging device. A human-machine interface device communicates with the controller and includes an interface device including user-selectable statuses, including user identification of a specific parking space and the expected departure associated with the vehicle parked at the specific parking space.

[0004] Accordingly, it is desirable to provide packet communication that enables wireless charging of EVs. Description

[0005] The invention is defined by the independent claims. Advantageous further developments emerge from the dependent claims and the detailed description.

[0006] Service DiscoveryService DiscoveryThe stated features and advantages, as well as other features and functions of the present disclosure, will be readily apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Brief description of the drawings

[0007] Other features, advantages and details appear only by way of example in the following detailed description of the embodiments, which detailed description refers to the drawings, where: Fig. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary electric vehicle performing packet communication to enable wireless charging according to one or more embodiments; and Fig. 2 is a process flow of a method for performing wireless charging of an electric vehicle according to two or more embodiments. Detailed description

[0008] The following description is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the present disclosure in its scope or applications. It should be understood that throughout the drawings, corresponding reference characters designate like or corresponding parts and features.

[0009] As previously mentioned, a vehicle charging station can transmit information about the NaN through broadcasting. Thus, the vehicle charging station acts as a NaN terminal. The information transmitted through broadcasting may not be sufficient to efficiently set up and complete the charging process. For example, a specific EV may need to request additional information. This information does not enable a transaction between the charging station and a specific EV. For example, a specific EV may need to reserve a space at the charging station.

[0010] Embodiments of the systems and methods presented herein relate to packet communication to enable wireless charging of EVs. More specifically, the embodiments relate to packet communication over the NaN to perform service discovery and negotiation between an EV and a charging station or another EV that can provide charging before the Wi-Fi connection required for charging is established. According to one or more embodiments, communication over the NaN already used by a vehicle charging station may be employed to enable negotiation and establishment of a transaction between a particular EV and the charging station. In this vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) connection, packets are embedded in the same NaN frame used by the charging station to broadcast information.In further embodiments, communication over the NaN may enable a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) connection, allowing an EV to request charging from another vehicle, either wirelessly or via a battery-to-battery connection. Packets may be embedded and transmitted in Wi-Fi-enabled vehicles (e.g., EVs). The packets include encryption known to compatible charging stations and other compatible EVs. Thus, a receiving compatible charging station or EV within communication range of the NaN frame receives the message and decrypts the packet. The charging station's response may be part of its next broadcast or, as among EVs, in a packet directed to compatible EVs that are aware of the encryption scheme.A Wi-Fi connection will not be established to perform the charging process until the packet communication negotiations with the NaN are successful.

[0011] According to an exemplary embodiment, Fig. 1 shows a block diagram of an exemplary EV 100a that performs packet communication to enable wireless charging. The EV 100a in the exemplary case is a vehicle 101 and includes a battery 102. The EV 100a may include multiple radio access technologies (RATs) 110, such as those that provide access to cellular, Bluetooth, or Designated Short Range Communication (DSRC). Multiple cellular RATs may be available (e.g., fourth-generation Long Term Evolution (4G LTE), fifth-generation millimeter wave (5G mmWave)), and more than one Bluetooth client may be supported simultaneously. The EV 100a is in Fig. 1 with WLAN RAT 110. The WLAN RAT 110 enables the connection of encrypted packets via the NaN.

[0012] The EV 100a is also depicted with an infotainment system 105 that enables interaction between the systems of the EV 100a and an operator (e.g., driver) and a controller 115 that may be coupled to one or more vehicle systems, including the infotainment system 105 and the Wi-Fi RAT 110, to make vehicle charging decisions. The controller 115 includes processing circuitry, which may include an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or grouped), and memory executing one or more software or firmware programs, combinational logic circuitry, and / or other suitable components that provide the described functionality.

[0013] A second EV 100b is in Fig. 1. This second EV 100b is compatible with the EV 100a. That is, the EV 100a and EV 100b can communicate via the NaN using the same encryption scheme. The EVs 100a, 100b can be generally referred to as EV 100. For purposes of explanation, the EV 100a is discussed herein as the EV 100 that is to be charged, while the EV 100b is discussed herein as the EV 100 that is providing a charge. As such, the EV 100a can broadcast the need for a charge using the NaN. In response, or in general, the EV 100b can broadcast a willingness to provide a charge. Finally, communication between the EV 100a and EV 100b can enable wireless charging via a Wi-Fi connection or charging via a physical battery-to-battery connection 130, which can be used in Fig. 1. The communication between the two EVs 100 is further described with reference to Fig. 2 discussed.

[0014] A charging station 120 with Wi-Fi connectivity is also available in Fig. 1. The charging station 120 (i.e., the NaN port) includes an omnidirectional antenna 125 and can continuously send messages (i.e., service discovery frames) in the background so that a counterpart system such as the EV 100a can discover the charging station 120. In an alternative embodiment, the charging station 120 can default to a sleep state in which it does not send messages but continuously receives messages, and enter a wake mode based on an EV 100a sending a service discovery message searching for a charging station 120. According to any of these embodiments (e.g., continuously, upon entering wake mode), the charging station 120 can, for example, broadcast information in a NaN frame, referred to as a service discovery frame.The information may include the vehicle classes it supports, their capabilities, preferred payment method, connection capacity, charging rate or cost, or a current wait time based on the vehicles currently charging, vehicles with reservations, and their charge level.

[0015] Upon receiving the broadcast information from the charging station 120, the controller 115 of the EV 100a may make several determinations regarding its compatibility with the charging station 120 according to one or more embodiments. For example, the operator of the EV 100a may specify a maximum wait time via the infotainment system 105 directly or via a smart device paired with the vehicle 100. Thus, the controller 115 may determine whether the wait time communicated by the charging station 120 in the broadcast is within the maximum wait time specified in the infotainment system 105. The controller 115 may additionally determine whether the class of the EV 100a belongs to the supported vehicle classes specified in the broadcast from the charging station 120. The controller 115 may also determine whether the power capability of the charging station 120, as specified in the broadcast, is sufficient to charge the EV 100a.

[0016] Based on the compatibility requirements, if the controller 115 determines that the EV 100a needs to be charged by the charging station 120, the EV 100a may send a message to the charging station 120 requesting a charge—that is, a request for immediate occupancy or connection to the charging station 120 (in the case of a No Wait) or requesting a reservation (in the case of a Wait). The message from the EV 100a to the charging station 120 may be in the form of an encrypted packet embedded in a broadcast transmission via the NaN frame, similar to the service discovery frame broadcast by the charging station 120. The encryption may, for example, utilize an existing encryption scheme or a custom encryption scheme known to the EVs 100a of a particular manufacturer and compatible charging stations 120.

[0017] Once the reservation or immediate charging request is sent by the EV 100a, this represents the completion of service discovery and selection. At this point, the connection via NaN would be replaced with a connection via Wi-Fi or another type of connection (e.g., global positioning system (GPS), cellular, hotspot). The initial connection to determine compatibility with the needs of the EV 100a and the capabilities of the charging station 120, which is made via NaN without a connection session, consumes little power and bandwidth. This allows service discovery and negotiation to be performed even in confined environments or areas without cellular or hotspot connections.

[0018] Fig.2 is a process flow of a method for enabling wireless charging of an EV 100a according to one or more embodiments. At block 210, the EV 100a broadcasting a service request is an optional process to wake up a charging station 120, which may be in a sleep mode by default, or to receive a response from compatible EVs 100b within communication range. At block 220, the charging station 120 or compatible EV 100b broadcasting a service discovery frame refers to the charging station 120 or compatible EV 100b indicating information such as its capability and the vehicle types with which it is compatible. The charging station 120 may additionally broadcast the current wait time. The compatible EV 100b can also transmit its charging price in the broadcast, as the compatible EV 100b can charge a fee for charging (e.g.The compatible EV 100b can be a roaming charging station) or can be free as a favor among fellow EV drivers 100.

[0019] In alternative embodiments, the EV 100a and the charging station 120 may perform additional communication, at block 225, to determine the wait time for the EV 100a at the charging station 120. The EV 100a may request wait time information by embedding an encrypted packet containing the request in a NaN message frame. The charging station 120 may transmit the wait time information, for example, as a response in the broadcast.

[0020] At block 230, determining compatibility by the EV 100a includes determining, by the controller 115 of the EV 100a, whether the class of the EV 100a and its power requirements match the class compatibility and power capability indicated by the charging station 120 or the compatible EV 100b. The determining, at block 230, may additionally include the controller 115 obtaining maximum allowable wait time information from an operator via the infotainment system 105 and comparing the maximum wait time to the wait time indicated by the charging station. The determining, at block 230, may also additionally include the controller 115 obtaining a maximum acceptable charging fee from the operator.The determination at block 230 may result in the search for a charging station 120 continuing at block 250 if the charging station 120 or the compatible EV 100b is deemed unsuitable for any reason at block 230. The determination at block 230 may instead result in the EV 100a requesting a charge reservation (or an immediate charge request based on the wait time) from the charging station 120 or requesting a charge from the compatible EV 100b at block 240.

[0021] At block 260, the controller 115 of the EV 100a determines whether the reservation requested at block 240 was issued by the charging station 120 or whether the request to charge to the compatible EV 100b resulted in a positive response. If no reservation was issued or a request was rejected, then the search for a charging station 120 continues at block 250. If a reservation was issued by the charging station 120 or a request from a compatible EV 100b was approved, then establishing the connection for charging, at block 270, involves the EV 100a and the charging station 120 or the compatible EV 100b performing the processes to prepare for charging (i.e., establishing the connection via the NaN) and then performing the charging by establishing another connection. As previously noted, charging may occur via a physical connection 130 or wirelessly.If charging is wireless, there is no need to establish a Wi-Fi connection until block 270 if compatibility and availability have already been determined.

Claims

[1] A method for enabling wireless charging of an electric vehicle (100a), EV (100a), the method comprising: Performing service discovery and negotiation over a Neighborhood Aware Network, NaN, by an EV (100a) to determine the charging compatibility of a WiFi-enabled charging station (120) or another EV (100b) with the EV (100a); Requesting a reservation from the charging station (120) or a charge from the other EV (100b) by the EV (100a) based on determining that the EV (100a) is compatible with the charging station (120) or the other EV (100b) by transmitting a request message containing a packet with the request for the NaN; the broadcasting of a message about the NaN by the charging station (120), the message indicating a charging service provided by the charging station (120), the broadcasting of the message by the charging station (120) including indicating, by the charging station (120), vehicle classes supported by the charging station (120), a capability of the charging station (120), a preferred payment method, an alignment support capability, a charging rate or charging costs, or a current wait time for charging at the charging station (120); receiving the reservation from the charging station (120) by the EV (100a) via a reservation message broadcast over the NaN, and establishing a connection to complete the wireless charging, the connection being made via a network other than the NaN; and encrypting the packet in the request message; wherein determining the compatibility of the charging station (120) or the other EV (100b) with the EV (100a) includes determining whether vehicle classes supported by the charging station (120) or the other EV (100b) and the power capability of the charging station (120) or the other EV (100b) match a vehicle class of the EV (100a) and the power requirement of the EV (100a). [2] The method of claim 1, further comprising requesting compatibility information from the charging station (120) or the other EV (100b) by the EV (100a) via an information request packet in an information request message broadcast over the NaN, wherein the compatibility information includes vehicle classes supported by the charging station (120) or the other EV (100b) and a capability of the charging station (120) or the other EV (100b); and providing the compatibility information by the charging station (120) or the other EV (100b) in an information message broadcast over the NaN. [3] The method of claim 1, further comprising obtaining a maximum acceptable wait time by the EV (100a) from an operator of the EV (100a), wherein determining compatibility of the charging station (120) with the EV (100a) includes determining whether a current wait time displayed by the charging station (120) is shorter than the maximum acceptable wait time indicated by the operator. [4] A system for enabling wireless charging of an electric vehicle (100a), EV (100a), the system comprising: a battery (102) of the EV (100a); and a controller (115) of the EV (100a) configured to perform service discovery and negotiation over a Neighborhood Aware Network, NaN, to determine the compatibility of a WiFi-enabled charging station (120) or another EV (100b) with the EV (100a) and to request a reservation from the charging station (120) or the other EV (100b) based on determining that the EV (100a) is compatible with the charging station (120) or the other EV (100b), the request being transmitted as a request message over the NaN that includes a packet; wherein the charging station (120) is further configured to broadcast a message via a Neighborhood Aware Network, NaN, wherein the message indicates a charging service provided by the charging station (120), and the message broadcast by the charging station (120) includes an indication of the vehicle classes supported by the charging station (120), a capability of the charging station (120), a preferred payment method, an alignment support capability, a charging power or charging costs, or a current wait time for charging at the charging station (120); wherein the controller (115) is further configured to receive the reservation from the charging station (120) via a reservation message broadcast over the NaN and to establish a connection via a network other than the NaN to complete the wireless charging; and wherein the controller (115) is further configured to encrypt the packet in the request message; wherein determining the compatibility of the charging station (120) or the other EV (100b) with the EV (100a) includes determining whether vehicle classes supported by the charging station (120) or the other EV (100b) and the power capability of the charging station (120) or the other EV (100b) match a vehicle class of the EV (100a) and the power requirement of the EV (100a). [5] The system of claim 4, wherein the controller (115) is further configured to request compatibility information from the charging station (120) or the other EV (100b) via an information request packet in an information request message broadcast over the NaN, wherein the compatibility information includes vehicle classes supported by the charging station (120) or the other EV (100b) and a capability of the charging station (120) or the other EV (100a); and wherein the controller (115) is further configured to receive the compatibility information from the charging station (120) or the other EV (100b) in an information message broadcast over the NaN. [6] The system of claim 4, wherein the controller (115) is further configured to obtain a maximum acceptable wait time from an operator of the EV (100a); wherein the controller (115) is further configured to determine the compatibility of the charging station (120) with the EV (100a) by determining whether a current wait time indicated by the charging station (120) is shorter than the maximum acceptable wait time indicated by the operator; and wherein the controller (115) is further configured to determine the compatibility of the charging station (120) or the other EV (100b) with the EV (100a) by determining whether vehicle classes supported by the charging station (120) or the other EV (100b) and the power capability of the charging station (120) or the other EV (100b) match a vehicle class of the EV (100a) and the power demand of the EV (100a).

Images