SYSTEM FOR DISPLAYING AN ESTIMATE OF THE AVERAGE WAITING TIME AT A CHARGING STATION AND ASSOCIATED METHOD

Abstract

The invention relates to a system for displaying an estimate of an average waiting time at a charging station (100) for a predetermined duration, said charging station comprising at least one electric charging terminal, characterized in that said charging station (100) comprises a presence sensor (1) for detecting a vehicle being recharged at said charging terminal and at least one waiting sensor (2) at said charging terminal for detecting at least one vehicle in a queue of said charging terminal, said system comprising a controller (200) comprising means for calculating a number of vehicles present (M1) at each charging terminal, means for calculating the average waiting time (M2) at the charging station and means of communication (M3) between said controller (200) and at least one display panel (3) arranged on a highway. Figure 1

Description

Title of the invention: SYSTEM FOR DISPLAYING AN ESTIMATE OF THE AVERAGE WAITING TIME AT A CHARGING STATION AND ASSOCIATED METHOD

[0001] The invention relates to the congestion of electric charging stations at the edge of the highway by electric and hybrid motor vehicles.

[0002] Known from the prior art is a patent application WO2023039280 which describes an apparatus and a method for optimizing the planning, communication, data collection, availability and use of energy dispensers for vehicles powered without hydrocarbons. The apparatus comprises a reconfigurable display means for communicating the locations, the energy type and / or the refueling status of a plurality of energy dispensers. For example, the energy type is electricity or hydrogen. The various information mentioned is capable of being displayed in various forms. For example, the refueling status can be illustrated by a diagram. The invention serves to guide a driver in choosing a location for refueling his vehicle, and consequently to improve the flow of traffic at a refueling station. However, disadvantages remain.In fact, the device indicates to the driver a free space to refuel in order to avoid congestion at the station. The display means only indicates whether said space is free or not. The waiting time prior to refueling the vehicle is therefore not detected. If the driver therefore arrives at a free space, it is possible that another user, from the queue not detected by the invention, will first refuel his vehicle.

[0003] The objective of the present invention is to remedy these drawbacks by proposing a means allowing the driver to know, prior to entering a recharging station, the average waiting time at said recharging station.

[0004] To achieve this objective, the invention proposes a system for displaying an estimate of the average waiting time at a recharging station intended for the electrical recharging of an electric or hybrid motor vehicle for a predetermined duration, said recharging station comprising at least one electrical recharging terminal, remarkable in that said recharging station comprising a presence sensor for detecting a vehicle being recharged at said recharging terminal and at least one waiting sensor at said recharging terminal for detecting at least one vehicle in a queue at said terminal recharging system, said system comprising a controller comprising means for calculating a number of vehicles present at each recharging terminal, means for calculating the average waiting time at the recharging station and means of communication between said controller and at least one display panel arranged on a motorway.

[0005] Thanks to the invention, congestion at charging stations is reduced by directing drivers to charging stations with the least traffic.

[0006] Advantageously, said predetermined duration is calculated as a function of the power delivered by said charging terminal.

[0007] Thus, it is possible to associate a longer predetermined duration for an accelerated charging terminal compared to a predetermined duration for a fast charging terminal. The estimated waiting time is therefore more realistic.

[0008] Advantageously, said predetermined duration is equal to 25 minutes.

[0009] This is the average duration of a recharge, complete or not, carried out by a driver.

[0010] Preferably, said presence sensor and said at least one waiting sensor are ground sensors.

[0011] Installing ground sensors is easier than other types of sensors, for example, at height.

[0012] Advantageously, said system comprises a plurality of waiting sensors, said waiting sensors being spaced apart from each other by a distance greater than or equal to 3 m.

[0013] Preferably, said distance is 6 m.

[0014] The objective is to cover all queues at electric charging stations. A spacing of 6 m makes it possible to detect the number of vehicles without having to cover the entire queue with sensors.

[0015] Furthermore, the invention relates to a method for displaying the estimate of the average waiting time at a recharging station implemented by the display system described above, remarkable in that said method comprises: - a step of detecting the vehicle being recharged at each charging station by a presence sensor; - a step of detecting at least one vehicle in the queue of the charging station by said at least one waiting sensor; - a step of determining, for each charging station, the number of vehicles being charged and in the queue by the means of calculating the number of vehicles present to determine an estimated waiting time for each station;

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[0023] - a step of calculating the average waiting time at said recharging station by said average waiting time calculation means; - a step of transmitting the average waiting time to a digital display panel by said communication means; - a step of displaying the average waiting time on said at least one display panel. Advantageously, said transmission step is carried out by radio waves. Radio wave communication allows for wireless communication, requiring no new construction to connect said controller to said at least one display panel. Preferably, the radio waves are waves from a fifth generation network. The fifth-generation network is the most efficient, in terms of speed and stability, to date. Moreover, it is widespread in most countries with a large number of electric or hybrid vehicles. Preferably, during said display step, said display panel groups together a plurality of average waiting times for a plurality of charging stations. This way, the driver is guided from the motorway to the least congested charging station. The invention will be further detailed by the description of non-limiting embodiments, and on the basis of the appended figures illustrating variants of the invention, in which: - [Fig.l] schematically illustrates a system for displaying an estimate of the average waiting time at a charging station intended for the electrical charging of an electric or hybrid motor vehicle according to one embodiment of the invention; - [Fig.2] schematically illustrates, in the form of a flowchart, a process displaying an estimate of the average waiting time at a charging station. [Fig.l] schematically illustrates a diagram of the system for displaying an estimate of the average waiting time at an electrical energy recharging station for an electric or hybrid motor vehicle. The system implements a method for displaying the estimate of the average waiting time at the recharging station which is schematically illustrated, in the form of a flowchart, in [Fig.2]. The recharging station comprises at least one electric recharging terminal. The recharging terminal makes it possible to supply electrical energy to the electric motor of said electric or thermal motor vehicle. There are different types of charging stations, depending on the power they deliver. For example, there are accelerated charging stations delivering alternating current or direct current with an electrical energy output of less than 53 kW, fast charging stations delivering direct current with an electrical energy output of between 100 kW and 150 kW, and ultra-fast charging stations delivering direct current with an electrical energy output of more than 350 kW. Using a fast charging station has the advantage of reducing the time required to fully recharge the vehicle, but not all electric or hybrid vehicles are capable of supporting such high power.The charging station 100 comprises a presence sensor 1 arranged in front of each charging terminal in order to detect the presence or absence of a vehicle being charged. In addition, the charging station 100 comprises at least one waiting sensor 2 for each charging terminal. The at least one waiting sensor is capable of detecting a vehicle in a queue behind the vehicle being charged. If there are several waiting sensors 2 for the same queue of the same electric charging terminal, the waiting sensors 2 are spaced apart by a distance greater than or equal to 3 m. Preferably, each waiting sensor 2 is spaced 6 m from each other waiting sensor 2. Ideally, the presence sensors 1 and the waiting sensors 2 are ground sensors.The system comprises a controller 200 comprising a means for calculating a number of vehicles present M1 at each charging station, a means for calculating the average waiting time M2 at the charging station 100 and a means of communication M3 between said controller 200 and at least one display panel 3 arranged on a highway. To illustrate a non-limiting embodiment, [Fig.l] illustrates a charging station 100 comprising eight charging stations. Consequently, eight presence sensors 1 are represented. Each station comprises three waiting sensors 2. The hatched presence sensors 1 and waiting sensors 2 represent the sensors having respectively detected the presence of the vehicle being recharged and of the at least one vehicle in the queue. A waiting value is therefore assigned to each hatched presence sensor 1 and waiting sensor 2, the initial waiting value being the predetermined value.The arrows indicate the path of the information from the presence sensors 1 and the waiting sensors 2 to said at least one display panel 3. The path of the information corresponds to the method previously mentioned. During a step of detecting the vehicle being recharged E1, said presence sensor 1 of each charging station detects the presence of the vehicle being recharged. From the moment when said presence sensor 1 detects said vehicle being recharged, it is considered that said vehicle is . being recharged for a predetermined duration. Advantageously, the predetermined duration is calculated based on the power delivered by said charging station. Preferably, the predetermined duration is equal to 25 min. Indeed, if said charging station is the fast charging station, then the recharging duration will be estimated to be reduced compared to the recharging duration by the accelerated charging station. During a step of detecting at least one vehicle in the queue E2, said at least one vehicle in the queue is detected. During a step of determining the number of vehicles being recharged and in the queue E3, said means for calculating the number of vehicles present M1 determines the number of vehicles that are present at each charging station in total. The predetermined duration is allocated to each vehicle in the queue because it is the time required to recharge the vehicle.For example, when the predetermined duration is 25 min, it is determined that the vehicle being recharged takes a time of 25 min to recharge and that the recharging of said at least one vehicle in the detected queue will also take 25 min. If no vehicle in the queue is detected, the value of 0 min is assigned. In addition, if the vehicle being recharged finishes its recharging and leaves before the end of the predetermined duration, then the assigned value is 0 min, until said presence sensor detects a new vehicle being recharged to which said predetermined duration is assigned. Thus, an estimated waiting time is determined for each charging station.During a step of calculating the average waiting time E4, the waiting time calculation means M2 calculates the average of all the waiting times of each charging station in order to obtain the average waiting time of said charging station 100. During a transmission step E5, said communication means M3 makes it possible to send the average waiting time of said charging station from the controller 200 to said at least one display panel 3. Advantageously, the transmission is carried out by an emission of radio waves. Preferably, these radio waves are waves of the fifth generation network, otherwise called the 5G network. The 5G network is a telecommunications network whose capacity and speed are improved compared to other existing networks such as the LTE network (English acronym meaning Long Term Evolution) which is a less efficient fourth generation network.In addition, the 5G network has the advantage of being particularly stable. During a display step E6, said at least one display panel 3 displays the average waiting time for said charging station. As a reminder, said at least one display panel 3 is located on a highway. Thus, drivers of electric or hybrid motor vehicles know in real time the congestion status of said charging station before going there. In a mode of . alternative embodiment, said at least one display panel 3 provides information on the average waiting times of a plurality of charging stations 100. In this way, drivers are able to choose the charging station 100 at which the average waiting time is the shortest. This makes it possible to reduce congestion at the different charging stations 100.

Claims

Claims

1. System for displaying an estimate of the average waiting time at a charging station (100) intended for the electrical recharging of an electric or hybrid motor vehicle for a predetermined duration, said charging station (100) comprising at least one electrical recharging terminal, characterized in that said charging station (100) comprising a presence sensor (1) for detecting a vehicle being recharged at said charging terminal and at least one waiting sensor (2) at said charging terminal for detecting at least one vehicle in a queue at said charging terminal, said system comprising a controller (200) comprising means for calculating a number of vehicles present (Ml) at each charging terminal,a means for calculating the average waiting time (M2) at the recharging station and a means of communication (M3) between said controller (200) and at least one display panel (3) arranged on a motorway.,

2. System according to claim 1 characterized in that said predetermined duration is calculated as a function of the power delivered by said charging terminal.

3. System according to claim 1 or 2 characterized in that said predetermined duration is equal to 25 minutes.

4. System according to any one of claims 1 to 3 characterized in that said presence sensor (1) and said at least one waiting sensor (2) are ground sensors.

5. System according to any one of claims 1 to 4 characterized in that said system comprises a plurality of waiting sensors, said waiting sensors (2) being spaced from each other by a distance greater than or equal to 3 m.

6. System according to claim 5 characterized in that said distance is 6 m.

7. Method for displaying the estimate of the average waiting time at a recharging station implemented by the display system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that said method comprises: - a step of detecting the vehicle being recharged (El) at each recharging terminal by a presence sensor (1); - a step of detecting at least one vehicle in the queue (E2) of the charging station by said at least one waiting sensor (2); - a step of determining, for each charging station, the number of vehicles being recharged and in the queue (E3) by the means for calculating the number of vehicles present (M1) to determine an estimated waiting time for each station; - a step of calculating the average waiting time (E4) at said charging station by said means for calculating the average waiting time (M2); - a step of transmitting (E5) the average waiting time to a digital display panel by said communication means (M3); - a step of displaying (E6) the average waiting time on said at least one display panel (3).

8. Method according to claim 7 characterized in that said transmission step (E5) is carried out by radio waves.

9. Method according to claim 8 characterized in that the radio waves are waves of a fifth generation network.

10. Method according to any one of claims 7 to 9 characterized in that, during said display step (E6), said display panel groups together a plurality of average waiting times for a plurality of recharging stations.

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