MOTOR VEHICLE COMPRISING A TRACTION BATTERY PRECONDITIONING SYSTEM, METHOD AND PROGRAM BASED ON SUCH A VEHICLE

Abstract

The invention relates to a motor vehicle with a pre-conditionable battery (B), - a navigation system (N) comprising a route planning means and positions of charging stations (S); - a temperature sensor (T), - at least one data item (D) and a means for receiving said data item via a CAN network from among a travel time and a distance to the next charging station (S) on the route, as well as a state of charge on arrival; - a means for determining the need for pre-conditioning depending on whether the battery (B) is at an optimal temperature or not; - a means for determining sufficient energy in the battery (B) to arrive at said station (S) depending on said data item (D). The invention also relates to a method and a program based on such a vehicle. Figure 1

Description

Title of the invention: MOTOR VEHICLE COMPRISING A TRACTION BATTERY PRECONDITIONING SYSTEM, METHOD AND PROGRAM BASED ON SUCH A VEHICLE

[0001] The invention relates to the field of connected navigation and messaging systems in motor vehicles.

[0002] Today, in the applicant's vehicle system, there is a CAN data network for the signals of the connected navigation. The signals are exported from a navigation engine to the vehicle. These signals are made available for the operation of another driver assistance subsystem (so-called "AD AS system"). In the majority of cases, the signals concerning the "GPS position" of the vehicle are exported.

[0003] These signals are therefore produced by the navigation system for another subsystem.

[0004] The present invention concerns the resolution of two problems:

[0005] Firstly, one of the applicant's projects is to add a "functional block" to control the battery preconditioning setpoint. Battery preconditioning allows the battery to be prepared, brought up to temperature in order to preserve it before charging the vehicle on high-capacity chargers, but also to optimize the charging time.

[0006] The applicant intervenes in this loop as a journey planner (called “EV trip planner function”) linked to navigation. Indeed, for the control of the “battery pre-conditioning functional block”, it needs to consume new signals and information coming from the navigation system.

[0007] Today these signals are not made available on the vehicle network but are in complex software.

[0008] Second, the applicant is increasingly loading signals and data into its vehicles. The objective of the invention is therefore to reduce and optimize messaging.

[0009] As explained above, there is a software loop for triggering the battery preconditioning. Our invention makes it possible to greatly simplify this software loop to make it much simpler but just as effective by keeping internally at the requester, "the control instruction".

[0010] An objective of the present invention is to remedy the defects of the prior art, and in particular to propose a solution for the precise evaluation of the possibilities of pre- battery conditioning without risk of battery energy depletion.

[0011] To achieve this objective, the invention proposes a motor vehicle comprising a traction battery, a means for pre-conditioning the traction battery, a navigation system comprising a means for planning routes and charging station positions, a temperature sensor, characterized in that it comprises at least one piece of data and a means of receiving said data via the CAN network, said data comprising at least one of: - travel time to the next charging station on a journey; - a distance to the said next charging station on the route; - an estimated state of charge upon arrival at the said next charging station; the motor vehicle further comprising: - a means for determining the need for preconditioning determining whether the temperature of the traction battery is not optimal and whether there is a need to precondition the traction battery to reach an optimal temperature; - a means of determining sufficient energy determining, in the event of a need for pre-conditioning, whether there is sufficient energy in the traction battery to arrive at said charging station based on said data.

[0012] Advantageously, the invention makes it possible to propose a solution for precise evaluation of the possibilities of pre-conditioning the battery by means of the means for determining the need for pre-conditioning, while limiting the risk of exhaustion of the battery energy by means of the means for determining sufficient energy.

[0013] Preferably, the data further comprises a maximum power delivered by said next charging station, characterized in that the means for determining sufficient energy further determines, in the event of a need for pre-conditioning, whether the power delivered by said next charging station is greater than a power threshold.

[0014] This makes it possible to be adapted to batteries requiring a minimum power threshold.

[0015] Preferably, the means for determining sufficient energy further determines, in the event of a need for pre-conditioning, whether said next charging station comprises a super charger.

[0016] This makes it suitable for batteries requiring a super charger.

[0017] Preferably, the motor vehicle further comprises a messaging system for signaling said data, namely: - the travel time to the next charging station on the route; - the distance to the next charging station on the route; - the estimated state of charge upon arrival at said next charging station; and / or - preferably the maximum power delivered by said next charging station recharge.

[0018] This allows the user to be informed about the possibility of pre-conditioning.

[0019] The invention further relates to a pre-conditioning system comprising: - at least one motor vehicle according to the invention; and - at least one cloud server comprising said data and a means of CAN network connection to said motor vehicle, said server comprising means for evaluating said data.

[0020] The server makes it possible to relocate the computers and limit the calculation and memory requirements in the motor vehicle.

[0021] Another object of the invention relates to a method for pre-conditioning a battery of a motor vehicle according to the invention, characterized in that it comprises a reception step for receiving at least data via CAN network, said data comprising at least one of: - travel time to the next charging station on a journey; - a distance to the said next charging station on the route; - an estimated state of charge upon arrival at the said next charging station; the preconditioning method further comprising the following steps: - a step of determining the need for preconditioning in which it is determined whether the temperature of the traction battery is not optimal and whether there is a need to precondition the traction battery to reach an optimal temperature; - a sufficient energy determination step in which it is determined, in the event of a need for pre-conditioning, whether there is sufficient energy in the traction battery to reach said charging station based on said data.

[0022] Preferably, the data further comprises a maximum power delivered by said next charging station, characterized in that in the step of determining sufficient energy, it is further determined, in the event of a need for pre-conditioning, whether the power delivered by said next charging station is greater than a power threshold.

[0023] Preferably, in the step of determining sufficient energy, it is further determined, in the event of a need for pre-conditioning, whether said next charging station comprises a super charger.

[0024] Preferably, the pre-conditioning method comprises a step of signaling said data, namely: - the travel time to the next charging station on the route; - the distance to the next charging station on the route; - the estimated state of charge upon arrival at the said next charging station; and / or - preferably the maximum power delivered by the said next station recharge.

[0025] The invention further relates to a computer program comprising program code instructions for executing the steps of the preconditioning method according to the invention, when said program operates on a computer.

[0026] The invention will be further detailed by the description of non-limiting embodiments, and on the basis of the attached [Fig.l], schematically illustrating a motor vehicle and a system suitable for implementing the invention.

[0027] The invention relates to the provision of signals from a navigation system N of a motor vehicle with battery B, to trigger the preconditioning of battery B and to store internally at the requester, the preconditioning control instruction of battery B.

[0028] The main idea is to be able to make available at the vehicle terminals, signals coming from the navigation system N, allowing the triggering of the preconditioning of the battery B according to the current circumstances of the vehicle while optimizing the vehicle signaling messaging M.

[0029] The invention is part of the N navigation system but more particularly when using the journey planning function (or “EV trip planner” in English).

[0030] Indeed, this planner is the function allowing to set up during a route calculation via the navigation system N, stages and the stopping times necessary to recharge the vehicle to reach the destination desired by the user. Indeed, it is also possible for the planner to select super chargers which will require a particular arrangement of the battery B.

[0031] The first part of the operation of the invention is as follows:

[0032] Every 3 minutes, a navigation server provides only the following 4 pieces of information continuously on the CAN network: - the time in minutes before arriving at the next charging point (evolving dynamically); - the distance in km before arriving at the next charging point; - the estimated state of charge upon arrival at the charging point (evolving dynamically); and - the maximum power delivered by the charging station to the charging point.

[0033] These 4 signals are intended for the vehicle for the management and control of the pre-conditioning instruction of battery B. In the case of the invention, they are consumed by the vehicle system.

[0034] The use of these 4 generic signals without upstream filtering by the navigation or the navigation engine, allows on the battery side, to be able to trigger or not pre-conditioning of battery B when approaching any charging station S without filtering upstream of the charging station point of interest by generic navigation systems such as the TomTom™ brand.

[0035] The advantage of this technical concept is that we keep control internally at the requester's premises over the decision to launch pre-conditioning and to be able to make it evolve over time via the corresponding software loop, because the software logic will be kept on the vehicle side and not on the generic navigation engine side.

[0036] In particular, three possibilities of setting for the pre-conditioning of battery B: - either cool battery B; - either heat battery B; - or do nothing.

[0037] The purpose of preconditioning battery B is to increase charging performance, and to reduce charging times when using super chargers.

[0038] With the travel time and distance information, the preconditioning system informs itself of the remaining time before arriving at the charging point and checks whether it is able to make a preconditioning command of the battery B within the remaining time allowed.

[0039] With the estimated state of charge information on arrival, the preconditioning system estimates whether there will be enough energy left in the battery after preconditioning (because preconditioning consumes between 1 and 5% of state of charge depending on the outside temperature of battery B).

[0040] If the estimated state of charge on arrival is too low, preconditioning is not launched so that the user can still have energy in the battery in the event that he misses the charging point.

[0041] With the charger power information, the system filters on the vehicle side whether it is a super charger or not. For example, if the value is greater than 50KW, preconditioning is launched, otherwise it is not launched.

[0042] The fact that there is no upstream filtering by the generic browser makes it possible to keep more generic information and to manage improvements on the vehicle side over time so that the car manufacturer can decide whether or not to pre-condition the battery without having to make changes on the browser side over time. The activation logic is therefore retained on the vehicle side

[0043] The second step of the invention is the optimization of the existing software loop:

[0044] By using only the 4 signals mentioned above we also optimize the existing software loop in the messaging.

[0045] In the prior art specification, the messaging is dense and includes several raw information. Indeed, additional signals are returned on the network CAN to say if there is no charging station.

[0046] This reduces the bandwidth on the CAN network and clutters it. Our invention makes it possible to reduce the impact of information on the CAN or Ethernet network linked to the preconditioning of battery B.

[0047] Our invention therefore proposes to optimize and use the following messaging M by eliminating superfluous signals: - Estimated time to arrival (min): from 0 to 500; resolution: 1; preferred frequency: 10s; default value: 511; initial value: 511; restore value: last valid value; - Estimated distance to arrival (Km): from 0 to 1000; resolution: 1; preferred frequency: 10s; default value: 1023; initial value: 1023; restore value: last valid value; - State of charge estimate to arrival (%): from 0 to 100; resolution: 0.1; preferred frequency: 10s; default value: 102.3; initial value: 102.3; restore value: last valid value; - Maximum power (kWh): from 0 to 500; resolution: 1; preferred frequency: event; default value: 511; initial value: 511; restore value: last valid value.

[0048] The invention proposes to suppress the signals concerning the absence of a charging station, but to still obtain the information linked to this data.

[0049] Indeed, in our new software loop for the pre-conditioning of battery B, this signal is replaced for certain vehicles by the consumption of the default value existing in the frame of the other signals created above.

[0050] This means that if we use the default value of the signals listed above, we no longer need to have a signal dedicated to the absence of a charging station.

[0051] Indeed, if we send a default value on the CAN network, the system consumes this information and understands that we do not have a charging station S available.

[0052] We have therefore optimized the M messaging linked to our concept by consuming an element of the messaging frame, and not another signal.

[0053] The invention further relates to a preconditioning method and program implementing the elements discussed above. The program can be loaded into the memory of a controller of the motor vehicle.

Claims

Claims

1. Motor vehicle comprising a traction battery (B), means for preconditioning the traction battery (B), a navigation system (N) comprising means for planning a route and positions of charging stations (S), a temperature sensor (T), characterized in that it comprises at least one data item (D) and means for receiving said data item via a CAN network, said data item (D) comprising at least one of: - a travel time to the next charging station (S) on a route; - a distance to said next charging station (S) on the route; - an estimated state of charge upon arrival at said next charging station (S); the motor vehicle further comprising: - a preconditioning need determination means determining whether the temperature of the traction battery (B) is not optimal and whether there is a need to precondition the traction battery (B) to reach an optimal temperature;- a means for determining sufficient energy determining, in the event of a need for pre-conditioning, whether there is sufficient energy in the traction battery (B) to arrive at said charging station (S) based on said data (D).;

2. Motor vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the data further comprises a maximum power delivered by said next charging station (S), characterized in that the sufficient energy determining means further determines, in case of need for pre-conditioning, whether the power delivered by said next charging station (S) is greater than a power threshold.

3. Motor vehicle according to claim 2, characterized in that the means for determining sufficient energy further determines, in the event of a need for pre-conditioning, whether said next charging station (S) comprises a super charger.

4. Motor vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that it further comprises a signaling messaging system (M) for said data (D), namely: - the travel time to the next charging station (S) on the route; - the distance to said next charging station (S) on the route; - the estimated state of charge upon arrival at said next charging station (S); and / or - preferably the maximum power delivered by said next charging station (S).

5. Pre-conditioning system comprising: - at least one motor vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 4; and - at least one cloud server comprising said data (D) and a CAN network connection means to said motor vehicle, said server comprising means for evaluating said data (D).

6. A method for preconditioning a battery of a motor vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that it comprises a reception step for receiving at least one piece of data (D) via a CAN network, said data (D) comprising at least one of: - a travel time to the next charging station (S) on a route; - a distance to said next charging station (S) on the route; - an estimated state of charge upon arrival at said next charging station (S); the preconditioning method further comprising the following steps: - a preconditioning need determination step in which it is determined whether the temperature of the traction battery (B) is not optimal and whether there is a need to precondition the traction battery (B) to reach an optimal temperature;- a sufficient energy determination step in which it is determined, in the event of a need for pre-conditioning, whether there is sufficient energy in the traction battery (B) to arrive at said charging station based on said data (D).;

7. A preconditioning method according to claim 6, wherein the data further comprises a maximum power delivered by said next charging station (S), characterized in that in the step of determining sufficient energy, it is further determined, in the event of a need for pre-conditioning, whether the power delivered by said next charging station (S) is greater than a power threshold.

8. Preconditioning method according to claim 7, characterized in that in the step of determining sufficient energy, it is further determined, in the event of a need for preconditioning, whether said next charging station (S) comprises a super charger.

9. Preconditioning method according to any one of claims 6 to 8, characterized in that it comprises a step of signaling said data (D), namely: - the travel time to the next charging station (S) on the route; - the distance to said next charging station (S) on the route; - the estimated state of charge on arrival at said next charging station (S); and / or - preferably the maximum power delivered by said next charging station (S).

10. A computer program comprising program code instructions for performing the steps of the preconditioning method according to any one of claims 6 to 9, when said program is running on a computer.

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