Bi-Directional Vehicle Charging With Ranked Vehicle Matching
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Electric vehicle range is limited by battery charge level, and existing charging methods do not efficiently utilize electrical energy from other vehicles for charging.
Innovation Solution
A system where a remote computer identifies and ranks candidate power-supplying vehicles based on availability and suitability, navigates both vehicles to a charging location, and controls lighting and audio cues for efficient charging connection and status updates.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a vehicle needs to charge its battery, then it must connect to a power source, but existing methods do not efficiently utilize other vehicles as power sources
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables vehicles to serve dual functions: they can both consume power (as power-receiving vehicles) and provide power (as power-supplying vehicles). This multi-functionality allows any vehicle in the network to act as either role depending on its battery charge level and the needs of other vehicles, thereby expanding charging source options while improving overall system efficiency through peer-to-peer energy sharing.
2Reliability
If a remote computer identifies and ranks multiple candidate power-supplying vehicles, then the most suitable vehicle can be selected, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The remote computer acts as an intermediary that manages the complexity of identifying, ranking, and selecting suitable power-supplying vehicles. By centralizing this coordination function, the system can reliably match power-receiving vehicles with optimal power sources based on multiple criteria (availability, suitability, proximity) without requiring complex peer-to-peer negotiation protocols between vehicles, thus improving reliability while managing system complexity through centralized control.
3Ease of operation
If navigation instructions are provided to guide vehicles to charging locations, then charging connectivity is improved, but the time required for charging setup increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides navigation instructions in advance to guide both power-receiving and power-supplying vehicles to the optimal charging location before the actual charging connection is made. By preparing the routing and location information beforehand, the system simplifies the on-site connection process and reduces the time required for manual vehicle positioning and connector alignment, thereby improving ease of operation while minimizing time loss through proactive guidance.
Data Source
AI summary
A computer can execute instructions to: receive power-receiving vehicle data identifying a power-receiving vehicle; identify one or more power-supplying vehicles for providing charging to the power-receiving vehicle; determine a rank for each of the identified one or more power-supplying vehicles based on the received power-receiving vehicle data and data received from the one or more power-supplying vehicles; upon selecting one of the one or more power-supplying vehicles, provide a navigation instruction to navigate at least one of the power-receiving vehicle and the selected power-supplying vehicle to a charging location based on a power-receiving vehicle location and a selected power-supplying vehicle location; and send access data to the power-receiving vehicle to access a charge port of the selected power-supplying vehicle; send a first light actuation instruction to the power-supplying vehicle based on a charging status; and send a second light actuation instruction to the power-receiving vehicle based on charging status.