EV Charging Station Status Determination via Heartbeat Probability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Determining the online or offline status of electric vehicle charging stations is challenging due to the large number of stations, diverse models, and various communication protocols, leading to unreliable monitoring and high processing power requirements.
Innovation Solution
A method that determines an electric vehicle charging station's online status by calculating a temporary online time period based on the latest message received, with a probability function that decreases over time, triggering actions when the probability falls below a threshold, such as alerting maintenance or attempting a reboot.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If traditional monitoring methods are used to determine charging station status, then coverage of tens of thousands of stations is achieved, but reliability of status determination deteriorates due to diversity of models and protocols
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the monitoring parameter from protocol-specific status indicators to a universal heartbeat message mechanism. By standardizing on a simple periodic heartbeat protocol independent of charging station models or communication protocols, the system achieves reliable status determination across tens of thousands of diverse stations. The heartbeat interval and timeout parameters provide consistent, model-agnostic monitoring.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the monitoring function into independent heartbeat message transmission and status determination. Each charging station operates independently sending heartbeats, and the central system processes them individually. This segmentation allows reliable monitoring of each station without being affected by the diversity of station models and protocols, as each is monitored through its own heartbeat stream.
2Measurement precision
If continuous monitoring of all charging stations is implemented, then status determination capability is improved, but processing power requirements worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements periodic heartbeat messages instead of continuous monitoring. Charging stations send heartbeats at predetermined intervals, and the central system processes status updates only at these periodic moments. This dramatically reduces processing power requirements compared to continuous monitoring, while maintaining adequate status determination capability through regular periodic checks.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts only the essential status information through simple heartbeat messages, removing the need to process complex protocol-specific data. By taking out only the critical presence/absence indicator rather than monitoring all communication details, the system achieves sufficient status determination with minimal processing power.
3Power
If simple presence detection is used, then processing requirements are reduced, but detection time worsens due to lack of early warning
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by setting a timeout threshold that triggers offline status determination before complete silence occurs. When a charging station fails to send a heartbeat within the expected interval plus threshold, the system proactively determines offline status and can initiate maintenance actions early, rather than waiting for extended periods of no communication.
Data Source
AI summary
Various example embodiments relate to determining an online/offline status of an electric vehicle charging station. The charging station may be determined to be online for a period of time after reception of a message from the charging station. Further, probability (100) of the charging station for being online may be determined, and one or more actions may be initiated in response to the online probability decreasing below a predetermined threshold. A computing device (200,300), a method, a system and a computer program (306) are disclosed.