EV Charging Metering Checks for Unauthorized Energy Flow

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Solution Overview

Problem

Charging devices, especially EV charging devices, face challenges in ensuring the accuracy and reliability of energy metering due to potential technical malfunctions, hacking, and software bugs, which can lead to incorrect billing.

Innovation Solution

A method involving a monitoring unit that compares the start and stop total energy levels of consecutive charging sessions, using metering units to accumulate and track energy levels, and takes measures such as software resets or hardware interlocks to prevent unauthorized energy flow, ensuring accurate energy measurement and documentation of discrepancies.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If a charging device uses software for metering energy levels, then the device can operate and charge vehicles, but software bugs or hacking may cause incorrect energy metering and billing errors

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvetrustworthiness of metered energyVSAvoidsystem complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent introduces a monitoring unit as an intermediary component that independently verifies the energy levels metered by the charging device's software. This monitoring unit acts as a mediator between the charging device and the billing system, checking energy levels at transition points (before and after charging sessions) to detect any discrepancies caused by software bugs or hacking attempts, thereby ensuring reliable energy metering without requiring complete system redesign

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

The monitoring unit performs preliminary checks of energy levels before charging sessions begin and after they end. By checking the energy level before a charging session starts and comparing it with the energy level after the session ends, the system proactively identifies any unauthorized energy flows or metering errors before they affect billing, preventing rather than just detecting problems

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

2Measurement precision

If the monitoring unit checks energy levels frequently between charging sessions, then detection accuracy improves, but energy consumption and processing time increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedetection accuracy of energy level changesVSAvoidenergy consumption of monitoring unit

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSUse of energy by moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The monitoring unit performs energy level checks periodically at specific intervals - specifically before and after charging sessions rather than continuously. This periodic monitoring approach maintains sufficient detection accuracy to identify unauthorized energy flows while minimizing energy consumption and processing overhead compared to continuous monitoring, as the critical verification points are at session boundaries

Inventive Principle:

Principle #19Periodic action

Data Source

PatentEP4293859A1Method for metering a charging device, charging device, computer program element and computer readable medium

Publication Date: 2023.12.20 ABB E-MOBILITY BV

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AI summary

Method for energy metering of a charging device, in particular an EV charging device, comprising: - metering an energy level by at least one meter unit (11) during a charging session; - monitoring a total energy level of the at least one meter unit (11) with a monitoring unit (12) at least in between two consecutive charging sessions and break /interrupt energy transfer when non-intentional energy transfer is detected; and - comparing a start total energy level of a new charging session with a stop total energy level of a previous charging session.