EV Charging Outlet Station Fallback Power Control
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The challenge is to provide a reliable and cost-efficient solution for distributing electricity to electric vehicle users, particularly when they are away from their home charging point, ensuring that public charging stations operate robustly and efficiently even if the interface between the outlet station and the control node is broken.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a system where outlet stations apply a predefined power supply scheme, such as reducing power delivery to a maximum level divided by the number of connected stations or using a time-sharing procedure, if the interface with the control node is broken, while maintaining simplicity and low costs, and utilizing short-range radio links or power-line communication for interface implementation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If outlet stations are equipped with full control node interface and communication capabilities, then system reliability and coordination are improved, but device complexity and costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the outlet stations into two functional groups: controlled outlet stations that maintain full communication interfaces for optimal coordination, and uncontrolled outlet stations that use simplified predefined principles when control interface is unavailable. This segmentation allows the system to achieve reliability through multiple operational modes while reducing the complexity burden on individual stations.
Solution Approach 2:
Each outlet station is pre-configured with a predefined principle stored in its memory before any control interface failure occurs. This preliminary preparation ensures that when the interface breaks, the station can immediately switch to autonomous operation using the pre-stored principle, maintaining system reliability without requiring complex real-time decision-making capabilities.
2Power
If outlet stations operate autonomously with full power capacity when disconnected from control node, then power delivery capability is improved, but risk of exceeding maximum power level increases
Solution Approach 1:
When the control interface is broken, the outlet station applies the predefined principle that limits power delivery to a safe level (e.g., maximum level divided by the number of stations). This partial action approach ensures that while the station operates autonomously, it deliberately delivers less than full power capacity to compensate for the lack of centralized coordination, thereby preventing the total power supply from exceeding the maximum level and maintaining power supply safety.
3Ease of manufacture
If simple predefined principles are implemented in outlet stations, then ease of manufacture and deployment is improved, but adaptability to different operating conditions decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The predefined principle is designed to be universally applicable across all outlet stations regardless of their specific operating conditions. The same principle (e.g., dividing maximum power by number of stations) can be implemented in every station with identical logic, making the system easy to manufacture and deploy. Meanwhile, the principle's mathematical formulation inherently adapts to different scenarios by automatically adjusting power levels based on the number of connected stations and the defined maximum level.
Data Source
AI summary
Electric power is provided to motor vehicles via a respective outlet station. A number of outlet stations are connected to a common electric power supply, each with an interface towards a control node. Over the interfaces, the outlet stations receive operation commands from and send status messages to the control node. The control node allocates a fraction of the common electric power supply to each outlet station to which a motor vehicle is connected. The fractions are allocated such that a sum of all fractions represent a total delivered power, which is less than or equal to a predefined maximum level for the common electric power supply. If an interface between an outlet station and the control node is broken, the outlet station is configured to apply a power supply scheme according to which the outlet station is only allowed to deliver electric power up to a level prescribed by a predefined principle stored in each of the outlet stations.