Component power draw detection for electric vehicle charging station
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current electric vehicle (EV) charging stations require additional expensive sensors to detect the operational status of components like HVAC systems, adding technical complexity and cost.
Innovation Solution
The system measures currents corresponding to input power and those of reference components within the EV charging station, determining a remaining current and applying a comparison rule to assess the operational status of components, such as HVAC systems, without the need for additional sensors.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If additional current sensors are installed to detect component operational status, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses existing current sensors to detect both the total input current and the currents of individual reference components. By self-calculating the remaining current through subtraction, the system eliminates the need for additional dedicated sensors for component monitoring, thereby reducing device complexity while maintaining measurement precision
Solution Approach 2:
The existing current sensors are made multi-functional by using them to measure multiple parameters: the total input current to the charging station and the currents of various reference components. This universal usage of existing sensors eliminates the need for additional sensors, resolving the contradiction between measurement precision and device complexity
2Measurement precision
If additional current sensors are installed to detect component operational status, then measurement precision is improved, but cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system achieves component monitoring functionality using only the existing current sensors already present in the charging station. By calculating remaining current through software processing of existing sensor data, the system eliminates additional hardware costs while maintaining accurate component status detection
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of physically installing additional sensors to directly measure component currents, the system creates a virtual copy of the measurement capability through calculation. The remaining current is derived by subtracting measured reference component currents from total input current, providing accurate component status information without additional sensor hardware costs
Data Source
AI summary
An electric vehicle (EV) charging system is described herein. The EV charging system may be configured to determine if a component in the EV charging system is operating properly based upon current usage. For example, an EV charging station controller may measure a current corresponding to an input to an EV charging station. The EV charging station controller may further measure currents of reference components in the EV charging station, and then use the measured currents to determine if a component in the EV charging station is operating properly. In some examples, the component is a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) component in an EV charging station because it is particularly useful to know the operational status of an HVAC in EV charging systems (e.g., to ensure that the components charging the EV are the correct temperature).