EV Route Guidance Device for Geofencing Zone Destination Reachability

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing travel route guidance systems for electric vehicles (EVs) within geofencing zones may fail to ensure the vehicle reaches its destination due to insufficient state of charge (SOC) or battery temperature, leading to potential destination unreachability.

Innovation Solution

A travel route guidance device that includes a route determination unit to assess the vehicle's ability to reach the destination based on SOC and battery temperature, and a route search unit to find alternative routes with power supply options, automatically setting and displaying these routes to the driver, while also considering engine starting or zone exit penalties.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Object-affected harmful factors

If the vehicle travels within the geofencing zone using EV mode, then the vehicle can operate in a restricted emission zone, but the vehicle may fail to reach the destination due to insufficient state of charge or battery temperature

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveemission control complianceVSAvoiddestination reachability
Core Design Contradiction:
Object-affected harmful factorsVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary determination of destination reachability based on current SOC and battery temperature before the vehicle enters the geofencing zone. If the determination is negative, the system proactively searches for and sets alternative routes with power supply facilities, preventing the reliability issue before it occurs during actual travel

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system introduces power supply facilities (charging stations) as intermediary elements in the travel route. When the vehicle cannot reach the destination within the geofencing zone on EV power alone, the route search unit finds routes that include intermediate power supply points, effectively mediating between the geofencing constraint and the vehicle's energy limitations

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Reliability

If the system searches for alternative routes with power supply facilities, then the vehicle can reach the destination, but the route determination process becomes more complex

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedestination reachabilityVSAvoidroute determination complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs route determination with power supply facilities only when necessary - specifically when the initial EV-only route determination fails. This conditional approach avoids the complexity of always searching for power supply routes, while still ensuring destination reachability when needed

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The route determination process is segmented into two distinct stages: first determining if the destination is reachable on EV power alone within the geofencing zone, and only if that fails, then searching for alternative routes with power supply facilities. This segmentation simplifies the overall system by activating the complex search function only when required

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Data Source

PatentEP3919866A1Travel route guidance device
Publication Date: 2021.12.08 TOYOTA JIDOSHA KK
  • EP3919866A1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3919866A1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP3919866A1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

To provide a travel route guidance device capable of increasing a probability for a vehicle to reach the destination within a geofencing zone, the travel route guidance device includes: a route determination unit determining, in a case where a vehicle is EV traveling to the destination within a geofencing zone set in advance, whether the vehicle succeeds in reaching the destination in the current state of the vehicle; and a route search unit searching for, in a case where the route determination unit determines that the vehicle fails to reach the destination, a route to the destination, wherein power can be supplied to the vehicle in the middle of the route.