Server Calculating EV Charging Congestion Index
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems for providing charging information to electric vehicles do not account for potential demand from vehicles that have not reserved charging stations, leading to inefficiencies and congestion at charging stations.
Innovation Solution
A system that calculates a congestion index for each charging station by considering both the number of vehicles that can access it and their historical usage patterns, allowing users to select stations with lower congestion indices to minimize wait times.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a user checks charger availability by going to the charger, then the user can confirm charger status, but the user wastes time traveling and waiting at chargers
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a server as an intermediary that collects real-time charger status information from multiple chargers and vehicle information from users, then provides this processed information back to users via their vehicles. This mediator eliminates the need for users to physically visit chargers to check availability, resolving the contradiction between obtaining accurate information and wasting time.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by proactively collecting and processing charger status information and vehicle data before users need it. The server continuously monitors charger availability and calculates wait times in advance, so when users query for charging information, they receive pre-computed results without having to travel to chargers to check status.
2Device complexity
If charging wait time information is provided based on reserved vehicles only, then the calculation is simple, but potential demand from non-reserved vehicles is ignored leading to inaccurate congestion assessment
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a dynamic calculation approach where the server continuously updates charging wait time information by processing both reserved vehicle data and real-time vehicle query data. The system adapts to changing conditions by recalculating wait times based on current charger status and vehicle arrivals, making the congestion assessment accurate while maintaining computational efficiency through incremental updates.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the vehicle population into different categories (reserved vehicles and non-reserved vehicles) and processes their information separately before combining the results. This segmentation allows the system to handle complex multi-vehicle interactions systematically, improving accuracy without overwhelming computational complexity by breaking down the problem into manageable segments.
Data Source
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AI summary
A server (5) calculates, for each of a plurality of vehicles (1 to 4), a total number of chargers within an accessible range of a vehicle to calculate a reduced number so that the greater the total number of chargers is, the less the reduced number is, the reduced number representing a likelihood that the vehicle would arrive at each of the chargers. The server (5) calculates, for each of the at least one charger, an effective number of vehicles which may use a charger to conduct external charging, by summing reduced numbers. The server (5) calculates an index indicating a potential demand for external charging at the at least one charger based on the effective number.