Vehicle Charging System Power Line Communication Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional vehicle charging systems fail to accurately determine the charging power within the allowable limits of the external power source, leading to potential overcharging and activation of current limiters or breakers, which increases costs and inefficiencies.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle charging system that includes communication control units in both the charging cable and external power source for power line communication, allowing the system to calculate and transmit charging-allowable power, enabling the charging control unit to supply power within the safe limits of the external power source, preventing excessive power extraction and avoiding current limiter activation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the breaking current value of the external power source is made sufficiently-high, then the reliability of power supply is improved, but the cost of device constitution and consumption of electric power increases
Solution Approach 1:
The external power source performs power line communication with the charging cable to acquire information about the charging-allowable power, then feeds back control signals to adjust the output power accordingly. This closed-loop feedback mechanism enables the system to adapt to varying power availability without requiring an excessively high breaking current value, thereby maintaining reliability while reducing costs.
Solution Approach 2:
The breaking current value is made dynamically adjustable rather than fixed. The external power source can change the breaking current value based on the charging-allowable power information received from the charging cable, allowing the system to optimize between reliability and cost by setting the breaking current appropriately for each charging situation.
2Device complexity
If the charging circuit interrupt device determines interrupting current value only according to relay specifications, then the device complexity is reduced, but the measurement precision of allowable power is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
Power line communication serves as an intermediary mechanism between the external power source and the charging cable. Through this communication channel, the external power source receives information about the charging-allowable power from the charging cable, enabling precise determination of allowable power without adding complex dedicated sensing equipment to the charging circuit interrupt device.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system ensures adequate and efficient charging within the power limits of the external source, preventing overcharging and reducing the risk of current limiter activation, while improving the accuracy of charging current and completion time calculations for enhanced usability.
Implementation Method 1
a second communication control unit provided at the external power source and connected to the external power source line, being capable of communicating the first communication control unit due to power line communication through the electric power line and the external power source line
Data Source
AI summary
A vehicle charging system includes: a vehicle (14) provided with a battery (13) and a charging control unit (53); an external power source (11); a charging cable (12) provided with an electric power line (12L) and a first communication control unit (33); an external power source line (11L); a second communication control unit (24); a consumed power acquiring unit (23) acquiring consumed power (PIF); a charging-allowable power calculating unit (23) calculating charging-allowable power (PEV), and transmitting unit (43) and a control unit (34) provided at the charging cable.