Vehicle Charging Control for Parallel Software Updates
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Solution Overview
Problem
Software updates in vehicles often take longer due to increased data rewriting, leading to incomplete updates during external charging, resulting in power consumption and decreased battery state of charge, and requiring re-authentication upon restart.
Innovation Solution
A control device and method that reduces external charging power when software updates and charging are performed in parallel, ensuring the update is completed within the charging time, thereby minimizing power consumption and avoiding re-authentication needs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If external charging power is reduced to complete software update during charging, then software update completion is achieved, but charging time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The charging power is dynamically adjusted based on the software update progress and remaining time. The control device monitors the update status in real-time and modulates the charging power accordingly, transitioning from high power when update is complete to reduced power when update is in progress, thereby adapting the charging process to the software update requirements
Solution Approach 2:
The charging power parameter is changed from a constant high value to a variable value that decreases when software update is detected. This parameter change allows the system to prioritize software update completion over charging speed, ensuring the update finishes within the charging timeframe
2Productivity
If software update is executed during external charging, then power consumption occurs during update, but state of charge of power storage device decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The external charging power is set to a level that exceeds the software update power consumption requirements. By providing more charging power than the update consumes, the system ensures that the net energy flow is positive, preventing the state of charge from decreasing while still completing the update process
Solution Approach 2:
The system maintains continuous charging throughout the software update process without interruption. The charging action continues concurrently with the update, ensuring uninterrupted power supply to both the update process and the power storage device, thereby preventing charge depletion
3Loss of energy
If external charging is restarted after temporary termination to compensate for update power consumption, then power consumption is recovered, but re-authentication is required
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary calculation to determine that the initial charging power is sufficient to cover both the software update consumption and the required charge replenishment. By anticipating the total energy requirement in advance, the system eliminates the need for charging termination and restart, thereby avoiding re-authentication
Solution Approach 2:
The software update process and the charging process are merged into a single concurrent operation. Instead of separating them into sequential steps (charge then update, or update then charge), the system executes both simultaneously with coordinated power management, eliminating the need for intermediate charging termination and restart
Data Source
AI summary
A control device that is mounted on a vehicle including a power storage device, the control device includes a processor. The processor is configured to, when external charging and update of software used in the vehicle are executed in parallel, reduce charging power in the external charging such that a predicted update time needed for the update of the software is less than a predicted charging time needed for the external charging in a case where a time condition is satisfied in which the predicted update time is equal to or longer than the predicted charging time, the external charging being charging of the power storage device using power from an external power source that is provided outside of the vehicle.