Wireless electric power sharing between vehicles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10468897-B2
Application number	US-201615293491-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 14, 2016
Priority date	Oct 14, 2016
Publication date	Nov 5, 2019
Grant date	Nov 5, 2019

Abstract

The disclosure involves wireless electric power sharing between vehicles. A first vehicle sends a charging request, wherein the first vehicle is at least partially powered by a first on-board rechargeable electricity storage. The first vehicle receives a response to the charging request from a second vehicle which is at least partially powered by a second on-board rechargeable electricity storage, and a communication channel is established between the first and second vehicles. The first on-board rechargeable electricity storage is charged using energy stored in the second on-board rechargeable electricity storage and wirelessly transferred from the second vehicle to the first vehicle. The charging is controlled with information exchanged between the first and second vehicles over the communication channel.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
a processor; and
a computer-readable memory unit coupled to the processor, the memory unit comprising instructions that when executed by the processor cause a first vehicle which is at least partially powered by a first on-board rechargeable electricity storage to:
send a charging request to a plurality of vehicles within a particular range from the first vehicle that are able to provide the charge;
receive a response to the charging request from a second vehicle which is at least partially powered by a second on-board rechargeable electricity storage;
establish a communication channel between the first and second vehicles; and
charge the first on-board rechargeable electricity storage using energy stored in the second on-board rechargeable electricity storage and wirelessly transferred from the second vehicle to the first vehicle, wherein the charging is controlled with information exchanged between the first and second vehicles over the communication channel.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the charging occurs while both the first and the second vehicles are in motion.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein a relative position of the first vehicle with respect to the second vehicle is automatically adjusted during the charging to ensure effective energy transfer from the second vehicle to the first vehicle by keeping a predetermined distance between the first vehicle and second vehicle.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the relative position is adjusted based on the information exchanged between the first and second vehicles over the communication channel.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the energy is wirelessly transferred through coils provided in the first vehicle and the second vehicle, and wherein a common magnetic resonant frequency of the coils is negotiated between the first and second vehicles over the communication channel.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first vehicle comprises a plurality of energy receivers disposed at different positions of the first vehicle, each of the energy receivers configured to charge the first on-board rechargeable electricity storage, and wherein at least one of the plurality of energy receivers having the highest coupling efficiency with the second vehicle is selected to charge the first on-board rechargeable electricity storage by receiving the energy from the second vehicle.

7. A computer program product, comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a processor to cause a first vehicle which is at least partially powered by a first on-board rechargeable electricity storage to:
send a charging request to a plurality of vehicles within a particular range from the first vehicle that are able to provide the charge;
receive a response to the charging request from a second vehicle which is at least partially powered by a second on-board rechargeable electricity storage;
establish a communication channel between the first and second vehicles; and
charge the first on-board rechargeable electricity storage using energy stored in the second on-board rechargeable electricity storage and wirelessly transferred from the second vehicle to the first vehicle, wherein the charging is controlled with information exchanged between the first and second vehicles over the communication channel.

8. The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein the charging occurs while both the first and the second vehicles are in motion.

9. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein a relative position of the first vehicle with respect to the second vehicle is automatically adjusted during the charging to ensure effective energy transfer from the second vehicle to the first vehicle by keeping a predetermined distance between the first vehicle and second vehicle.

10. The computer program product of claim 9 , wherein the relative position is adjusted based on the information exchanged between the first and second vehicles over the communication channel.

11. The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein the energy is wirelessly transferred through coils provided in the first vehicle and the second vehicle, and wherein a common magnetic resonant frequency of the coils is negotiated between the first and second vehicles over the communication channel.

12. The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein the first vehicle comprises a plurality of energy receivers disposed at different positions of the first vehicle, each of the energy receivers configured to charge the first on-board rechargeable electricity storage, and wherein at least one of the plurality of energy receivers having the highest coupling efficiency with the second vehicle is selected to charge the first on-board rechargeable electricity storage by receiving the energy from the second vehicle.

13. The system of claim 3 , wherein:
at least one of the first vehicle and the second vehicle monitors a relative distance between the first vehicle and the second vehicle using at least one on-board sensor; and
information pertaining to the relative distance between the first vehicle and the second vehicle is communicated between the first vehicle and the second vehicle.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein:
the at least one of the first vehicle and the second vehicle monitors a relative distance between the first vehicle and the second vehicle while the first vehicle and the second vehicle are in motion.

15. The computer program product of claim 9 , wherein:
at least one of the first vehicle and the second vehicle monitors a relative distance between the first vehicle and the second vehicle using at least one on-board sensor; and
information pertaining to the relative distance between the first vehicle and the second vehicle is communicated between the first vehicle and the second vehicle.

16. The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein:
the at least one of the first vehicle and the second vehicle monitors a relative distance between the first vehicle and the second vehicle while the first vehicle and the second vehicle are in motion.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Fan Si Bin
• Liang Ge
• Sheng Hao
• Zhang Hai Dong
• Zhu Jinfan

Classifications

• H02J2105/37

  exchanging power with electric vehicles [EV] or with hybrid electric vehicles [HEV] · CPC title

• H02J7/42

  with electronic devices having internal batteries, e.g. mobile phones · CPC title

• H02J7/342

  The other DC source being a battery actively interacting with the first one, i.e. battery to battery charging (with circuits for polarity protection H02J7/68) · CPC title

• Y02T90/14

  Plug-in electric vehicles · CPC title

• Y02T10/7072

  Electromobility specific charging systems or methods for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors · CPC title