Electric vehicle automatic charging station

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10604027-B2
Application number	US-201615150500-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 10, 2016
Priority date	Oct 19, 2015
Publication date	Mar 31, 2020
Grant date	Mar 31, 2020

Abstract

A structure is provided. The structure may include an alignment mechanism used to align an electric vehicle in a parking lane of an electric vehicle charging station, and a coupler assembly including an arm and a charging coupler located in the parking lane and positioned beneath the electric vehicle, the charging coupler is positioned at one end of the arm, and is moveable in a vertical direction relative to the parking lane, and another end of the arm is pivotally mounted in the parking lane, where the charging coupler includes one or more electrical contacts in a shape of a right conical frustum extending from the charging coupler in the vertical direction.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A structure comprising:
an alignment mechanism used to align an electric vehicle in a parking lane of an electric vehicle charging station;
a terminal comprising a display and an interface and a wireless communication device, the wireless communication device receives vehicle information, the vehicle information comprises charging parameters specific to the electric vehicle;
an electromagnetic sensor used to detect a presence of the electric vehicle in the parking lane and to activate the terminal to initiate charging of a battery in the electric vehicle;
a coupler assembly comprising an arm and a charging coupler located in the parking lane and positioned beneath the electric vehicle, the charging coupler is positioned at one end of the arm, and is moveable in a vertical direction relative to the parking lane, and another end of the arm is pivotally mounted in the parking lane, wherein the charging coupler comprises one or more electrical contacts in a shape of a right conical frustum extending from the charging coupler in the vertical direction, wherein each of the electrical contacts partially overlaps a circular protrusion mount, an insulator surrounding each of the protrusion mounts, and a compression spring surrounding each of the insulators, wherein the protrusion mount, the insulator and the compression spring are mounted on a main slide, wherein the main slide is mounted directly on the charging coupler and is held in place by one or more spring clips, wherein the charging coupler is removably mounted to the coupler assembly and is replaceable when worn out,
wherein a receptacle housing of the battery in the electric vehicle aligns with the coupler assembly when the electric vehicle is in the parking lane, wherein the receptacle housing is removably mounted and is replaceable when worn out; and
a cleaning device for cleaning a corresponding receptacle of the electric vehicle, wherein the receptacle aligns with the coupler assemble.

2. The structure according to claim 1 , wherein the alignment mechanism comprises a visual indicator to identify a boundary of the parking lane to an operator of the electric vehicle and ensure alignment of the electric vehicle in the parking lane.

3. The structure according to claim 1 , wherein the alignment mechanism comprises an optical sensor and an alignment indicator, wherein the optical sensor detects a position of the electric vehicle in the parking lane and the alignment indicator is coupled to the optical sensor and indicates an alignment of the electric vehicle based on its position to an operator of the electric vehicle.

4. The structure according to claim 1 , wherein the coupler assembly is movable in a horizontal direction relative to the parking lane.

5. The structure according to claim 1 , wherein the wireless communication device comprises a Radio-Frequency Identification (hereinafter referred to as “RFID”) reader.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Dow Eli M
• Gilchrist James P
• Lewis Brendan C
• Mcmillan Khaalid P
• Nycz Christopher J

Classifications

• B60L53/20

  characterised by converters located in the vehicle · CPC title

• Y02T90/14

  Plug-in electric vehicles · CPC title

• B60L53/65

  involving identification of vehicles or their battery types · CPC title

• B60L53/36

  by positioning the vehicle · CPC title

• B60L53/51 Primary

  Photovoltaic means · CPC title