Multi-outlet vehicle charge device and control strategy

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10723239-B2
Application number	US-201816023598-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 29, 2018
Priority date	Jun 29, 2018
Publication date	Jul 28, 2020
Grant date	Jul 28, 2020

Abstract

A vehicle charge station including charge cords and a controller is provided. Each of the charge cords may include an electrical connector to mate with a vehicle. The controller may be programmed to, responsive to detecting a first active one of the charge cords having a change in current draw greater than a second active one of the charge cords for a same time period, increase power provided to the first active one of the charge cords. The controller may be further programmed to, responsive to detecting the first active one of the charge cords having a continually active duration less than the second active one of the charge cords for another same time period, increase power provided to the first active one of the charge cords.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle charge station comprising:
charge cords each including an electrical connector to mate with a vehicle; and
a controller programmed to,
responsive to detecting a first vehicle being mated with a first active one of the charge cords and a second vehicle being mated with a second active one of the charge cords, calculate a priority score for each of the first and second vehicles based on duration of connection, state of charge, and price paid to access the charge station,
responsive to the priority score of the first vehicle being greater than the priority score of the second vehicle, send a notice to a user device associated with the second vehicle indicating a lower priority score for the second vehicle and an option to increase the priority score for the second vehicle by payment of additional fees, and
responsive to payment of the additional fees, allocate more charging current to the second vehicle than to the first vehicle, otherwise allocate more charging current to the first vehicle than to the second vehicle.

2. The station of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further programmed to, responsive to detecting the first active one of the charge cords having a continually active duration less than the second active one of the charge cords for a same time period, increase power provided to the first active one of the charge cords.

3. The station of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further programmed to, responsive to detecting a first state of charge associated with the first vehicle being less than a second state of charge associated with the second vehicle mated, increase power provided to the first active one of the charge cords.

4. The station of claim 1 , wherein the electrical connectors each include electronics to interface with a vehicle control unit to identify vehicle operating condition.

5. A vehicle charge station comprising:
charge cords each including an electrical connector to mate with a vehicle; and
a controller programmed to
responsive to detecting parameters describing power flow from a power source through active ones of the charge cords to corresponding vehicles, alter charge currents of the active ones of the charge cords to prioritize charging of the corresponding vehicles according to a predefined set of rules applied to the parameters, wherein the predefined set of rules reflect calculation of a priority score based on parameters including duration of connection, state of charge, and price paid to access to the charge station,
responsive to detecting the priority score of a first vehicle becoming less than the priority score of a second vehicle, send a notice to a user device associated with the first vehicle indicating an option to increase the first priority score by payment of additional fees, and
responsive to payment of the additional fees, allocate more charging current from the power source to the first vehicle than to the second vehicle, otherwise allocate more charging current from the power source to the second vehicle than to the first vehicle.

6. The station of claim 5 further comprising a passdown current pool configured to store power from the power source allotted to the first vehicle but not supplied to the first vehicle, wherein the controller is further programmed to output the power stored by the passdown current pool to the second vehicle.

7. A method for operating a charge station comprising:
by a controller,
responsive to detecting a first vehicle being mated with a first active one of a plurality of charge cords of the charge station and a second vehicle being mated with a second active one of the plurality of charge cords of the charge station, calculating a priority score for each of the first and second vehicles,
responsive to the priority score of the first vehicle being greater than the priority score of the second vehicle, sending a notice to a user device associated with the second vehicle indicating a lower priority score for the second vehicle and an option to increase the priority score for the second vehicle by payment of additional fees, and
responsive to payment of the additional fees, allocating more charging current from a power source to the second vehicle than to the first vehicle, otherwise allocating more charging current from the power source to the first vehicle than to the second vehicle.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising, outputting power stored by a passdown current pool to the second vehicle, wherein the passdown current pool is configured to store power from the power source allotted to the first vehicle but not supplied to the first vehicle.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Jordan Iii Dale F
• Von Der Lippe Matthew Erich
• Berthault Jude
• Palic Jeffrey Alan
• Miller Kenneth James

Classifications

• H02J7/94

  in response to battery current · CPC title

• H02J7/50

  acting upon multiple batteries simultaneously or sequentially · CPC title

• B60L53/665 Primary

  Methods related to measuring, billing or payment · CPC title

• B60L53/14 Primary

  Conductive energy transfer · CPC title

• Y04S30/14

  Details associated with the interoperability, e.g. vehicle recognition, authentication, identification or billing · CPC title