Dynamic allocation of power modules for charging electric vehicles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017274792-A1
Application number	US-201615078731-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 23, 2016
Priority date	Mar 23, 2016
Publication date	Sep 28, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

Dynamic allocation of power modules for charging electric vehicles is described herein. A power cabinet includes multiple power modules that each are capable of supplying an amount of power to a dispenser. Multiple dispensers are coupled with the same power cabinet. A first power bus couples a first dispenser and switchably connects the power modules to the first dispenser; and a second power bus couples a second dispenser and switchably connects the power modules to the second dispenser. The power cabinet includes a control unit that is configured to cause the power modules to switchably connect and disconnect from the first power bus and the second power bus to dynamically allocate the power modules between the first dispenser and the second dispenser.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An apparatus, comprising:
a housing; a plurality of power modules included within the housing, wherein each of the power modules is capable of supplying an amount of power to a dispenser; a first power bus that is coupled to a first dispenser and switchably connected to the plurality of power modules; a second power bus that is coupled to a second dispenser and switchably connected to the plurality of power modules; and a control unit that is coupled to the plurality of power modules, the first dispenser, and the second dispenser, and wherein the control unit is configured to:
cause the plurality of power modules to switchably connect and disconnect from the first power bus and the second power bus to dynamically allocate the plurality of power modules between the first dispenser and the second dispenser.

2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the dynamic allocation of the plurality of power modules between the first dispenser and the second dispenser is based on a set of one or more factors including one or more properties of active charging sessions on the first dispenser and the second dispenser.

3 . The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the one or more properties of the active charging sessions include for each charging session, one or more of: a duration that each electric vehicle connected to the first dispenser and the second dispenser has been charging, a duration that each electric vehicle connected to the first dispenser and the second dispenser has been parked in proximity to the first dispenser and the second dispenser, a time remaining on each charging session, a type of account associated with each charging session, an amount of current drawn by each electric vehicle connected to the first dispenser and the second dispenser, a percentage of charge complete of each electric vehicle connected to the first dispenser and the second dispenser, a percentage of charge remaining of each electric vehicle connected to the first dispenser and the second dispenser, a battery temperature of each electric vehicle connected to the first dispenser and the second dispenser, a type of each electric vehicle connected to the first dispenser and the second dispenser, and a reservation status of each electric vehicle connected to the first dispenser and the second dispenser.

4 . The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the set of one or more factors further includes one or more of: a maximum rate of power that can be dispensed by each of the first dispenser and the second dispenser, and load supply condition.

5 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the control unit is further configured to transmit, to the first dispenser and the second dispenser, status of the plurality of power modules.

6 . The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the status of the plurality of power modules specifies an amount of operating time of each of the plurality of power modules.

7 . A dispenser to charge electric vehicles, comprising:
a processor; a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium that stores instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the following:
request power from a power cabinet that includes a plurality of power modules for charging an electric vehicle, wherein the dispenser is one of a plurality of dispensers that are supplied power by the power cabinet, wherein each power module can be allocated to a single one of the dispensers at a time, and wherein the power cabinet includes a plurality of power modules that together support less than a complete utilization of the plurality of dispensers,
receive a message that indicates an allocation of one or more of the power modules, and
in response to a determination that an amount of allocated power modules exceeds an amount of power requested or determined for charging the electric vehicle, send a message to the power cabinet to release the amount of allocated power modules so that they are available to be allocated to another one of the plurality of dispensers.

8 . The dispenser of claim 7 , wherein the non-transitory machine-readable storage medium further stores instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the following:
in response to a determination to dynamically allocate the plurality of power modules between the plurality of dispensers, participate in a dynamic allocation of the plurality of power modules to the plurality of dispensers wherein at least one of the plurality of power modules that is presently allocated to the dispenser is deallocated and reallocated to another one of the plurality of dispensers.

9 . The dispenser of claim 8 , wherein the dynamic allocation of the plurality of power modules between the plurality of dispensers is based on a set of one or more factors including one or more properties of active charging sessions on the plurality of dispensers.

10 . The dispenser of claim 9 , wherein the one or more properties of the active charging sessions include for each charging session, one or more of: a duration that each electric vehicle connected to the plurality of dispensers has been charging, a duration that each electric vehicle connected to the plurality of dispensers has been parked in proximity to the plurality of dispensers, a time remaining on each charging session, a type of account associated with each charging session, an amount of current drawn by each electric vehicle connected to the plurality of dispensers, a percentage of charge complete of each electric vehicle connected to the plurality of dispensers, a percentage of charge remaining of each electric vehicle connected to the plurality of dispensers, a battery temperature of each electric vehicle connected to the plurality of dispensers, a type of each electric vehicle connected to the plurality of dispensers, and a reservation status of each electric vehicle connected to the plurality of dispensers.

11 . The dispenser of claim 9 , wherein the set of one or more factors further includes one or more of: a maximum rate of power that can be dispensed by each of the plurality of dispensers, and load supply condition.

12 . The dispenser of claim 7 , wherein the dispenser is to select the amount of allocated power modules to release based on operating time of each of the plurality of power modules.

13 . A method, comprising:
requesting power from a power cabinet that includes a plurality of power modules for charging an electric vehicle, wherein the dispenser is one of a plurality of dispensers that are supplied power by the power cabinet, wherein each power module can be allocated to a single one of the dispensers at a time, and wherein the power cabinet includes a plurality of power modules that together support less than a complete utilization of the plurality of dispensers, receiving a message that indicates an allocation of one or more of the power modules, and responsive to determining that an amount of allocated power modules exceeds an amount of power requested or determined for charging the electric vehicle, sending a message to the power cabinet to release the amount of allocated power modules so that they are available to be allocated to another one of the plurality of dispensers.

14 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising,
responsive to determining to dynamically allocate the plurality of power modules between the plurality of dispensers, participating in a dynamic allocation of the plurality of power modules to the plurality of dispensers wherein at least one of the plurality of power modules that is presently allocated to the dispenser is deallocated and reallocated to another on

Assignees

• Chargepoint Inc

Inventors

• Vaughan Peter
• Baxter David
• Hagenmaier Jr Carl F
• Tran Patrick Kien
• Matsuno Craig T
• Eldridge Gary A
• Romano Pasquale

Classifications

• H02J7/56

  Active balancing, e.g. using capacitor-based, inductor-based or DC-DC converters · CPC title

• H02J7/50

  acting upon multiple batteries simultaneously or sequentially · CPC title

• Y04S10/126

  the energy generation units being or involving electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV], i.e. power aggregation of EV or HEV, vehicle to grid arrangements [V2G] · CPC title

• Y02T90/14

  Plug-in electric vehicles · CPC title

• Y04S30/12

  Remote or cooperative charging · CPC title