Serial multi-vehicle quick charge station

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-8981718-B2
Application number	US-201213481224-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 25, 2012
Priority date	May 25, 2012
Publication date	Mar 17, 2015
Grant date	Mar 17, 2015

Abstract

Disclosed herein are embodiments of serial multi-vehicle quick charge systems and stations for battery propulsion vehicles and methods thereof. One charging system comprises a charging unit having a plurality of charging circuits configured to be individually switched. The plurality of charging stations is electrically connected to the charging unit through the plurality of charging circuits. A controller is programmed to initiate charging of a vehicle connected to the charging unit through one of the charging stations by signaling a corresponding one of the charging circuits to close, track order of connection of each vehicle connected to the charging unit and initiate charging of each subsequently connected vehicle one at a time based on the order of connection, such that an individual vehicle is charged until a predetermined fraction of battery charge capacity has been obtained before the controller initiates charging of a vehicle next in the order of connection.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A charging system for battery propulsion vehicles comprising:
a charging unit having a plurality of charging circuits configured to be individually switched;
a plurality of charging stations each of which is electrically connected to the charging unit through a respective one of the plurality of charging circuits;
a controller programmed to:
initiate charging of a vehicle connected to the charging unit through one of the plurality of charging stations by signaling a corresponding one of the plurality of the charging circuits to close;
track order of connection of each vehicle connected to the charging unit;
initiate charging of each subsequently connected vehicle one at a time based on the order of connection, such that an individual vehicle is charged until a predetermined fraction of battery charge capacity has been obtained before the controller stops charging the individual vehicle and initiates charging of a vehicle next in the order of connection; and
charge to battery charge capacity vehicles remaining connected to the charging unit after a last connected vehicle is charged to the predetermined fraction of battery charge capacity, the remaining vehicles being charged in succession to battery charge capacity in the order of connection.

2. The charging system of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined fraction of battery charge capacity is between 75% and 85% of battery charge capacity.

3. The charging system of claim 1 further comprising a central display unit configured to identify one of the plurality of charging stations that is currently charging.

4. The charging system of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of charging stations comprises a display unit and the controller is further programmed to monitor respective amounts of charge of vehicles connected to the plurality of charging stations, each of the display units being configured to display a corresponding one of the respective amounts of charge.

5. The charging system of claim 1 , wherein the charging unit receives 400-500 volt DC power and delivers DC power to the plurality of charging stations.

6. The charging system of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of charging stations comprises a controller configured to send and receive data to the controller of the charging unit.

7. The charging system of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of charging stations includes a pay station, the controller further programmed to include a vehicle in the order of connection only after payment is made to an associated pay station.

8. The charging system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further programmed to:
interrupt charging to battery charge capacity the vehicles remaining connected when a newly connected vehicle connects to one of the plurality of charging stations having a battery charge capacity below the predetermined fraction of battery charge capacity; and
charge the newly connected vehicle to the predetermined fraction of battery charge capacity.

9. The charging system of claim 1 further comprising a display unit, wherein the controller is further programmed to:
determine an amount of time required to charge all connected vehicles to the predetermined fraction of battery charge capacity; and
display on the display unit a time of day charging is next available based on the amount of time required to charge all the connected vehicles.

10. A system for charging a plurality of battery propulsion vehicles with one charging unit, the system comprising:
a plurality of charging stations each of which is electrically connected to the one charging unit through a respective one of a plurality of charging circuits; and
a controller programmed to:
initiate charging of a vehicle connected to one of the plurality of charging stations by signaling a corresponding one of the plurality of charging circuits to close;
track order of connection of each vehicle connected to the plurality of charging stations;
initiate charging of each subsequently connected vehicle one at a time based on the order of connection, such that an individual vehicle is charged until a predetermined fraction of battery charge capacity has been obtained before the controller stops charging the individual vehicle and initiates charging of a vehicle next in the order of connection;
charge to battery charge capacity vehicles remaining connected to the charging unit after a last connected vehicle is charged to the predetermined fraction of battery charge capacity, the remaining vehicles being charged in succession to battery charge capacity in the order of connection;
interrupt charging to battery charge capacity the vehicles remaining connected when a newly connected vehicle is detected at one of the plurality of charging stations having a battery charge capacity below the predetermined fraction of battery charge capacity; and
charge the newly connected vehicle to the predetermined fraction of battery charge capacity.

11. A method of charging a plurality of battery propulsion vehicles with one charging unit comprising:
initiating charging of a vehicle connected to the charging unit through one of a plurality of charging stations;
tracking an order of connection of vehicles connected to the charging unit;
charging the vehicle until a predetermined fraction of battery charge capacity is reached;
initiating charging of subsequently connected vehicles one at a time in the order of connection, with charging of respective ones of the subsequently connected vehicles concluding when the predetermined fraction of battery charge capacity is reached; and
charging to battery charge capacity vehicles remaining connected to the charging unit after a last connected vehicle is charged to the predetermined fraction of battery charge capacity, the remaining vehicles being charged in succession to battery charge capacity in the order of connection.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the predetermined fraction of battery charge capacity is between 75% and 85% of battery charge capacity.

13. The method of claim 11 further comprising displaying an identity of one of the plurality of charging stations that is currently performing a charging operation.

14. The method of claim 11 further comprising:
monitoring an amount of charge of a vehicle connected to one of the plurality of charging stations; and
displaying the amount of charge.

15. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
interrupting charging to battery charge capacity the vehicles remaining connected when a newly connected vehicle connects to one of the plurality of charging stations having a battery charge capacity below the predetermined fraction of battery charge capacity; and
charging the newly connected vehicle to the predetermined fraction of battery charge capacity.

Assignees

• Caffy James B
• Nissan North America Inc

Inventors

• Caffy James B

Classifications

• B60L53/305

  Communication interfaces · CPC title

• H02J2105/37

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

• H02J7/92

  with prioritisation of loads or sources · CPC title

• H02J7/56

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

• B60L53/11

  DC charging controlled by the charging station, e.g. mode 4 · CPC title