KR101730728B1

KR101730728B1 - Method and apparatus for detecting ground assembly of wireless power charging system

Info

Publication number: KR101730728B1
Application number: KR1020150138562A
Authority: KR
Inventors: 김도훈; 성재용; 김증일
Original assignee: 현대자동차주식회사
Priority date: 2015-10-01
Filing date: 2015-10-01
Publication date: 2017-05-11
Also published as: KR20170039440A

Abstract

A method and apparatus for detecting ground assemblies in a wireless charging system that detects ground assemblies using radio frequency (RF) signals in an electric vehicle. The ground assembly detection method is a method in which a controller located in a vehicle obtains received signal related information including a received signal strength of an RF signal transmitted from a vehicle RF transmitting apparatus from ground assemblies connected through a wireless network, To detect a particular ground assembly or primary pad.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD [0001] The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for detecting a ground assembly of a wireless charging system,

Embodiments of the present invention relate to a wireless charging system, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for detecting a ground assembly of a wireless charging system using a radio frequency (RF) signal in a vehicle.

Recently, the wireless power transfer (WPT) technology has been making remarkable progress mainly in charge of personal portable devices and charge of electric vehicles. Among them, charging of electric vehicles has been actively studied for electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrid vehicles, so that it provides freedom of electric car battery charging and research on safe wireless charging technology from short circuit and disconnection It is progressing together. The wireless charging of an electric vehicle belongs to a large power wireless power transmission field which transmits electric power of a certain output (2.4 kW, 3.3 kW, etc.), and a magnetic induction system and a magnetic resonance system are competing.

The wireless power transmission of an electric vehicle is a semi-dynamic type that supplies wireless power to a vehicle when it stops at a specific section, such as static charging to supply radio power to the vehicle while the vehicle is parked, And dynamic charging that supplies wireless power to the vehicle while the road is filled with a charging facility on the road.

The wireless power transmission technology of electric vehicles is not limited to the vehicle itself but also between the vehicle and the vehicle, the vehicle and the infrastructure (such as wireless charging) by efficiently converging with other technologies such as wireless communication and the like for user convenience, efficient maintenance and efficient measurement / Infrastructure), or communication between vehicles and objects (including user terminals), but the technology of directly detecting the ground assembly of a wireless charging system using a radio frequency (RF) signal in a vehicle has not yet been developed .

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a wireless communication system and a method of controlling the same using a conventional WPT system or a wireless power charging system (WCS) using an existing RF controller for transmitting a radio frequency (RF) signal in an electric vehicle And a method and apparatus for detecting a ground assembly (GA).

It is another object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for determining a target of a desired condition among a plurality of ground assemblies (GAs) of a charge station or primary pads of each ground assembly And to provide a method and an apparatus for detecting a ground assembly of a wireless charging system capable of providing position information on a selected or selected object.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a receiving apparatus for a radio recharging system, which can provide information related to received signals including a received signal strength of an RF signal obtained from an RF transmitting apparatus of a vehicle to an electronic control unit or a radio recharging controller The present invention provides a method and apparatus for detecting a ground assembly of a wireless charging system, such that an electronic control device or a wireless charging controller of the vehicle detects the ground assembly or the primary pad.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for transmitting a radio frequency (RF) signal and a radio frequency (RF) signal transmitted from a vehicle using a received signal strength (RSS) value from ground assemblies A method and an apparatus for detecting a ground assembly of a wireless charging system capable of aligning a secondary pad or VA coil of a vehicle assembly (VA).

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of detecting a ground assembly of a wireless charging system in a controller located in a vehicle, the method comprising: detecting a reception signal strength of an RF signal transmitted from a radio frequency (RF) Obtaining information related to the received signal from the ground assemblies connected through the wireless network by using the received signal related information and transmitting the received signal related information to a specific one of the ground assemblies or a specific primary pad A method of detecting a ground assembly of a wireless charging system is provided.

Here, the RF transmitter may include tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) sensors.

Here, the method of detecting a ground assembly of a wireless charging system may include a step of controlling the RF transmitting apparatus so that the RF transmitting apparatus transmits the RF signal at a second period different from the first period, Step < / RTI > The second period may be shorter than the first period.

Here, the detecting step can select a specific ground assembly or a primary pad that is wirelessly chargeable among the ground assemblies and is located at the shortest distance.

Here, the method of detecting a ground assembly of a wireless charging system may further include, after the detecting step, transmitting a selection notification message for use of a wireless charging service to a specific ground assembly.

Wherein the detecting is based on signal attenuation information obtained by comparing the received signal strength of the RF signal to the TPMS sensors with a predetermined transmit power of a plurality of TPMS sensors of the RF transmitter .

Here, the received signal strength may include a received signal strength (RSS) value for each of the TPMS sensors, an RSS average value for each of the TPMS sensors, a total RSS average value for the TPMS sensors, or a combination thereof.

Here, the method of detecting a ground assembly of a wireless charging system may include detecting a received signal strength for an RF signal from a second RF receiving device mounted on the vehicle and receiving an RF signal, And acquiring reference signal related information including the reference signal.

Wherein the detecting includes comparing the reference signal strength to the received signal strength obtained from the ground assemblies to obtain signal attenuation and using information on signal attenuation to determine whether a particular ground assembly or primary pad is located in the vehicle Direction can be determined.

Here, the second RF receiving apparatus may include an antenna mounted on the vehicle and an RF signal processing unit connected to the antenna. The RF signal processing unit may receive the RF signal at a second operating frequency different from the first operating frequency of the normal mode under the control of the controller.

Here, the second RF receiving apparatus may include a SMK receiver of a smart pressure (SMK) system or a tire pressure monitoring system receiver mounted on a vehicle.

Here, the method of detecting the ground assembly of the wireless charging system may include, after the detecting step, detecting the ground assembly coil of the primary pad and the vehicle assembly mounted on the vehicle based on the relative position information of the specific ground assembly or the primary pad obtained as a result of the detection And aligning the secondary coil of the secondary pad.

Here, the controller located in the vehicle may include a body control module (BCM) or a body control unit (BCU), which includes a TPMS receiver or an SMK receiver or is coupled to or coupled to a TPMS receiver or SMK receiver . A body control module (BCM) or a body control unit (BCU) may correspond to an electronic control unit (ECU).

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of detecting a ground assembly of a wireless charging system by a ground assembly that provides information to a controller located in a vehicle, Receiving the RF signal through the first RF receiving device and obtaining the received signal strength of the received RF signal and transmitting the received signal related information including the received signal strength to the controller connected through the wireless network Wherein the controller senses at least one of a relative distance or direction relative to the primary pad of a particular ground assembly or a particular ground assembly using information related to the received signal.

Here, the method of detecting the ground assembly of the wireless charging system may further comprise, after the step of transmitting to the controller, receiving a selection notification message of a specific ground assembly or primary pad for use of the wireless charging service from the controller . The specific ground assembly may switch the state of the ground assembly or the state of the primary pad to a reservation mode or a charging preparation mode of the wireless charging service upon receipt of the selection notification message.

Here, the antenna of the first RF receiving device or the first RF receiving device may be a primary pad or a primary pad having a ground assembly coil installed in the parking area of the vehicle for inductive coupling with the vehicle assembly coil of the secondary pad of the vehicle. May be coupled to the housing, or disposed at a spaced apart distance from the primary pad. The primary pad housing may correspond to the ground assembly coil outer case.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for detecting a ground assembly of a wireless charging system, the apparatus being located in a vehicle equipped with a radio frequency (RF) An information obtaining unit for obtaining received signal related information including the received signal strength of the RF signal from the ground assemblies connected through the wireless network, and an information obtaining unit for obtaining information on a specific one of the ground assemblies or a specific one of the ground assemblies There is provided a ground assembly detection device for a wireless charging system, comprising a detection section for detecting a primary pad.

When a method and an apparatus for detecting a ground assembly of a wireless charging system according to the present invention are used, an electronic control device or a wireless charging controller of an electric vehicle (EV) transmits a radio frequency (RF) The present invention can effectively detect a specific ground assembly or a primary pad of a wireless power charging system (WCS) using an existing RF controller.

In addition, when using the method and apparatus according to the present invention, it is possible to select a specific target among a plurality of detected ground assemblies, primary pads, or ground assembly coils, Controller, driver assistance system or the like. When a specific target is selected, it is possible to prevent power consumption due to unnecessary data transmission / reception with a plurality of remaining targets when using the wireless recharging service, and to quickly perform access and / or alignment to a specific ground assembly or primary pad can do.

In addition, when the location information of the selected target is transmitted to another electronic control device of a vehicle, a driver assistance system, a user terminal, etc., it is possible not only to improve user convenience and system efficiency when using the wireless charging service, There is an advantage that can be made.

Furthermore, by using the position information of the selected target, it is possible to efficiently detect a specific ground assembly, a primary pad, or a ground assembly coil in an electronic control device or a wireless charge controller located in a vehicle and guide the vehicle to a detected position , As well as effectively aligning or contributing to the alignment of the ground assembly coil of the primary pad and the vehicle assembly coil of the secondary pad of the vehicle.

FIG. 1 is an exemplary view for explaining a wireless charging system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is an exemplary view showing a ground assembly detection principle in the wireless charging system of FIG.
FIG. 3 is an exemplary diagram illustrating a transmission pattern of an RF signal for explaining the operation principle of an RF (radio frequency) transmission apparatus of an electric vehicle in the wireless charging system of FIG. 2;
FIG. 4 is an exemplary view of the format of the RF signal of FIG. 3;
5 is an illustration of a data format received from a ground assembly by a controller located in an electric vehicle in the wireless charging system of FIG.
Figure 6 is an illustration of general pad topologies that may be employed in the wireless charging system of Figure 2;
FIG. 7 is a block diagram for explaining the charging principle of the wireless charging system of FIG. 2;
8 is a block diagram of an apparatus for detecting a ground assembly of a wireless charging system in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 9 is a block diagram of the functional blocks of the detection device of Fig. 8; Fig.
10 is a flowchart for explaining a method of detecting a ground assembly of a wireless charging system by the detection apparatus of FIG.
11 and 12 are conceptual diagrams for explaining the detection process of the detection method of FIG.
13 is a signal flow diagram for a wireless network connection between a vehicle assembly controller (VA controller) and a ground assembly controller (GA controller) that can be employed in the detection method of FIG.
14 is a signal flow diagram for an initial wireless communication between an VA controller and a GA controller that can be employed in the detection method of FIG.
15 is a block diagram of another embodiment of the functional blocks of the detection device of Fig.
16 is a flowchart for explaining a method of detecting a ground assembly of a wireless charging system by the detection apparatus of FIG.
17 is a block diagram of a ground assembly detection apparatus of a wireless charging system according to another embodiment of the present invention.
18 is a flowchart for explaining a method of detecting a ground assembly of a wireless charging system by the detection apparatus of FIG.
19 is a block diagram of the functional blocks of the detection device of Fig.
20 is a flowchart illustrating a method of detecting a ground assembly of a wireless charging system according to another embodiment of the present invention.
21 is a flowchart of a portion of a method for detecting a ground assembly of a wireless charging system in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention.
22 is an exemplary view for explaining positions of the primary pads in the parking area with respect to the center of the ground assembly coil applicable to the embodiment of the present invention.

While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and are herein described in detail. It is to be understood, however, that the invention is not to be limited to the specific embodiments, but includes all changes, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention. Like reference numerals are used for like elements in describing each drawing.

The terms 'first, second, A, B', etc. may be used to describe various components, but the components should not be limited by the terms. The terms are used only for the purpose of distinguishing one component from another. For example, without departing from the scope of the present invention, the first component may be referred to as a second component, and similarly, the second component may also be referred to as a first component. The term " and / or " includes any combination of a plurality of related listed items or any of a plurality of related listed items.

When an element is referred to as being "connected" or "connected" to another element, it is to be understood that other elements may be present in the middle, or may be directly connected to the other element On the other hand, when an element is referred to as being "directly connected" or "directly connected" to another element, it should be understood that there are no other elements in between.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. The singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. In this specification, terms related to 'comprising', 'having', and the like are intended to specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, or combinations thereof, But do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, or combinations thereof.

Also, in the present specification, when subscripts of certain characters have different subscripts, other subscripts of subscripts can be displayed with the same size as subscripts for convenience of display.

Unless otherwise defined herein, all terms used herein, including technical or scientific terms, have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Terms such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries should be interpreted to be consistent with the contextual meanings of the related art and are not to be construed as ideal or overly formal meanings unless explicitly defined herein.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is an exemplary view for explaining a wireless charging system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, a wireless power charging system (WCS) according to an embodiment of the present invention wirelessly transmits power to a plug-in electric vehicle or an electric vehicle 10 and an electric vehicle 10, And at least one ground assembly (34) of a charging station (30) providing service.

The electric vehicle 10 may include an electronic control unit (ECU) or a wireless charging controller 20 connected to an RF controller and an RF controller for transmitting or receiving a radio frequency (RF). The electronic control device or the wireless charge controller is referred to as a detection device for convenience of explanation. Further, the term "detection device" may be an abbreviation for a device that detects the ground assembly of the wireless charging system or detects the primary pad of the ground assembly.

The detection device 20 detects the RF signal transmitted from the electric vehicle 10 and the RF signal and transmits the response signal including the predetermined information to the specific ground assembly 34 or the specific ground The primary pad 32 of the assembly can be detected. The primary pad 32 may comprise a ground assembly coil.

For example, when the electric vehicle 10 proceeds from the previous position 10p and enters the wireless network area (WNA) of the charging station 30, the detection device 20 of the electric vehicle 10 Related information including the received signal strength of the RF signal transmitted from the RF transmitting apparatus of the electric vehicle is acquired from at least one ground assembly and used to detect the specific ground assembly 34 or the primary pad 32 .

An RF receiving apparatus (hereinafter referred to as a first RF receiving apparatus) or an antenna for receiving an RF signal may be disposed adjacent to the specific ground assembly 34 or the primary pad 32.

According to the present embodiment, the wireless charging system can be configured to utilize an RF controller mounted on most electric vehicles without adding a new RF controller to the electric vehicle. The RF controller of the electric vehicle may include a smart key system (SMK) receiver, a tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) sensor, a TPMS receiver or a combination thereof.

The SMK receiver or TPMS receiver may be included or connected to the vehicle's body control module (BCM) or body control unit (BCU). The TPMS receiver can receive tire temperature and pressure information via the RF signal from the TPMS sensor.

The TPMS sensor is installed in a tire of an electric vehicle and measures pressure and temperature inside the tire when the vehicle is running and periodically transmits it to the TPMS receiver or the electronic control unit of the vehicle. The TPMS sensor can measure the pressure and temperature inside the tire using the LF (low frequency) trigger even when the vehicle is not in motion.

The use of an RF controller mounted on an electric vehicle minimizes an additional cost increase and eliminates the need to secure a space for installation in an electric vehicle by adding additional components.

The wireless charging system described above refers to a system for wireless power transmission and control between the primary and the secondary. The primary includes a ground assembly (GA), the secondary includes a vehicle assembly (VA), GA and VA are included in a wireless charging system and control for wireless power transmission and communication between them Elements, respectively. Wireless power transfer (WPT) can refer to transferring power from the AC supply network or grid to an electric vehicle via non-contact means. In addition, the wireless power transmission may include inductive coupling such as magnetic coupling between the GA coil and the VA coil.

The electric vehicle 10 is an automobile which can use a freeway and is operated by an electric motor supplied with electric energy from a vehicle-mounted energy storage device such as a battery, for example, a source, such as a residential or public electric service, Lt; / RTI > The electric vehicle may also include a passenger car and a light duty vehicle or a heavy duty vehicle. A heavy car may be a vehicle such as a bus with four or more wheels.

2 is an exemplary view showing a ground assembly detection principle in the wireless charging system of FIG.

2, the detection device 20 located in an electric vehicle in the wireless charging system according to the present embodiment includes at least some functional parts of a body control module (BCM) or a body electric field control device (BCU) May be implemented with at least some components. In this case, the detection device 20 may be implemented by connecting a body control module or a body electric field control device mounted on an existing electric vehicle to an existing RF controller and applying a detection algorithm according to the present embodiment.

In addition, RF transmitting devices, which are connected to or in the broad sense of the sensing device 20, may include tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) sensors.

The TPMS sensor is installed in the tire of the electric vehicle 10 to transmit the pressure and temperature information of the tire as an RF signal. In this embodiment, the TPMS sensor includes a front right (FR) sensor mounted on the front right tire of the electric vehicle 10, a front left (FL) sensor mounted on the front left tire, a rear right But is not limited to, a rear left (RL) sensor mounted on the left tire. The TPMS sensor may include two or more sensors installed on two or more tires.

On the other hand, the controller located in the vehicle may include a mobile terminal of a user located in the vehicle, a navigation device, and the like. In this case, the mobile terminal or the navigation device may communicate with the electronic control device of the vehicle, For example, a function of switching the operation mode of the electric vehicle to a wireless charging preparation mode, a function of selecting a specific ground assembly or a primary pad, information related to a received signal of an RF signal or a specific ground assembly or a position of a primary pad And the like.

According to this embodiment, the controller located in the electric vehicle receives the received signal related information including the received signal strength of the RF signal transmitted by the TPMS sensor from the ground assemblies, and based on the received signal related information, The distance, direction, angle, or a combination thereof to the pad (see 32 in FIG. 1) can be calculated. Further, according to the present embodiment, the detection device of the present embodiment can be simply implemented by omitting the new electric component by utilizing the existing RF controller in the vehicle.

2, it is assumed that the RF receiving apparatus 25 is included. However, in the present embodiment, it is assumed that the RF receiving apparatus 25 is omitted, and in another embodiment including the RF receiving apparatus 25 This will be described later with reference to Fig. 17 and the subsequent figures.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary diagram illustrating a transmission pattern of an RF signal for explaining the operation principle of an RF (radio frequency) transmission apparatus of an electric vehicle in the wireless charging system of FIG. 2;

In the wireless charging system according to the present embodiment, the controller located in the electric vehicle can control the RF transmitting apparatus mounted on the vehicle to shorten the transmission period for the RF signal of the RF transmitting apparatus.

If the wireless charging preparation mode is not executed in the electric vehicle and the RF transmission apparatus is in the standby mode or the normal operation mode, the controller may not control the RF transmission apparatus as shown in FIG. 3 (a). This mode may correspond to a case where the controller is before the RF transmitting apparatus is controlled, and in this case, the RF transmitting apparatus transmits the RF signals S1 and S2 in the first period T1.

When an execution command for a predetermined mode (for example, a wireless charging preparation mode) preset in the electric vehicle is detected when the RF transmitting apparatus is operated in the standby mode or the normal operation mode, the controller, as shown in FIG. 3 (b) The RF transmitting apparatus can control the RF transmitting apparatus to transmit the RF signals S1, S2, S3, S4, S5, and S6 in a second period T2 shorter than the first period T1.

The execution command is inputted by an automatic setting method according to the preset event occurrence by selecting the specific ground assembly after the electric vehicle enters the service area of the short-range wireless network by the plurality of ground assemblies, or manually set according to the separate user input signal . &Lt; / RTI >

FIG. 4 is an exemplary view of the format of the RF signal of FIG. 3;

Referring to FIG. 4, the TPMS sensor according to the present embodiment can transmit an RF signal in a first cycle. At this time, the format of the RF signal may include, but is not limited to, a preamble, a sensor ID, and a data field. The data may include tire pressure and / or temperature information measured at the TPMS sensor.

The RF transmitting apparatus of the electric vehicle according to the present embodiment can be implemented using a TPMS sensor. In particular, in the case of using the TPMS sensor, the transmission period of the RF signal can be controlled so that the ground assembly can be detected by the controller of the vehicle based on the RF signal transmitted from the TPMS sensor.

For example, the RF transmitting apparatus can transmit an RF signal at a second period shorter than the first period of the normal mode related to the TPMS signal transmission of the TPMS sensor under the control of the controller located in the vehicle.

5 is an illustration of a data format received from a ground assembly by a controller located in an electric vehicle in the wireless charging system of FIG.

Referring to FIG. 5, the ground assembly or the ground assembly (GA) controller according to the present embodiment measures a signal intensity of an RF signal transmitted from an RF transmission device or a TPMS sensor of an electric vehicle, Related information, and transmit the generated received signal-related information to a vehicle assembly (GA) controller of an electric vehicle connected to the wireless network.

The format of the signal including information related to the received signal includes a synchronization or synch., A start of frame delimiter (SFD), a signal, a service, a length, a header error check (HEC) But are not limited to, payload fields.

The sync and SFD fields correspond to a preamble of the frame format, and the signal, service, length and HEC fields may correspond to the header of the frame format. The payload may include received signal related information.

The received signal related information includes a received signal strength (RSS) value for each of a plurality of antennas as a received signal strength, an RSS average value for each of the plurality of antennas, a total RSS average value for a plurality of antennas, or a combination thereof . The plurality of antennas may correspond to the TPMS sensors installed in a plurality of tires of the electric vehicle.

The ground assembly may identify the TPMS sensor based on the sender address included in the RF signal or may receive the identifier (ID) of the RF transmitter or the TPMS sensor from the controller of the vehicle over the wireless network. The wireless network may include WiFi, Bluetooth, beacon, infrared (IrDa), and the like.

Figure 6 is an illustration of a general pad topology that can be employed in the wireless charging system of Figure 2;

Referring to FIG. 6, a primary side charger pad (primary pad) or an inductive pad-secondary (secondary pad) mounted on an electric vehicle according to the present embodiment is a general pad topology ) May be provided.

The primary or secondary pad may have a circular or rectangular non-polar shape as shown in Fig. 6 (a), or may have a solenoid polarized shape of a shape wound on the base substrate as shown in Fig. 6 (b) A double-D polarized shape as shown in FIG. 6 (c) or a multi-coil double-D quadrature (DDQ) shape as shown in FIG. 6 (d) And may have a multi-coil bipolar shape as shown in FIG.

Inductive couplers, such as the primary and secondary charging pads described above, are designed by a number of topologies and are described by magnetics, and polarized and non-polar and may have magnetic interoperability in accordance with multi-coil topologies, including any or both of the following:

FIG. 7 is a block diagram for explaining the charging principle of the wireless charging system of FIG. 2;

Referring to FIG. 7, in the wireless charging system according to the present embodiment, the electric vehicle can receive electric power from the ground assembly without charging a contact, and charge the high voltage battery of the vehicle. The high-level operation of the closed-loop charging system will now be described.

The vehicle charge controller or the VA controller can determine the charge current for the batteries according to the battery state (S71). The VA controller transmits a charger output request message or a charging power request message to a charger, a ground assembly, or a GA controller through a communications interface (S72).

Next, the GA controller controls the input current of the AC utility power from the utility based on the charger output request message from the VA controller (S73). The charger can convert 50/60 Hz electric carrier power to high frequency alternating current (HFAC) power through power or frequency conversion.

Depending on the flux of the high frequency AC power, the high frequency AC power can be transmitted from the charger pad / coil (primary pad or GA coil) to the vehicle pad / coil (secondary pad or VA coil ) Through magnetic coupling. The high frequency AC power induced on the secondary side (VA coil side) is filtered or rectified by a rectifier or a power converter under the control of the VA controller, and a direct current (DC) ). &Lt; / RTI > The above-described steps can be repeated until the VA controller determines a sufficient charging time point of the battery.

8 is a block diagram of a ground assembly detection apparatus of a wireless charging system according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 8, a ground assembly detection apparatus (hereinafter simply referred to as a "detection apparatus") 20 according to the present embodiment includes a controller located in the vehicle 10. The controller may include an RF controller, a body control module, a body electric field controller, a wireless charge controller, or a combination thereof, mounted on the electric vehicle.

The detection device 20 may include a processor 22, a memory 24, and a communication interface 26. [

The processor 22 may include one or more controllers. The processor 22 may include one or more domain controllers or microcontrollers and one or more electronic control units (ECUs) connected to each domain controller. The electronic control device may include an RF controller, a controller of a tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS), a controller of a smart key (SMK) system, or a combination thereof. The processor 22 may also include a memory controller for controlling the memory 24.

The processor 22 may be coupled to the memory 24 and may execute programs stored in the memory 24. [ The program may be an implementation of the ground assembly detection method of the embodiment described above.

The program includes a first program for obtaining received signal related information on the received signal strength of the RF signal from the ground assembly, a second program for shortening the RF signal transmission period of the RF transmitting apparatus located in the vehicle, A fourth program for selecting a specific ground assembly among a plurality of ground assemblies detected on the basis of the received signal related information, a third program for measuring the received signal strength of the detected ground assembly, A fifth program for output to a driver assistance system, or the like, or a combination thereof. The program may be loaded into the processor 22 or the memory 24 in the form of one or more modules.

The processor 22 may also include any type of computing or processing circuitry, such as a microprocessor, graphics processor, or digital signal processing (DSP) processor. The processor 22 may include an embedded controller such as a general purpose or programmable logic device or field programmable gate array (FPGA), application specific integrated circuit, single chip computer, smart card, and the like.

When the processor 22 is a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a graphics processor, or a digital signal processing processor, the processor 22 includes an arithmetic logic unit (ALU) for performing calculations, a register for temporary storage of data and instructions And a controller for controlling or managing the interface device between the middleware.

Further, when at least one of the modules described above is mounted on the processor 22 in the form of an application program, the processor 22 may include a high-level command processing unit and a module control unit. The module control unit includes a mapping unit and an interface unit and can control the corresponding module. Here, the high-level command processing unit converts a signal or an instruction input through an API (Application Programming Interface) to output a high-level command, and the mapping unit maps a high-level command into a device level command that can be processed by each module, The interface unit can deliver device level commands to the module.

The memory 24 may include one or more memory chips. In addition, the memory 24 may store a program, data, or a set of instructions for implementing the method of detecting the ground assembly of the wireless charging system according to the present embodiment. The program may include at least one of the first to fifth programs described above.

The memory 24 may be coupled to the processor 22 via a first memory interface and to the communication interface 26 via a second memory interface.

The memory 24 may include a volatile memory such as a random access memory (RAM) or a read only memory (ROM), and a storage medium in the form of a nonvolatile memory, and may be a floppy disk, a hard disk, And a long-term storage medium such as a flash memory.

The communication interface 26 may include interfaces for sending and receiving signals or commands between the detection device and the electrical components mounted on the electric vehicle. The communication interface 26 may include a first interface connected to the RF transmission device mounted on the vehicle, a second interface connected to the VA controller, and a third interface connected to the one or more GA controllers.

The communication interface 26 may include a wired interface 261 that supports the wired method and a wireless interface 262 that supports the wireless method. That is, the communication interface 26 may include a serial interface, a controller area network (CAN) interface, an Ethernet interface, a short-range wireless communication interface, or a combination thereof for data communication within a vehicle. The short-range wireless communication interface may include, but is not limited to, WiFi.

The communication interface 26 may also be implemented to support one or more communication protocols for performing data communication in one or more single or combination networks selected from a wireless network, a wired network, a satellite network, a power line communication, and the like.

In the foregoing description, the network includes, but is not limited to, a near-field wireless network in the vicinity of a vehicle internal network or ground assembly. For example, the network may include a wireless cellular network, a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication network, a vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2X) communication network,

According to the present embodiment, the processor 22 can detect a specific ground assembly based on received signal related information received from the ground assemblies via the communication interface 26.

Fig. 9 is a block diagram of the functional blocks of the detection device of Fig. 8; Fig. 10 is a schematic flow chart for explaining a method of detecting a ground assembly of a wireless charging system by the detection apparatus of FIG. 11 and 12 are illustrations for explaining the detection process according to the detection method of FIG.

Referring to FIG. 9, the processor 22 of the detection apparatus according to the present embodiment may include an information obtaining unit 221 and a detecting unit 222.

The information obtaining unit 221 receives the received signal related information including the received signal strength of the RF signal from at least one ground assembly that receives an RF signal transmitted from an RF transmitting apparatus (e.g., a TPMS sensor) of the electric vehicle. The information obtaining unit 221 may be implemented as one or more tasks that can be processed in hardware in the processor 22 to obtain received signal related information, but the present invention is not limited thereto. The information acquisition unit 221 may be implemented as software or an application program stored in the form of a module in a memory and executed by the processor 22. [

The detection unit 222 detects a specific ground assembly based on the received signal-related information. The detection unit 222 can determine the direction in which the specific ground assembly is located, the distance to the particular ground assembly, or both, from the electric vehicle. The detection unit 222 may be implemented with one or more tasks that can be handled by the processor 22 in order to detect a specific ground assembly by comparing received signal related information with reference signal information, but the present invention is not limited thereto. Detector 222 may be implemented as software or an application program stored in memory and executed by processor 22.

The signal flow for the ground assembly detection method by the information obtaining unit 221 and the detection unit 222 is shown in FIG.

10, when an electric vehicle enters the local communication area of the charging station 30 having a plurality of ground assemblies, the ground assemblies may receive an RF signal from the RF transmission device of the electric vehicle (S101 ). The RF signal may include an identifier of the RF transmitting apparatus mounted on the vehicle.

Each ground assembly may then receive signal strength values for each of the RF signals based on the signal strengths of the measured RF signals, an RSS average value for each of the RF signals, an RSS average value over the entire RF signals, Related information including the combination of the received signal (S102). Each of the RF signals may include an identifier of the RF transmitting device of the electric vehicle. The identifier may, for example, comprise identifiers (IDs) of the TPMS sensors.

When the received signal related information is transmitted from the ground assemblies to the controller located in the vehicle, that is, to the detecting apparatus 20, the detecting apparatus 20 detects a specific ground assembly based on the received signal related information (S104).

A method of detecting the primary pad of a specific ground assembly or a specific ground assembly at the detection unit 222 of the detection apparatus 20 is shown in FIGS. 11 and 12. FIG.

11 and 12, the detection unit 222 detects four TPMS sensors (FR, FL, FL) installed on four wheels of the electric vehicle 10 from the received signal related information received from the plurality of ground assemblies, RR and RL of the TPMS sensors and the average value of the signal strengths of the preset transmission signals of the respective TPMS sensors.

Next, the detection unit 222 draws four circles (C1, C2, C3, C4) having radiuses corresponding to the respective TPMS sensors as its center.

Next, the detection unit 222 uses a TPMS sensor (in this embodiment, FR in the present embodiment and RR in FIG. 12) located at the center of the circle having the smallest radius as a reference sensor, Two intersections of two TPMS sensors are selected and the intersection where the reference sensor is located is selected. The two TPMS sensors adjacent to the reference sensor are FL and RR in FIG. 11 and FR and RL in FIG.

Next, the detection unit 222 may connect the predetermined center point of the four TPMS sensors to the selected intersection point to detect the direction D2 in which the specific ground assembly or the primary pad 32 is located from the vehicle. The direction D2 in which the specific ground assembly is positioned is at a predetermined angle with the traveling direction D1 of the vehicle.

The detection unit 222 detects the difference between the center point or the primary pad and the specific ground assembly or the primary pad 32 using the difference between the RSS average value of all four TPMS sensors and the average value of the signal strength of the transmission signal. You can calculate the distance.

That is, in this embodiment, when the antenna of the RF receiving device or the RF receiving device is installed in the ground assembly (GA) in the ground assembly, the intersection point can indicate position information (relative position information based on the vehicle) have. Further, when the RF receiving apparatus or the antenna thereof is installed in the primary pad or its adjacent position in the GA, the intersection point may indicate position information (relative position information of the vehicle reference) to the primary pad or its adjacent position.

According to this embodiment, it is possible to provide a new apparatus and method for detecting a ground assembly which does not have a problem in calculating the existing distance through WiFi. This advantage can be contrasted with the disadvantage that the existing distance calculation using RSS (received signal strength) is error-prone and the embedded system for automobile supporting Wi-Fi must be separately developed.

In addition, according to the present embodiment, the controller located in the electric vehicle can effectively grasp the position of the RF receiver or the ground assembly or the primary pad 32 on which the antenna is installed by using the RF signal transmitted from the electric vehicle .

The detection method according to this embodiment is useful when the distance between the vehicle and the ground assembly is relatively close to the signal transmission intensity (transmission power or transmission power) for the RF signal of the TPMS sensor, as compared with the embodiments described later. The following embodiments will further reduce the reliability and accuracy of the TPMS sensor due to the displacement of the TPMS sensor or the error of the sensor itself by using the RF receiving device located in the vehicle, and have robust characteristics against various RF transmission environments.

13 is a signal flow diagram for wireless network connection between a GA controller and an VA controller that can be employed in the detection method of FIG.

Referring to FIG. 13, in the wireless charging system according to the present embodiment, when an electric vehicle enters the wireless network service area of the charging station 30 having at least one ground assembly (S111) That is, the detection device 20 may receive a wireless network AP (access point) signal of the ground assembly (S112). The AP signal includes a medium access control (MAC) address, an SSID, a basic service set identification (BSSID), and the like, through which the detection apparatus 20 can be authenticated.

Next, the detection apparatus 20 transmits a connection request message to the ground assembly of the address obtained through the AP signal (S113). Then, the detection apparatus 20 receives a response to the connection request (connection response) message from the ground assembly (S114).

Through the transmission of the connection request message and the reception of the connection response message, the VA controller 20 can be connected to the at least one GA controller through the wireless network (S115).

In this embodiment, the ground assembly GA may include at least one primary pad in addition to an RF receiving device capable of receiving or measuring RF signals. In addition, the ground assembly may further include an antenna for a wireless network and a signal processing device connected to the antenna. The GA controller may be coupled to at least one primary pad. The RF receiving device may be disposed at a position spaced apart from or within the ground assembly, external or internal to the primary pad, or one of these.

Meanwhile, the ground assembly extracts a fingerprint from a characteristic of a wireless signal generated in a communication process to identify whether the detection device 20 is a fake device, using a device identifier that is easy to be forged or modified, and uniquely identifies the detection device 20 It is also possible to do.

14 is a signal flow diagram for wireless communication between a GA controller and an VA controller that can be employed in the detection method of FIG.

Referring to FIG. 14, in the wireless charging system according to the present embodiment, when an electric vehicle enters the wireless network service area provided by the charging station 30, the detection device 20 detects at least one And receives a beacon signal from the ground assembly (S112). The beacon signal may include an address or identifier for the ground assembly or may include an address or identifier for at least one or more primary pads managed by the ground assembly.

Next, the detection apparatus 20 extracts the identifier (ID) of the TMPS sensor installed in the tire of the vehicle (S122). Then, the extracted sensor ID is transmitted to at least one GA controller (S123).

When the sensor ID of the sensor for transmitting the RF signal is received from the detection device 20, the GA controller stores the received sensor ID (S124). Thereafter, the received signal strength of the RF signal measured through the RF reception device is stored in the sensor ID, or the like.

Meanwhile, in the above-described embodiments, a network (Internet or the like) connectable terminal or a global positioning system (GPS) can be used in an existing electric vehicle using an address or an identifier for a ground assembly or a primary pad provided in an AP signal or a beacon signal, Or it is possible to grasp the approximate position of the ground assembly or primary pad through the navigation system. However, in this embodiment, the position of the ground assembly or the primary pad can be grasped simply and efficiently by using the RF signal of the vehicle without using a network-accessible terminal or a GPS or a navigation system. The detection method of this embodiment may be more useful in a building or underground facility where wireless communication network or GPS does not operate properly.

15 is a block diagram of another embodiment of the functional blocks of the detection device of Fig. 16 is a flowchart for explaining a method of detecting a ground assembly of a wireless charging system by the detection apparatus of FIG.

Referring to FIG. 15, the processor 22 of the detection apparatus according to the present embodiment includes an information obtaining unit 221, a dispatch cycle control unit 223, and a detection unit 222. The information acquisition unit 221 and the detection unit 222 are substantially the same as the corresponding components described above with reference to FIG. 9 and FIG. 10, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The transmission period control unit 223 functions to shorten the transmission period for the RF signal of the RF transmission device (e.g., TPMS sensor) when the mode for preparing the wireless charging in the electric vehicle is executed, and to transmit a large number of RF signals per unit time . When the TPMS sensor is used as an RF transmitter, the RF cycle of the TPMS sensor is prolonged to prevent the ground assembly from taking a relatively long time.

The dispatch period control unit 223 may be implemented as one or more tasks that can be processed in hardware by the processor 22 to control the operation of the RF transmission apparatus, but the present invention is not limited thereto. The transmission period control unit 223 may be implemented in the form of software or an application program stored in a memory in a form of a module and executed by the processor 22. [

A method of detecting the ground assembly by the detection device of this embodiment is as shown in FIG.

As shown in Fig. 16, the detection device determines whether the electric vehicle is in the wireless charging preparation mode (S141). The wireless charging ready mode may be used for an electric vehicle to enter a wireless network service area of ground assemblies, receive a beacon signal, obtain a separate user input, or a combination thereof, Can be performed independently or in parallel.

Next, the detection device controls the tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) in response to the wireless charging preparation mode (hereinafter simply referred to as "charging preparation mode") to shorten the RF transmission period of the TPMS (S142).

Next, the detection apparatus quickly obtains the received signal related information from the ground assemblies as much as the RF transmission period becomes faster (S143). As described above, when the RF transmission period is increased, the ground assemblies can receive the RF signal of a predetermined number or frame number in a short time to measure the signal intensity of the RF signal, It can be provided to the detection device relatively quickly.

Next, the detection device compares the signal strength included in the received signal related information with the signal strength or transmission power of the transmission signal of the TPMS sensor stored in advance (S144). A comparison of the signal strengths may include subtracting the average value of the received signal strength from the average value of the transmit power. Although this step can be performed on the GA side, it is described that the present embodiment is implemented to be performed on the VA side.

Next, the detection device detects a specific ground assembly or a specific primary pad based on the comparison result of the received signal intensities and calculates its position (S145). The comparison result of the received signal strengths may include calculating a signal attenuation (first signal attenuation) by subtracting the corresponding RSS average value of the corresponding sensor from the average value per unit time of the transmission signal strength of each sensor or the average value per frame of the predetermined number . The first signal attenuation can be used to determine an angle with respect to the vehicle relative to the direction in which the particular ground assembly or primary pad is located or the vehicle traveling direction. In addition, the comparison result of the signal intensities may include calculating a signal attenuation (second signal attenuation) minus the corresponding average value of the RSS of the corresponding sensors at the average value of the transmission signal intensities of all the sensors. The second signal attenuation can be used to determine the distance from the vehicle to a specific ground assembly or primary pad.

In this embodiment, the RF transmission cycle of the RF transmission apparatus is shortened, but the present invention is not limited thereto. If a relatively high-speed RF transmission device is mounted or positioned in the vehicle, the detection device can control the RF transmission period of the RF transmission device to be prolonged.

17 is a block diagram of a ground assembly detection apparatus of a wireless charging system according to another embodiment of the present invention.

17, the detection device 20 according to the present embodiment is located in the electric vehicle 10 and includes a processor 22, a memory 24, a communication interface 26, and an RF receiving device 25 ). The processor 22, the memory 24, and the communication interface 26 are substantially the same as the corresponding components of the embodiment described above with reference to Fig. 8, so that detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The RF receiving apparatus is located in the vehicle, and includes an RF signal processing unit 28 and an antenna 29. Hereinafter, the RF receiving apparatus will be referred to as a second RF receiving apparatus, and the RF receiving apparatus located on the ground assembly side will be referred to as a first RF receiving apparatus to distinguish them from each other.

The RF signal processing unit 28 can measure the signal intensity of the RF signal received from the antenna 29. [ In this case, the processor 22 may calculate an average value per unit time of each sensor or an average value per frame of a preset number by calculating the measured received signal strength, and calculate an RSS average value of all the sensors.

The RF signal processing unit 28 can use an existing RF receiving apparatus used in an electric vehicle. For example, a conventional RF receiver used in a vehicle may utilize an SMK receiver of a smart key (SMK) system. The SMK receiver may be a part or function of an electronic control unit (ECU) of a vehicle. The SMK receiver may have an operating frequency of several tens of kHz that can be made longer than when operating frequencies of several hundreds kHz. The RSS value of the RF signal received at the SMK receiver may be stored in the memory 24 as data of the electronic control device. According to the present embodiment, there is an advantage that an existing electric component, not a new electric component, can be used as an RF receiver.

In addition, when using the conventional SMK receiver, the RF signal processing unit 28 may be implemented to receive RF signals of different frequencies in the normal mode and the wireless charging preparation mode, depending on the implementation. The SMK receiver is capable of receiving an RF signal in a specific frequency band (e.g., 85 kHz) of the smart key in the normal mode, and is adapted to receive the RF signal of the RF transmitter in a frequency band different from the 85 kHz band in the charge preparation mode Can be produced.

This dual-mode SMK receiver can operate two antennas selectively in normal mode and charge ready mode to operate at two different frequencies, two switching circuits operating at different frequencies, (First operating frequency or 85 kHz) to a different frequency (second operating frequency) during the charging preparation mode by software, or a combination thereof.

When the antenna of the SMK system is used as the antenna 29, the antenna 29 may be installed on a handle or a steering wheel, a center console, a door handle, etc., and any one or more of them may be used in the detection device of the present embodiment .

In this embodiment, the second RF receiving apparatus can receive the RF signal transmitted from the RF transmitting apparatus located in the electric vehicle and measure the received signal strength of the received RF signal. The computed value of the received signal strength of the RF signal measured at the second RF receiving device located in the electric vehicle is calculated from the received signal strength of the RF signal transmitted from the ground assembly including the first RF receiving device to the detecting device 20 Can be used as a reference for an operation value (RSS average value). By using this criterion, it is possible to compare different patterns of the two RF reception signals, to detect different performance differences, errors or malfunctions of the plurality of sensors themselves, There is an advantage in that the reliability of the detection result can be greatly improved.

According to the present embodiment, by using a separate second RF receiving apparatus for receiving the same RF signal transmitted from the RF transmitting apparatus of the vehicle on the vehicle, It is possible to stably detect a specific ground assembly or the primary pad based on the relative variation of the received signal strength measured at the assembly side or the reliability of the signal attenuation information. That is, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to provide a new method and apparatus for detecting a ground assembly that is robust to changes in the surrounding radio environment regardless of displacement or operation error of an RF transmitting apparatus (TPMS sensor or the like).

18 is a flowchart of a method of detecting a ground assembly of a wireless charging system by the detection device of FIG.

Referring to FIG. 18, the detection apparatus according to the present embodiment determines whether the electric vehicle is in a wireless charging preparation mode (S161). When in charge ready mode, the detector can shorten the RF delivery period of the TPMS by controlling the tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) used as the RF transmitter.

Next, the detecting apparatus receives the RF signal of the RF transmitting apparatus from the second RF receiving apparatus and measures the signal strength of the received RF signal according to a predetermined procedure for the charging preparation mode (S162). Thereby, a reference signal strength is prepared for the detection device. The reference signal strength can be stored in a memory or buffer.

Next, the detection device obtains the received signal related information from the ground assemblies (S163). At this time, the detection apparatus can store the received signal related information in the memory.

Next, the detection apparatus compares the signal strength included in the received signal related information with the reference signal strength (S164). In this step, the detection apparatus can calculate the difference or the signal attenuation of the average value of the received signal strengths corresponding to the respective sensors based on the reference signal strength and the received signal strength of the received signal related information.

Next, the detection apparatus detects the ground assembly based on the result of the comparison in which the reliability and the accuracy are enhanced by the reference signal strength obtained from the second RF receiving apparatus (S165).

The detection apparatus calculates a signal attenuation (first signal attenuation) obtained by subtracting the RSS average value of each sensor of each sensor or the RSS average value of the corresponding RF signal obtained from the ground assemblies from the RSS average value per frame of the predetermined number as the reference signal intensity, It is possible to grasp an angle based on the direction in which the specific ground assembly or the primary pad is positioned or the vehicle traveling direction.

Also, depending on the implementation, the detection device can determine the distance from the vehicle to a specific ground assembly based on the difference, which is the reference signal strength minus the RSS average value of all RF signals obtained from each of the ground assemblies from the RSS average value of all sensors . For example, when the RSS average value corresponding to the reference signal strength is 15 dBm and the RSS average value of the received signal obtained from the ground assembly is 12 dBm, i.e., the signal attenuation is 3 dBm, May be obtained from preset data (table, graph, etc.) having an inverse relationship with the signal strength.

And, using the above-identified distance, the detection device may determine whether the vehicle is approaching or departing from a specific ground assembly or primary pad.

According to this embodiment, by using the received signal strength obtained from the second RF receiving apparatus mounted on the vehicle, it is possible to provide a method and an apparatus for detecting a ground assembly of a wireless charging system robust against a wireless environment, a sensor error, It is possible to accurately obtain information on the approach or departure of the electric vehicle based on the specific primary pad of the ground assembly after the electric vehicle enters the local wireless network service area of the assembly. This feature can be contrasted with the fact that the existing distance calculation via WiFi can not generate information about the approach / departure of the vehicle because of the large error.

19 is a block diagram of another embodiment of the functional blocks of the detection device of Fig.

19, the processor 22 of the detection apparatus according to the present embodiment includes an information obtaining unit 221, a detecting unit 222, a ground assembly (GA) selecting unit 224, a position information output unit 225, . The information acquiring unit 221, the detecting unit 222, the GA selecting unit 224 and the position information outputting unit 225 may be implemented as software or application programs in the form of modules, May be implemented on the processor 22 in a manner that the processor 22 performs.

The information acquisition unit 221 and the detection unit 222 are substantially the same as the corresponding components of the embodiment described above with reference to FIG. 9 or FIG. 15, and thus detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The GA selecting unit 223 selects a specific target among a plurality of targets detected by the detecting unit 222. [ The GA selection unit 223 can select a specific target according to a detection result (e.g., relative position from the vehicle) for a plurality of targets. The target may be a ground assembly or a primary pad. This target may be a service provider (GA or primary pad) that provides wireless charging service or may correspond to a destination (parking area) where the electric vehicle travels for wireless charging.

When the target is selected, the ground assembly selection unit 223 can transmit a selection notification message for wireless charging of the electric vehicle to the previously selected target (GA controller). The selection notification message may be performed in the selection step but is not limited thereto and may be performed in a separate message transmission step after the selection step.

After receiving the selection notification message, the ground assembly may set the charging reservation for the electric vehicle of the selection notification message, and then proceed to the reservation mode or the charging preparation mode in the standby mode or may perform a predetermined preparation process for the wireless charging service.

According to the ground assembly selection unit 223, a specific ground assembly located at the shortest distance from the electric vehicle among the plurality of ground assemblies detected by the detection unit 222 or a specific primary pad located in a specific parking area is selected There is an advantage to be able to choose.

Also, depending on the configuration of the ground assembly, a particular primary pad among a plurality of primary pads in a single ground assembly detected by the detection unit 222 may be selectively selected. In this case, the information obtaining unit 221 may receive the received signal related information from the GA controller that manages a plurality of primary pads.

Also, according to the implementation of the ground assembly, if the first RF receiver device is coupled to the primary pad or is disposed adjacent to the primary pad at regular intervals, the detector 222 determines the position of a particular primary pad in the ground assembly Or to detect a target that is spaced a certain distance from the primary pad.

Furthermore, depending on the configuration of the ground assembly, the ground assembly or primary pad can be reserved or ready for charging via transmission of a selection notification message.

The position information output unit 225 may transmit the position information of the ground assembly or the primary pad detected by the detection unit 222 to the driver assistance system of the vehicle. The position information of the ground assembly or the primary pad may be relative positional information relative to the electric vehicle in which the detection device is located. The location information may be used to guide or guide the movement of the vehicle relative to the ground assembly or primary pad detected in the vehicle.

With the use of the above-described positional information, the electronic control device or the driver's auxiliary system connected to the detection device in the vehicle can detect the position of the ground assembly or the detection position of the primary pad, It is possible to automatically move or guide the electric vehicle to the parking area. That is, the position information of the ground assembly or the primary pad may be provided to the driver assistance system of the electric vehicle to assist in vehicle movement for wireless charging.

Further, when the first RF receiving device is disposed at a certain distance from the primary pad or the primary pad, the detection device can be operated by cooperation with the electronic control device of the electric vehicle, the driver assistance system, the wireless charging controller, The GA coil of the primary pad and the VA coil of the secondary pad can be aligned by moving or guiding the electric vehicle to a position corresponding to the positional information.

On the other hand, in the present embodiment, the detection apparatus does not include the GA selection unit 224 and the position information output unit 225, and can include only either one of them. The case where the detection apparatus includes the GA selection unit 224 but does not include the position information output unit 225 will be described with reference to Fig. 20, and the detection apparatus includes the position information output unit 225, 224 are not included will be described with reference to FIG. Fig. 21 is a diagram for the sake of convenience, following the last stage of Fig. 20 (corresponding to a detection method in the case of including 224 and 225 together), but substantially the last stage of S10, S145 Or S165).

20 is a flowchart illustrating a method of detecting a ground assembly of a wireless charging system according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 20, in the detection method according to the present embodiment, the VA controller or the detection device 20 determines whether the electric vehicle is in the wireless charging preparation mode (S181). If it is not the wireless charging ready mode, the detection device 20 can terminate this process.

If the electric vehicle is in the charge preparation mode, the detection device 20 can shorten the RF transmission period of the RF transmission device mounted on the vehicle (S182).

Next, the detection device 20 acquires the transmission signal related information from the second RF transmission device mounted on the vehicle (S183), and receives the first reception signal related information from the first ground assembly 30-1 and the first reception signal related information from the first ground assembly (S184), and obtains the second received signal related information from the second ground assembly 30-2 and the identifier (ID) for the second ground assembly (S185).

Next, the detection apparatus 20 can compare the signal intensities of the transmission RF signals obtained from the transmission signal related information and the signal intensities of the reception RF signals obtained from the first and second reception signal related information, respectively (S186). The detection apparatus 20 can use an RSS average value of an RF signal composed of a plurality of frames when comparing transmission signal intensities and received signal intensities, thereby improving measurement accuracy of signal attenuation.

Next, the detection device 20 selects a specific ground assembly based on the comparison result of the first and second ground assemblies 30-1 and 30-2 (S187).

If the first ground assembly 30-1 is selected as the specific ground assembly, the detection device 20 may transmit the selection notification message to the first ground assembly 30-1 (S188). The first ground assembly 30-1 can be switched from the previous operation mode (standby mode, etc.) to the reserved mode upon reception of the selection notification message (S189). The first ground assembly 30-1 transmits the first received signal related information including the signal intensity of the self-computed RF signal according to the reception of the RF signal to the wireless May be periodically transmitted to the detection device 20 through the network (S190).

Meanwhile, the detection apparatus 20 may transmit a connection release request message to the second ground assembly 30-2 not selected as the specific ground assembly for the short-range wireless network (S191). In this case, the second ground assembly 30-2 may maintain the previous operation mode or standby mode (S192), and may transmit the disconnection response message for the disconnection request to the detection apparatus 20 (S193).

Then, the detection apparatus 20 can generate position information on the selected ground assembly (S194).

In the present embodiment, a specific target among a plurality of targets is selected on the basis of transmission signal related information and received signal related information, but the present invention is not limited thereto. The detection method and detection apparatus of the present embodiment can detect the intensity of the RF signal obtained through the second RF receiving apparatus of the vehicle and the received signal intensity of the RF signal obtained through the first RF receiving apparatus of the ground assembly, A specific target can be selected. Details of such a configuration will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 17 and 18. FIG.

21 is a flowchart illustrating a process of detecting a ground assembly of a wireless charging system according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 21, in the detection method according to the present embodiment, the controller located in the vehicle compares position information generated by the detection of the ground assembly or the primary pad with the parking area corresponding to the ground assembly or the primary pad As information for guiding or guiding the vehicle (S195). The output information may be input to the electronic control unit of the electric vehicle, the driver assistance system or the wireless charging controller.

Next, the controller compares the reference signal strength acquired through the second RF receiving apparatus of the vehicle with the received signal strength of the RF signal obtained from the ground assemblies coupled with the first RF receiving apparatus, and obtains the signal attenuation (S196), based on the information about the vehicle assembly coils of the secondary pads of the electric vehicle and the ground assembly coil of the specific primary pad.

According to this embodiment, a primary pad or a primary charging pad can be sensed through an in-vehicle RF controller and the ground assembly coil of the sensed primary pad and the vehicle assembly coil of the vehicle can be effectively aligned .

22 is an exemplary view for explaining positions of the primary pads in the parking area with respect to the center of the ground assembly coil applicable to the embodiment of the present invention.

22, in the ground assembly of the wireless charging system according to the present embodiment, the center of the ground assembly coil of the primary pad 32 may be located on the longitudinal or y-axis centerline of the parking area But is not limited thereto. In this case, the center of the ground assembly coil can be located on the center line of about 1.5 m inward from the one end face in the y-axis direction to the inside of the parking area.

Here, the size of the parking area may be 4.8 m x 2.0 m in the horizontal and vertical directions, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and a buffer may be disposed in the parking area so that the vehicle does not protrude out of the parking area. 22, the communication element 12 of the vehicle assembly may communicate with the communication element of the ground assembly, wherein at least a portion of the communication elements of the ground assembly are disposed on the primary pad 32 or integral with the housing can do.

Although not shown in the drawing, the ground assembly according to the present embodiment may include an RF receiving device or an antenna of an RF receiving device at a predetermined spaced position predetermined within the primary pad 32, external or primary pad 32 . The spaced apart locations may include locations where the bottom of the parking area, the buffer, the upper side structure of the parking area, and the like are installed.

In the above-described detection method, as a remaining search procedure not described in this specification, guidance for guiding access to the parking area after selecting a specific ground assembly or a specific primary pad and / or optimum power transmission The positioning or alignment process of the plug-in electric vehicle is already well known, so a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

On the other hand, in the detection apparatus of the above-described embodiment, the components may be modules or functional units mounted on a processor of a mobile device or a computer apparatus, but are not limited thereto. The above-described components may be stored in a computer-readable medium (recording medium) in the form of a program or software for performing the detection method of the present embodiment, or may be transmitted to a remote site in the form of a carrier, As shown in FIG.

The computer readable medium may be embodied in the form of program instructions, data files, data structures, etc., alone or in combination. The program recorded on the computer-readable medium may be those specially designed and constructed for the present invention or may be those known and available to those skilled in the computer software.

The computer-readable medium may also include hardware devices that are specially configured to store and execute program instructions, such as ROM, RAM, flash memory, and the like. Program instructions may include machine language code such as those produced by a compiler, as well as high-level language code that may be executed by a computer using an interpreter or the like. The hardware device may be configured to operate with at least one software module to perform the method of detecting the ground assembly of the wireless charging system of the present invention, and vice versa.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims It can be understood that

10: Vehicle (electric vehicle)
20: a controller (detection device)
22: Processor
24: Memory
25: second RF receiving device
26: Communication interface
30: Ground assembly
32: Primary pad
34: ground assembly (GA)
36: Parking area

Claims

A method for detecting a ground assembly of a wireless charging system in a controller located in a vehicle,
Obtaining an RF signal transmitted from a radio frequency (RF) transmitter of a vehicle through an RF receiver installed in the vehicle;
Acquiring received signal related information including the received signal strength of the RF signal from ground assemblies receiving the RF signal outside the vehicle and connected through a wireless network; And
Detecting a specific one of the ground assemblies or a specific primary pad connected to the particular ground assembly using the RF signal obtained from the vehicle and the received signal related information, How to detect an assembly.

The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the RF transmitter device comprises tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) sensors.

The method according to claim 1,
Further comprising the step of controlling the RF transmitting device to cause the RF transmitting device to transmit the RF signal in a second period that is different from the first period, which is a normal signal transmitting period.

The method of claim 3,
Wherein the second period is shorter than the first period.

The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the detecting step selects the specific ground assembly or the primary pad that is wirelessly chargeable among the ground assemblies and is located at the shortest distance.

The method of claim 5,
Further comprising, after the detecting, transmitting a selection notification message for use of a wireless charging service to the specific ground assembly.

The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the detecting is based on signal attenuation information obtained by comparing a received signal strength of an RF signal to the TPMS sensors with a predetermined transmit power of a plurality of TPMS sensors of the RF transmitter , A method of detecting a ground assembly of a wireless charging system.

The method of claim 7,
Wherein the received signal strength comprises a received signal strength value for each of the TPMS sensors, an RSS average value for each of the TPMS sensors, a total RSS average value for the TPMS sensors, How the system detects ground assemblies.

The method according to claim 1,
Further comprising the step of obtaining reference signal related information including a received signal strength for the RF signal or the received signal strength as a reference signal strength from an RF receiving apparatus mounted on the vehicle before the detecting step, How the system detects ground assemblies.

The method of claim 9,
Wherein the detecting includes comparing the reference signal strength with a received signal strength obtained from the ground assemblies to obtain signal attenuation and using information about the signal attenuation to determine whether the ground assembly or the primary pad Determining the direction in which the ground assembly is located.

The method of claim 9,
The RF receiving apparatus mounted on the vehicle includes an antenna mounted on the vehicle and an RF signal processor connected to the antenna,
Wherein the RF signal processing unit receives the RF signal at a second operating frequency different from the first operating frequency of the normal mode under the control of the controller.

The method of claim 11,
Wherein the RF receiving apparatus mounted on the vehicle includes an SMK receiver of a tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) receiver or a smart key (SMK) system mounted on the vehicle.

The method according to claim 1,
After the detecting step, the secondary coil of the secondary pad of the vehicle assembly mounted on the vehicle and the ground assembly coil of the primary pad are aligned based on the relative position information of the specific ground assembly or the primary pad obtained as a result of the detection The method further comprising the step of:

A method of detecting a ground assembly of a wireless charging system by a ground assembly providing information to a controller located in a vehicle,
Receiving an RF signal transmitted from a radio frequency (RF) transmitter of a vehicle through a first RF receiver and acquiring a received signal strength of the received RF signal; And
And transmitting the received signal related information including the received signal strength to the controller connected through a wireless network,
Wherein the controller is configured to determine a relative position of the ground assembly or the ground assembly relative to the primary pad using the reference signal strength generated from the RF signal or the RF signal obtained from the RF receiving apparatus mounted on the vehicle, Detecting at least one of a distance or a direction of the ground assembly.

15. The method of claim 14,
Further comprising receiving a selection notification message of the ground assembly or the primary pad for use of a wireless charging service from the controller after transmitting to the controller,
Wherein the ground assembly or the primary pad switches the state of the ground assembly or the primary pad to a reservation mode or a charging preparation mode of the wireless charging service upon receipt of the selection notification message, .

15. The method of claim 14,
The antenna of the first RF receiving device or the first RF receiving device is coupled to the primary pad having a ground assembly coil installed in the parking area of the vehicle for inductive coupling with the vehicle assembly coil of the secondary pad of the vehicle Or disposed at a position spaced apart by a predetermined distance from the primary pad.

An apparatus for detecting a ground assembly of a wireless charging system located in a vehicle equipped with a radio frequency (RF)
The RF signal transmitted from the RF transmitter is acquired through an RF receiver installed in the vehicle and the received signal related information including the received signal strength of the RF signal is transmitted to a wireless network An information acquiring unit acquiring information from the ground assemblies connected thereto; And
And a detection unit for detecting a specific one of the ground assemblies or a primary pad of the specific ground assembly using the RF signal acquired in the vehicle and the received signal related information, .

18. The method of claim 17,
Wherein the RF transmitter device comprises tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) sensors.

18. The method of claim 17,
Further comprising a transmission period control unit controlling the RF transmission apparatus to transmit the RF signal in a second period different from the first period in which the RF transmission apparatus is in a steady state RF signal transmission period, Device.

18. The method of claim 17,
And a ground assembly selection unit for transmitting a selection notification message for use of the wireless charging service to the specific ground assembly according to the detection result of the detection unit.

18. The method of claim 17,
Wherein the detection unit calculates a signal attenuation by comparing received signal intensities of the RF signals obtained from the ground assemblies with predetermined transmission power of RF signals of each of a plurality of TPMS sensors of the RF transmission apparatus, Wherein the sensor detects the direction in which the specific ground assembly or the primary pad is located in the vehicle based on information about the ground assembly.

18. The method of claim 17,
The RF receiving apparatus mounted on the vehicle receives the RF signal from the vehicle to generate reference signal related information, and the reference signal related information includes a received signal strength of an RF signal received in the vehicle as a reference signal strength ,
The detection unit compares the reference signal strength with the received signal strengths of the RF signals obtained from the ground assemblies to calculate a signal attenuation and calculates the signal attenuation based on the information on the signal attenuation, A device for detecting a ground assembly of a wireless charging system, the device detecting a direction in which a car pad is located.

23. The method of claim 22,
Wherein the RF receiving apparatus mounted on the vehicle includes a SMK receiver of a tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) receiver or a smart key (SMK) system mounted on the vehicle.

24. The method of claim 23,
Wherein the RF receiving device mounted on the vehicle is configured to transmit the RF signal in a second operation mode having a second operation frequency different from the first operation frequency of the first operation mode for receiving the RF signal of the smart key of the smart key system, A device for detecting a ground assembly of a wireless charging system, the device receiving an RF signal of the device.

18. The method of claim 17,
Further comprising a position information output unit for providing position information of the ground assembly or the primary pad detected by the detection unit to the electronic control unit or the wireless charging controller of the vehicle.