DE102017214071A1 - Method and device for charging an electric vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

Method (10) for charging an electric vehicle (22), characterized by the following features:
- A data center (20) is connected by means of a first data connection to a charging station (21) and by means of a second data connection with an electric vehicle (22) (11) and
- The electric vehicle (22) is charged by the charging station (21) (12), while a charging control (23) of the charging station (21) and the electric vehicle (22) by the data center (20).

Description

The present invention relates to a method for charging an electric vehicle. The present invention also relates to a corresponding device, a corresponding computer program and a corresponding storage medium.

State of the art

As a charging station, any stationary device or electrical system is referred to in electrical engineering, which serves to supply mobile battery-powered devices, machines or vehicles by simply setting or plugging energy without having to remove the energy storage - such as the traction battery of an electric vehicle. Charging stations for electric vehicles are colloquially referred to as "charging stations" and can include several charging points, which are characterized depending on the design as "charging stations". In the electric vehicle, this is usually a battery management system that communicates with the charging station for the purpose of charging control in order to adjust the current level or to end the process when a capacity limit is reached.

DE102014221211A1 relates to a method for charging the traction battery of an electric vehicle with an electric drive to a charging station, wherein during a communication phase, the said communication between a charging device of the electric vehicle and the charging station via a phase conductor and a neutral conductor takes place and in a subsequent charging phase of the charging current through the phase conductor and the neutral is flowing.

Disclosure of the invention

The invention provides a method for charging an electric vehicle, a corresponding device, a corresponding computer program and a corresponding machine-readable storage medium according to the independent claims.

The proposed solution is based on the knowledge that the software functions of an electric vehicle used for charge control do not allow a modular system structure. One basic idea of the approach presented below is therefore to shift existing system boundaries by shifting charge control and charging communication into the emblematic "cloud".

One advantage of this solution lies in the possible decentralization of software functions that communicate with each other, for example via modes. Each function can interpret for itself what is necessary for a corresponding fashion change. Functions for controlling the system in the cloud specify a target mode for this purpose. Functions for the execution of the requested change of fashion and the feedback of the change of fashion take place on a corresponding vehicle control unit (VCU). The functions in the cloud require, for example, a mode change from the functions running on the VCU; the functions on the VCU return the current status. Each function on the VCU responsible for a subsystem is responsible for the execution itself, so that there is no central control by a function.

The proposed approach also recognizes that the currently applicable ISO / DIN standards describe the actual charging process and fault handling. A suitable software solution should always comply with all ISO / DIN requirements. However, the ISO / DIN standards are still in the processing state. New requirements are constantly being added and existing requirements are being changed. In this way, the ISO / DIN Panel responds to findings from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and the manufacturer of charging stations. For the vehicles already in use, this requires a visit to the workshop to re-program ("flashing") the VCU with appropriately adapted software.

An important aspect of the invention is therefore that the software for controlling a charging process is located in the cloud. The control remains on the VCU and continues to be the interface between the VCU and the high-voltage system of the electric vehicle. As a result, load control and error handling in the cloud can be continuously adapted to the currently valid ISO / DIN standards. All vehicles use the same current state. A workshop visit is not necessary.

Another advantage of this solution is the dispensability of a microchip for carrier frequency transmission (powerline communication, PLC) and corresponding communication protocol stack (communication protocol stack, ComStack) on the VCU used for charge control and the resulting cost savings. The thus facilitated simplification of the block in question also takes into account the fact that standard PLC chips are only partially suitable for automotive (automotive) applications.

Another aspect is the central availability of charging control, charging, charging and battery data for an entire vehicle fleet. This provides, for example, a clear and simple overview of one or more vehicles to the responsible fleet management or vehicle owner. All data relating to charging and the current status of the high-voltage system (eg state of charge, charging activity or remaining time of the charging process) of one or more vehicles are permanently and up-to-date stored in the cloud and can thus -. B. by means of a standard smartphone - easily retrieved. In this way transparency becomes transparent, at which location, at what time, with what energy and at which price charging has taken place or is currently taking place.

A manufacturer can gain knowledge from the collected data or react to it. It should be noted that there is currently little experience with the charging behavior of older high-voltage batteries in the series environment. It may be necessary to adjust the charging behavior. An embodiment of the invention therefore offers the particular advantage that the charge control and thus the charging behavior of a vehicle, a vehicle model or the entire fleet can be easily readjusted by means of simple intervention within the cloud. In the case of a gross system error within the high-voltage system of a vehicle, the loading permit via the cloud can also be completely withdrawn.

A manufacturer can also check warranty claims from the data collected in this way. Conventionally, it is necessary for this to integrate a history memory in the control unit. Since according to the proposed approach corresponding data is stored in the cloud, an additional history memory on the control device is not absolutely necessary here.

One embodiment of the invention faces the challenge that a conventional charging station for identifying the vehicle and for releasing the charging process prior to the start of the charging process interrogates the certificate stored in the vehicle. A certificate is then used to confirm that a valid contract has been concluded with a utility company for the supply of electricity for charging a vehicle. On the basis of the certificate, the billing of the amount of energy consumed takes place after the charging process. The certificate must therefore be applied to the vehicle before the first charging process and protected against attacks by software and hardware. It should also be replaced when changing the power company, which requires a repeat visit to the workshop.

Another aspect of the invention is therefore the ability to verify the vehicle for charging via the cloud. The certificate is deposited for this purpose in the cloud, which costly security measures on the control unit are just as unnecessary as a visit to the workshop to upload a certificate. The vehicle owner can therefore change as often as the electricity supplier and save costs. The proposed method also meets a higher security standard than known approaches because the certificate in the cloud can be automatically renewed after a certain interval. For example, it may be provided that a certificate is generally valid for a maximum of six months.

Another aspect of the invention is the extensive and efficient connection to networked and remotely controllable devices and installations as well as automatable processes in the living space (smart home). An appropriately connected smart home system knows the current energy level of the high-voltage battery in the electric vehicle. If it is foreseeable that an electric vehicle with sufficient state of charge arrives at the residential building, it is expected that programs of energy-intensive equipment will be executed. For example, the start of the washing machine, the dryer or the oven is waited until the electric vehicle is connected via the in-house charging station with the in-house power grid. The equipment then draw their power to carry out the said programs from the high-voltage battery of the electric vehicle, which in turn is recharged at a low electricity night rate.

The charge control of such an electric vehicle is completely on the smartphone and can be transferred. The power customer can thus take direct charge on the charging process. The entire energy needs of the household including the energy consumption of any electric vehicles from public or external charging stations can be accessed via the cloud. Likewise, a maximum energy value for charging individual electric vehicles can be defined, which must not be exceeded. So the customer always keeps the cost control. As an extended theft protection can preferably be activated or deactivated via smartphone at any time a blocking of charging.

A further aspect of the invention addresses the fact that, after the charging station has confirmed the connection to the vehicle, conventionally an adjustment and exchange of various data takes place. Among other things, this process is necessary to check whether the vehicle is compatible with the charging station, for example by means of a certificate and the supported ISO / DIN standard. At the same time, the charging station transmits its maximum Charging current to the vehicle. Conversely, the vehicle transmits the precharging and charging voltage required for charging to the charging station.

A preferred variant of the invention enables a faster start of this charging process. Already when starting a charging station, all relevant data for the start of a charging process between the charging station and the vehicle are exchanged. Thus, the vehicle can also request charging by means of another charging station, if the current charging station z. B. can supply too little power or not the required voltage. A charging station can also be reserved automatically in advance. After completion of the charging process, the vehicle can start driving directly. The exchange of messages after completion of the loading process is also done via the cloud. The charging process is shortened as a whole, since arrival or departure and exchange of all relevant data (handshake) between charging station and cloud simultaneously.

An extended security also offers the conceivable function of the cloud as a firewall. A relevant aspect of the invention in this regard is that the vehicle is not directly connected to the charging station; Thus, the possibility of an attack from the outside drops sharply. If the charging station is infected with malware, it would transfer to the controller and cause damage if connected directly to the vehicle. However, since the charging station communicates with the vehicle only indirectly via the cloud in the present case, the spread of malicious software onto the vehicle can be blocked. The cloud can detect charging stations infected with malicious software, report this directly to the operator of the charging stations and thus carry out or request, for example, a shutdown of the relevant charging stations.

An intrusion detection system (IDS) or intrusion prevention system (IPS) detects anomalies in the communication network. Thus, hacker attacks can be unmasked. For the application of IDS or IPS, suitable rules should be defined to determine which message is expected which answer or which system behavior. A corresponding embodiment of the invention offers the advantage that the maintenance or expansion of the set of rules can be realized within the cloud. Again, a regular "flashing" of the controller with software changes, which would be associated with a workshop visit, not necessary.

The measures listed in the dependent claims advantageous refinements and improvements of the independent claim basic idea are possible. For example, in order to achieve a high network coverage, a data connection between the electric vehicle and the data center in the cloud can be provided via an existing mobile radio network.

list of figures

• 1 das Flussdiagramm eines Verfahrens gemäß einer ersten Ausführungsform.
• 2 eine Anwendung des Verfahrens zum induktiven Laden eines Elektroautos.
• 3 eine Anwendung des Verfahrens zum konduktiven Laden eines Elektroautos.
• 4 schematisch ein Steuergerät gemäß einer zweiten Ausführungsform.

Embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the drawings and explained in more detail in the following description. It shows:

• 1 the flowchart of a method according to a first embodiment.
• 2 an application of the method for inductively charging an electric car.
• 3 an application of the method for conductively charging an electric car.
• 4 schematically a control device according to a second embodiment.

Embodiments of the invention

1 illustrates a fundamental aspect of the proposed method ( 10 ): A data center is connected to a charging station by means of a first data connection and to an electric vehicle by means of a second data connection (process 11 ). The electric vehicle is now charged by the charging station (process 12 ), while the common charge control of the charging station and the electric vehicle is decentralized as it were "via the cloud".

2 illustrates this procedure with reference to a first application case: the first data connection whose transport layer security (TLS; 26 ) of data center ( 20 ) and charging station ( 21 ) was ensured here via a wireless local area network (WLAN); 24 ) and internal Ethernet ( 29 ) of the charging station ( 21 ) produced.

3 while illuminating a second application. The first data connection is also shown here by the charging station ( 21 ), in the present case by charging cable with the electric vehicle ( 22 ), wired via Ethernet ( 29 ) produced.

Both cases are based on the same modular system design, which can be selected by - depending on availability and signal quality. 32 ) via WLAN or mobile network ( 25 ) - second data connection of the electric vehicle ( 22 ) with the data center ( 20 ). At the application layer, this connection is made by the data center ( 20 ) and electric vehicle ( 22 ) by a suitable attack detection system ( 28 ) hedged. Thus, the data center ( 20 ) during loading (process 12 - 1 ) between electric vehicle ( 22 ) and charging station ( 21 ) required communication (vehicle to grid, V2G; 27 ) throughout. This network layer comes in the present example version 6 Internet Protocol (Internet protocol version 6 , IPv6) are used.

The charging control ( 23 ) by the electric vehicle ( 22 ) is carried out by a suitable VCU microcontroller ( 30 ) reduced by a reduced media-independent interface (RMII; 31 ) to the on-board Ethernet ( 29 ) is attached.

This method ( 10 ) can be used, for example, in software or hardware or in a mixed form of software and hardware, for example in a host computer ( 40 ) or other server, such as the schematic representation of 4 clarified.

QUOTES INCLUDE IN THE DESCRIPTION

This list of the documents listed by the applicant has been generated automatically and is included solely for the better information of the reader. The list is not part of the German patent or utility model application. The DPMA assumes no liability for any errors or omissions.

Cited patent literature

• DE 102014221211 A1 [0003]

Claims (10)

Method (10) for charging an electric vehicle (22), characterized by the following features: - a data center (20) is connected by means of a first data connection to a charging station (21) and by means of a second data connection to an electric vehicle (22) (11) and - The electric vehicle (22) is charged by the charging station (21) (12), while a charging control (23) of the charging station (21) and the electric vehicle (22) by the data center (20). Method (10) according to Claim 1 characterized by at least one of the following features: - the second data connection is optionally established (32) via a wireless local area network (24) or a cellular network (25). Method (10) according to Claim 1 or 2 characterized by the following feature: - the data center (20) and the charging station (21) ensure transport layer security (26) of the first data connection. Method (10) according to one of Claims 1 to 3 characterized by the following features: during charging (12), the data center (20) communicates (27) between the charging station (21) and the electric vehicle (22) and - the communication (27) is in accordance with IPv6. Method (10) according to one of Claims 1 to 4 characterized by the following feature: - the second data connection is protected by an attack detection system (28). Method (10) according to one of Claims 1 to 5 characterized by the following feature: - at least the second data connection is established via an Ethernet (29) of the electric vehicle (22). Method (10) according to Claim 6 characterized by the following features: - the charging control (23) on the part of the electric vehicle (22) is performed by a microcontroller (30) and - a reduced media-independent interface (31) connects the microcontroller (30) to the Ethernet (29). Computer program, which is arranged, the method (10) according to one of Claims 1 to 7 perform. Machine-readable storage medium on which the computer program is based Claim 8 is stored. Apparatus (30, 40) adapted to operate the method (10) according to any one of Claims 1 to 7 perform.

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