Description:A Universal Charging System for Electric Vehicles and Method thereof
Field of the Invention
This invention, in general, relates to a charging system for electric vehicles. More particularly, the present invention relates to a charging system with a universal charging system for electric vehicles providing interoperability with any power source and electric vehicle.
Background of the Invention
Background description includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the present invention, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
The main challenges in the current EV infrastructure includes the high cost of installation, communication between the grid and charge station companies, and the compatibility of chargers.
There are three major components of EV charging infrastructure – Power source, charger and the electric vehicle. The problem existed is with regard to the interoperability among the Power source, charger and the electric vehicle because they are not compatibly functional with each other. With the change of any of the above component in the EV infrastructure, the other component had to be functionally and structurally changed to suit the requirement.
The available protocols allow electric charging infrastructure to communicate and currently limited to just one particular set of power source, charger and electric vehicle. It becomes an issue if the charger needs an upgradation, or if power source is altered or the vehicle configuration is changed.
There have been various attempts made in the past to resolve the above issue, and communication protocols are provided but still the structural and functional independence among the power source, battery-based charger and the electric vehicle could not be achieved. This is the reason why users are still required to find functional and structural compatibility between the charger they are provided with their vehicles and power source or battery-based charger publicly available at the charging stations.
Though one of the solutions to the above problem in the existing art is provision of multiple connectors either in the charger or at charging station so as match charging compatibility. But this further adds to the complexity in the vehicle charging system.
While there is certainly nothing wrong in the existing or available charging mechanism, but there still exists a need for an improved, efficient and effective Universal Charging System for electric vehicles. Also, there exists a need to provide a charging system that avoids complexity associated with the functional and structural compatibility with the electric vehicle and power source.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems with some aspects of the present disclosure as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.
Summary of the Invention
This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter. Nor is this summary intended to be used to limit the claimed subject matter’s scope.
Both the foregoing summary and the following detailed description provide examples and are explanatory only. Accordingly, the foregoing summary and the following detailed description should not be considered to be restrictive. Further, features or variations may be provided in addition to those set forth herein. For example, embodiments may be directed to various feature combinations and sub-combinations described in the detailed description.
It is one of the objectives of the present invention to provide a charging system which provides interoperability among any power source, any battery-based charger and any electric vehicle.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide a charging system which avoids structural complexity as far as its design is concerned.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide a charging system which provides functional compatibility of any charger with any electric vehicle.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide a charging system which provides all in one solution for charging.
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a Universal Charging System for electric vehicles, comprising a power source connected with a battery-based vehicle charger or any other battery powered appliance, a signal interpreter communicably connected with the battery-based vehicle charger and the electric vehicle, and a cloud server communicatively coupled with the electric vehicle or any other battery powered appliance, and the battery-based vehicle charger, wherein said signal interpreter is configured to convert sequence of signals received from the battery based charger and/or the electric vehicle or any other battery powered appliance, into a charging signal compatible to enable charging of the vehicle or any other battery powered appliance irrespective of any power source and battery based charger.
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, tthere is provided a Universal Charging System for electric vehicles, comprising a power source connected with a battery-based vehicle charger or any other battery powered appliance, a signal interpreter communicably connected with the battery-based vehicle charger and the electric vehicle, and a cloud server communicatively coupled with the electric vehicle or any other battery powered appliance, and the battery-based vehicle charger, wherein said signal interpreter is configured to convert sequence of signals received from the battery based charger and/or the electric vehicle or any other battery powered appliance, into a charging signal compatible to enable charging of the vehicle or any other battery powered appliance irrespective of any power source and battery based charger, wherein said power source is but not limited to renewable energy source, AC or DC power source.
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a Universal Charging System for electric vehicles, comprising a power source connected with a battery-based vehicle charger or any other battery powered appliance, a signal interpreter communicably connected with the battery-based vehicle charger and the electric vehicle, and a cloud server communicatively coupled with the electric vehicle or any other battery powered appliance, and the battery-based vehicle charger, wherein said signal interpreter is configured to convert sequence of signals received from the battery based charger and/or the electric vehicle or any other battery powered appliance, into a charging signal compatible to enable charging of the vehicle or any other battery powered appliance irrespective of any power source and battery based charger, wherein said universal Charging System further comprises of an electronic device installed with an application programming interface for tracking charging status and enabling payment processing.
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a Universal Charging System for electric vehicles, comprising a power source connected with a battery-based vehicle charger or any other battery powered appliance, a signal interpreter communicably connected with the battery-based vehicle charger and the electric vehicle, and a cloud server communicatively coupled with the electric vehicle or any other battery powered appliance, and the battery-based vehicle charger, wherein said signal interpreter is configured to convert sequence of signals received from the battery based charger and/or the electric vehicle or any other battery powered appliance, into a charging signal compatible to enable charging of the vehicle or any other battery powered appliance irrespective of any power source and battery based charger, wherein said signal interpreter is having an IoT device, GSM module, Energy meter, RFID reader and a microprocessor.
In accordance with one of the above embodiments of the present invention, wherein the cloud server is pre-configured to store information related to identity of the vehicle and the battery-based charger and energy consumption corresponding to a particular identity set of a vehicle and the battery based vehicle charger.
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a Universal Charging System for electric vehicles, comprising a power source connected with a battery-based vehicle charger, a signal interpreter communicably connected with the battery-based vehicle charger and the electric vehicle, and a cloud server communicatively coupled with the electric vehicle and the battery-based vehicle charger, wherein said signal interpreter is configured to convert sequence of signals received from the battery based charger and/or the electric vehicle into a charging signal compatible to enable charging of the vehicle irrespective of any power source and battery based charger, wherein said battery-based charger is provided with a rectifier for converting an input alternating current power into an output direct current power.
In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a signal interpreter having an input power means connected to a charger, and an output power means connected to an electric vehicle for charging, wherein the signal interpreter comprises of an IoT module configured to establish connection between the signal interpreter and a cloud server, a microprocessor configured to identify working charging conditions of the battery-based charger and the vehicle and a GSM module configured to establish communication between the microprocessor and the cloud server, wherein said microprocessor is functionally configured to make working charging condition of the battery based charger consistent with the charging condition of the vehicle based on its communication with the cloud server.
In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a signal interpreter having an input power means connected to a charger, and an output power means connected to an electric vehicle for charging, wherein the signal interpreter comprises of an IoT module configured to establish connection between the signal interpreter and a cloud server, a microprocessor configured to identify working charging conditions of the battery-based charger and the vehicle and a GSM module configured to establish communication between the microprocessor and the cloud server, wherein said microprocessor is functionally configured to make working charging condition of the battery based charger consistent with the charging condition of the vehicle based on its communication with the cloud server, wherein said signal interpreter further comprises of an energy meter connected with the microprocessor for communicating details related to energy consumed in charging of the vehicle.
In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a Universal Charging System for electric vehicles, wherein said charging system comprising a battery charger having a rectifier, a signal interpreter communicably connected with the battery charger and the electric vehicle, a cloud server in communication with the electric vehicle and battery charger, wherein the cloud server is pre-configured to store information related to vehicle’s identity, charger’s identity and energy consumption, an electronic device installed with an application programming interface for tracking status related to charging, payment, etc., wherein said signal interpreter is configured to convert the sequence of signals signal received from the battery and/or the electric vehicle into the decoded signal which is compatible for enabling charging of the battery of the vehicle irrespective of any power source and charger, wherein the signal interpreter is having an IoT device, GSM, Energy meter and a microprocessor, wherein the signal interpreter facilitates interoperability among any power source (AC/DC/renewable energy/wind energy), any charger and any vehicle, and wherein said signal interpreter is integrated with the battery based charger or connected externally with it.
In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method of charging an electric vehicle, comprises of receiving sequence of signals/pulse width modulation from the electric vehicle and a rectifier connected to a power source, wherein each said sequence of signals/pulse width modulation defines a certain type of charging condition, and translating the sequence of signals/pulse width modulation received from the rectifier into the sequence of signals/pulse width modulation as per the charging condition of the vehicle for charging of the vehicle.
In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method of charging an electric vehicle, comprises of receiving sequence of signals/pulse width modulation from the electric vehicle and a rectifier connected to a power source, wherein each said sequence of signals/pulse width modulation defines a certain type of charging condition, and translating the sequence of signals/pulse width modulation received from the vehicle into the sequence of signals/pulse width modulation as per the charging condition of the rectifier for charging of the vehicle.
In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method of charging an electric vehicle, comprises of receiving sequence of signals/pulse width modulation from the electric vehicle and a rectifier connected to a power source, wherein each said sequence of signals/pulse width modulation defines a certain type of charging condition, and translating the sequence of signals/pulse width modulation received from the rectifier into the sequence of signals/pulse width modulation as per the charging condition of the vehicle for charging of the vehicle, wherein said method further comprises of authenticating the identity of the vehicle, and collecting information related to energy consumed in vehicle charging, and requesting payment at user interface based on the consumed energy.
In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method of charging an electric vehicle, comprises of receiving sequence of signals/pulse width modulation from the electric vehicle and a rectifier connected to a power source, wherein each said sequence of signals/pulse width modulation defines a certain type of charging condition, and translating the sequence of signals/pulse width modulation received from the rectifier into the sequence of signals/pulse width modulation as per the charging condition of the vehicle for charging of the vehicle, wherein said method further comprises of delivering translated sequence of signals/pulse width modulation via a charging connector to the electric vehicle for charging.
In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a universal charging system for electric vehicle or any battery powered appliance, comprising a power source connected with a battery-based vehicle charger or any other battery powered appliance, a signal interpreter communicably connected with the battery-based vehicle charger at its one end and configured to communicate with the electric vehicle or the any other battery powered appliance, a charging connector structurally designed to connect to a charging port of the electric vehicle via or without requiring an additional connecting means, and a cloud server communicatively coupled with the signal interpreter for storing information exchanged between the electric vehicle or any battery-based appliance and the battery-based vehicle charger, wherein said signal interpreter is configured to convert sequence of signals received from the battery-based charger and/or the electric vehicle or the any battery powered appliance into a charging signal compatible to enable charging of the vehicle via the charging connector irrespective of any power source and battery-based charger.
In accordance with any of the above embodiments, wherein said charging conditions includes but not limited to checking for error flags, short circuit, overvoltage etc. as per various charging protocols.
In accordance with one of the above embodiments of the present invention, said charging connector is structurally designed to connect to any charging port of the electric vehicle via or without requiring an additional connecting means, wherein said additional connecting means includes but not limited to adapter.
Brief Description of the accompanying drawing
Figure 1 shows exploded view of the universal charging system for electric vehicles.
Figure 2 shows front view of universal charging system for electric vehicles.
Figure 3 shows a flowchart explaining the working of signal interpreter in the charging system.
Detailed Description of the Invention
The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the following description to refer to the same or similar elements. While many embodiments of the disclosure may be described, modifications, adaptations, and other implementations are possible. For example, substitutions, additions, or modifications may be made to the elements illustrated in the drawings, and the methods described herein may be modified by substituting, reordering, or adding stages to the disclosed methods. Accordingly, the following detailed description does not limit the disclosure. Instead, the proper scope of the disclosure is defined by the appended claims. The present disclosure contains headers. It should be understood that these headers are used as references and are not to be construed as limiting upon the subjected matter disclosed under the header.
In the accompanying figure 3, the labelled smart interpreter should be understood to have the same meaning as of the signal interpreter as claimed and supported in description of the present disclosure.
Figure 1 and 2 show the universal charging system having a rectifier (AC-DC) or DC-DC converter that receives power from an external power source which may include electric grid, renewable energy source such as solar panel, wind mill or turbines, and converts it to prescribed DC voltage as required for charging of the electric vehicle, wherein a connector cable (8) is provided at the output of the rectifier or DC-DC converter which further extends to contain a charging connector or charging gun (3) to be used physically for charging the electric vehicle, wherein a signal interpreter (1) receives the sequence of signals either through its input (6) or by other means of wire or wireless communication like RFID tag, etc. and transmits converted or translated sequence of signals or pulse width modulation as per the charging condition of the vehicle back to the rectifier (2) through cable (7), wherein said translated sequence of signals are communicated through the charging gun to the vehicle for enable vehicle charging.
Further, in another embodiment, said signal interpreter (2) receives the sequence of signals through its another input from the vehicle and transmits converted or translated sequence of signals or pulse width modulation as per the charging condition of the rectifier (2) and the power source back to the rectifier (2), wherein said translated sequence of signals are communicated through the charging gun (3) to the vehicle for enable vehicle charging.
An external casing is provided to cover the rectifier from outside which covers interior of the charging system.
Figure 3 shows a flowchart that explains the working of the charging system and how it functions as a universal system. There is provided an electric vehicle with any random charging protocol and the charge input point of the vehicle is connected to the charge output point (preferably a charging gun connected to the signal interpreter) of the signal interpreter, wherein communication block A of the signal interpreter senses pulse width modulation (PWM) /or multi-channel voltage through multi-channel input of the vehicle on a bidirectional control area network (CAN) communication, wherein a modified or translated pulse width modulation (PWM) or compatible PWM signal based on the power source and according to the working charging condition of the vehicle is transmitted through multi-channel output of the charging gun at 12V to the electric vehicle over the same CAN communication and also monitoring latch/unlatch of the charging gun.
Further, in another preferred embodiment there is provided a power source (AC or DC) including electric grid, renewable energy source such as solar panel, wind mill or turbines, which is connected to AC-DC rectifier or DC-DC converter (charging protocol A) for charging of any electric vehicle, wherein the output of the rectifier is connected to communication block B of the signal interpreter and said communication block B senses pulse width modulation (PWM) and/or multi-channel voltage through multi-channel input of the rectifier on a bidirectional control area network (CAN) communication, wherein a modified or translated pulse width modulation (PWM) or compatible PWM signal based on the electric vehicle and according to the working charging condition of the rectifier is transmitted through multi-channel output of the signal interpreter at 12V to the rectifier (charging protocol A).
Further, in another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the signal interpreter is provided with an Interpreter and Protocol Translation block which is in bidirectional communication with each communication block A at the vehicle side and communication block B at the power source side, and collects information with regard to working charging conditions of the electric vehicle and the rectifier (power source) characterized by their pulse width modulations, wherein said Interpreter and Protocol Translation block translates the pulse width modulation received from the rectifier (power source) into the pulse width modulation of the electric vehicle (i.e. the working charging condition of the electric vehicle) and sends translated pulse width modulation for charging of the electric vehicle through the charging gun.
Further, in another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the signal interpreter is provided with an Interpreter and Protocol Translation block which is in bidirectional communication with each communication block A at the vehicle side and communication block B at the power source side, and collects information with regard to working charging conditions of the electric vehicle and the rectifier (power source) characterized by their pulse width modulations, wherein said Interpreter and Protocol Translation block translates the pulse width modulation and/or the communication signal received from the electric vehicle into the pulse width modulation and/or the communication signal of the rectifier (power source) (i.e. the working charging condition of the rectifier - power source) and sends translated pulse width modulation and/or the communication signal compatible with the electric vehicle for charging of the electric vehicle through the charging gun.
Further, in accordance with the above embodiment, the signal interpreter responds to the Pulse Width Modulation/ Communication signals, as received from both from the vehicle and the rectifier and then translates the communication thereby acting as a gateway/conduit to deliver the power to charge the vehicle, wherein the vehicle is on X charging protocol and the rectifier is on Y charging protocol, wherein the signal interpreter enables aligning of the Y with X or vice versa for charging the vehicle by translating signals corresponding to X into the signals corresponding to Y or vice versa.
Further, in another embodiment, upon connecting the electric vehicle having any charging protocol with the signal interpreter by means of a charging gun or any other means, the user ID of the electric vehicle is authenticated by way of an RFID tag or QR code scanning or bluetooth connectivity over the bus control area network of the vehicle and charging system, which is confirmed by the authentication module for secure connection between the electric vehicle and signal interpreter, and the details regarding the user is further stored in the charge station cloud and may further be retrieved for charging operation when the same vehicle will be charged next time, wherein the Interpreter and Protocol Translation block also visually indicates the status, state of charge, charging time and latency.
Further, the signal interpreter is configured to establish secure communication with the cloud server over 2G/4G and also supports dual CAN, thereby enabling the vehicle and rectifier communicate on the same CAN bus or different CAN bus depending on the scenario, wherein the signal interpreter is provided with multiple inputs to sense high voltage, multiple inputs/outputs with pulse width modulation to support a wide range of charging protocols.
While the invention is amenable to various modifications and alternative forms, some embodiments have been illustrated by way of example in the drawings and are described in detail above. The intention, however, is not to limit the invention by those examples and the invention is intended to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives to the embodiments described in this specification.

The embodiments in the specification are described in a progressive manner and focus of description in each embodiment is the difference from other embodiments. For same or similar parts of each embodiment, reference may be made to each other.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the above description was in respect of preferred embodiments and that various alterations and modifications are possible within the broad scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit of the invention with the necessary modifications.

Based on the description of disclosed embodiments, persons skilled in the art can implement or apply the present disclosure. Various modifications of the embodiments are apparent to persons skilled in the art, and general principles defined in the specification can be implemented in other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments in the specification but intends to cover the most extensive scope consistent with the principle and the novel features disclosed in the specification. , Claims:We Claim:
1. A Universal Charging System for electric vehicle or any battery powered appliance, comprising:
a power source connected with a battery-based vehicle charger or any other battery powered appliance;
a signal interpreter communicably connected with the battery-based vehicle charger at its one end and configured to communicate with the electric vehicle or the any other battery powered appliance;
a charging connector structurally designed to connect to any charging port of the electric vehicle via or without requiring an additional connecting means, wherein said additional connecting means includes but not limited to adapter; and
a cloud server communicatively coupled with the signal interpreter for storing information exchanged between the electric vehicle or any battery-based appliance and the battery-based vehicle charger,
wherein said signal interpreter is configured to convert sequence of signals received from the battery-based charger and/or the electric vehicle or the any battery powered appliance into a charging signal compatible to enable charging of the vehicle via the charging connector irrespective of any power source and battery-based charger.
2. The Universal Charging System as claimed in claim 1, wherein said power source is but not limited to renewable energy source, AC or DC power source.
3. The Universal Charging System as claimed in claim 1, further comprises of an electronic device installed with an application programming interface for tracking charging status, enabling payment processing, enabling support to remote start and stop the charging session, enabling local and remote locking/unlocking of a charging connector with the vehicle/appliance to prevent unintended disconnection, enabling tracking of charging history/data to predict future events like but not limited to issues/degradation of the battery in the electric vehicle/appliance via data analytics, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), etc.
4. The Universal Charging System as claimed in claim 1, wherein said signal interpreter is having an IoT device, GSM module, Energy meter, RFID trans-receiver and a microprocessor.
5. The Universal Charging System as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cloud server is pre-stored with information related to identity of the vehicle and the battery-based charger, and energy consumption corresponding to a particular identity set of vehicles and the battery-based vehicle charger.
6. The Universal Charging System as claimed in claim 1, wherein said battery-based charger is provided with a rectifier for converting an input alternating current power into an output direct current power.
7. A signal interpreter having an input power means connected to a charger, and an output power means connected to an electric vehicle or any battery powered appliance for charging, wherein the signal interpreter comprises of:
an IoT module configured to establish connection between the signal interpreter and a cloud server;
a microprocessor configured to identify working charging conditions of the battery-based charger and the vehicle or battery powered appliance; and
a GSM module configured to establish communication between the microprocessor and the cloud server,
wherein said microprocessor is functionally configured to make working charging condition of the battery-based charger consistent with the charging condition of the vehicle based on its communication with the cloud server.
8. The signal interpreter as claimed in claim 7, further comprises of an energy meter connected with the microprocessor for communicating details related to energy consumed in charging of the vehicle and an RFID trans-receiver for authenticating the user/payment.
9. A method of universal charging of an electric vehicle or any battery powered appliance, comprises of:
receiving sequence of signals/pulse width modulation from the electric vehicle or the battery powered appliance and a rectifier connected to a power source, wherein each said sequence of signals/pulse width modulation defines a certain type of charging condition; and
translating the sequence of signals/pulse width modulation received from the rectifier into the sequence of signals/pulse width modulation as per the charging condition of the vehicle or the battery powered appliance for charging of the vehicle.
10. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein said method further comprises of translating the sequence of signals/pulse width modulation received from the vehicle into the sequence of signals/pulse width modulation as per the charging condition of the rectifier for charging of the vehicle.
11. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein said method further comprises of delivering translated sequence of signals/pulse width modulation via a charging connector to the electric vehicle for charging.
12. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein said method further comprises of authenticating the identity of the vehicle, and collecting information related to energy consumed in vehicle charging and requesting payment at user interface based on the consumed energy.