The invention relates to a charging station having a charging column, an operator control panel mounted on the charging column, a plug receptacle mounted in the charging column for a charging plug connected to a charging cable. In particular, the invention relates to a smart charging station.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION:
The present invention relates to a charging station for the charging of batteries that are either stand alone or fitted in electrically operable motor vehicles. These vehicles can be wholly operable by batteries or have hybrid systems partially operable by batteries and rest by other means, such as fossil fuels. Charging stations have been known in the prior art. One such charging station has been mentioned in EP 2 476 577 A2. It has a static charging column with two lower, vertically arranged posts which are mounted in the static ground and which form a free space between them. At the top, the posts receive a cabinet-like region of the charging column, which in a lower region has the operator control panel and the plug receptacle.
Charging stations have charging circuitry and operator control panel that normally comprises a display module that can preferably be a touchscreen. The charging stations known in the art are also found in use in India and outside India that act like standalone charging points for battery operated vehicles. These charging stations act like a dormant charging points with singular functionality of charging a vehicle once it is plugged in the charging station.
The stand-alone charging stations are ideal for markets and busy streets where everyone knows about their location. But their use is limited by the sparse availability of recharging facilities. Since having sufficient charging stations is still far away, it is necessary to manage these sparsely available charging stations so that their use is maximized.
This can be achieved if it becomes known to the users where charging stations are located, and the network of charging stations can inform the user the nearest available charging station based on the charge left in the vehicle. Since charging stations may also be located in sparsely populated areas, it becomes necessary that they are able to protect against surges and also debug on their own in case of any problem, without any human intervention. Even if charger is unable to debug itself, the health of the charging station can be monitored from a remote location even in the areas that have low bandwidth.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
This becomes possible in the present invention as each charging station has an inbuilt communication set up. The exemplary embodiments of the present invention allow for communicating using various method of communication, including device to device (e.g.,

WiFi, Bluetooth, IR, RFID, LAN, WLAN, wireless USB etc.); device and network; or between device and remote servers. The exemplary embodiments can also perform remote configuration using cloud computing or Internet Over Things (IOT). The technique used for operational setting can vary but can include an internet-based connection to a server. This can also allow for accessing a centralized storage of data.
The charging station of the present invention sends a real time location to a remote server by way of any of the methods of communication mentioned hereinabove. The real time location can be based on Global Positioning System (GPS), which is stored on the remote server. Locations of all the charging stations in an area are stored on the remote server, which has a database for this purpose. The charging stations can have unique IDs allocated to them and the location coordinates are stored in the remote database along with respective unique IDs. The unique IDs may denote the type of charging stations, their make and the type of plug receptacle they use. Since charging stations remain stationery, it is not necessary to update their locations in short intervals. Instead, their locations can be updated once a day so that it is confirmed that the charging station sending its location is operational. However, according to another embodiment of the present invention, the charging stations may be mobile in which case, their location is updated in real time so that decisions on sending users to those charging stations can be made with precision.
The users, who may be the owners of electric vehicles or hybrid vehicles, also have access to the servers that store information on charging stations. The access can be through a specific mobile App or through a website over internet. Similar to the charging stations, the location of the users is also updated on the remote server. Apart from the location of the user, the amount of charge left in the battery and approximate distance that the vehicle can cover with the amount of charge left in the battery is determined and sent to the server. In another embodiment, only the charge left in the battery is sent to the server and the server or the charging station in vicinity determine the distance that the vehicle can cover with that charge.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, a processing unit is provided, which could be located at the remote server or built in the charging stations. The processing unit compares the location of the user seeking a charging station and compares that location with all the charging stations in the vicinity of the user. Based on the charge left in the battery-in the vehicle and charging stations, the distance that the vehicle can cover and the location of the charging stations near to the user, the processing unit determines the closest charging station to the user where the user can reach without losing the entire battery power. In one embodiment, the processing unit also determines auxiliary data such as the terrain information, traffic information or any other information to optimize the closest path to a charging station for a user. This way a user does not lose the precious charge in running around to locate a charging station that results in the user getting stranded when the battery loses its entire charge in only locating a charging station.
The charging stations of the present invention have an internal system that continuously monitor the health of the charging stations. The status of the health of a charging station is determined internally on real time basis so that a user directed towards that charging station does not end up with a broken station. The health points include status of battery, power being delivered for charging, working of circuit protection against over and under voltage, ground fault detection, residual current detection etc. Each charging station has a health monitoring unit that monitors the health of the charging station. It also determines whether the display is working properly and the communication unit as well as the processing unit are functional.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the monitoring unit updates the remote server about the health status of the charging station by communicating through the communication unit. It is also an embodiment of the present invention by which, the remote server can not only monitor the health of the charging station but also, perform debugging and health improvements remotely. The remote server can switch the charging stations on and off remotely, update software and remotely rectify problems that a charging station may be facing if possible. The charging station of the present invention can also be controlled through a mobile app by a user.

We claim:

1. A charging station system for charging of vehicles comprising:
a processor configured to determine the location information and health status of charging stations in an area;
a transmitter for transmitting the location information of the charging stations;
a receiver for receiving the location information, battery information and auxiliary data of the device to be charged;
wherein, the processor determines the nearest charging station to the device to be charged based on the location information, battery information and auxiliary data of the charging stations and the device to be charged.
2. The charging station system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the auxiliary data includes terrain information and traffic density information.
3. The charging station system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the system continuously monitors the health of charging stations in an area on real time basis.
4. The charging station system as claimed in any of the claims, wherein the charging stations include a transmitter to transmit health data and location information.