1. Field
The disclosed concept pertains generally to electric vehicle supply equipment and, more particularly, to annunciation circuits for electric vehicle supply equipment.
2. Background Information
An electric vehicle (EV) charging station, also called an EV charging station, electric recharging point, charging point, and EVSE (Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment), is an element in an infrastructure that supplies electric energy for the recharging of electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric-gasoline vehicles, or semi-static and mobile electrical units such as exhibition stands.
An EV charging station is device that safely allows electricity to flow. These charging stations and the protocols established to create them are known as EVSE, and they enhance safety by enabling two-way communication between the charging station and the electric vehicle.
The 1996 NEC and California Article 625 define EVSE as being the conductors, including the ungrounded, grounded, and equipment grounding conductors, the electric vehicle connectors, attachment plugs, and all other fittings, devices, power outlets or apparatus installed specifically for the purpose of delivering energy from premises wiring to an electric vehicle.
EVSE is defined by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) recommended practice J1772 and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) National Electric Code (NEC) Article 625. While the NEC defines several safety requirements, J1772 defines the physical conductive connection type, five pin functions (i.e., two power pins (Hot1 and Hot2 or neutral; or Line 1 and Line 2), one ground pin, one control pilot pin, and one proximity pin), the EVSE to EV handshake over the pilot pin, and how both parts (EVSE and EV) are supposed to function.
Two-way communication seeks to ensure that the current passed to the EV is both below the limits of the EV charging station itself and below the limits of what the EV can receive. There are additional safety features, such as a safety lock-out, that does not allow current to flow from the EV charging station until the EV connector or EV plug is physically inserted into the EV and the EV is ready to accept energy.
J1772 in North America and IEC 61851 standard use a very simple but effective pilot circuit and handshake in the EVSE. For charging a vehicle using alternating current (AC), basically a signal is generated on the pilot pin 4 of
EV charging stations consist generally of a completely separate and special box with indicators for power and state along with a connected EV cable/connector for the intended purpose of charging the vehicle.
There is room for improvement in EVSE including, for example, electric vehicle connectors for charging electric vehicles.
This need and others are met by embodiments of the disclosed concept in which a user interface of the EVSE is disposed remote from the EVSE (e.g., without limitation, on or about the EV connector), which allows the electronics of the EVSE to be hidden (e.g., without limitation, in a load center) or to not require a local user interface at the EVSE.
In accordance with the disclosed concept, a remote annunciator for electric vehicle supply equipment comprises: a housing; an interface to the electric vehicle supply equipment, the interface consisting of a number of power conductors, a number of ground conductors, and a number of control conductors; a plurality of indicators on the housing structured to provide a remote annunciation function for the electric vehicle supply equipment; and a circuit structured to drive the indicators, wherein the circuit drives the indicators based upon information from only the number of power conductors, the number of ground conductors and the number of control conductors of the interface, and wherein the number of control conductors have a control function other than driving the indicators.
The circuit may comprise a reset input structured to reset the electric vehicle supply equipment.
The housing may form an electric vehicle connector; and the interface may be remotely electrically connected to the electric vehicle supply equipment.
The housing may form a cable hook for an electric vehicle cable.
The housing may form an electric vehicle receptacle.
The circuit may comprise a power source including a voltage derived independently from the power conductors of the interface.
A full understanding of the disclosed concept can be gained from the following description of the preferred embodiments when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
As employed herein, the term “number” shall mean one or an integer greater than one (i.e., a plurality).
As employed herein, the term “processor” shall mean a programmable analog and/or digital device that can store, retrieve, and process data; a computer; a workstation; a personal computer; a microprocessor; a microcontroller; a microcomputer; a central processing unit; a mainframe computer; a mini-computer; a server; a networked processor; or any suitable processing device or apparatus.
As employed herein, the statement that two or more parts are “connected” or “coupled” together shall mean that the parts are joined together either directly or joined through one or more intermediate parts. Further, as employed herein, the statement that two or more parts are “attached” shall mean that the parts are joined together directly.
For electric vehicle (EV) supply equipment (EVSE) (see, for example, 601 of
For example and without limitation, the remote annunciator can be built into: (1) an EV connector 200 as shown in
The example remote annunciators of
The disclosed concept uses the existing power and control wires (i.e., conductors corresponding to some or all of the pins 1-5 of
In this example, the housing 210 of
Referring to
In this example, the pilot wire 520 is a control conductor including the pulse width modulated signal 523 from the EVSE 500, and the ground wire 518 is a ground conductor. The AC voltage detection circuit 528 detects an AC voltage between Line 1 and Line 2 of the power conductors 514,516. Alternatively, the AC voltage detection circuit 528 can detect an AC voltage between two or more power conductors (e.g., without limitation, three-phase power conductors). The PWM detection circuit 524 and the DC voltage detection circuit 526 are both coupled between the isolation circuit 522 and the logic circuit 530. The logic circuit 530 inputs from the PWM detection circuit 524, the DC voltage detection circuit 526 and the AC voltage detection circuit 528, and outputs to the fault indicator 504, the power available indicator 506 and the charging indicator 508. The DC voltage detection circuit 526 detects the peak positive-most voltage, even when the PWM signal 523 on pilot wire 520 has a non-zero or non-100% duty cycle.
The logic circuit 530 turns the charging indicator 508 “on” when the AC voltage detection circuit 528 detects a non-zero standard line voltage (e.g., without limitation, 120 Vac, 208 Vac, 230 Vac, 240 Vac). Since the EVSE 500 employs interlocked power wires 514,516, any time Line 1 and Line 2 have voltage on them, the making and breaking element (not shown, but see the contactor 30 of
Alternatively, the logic circuit 530 turns the charging indicator 508 “on” when the DC voltage detection circuit 526 detects a peak value of about +6 Vdc or a peak value of about +3 Vdc on the pilot wire 520, and the PWM detection circuit 524 detects a pulse width that is non-100% (or non-0%). Per the SAE J1772 and IEC 61851 standards, charging is also defined as when the pilot wire 520 is in one of these two states.
The logic circuit 530 turns the power available indicator 506 “on” when: (1) the DC voltage detection circuit 526 detects about +12 Vdc on the pilot wire 520 and the PWM detection circuit 524 detects a duty cycle of 100% (or 0% or no PWM) (e.g., the EV connector 512 is not plugged into the vehicle; the vehicle is not detected), or (2) the DC voltage detection circuit 526 detects about +9 Vdc on the pilot wire 520 and the PWM detection circuit 524 detects a duty cycle of non-100% (or non-0%) (e.g., the vehicle is connected but not ready for charging). Per the SAE J1772 and IEC 61851 standards, power available is defined as when the pilot wire 520 is in one of these two states.
The logic circuit 530 turns the fault indicator 504 “on” when the DC voltage detection circuit 526 detects about +9 Vdc, about +6 Vdc or about +3 Vdc on the pilot wire 520, and the PWM detection circuit 524 detects a duty cycle of 100% (or 0% or no PWM). Per the SAE J1772 and IEC 61851 standards, a minor fault (e.g., without limitation, a ground fault) is defined as when the pilot wire 520 is in one of these states.
Alternatively, the logic circuit 530 turns the fault indicator 504 “on” and “off” repeatedly (i.e., blinking) when the DC voltage detection circuit 526 detects about −12 Vdc on the pilot wire 520. Per the SAE J1772 and IEC 61851 standards, a permanent fault (e.g., without limitation, a contactor failure) is defined as when the pilot wire 520 is in this state.
Preferably, the logic circuit 530 is structured to activate only one of the fault indicator 504, the power available indicator 506 and the charging indicator 508 at any one time, and is further structured to give priority to activation of the fault indicator 504, the power available indicator 506 and the charging indicator 508 first to the fault indicator 504, second to the charging indicator 508, and third to the power available indicator 506. In this manner, only one of the three example indicators 504,506,508 is “on” at any one time, with the precedence of indication being in the order: (1) the fault indicator 504, (2) the charging indicator 508, and (3) the power available indicator 506. For example, if both of the fault indicator 504 and the charging indicator 508 were sought to be activated at the same time, then only the higher priority fault indicator 504 would be activated.
Alternatively, the fault indicator 504, the charging indicator 508 and the power available indicator 506 can be activated independently of each other, such that any suitable number of the indicators are activated.
As will be described, the reset button 510 provides a manual reset input structured to reset the EVSE 500. The reset button 510 provides a way for a user who observes the fault indicator 504 being in the “on” state to have an immediate way of manually resetting the fault. The alternative is simply waiting for an automatic reset of the EVSE 500 if the EVSE is equipped with such a feature. As shown in
Alternatively, the reset button 510 can be interlocked with the logic circuit 530, thereby only enabling operation of the reset button 510 when the fault indicator 504 is active.
Alternatively, another reset button 604 is shown in
Otherwise,
In one embodiment, the three indicators 202,204,206 (
Alternatively, the example indicators 202,204,206 could take the form of single LED bands that encircle the outside of the EV connector, or a suitable backlit material having a suitable shape in the form of, for example and without limitation, logos, icons, text or other suitable symbols to convey the state of the EV charging process.
As shown in
While specific embodiments of the disclosed concept have been described in detail, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various modifications and alternatives to those details could be developed in light of the overall teachings of the disclosure. Accordingly, the particular arrangements disclosed are meant to be illustrative only and not limiting as to the scope of the disclosed concept which is to be given the full breadth of the claims appended and any and all equivalents thereof.