Search

EP-3960529-B1 - METHOD, APPARATUS AND COMPUTER PROGRAM FOR SUPPLYING POWER THROUGH GROUPING OF CHARGING MODULE FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLE

EP3960529B1EP 3960529 B1EP3960529 B1EP 3960529B1EP-3960529-B1

Inventors

  • NAM, Junu
  • LEE, HUN
  • SHIN, Donghyeok
  • KIM, Gijae

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20210826

Claims (7)

  1. A method for supplying power by using a plurality of charging modules (100, 100', 100-1, 100-2, 100-3) for charging electric vehicles (300), the method being performed by a computing apparatus (400) comprising control parts (120) included in any of the charging modules, the method comprising: controlling, by its control part (120), a first charging module (100-1) to output a first signal in response to receiving power from a power source at the first charging module (100-1); collecting, by the control part (120) of the first charging module, a plurality of second signals output from other charging modules (100-2, 100-3) in response to receiving power at the other charging modules (100-2, 100-3), among the plurality of charging modules (100, 100', 100-1, 100-2, 100-3); and selecting, by the control part (120) of the first charging module, at least one second charging module (100-2, 100-3) from among the other charging modules (100-2, 100-3) using parameters of the first signal and the plurality of second signals, and grouping the selected at least one second charging module (100-2, 100-3) into one group with the first charging module (100-1), wherein the first signal comprises a first clock signal, and the plurality of second signals comprise a plurality of second clock signals, and the parameter of the first signal comprises a first counting value obtained by counting the first clock signal, and the parameters of the plurality of second signals comprise a plurality of second counting values obtained by counting each of the plurality of second clock signals, and wherein the selecting and grouping comprise: selecting at least one second counting value, from among the plurality of second counting values, whose difference from the first counting value is not more than a certain size, and grouping the at least one second charging module (100-2, 100-3) corresponding to the selected at least one second counting value into one group with the first charging module (100-1).
  2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first signal comprises a first clock signal, the plurality of second signals comprise a plurality of second clock signals, the parameter of the first signal comprises a first counting value obtained by counting the first clock signal, and the parameter of the plurality of second signals comprises a plurality of second counting values obtained by counting each of the plurality of second clock signals, and wherein the selecting and grouping comprise: calculating a difference between the first counting value and a predetermined reference time point, to calculate a first time point regarding a time point of receiving power from the power source, calculating a difference between the plurality of second counting values and the predetermined reference time point, to calculate a plurality of second time points regarding a time point when each of the plurality of charging modules received power, and selecting at least one second time point included within a certain time range based on the first time point from among the plurality of second time points, and grouping the at least one third charging module (100-2, 100-3) that received power at the selected at least one second time point into the one group with the first charging module.
  3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the calculating comprises calculating a signal delay time regarding each of the plurality of charging modules (100, 100', 100-1, 100-2, 100-3) using the plurality of second clock signals collected from each of the plurality of charging modules (100, 100', 100-1, 100-2, 100-3), and correcting the predetermined reference time point for each of the plurality of charging modules (100, 100', 100-1, 100-2, 100-3) based on the calculated signal delay time.
  4. The method according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the calculating comprises determining a unit time for counting the first clock signal and the plurality of second clock signals based on the size of the certain time range, and counting each of the first clock signal and the plurality of second clock signals based on the determined unit time, thereby calculating the first counting value and the plurality of second counting values.
  5. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 4, further comprising connecting with the at least one second or third charging module (100-2, 100-3) grouped into one group with the first charging module (100-1) via one communication network; transmitting first charging state information to the at least one second or third charging module (100-2, 100-3) or receiving a plurality of second charging state information from each of the at least one second or third charging module (100-2, 100-3) using the one communication network; and determining an amount of power to receive from the power source based on the first charging state information and the plurality of second charging state information, and requesting a supply of power according to the determined amount of power.
  6. An apparatus (400) for supplying power by using a plurality of charging modules (100, 100', 100-1, 100-2, 100-3) for charging electric vehicles, the apparatus (400) comprising: a processor (410) forming at least a part of a control part of a charging module a network interface (440); a memory (420); and a computer program (451) that may be loaded in the memory (420), and executed by the processor (410), wherein the computer program (451) comprises instructions for performing the method of one of claims 1 to 5.
  7. A computer-readable recording medium storing a computer program that when executed by the processor (410) of the apparatus for supplying power according to claim 6 instructs the apparatus to execute the steps of the method of one of claims 1 to 5.

Description

1. Field Various embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a method, apparatus and computer program for supplying power through grouping of charging module for electric vehicle. 2. Background Electric vehicle (EV) is a future-oriented convergence technology that is receiving interest and investments from governments and companies around the world along with global green growth policies. Accordingly, in the automobile industry, the central axis of demand of the market is rapidly changing from conventional oil-based vehicles to electric vehicles. As the demand for electric vehicles increases, technological development for not only electric vehicles but also infrastructure construction (charging apparatuses, power supply networks, etc.) in order to smoothly use electric vehicles is also being made very actively. However, establishment of infrastructure required by the supply of electric vehicles is insufficient, and thus various methods and technologies for charging numerous electric vehicles are being developed. Especially, in the case of office buildings and apartment houses, in terms of power operation, there is a problem that the excess of power reception capacity due to the addition of infrastructure for charging electric vehicles can affect the daily power used by residents or cause a large-scale power shortage. In order to overcome this problem, in prior art, a main charger and a plurality of sub-chargers were provided in the power source, and the main charger was in charge of all communications with external servers as well as controlling the amount of power being supplied to the sub-chargers. In the case of such a centralized multiple charging method of prior art, there are problems that, if the main charger goes out of order, the sub-chargers cannot be operated either, and the installation cost and maintenance cost of the main charger are quite high, and communication between the sub chargers is impossible, making it difficult to immediately distribute power. Further, in the case of an electric vehicle charger equipped with the recently developed Energy Storage System (ESS), normally, electricity is slowly stored in the ESS, and when charging an electric vehicle, energy is rapidly released so as to reduce the burden of power reception, but even in this case, in order to increase the operation rate of the power source installed to charge the ESS, a technology is required to configure the main charger equipped with the ESS and the plurality of sub-chargers to distribute the power amount. [PRIOR ART LITERATURE] [PATENT LITERATURE] KOREAN LAID-OPEN PATENT NO. 10-2017-0068877 (June 20, 2017) EP 3 339 084 A1) relates to an electric vehicle charging station comprising a transformer. In the document the transformer is described to be a multi-winding transformer comprising one primary winding and a plurality of secondary windings, wherein the secondary windings are electrically isolated from one another EP 3 508 371 A1 discloses a charging pile, including a power system and a charging terminal. In the document it is described that the power system includes a first power unit, a second power unit, a power control unit and a heat sink, the first power unit is connected to the second power unit, and the first power unit and the second power unit have same output voltages and same output currents, and the power control unit is configured to control the output voltages and the output currents of the two power units. SUMMARY Therefore, a purpose of the present disclosure is to resolve the problems of prior art, that is, to provide a method, apparatus and computer program for supplying power through grouping of charging module for electric vehicle, that may group, from among a plurality of charging modules, the charging modules that are connected to the same power source and receive power therefrom, as one group, and supply power to each of the charging modules according to the power amount determined through mutual information sharing between the grouped charging modules, so that an appropriate power amount can be supplied to each of the plurality of charging modules within the range of maximum power amount suppliable from the power source. Another purpose of the present disclosure is to provide a method, apparatus and computer program for supplying power through grouping of charging module for electric vehicle, where the plurality of charging modules are not divided into a main charging module that determines the power amount to be supplied to each charging module and into sub-charging modules that receive the power amount accordingly, but instead, the main charging module and the plurality of charging modules have equal status, and the power amount to be supplied to each charging module is determined based on the information shared among the plurality of charging modules, so that the problems of the prior art centralized multiple charging method can be overcome. The invention is limited by the independent c