US-12623548-B2 - Predictive preparation for energy disruption event

US12623548B2US 12623548 B2US12623548 B2US 12623548B2US-12623548-B2

Abstract

An energy storage system includes an energy distribution system. A battery system is connected to, and configured to provide energy to, the energy distribution system. The battery system includes an energy storage system and a controller. The controller includes a memory storing instructions for causing the vehicle to respond to receiving a notice of an expected energy disruption event at the controller by identifying a severity of the expected energy disruption event, a type of the expected energy disruption event, and a time until an occurrence of the expected energy disruption event using the controller, determining a target charge level of the vehicle battery system based on at least one of the severity, type, and time until the expected energy disruption event and charging the vehicle battery system to the target charge level.

Inventors

Sabrina Elaine Ridenour
Patricia M. Laskowsky
Nolan Perry
Aparna Dale
Jason VILLANUEVA
George Tyler Krusen

Assignees

GM Global Technology Operations LLC

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20240209

Claims (20)

1 . A method for providing energy to an energy distribution system, the method comprising: receiving a notice of an expected energy disruption event at a battery system controller of a battery system of a vehicle; identifying a severity of the expected energy disruption event, a type of the expected energy disruption event, and a time until an occurrence of the expected energy disruption event using the battery system controller; determining a target charge level of the battery system based on at least one of the severity, type, and time until the expected energy disruption event; charging the battery system to the target charge level; placing the vehicle in a vehicle-to-building mode in response to the battery system reaching the target charge level before the expected energy disruption event; and responsive to the expected energy disruption event occurring, discharging energy from the vehicle to an exterior energy source for one of a duration of the energy disruption event or until a minimum battery system charge is reached.
2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising transferring energy from the vehicle to a building in response to the energy disruption event occurring.
3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the building is a low occupancy residential building.
4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising responding to an occurrence of the expected energy disruption event by transferring energy from the battery system to a building energy system.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining a target charge level comprises accessing a locally stored lookup table, the locally stored lookup table correlating the type of the expected energy disruption event and the severity of the expected energy disruption event with a set of target charge levels.
6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the locally stored lookup table further includes user defined flags corresponding to each severity of each type of energy disruption event, and wherein a user defined flag determines whether charging the vehicle to the target charge level occurs automatically, occurs after a user notification and authorization, or does not occur.
7 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the target charge defined in the locally stored lookup table are locked for vehicle operators.
8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising updating the time until the expected energy disruption event in response to receiving an updated notice of the expected energy disruption event.
9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the notice of an expected energy disruption event comprises receiving information from a central server, and wherein the central server is in communication with at least one exterior energy disruption event monitoring service.
10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the expected energy disruption event is a weather event, and the notice of the expected energy disruption event is based at least in part on a weather forecast.
11 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising adjusting a charging rate of vehicle battery system based at least in part on the time until the expected energy disruption event and the target charge level.
12 . An energy storage system comprising: an energy distribution system; a battery system connected to, and configured to provide energy to, the energy distribution system, the battery system being disposed in a vehicle and including an energy storage system and a controller, and wherein the controller includes a memory storing instructions for causing the vehicle to respond to receiving a notice of an expected energy disruption event at the controller by identifying a severity of the expected energy disruption event, a type of the expected energy disruption event, and a time until an occurrence of the expected energy disruption event using the controller, determining a target charge level of the battery system based on at least one of the severity, type, and time until the expected energy disruption event and charging the battery system to the target charge level, the controller being further configured to place the vehicle in a vehicle-to-building mode in response to the battery system reaching the target charge level before the expected energy disruption event, and responsive to the expected energy disruption event occurring, discharging energy from the vehicle to an exterior energy source for one of a duration of the energy disruption event or until a minimum battery system charge is reached.
13 . The energy storage system of claim 12 , wherein the memory further stores instructions for causing the vehicle to enter in a vehicle-to-building mode in response to the battery system reaching the target charge level before the expected energy disruption event.
14 . The energy storage system of claim 13 , wherein the memory further stores instructions for causing a transfer of energy from the battery system to the building in response to the expected energy disruption event occurring.
15 . The energy storage system of claim 12 , wherein determining a target charge level comprises accessing a locally stored lookup table, the locally stored lookup table correlating the type of the expected energy disruption event and the severity of the expected energy disruption event with a set of target charge levels.
16 . The energy storage system of claim 15 , wherein the locally stored lookup table further includes user defined flags corresponding to each severity of each type of energy disruption event, and wherein a user defined flag determines whether charging the battery system to the target charge level occurs automatically, occurs after a user notification and authorization, or does not occur.
17 . The energy storage system of claim 12 , wherein receiving the notice of an expected energy disruption event comprises receiving information from a central server, and wherein the central server is in communication with at least one exterior energy disruption event monitoring service.
18 . The energy storage system of claim 12 , further comprising adjusting a charging rate of the battery system based at least in part on the time until the expected energy disruption event and the target charge level.
19 . The energy storage system of claim 12 , wherein the energy storage system is one of a vehicle and a component of a vehicle, and wherein the energy distribution system includes a connection to at least one electric propulsive motor for the vehicle.
20 . A method for providing energy to an energy distribution system, the method comprising: receiving a notice of an expected energy disruption event at a battery system controller of a battery system of a vehicle; identifying a severity of the expected energy disruption event, a type of the expected energy disruption event, and a time until an occurrence of the expected energy disruption event using the battery system controller; determining a target charge level of the battery system based on at least one of the severity, type, and time until the expected energy disruption event, the determination including accessing a locally stored lookup table, the locally stored lookup table correlating the type of the expected energy disruption event and the severity of the expected energy disruption event with a set of target charge levels and wherein the locally stored lookup table further includes user defined flags corresponding to each severity of each type of energy disruption event, and wherein a user defined flag determines whether charging the vehicle to the target charge level occurs automatically, occurs after a user notification and authorization, or does not occur; charging the battery system to the target charge level; placing the vehicle in a vehicle-to-building mode in response to the battery system reaching the target charge level before the expected energy disruption event; and transferring energy from the vehicle to a building in response to the energy disruption event occurring.

Description

INTRODUCTION The subject disclosure relates to providing stored energy from a vehicle to a building, and more particularly to a system and process for preparing a vehicle to provide energy to a building ahead of an expected upcoming energy disruption event. Electric vehicles typically include large capacity energy storage systems (e.g., batteries) to ensure that the vehicle is capable of meeting or exceeding desired ranges. In some configurations, the large capacity energy storage systems can be configured to allow energy to be transferred from the vehicle to an exterior system, such as a building energy system, in addition to receiving energy from exterior systems as the vehicle does while charging. Accordingly, it is desirable to identify when a building system may benefit from receiving energy from a vehicle and to prepare the vehicle to transfer energy from the vehicle battery to the building system. SUMMARY In one exemplary embodiment a method for providing energy to an energy distribution system includes receiving a notice of an expected energy disruption event at a battery system controller of a battery system of a vehicle, identifying a severity of the expected energy disruption event, a type of the expected energy disruption event, and a time until an occurrence of the expected energy disruption event using the battery system controller, determining a target charge level of the battery system based on at least one of the severity, type, and time until the expected energy disruption event, and charging the battery system to the target charge level. In addition to one or more of the features described herein, the method further includes placing the vehicle in a vehicle-to-building mode in response to the battery system reaching the target charge level before the expected energy disruption event. In addition to one or more of the features described herein the method further includes transferring energy from the vehicle to a building in response to the energy disruption event occurring. In addition to one or more of the features described herein, the building is a low occupancy residential building. In addition to one or more of the features described herein, the method further includes responding to an occurrence of the expected energy disruption event by transferring energy from the battery system to a building energy system. In addition to one or more of the features described herein, determining a target charge level comprises accessing a locally stored lookup table, the locally stored lookup table correlating the type of the expected energy disruption event and the severity of the expected energy disruption event with a set of target charge levels. In addition to one or more of the features described herein, the locally stored lookup table further includes user defined flags corresponding to each severity of each type of energy disruption event, and wherein a user defined flag determines whether charging the vehicle to the target charge level occurs automatically, occurs after a user notification and authorization, or does not occur. In addition to one or more of the features described herein, the target charge defined in the locally stored lookup table are locked for vehicle operators. In addition to one or more of the features described herein, the method further includes updating the time until the expected energy disruption event in response to receiving an updated notice of the expected energy disruption event. In addition to one or more of the features described herein, receiving the notice of an expected energy disruption event comprises receiving information from a central server, and wherein the central server is in communication with at least one exterior energy disruption event monitoring service. In addition to one or more of the features described herein, the expected energy disruption event is a weather event, and the notice of the expected energy disruption event is based at least in part on a weather forecast. In addition to one or more of the features described herein, the method further includes adjusting a charging rate of the vehicle battery system based at least in part on the time until the expected energy disruption event and the target charge level. In another exemplary embodiment an energy storage system includes. An energy distribution system. A battery system is connected to, and configured to provide energy to, the energy distribution system. The battery system includes an energy storage system and a controller. The controller includes a memory storing instructions for causing a vehicle to respond to receiving a notice of an expected energy disruption event at the controller by identifying a severity of the expected energy disruption event, a type of the expected energy disruption event, and a time until an occurrence of the expected energy disruption event using the controller, determining a target charge level of the battery system based on at least one of the severit