ENERGY STORAGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR AN AT LEAST PARTIALLY ELECTRICALLY DRIVEN VEHICLE, AND METHOD

Abstract

An energy storage management system (1) for an at least partially electrically driven vehicle. A control device (2) is used to operate an energy storage device (3) for the vehicle as a function of stored planning rules (4). An interface device (5) with at least one graphical user interface (15) is used to create the planning rules (4) in a user-defined manner. The planning rules (4) include planning parameters (14) configurable by the user interface (15). The planning rules (4) include planning operators (24). The interface device (5) is suitable and designed for supporting a selection and a compilation of the planning parameters (14) and the planning operators (24) to create one or more planning rules (4) using a drag and drop method by the user interface (15).

Claims

1. An energy storage management system (1) for an at least partially electrically driven vehicle, comprising at least one control device (2) which is suitable and designed for operating an energy storage device (3) for the vehicle as a function of stored planning rules (4) and comprising at least one interface device (5) with at least one graphical user interface (15) for creating the planning rules (4) in a user-defined manner, wherein the planning rules (4) include planning parameters (14) configurable by means of the user interface (15), and wherein the interface device (5) stores the created planning rules (4) for the control device (2), wherein: the planning rules (4) include planning operators (24), and the interface device (5) is suitable and designed for supporting a selection and a compilation of the planning parameters (14) and the planning operators (24) to create one or more planning rules (4) using a drag and drop method by means of the user interface (15).

2. The energy storage management system (1) of claim 1, wherein the planning operators (24) are selected from a group of planning operators (24) comprising: IF functions; THEN functions; IF-NOT functions; THEN-NOT functions.

3. The energy storage management system (1) of claim 1, wherein the interface device (5) is suitable and designed for displaying the planning parameters (14) and the planning operators (24) on the user interface (15) by means of respective graphic icons (34) and wherein the graphic icons (34) are movable from at least one selection area (25) to at least one target area (35) by means of the user interface (15).

4. The energy storage management system (1) of claim 3, wherein the graphic icons (34) are at least partially freely combinable in the target area (35) by means of the user interface (15) and/or wherein the graphic icons (34) are movable from the target area (35) back to the selection area (25) by means of the user interface (15).

5. The energy storage management system (1) of claim 4, wherein the interface device (5) is suitable and designed for linking the graphic icons (34) that have been moved to the target area (35) to a planning rule (4) automatically in accordance with their arrangement made by the user and/or on the basis of a user command.

6. The energy storage management system (1) of claim 5, wherein values and/or additional properties can be set for at least some of the graphic icons (34).

7. The energy storage management system (1) of claim 1, wherein the interface device (5) is suitable and designed for assigning created planning rules (4) to at least one user account (6) and storing the created planning rules (4) in that location and/or displaying planning rules (4) stored in at least one user account (6) by means of the user interface (15) so that the created planning rules (4) can be changed using the drag and drop method.

8. The energy storage management system (1) of claim 1, wherein the interface device is suitable and designed for subjecting the compiled planning parameters and planning operators to an admissibility check and/or plausibility check and, in the event of an incorrect compilation, to output a user notification and/or correct the compilation at least partially independently.

9. The energy storage management system (1) of claim 1, wherein the planning parameters (14) are selected from a group of planning parameters (14) comprising: start state of charge (start SOC), end state of charge (end SOC), charging power, time of day, day of week, frequency, locations (e.g., from the navigation app), seasons, temperatures, user account (driver ID), charging column identification, expected wait time at a charging column, vehicle preconditioning (e.g., interior conditioning), feedback to a power grid (bidirectional charging), price of electricity, operating state of a solar panel.

10. The energy storage management system (1) of claim 1, wherein at least one of the planning rules (4) specifies when and/or under what conditions the control device (2) should or can perform a charging process of the energy storage device (3) and/or a vehicle preconditioning can be compiled using the drag and drop method.

11. The energy storage management system (1) of claim 1, wherein the interface device (5) is suitable and designed for checking the created planning rules (4) taking into account at least one driving parameter that is characteristic of the driving behavior and, based on the check, adjusting the planning rules (4) and/or issuing an adjustment proposal.

12. The energy storage management system (1) of claim 1, wherein the interface device (5) is suitable and designed for independently creating and/or proposing its own planning rules (4) taking into account at least one driving parameter that is characteristic of the driving behavior.

13. The energy storage management system (1) of claim 1, wherein the interface device (5) is suitable and designed for respectively assigning at least one fallback plan to the created planning rules (4) and making the fallback plan available to the control device (2), at least if the planning rules (4) can currently or in the future not be implemented.

14. The energy storage management system (1) of claim 1, wherein the user interface (15) is provided by a mobile terminal (150), in particular a smart device, and/or by a vehicle multimedia system (151).

15. A method for operating the energy storage management system (1) of claim 1.

16. An energy storage management system (1) for an at least partially electrically driven vehicle, comprising: at least one control device (2) that is suitable and designed for operating an energy storage device (3) for the vehicle as a function of stored planning rules (4); and at least one interface device (5) with at least one graphical user interface (15) for creating the planning rules (4) in a user-defined manner, the interface device (5) is suitable and designed for supporting a selection and a compilation of planning parameters (14) and planning operators (24) to create one or more planning rules (4) using a drag and drop method by means of the user interface (15), the planning parameters (14) including at least one of at least one battery parameter, at least one charging parameter, at least one vehicle parameter and/or at least one time parameter, each planning parameter (14) configurable by means of the user interface (15), wherein the interface device (5) stores the created planning rules (4) for the control device (2) and the control device (2) charges and/or discharges the energy storage device (3) based on at least one stored planning rule.

17. The energy storage management system (1) of claim 16, wherein the interface device (5) is suitable and designed for checking the created planning rules (4) taking into account at least one driving parameter that is characteristic of the driving behavior and, based on the check, adjusting the planning rules (4) and/or issuing an adjustment proposal.

18. The energy storage management system (1) of claim 17, wherein the interface device (5) is suitable and designed for independently creating and/or proposing its own planning rules (4) taking into account the at least one driving parameter that is characteristic of the driving behavior.

19. The energy storage management system (1) of claim 16, wherein the interface device (5) is suitable and designed for respectively assigning at least one fallback plan to the created planning rules (4) and making the fallback plan available to the control device (2), at least if the planning rules (4) can currently or in the future not be implemented.

20. A method for operating an energy storage management system (1) including an energy storage device (2) for an at least partially electrically driven vehicle comprising: providing at least one graphical user interface (15) for creating planning rules (4) in a user-defined manner to operate the energy storage device (2); displaying at least one planning parameter (14) and at least one planning operator (24) via the at least one graphical user interface (15), the planning parameters (14) including at least one of at least one battery parameter, at least one charging parameter, at least one vehicle parameter and/or at least one time parameter, each planning parameter (14) configurable by means of the user interface (15); selecting and compiling of at least one planning parameter (14) and at least one planning operator (24) to create one or more planning rules (4) using a drag and drop method by means of the user interface (15); storing the created planning rules (4) for at least one control device (2); and charging and/or discharging the energy storage device (3), via the at least one control device (2), based on at least one stored planning rule (4).

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0029] FIG. 1 is a purely schematic illustration of an energy storage management system according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0030] Preferred embodiments of the present disclosure will be described hereinbelow with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, well-known functions or constructions are not described in detail to avoid obscuring the present disclosure in unnecessary detail. Herein, the phrase coupled is defined to mean directly connected to or indirectly connected with through one or more intermediate components. Such intermediate components may include both hardware and software based components.

[0031] It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the block diagrams presented herein represent conceptual views of illustrative circuitry embodying the principles of the disclosure. Similarly, it will be appreciated that any flow charts, flow diagrams, state transition diagrams, pseudo-code, and the like represent various processes which may be substantially represented in computer readable media and so executed by a computer or processor, whether or not such computer or processor is explicitly shown.

[0032] FIG. 1 shows an energy storage management system 1 according to the invention for an electric vehicle or hybrid vehicle not shown in more detail here. The energy storage management system 1 is operated according to the method according to the invention and comprises a control device 2 for controlling an energy storage device 3, e.g., a traction battery. The control device 2 operates the energy storage device 3 as a function of stored planning rules 4.

[0033] It is to be appreciated that the functions of the control device 2 shown in FIG. 1 may be provided through the use of dedicated hardware as well as hardware capable of executing software in association with appropriate software. In one embodiment, some or all of the functions of control device 2 may be performed by at least one processor, such as a computer or an electronic data processor, digital signal processor or embedded micro-controller, field programmable gate array (FPGA), in accordance with code, such as computer program code, software, firmware, register transfer logic and/or integrated circuits that are coded to perform such functions, unless indicated otherwise. When provided by a processor, the functions may be provided by a single dedicated processor, by a single shared processor, or by a plurality of individual processors, some of which may be shared. Moreover, explicit use of the term processor or controller should not be construed to refer exclusively to hardware capable of executing software, and may implicitly include, without limitation, digital signal processor (DSP) hardware, read only memory (ROM) for storing software and/or firmware, random access memory (RAM), and nonvolatile storage.

[0034] The energy storage management system 1 comprises an interface device 5 with a graphical user interface 15 that is designed, in this case, as a touch-sensitive display or touchscreen 45. The user interface 15 is used to create the planning rules 4 in a user-defined manner. Planning parameters 14 are configured for this purpose by the user interface 15. For example, values are input, or additional properties or the like are selected. The planning rules 4 also include planning operators 24. The planning rules may be stored in a memory of the control device (2) and/or the interface device (5). It is to be appreciated that the interface device (5) may include a processor or controller as described above.

[0035] A drag and drop method is provided to enable even inexperienced users to create complex planning rules. For this purpose, the planning parameters 14 and the planning operators 24 are displayed by of individual graphic icons 34 on the user interface 15. The graphic icons 34 can be selected from a selection area 25 by tapping on them and moved to a target area 35 with the finger.

[0036] The planning parameters 14 and the planning operators 24 can thus be combined with one another in the target area 35 in a desired functional order. Depending on the selection and the combination, this results in a wide range of different planning rules 4. In text form a planning rule 4 may, for example, read: If driver A is at location B on Saturdays, then the state of charge must be at least 50% SOC at temperatures >15? C. and at least 70% SOC at temperatures <15? ? C. In this example, the planning parameters (14) include driver A, location B, Saturday, state of charge, temperature, etc. and the planning operator (24) include an IF function and a THEN function.

[0037] A currently active user account 6 is displayed on the user interface 15. The created planning rule 4 thus is assigned to this user account 6. Doing so enables different users of the vehicle to create and activate their own planning rules 4.

[0038] The user interface 15 in this case is part of a vehicle multimedia system 151. In an alternative embodiment, the user interface 15 shown here is provided by a mobile terminal 150 and, e.g., a smartphone or tablet or the like. It is to be appreciated that the control device (2) and/or the interface device (5) may include a communication device/module (not shown) for communicating to each other. The communication device/module may be a modem, network interface card (NIC), wireless transceiver, etc. The communication device/module will perform its functionality by hardwired and/or wireless connectivity. In the case where the user interface 15 is part of a vehicle multimedia system 151, communications may be by hardwire connectivity. In the case where the interface device (5) is a mobile terminal (150), communications may be by wireless connectivity.

[0039] The charging behavior of the vehicle can be influenced by the user in a variety of ways: e.g., on the vehicle, desired SOC at the target location, start SOC with a selected time of day, desired setting for fast travel with optimization of stop a for fastest charging. The charging process can also be optimized in terms of infrastructure, e.g., by surplus charging with solar power or sequentially charging in a motor pool. Bidirectional charging can be provided as well. Current vehicles can trigger certain functions, for instance depending on their position (e.g., home garage) (geofencing).

[0040] The individual planning parameters 14 such as time of day, day of week, frequency, locations (e.g., from the navigation app), seasons, temperatures, driver ID, charging column, start state of charge (start SOC), end state of charge (end SOC), charging power, expected wait time at the charging column, interior conditioning, feedback to the power grid (bidirectional charging), e.g., from a particular price of electricity, etc. are each assigned a unique graphic icon 34 in the user interface 15, e.g., of the vehicle multimedia system 151 or the app of a terminal 150.

[0041] There are also graphic icons 34 for the planning operators 24 IF and THEN or IF-NOT, similar to a programming language. Using these graphic icons 34, the user can easily compile various very complex individual planning rules 4 (also referred to as charging rules) as needed by dragging and dropping them on the touchscreen 45.

[0042] The interface device 5 stores corresponding fallback levels for these planning rules 4. These planning rules 4 can then also be exported or assigned to the driver ID in the backend.

[0043] The vehicle can moreover derive its own planning rules 4 from the driving behavior of the drivers and offer them to the driver as a suggestion or propose suggestions with optimizations for the driver's planning rules 4.