TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments herein relate to methods and arrangements monitoring Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment, EVSE, for example through mobile networks. BACKGROUND

The owners of plug-in electric and hybrid electric vehicles typically have a dedicated charging station at home or other location where the vehicle is normally garaged.

Infrastructure for public charging stations is getting more and more common, wherein charging stations are accessible and usable by a plurality of drivers of vehicles, for example at commercial buildings, shopping malls, multi-unit dwellings, governmental facilities and other locations. In some implementations EVSEs are equipped with digital processing capabilities and communication arrangements, wireless and/or wired, whereby the EVSE is connected to the internet and provided with internet protocol, IP, addresses.

EVSEs are in most situations left unattended at a variety of different unpredicted and accidental places, and often in the public room. The charging process by means of prior art EVSEs are therefore exposed to interruptions due to poor electrical conditions or theft of expensive equipment, including the EVSE itself. However, it is essential to the propagation and safe use of electrical vehicles that charging always is possible and safe. The prior art has so far been unable to provide satisfactory solutions that can overcome such potential drawbacks. Hence, there is a need for methods and arrangements that enable safer and more reliable charging of electrical vehicles.

US 2012/0025842 A1 discloses a method for monitoring a power coupler for a plug-in electric vehicle. A theft alert is performed when the power coupler is physically unplugged or disconnected in order to dissuade people from stealing the power coupler. A power loss alert is performed when there is a loss of electrical power at the wall. The power loss alert is intended to notify the vehicle owner when there a condition that prevents the vehicle from being charged. Thus, the method distinguishes between possible theft situations and simple power loss situations.

SUMMARY In view of the above, an object of the present disclosure is to overcome or at least mitigate at least some of the drawbacks related to prior art EVSE.

This object is achieved in one aspect by a method performed by an EVSE. The EVSE comprises a power plug, a voltage measuring device configured to measure a voltage applied on the power plug, a vehicle supply plug and a vehicle supply plug monitoring device configured to monitor a vehicle supply plug state. The vehicle supply plug state has the possible states of at least "unplugged", "plugged and not supplying", "plugged and supplying", and "error". The method comprises:

- monitoring the vehicle supply plug state and the voltage applied on the power plug, comprising:

I) when the vehicle supply plug state transitions to "unplugged" or when the voltage measuring device measures the voltage to drop below a first predefined voltage level, then

a) performing a procedure that comprises transmission of at least one notification, II) when the vehicle supply plug state transitions to "plugged and not supplying" and the voltage measuring device measure the voltage to be above a second predefined voltage level, then

a) performing a procedure that comprises transmission of at least one notification,

III) when the vehicle supply plug state is "unplugged" and the voltage measuring device measures the voltage to drop below a first predefined voltage level, then

a) performing a procedure that comprises transmission of at least one notification, and

IV) when the vehicle supply plug state transition to "error", then

a) performing a procedure that comprises transmission of at least one notification.

In other words, monitoring of a vehicle supply plug state and a voltage applied on a power plug takes place. Depending on the voltage and depending on different states of the vehicle supply plug, a number of actions involving transmission of a notification takes place. This is advantageous in that, e.g., interruptions of charging due to poor electrical conditions or disconnections due to theft may be discovered.

In some embodiments, the procedure of step I a) may further include i) transmitting information that charging has been interrupted or EVSE has been unplugged from vehicle.

In some embodiments, the procedure of step II a) may further include i) transmitting information that charging is completed. In some embodiments, the procedure of step III a) may further include i) transmitting information that EVSE has been unplugged.

Some embodiments, when the vehicle supply plug state is "unplugged" and the voltage measuring device measures the voltage to drop below a first predefined voltage level, comprise:

b) monitoring a geographic position of the EVSE,

c) determining, during the monitoring of the geographic position of the EVSE, whether or not the geographical position of the EVSE changes,

i) if it is determined that the geographic position of the EVSE changes, then transmitting information that the geographic position of the EVSE has changed, and

ii) if it is determined that the geographic position of the EVSE does not change, then the transmitting information that EVSE has been unplugged.

In some embodiments, the procedure of step IV a) may include (i) transmitting information that an error has occurred or the current is not interrupted but is unsatisfactory. In some embodiments, the monitoring of the vehicle supply plug state may comprise determining the vehicle supply plug state and the transitions of which by interpreting corresponding signals or messages of a power communication protocol being

implemented in the EVSE. For example, the power communication protocol may be Power Line Communication, PLC, or Controller Area Network, CAN, bus or includes Pulse-Width Modulation, PWD.

In some embodiments, the transmission of the at least one notification may include transmitting the at least one notification to a computer or a portable device.

In another aspect there is provided an EVSE that comprises EVSE circuitry that comprises a power plug, a voltage measuring device configured to measure a voltage applied on the power plug, a vehicle supply plug and a vehicle supply plug monitoring device configured to monitor a vehicle supply plug state having the possible states of at least "unplugged", "plugged and not supplying", "plugged and supplying", and "error", said EVSE further comprising radio frequency control circuitry, a processor and a memory, said memory containing instructions executable by said processor whereby said EVSE is operative to perform any embodiment of a method as summarized above. In further aspects there are provided a computer program and a carrier that correspond to any of the method embodiments summarized above.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 schematically illustrates functional blocks of an EVSE in operation,

figures 2-3 are flow charts of embodiments of methods performed by an EVSE, and figure 4 schematically illustrates an EVSE.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION In the embodiments disclosed herein, referring first to figure 1 , an EVSE 100 is provided with a mobile network communication capability enabling the EVSE 100 to communicate via a mobile or wireless communication network 122 for the purposes of notifying a user 128 of critical events like interruptions and pure charging conditions, and possibly initiating certain actions as a consequence of such critical events. The EVSE 100 may in these embodiments be configured with a power plug 1 15 and a voltage measuring device 1 14 configured to measure a voltage applied on the power plug 1 15. The EVSE 100 also comprises a vehicle supply plug 108 and a vehicle supply plug monitoring device 1 12 configured to monitor a vehicle supply plug state. The vehicle supply state may have the possible states of at least "unplugged", "plugged and not supplying", "plugged and supplying", and "error".

The charging current is output from the EVSE 100 to a battery 104 of an electric vehicle 106 connected to the EVSE 100 via the power plug 1 15 and the vehicle supply plug 108.

As will be described in more detail below, the vehicle supply plug state and the voltage applied on the power plug 1 15 are monitored. Various outcome of the monitoring will trigger a procedure that involves transmission of at least one notification, e.g. a notification is transmitted through the wireless network 122 to a wireless communication device 126 at the user 128 and/or an action is carried out, e.g. deactivation of the EVSE 100 or activation of a tracking function of the EVSE. For the purpose of such tracking, the EVSE may be equipped with a geographic tracking or positioning function 1 16. In some embodiments, a diagnosis of an interruption or dip in the charging current may be made, and information about a probable incident and possible actions that is made is transmitted during the notification procedure.

The wireless communication network capabilities may be provided by a wireless communication device 1 18 and an antenna 120 installed in the EVSE, where the wireless communication device 1 18 is configured with the necessary software and hardware required to communicate data according to a wireless standard of the mobile network, e.g. any third generation partnership project (3GPP) standard or any Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' (IEEE) 802.1 1 standard.

The voltage measuring device 1 14 may be provided in the form of a prior art voltage sensor, emitting digital information to a processor unit 1 10 in the EVSE 100. The vehicle supply plug monitoring device 1 12 may also be provided by means of prior art detection circuitry that is able to emit digital information to the processor unit 1 10.

A deactivation of the EVSE 100 may be accomplished by internally signaling, from the processor unit 1 10, a shutdown request to switching circuitry within power provision circuitry 102 in the EVSE 100. An activation of a geographic tracking function may be accomplished by internally signaling a tracking initiating request to the geographic tracking device 1 16 in the EVSE 100. This request may be initiated to diagnose the interruption. For example, an interruption in combination with a geographic relocation of the EVSE 100 may indicate theft, and an interruption without geographic relocation of the EVSE 100 may indicate an accidental interruption of the charging.

Tracing of the EVSE 100 in case it has been geographically relocated (e.g. stolen) may be provided in several ways. As an example, tracking may be realized by means of software installed in the wireless communication device 1 18 that is able to determine a location of the wireless communication device 1 18 (and thereby also the location of the EVSE). Such geographic tracking determines the location of the wireless communication device 1 18 by means of, e.g., cell identification, signal strengths of the home and neighboring cells, which is continuously provided by network nodes in the wireless communication system 122. Also, as exemplified in figure 1 and mentioned above, the wireless communication device 1 18 may be equipped with or connected to the geographic positioning device 1 16 that may operate according to any a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) standard such as global positioning system (GPS). In such cases, significantly more precise geographic position/tracking/location information may be provided from the wireless communication device 1 18 to the wireless communication system 122 and to other communicating entities such as a wireless communication device 126 operated by a the user 128, who may be a user or an owner of the EVSE 100.

The user 128 of the EVSE may be receiving notifications on its wireless communication device 126 connected to the wireless communication network 122. The wireless communication device 126 may have preinstalled a software application adjusted to receive and interpret the notifications transmitted from the EVSE 100 and present the information on a perceivable format to the user 128 through a user interface on the wireless communication device 126. Such a user interface may also be adjusted to provide other functionalities like: · Report data from the charging process, grid quality / type, grounding situation (level of earth leakage before a residual current devices (RCD) located in the power provision circuitry 102 trips a fuse)

• Communication with an automated meter reader (AMR) (AMS) unit to prevent excessive power usage (prevent fuses from tripping)

· User interaction via an app, web or short message service (SMS): Warning / message sent if charging is interrupted or when charging is finished or if the connection 108 is removed from the EVSE 100 or from the vehicle 106 (anti-theft)

• Automatic recognition of "approved car / user or usage area" before the portable charger will charge (anti-theft). Function can be turned on/off by the user (in app/web)

• Logging of energy usage

• Fault location in own (local) grid, ev or equipment

• Automatic error handling / fault detection & location by wirelessly contacting an advanced "online knowledge database"

· Possible to tell the charger to charge at given times of the day and/or at a given electricity cost level (by look-up in online databases for electricity costs).

Turning now to figures 2 and 3 and with continued reference to figure 1 , methods performed by the EVSE 100, implementing at least some of the above examples, will be described in some detail. As illustrated in figure 1 , it is assumed that the EVSE 100 is operating by charging the battery 104 in the electric vehicle 106 via the power plug 1 15 and the vehicle supply plug 108. In figure 2, the method comprises a number of actions, as the boxes in the flowchart in figure 2 illustrate. The actions comprise: Action 201

The EVSE monitors the vehicle supply plug 108 state and the voltage applied on the power plug 1 15.

In some embodiments, the monitoring of the vehicle supply plug state may comprises determining the vehicle supply plug state and the transitions of which by interpreting corresponding signals or messages of a power communication protocol being

implemented in the EVSE. Such power communication protocol may be any of Power Line Communication, PLC, or Controller Area Network, CAN, bus or includes Pulse-Width Modulation, PWD. Action 203

During the monitoring of the level of the charging current, it is determined whether any of a number of conditions, l-IV, is fulfilled as follows:

I) the vehicle supply plug state transitions to "unplugged" or when the voltage measuring device measures the voltage to drop below a first predefined voltage level, II) the vehicle supply plug state transitions to "plugged and not supplying" and the voltage measuring device measure the voltage to be above a second predefined voltage level,

III) the vehicle supply plug state is "unplugged" and the voltage measuring device measures the voltage to drop below a first predefined voltage level, and

IV) the vehicle supply plug state transition to "error". Action 205

If it is determined, in action 203, that any of the conditions, l-IV, is fulfilled, then a procedure that comprises transmission of at least one notification is performed.

For example, the transmission of the at least one notification may include transmitting the at least one notification to a computer or a portable device such as the wireless communication device 126.

In some embodiments, wherein condition I has been determined, then the procedure that comprises transmission of at least one notification further includes transmission of information that charging has been interrupted or EVSE 100 has been unplugged from the vehicle 106. In some embodiments, wherein condition II has been determined, then the procedure that comprises transmission of at least one notification further includes transmission of information that charging is completed.

In some embodiments, wherein condition III has been determined, then the procedure that comprises transmission of at least one notification further includes transmission of information that EVSE 100 has been unplugged.

In some embodiments, wherein condition IV has been determined, then the procedure that comprises transmission of at least one notification further includes transmission of information that an error has occurred or the current is not interrupted but is

unsatisfactory.

In some of the embodiments, when the monitoring 201 , 203 indicates that the vehicle supply plug state is "unplugged" and the voltage measuring device measures the voltage to drop below a first predefined voltage level, in addition to the procedure 205 such embodiments may comprise a number of further actions, as illustrated in figure 3: Action 301

A geographic position of the EVSE is monitored. As exemplified above, this may comprise any suitable position tracking technique.

Action 303

During the monitoring of the geographic position of the EVSE, it is determined whether or not the geographical position of the EVSE changes.

Action 305

If it is determined, in action 303, that the geographic position of the EVSE changes, then information that the geographic position of the EVSE has changed is transmitted.

Action 307

If it is determined, in action 303, that the geographic position of the EVSE does not change, then information that the EVSE has been unplugged is transmitted.

It is to be noted that the embodiments illustrated in the flow charts in figures 2 and 3 may be performed separately as well as in parallel.

Turning now to figure 4, an EVSE 400 will be described in some more detail. For example, the EVSE 400 may be the EVSE 100 discussed above in connection with figures 1 to 3. The EVSE 400 comprises RF control circuitry 406, a processor 402 and a memory 404. It is to be noted that the processor 402, the memory 404 and RF control circuitry 406 may implement all or part of the functionality of the processor unit 1 10, the voltage measuring device 1 14, the vehicle supply plug monitoring device 1 12, the wireless communication device 1 18 and the positioning device 1 16 of the EVSE 100 illustrated in figure 1 (noting that the vehicle supply plug state has the possible states of at least "unplugged", "plugged and not supplying", "plugged and supplying", and "error").

Furthermore, the EVSE 400 also comprises an EVSE power unit 408 corresponding to the power provision functions 102, the power plug 1 15 and the vehicle supply plug 108 in the EVSE 100 in figure 1. The EVSE power unit 408 may comprise functionality that correspond to at least part of a voltage measuring device and a vehicle supply plug monitoring device such as those in figure 1 .

The memory 404 contains instructions executable by the processor 402 whereby the EVSE 400 is operative to:

- monitor the vehicle supply plug state and the voltage applied on the power plug, comprising:

I) when the vehicle supply plug state transitions to "unplugged" or when the voltage measuring device measures the voltage to drop below a first predefined voltage level, then

a) perform a procedure that comprises transmission of at least one notification,

II) when the vehicle supply plug state transitions to "plugged and not supplying" and the voltage measuring device measure the voltage to be above a second predefined voltage level, then

a) perform a procedure that comprises transmission of at least one notification, III) when the vehicle supply plug state is "unplugged" and the voltage measuring device measures the voltage to drop below a first predefined voltage level, then

a) perform a procedure that comprises transmission of at least one notification, and IV) when the vehicle supply plug state transition to "error", then

perform a procedure that comprises transmission of at least one notification. The instructions that are executable by the processor 402 may be software in the form of a computer program 441 . The computer program 441 may be contained in or by a carrier 442, which may provide the computer program 441 to the memory 404 and processor 402. The carrier 442 may be in any suitable form including an electronic signal, an optical signal, a radio signal or a computer readable storage medium.

In some embodiments, the EVSE 400 is operative such that the procedure of step I a) further includes i) transmitting information that charging has been interrupted or EVSE has been unplugged from vehicle.

In some embodiments, the EVSE 400 is operative such that the procedure of step II a) further includes i) transmitting information that charging is completed.

In some embodiments, the EVSE 400 is operative such that the procedure of step III a) further includes i) transmitting information that EVSE has been unplugged. In some embodiments, the EVSE 400 is operative to, when the vehicle supply plug state is "unplugged" and the voltage measuring device measures the voltage to drop below a first predefined voltage level, comprise: b) monitoring a geographic position of the EVSE, c) determining, during the monitoring of the geographic position of the EVSE, whether or not the geographical position of the EVSE changes, i) if it is determined that the geographic position of the EVSE changes, then transmitting information that the geographic position of the EVSE has changed, and ii) if it is determined that the geographic position of the EVSE does not change, then the transmitting information that EVSE has been unplugged. In some embodiments, the EVSE 400 is operative such that the procedure of step IV a) includes (i) transmitting information that an error has occurred or the current is not interrupted but is unsatisfactory.

In some embodiments, the EVSE 400 is operative such that the monitoring of the vehicle supply plug state comprises determining the vehicle supply plug state and the transitions of which by interpreting corresponding signals or messages of a power communication protocol being implemented in the EVSE. For example, the power communication protocol may be Power Line Communication, PLC, or Controller Area Network, CAN, bus or includes Pulse-Width Modulation, PWD. In some embodiments, the EVSE 400 is operative such that the transmission of the at least one notification includes transmitting the at least one notification to a computer or a portable device.

As used herein, the expression "in some embodiments" has been used to indicate that the features of the embodiment described may be combined with any other embodiment disclosed herein.

Even though embodiments of the various aspects have been described, many different alterations, modifications and the like thereof will become apparent for those skilled in the art.