Preventing automatic leveling during battery replacement

The present invention generally relates to a method and an associated computer program of preventing automatic leveling during battery replacement for electric vehicles.

In the emerging era of electric vehicles, it is known that automated system will be used in gas stations or garage as to replace the entire battery (located under the bottom of the car) with a brand new, fully charge battery within minutes. For example, US9643574B2 describes such an apparatus for energy storage device exchange and rapid charging; also, US 2017225662A1 describes a vehicle battery replacement system with a plurality of battery replacement stations for replacing depleted battery pack of an electric vehicle with a charged battery pack.

Even though the main battery of the car is removed, the vehicle still may have in use an available reserve (a small 12V battery, for example) , keeping all the systems and functionalities of the car alive. Nevertheless, along with this new technology, many safety issues may occur, one of them being the inadequate activation of an electrical air suspension during the battery replacement. Air spring suspension is capable of automatic leveling by lifting or lowering the vehicle in multiple cases, one of them being the detection of load changes. Or, by removing the battery, a significant mass will be released from vehicle. In this scenario the pressure changes in all air springs, and the suspension will adjust this pressure change by lowering the vehicle. However, any movement during the removal of the old battery or placing the new battery can cause significant damage. For this reason, there is a need to prevent automatic leveling during battery replacement and to allow the commencement of it only after the safety of such an operation is checked.

Therefore, the main object of the present invention is to achieve operational safety during battery replacement.

According to the invention, this object is achieved by the subject matters of the independent claims, namely a method of preventing automatic leveling during battery replacement, as well as an associated computer program.

Further advantageous embodiments are the subject matter of the dependent claims.

A first aspect of the present invention is a method of preventing automatic leveling during battery replacement, operating for an electric vehicle equipped with a first electronic control unit in charge with battery replacement and a second electronic control unit of suspension system, the respective ECUs communicating by means of an internal bus system, whereby the method includes the following steps: sending an information from the first ECU to the second ECU that the vehicle is prepared to perform a battery replacement; once said information is received by the second ECU, triggering a leveling forbid flag to the suspension system and deactivating it; once said deactivation has been performed, setting a feedback signal to inform that battery replacement can commence; during battery replacement, setting said feedback signal to inform that battery replacement is on going; upon completion of battery replacement, informing the second ECU that the battery replacement has been finished successfully, and allowing the activation of suspension. The immediate and direct advantage of invention is that it requires no additional external hardware or physical components, other than those already installed on electric vehicles; plus, it can be implemented with extremely low costs. Moreover, extensive benefits are associated to the inventive method, namely: it prevents accidents in case of human presence; the level of vehicle safety is increased; it protects also the automated system of battery replacement.

A second aspect of this invention is a computer program that integrates as code lines the mentioned method of preventing automatic leveling during battery replacement.

The advantage of using such a computer program consists into automatization and versatility of implementation.

Further special features and advantages of the present invention can be taken from the following description of advantageous embodiment by way of the accompanying drawing.

Fig. 1 illustrates the flow chart of an embodiment of the method according to the invention.

Referring now to Fig. 1, a first ECU 100 in charge with battery replacement informs a second ECU 200 of suspension system by the internal bus system (for example, Flexray or CAN) that the vehicle is prepared and ready to perform a battery change. Once this information is received by the second ECU 200, it triggers a leveling forbid flag to the entire suspension system, blocking temporarily all leveling and pressure compensations. Once the deactivation has been performed, a feedback signal is set, informing that the battery replacement process can commence. During the battery replacement, the feedback signal is set accordingly, as to reflect the fact that battery replacement is ongoing. Upon completion of battery replacement, the feedback signal, again set accordingly, informs the second ECU 200 that battery replacement has been finished successfully, allowing the activation of the electrical suspension, which will immediately trigger a pressure compensation adjusting the vehicle's height to match the load of the replaced battery.

Preventing automatic leveling method implies inserting corresponding code lines into the software programs running on said electronic control units, as to be able to communicate by sending and receiving said information and feedback signals and to activate the respective systems to perform battery replacement and/or automatic leveling, according to the inventive method.

While certain embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail, those familiar with the art to which this invention relates will recognize various alternative designs and embodiments for practicing the invention as defined by the following claims.

List of reference signs

100 Electronic Control Unit in charge with battery replacement 200 Electronic Control Unit of suspension system