Intelligent Vehicle Charger

1.1 The Problem

The ability to charge plug in vehicles is a challenge power companies face in a changing world economy. In a congressional hearing before the committee on energy and committee on science in 2006, the cost of running a vehicle off electricity was estimated at $0.03 a mile compared to $0.15 for gasoline. Many experts testifying at this hearing expressed concern for a sudden demand increase for plug in hybrid and electric vehicles. If demand were to suddenly increase, experts agree the current power infrastructure could not handle the corresponding peak-hour energy demands associated with charging electric vehicles. (1)

1.2 Introduction

The rapid increase in demand for electric vehicles and infrastructure presents significant loading challenges for electrical utilities. While a portion of these loading challenges are inherent and unavoidable, some can be greatly mitigated or even eliminated with the use of intelligent charging practices. The purpose of this project is to design and build a low cost, high efficiency intelligent electric vehicle charger. The device will be optimized for charging automotive lithium-based battery systems and will meet the requirements for a level I/II combination charger. The charger will have the ability to deliver up to 16.8KW continuous power given a 240V input and trickle charging at up to 1.2 KW continuous given a 120V input. The design will include a manual user control interface that will allow the operator the option of charging from both a standard 120VAC outlet or a 240VAC utility line. In addition to it's standard user-controlled manual charging interface, the charger will also have the ability to intelligently self-regulate based on the time of day, grid frequency and through Wi-Fi communication with the electrical utilities provider. This will allow the system to provide convenience to the user and help synchronize and distribute loading with the electrical utility. Time keeping will be accomplished by making use of an on-board timing system kept in sync wirelessly. This will allow users to set specific times of the day or night for their vehicles to begin the charging process. Grid frequency data will be accurately measured and analyzed to detect frequency sagging indicative of high utility loading. This frequency data can then be used to determine appropriate off-peak charging times that work with the user’s charging needs even when clock, electrical utility communication and user input is unavailable. Finally, with communication from the electrical utility, the intelligent charger will have the ability to act as a part of a distributed power storage system with the ability to store excess power from the grid from non-constant sources at off-peak times.

[B1]The plug-in hybrid vehicle act (discussion draft) Hearing before committees of energy and science, house of representatives, 109th congress, 2006.

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Final Video

1 Project Overview
2 Background Research
3 System Requirements and Desired Features
4 Design Solutions
5 Top Level Block Design

5.1 Peripheral Power Supply
5.2 Contactor and Contactor Driver
5.3 Line Frequency Sensor
5.4 Display and Manual User Interface
5.5 Arduino and High Level Controller Code
5.6 Real Time Clock

5.6.2 Backup Power

5.7 Wireless Shield
5.8 Enclosure

6 Testing
7 Project Timeline
8 System Test Evidence

8.1 Budget Analysis

9 Expo Materials
10 Final Presentation Video

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The Team

David Jensen (left), Kai Nilsen (center), David Crow (right)

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Contact:

David Crow
– jdavidcrow@REMOVEgmail.com

Kai Nilsen
– nilsenkk@REMOVEgmail.com

David Jensen
– david.jensen42@REMOVEgmail.com

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Sponsor – Oregon State University EECS

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Responsibilities Contract

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References: