Method for assisting with inductive battery charging of a motor vehicle

• Main Authors: DON ANDREAS JOSEPHINE KEES, THEMI PHILEMON PETRIDIS
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 18.03.2015
• Subjects: CALCULATING; COMPUTING; COUNTING; ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING; ELECTRIC EQUIPMENT OR PROPULSION OF ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLEDVEHICLES; ELECTRODYNAMIC BRAKE SYSTEMS FOR VEHICLES, IN GENERAL; MAGNETIC SUSPENSION OR LEVITATION FOR VEHICLES; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHYSICS; TRANSPORTING; VEHICLES IN GENERAL

A method for assisting with the positioning of a motor vehicle (5, 50) for inductive charging of a battery (8, 58) of the motor vehicle (5, 50) comprises reading a number plate associated with the motor vehicle (5, 50) using the number plate information to produce a location on the vehicle (5, 50) of a vehicle inductive coupling point (VICP, 6) with reference to at least one reference point on the motor vehicle(5, 50), comparing a predicted current position of the VICP (6) to a fixed inductive coupling point (ICP 7) located in or on a road surface upon which the motor vehicle (5, 50) is to be positioned, and providing feedback to one of the driver and the motor vehicle indicative of the required action required to produce alignment of the VICP (6) with the ICP (7). The method may further comprise energising the ICP (7) to charge the battery (8, 58) of the motor vehicle (5, 50) when the VICP (6) is predicted to be aligned with the ICP (7).