# US 11,999,252 B2 · Roadway charging coil alignment and monitoring > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 11,999,252 B2 - Document ID: US11999252B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 17/579,860 - Filed: 2022-01-20 - Published: 2023-07-20 - Granted: 2024-06-04 - Earliest claimed: 2022-01-20 - Assignees: Ford Global Technologies, LLC - Applicants: Ford Global Technologies, LLC - Inventors: Ryan E. Hanson; John R. Van Wiemeersch; Vivekanandh Elangovan - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11999252B2 ## CPC - B60L 53/39: with position-responsive activation of primary coils - G01S 13/931: of land vehicles - B60L 9/00: Electric propulsion with power supply external to the vehicle (electric propulsion for monorail vehicles, suspension vehicles or rack railways B60L13/00; in combination with batteries or fuel cells within the vehicle B60L50/53) - B60L 53/12: Inductive energy transfer - B60L 53/126: Methods for pairing a vehicle and a charging station, e.g. establishing a one-to-one relation between a wireless power transmitter and a wireless power receiver - B60L 53/305: {Communication interfaces} - B60L 53/36: by positioning the vehicle - B60L 53/38: specially adapted for charging by inductive energy transfer - G01S 13/0209: {Systems with very large relative bandwidth, i.e. larger than 10 %, e.g. baseband, pulse, carrier-free, ultrawideband} - G01S 13/885: {for ground probing (prospecting or detecting using electromagnetic waves G01V3/12)} - B60L 3/12: Recording operating variables {; Monitoring of operating variables} - B60L 5/005: {without mechanical contact between the collector and the power supply line} - B60L 53/124: Detection or removal of foreign bodies - B60L 2240/62: Vehicle position - B60L 2260/52: drive range estimation, e.g. of estimation of available travel distance - B60L 2260/54: Energy consumption estimation - G01S 2013/9316: {combined with communication equipment with other vehicles or with base stations} - G01S 2013/93271: {in the front of the vehicles} - Y02T 10/70: Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries - Y02T 10/7072: Electromobility specific charging systems or methods for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors - Y02T 90/12: Electric charging stations - Y02T 90/14: Plug-in electric vehicles - B60L: PROPULSION OF ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES (arrangements or mounting of electrical propulsion units or of plural diverse prime-movers for mutual or common propulsion in vehicles B60K1/00, B60K6/20; arrangements or mounting of electrical gearing in vehicles B60K17/12, B60K17/14; preventing wheel slip by reducing power in rail vehicles B61C15/08; dynamo-electric machines H02K; control or regulation of electric motors H02P); SUPPLYING ELECTRIC POWER FOR AUXILIARY EQUIPMENT OF ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES (electric coupling devices combined with mechanical couplings of vehicles B60D1/64; electric heating for vehicles B60H1/00); ELECTRODYNAMIC BRAKE SYSTEMS FOR VEHICLES IN GENERAL (control or regulation of electric motors H02P); MAGNETIC SUSPENSION OR LEVITATION FOR VEHICLES; MONITORING OPERATING VARIABLES OF ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES; ELECTRIC SAFETY DEVICES FOR ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES - G01S: RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES - Y02T: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO TRANSPORTATION ## Abstract An electric vehicle having an electrical storage battery includes an inductive charge receiver configured to inductively couple to a series of charging coils embedded in a roadway over which the vehicle travels in order to transfer charge to the storage battery. A ground penetrating radar transceiver is configured to interrogate the roadway including a region of the roadway toward which the vehicle is heading. The ground penetrating radar transceiver generates reflectance data including reflections from the charging coils and from embedded cabling coupling the charging coils. An object analyzer is responsive to the reflectance data and configured to map the series of charging coils relative to the vehicle. A path controller is configured to determine a steering operation of the vehicle along the roadway for optimizing a charge transfer from the series of charging coils to the inductive charge receiver. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A vehicle powered at least partly by an electrical storage battery, comprising: an inductive charge receiver configured to inductively couple to a series of charging coils embedded in a roadway over which the vehicle travels in order to transfer charge to the storage battery; a ground penetrating radar transceiver configured to interrogate the roadway including a region of the roadway toward which the vehicle is heading, wherein the ground penetrating radar transceiver generates reflectance data including reflections from the charging coils and from embedded cabling coupling the charging coils; an object analyzer responsive to the reflectance data and configured to map the series of charging coils relative to the vehicle; and a path controller configured to determine a steering operation of the vehicle along the roadway for optimizing a charge transfer from the series of charging coils to the inductive charge receiver. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The vehicle of claim 1 wherein the object analyzer includes a plurality of coil templates for comparison with the reflectance data to identify the charging coils. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The vehicle of claim 2 wherein the object analyzer includes a plurality of abnormality templates for comparison with the reflectance data to identify damage to the charging coils and embedded cabling. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The vehicle of claim 3 further comprising a wireless messaging system for sending a maintenance message to a service center in response to an identification of the damage to the charging coils and embedded cabling. ### Claim 5 (depends on 3) The vehicle of claim 3 further comprising a wireless messaging system for sending a status message for informing users of other vehicles of a charging status of the series of charging coils. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The vehicle of claim 1 further comprising: a charge capacity calculator configured to predict a charge transfer rate based on an arrangement of the mapped series of charging coils; a charging outcome estimator configured to determine a potential future state of charge of the storage battery based on the predicted charge transfer rate; and a user interface configured to inform a user of the future state of charge. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The vehicle of claim 6 wherein the user interface is configured to inform the user of a projected travel range at which the future state of charge is estimated to fall to a predetermined state of charge. ### Claim 8 (depends on 6) The vehicle of claim 6 wherein the charging outcome estimator is configured to determine a projected travel range and an intended travel destination, and wherein the user interface is configured to inform the user of whether a distance to the intended destination is within the projected travel range. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The vehicle of claim 1 wherein the ground penetrating radar transceiver is comprised of an ultra-wide band (UWB) radar system. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The vehicle of claim 9 wherein the UWB radar system includes a messaging function for exchanging messages with a charging infrastructure which is connected to the series of charging coils. ### Claim 11 (depends on 9) The vehicle of claim 9 wherein the UWB radar system includes a localization receiver for evaluating a time of flight or a reception angle of an UWB signal radiating from a UWB transceiver in the series of charging coils. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The vehicle of claim 1 further comprising: a user interface configured to communicate the steering operation to a driver of the vehicle. ### Claim 13 (depends on 1) The vehicle of claim 1 further comprising: a driver assistance device configured to autonomously perform the steering operation. ### Claim 14 A method of operating an electrified vehicle having a rechargeable storage battery, comprising the steps of: driving the vehicle on a roadway so that an inductive charge receiver in the vehicle inductively couples to a series of charging coils embedded in a roadway in order to transfer charge to the storage battery; interrogating the roadway using a ground penetrating radar transceiver directed toward a region of the roadway where the vehicle is heading, wherein the ground penetrating radar transceiver generates reflectance data including reflections from the charging coils and from embedded cabling coupling the charging coils; mapping the reflectance data; comparing the mapped reflectance data to a plurality of coil templates to delineate the series of charging coils relative to the vehicle; and determining a steering operation of the vehicle along the roadway for optimizing a charge transfer from the series of charging coils to the inductive charge receiver. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The method of claim 14 further comprising the steps of: comparing the reflectance data to a plurality of abnormality templates to identify damage to the charging coils or embedded cabling; and sending a maintenance message to a service center in response to an identification of the damage to the charging coils and embedded cabling. ### Claim 16 (depends on 14) The method of claim 14 further comprising the steps of: predicting a charge transfer rate based on an arrangement of the mapped series of charging coils; determining a potential future state of charge of the storage battery based on the predicted charge transfer rate; and informing a user of the future state of charge. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The method of claim 16 further comprising the step of: informing the user of a projected travel range at which the future state of charge is estimated to fall to a predetermined state of charge. ### Claim 18 (depends on 16) The method of claim 16 further comprising the steps of: determining a projected travel range and an intended travel destination; and informing the user of whether a distance to the intended destination is within the projected travel range.