Hager acs: Automatic charging made easy
A further development for oury intelligent energy management system.
Anyone with a vacuum robot appreciates how perfectly these devices find their way to their docking station. Soon, a new Hager automatic charging system, Hager acs for short, will enable e-cars to do just the same. The cars drive themselves to a floor charging station, connect mechanically and initiate the charging process. The system is based on innovation research in close exchange with vehicle manufacturers. What sounds like a prototype with little bearing on real life may very soon become reality.
Intelligent energy management thought further
In 2018 Hager developed a now widely used intelligent charging system - the energy management system “ flow”: an energy storage unit receives energy from a photovoltaic system, it is managed byan energy manager and e-cars can be charged via the charging station.
03:07
We now went one step further: the e-car drives to the charging station, connects and charges the battery all by itself. What’s more, it may even release energy. This makes sense because a car battery can hold enough energy to power the average family home for a week. In the future, this automatic charging system could also de-centrally relieve the gird and cushion peaks in demand. The big advantage: the automatic conductive connection makes the vehicle battery available to the power grid as soon as the vehicle is parked.
The Hager acs components
The model for the new Hager acs consists of a floor unit suitable for surface and underfloor mounting, with a movable arm with a counterpart on the vehicle underbody. When the vehicle is positioned above the ground unit, the movable arm of the ground station can contact the vehicle.
The head of the arm is flexibly mounted, thereby aligning itself independently and automatically adapting to the height of the vehicle. With its 8 - 24 cm clearance, it works well with all types of vehicles - and not only when electricity is involved. In principle, the modular plug-in system can also be equipped for hydrogen to refuel cars with fuel cells. When it is not in use, a removable cover protects the ground station from dirt and water.
Attached to the vehicle itself is a connector that requires hardly any installation space and is easy to integrate and mount. It is available in two versions: passive or active. The active connector is movable and can be electrically extended from the underbody. This makes a suitable connector suitable for any type of vehicle, from sports cars to commercial vehicles.
Useable in private and public spaces
From high charging performance in public areas to automatic bidirectional charging at home, Hager aCS can conceivably be used in a wide range of applications to establish electrically safe connections.
The modular plug-in system allows for public charging with 1,000 VDC and up to 300 kW as well as for a charging performance from 7.2 to 22 kW at home. Valves for liquids can additionally be integrated, enabling the use of an external battery cooling circuit. This is particularly interesting for high charging performance where the heat generated must be dissipated. Take note: the fluid system can also preheat cold batteries and thus optimise charging performance.
Partners wanted: widespread use desired
The current prototype phase of Hager acs coincides with the national and international standardisation of the technologies used. For some time now, the international standards organisation IEC has been using the official abbreviated designation ACD-U for "automatic charging device underbody. Because the international standardisation committees also know: As autonomous driving becomes more prevalent, there will also be a need for equally autonomous charging technology, which requires physical connections for reasons of efficiency and future viability.
Infrastructure providers or private households can easily place the ground plates in car parks. Drivers of e-cars won’t have to bother with thinking about charging anymore - like a vacuum cleaner or lawnmower robot, the car drives itself to the charging station and connects to the grid.
The development is already far advanced and can be demonstrated to automotive sector companies. Interested? Please contact our colleague Ulrich Reiner.
The development is already far advanced and can be demonstrated to automotive sector companies. Interested? Please contact our colleague Ulrich Reiner.
