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This article introduces the utilization of the ZED 2i depth sensor in a robot-based automatic electric vehicle charging application. The employment of a stereo depth sensor is a significant aspect in robotic applications, since it is both the initial and the fundamental step in a series of robotic operations, where the intent is to detect and extract the charging socket on the vehicle’s body surface. The ZED 2i depth sensor was utilized for scene recording with artificial illumination. Later, the socket detection and extraction were accomplished using both simple image processing and morphological operations in an object extraction algorithm with tilt angles and centroid coordinates determination of the charging socket itself. The aim was to use well-known, simple, and proven image processing techniques in the proposed method to ensure both reliable and smooth functioning of the robot’s vision system in an industrial environment. The experiments demonstrated that the deployed algorithm both extracts the charging socket and determines the slope angles and socket coordinates successfully under various depth assessment conditions, with a detection rate of 94%. Full article

Multi-type fast charging stations are being deployed over Europe as electric vehicle adoption becomes more popular. The growth of an electrical charging infrastructure in different countries poses different challenges related to its installation. One of these challenges is related to weather conditions that are extremely heterogeneous due to different latitudes, in which fast charging stations are located and whose impact on the charging performance is often neglected or unknown. The present study focused on the evaluation of the electric vehicle (EV) charging process with fast charging devices (up to 50 kW) at ambient (25 °C) and at extreme temperatures (−25 °C, −15 °C, +40 °C). A sample of seven fast chargers and two electric vehicles (CCS (combined charging system) and CHAdeMO (CHArge de Move)) available on the commercial market was considered in the study. Three phase voltages and currents at the wall socket, where the charger was connected, as well as voltage and current at the plug connection between the charger and vehicle have been recorded. According to SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) J2894/1, the power conversion efficiency during the charging process has been calculated as the ratio between the instantaneous DC power delivered to the vehicle and the instantaneous AC power supplied from the grid in order to test the performance of the charger. The inverse of the efficiency of the charging process, i.e., a kind of energy return ratio (ERR), has been calculated as the ratio between the AC energy supplied by the grid to the electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) and the energy delivered to the vehicle’s battery. The evaluation has shown a varied scenario, confirming the efficiency values declared by the manufacturers at ambient temperature and reporting lower energy efficiencies at extreme temperatures, due to lower requested and, thus, delivered power levels. The lowest and highest power conversion efficiencies of 39% and 93% were observed at −25 °C and ambient temperature (+25 °C), respectively. Full article