JP2002123888A - Charging system, charge management system and method, and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make a vehicle station for charging vehicle possible to be unmanned by making it possible to monitor the condition of a charger installed in the vehicle station and the charged condition of a stored vehicle, from a charge management device installed in a remote location. SOLUTION: The charger 35 is provided with both a charging paddle 37 which is inserted into a charging paddle slot formed in a vehicle 200, for supplying electric power for charging an on-vehicle battery, and a charger condition transmitting means for transmitting charger side information to the vehicle. The vehicle 200 is provided with both a charge control means for controlling the action of charging the on-vehicle battery with the electric power supplied from the paddle 37, and a packet communications terminal device which transmits information about the battery via a cellular phone packet communications network to the charge management device 20 installed in a remote location. The charging of the battery can be remotely controlled from the vehicle 200 to enable unmanned operation of the charging system.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a charging system, a charging management system, a charging management method, and a storage medium, and more particularly, to a charging system suitable for use in an electric vehicle shared use system for managing charging of a battery of each vehicle. Things.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional electric vehicle shared use system, a manager is stationed at a vehicle station for managing rental vehicles, and the manager manages charging of the rental vehicles. In the case of the charging management system in which the manager is resident, there is a problem that a large labor cost to be paid to the manager is required.

Therefore, as a system capable of minimizing labor costs, a charge management system has been put to practical use in which a manager is not stationed at a vehicle station but is made to go around.

[0004]

Generally, when charging is started, charging is continuously performed until the battery is fully charged. For this reason, there is a problem that if charging is started without human intervention, charging cannot be stopped at a predetermined level.

[0005] When an abnormality occurs in the charger,
Since the charging operation is stopped urgently, there is no danger of a large accident occurring, but there is a problem that the abnormality is left unnoticed until it is discovered during a regular patrol by a manager.

In addition, when the vehicle station is unmannedly managed, if the charger is operated incorrectly due to the inexperience of the person who performs the charging operation, the abnormality is not noticed until the abnormality is discovered during the regular patrol by the manager. was there.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and has been made in consideration of the above-described problems. The purpose is to be able to unmanned.

[0008]

A charging system according to the present invention comprises a charging paddle for supplying electric power for charging a vehicle battery by being inserted into a charging paddle insertion hole formed in a vehicle, and information on a charger side. The charger side has a charger state transmitting means for transmitting to the vehicle side, charging control means for controlling an operation of charging the on-board battery with electric power supplied from the charging paddle, and information relating to the on-board battery. In addition, the vehicle side has a packet communication terminal device for transmitting to a charging management device located at a remote place via a mobile phone packet communication network. According to another feature of the present invention, the packet communication terminal device is activated when the charging paddle is inserted into a charging paddle insertion port formed in the vehicle, and the packet communication terminal device is activated. It is characterized by communicating with the state transmitting means and transmitting the acquired information on the charger side to the charge management device. Another feature of the present invention is that the packet communication terminal device receives a voltage, a temperature,
It is characterized by transmitting and receiving information including remaining capacity, charging time, failure content, charging completion, and whether or not a charger is connected.

[0009] A charge management system according to the present invention includes a charge paddle that is inserted into a charge paddle insertion hole formed in a vehicle to supply electric power for charging a vehicle battery.
A charger control means for controlling the operation of charging the on-vehicle battery by the power supplied from the charging paddle; the charging control means having a charger state transmitting means for transmitting information on the charger side to the vehicle side; The vehicle has a packet communication terminal device that transmits information related to the battery to a charge management device located at a remote location via a mobile phone packet communication network. It is characterized in that the charge management device has a charge management unit that monitors the state of charge of the vehicle by transmitting and receiving.

The charge management method according to the present invention includes a process of monitoring whether or not a charge paddle is inserted into a charging paddle insertion port, and a step of charging information when the charging paddle is inserted into the charging paddle insertion port. Starting the monitoring of the charging paddle, inserting the charging paddle into the charging paddle insertion port, periodically transmitting the state of the charger to the vehicle side, and processing the state of the charger and the battery. Transmitting the charge information including the voltage, temperature, remaining capacity, charge time, failure content, charge completion, and the connection state of the charger to the charge management device by the packet communication terminal device; and periodically transmitting the packet communication terminal device. A process of calling and exchanging information, and periodically monitoring vehicle information and charging information;
Monitoring whether the charging paddle has been removed from the charging paddle insertion port, and setting the packet communication terminal device to sleep at a predetermined interval until the charging paddle is removed from the charging paddle insertion port. And processing is performed.

[0011] The storage medium of the present invention, when a charging paddle on the charger side is inserted into a charging paddle insertion hole formed in the vehicle, is connected to a packet communication terminal device provided in the vehicle periodically. And a program for causing a computer to execute a process of acquiring the charging information including the state of the charger, the voltage of the battery, the temperature, the remaining capacity, the charging time, the failure content, and the completion of charging. It is characterized by.

[0012]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, an embodiment of a charging system, a charging management system, a charging management method and a storage medium according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a charge management system according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing functions provided in each section of the embodiment. As shown in FIG. 2, the charging management system according to the present embodiment includes a charger 3
5 is provided with a charger status transmission means 40, a vehicle 200 is provided with a charge control means 50 and an on-vehicle device 34, and a charge management device 20 is provided with a charge management means 201.

A plurality of chargers 35 are installed in the vehicle station 30 (see FIG. 5) to charge a battery 50c (see FIG. 3) mounted on the vehicle 200. Is inserted into the paddle insertion port 50a (see FIG. 3) of the vehicle 200 to start charging.

As shown in the functional configuration diagram of FIG. 2, the charger 35 of the present embodiment is provided with a charger status transmitting means 40. When the charging paddle 37 is inserted into the paddle insertion port 50a, The state of the charger 35 is detected, and the charger state information is transmitted to the vehicle 200 side.

Each vehicle 200 has a charge control means 5
0 and an on-vehicle device 34, respectively, which control the state of charge of the on-vehicle battery 50c and a charge management device (charge management center) installed at a remote location.
20, charging information and vehicle information are transmitted.

The charge management center 20 includes a charge management unit 20
1, the charge management means 201 communicates with the on-vehicle device 34 of each vehicle 200 to manage the charge of the battery 50c, so that the charge management of each vehicle 200 can be performed unattended. .

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the charge management device of the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 3, the charge management device according to the present embodiment includes a charge state transmission unit 40 provided in charger 35, a charge control unit 50 provided in vehicle 200, and a vehicle-mounted device 34. Have been.

The charging state transmitting means 40 comprises a noise filter 40a, a rectifying / power factor improving circuit 40b, a resonance type converter 40c, a CPU 40d, a transceiver 40e, a transmission / reception antenna 40g, and the like. The power obtained from the input AC power supply 38 is supplied to the vehicle 200 via the charging paddle 37, and
This is for charging the battery 50c mounted on the “0”.

The charge control means 50 includes the charge paddle 37
And a rectifying / smoothing circuit 50b for rectifying and smoothing the AC power supplied from the charging paddle 37 into a DC, and a transmitting / receiving antenna 50d, a transmitter / receiver 50e, and the like.

The transmitting / receiving antenna 40g is provided on the charging paddle 37.
Is inserted into the paddle insertion port 50a, the transmission / reception antenna 40g and the transmission / reception antenna 50d arranged on the vehicle 200 side approach each other. In the present embodiment, these transmission / reception antennas 40
The serial communication by infrared rays is performed through g and 50d.

In the present embodiment, a non-contact type inductive charging system using AC electromagnetic induction for the charging paddle 37 is used.
A conductive type in which the output of the charger is connected by contact with a contact may be used.

Next, the control procedure of the charge management system according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The in-vehicle device 34 monitors whether the charging paddle 37 has been inserted into the paddle insertion port 50a (step S40).
1) When the charging paddle 37 is inserted into the paddle insertion port 50a, the process proceeds to step S402 to start monitoring charging information.

When the charging paddle 37 is inserted into the paddle insertion port 50a, the charger 35 transmits the state of the charger 35 to the vehicle-mounted device 34 of the vehicle 200 via the charging state transmitting means 40 (step S403).

Next, in step S404, the state and charging information of the charger 35 are transmitted to the charging management device 20. The information to be transmitted includes, for example, battery voltage, temperature, remaining capacity, charging time, failure content, charging completion,
It is possible to consider whether or not a charger is connected.

The charging management device 20, which has received the charging information from the vehicle-mounted device 34, periodically calls the vehicle-mounted device 34 to exchange information, and periodically monitors the vehicle information and the charging information (step S405).

Next, in step S406, it is monitored whether or not the charging paddle 37 has been pulled out. If the charging paddle 37 has not been pulled out (the state where the charging paddle 37 has been inserted continues), the flow returns to step S405. Thereafter, the processing of steps S405 and S406 is repeated until the charging paddle 37 is pulled out.

On the other hand, if the result of determination in step S 406 is that the charging paddle 37 has been removed, the flow advances to step S 407 to put the vehicle-mounted device 34 into a sleep state (for example, an interval of 10 minutes).

The vehicle-mounted device 34 proceeds to step S401 every time the wake-up is performed, and monitors whether or not the charging paddle 37 is inserted. If the charging paddle has not been inserted, the process returns to step S407. If the charging paddle 37 is inserted as a result of the determination in step S401, the process proceeds to step S402, and the above-described processing is executed.

The communication performed between the on-vehicle device 34 and the charging management device 20 is performed through a cellular phone packet communication network. Although the mobile phone packet communication network is always connected for communication, a communication fee is charged according to the amount of data transmitted and received. For example, Dopa can be considered. This is a mobile phone packet communication service provided by NTT DOCOMO, and is a communication network called "Doop".

This portable telephone packet communication network can perform data communication at a maximum of 28.8 kbps by using three slots of a communication line, and employs a "packet communication method" for communication of a wireless part. One packet is 128 bytes, and pays according to the amount of transmitted packets.
Is the basis. Therefore, since the connection between the vehicle-mounted device 34 and the charge management device 20 can be maintained, it is convenient to check the state of each vehicle managed by the vehicle station 30.

The charge management system according to the present embodiment performs the charge management as described above, and has an advantage that no special control is required because data can be monitored in the process of starting charging.

Further, since the existing mobile terminal and the mobile phone packet communication network are used, the charging management system can be configured very simply, and the cost for constructing the system and the running cost can be reduced.

FIG. 5 is an image diagram of the charge management system showing the outline of the charge management system of the present embodiment in an easy-to-understand manner. As shown in FIG. 5, the mobile phone 10 communicates with the charge management device 20 via the mobile phone network and the Internet 42. The vehicle station 30
The vehicle has a keyless system for instructing the on-vehicle communication device (hereinafter referred to as an in-vehicle device) 34 attached to each of the vehicles 31 to 3n stored (managed) to open and close a door key.

The vehicle station 30 of the present embodiment is provided with a plurality of chargers 35 for charging the running batteries loaded on each of the vehicles 31 to 3n. In such a case, the charging paddle of the charger 35 is connected to the charging paddle insertion port of the return vehicle so that the charging paddle can be charged.

The charge management device (management center) 20 includes a charge management device 20 server, a computer system 20a including a computer, a reservation database 20b, a member database 20c, a vehicle device 20d, and the like.

In the present embodiment, data communication is performed with the on-board unit 34 attached to each of the vehicles 31 to 3n via the mobile phone packet communication network 43, and the state management and the state of each of the vehicles 31 to 3n are performed. Control. The mobile phone packet communication network 43 includes the above-described Dop
a can be considered.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of an electric vehicle (EV) shared use system to which the charge management system of the present embodiment is applied. As shown in FIG. 6, the user Y (user) uses the mobile phone to
0 (Charge Management Center) to access the usage status and make reservations and lending procedures.

As a result of the reservation and lending procedure, when the vehicle can be used, the vehicle goes to the vehicle station 30 to rent the reserved vehicle. Since the vehicle station is unmanned, the lending procedure and the return procedure are performed with the management center 20 via a mobile phone.

When the vehicle lending and return procedures are completed as described above, the management center 20 uses the mobile phone packet communication network 43 to start using the vehicle,
Download usage data such as mileage and battery level. At the same time, the door lock is checked. These controls are performed via the vehicle-mounted device 34 mounted on the vehicle.

Thereafter, the charge management device 20 stops the use permission suspension of the rented vehicle by using the cellular phone packet communication network 43 and also stores the user information (member number, password, keyless ID, etc.). ) Instruct erasure. The vehicle receiving the instruction becomes a standby vehicle.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a computer system capable of configuring the charge management device 20. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an internal configuration of a general computer system. 7, reference numeral 1200 denotes a computer PC. PC12
00 executes device control software stored in the ROM 1202 or the hard disk (HD) 1211 or supplied from the floppy disk drive (FD) 1212, and collectively manages each device connected to the system bus 1204. To control.

The program stored in the ROM 1202 or the hard disk (HD) 1211 constitutes the charge management means 201 of the present embodiment.

Reference numeral 1203 denotes a RAM, which functions as a main memory, a work area, and the like of the CPU 1201. Reference numeral 1205 denotes a keyboard controller (KBC),
B) Control input of instructions from 1209 and devices not shown.

Reference numeral 1206 denotes a CRT controller (CRT)
In C), the display of the CRT display (CRT) 1210 is controlled. 1207 is a disk controller (DK
C), a boot program (a start program: a program for starting execution (operation) of hardware and software of a personal computer), a plurality of applications, a hard disk (HD) 1211 for storing user files, a network management program, and the like, and a floppy disk ( FD)
1212 is controlled.

Reference numeral 1208 denotes a network interface card (NIC) for bidirectional data exchange with a network printer, another network device, or another PC via a LAN.

(Other Embodiments of the Present Invention) The present invention is applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a reader, a printer, etc.) and can be applied to an apparatus composed of one device. May be applied.

Also, the functions of the above-described embodiment are implemented in an apparatus connected to the above-mentioned various devices or a computer in a system so that various devices are operated so as to realize the functions of the above-described embodiment. Supplies the software program code for performing the
The invention implemented by operating the various devices according to the program stored in U) is also included in the scope of the present invention.

In this case, the program code of the software implements the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the program code itself and means for supplying the program code to the computer, such as the program The storage medium storing the code constitutes the present invention. As a storage medium for storing such a program code, for example, a floppy disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-RO
M, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM, or the like can be used.

When the computer executes the supplied program code, not only the functions described in the above-described embodiments are realized, but also the OS (operating system) in which the program code runs on the computer. Alternatively, even when the functions described in the above embodiment are realized in cooperation with other application software or the like, it goes without saying that such a program code is included in the embodiment of the present invention.

Further, after the supplied program code is stored in the memory provided in the function expansion board of the computer or the function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function expansion board or the function expansion unit is operated based on the instruction of the program code. The present invention also includes a case where a CPU or the like provided in the apparatus performs part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

[0052]

As described above, according to the present invention,
When the charging paddle is inserted into the charging paddle insertion port on the vehicle side, charging control of the battery mounted on the vehicle is started, so that charging control can be started without performing special control. it can. In addition, as long as the location where the wide area mobile packet communication network can be used, the location where the charging management device is installed can be freely determined, and the degree of freedom in selecting the installation location of the charging management device can be greatly improved. . In addition, since the state of the vehicle can be confirmed using the cellular phone packet communication network, the charge management center can quickly grasp the state of the vehicle and the communication cost can be reduced. According to another feature of the present invention, the state of the charger and the state of charge of the vehicle can be monitored from the charge management device located at a position distant from the vehicle station managing the vehicle. Periodic patrol can be eliminated, and the vehicle station that performs charging can be unmanned.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of the present invention and illustrating an overall configuration of a charge management system.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration provided in each unit.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a charging system.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a procedure of a charge management method.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a charge management system.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an overall configuration example of an electric vehicle (EV) shared use system.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a computer system capable of configuring a charge management device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 20 charge management device 30 vehicle station 31-3 n vehicle 34 in-vehicle device 35 charger 37 charging paddle 40 charger status transmission means 41 mobile phone network 42 Internet 43 mobile phone packet communication network 50 charge control means 201 charge management means

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Makoto Inagaki 300 Takatsukacho, Hamamatsu-shi, Shizuoka Suzuki Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Hidetaka Nishikori 300 Takatsukacho, Hamamatsu-shi, Shizuoka Suzuki Co., Ltd. (72) Yasuyuki Konishi 300 Takatsukacho, Hamamatsu-shi, Shizuoka Suzuki Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Yoshiyuki Asakawa 300 Takatsukacho, Hamamatsu-shi, Shizuoka Suzuki Co., Ltd.F-term (reference) 5H030 AS08 BB01 FF00 FF41 5H115 PC06 PG04 PI16 PI29 PO01 PO07 PO07 PO09 PO14 PO16 PV07 PV09 QN03 SL01 SL05 SL09 TI02 TI05 TR19 TR20 TU15 TU16 TU17 5H180 AA01 BB05 BB08 BB13 FF13

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A charging paddle for supplying electric power for charging a vehicle-mounted battery by being inserted into a charging paddle insertion hole formed in a vehicle, and a charger state transmitting means for transmitting information on a charger side to the vehicle side. A charging control means for controlling an operation of charging an on-vehicle battery with electric power supplied from the charging paddle; and information on the on-vehicle battery at a remote location via a mobile phone packet communication network. And a packet communication terminal device for transmitting the packet communication terminal device to the charge management device placed in the vehicle. 2. The packet communication terminal device is activated when the charging paddle is inserted into a charging paddle insertion hole formed in the vehicle, and communicates with the charger state transmitting means. 2. The acquired information on the charger side is transmitted to the charge management device.
The charging system according to 1. 3. The packet communication terminal device according to a periodic call from the charge management device, a voltage, a temperature, a remaining capacity, a charge time, a failure content, a charge completion,
The charging system according to claim 1, wherein information including whether or not a charger is connected is exchanged. 4. A charging paddle which is inserted into a charging paddle insertion hole formed in a vehicle to supply electric power for charging a vehicle-mounted battery, and a charger state transmitting means for transmitting information on the charger side to the vehicle side. A charging control means for controlling an operation of charging an on-vehicle battery with electric power supplied from the charging paddle; and information on the on-vehicle battery at a remote location via a mobile phone packet communication network. The vehicle side has a packet communication terminal device that transmits to the charge management device placed in the vehicle, and charges the charge management means that periodically calls the packet communication terminal device to exchange information and monitor the charge state of the vehicle. A charge management system that the management device has. 5. A process for monitoring whether a charging paddle is inserted into a charging paddle insertion port, and a process for starting monitoring charging information when the charging paddle is inserted into the charging paddle insertion port. Processing for periodically transmitting the state of the charger to the vehicle while the charging paddle is inserted into the charging paddle insertion port; and the state of the charger, and the voltage, temperature, and remaining of the battery. A process of transmitting charging information including the capacity, charging time, failure content, charging completion, and the connection state of the charger to the charging management device by the packet communication terminal device, and periodically exchanging information by calling the packet communication terminal device. Performing a process of periodically monitoring vehicle information and charging information; a process of monitoring whether or not the charging paddle has been pulled out of the charging paddle slot; Charging the packet communication terminal device at a predetermined interval until the dollar is removed from the charging paddle insertion slot. 6. When a charging paddle on a charger side is inserted into a charging paddle insertion port formed in a vehicle, the communication is periodically performed with a packet communication terminal device provided in the vehicle. A computer-readable storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute a process of acquiring charging information including a state of the charger, a voltage, a temperature, a remaining capacity, a charging time, a failure content, and charging completion of the battery. .