JP2010246299A - Device and method for controlling battery charging - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To certainly charge a battery up to an electric energy required by a user. <P>SOLUTION: A controller 5 decides whether the battery is charged in response to the electric energy used from a preceding charging operation to a present one regardless of the presence of the setting of a timer charging. The controller 5 instataneously charges a different electric energy between a chargeable electric energy and a battery residual quantity to the battery 3 in response to the result of the decision. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a battery charge control device and a battery charge control method for controlling a charging operation of a battery mounted on a vehicle.

  Conventionally, a battery charge control device that charges a battery mounted on a vehicle on a day of the week and time set by a user is known.

JP 2002-90485 A

  The conventional battery charge control device determines whether or not the day of the week and the time set based on the time measured by the timer have been reached. For this reason, according to the conventional battery charge control device, the battery may not be charged to the amount of power required by the user because the battery is not charged on the day of the week and the time set by the timing error of the timer.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a battery charge control device and a battery charge control method capable of reliably charging a battery to an amount of power required by a user.

  The battery charge control device and the battery charge control method according to the present invention calculate the amount of battery power used between the previous charge operation and the current charge operation, and the battery is based on the calculated battery power amount. If it is determined that there is a need for immediate charging, and if it is determined that there is a need for immediate charging, the battery is immediately charged.

  According to the battery charge control device and the battery charge control method of the present invention, it is determined whether or not a battery charge operation is necessary based on the amount of battery power used between the previous charge operation and the current charge operation. Therefore, the battery can be reliably charged up to the amount of power required by the user.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the battery charge control apparatus used as embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart figure which shows the flow of the charge control process used as embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows the state of the battery whose battery remaining amount is not below the chargeable electric energy. It is a schematic diagram which shows the state of the battery whose battery remaining amount is below chargeable electric energy. It is a schematic diagram for demonstrating the method of charging a battery immediately to a setting value. It is a schematic diagram for demonstrating the charging method which considered the deterioration state of the battery.

  Hereinafter, an electric vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention to which a battery charge control device and a battery charge control method according to the present invention are applied will be described with reference to the drawings.

[Configuration of electric vehicle]
As shown in FIG. 1, an electric vehicle 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention drives wheels 2 using a motor (not shown) as a power source. The electric vehicle 1 includes a battery 3 that supplies electric power to a motor (not shown). The battery 3 is electrically connected to a charger 4 mounted on the electric vehicle 1. The charger 4 has a function of charging the battery 3. When the electric vehicle 1 is not driven, the driver stops the electric vehicle 1 and connects the charger 4 to the external power source 11 installed outside the electric vehicle 1 via the power cable 12. One end of the power cable 12 is connected to the charger 4, and the other end of the power cable 12 is attached to the connector 13. The connector 13 is configured to be detachable from the external power source 11, and the charger 4 is connected to the external power source 11 when the driver inserts the connector 13 into the external power source 11. Although not shown, the battery 3 has a sensor for detecting the remaining battery level (storage rate, SOC: State Of Charge) of the battery 3.

  In the electric vehicle 1 having such a configuration, the controller 5 configured by a microcomputer or the like executes the following charging control process, thereby reliably charging the battery 3 to the amount of power required by the driver. Hereinafter, with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 2, the operation of the controller 5 when executing the charging control process will be described. The operation of the controller 5 shown below is realized by the CPU in the controller 5 executing a computer program stored in the ROM.

[Charge control processing]
The flowchart shown in FIG. 2 starts at the timing when the external power supply 11 is connected to the charger 4, and the charge control process proceeds to the process of step S1.

  In the process of step S <b> 1, the controller 5 calculates the remaining battery charge C and the chargeable electric energy B of the battery 3. Specifically, the controller 5 calculates the remaining battery level C of the battery 3 based on the voltage value of the battery 3, and calculates the chargeable electric energy B of the battery 3 based on the internal resistance and open circuit voltage of the battery 3. . Note that the calculation method of the remaining battery charge C and the chargeable electric energy B is well known at the time of filing of the present invention and will not be described in detail. Thereby, the process of step S1 is completed and a charge control process progresses to the process of step S2.

  In the process of step S2, the controller 5 determines whether or not the remaining battery level C calculated by the process of step S1 is less than or equal to the chargeable power amount B. As a result of the determination, when the remaining battery level C is less than or equal to the chargeable electric energy B, the controller 5 uses the remaining battery level C from the previous charging operation to the current charging operation as shown in FIG. It is determined that the amount of electric power is greater than or equal to the amount of electric power (chargeable electric energy B), and the series of charge control processes is terminated. That is, the controller 5 ends a series of charge control processes when the amount of power used by the previous driver can be secured. Thereafter, the controller 5 charges the battery 3 on the day and time set by the driver (timer charging). On the other hand, if the remaining battery charge C is not less than or equal to the chargeable power amount B, the controller 5 advances the charge control process to the process of step S3.

  In step S3, the controller 5 determines that the remaining battery level C is less than or equal to the amount of power (chargeable power amount B) used between the previous charging operation and the current charging operation, as shown in FIG. And charging of the battery 3 is started regardless of whether or not the timer charging is set. That is, when the amount of power used by the previous driver cannot be secured, the controller 5 starts immediate charging so that the amount of power used by the previous driver can be secured regardless of the setting of timer charging. Thereby, the process of step S3 is completed and a charge control process progresses to the process of step S4.

  In the process of step S4, the controller 5 calculates the remaining battery charge D of the battery 3 at the current time. Thereby, the process of step S4 is completed and a charge control process progresses to the process of step S5.

  In the process of step S5, the controller 5 determines whether or not the remaining battery level D calculated by the process of step S4 is greater than or equal to the chargeable power amount D. Then, at the timing when the remaining battery charge D is determined to be equal to or greater than the chargeable power amount D, in other words, at the timing when the amount of power used by the previous driver can be secured, the controller 5 performs the charge control process. The process proceeds to S6.

  In the process of step S6, the controller 5 determines that charging for the amount of electric power A (see FIG. 4) in which the remaining battery charge D is equal to or higher than the chargeable electric energy D has been completed, and ends the charging of the battery 3. Thereby, the process of step S6 is completed and a series of charge control processes are complete | finished. Thereafter, the controller 5 charges the battery 3 on the day and time set by the driver (timer charging). In the present embodiment, the timer charge control is performed after the series of charge control processes is completed. However, the timer charge control may not be performed.

  As is clear from the above description, in the electric vehicle 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention, the controller 5 is used between the previous charging operation and the current charging operation regardless of whether or not the timer charging is set. It is determined whether or not to charge the battery 3 according to the amount of electric power, and the battery 3 is immediately charged with the difference electric energy between the chargeable electric energy B and the remaining battery charge C according to the determination result. The battery 3 can be reliably charged up to the required amount of power. In this embodiment, when the remaining battery level C is not less than or equal to the rechargeable power amount B, the controller 5 immediately charges the power amount A at which the remaining battery level C becomes equal to or higher than the rechargeable power amount B. Alternatively, the power amount P (for example, 12 kWh) or the absolute power amount Q (5 kWh) set in advance with the empty capacity of the battery 3 as shown in FIG. 5 as a reference value may be immediately charged. In addition, as shown in FIG. 6, when the battery capacity at the time of deterioration of the battery 3 becomes smaller than the preset power amount, the driver may be notified that the necessary power amount cannot be charged. Good. In this case, it is desirable to give a margin to the set amount of power so that the driver is notified before the required amount of power cannot be fully charged.

  Although the embodiment to which the invention made by the present inventor is applied has been described above, the present invention is not limited by the description and the drawings that constitute a part of the disclosure of the present invention. That is, it is needless to say that other embodiments, examples, operational techniques, and the like made by those skilled in the art based on the present embodiment are all included in the scope of the present invention.

1: Electric vehicle 2: Wheel 3: Battery 4: Charger 5: Controller 11: External power supply 12: Power cable 13: Connector

Claims (5)

A battery charge control device for controlling a charging operation of a battery mounted on a vehicle,
A calculating means for calculating the amount of power of the battery used between the previous charging operation and the current charging operation;
Determining means for determining whether or not there is a need to immediately charge the battery based on the amount of battery power calculated by the calculating means;
And a control unit that immediately charges the battery when the determination unit determines that there is a need for immediate charging. The battery charge control device according to claim 1,
The determination unit determines that the battery needs to be immediately charged when the amount of power charged in the battery before the charging operation is equal to or less than the amount of power calculated by the calculation unit, and the control unit includes: A battery charge control characterized by calculating a difference power amount between the power amount calculated by the calculation means and a power amount charged in the battery before the charging operation, and immediately charging the calculated difference power amount in the battery. apparatus. The battery charge control device according to claim 1,
The battery charging control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit immediately charges the battery until a preset power amount or a battery power amount reaches a preset power amount. The battery charge control device according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
When the battery cannot be immediately charged to the target value, the control means notifies that the battery cannot be immediately charged to the target value. A battery charge control method for controlling a charging operation of a battery mounted on a vehicle,
A calculation process for calculating the amount of battery energy used between the previous charging operation and the current charging operation;
A determination process for determining whether or not it is necessary to immediately charge the battery based on the amount of power of the battery calculated by the calculation process;
And a control process for immediately charging the battery when it is determined that the battery needs to be immediately charged in the determination process.

Images