JP2011172363A - Charge control apparatus, and vehicle charge system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a charge control apparatus and a vehicle charging system wherein communication between a vehicle and an external network is achieved regardless of whether an AC relay is ON or OFF even in a configuration in which a power line communication unit is provided in the stage subsequent to the AC relay. <P>SOLUTION: A signal band filter unit 21 passing only signals is provided in parallel with the AC relay 22. Thus communication between a vehicle 10 and an external network 40 is achieved through the signal band filter unit 21 even when the vehicle 10 is not being charged and the AC relay 22 is OFF. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a charging control device and a vehicle charging system for charging a vehicle such as an electric vehicle and a plug-in hybrid car, and more particularly to a technique of power line communication using a charging cable for charging of the vehicle charging system.

In recent years, electric vehicles such as electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid cars that are charged with electric power from the outside and vehicles that operate with the charged electric power have started to spread.
And in order to spread these vehicles, it is necessary to provide the vehicle charging device for charging electricity to vehicles in various places.

  Further, it has been proposed that when a vehicle is connected to a vehicle charging system, power line communication is performed between the vehicle and the vehicle charging device or between networks connected to the vehicle charging device using a power line used for charging.

Patent Document 1 discloses a vehicle charging system that charges a hybrid vehicle having an externally chargeable main battery and an engine.
In the vehicle charging system disclosed in Patent Document 1, when the vehicle is connected to the charging plug of the vehicle charging system, the vehicle receives information about the power price and the fuel price from the vehicle charging system through power line communication. Then, the power cost for charging and the fuel cost for refueling are calculated from these information and the vehicle traveling history recorded during traveling so that appropriate energy can be selected.

  Further, Patent Document 2 discloses a system that can charge users not on a vehicle basis but on a user basis. In the system of Patent Document 2, user identification information is transmitted from the vehicle to the system when charging is performed using power line communication. In the system, the charging fee is associated with the user identification information transmitted from the vehicle. By memorizing, charging for charging in units of users is realized.

FIG. 7 shows a configuration of Patent Document 1 as a configuration example of a conventional vehicle charging system in which a vehicle and an external network can be connected using power line communication.
FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the vehicle charging system of Patent Document 1. As shown in FIG.
In the conventional vehicle charging system represented by the configuration shown in FIG. 7, the vehicle 100 connected to the vehicle charging device 200 is connected to a network outside the system via the external communication interface unit 216. Communication with servers and terminal devices on the network is possible.

JP 2008-308030 A JP 2009-240552 A

  However, in the vehicle charging system of FIG. 7, the configuration of the vehicle charging device 200 is based on the premise that the power line communication unit 210 is provided in front of the relay 204 when viewed from the vehicle 100.

  Therefore, for example, when the vehicle charging device is connected to the power source of the house where the power line communication unit is installed and the power line communication home network is used in the house, the power line communication unit is connected to the subsequent stage of the vehicle charging device. When the vehicle 100 is not charged, there is a problem that the vehicle 100 cannot communicate with an external network via a power line communication home network or the like.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a charging control device and a vehicle charging system that can communicate with an external network even when the vehicle is not charging.

  The charging control device is a charging control device for charging a vehicle, one of which is connected to a power line for charging the vehicle, and the other connected to a power line for receiving supply from an external power source, to the vehicle. A relay for turning on / off the charging, a relay control unit for switching ON / OFF of the relay, and a signal band filter unit provided in parallel with the relay and allowing only a signal superimposed on a power line to pass therethrough. It is characterized by that.

  The vehicle charging system is a vehicle charging system for charging a vehicle, and a power line communication home network device connected to an external network, and the vehicle using electric power supplied from an external power source via the power line communication home network device. The power line communication home network device is extracted and demodulated from an external communication interface unit that performs transmission and reception with the external network, a signal passed from the external communication interface unit, or a power line A gateway unit that performs protocol conversion of the received signal, a power line communication unit that modulates the signal passed from the gateway unit or demodulates a signal superimposed on the power line, and converts the signal modulated by the power line communication unit to external power Superimpose on the power line from the source or superimpose on the power line A superposition / signal extraction unit that extracts a signal that is output from a power line and outputs the extracted signal to the power line communication unit, wherein one of the charging control devices is connected to a power line for charging the vehicle, and the other is external Connected to a power line for receiving supply from a power source, a relay for turning on / off charging of the vehicle, a relay control unit for controlling switching on / off of the relay, and a power line provided in parallel to the relay. And a signal band filter section that allows only the superimposed signal to pass therethrough.

  According to the present invention, communication between a vehicle and an external network can be performed regardless of whether the relay is ON or OFF, even in a configuration in which a power line communication home network device that connects to an external network is provided at a subsequent stage of the relay. realizable.

It is a block diagram which shows the whole structure of the vehicle charging system of a 1st form. It is a figure which shows the 1st structural example of a signal band filter part. It is a figure which shows the 2nd structural example of a signal band filter part. It is a figure which shows the 3rd structural example of a signal band filter part. It is a figure which shows the 4th structural example of a signal band filter part. It is a block diagram which shows the whole structure of the vehicle charging system of a 2nd form. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the vehicle charging system of patent document 1.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a vehicle charging system 1a according to the first embodiment.
As shown in the figure, the vehicle charging system 1a of the present embodiment is configured such that a charging control device 20a is provided between the vehicle 10 and a power line communication home network device 30 installed in a house or the like.

The vehicle 10 is a vehicle that can be charged with electric power from the outside, such as an electric vehicle (EV) or a plug-in hybrid car (PHV), and operates with the charged electric power.
In FIG. 1, a vehicle 10 includes a system control unit 11, a power line communication unit 12, a signal superimposition / extraction unit 13, and a charger 14.

  The system control unit 11 controls the entire vehicle 10. The power line communication unit 12 modulates a signal transmitted to the external network 40 or demodulates a signal extracted from the signal superimposition / extraction unit 13 based on an instruction from the system control unit 11. The signal superimposing / extracting unit 13 superimposes the signal received from the power line communication unit 12 on the charging cable (power line) 60a, or extracts the signal superimposed on the charging cable 60a and passes it to the power line communication unit 12. It is. The charger 14 charges a vehicle battery (not shown) after rectification and voltage conversion.

  A signal that is modulated and demodulated by the power line communication unit 12, superimposed on the charging cable (power line) 60a by the signal superimposing / extracting unit 13, or extracted from the charging cable (power line) 60a is represented by an analog or digital value. It is a data signal.

  The charging control device 20a is provided in a house, a facility, or the like, and is connected to the power line communication home network device 30 by connecting a plug (first plug) (not shown) to the charging cable 60b. When the vehicle 10 is charged, the vehicle 10 is connected by connecting a plug (second plug) (not shown) to the charging cable 60a. The charging control device 20a is installed in a house or the like where the power line communication home network device 20a is installed.

In FIG. 1, the charging control device 20 a includes a signal band filter unit 21, an AC relay 22, an AC relay control unit 23, and an AC relay control interface (I / F) 24.
The signal band filter 21 passes only the signal on the charging cable 60. Details of the signal band filter unit 21 will be described later. The AC relay 22 switches ON / OFF between the charging cables 60a and 60b. The AC relay 22 is turned on when the vehicle 10 is charging and connects the AC power source 50 such as a commercial power source to the vehicle 10, and is turned off when the vehicle 10 is not charging and turns off the AC power source 50. Shut off from the vehicle 10. The AC relay control unit 23 switches ON / OFF of the AC relay 22 based on an instruction from the AC relay control interface 24. The AC relay control interface 24 is an interface that connects the AC relay control unit 23 and a control unit (not shown).

  The home network device 30 is provided in a house, a facility, or the like, and provides a user with a connection environment with an external network 40 such as the Internet. In addition, the home network device 30 supplies power of the AC power supply 50 to the vehicle 10 by being connected to the charging control device 20a through the charging cable 60b.

The power line communication home network device 30 includes a signal superposition / extraction unit 31, a power line communication unit 32, a gateway unit 33, and an external communication interface 34.
The signal superimposing / extracting unit 31 extracts the signal from the vehicle 10 superimposed on the charging cable 60b and passes it to the power line communication unit 32, or superimposes the signal received from the power line communication unit 32 on the signal on the charging cable 60b. Or transmitted to the vehicle 10. The power line communication unit 32 modulates a signal passed from the gateway unit 33 or demodulates a signal from the vehicle 10 and passes it to the gateway unit 33. The gateway unit 33 performs communication protocol conversion between the external communication interface 34 and the power line communication unit 32. The external communication interface 34 transmits and receives signals between the gateway unit 33 and the external network 40.

  In the vehicle charging system 1 a according to the present embodiment shown in FIG. 1, a power line communication unit 32 is provided at the rear stage of the AC relay 22 when viewed from the vehicle 10. However, since the signal passes through the signal band filter unit 21 regardless of ON / OFF of the AC relay 22 in the charging control device 20a, even if the vehicle 10 is not charging and the AC relay 22 is OFF, The vehicle 10 can be connected to the external network 40.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a first configuration example of the signal band filter unit 21.
In the figure, the signal band filter unit 21 includes capacitors 211 a and 211 b provided in parallel to the AC relay 22.

  In the signal band filter unit 21 of FIG. 2, only the signal component on the charging cable 60 (60-1, 60-2) is transmitted by the capacitors 211a and 211b, so that the vehicle 10 can be operated even when the AC relay 22 is OFF. The external network 40 can exchange signals by bypassing the signal band filter unit 21. Capacitors 211a and 211b having appropriate capacities are used as the capacitors 211a and 211b so that only the signal superimposed on the charging cable 60 is transmitted. In addition, the communication speed of the signal is generally a communication at a rate higher than the frequency 50/60 Hz used for the AC power source 50, and the capacitors 211a and 211b have a large capacity so that only the high-speed signal is transmitted. Used.

As described above, the first configuration example can be realized by a simple configuration using only a capacitor, so that the configuration of the charge control device 20a can be made small and inexpensive.
Next, a second configuration of the signal band filter unit will be described.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a second configuration example of the signal band filter unit 21.
In the figure, the signal band filter unit 21 includes a resistor 212 (212a, 212b), a capacitor 213 (213a, 213b), and an inductor 214 (214a, 214b) connected in series to the AC relay 22. The configuration is provided in parallel.

  The second configuration of FIG. 3 can set the frequency that passes through the signal band filter unit 21 more strictly than the first configuration of FIG. Therefore, when the AC relay 22 is OFF, the AC power source 50 and the vehicle 10 can be more strictly cut off than in the first configuration.

Next, a third configuration of the signal band filter unit will be described.
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a third configuration example of the signal band filter unit 21.
In the figure, the signal band filter unit 21 includes a transformer 216 and capacitors 216 and 217 provided on the primary side and the secondary side of the transformer 216, respectively.

  In this configuration, a transformer 216 and capacitors 217 and 218 constitute a high-pass filter. Only the signal superimposed as a high frequency component can pass through the signal band filter unit 21.

  In the configuration of FIG. 4, since the signal band filter unit 21 performs transformer coupling by the transformer 216, the current from the AC power source 50 does not flow directly to the vehicle 10 side when the AC relay 22 is OFF. .

Next, a fourth configuration of the signal band filter unit will be described.
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a fourth configuration example of the signal band filter unit 21.
The fourth configuration in FIG. 5 is a configuration in the case where the signal band filter 21 is provided when the charging cable 60 includes the ground wire 60-3.

In this case, the signal band filter unit 21 is provided so as to be connected to the ground wire 60-3 and one of the remaining two wires (the charging cable 60-1 in FIG. 5).
At this time, the configuration of the signal band filter unit 21 may be any of the first to third configurations shown in FIGS. 3 to 5.

  Further, as a means for preventing 50/60 Hz AC power from flowing when a capacitor that cuts off the 50/60 Hz AC power source fails in the short mode, the capacitor of the signal band filter section of FIGS. The fuse may be connected in series.

Next, the 2nd form of the vehicle charging system of this embodiment is demonstrated.
FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the vehicle charging system 1b according to the second embodiment.
When the vehicle charging system 1b according to the second embodiment shown in FIG. 6 is compared with the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1, only the configuration of the charging control device 20b is different.

  The charge control device 20b includes a signal band filter unit 21, an AC relay 22, and an AC relay control unit 23 as well as a signal superposition / extraction unit 25 and a power line communication unit 26, as in the charge control device 20a of FIG.

  In the charging control device 20b, the signal superimposing / extracting unit 25 and the power line communication unit 26 are provided, so that the signal transmitted from the vehicle 10 is extracted by the signal superimposing / extracting unit 25, and the signal is transmitted to the power line communication unit. The signal is demodulated at 26 and passed to the AC relay control unit 23, and the AC relay control unit 23 controls the AC relay 22 based on this signal. Accordingly, by sending an AC relay control signal from the vehicle 10, it is possible to switch ON / OFF of the AC relay 22, and to control charging start / end, timer charging setting, and the like.

  In addition, the charging control device 20b includes the signal superimposing / extracting unit 25 and the power line communication unit 26, so that the signal transmitted from the external network 40 is transmitted via the signal band filter unit 21 to the signal superimposing / extracting unit 25. The signal is demodulated by the power line communication unit 26 and passed to the AC relay control unit 23, and the AC relay control unit 23 controls the AC relay 22 based on this signal. Therefore, for example, the user operates the terminal from the outside, connects to the home network device 30 via the external network 40, and transmits an instruction to the charging control unit 20b, thereby performing charging control, timer charging setting, and the like. be able to.

  As described above, in the vehicle charging system 1 of the present embodiment, the charging control device 20 is connected to the home network device 30 that realizes a network environment for connecting to an external network provided in a house or the like. At this time, the power line communication unit 32 is realized as a configuration subsequent to the AC relay 22 as viewed from the vehicle 10 side. At this time, even if the vehicle 10 is not charged, the vehicle 10 can be connected to the external network 40 as long as the charging cable 60 a is connected to the charging control device 20.

  Further, in realizing the vehicle charging system 1 of the present embodiment, the charging of the vehicle 10 and the vehicle can be performed only by connecting the charging control device 20 to the connection environment to the external network 40 already installed in a house or facility. 10 and the external network 40 can be realized.

  Further, the charging control device 20b includes the signal superimposing / extracting unit 25 and the power line communication unit 26, so that the AC relay control unit 23 can be controlled from the vehicle 10 or by turning the external network 40, thereby controlling charging. And timer charging can be set.

Note that the external AC power source described in this embodiment can also be applied as a DC power source.
In the present embodiment, the relay is described as an AC relay. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a DC relay is also applicable.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1a, 1b Vehicle charging system 10 Vehicle 11, System control part 33, Gateway part 12, 26, 32 Power line communication part 13, 25, 31 Signal superimposition / extraction part 14 Charger 20a, 20b Charge control part 21 Signal band filter 22 AC Relay 23 AC relay control unit 24 AC relay control interface 30 Home network device 34 External communication interface 40 External network 50 AC power source

Claims (7)

A charge control device for charging a vehicle,
One connected to a power line for charging the vehicle, the other connected to a power line for receiving supply from an external power source, and a relay for turning ON / OFF charging the vehicle;
A relay control unit for switching and controlling ON / OFF of the relay;
A signal band filter unit that is provided in parallel with the relay and allows only a signal superimposed on the power line to pass through;
A charge control device comprising: A signal superimposing / extracting unit that superimposes a signal on a power line or extracts a signal superimposed on a power line;
A power line communication unit that modulates a signal output from the relay control unit and outputs the modulated signal to the signal superimposition / extraction unit, or demodulates a signal extracted by the signal superposition / extraction unit and outputs the demodulated signal to the relay control unit; ,
The charge control device according to claim 1, further comprising:   The charge control device according to claim 1, wherein the signal band filter unit is a capacitor provided in parallel with the relay.   The charge control device according to claim 1, wherein the signal band filter unit is formed by connecting a resistor, a capacitor, and an inductor provided in parallel to the relay in series.   3. The charging according to claim 1, wherein the signal band filter unit includes a transformer provided in parallel to the relay and a capacitor provided on a primary side and a secondary side of the transformer. Control device. A vehicle charging system for charging a vehicle,
A power line communication home network device connected to an external network;
A charging control device that charges the vehicle with power supplied from an external power source via the power line communication home network device;
The power line communication home network device includes an external communication interface unit that transmits and receives signals to and from the external network;
A gateway unit that performs protocol conversion of a signal passed from the external communication interface unit or a signal extracted from the power line and demodulated, and a modulation of the protocol-converted signal passed from the gateway unit, or a signal extracted from the power line A power line communication unit that performs demodulation of
A signal superimposing / extracting unit that superimposes a signal modulated by the power line communication unit on a power line from an external power source, or extracts a signal superimposed on the power line from the power line and outputs the signal to the power line communication unit. ,
The charging control device has one relay connected to a power line for charging the vehicle, the other connected to a power line for receiving supply from an external power source, and a relay for turning on / off charging the vehicle, A relay control unit that performs switching control of ON / OFF of the relay, and a signal band filter unit that is provided in parallel to the relay and allows only a signal superimposed on a power line to pass therethrough,
A vehicle charging system. The charging control device superimposes a signal on a power line, or extracts a signal superimposed / extracted signal on the power line, and modulates a signal from the relay control unit and outputs the modulated signal to the signal superimposition / extraction unit Or a power line communication unit that demodulates the signal extracted by the signal superimposition / extraction unit and outputs the demodulated signal to the relay control unit;
The vehicle charging system according to claim 6, further comprising: