JP2012005325A - Electric vehicle charging system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electric vehicle charging system using midnight power and operating to prevent the living of a resident from being interfered with.SOLUTION: The electric vehicle charging system includes: a current transformer 14 detecting current flowing to a lead-in wire L1 to a distribution panel 1; a current monitoring device 3 outputting a charge stop signal when a current value exceeds a first threshold value based on current information of the current transformer 14 and outputting a charge start signal when the current value is less than a second threshold value smaller than the first prescribed value; and a charge controller 2 stopping conduction to a charge box 4 from the distribution panel 1 by receiving the charge stop signal and resuming conduction to the charge box 4 by receiving the charge start signal.

Description

  The present invention relates to an electric vehicle charging system for charging an electric vehicle in a general house.

Each electric power company has set a time-based charge system that reduces the power charge at night (for example, the time zone from 23:00 to 7:00) when surplus power is likely to be generated due to a decrease in power consumption. When an electric vehicle or a plug-in hybrid vehicle is charged at home, it is economical to charge at midnight using this inexpensive fee structure, so charging in this cheap time zone is expected.
For this reason, a charging system that includes a timer and starts charging when entering the midnight power band has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2010-115038 A

However, if a situation occurs in which an electric vehicle is charged at the same time while a device that requires a large current, such as an IH cooking heater or a midnight water heater that uses midnight power, is operating, the current limiter shuts down and a power failure occurs. It is expected to become. If that happens, it will interfere with your life.
Therefore, in view of such problems, the present invention aims to provide an electric vehicle charging system that operates so as not to hinder the lives of residents even in an electric vehicle charging system that uses midnight power. Yes.

In order to solve the above problems, the invention of claim 1 includes a charging box for connecting a charging cable for charging an electric vehicle or the like, and one of the branch breakers in the distribution board is connected to the charging box. An electric vehicle charging system comprising: a current sensor that detects a current flowing through a lead-in line of the distribution board; and a charge stop signal that is output when a current value exceeds a first predetermined value based on information from the current sensor And a charge control device that receives the charge stop signal and stops energization from the distribution board to the charge box.
According to this configuration, since charging of the electric vehicle is stopped when the current used in the entire home exceeds the first predetermined value, it is possible to prevent the situation where the current limiter is activated and the entire home is interrupted. It becomes possible, and charging of an electric vehicle does not disturb the resident's life.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the configuration of the first aspect, the first predetermined value is a current value of 80 to 90% of an operating current value of a current limiter installed in the distribution board. It is characterized by.
According to this configuration, the charging of the electric vehicle can be reliably stopped before the current limiter operates, and the charge control device frequently performs a cutoff operation by setting a threshold value near the limit current. The situation can be prevented.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the configuration according to the first or second aspect, the current monitoring device detects a charge start signal when a current value of the current sensor falls below a second predetermined value that is smaller than the first predetermined value. , And the charging control device resumes energization of the charging box.
According to this configuration, charging of the electric vehicle is resumed when the current used at home decreases, so even if charging stops once, no start operation is required, and the resident can charge operation There is no need to worry about.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the configuration according to any one of the first to third aspects, the charge control device includes a charge stop notification unit that performs a notification operation in response to the charge stop signal.
According to this configuration, the resident is notified by the operation of the notification means that the current used at home has increased and the charging of the electric vehicle has been stopped. Therefore, the resident can grasp the usage status of the home appliance and easily take necessary measures.

According to the present invention, since the charging of the electric vehicle is stopped when the current used in the entire home exceeds the first predetermined value, it is possible to prevent a situation where the current limiter operates and a power failure occurs. Charging a car does not interfere with the lives of residents.
And when the current used decreases, the charging of the electric vehicle is resumed, so even if charging stops once, no start operation is required even if charging stops, and the resident needs to care about the charging operation Absent.

It is a block diagram which shows an example of the electric vehicle charging system which concerns on this invention. It is a circuit block diagram of a charge control apparatus.

DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of the invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of an electric vehicle charging system according to the present invention, in which 1 is a distribution board, 2 is a charging control device, 3 is a current monitoring device, 4 is a charging box, and 5 is an electric vehicle.
The distribution board 1 is connected to a current limiter 11 that shuts off when a contracted current value with an electric power company is exceeded, a main breaker 12 that shuts off when an overcurrent or leakage occurs, and a plurality of electrical devices in the home. , And a current transformer 14 as a current sensor are assembled.

The input part of the current limiter 11 is connected to a lead-in line L1 drawn into the house from a commercial power source (not shown), and is connected to the input side of the current limiter 11 so that the current transformer 14 detects the current flowing through the lead-in line L1. A current transformer 14 is installed. The output part of the current limiter 11 is connected to the primary side terminal of the main breaker 12 by a main electric circuit L2, and the secondary side terminal of the main circuit breaker 12 is connected to each branch breaker via a main electric circuit (not shown) formed of a copper bar or the like. .. Are connected to primary side terminals. In addition, one of a plurality of branch breakers 13, 13,... Is connected to the charging box 4 via the branch electric circuit L3, and the charge control device 2 is provided in the middle of the branch electric circuit L3.
The current monitoring device 3 is connected to the current transformer 14 via the transmission line L4, and outputs a control signal to the charging control device 2 based on the information of the current transformer 14. The charging box 4 is installed on an outdoor wall in the vicinity of a parking area such as a garage or the like, and includes an outlet for connecting a charging cable 6 for charging an electric vehicle.

  The current transformer 14 may be provided on the main electric circuit L2 between the current limiter 11 and the main breaker 12 as long as it can detect the current flowing through the lead-in line L1. In FIG. 1, P1 indicates a midnight power water heater, P2 indicates an IH cooking heater, one of the branch breakers 13 is connected to the midnight power water heater P1, and another branch breaker 13 is connected to the IH cooking heater P2. It is connected.

  FIG. 2 shows a circuit block diagram of the charging control device 2. As shown in FIG. 2, the charging control device 2 includes a timer circuit 21, an opening / closing unit 22 for opening / closing the branch circuit L3, an opening / closing control unit 23 for controlling the opening / closing unit 22, and a buzzer 24 for generating an alarm sound. In response to the signals (charge stop signal, charge start signal) output from the current monitoring device 3, connection / cutoff of the branch circuit L3 is controlled.

  The current monitoring device 3 includes a control signal generating unit 3a that generates a control signal for the charging control device 2 based on current information detected by the current transformer 14. The control signal generator 3a is set to a first threshold value that is slightly smaller than the current value at which the current limiter 11 operates, specifically, a current value that is 80 to 90% of the operating current value of the current limiter 11. When the current value of 1 is set and the current value detected by the current transformer 14 exceeds this threshold, a charge stop signal is output to the charge control device 2. Then, a second threshold value sufficiently smaller than the first threshold value, for example, a second threshold value set to a current value of about 50% of the operating current value of the current limiter 11 is set, and the current transformer 14 is detected. When the current falls below this threshold, a charge start signal is output.

The electric vehicle charging system configured as described above controls charging as follows. First, the timer circuit 21 sets a midnight power time zone (for example, from 23:00 to 7:00) in advance, and notifies the open / close control unit 23 during this time zone that charging is possible.
In response to this notification, the open / close control unit 23 closes the open / close unit 22 during the midnight power time period, and brings the branch circuit L3 into the energized state. Thus, when the electric vehicle 5 or the like is connected to the charging box 4, charging is performed in the late-night power hours.

  However, when the electric water heater is started in this state or the IH cooking heater is used and the current flowing through the lead-in electric circuit L1 exceeds the first threshold, the current monitoring device 3 recognizes that and outputs a charge stop signal To do. Then, the opening / closing control unit 23 of the charging control device 2 opens the opening / closing unit 22 and blocks the branch electric circuit L3. As a result, charging of the electric vehicle 5 is stopped, and the current of the lead-in electric circuit L1 is reduced. In addition, the open / close control unit 23 receives the charge stop signal and causes the buzzer 24 to perform a reporting operation for a predetermined time.

Thereafter, for example, when the use of the IH cooking heater is finished and the current of the lead-in electric circuit L1 further decreases and falls below the second threshold value, a charging start signal is output from the current monitoring device 3. As a result, the charging control device 2 closes the opening / closing part 22 to connect the branch electric circuit L3, and charging of the electric vehicle 5 is resumed.
The current control device 2 does not issue the buzzer 24 even if it receives a charge stop signal when the electric vehicle 5 is not charged while the opening / closing part 22 is open.

As described above, when the current used in the entire home exceeds the first threshold value that is smaller than the current value at which the current limiter 11 is cut off, the charging of the electric vehicle 5 is stopped, so that the current limiter 11 operates. Thus, it is possible to prevent a situation where the entire home is in a power outage, and charging of the electric vehicle 5 does not hinder the resident's life.
And since the 1st threshold value which the electric current monitoring apparatus 3 determines is set to 80 to 90% of the electric current value which the electric current limiter 11 carries out interruption | blocking operation, a threshold value is set near the electric current limit value and it charges frequently. It is possible to prevent a situation in which the control device is shut off.
In addition, even if the charging of the electric vehicle 5 is stopped, the charging of the electric vehicle 5 is resumed when the current used at home is reduced. Residents do not have to worry about charging operations.
Further, since the resident is notified by the buzzer 24 that charging of the electric vehicle has been stopped due to an increase in the current used, the resident can grasp the usage status of the home appliance and can easily take necessary measures.

The electric vehicle charging system of the above embodiment is favorably applied to the charging of the electric vehicle 5 and the plug-in hybrid vehicle. However, the electric vehicle charging system is also applied to a case where a specific load such as a battery is simply charged or driven. It can be done.
Moreover, the buzzer 24 as a charge stop notification unit that performs a notification operation when charging is stopped may be configured to report a sound message.

  1 .... Distribution panel 2 .... Charge control device 3 .... Current monitoring device 4 .... Charge box 3a ... Control signal generator 5 .... Electric car 11 .... Current limiter 12 ....・ Main trunk breaker, 13 ・ ・ Branch breaker, 14 ・ ・ Current transformer (current sensor), 21 ・ ・ Timer circuit, 22 ・ ・ Open / close unit, 23 ・ ・ Open / close control unit, 24 ・ ・ Buzzer (charge stop notification unit) , L1 ... Lead-in line, L3 ... Branch circuit.

Claims (4)

An electric vehicle charging system comprising a charging box for connecting a charging cable for charging an electric vehicle or the like, wherein one of the branch breakers in the distribution board is connected to the charging box,
A current sensor for detecting a current flowing through the lead-in line of the distribution board;
A current monitoring device that outputs a charge stop signal when a current value exceeds a first predetermined value based on information of the current sensor;
An electric vehicle charging system comprising: a charging control device that receives the charging stop signal and stops energization from the distribution board to the charging box. The electric vehicle charging system according to claim 1, wherein the first predetermined value is a current value of 80 to 90% of an operating current value of a current limiter installed in the distribution board. The current monitoring device outputs a charge start signal when a current value of the current sensor falls below a second predetermined value smaller than the first predetermined value,
The electric vehicle charging system according to claim 1, wherein the charging control device resumes energization of the charging box. The electric vehicle charging system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the charge control device includes a charge stop notification unit that performs a notification operation in response to the charge stop signal.

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