JP2012186895A - Electric vehicle charging system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electric vehicle charging system that can charge a plurality of electric vehicles efficiently and quickly.SOLUTION: When controlling charging services provided for users by means of a plurality of chargers 303 for charging a plurality of electric vehicles, respectively, a charging behavior database which is prepared in an external storage device 207 to accumulate information on electric vehicle charging behavior of specific users enjoying charging services to charge electric vehicles with the chargers is used. When providing charging services for a plurality of users via the chargers, a CPU 201 determines a combination of charging services to be provided simultaneously for the plurality of users or an order of charging services to be provided sequentially by reference to information on electric vehicle charging behavior of users stored in the charging behavior database which corresponds to the plurality of users, and according to the content of provided charging services, updates the contents of the charging behavior database which correspond to the users.

Description

  The present invention relates to an electric vehicle charging system for charging an electric vehicle.

  It is well known that mobiles that run on electric motors (hereinafter also referred to as batteries), such as electric cars and electric bicycles, are effective for effective use of earth resources such as oil and CO2 reduction to prevent global warming. Is the fact of For automobiles that run on oil, there is a gas station etc. as a conventional refueling method, but electric vehicles and bicycles (hereinafter, these mobiles are collectively referred to as “electric vehicles”) are equipped with storage batteries. Need to be charged. Charging this electric vehicle takes more time than refueling compared to oil, light oil, and the like.

  For this reason, an electric vehicle is used in the parking lot of each household that owns it, and in apartment buildings such as condominiums, it can be used individually when the vehicle is not driven by using a shared site such as the parking lot or a charging space. It is thought that it is often charged. The reason for this is that, as an electric vehicle possession method, a shared system such as so-called car sharing is adopted in an apartment house such as an apartment, where one electric vehicle is unspecified and shared among multiple households. But the same is true.

  In a housing complex such as a condominium, it is necessary to efficiently charge a plurality of electric vehicles in a parking lot allocated to each household or a charging space provided exclusively for charging. In Patent Document 1 below, in order to charge a plurality of electric vehicles, one rectifier is provided as a common DC power source for the plurality of chargers, and the set charger among the chargers is time-divisionally divided. By controlling the charging, the cost of the charging system is reduced and the size is reduced.

JP 05-336673 A

  In the configuration described in Patent Document 1 described above, a plurality of electric vehicles are intended to be charged in a time-sharing manner using a charger that originally has a charging capacity for one unit. Although it is considered that multiple electric vehicles can be charged with power consumption, after all, the charging time of one electric vehicle is long or the electric vehicle is incompletely charged. It may be necessary.

  In addition, the following problems are expected for simultaneous charging of a plurality of electric vehicles.

  At present, the current capacity of a 100V commercial AC power source required for charging one electric vehicle is considered to be about 10 to 15 A. For example, all the chargers installed in a parking lot or a charging space are simultaneously moved. This may not be possible in view of the current capacity of the entire apartment. In this case, for example, it is conceivable to perform an operation of limiting the number of units that can be used simultaneously to about 3 to 5 out of 7, 8 to 10 chargers installed in a parking lot or a charging space. In such a system, when the number of simultaneous charging reaches the limit, a user who newly applies for charging is allowed to connect an electric vehicle to the charger and perform a setting operation. However, the electric car must wait for charging.

  In this way, when operating an electric vehicle charging system to limit the number of electric vehicles that can be charged simultaneously, the system efficiently performs simultaneous charging and terminates the current charging as quickly as possible. If there is an electric vehicle waiting for charging, it must be able to start charging immediately.

  On the other hand, in collective housing such as condominiums, goods collection devices such as mailboxes, parcel storage devices, so-called delivery boxes (hereinafter, these goods collection devices may be simply referred to as “delivery boxes” for simplification). May be installed). A parcel delivery box is an article storage (acquisition) device similar to a locker having a plurality of lockable article storage boxes for receiving parcels delivered to a specific resident or for collecting parcels delivered by a specific resident It is. This article storage box may be used in common by residents, but there may be a usage form in which one article storage box is allocated exclusively to each resident, in which case the article storage box is a postal mail. It can also be used for receiving goods.

  In this type of delivery box, the unlocking (or locking) necessary for taking in / out delivery packages to / from a plurality of article storage boxes is controlled by a control circuit that controls the operation display unit using a touch panel or the like.

  For example, an ID card (IC card or the like) is assigned to the resident as an authentication means. This authentication means proves that the holder is a specific resident in the apartment house, and is associated with the room number of the resident's room or the room number as the authentication information. Recorded key information.

  When a resident performs an operation for taking out / delivering parcels, etc., to / from the item storage box, this ID card is presented on the operation display section to prove that he / she is a legitimate package receiver (or shipper). Then, the control circuit performs control so that a predetermined operation can be performed by performing a predetermined operation.

  The delivery box operation performed in this way can be recorded and managed as usage information in a database or the like together with the resident identification information indicated by the time and the ID card. Usage information managed by the delivery box can be stored in the storage means of the control circuit, displayed on the operation display unit as needed, or transferred to a remote management center via a network. .

  In recent years, apartments such as condominiums equipped with this type of delivery box have increased, and the control circuit, storage means, and database means of the delivery box configured as described above are mediated by authentication means such as an ID card. Each resident can be identified, and if such a system can be used to manage not only the delivery box but also the above-mentioned charging of the electric vehicle and its charge (billing) information, etc. The convenience of the resident who is the user of the charging service can be enhanced.

  In addition, since the home delivery box control system and the electric vehicle charging control system can be shared, it can be expected that the overall cost required for the entire facilities and system management required for the apartment will be reduced.

  In particular, in a configuration that authenticates the availability of the charging service of an electric vehicle as well as the opening and closing of the article storage box through an authentication means such as an ID card, the resident's identity identified by the specific authentication means Information related to the usage behavior of the service, such as billing information, usage time, usage count, usage pattern, or power consumption, charging current fluctuation pattern, etc., can be obtained from time to time. It is possible to create a database of information related to usage behavior of electric vehicle charging services.

  In addition, it is required to input information on the vehicle type of the electric vehicle to be charged to the resident at the time of registration of the use of the electric vehicle charging service, or the use of the charging service when using the above electric vehicle charging service without such registration. It may be possible to specify vehicle type information of an electric vehicle from information such as power consumption and charging current fluctuation pattern acquired as information related to behavior.

  And if the vehicle type information of an electric vehicle can be specified, there is a possibility that it is possible to estimate the charge control information such as the power consumption necessary for charging the vehicle type and the fluctuation pattern of the charge current. A specific resident receives a charging service based on information such as the charging current fluctuation pattern, or the power consumption and charging current fluctuation pattern obtained as information related to the charging service usage behavior when using the charging service of the electric vehicle. It can be made into a database as information related to electric vehicles and their charging characteristics.

  The information on the charging behavior of the electric vehicle charging service of a specific resident and the information on the electric vehicle that the resident receives the charging service and the charging characteristics are used for charging control. By doing so, it is considered that charging of a plurality of electric vehicles can be controlled efficiently.

  For example, in the control for limiting the number of electric vehicles to be charged simultaneously as described above, the database information related to the usage behavior of the charging service of the electric vehicle of a specific resident, or the resident performs the charging service. Based on the database information related to the electric vehicle to be received, decide which of several electric vehicles to be charged at the same time, and determine the order of the subsequent electric vehicles to be charged when one electric vehicle is charged. In such a case, it is considered that the total current capacity necessary for charging the electric vehicle can be controlled so as not to reach the upper limit.

  From the above viewpoint, the object of the present invention is to store, as database information, information relating to the usage behavior of a specific user's electric vehicle charging service or information relating to the electric vehicle for which the user receives the charging service. An object of the present invention is to provide an electric vehicle charging system that can efficiently and quickly charge a plurality of electric vehicles using information.

  In order to solve the above problems, in the present invention, a plurality of chargers for charging a plurality of electric vehicles, a control unit for controlling a charging service provided to a user using the charger, and the charging service are combined. A charging behavior database for accumulating information on charging behavior of a specific user's electric vehicle that receives and charges the electric vehicle using the charger, and the control unit sends the information to the plurality of users via the charger. A combination of charging services provided simultaneously to the plurality of users with reference to information on charging behavior of the user's electric vehicle stored in a charging behavior database corresponding to each of the plurality of users when providing the charging service Or determine the order of the charging services to be provided sequentially and respond to the contents of the charging services provided to a specific user. Employing the configuration to update the contents of the charging behavior database corresponding to the user Te.

  According to the above configuration, when the charging service is provided to a plurality of users via the charger, the information related to the charging behavior of the user's electric vehicle stored in the charging behavior database respectively corresponding to the plurality of users is referred to. And determining the combination of charging services provided simultaneously to the plurality of users, or the order of the charging services provided sequentially, and responding to the users according to the contents of the charging services provided to a specific user. Since the contents of the charging behavior database are updated, the combination of a plurality of charging services provided simultaneously and the order of the charging services provided sequentially can be optimized, and a plurality of electric vehicles can be efficiently and quickly installed. An electric vehicle charging system that can be charged can be provided.

It is the block diagram which showed the structure of the charging system of the electric vehicle which employ | adopted this invention. It is explanatory drawing which showed the structure of the database used with the charging system of the electric vehicle which employ | adopted this invention. It is explanatory drawing which showed the structure of the database used with the charging system of the electric vehicle which employ | adopted this invention. It is the flowchart figure which showed the outline | summary of the charge control in the charging system of the electric vehicle which employ | adopted this invention.

  Hereinafter, as an example of a mode for carrying out the present invention, an embodiment relating to a charging system for an electric vehicle suitable for implementation in an apartment house such as an apartment will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In an apartment house shown in the following example, an article receiving device is arranged together with an electric vehicle charging system, and the control unit (200) and the charging control unit (301) of the article receiving device cooperate to charge. Although the structure which performs control is shown, the charge control in the following embodiments does not necessarily have to be performed by a plurality of control units whose functions are separated in this way.

  FIG. 1 shows a configuration of an electric vehicle charging system employing the present invention.

  The electric vehicle charging system according to the present embodiment is installed in an apartment house such as a condominium (hereinafter simply referred to as “apartment house”). As shown in FIG. Each of the chargers 303, 303. These chargers 303, 303... Are arranged in a parking space (or a space dedicated to charging) of an apartment house.

  A parking space where the chargers 303, 303,... Are allocated is assigned to each resident (user) and is used exclusively by an electric vehicle (including an electric bicycle) owned by each resident, or other It may be a shared charging space where a resident moves from the parking position of the vehicle and only performs charging. The electric vehicle to be charged may be owned by each resident, or may be shared (car sharing) by the resident of the apartment house. When the electric vehicle to be charged is shared (car sharing), the electric vehicle is reserved and managed through a predetermined reservation procedure.

  The chargers 303, 303... Have a receptacle (or a direct cable and connector) for supplying a charging current to the electric vehicle, and the output of the commercial AC power supply 302 (for example, single-phase 100 V) is connected to the receptacle ( Alternatively, it is output to an electric vehicle (not shown) from a cable and a connector to charge the electric vehicle. Note that the chargers 303, 303,... Are used for charging the electric vehicle as a charging power instead of an AC output, depending on the specifications of the electric vehicle or for directly charging the battery of the electric vehicle. You may be comprised so that it can supply to.

  A plurality of chargers 303, 303... Are prepared for N units according to the scale of the housing complex, etc. (only the chargers 303 for five units are shown in FIG. 1). In this embodiment, considering various conditions, for example, the total current capacity that can be used for charging an electric vehicle in the apartment house, several of these (n, for example, three) are used to simultaneously charge the electric vehicle. It shall be. More than n electric vehicles that can be charged simultaneously can be connected to other chargers and placed in a standby state waiting for charging.

  The charger controller 301 controls which charger among the chargers 303, 303... Like the control unit 200 described later, the charge control unit 301 is configured by members such as a CPU, a ROM, and a RAM, and turns on / off the charging output of the chargers 303, 303... By communicating with the control unit 200.

  Further, the charging control unit 301 may notify the CPU 201 of the state of each of the chargers 303, 303..., For example, whether it is operating or not, the current charging current value, and the like via communication with the control unit 200. Thus, the CPU 201 can grasp the current state of each of the chargers 303, 303... And perform charge control as described later.

  On the other hand, an article receiving apparatus 100 is shown on the right side of FIG. The article collection device 100 is configured as a delivery box (delivery locker) used for delivery of a so-called delivery item, a mailbox, or the like.

  The article receiving apparatus 100 of FIG. 1 illustrates a side facing a public side (accessible by a courier and a postman) of an apartment house, for example.

  The article receiving apparatus 100 is composed of a plurality of article receiving boxes 101, 101..., And when the article receiving box 101 is configured as a mail box, as shown by a broken line, the entrances 102, 102. A door (not shown) that is opened and closed by an electric lock (or number key) for taking out mail is provided on the surface (not shown) on the opposite side (not shown) of 101.

  When the article collection boxes 101, 101,... Are configured as delivery boxes, the public side shown in the figure is a door for the delivery company to store the delivery (this door is a door for the resident to take out the delivery. The door (not shown) for a resident to take out a parcel is provided in the other side, and opening and closing of these doors is controlled by an electric lock.

  Opening and closing of the doors for picking up the mails in the goods collection boxes 101, 101... Or the two doors for receiving and delivering the parcels according to the operation of the resident (or courier) at the console 103. And controlled by the control unit 200.

  For convenience, the console 103 is shown on the public side here, but the console 103 can be provided on the private side (opposite to the illustrated side).

  The console 103 is provided with a display 104 composed of an LCD panel, a keyboard 105 made up of function keys and numeric keys, and a card reader 102 that reads information from an ID card 111 as authentication means.

  The ID card 111 is held by each resident of the apartment house, and is constituted by, for example, an IC card in which the room number is recorded as ID information. Further, in order to prevent the use of an ID card 111 other than the apartment house, the ID card 111 stores specific key information indicating that the card is a regular card that can be used in the apartment house, or ID information such as a number can be encrypted and recorded using key information that can be used only in the housing complex.

  The ID card 111 is a special courier (or a special card used for unlocking the public doors of the article collection boxes 101, 101,. It can also be distributed to a postman). Furthermore, the ID card 111 may also serve as a card key that functions as an entrance door (not shown, so-called auto-lock controlled entrance door) of an apartment house or a key that opens and closes a resident's individual room.

  Further, in this embodiment, the ID card 111 performs authentication necessary for a resident to receive a charging service for charging an electric vehicle (a vehicle owned by the vehicle or a vehicle lent by car sharing). Also used as a means.

  That is, today, the ID card 111 is also used as a user authentication means for a charging service provided by the chargers 303, 303.

  For this purpose, not only the console 103 but also a charging control console (not shown) including a card reader (equivalent to 102) for reading the ID card 111 is provided in the vicinity of the chargers 303, 303. 1 to several in the vicinity of each or a predetermined place of the charging space.

  Moreover, you may arrange | position the console which has such a card reader in the housing | casing of charger 303,303 ..., respectively. The operation related to the charging service of the resident (or manager) can be performed by the illustrated console 103, the chargers 303, 303..., Or any of the unillustrated consoles provided in the vicinity thereof. For the sake of convenience, and for ease of explanation, it is assumed that an operation related to the charging service of the resident (or manager) is performed using the illustrated console 103.

  As described above, by using the ID card 111 that is associated with a specific resident 1: 1, the information regarding the usage behavior of the charging service of the specific resident's electric vehicle as described later, or the resident A person accumulates information related to an electric vehicle that receives a charging service as database information, and can efficiently charge a plurality of electric vehicles using the database information.

  The control unit 200 of the article receiving apparatus 100 performs opening / closing control of an electric lock that locks / unlocks the article receiving boxes 101, 101... Of the article receiving apparatus 100 according to the presentation and operation of the ID card 111 on the console 103. .

  Further, as described above, the ID card 111 is associated with the charging / unlocking operation of the article receiving apparatus 100 and the charging service for the resident (the electric vehicle possessed or entitled to use). Therefore, the control unit 200 of the article receiving device 100 integrally controls the charging service controlled by the control of the article receiving device 100 and the charging control unit 301.

  At that time, information relating to the usage behavior of the charging service of the specific resident's electric vehicle, or information relating to the electric vehicle for which the resident receives the charging service is accumulated as database information, and a plurality of pieces of information are stored using the database information. Electric vehicle charging control can be performed.

  The control unit 200 includes a CPU 201 as a main control unit, a ROM 202 storing a program to be described later, a RAM 203 used as a work area, and an interface 205 (for example, an IEEE 802.3 network interface, a serial interface) for communicating with the charging control unit 301. Interface).

  Furthermore, an external storage device 207 composed of an HDD or a nonvolatile memory card is connected to the control unit 200, and a program and charging behavior database information described later are stored in this external storage device 207.

  The control unit 200 has a network interface (for example, an IEEE 802.3 network interface or a predetermined WAN interface), and can communicate with a remote server via the network 206 (intranet or the Internet). A part of the control described later can be performed not only by the control unit 200 but also by a server connected via the network 206. In particular, accumulation and management of database information, which will be described later, may be performed by a server connected via the network 206 in this way.

  FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 show an example of the configuration of a database used for controlling an apparatus including the article receiving apparatus and the charging system of this embodiment as shown in FIG.

  2 and 3 are stored in an external storage device of the control unit 200 or a storage area of a server external storage device (both not shown) connected to the control unit 200 via the network 206 (usually in a specific database system). Database file).

  This type of database usually stores various data records in a so-called relational format in a manner that associates a plurality of storage areas. FIG. 2 shows an outline of the main database in the system of the present embodiment. Fields denoted by reference numerals 301 to 304, that is, a room ID, an article collection box ID, a pointer to the article collection database, and a pointer to the charging behavior database. Is composed of.

  Among these, the room ID 301 stores the room ID (for example, the room number of the room) of the resident identified by the ID card 111.

  Even if the goods receipt box 101 is either a mail box or a delivery box, the goods receipt box ID 302 includes the goods receipt box 101 associated with the resident indicated by the data of the room ID 301. ID (number) is stored.

  In the room ID 301 and the goods receipt box ID 302, the above information is stored at the time of registration for issuing a box ID of a specific resident or the goods collection box 101 to the specific ID card 111. This registration process is executed by using the above-described console 103 or another registration system (not shown) (the description is omitted here because it is almost unrelated to the essence of the present invention).

  A pointer 303 to the article receipt database is a pointer (file name or memory address) to a storage area of the article receipt database related to article receipt using the article receipt box 101 of the resident. In this article receipt database, information on receipt of articles (delivered goods, postal items, etc.) performed by the article collection box 101 for the resident, for example, arrival date and time, and article collection service is charged. The charging information is stored. Here, since the article receipt database for managing this kind of article receipt is well known, detailed description is omitted, but the meaning of P11 to P13 exemplified as the value of the pointer 303 to the article receipt database is the charging behavior described later. Similar to the values P21 to P23 of the pointer 304 to the database, it is a pointer (file name or memory address) to another specific database area.

  The pointer 304 to the charging behavior database is a charging for storing information relating to the charging service usage behavior of the resident's electric vehicle or information relating to the electric vehicle for which the resident receives the charging service as shown in FIG. A pointer (file name or memory address) to the storage area of the behavior database. The values P21 and P22 of the pointer 304 to the charging behavior database are pointers to other database storage areas shown in FIG. 3 (the storage area pointed to by P23 is not shown in FIG. 3).

  If the main database as described above is prepared, the ID card 111 is presented to the card reader 102 of the console 103, and the CPU 201 stores the room ID recorded in the ID card 111 which is the resident ID information. Upon acquisition, the article collection box ID (field 302) assigned to the resident can be specified by referring to the room ID field 301 of FIG. 2 using the room ID.

  Further, the storage area of the charging behavior database as shown in FIG. 3 is specified by referring to the pointer storage fields 303 and 304, the data stored in the area is extracted and used, and the residence of the specific room ID is used. When a new charging service is implemented for a person, the corresponding data in the charging behavior database can be updated according to the contents.

  The charging behavior database shown in FIG. 3 stores information regarding charging behavior of a specific resident, that is, charging service received by a specific resident, as shown below. Information related to one charging service received by the resident is stored in each field constituting the record.

  3 indicate the pointers P21 and P22 stored in the records of the room IDs 101 and 102 in FIG. 2, and the charging behavior database of the resident identified by these room IDs 101 and 102 is shown in FIG. The first record is shown. Here, for ease of explanation, the charging behavior database of the resident identified by the room IDs 101 and 102 in one table format is illustrated as if it is stored in one file. The charging behavior databases of different residents may be stored in different database files.

  The record of the charging behavior database shown in FIG. 3 includes fields as indicated by reference numerals 401 to 408.

  The field 401 stores the charging start date and time of the charging service with the resident, and the field 402 stores the charging end date and time of the charging service.

  The field 403 stores information indicating the charging time length of the charging service. Here, the stored information is indicated by mnemonics such as S (short), M (medium), and L (long), which are, for example, at time intervals such as around 1 hour, around 3 hours, and over 3 hours. It is associated. Information such as S, M, and L stored in the field 403 can be generated from the required charging time obtained by subtracting the end time information in the field 402 from the start time information in the field 402 at the end of charging. However, the storage information in the field 403 is not necessarily stored in such a mnemonic, but may be simply stored in the required charging time and converted into a mnemonic such as S, M, or L when using the value.

  The field 404 stores the vehicle type information of the electric vehicle charged by the resident. The vehicle type information of the electric vehicle may be the vehicle type information declared by the resident at the time of registration related to the charging service, but preferably the vehicle type information is estimated and stored from the charging current transition pattern for each charging service, for example. Can be considered. In order to estimate the vehicle type information from the charging current transition pattern and the like in this way, other database information (not shown) in which the charging current transition pattern and the vehicle type information are associated in advance is prepared. The vehicle type information can be specified by referring to the database information storing the association with the vehicle type information from the actual charging current transition pattern in the charging service.

  The field 405 stores the charging current consumed by the charging service. Here, an example is shown in which rough mnemonics such as large, medium, and small obtained by comparing with a plurality of appropriate amperage threshold values are stored as shown in the figure. Etc. may be stored.

  The field 406 stores charging information related to the charging service. The billing information is obtained by a product of a unit price (fixed value or a metered value determined according to the charging current) and a required charging time. The illustrated charging method is merely an example, and a different calculation method may be used when using another charging method. The billing information may be stored as another database file in another storage location.

  A field 407 stores an end code of the charging service. In FIG. 3, the end code is 0 for normal end, 1 for abnormal end, 2 forcible charge end operation by the user (for example, forcible charge end operation performed by the console 103, removal of the cable from the charger 303, etc.) (Numerical termination: 1 case not shown).

  The field 408 stores the type of variation (transition) pattern of the charging current in the charging service. In charging an electric vehicle, for example, a charging current supplied to the electric vehicle changes every moment by automatic control of a regulator on the electric vehicle side. In this embodiment, the charging current fluctuation (transition) pattern is classified in advance and stored as another database (not shown), and compared with the charging current fluctuation (transition) pattern in the charging service. , A, B, C, and other pattern information identified by mnemonics are identified and stored in field 408. The charging current fluctuation (transition) pattern identified by these mnemonics is, for example, that the charging current is substantially constant from the beginning to the end of the charging period, or that the charging current is gradually attenuated at the end of the charging period. Or, it is assumed to correspond to several patterns such as a section where the charging current is attenuated by a special pattern such as pulse charging at the end of the charging period.

  Next, an example of charging current control in the above configuration will be described with reference to FIG.

  The flowchart of FIG. 4 shows the flow of charge control of the present charging system that is executed by the CPU 201 of the control unit 200, or further by the cooperation of the CPU 201 and the charge control unit 301. The charge control program in FIG. 4 is stored in the ROM 202 (or an external storage device not shown) of the control unit 200, or when a part of the processing is executed by the charge control unit 301, the portion is stored in the ROM ( Alternatively, it is stored in an external storage device (not shown).

  The charging process premised on the process of FIG. 4 is as follows.

  That is, in the present embodiment, considering the total current capacity that can be used for charging the electric vehicle in the apartment house, n vehicles (for example, three vehicles) out of them are charged simultaneously. Connect more than n electric vehicles that can be charged at the same time to other chargers and put them in a standby state waiting for charging. Charging for one electric vehicle is performed by one charging service that is registered and registered by a specific user (resident) by presenting the ID card 111 on the console 103. Therefore, the charging control performed by the control unit 200 is performed. At the same time, n charging services are provided to the user (resident).

  In order to apply for charging of the electric vehicle, the resident presents his / her ID card 111 to the card reader 102 of the console 103, performs a predetermined operation on the console 103, and registers the charging service. This user interface is controlled by the CPU 201 of the control unit 200, and its detailed configuration is arbitrary, but the important point is that the resident presents his / her ID card 111 as an authentication means to the card reader 102 of the console 103. By doing so, authentication regarding the charging service is performed.

  As a result, the CPU 201 recognizes the occupant's room ID, refers to the database of FIGS. 2 and 3, and the information related to the resident's past charging service usage of the electric vehicle or the resident is charged. Information related to the electric vehicle receiving the service can be accessed to the database information and the like, and the information can be updated according to the actual mode of the charging service to be performed.

  Of course, the ID card 111 also functions as a user authentication means for deciding whether or not to provide the charging service to a resident as a user of the charging service. Alternatively, if it is not presented to the charger 303 or a card reader disposed in the vicinity thereof, the provision of the charging service can be prohibited, thereby preventing the provision of an unauthorized charging service to anyone other than the person who presented the proper ID card. can do.

  Note that which charger 303 is used in the charging service registered by the resident is specified by the resident manually using one of the chargers 303, 303,... Alternatively, the chargers 303, 303... In which the CPU 201 of the control unit 200 is empty may be designated. It is assumed that the resident connects and waits for an electric vehicle to be charged to the charger 303 specified or specified by the charging start time (below).

  In providing a charging service for a plurality of electric vehicles, a method of starting charging immediately when the electric vehicle is connected to the charger 303 and registration of the charging service of the user is completed using the console 103 is considered. In this embodiment, the breakdown of the group of n electric vehicles to be charged simultaneously (which n of the applied electric vehicles are to be charged simultaneously) is determined efficiently, and then any of the electric vehicles In order to efficiently determine the order of charging, such as which electric vehicle that is waiting to be charged when the charging ends, charging starts immediately after registration (application) of the charging service Instead of accepting registration of the charging service at any time, the actual charging start is, for example, 9:00, 12:00, 5: 18:00: 00 is assumed to start at a fixed scheduled, such as. By such a control, by putting a time lag between the registration of the charging service and the start of the charging service for a group of electric vehicles, it is more efficient and without exceeding the current capacity of the housing complex, Reliable charge control can be performed.

  Now, it is assumed that the charging control of FIG. 4 is started slightly before the above-described scheduled timing of the start of charging in accordance with the timing of a real time clock (not shown) provided in the control unit 200.

  The charging service to be controlled is an effective charging service in which the resident has completed registration using the console 103 before the start of the processing in FIG.

  In step S101 of FIG. 4, n charging services to be simultaneously performed in one group in the order of application are temporarily selected.

  Here, among valid charging services that have already been registered, a charging service that has been completed in the order of the time at which registration was completed is selected, and n charging services that are charged simultaneously, and one group of n corresponding to the charging services. Chargers 303, 303... Are selected.

  The relationship between the charger 303 and the registered charging service is recognized by the CPU 201 through the above registration process. Further, the CPU 201 can refer to the past charging behavior database shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 by using the room ID of a specific resident who has registered the charging service.

  Thus, from the charging behavior database of the resident, the charging time specification (403 in FIG. 3), the vehicle type information of the electric vehicle charged by the resident (404), the required charging current (405), the charging current pattern ( 408) and the like can be accessed.

  Subsequently, in steps S102 and S103, a combination of n charging services to be simultaneously executed (provided) is determined. In this embodiment, at this time, the charging time specification (403 in FIG. 3), the vehicle type information (404) of the electric vehicle charged by the resident, the required charging current (405), the charging current pattern (408), etc. The information is used to reselect n charging service combinations to be executed (provided) at the same time until the currently selected combination of n charging services is optimized. That is, the combination of charging services to be executed simultaneously is optimized.

  Here, in step S102, it is determined whether or not the combination of n charging services currently selected is optimal. In step S103, one or several temporarily selected states are selected according to the charging behavior database shown in FIGS. Replace the charge service with the other charge service that is not temporarily selected.

  One of the most important conditions for the optimization (replacement) of the charging service at this time is that the total current capacity required for charging n electric vehicles is an upper limit value required for simultaneous provision of a plurality of charging services. In particular, in this embodiment, the maximum current capacity that can be supplied by the commercial AC power supply 302 of the housing complex is not exceeded. This condition is essential, for example, to prevent the breaker inserted in the power supply line of the commercial AC power supply 302 from being cut off and not being able to execute all charging processes. In order to determine this most important condition, specifically, the charging current in the field 405 in FIG. 3 (for example, the charging current value in the past charging behavior) is set for each resident corresponding to the combination of charging services that has been tentatively determined. It may be referred to and processing for determining whether the sum does not exceed the above upper limit value may be performed.

  As other optimization conditions, various conditions are conceivable and may be arbitrarily adopted by those skilled in the art. For example, the following optimization conditions are conceivable.

  One of them is that the charging service and other charging services are simultaneously executed for a certain charging service from the past charging behavior database according to the charging behavior of the resident corresponding to the service. It is determined whether or not to do.

  For example, it can be specified from the past charging behavior database whether the charging performed by the resident is a long time charging or a short time charging.

  Therefore, one possible optimization condition is to minimize the waiting time for the residents to wait for charging if all the electric vehicles of all the residents who have registered charging services cannot be charged simultaneously. It is a strategy. In this case, in step S103, among the past charging time lengths classified into S (short), M (medium), and L (long) in the field 403 of the charging behavior database in FIG. Replacing the charging service so that the resident charging service is executed first (L (long) to M (medium)) (for example, the charging time of S (short) is the longest). The charging service for residents with a long charging time of M (medium) will be postponed). It is considered that this makes it possible to avoid a resident's dissatisfaction, for example, “I went out to the neighborhood and wanted to charge for a short time but waited for a long time”.

  Furthermore, when a charging behavior database as shown in FIG. 3 is prepared, it is more reliable whether the specific charging service registered at the present time will be extended over a long period of time or will be completed in a short period of time. It can also be specified. For example, the fields 403 of the two database records of the resident indicated by the pointer P21 in FIG. 3 indicate the charging time lengths S (short) and L (long), respectively. Then, referring to the charging start and end date / time in the fields 401 and 402 of these records, the charging time length S (short) record is a weekday (Friday), and the charging time length L (long) record is a weekend. (Saturday to Sunday).

  From such a database record, this resident (or his occupant's mode of use of an electric vehicle) has a short charge on weekdays and a long charge to drive far away on weekends. It can be estimated that there is a charging behavior pattern such as

  Alternatively, not only the observation on weekdays and weekends, but also the charging behavior of a specific resident can be analyzed by dividing into early, middle and late months of the month. For example, when the end of the month is approaching (when the end of the month is approaching), there may be a case where the charging service usage pattern such that the charging time length L (long) record decreases and the charging time length S (short) record increases can be read. Such a case is considered to correspond to a charging service usage pattern in which long-distance leisure use decreases and short-distance business use increases as the month approaches, for example.

  In this case, depending on the current date and time (day of the week or seasonal day) determined by the timekeeping of the real time clock of the control unit 200, how long is the charging time registered by a specific resident (S (short), M (medium) ) Or L (long) is likely to be estimated more reliably. Therefore, in this case, in step S103, the charging service of a resident with a long charging time of S (short) (or M (medium)) in the charging behavior database is executed first (prioritized). Combine the strategy with analysis results on the relationship between a specific charging service estimated from the relationship between the current date and time (for example, the day of the week or the day of the week) and the date and time of use of the charging service of a specific resident (for example, the day of the week or the day of the week) Therefore, it is possible to more reliably determine how long the charging time registered by the resident is likely to be. For example, even if the charging service is for a resident who has a long charging time of S (short), the charging service in which the registered charging service is likely to become a long-time charging (L) at the current date and time over the weekend. It is possible to perform control such that the charging service of the resident showing the behavior is postponed.

  It should be noted that if there is a charging service that is still being implemented before the start of the process of FIG. 4 at the stage of steps S102 and S103, it can be excluded from the optimization process in steps S102 and S103 in order to continue as it is. Alternatively, even if there is an ongoing charging service, it may be included in the optimization process in steps S102 and S103. Which specification is adopted may be determined according to the charging service agreement of the apartment house.

  As described above, when the optimization of n charging services simultaneously performed in one group in steps S102 to S103 is completed, one group of n charging services simultaneously performed in step S104 is determined. Other charging services that cannot be started immediately are registered in a queue secured on the RAM 203 or the like in a tentative order, for example, in accordance with the first-come-first-served order of charging service registration.

  In step S105, the control unit 200 determines whether or not a predetermined time (for example, the above-mentioned 9:00, 12:00, 15:00, 18:00, etc.) has started to start the simultaneous charging control of n units. Judgment is made based on the time of the real time clock.

  When the predetermined time for starting the simultaneous charging control of n units has arrived in step S105, the process proceeds to step S106, where the CPU 201 determines each of the n charging services to be performed simultaneously determined through the charging control unit 301. The specific n chargers 303, 303,... Registered correspondingly are turned ON, and charging of the electric vehicle connected via each charger is started.

  Thereafter, in step S107 and subsequent steps, when a charging job for which the charging process has been completed is issued, the charging job for starting charging is selected from the charging jobs waiting for the subsequent charging as shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. Is determined in accordance with the contents of (steps S107 to S110).

  In addition, in the control of FIG. 4, processing for preferentially executing a charging service with high urgency or high priority by interruption is incorporated. For example, such an interrupt charging service may be a charging service that allows a resident to be charged after an extra charge in the form of an “express charge”. Alternatively, such an interrupt charging service may be provided with an operation means such as an “emergency button” on the console 103 or an emergency operation means is incorporated in a user interface implemented on the console 103 to provide a special reason such as an emergency illness. The charging service may be generated by an operation performed by a resident in response to the request. In the control of the interrupt charging service, the charging service to be interrupted instead of the interrupt charging service and sent to the queue is determined according to the contents of the charging behavior database of FIGS. 2 and 3 (steps S107 to S110).

  In step S107, the CPU 201 communicates with the charging control unit 301, and determines whether or not the charged charger 303 has exited, that is, whether or not there is a completed charging service.

  If there is a charging service that has ended, the charger 303 that has finished charging is turned off via the charging control unit 301 in step S108, and subsequently registered in the queue secured on the RAM 203 or the like in step S109. Among the charging jobs waiting for charging, a charging job to start charging is determined according to the contents of the charging behavior database shown in FIGS.

  Here, for example, one or several charging services are started in response to the end of one charging service. This is because, in the latter half of the charging period, control for gradually reducing the charging current may be performed on the electric vehicle side, and the current consumption may be reduced. For this reason, the charging current in the field 405 recorded in the charging behavior database of FIG. 3 and the field 408 in the charging behavior database of FIG. One or several charging services that can be started are selected with reference to the charging current pattern or the vehicle type information in the field 404.

  Of course, in this selection control, the condition that the maximum current capacity that can be used by the commercial AC power supply 302 of the housing complex is not exceeded in the optimization control, as in the same manner as described in steps S102 and S103. First applied. Further, in substantially the same manner as described in steps S102 and S103, it is possible to perform control such that a charging job with a short charging time is preferentially selected so that the waiting time for the charging service is reduced as much as possible. .

  It should be noted that, in the stage after starting the charging control as in step S109, the charge service registration first arrival order is estimated as a result of referring to the charging behavior database in FIG. 2 and FIG. If there is a charging service whose execution order is significantly delayed from the start, the correction may be performed so as to advance the execution order of the charging service. For example, if there is a charging service that has already delayed the execution order of the charging service from the first order of the charging service registration 1 to several times, a correction is made to increase the rank in the queue by 1 (or several steps). You may make it perform.

  When the charging service to be started is determined in step S109, the charger 303 corresponding to the charging service to be started is turned on via the charging control unit 301 in step S110, and the process returns to step S107.

  On the other hand, if the charging service terminated in step S107 is not detected, it is detected in step S111 whether or not the above-described interrupt charging service has occurred. In this interrupt charging service, a resident who has priority (for example, pays a premium charge or an express charge in advance) applies for (registers) the charging service on the console 103 or performs a specific emergency operation on the console 103. (Operations such as connecting a cable to the charger 303 are performed in the same manner as in the normal charging service described above).

  When it is detected in step S111 that an interrupt charging service has occurred, in step S112, a charging service that is interrupted instead of the interrupt charging service in accordance with the contents of the charging behavior database shown in FIGS. decide. In this case, for example, referring to the charging behavior database shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 (and depending on the day of the week or the day of the week, for example), the charging service that is likely to run for a long time is stopped. It is conceivable to apply either control to return to the queue or to cancel the charging service that is likely to take a short charging time and return to the queue. Alternatively, by referring to the charging current pattern in the field 408 in the charging behavior database of FIG. 3, the charging service that is estimated to be close to the end during execution is identified, and the forced service is not returned to the queue. It is also possible to control such that the charging service is terminated.

  In this way, even when an interrupt charging service with a high priority determined according to urgency or a large amount of usage charges occurs, refer to the charging behavior database of FIG. 2 and FIG. Instead of an interrupt charging service, it is possible to determine a charging service that is interrupted and sent to a queue (or forcibly terminated).

  When a charging service that is interrupted instead of the interrupt charging service in step S112 and is turned into a queue (or forcedly terminated) is determined, the charger 303 corresponding to the charging service is turned off via the charging control unit 301 in step S113. In step S114, the charger 303 corresponding to the interrupt charging service is turned on, and the process returns to step S107.

  In step S111, if no interrupt charging service has occurred, it is determined in step S115 whether or not all charging services have ended. If all charging services have ended, charging control ends. If all charging services have not ended, the process returns to step S107 and the above processing is repeated.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, when a charging service is provided to a plurality of users (residents) via the chargers 303, 303..., The charging behavior database corresponding to each of the plurality of users is stored. Refer to the information on the charging behavior of the user's electric vehicle, determine the combination of charging services provided simultaneously to a plurality of users, or the order of charging services provided sequentially, and the charging provided to a specific user Since the contents of the charging behavior database corresponding to the user are updated according to the contents of the service, the combination of a plurality of charging services to be provided at the same time and the order of the charging services to be sequentially provided are specified strategies as described above. An electric vehicle charging system that can be optimized and quickly charged to multiple electric vehicles It can be provided.

  In addition, the ID card 111 is used as a common authentication means for the box opening / closing (or management) of the article receiving apparatus and the charging service for the electric vehicle, and the charging service user is based on the authentication by the ID card 111 presented by the resident. It is possible to determine whether to provide the charging service to the resident who is, and to refer to the charging service based on the authentication by the ID card 111 and specify the charging behavior database to be updated. And since the control regarding the box opening / closing and charging service of the article receiving apparatus can be integratedly controlled by the common control unit 200, the manufacturing cost, operation and management cost of the entire system can be significantly reduced.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Goods receipt apparatus 101 Goods receipt box 102 Posting port 103 Console 104 Display 105 Keyboard 111 ID card 200 Control part 201 CPU
202 ROM
203 RAM
205 Interface 206 Network 207 External Storage Device 301 Charge Control Unit 302 Commercial AC Power Supply 303 Charger

Claims (4)

A plurality of chargers for charging a plurality of electric vehicles,
A control unit for controlling a charging service provided to a user using the charger;
A charging behavior database that stores information on charging behavior of a specific user's electric vehicle that receives the charging service and charges the electric vehicle using the charger;
When the control unit provides the charging service to a plurality of users via the charger, the control unit refers to information on charging behavior of the user's electric vehicle stored in a charging behavior database corresponding to each of the plurality of users. In addition, a combination of charging services provided simultaneously to the plurality of users or a sequence of charging services provided sequentially is determined, and the user is dealt with according to the contents of the charging service provided to a specific user. The charging system of the electric vehicle characterized by updating the contents of the charging behavior database.   The control unit refers to the information regarding the charging behavior of the user's electric vehicle stored in the charging behavior database, and prevents the plurality of users from exceeding the upper limit required when simultaneously providing a plurality of charging services. 2. The charging system for an electric vehicle according to claim 1, wherein a combination of charging services provided simultaneously or a sequence of charging services provided sequentially is determined.   The control unit refers to the information related to the charging behavior of the user's electric vehicle stored in the charging behavior database, and simultaneously provides the plurality of users with a waiting time to make the resident wait for charging as much as possible. The charging system for an electric vehicle according to claim 1, wherein a combination of charging services to be performed or an order of charging services to be sequentially provided is determined.   In the apartment house where the charger is arranged, an article collection device including a plurality of article storage boxes used for collection and delivery of parcels or mail is arranged, and the control unit is presented by a resident of the apartment house And controlling the opening and closing of the door of the article receiving device based on authentication by the authentication means, and providing the charging service to the resident as the user of the charging service based on the authentication by the authentication means presented by the resident 4. The charging behavior database to be updated is specified by determining whether or not to be updated and further referring to the charging service through authentication by the authentication unit. Electric car charging system.

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