JP2017093085A - Charger and charging control method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a charger capable of reliably starting to charge a power storage device connected with the charger after recovery of a blackout.SOLUTION: A charger 1 comprises a charging control unit 12 for starting communication with a power storage device 3 when a prescribed time necessary for a power storage device 2 to stop a charging process from the charger 1 at the time of occurrence of a blackout passes from the start of the charger 1 after recovery of the blackout.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a charging device and a charging control method.

When a power failure occurs while the secondary battery in the power storage device is being charged by the charging device, the charging device and the power storage device operate as described below, for example.
In the case where the charging device and the power storage device are devices corresponding to the lead storage battery, when a power failure occurs, the charging device receives supply of power from the lead storage battery in the power storage device. As a result, the control power supply of the charging device is maintained, and the charging device continues to memorize that charging of the power storage device has been interrupted due to a power failure. When the power failure is restored, the charging device resumes charging the power storage device.

  On the other hand, when the charging device and the power storage device are devices corresponding to the lithium ion battery, when a power failure occurs, the power storage device stops the charging process from the charging device, and the charging relay on the charging path is turned off. For this reason, the charging device cannot receive power from the lithium ion battery in the power storage device. As a result, the control power supply of the charging device is not maintained, the charging device stops due to a power failure, and cannot continue to memorize that charging of the power storage device is interrupted due to the power failure. When the power failure is restored, the charging device starts up and tries to charge the power storage device anew.

  In addition, the technique of patent document 1 and 2 is known as a related technique.

JP 2012-139089 A JP 2000-1101616 A

  However, when the charging device newly attempts to charge the power storage device after recovery from the power failure, there is a possibility that the power storage device has not completed the charge stop process for stopping the charging process from the charging device due to the occurrence of a power failure. If the power storage device has not completed the charging stop process and communication for starting charging is not accepted from the charging device, the charging device cannot start charging the power storage device.

  The objective which concerns on one side of this invention is to provide the charging device which can start reliably with respect to the electrical storage apparatus connected with the charging device after a power failure recovery.

  The charging device according to one aspect of the present invention is such that a predetermined time required for the power storage device to stop the charging process from the charging device when a power failure occurs has elapsed since the charging device was started after the power failure was restored. A charge control unit that starts communication with the power storage device.

  According to the charging device according to the embodiment, charging of the power storage device connected to the charging device can be reliably started after the power failure is restored.

It is a figure which shows the structural example of the charging device according to embodiment, and the connection example of this charging device, alternating current power supply, and an electrical storage apparatus. It is a figure which shows an example of the processing flow of the charge control method according to embodiment.

Hereinafter, embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a charging device according to the embodiment and a connection example of the charging device, an AC power supply, and a power storage device. In the configuration example shown in FIG. 1, the charging device 1 includes a power supply unit 11, a charging control unit (ECU: Electronic Control Unit) 12, a first circuit breaker 13, a second circuit breaker 14, and a charging device side connection connector 15. including.

  The power supply unit 11 converts AC power input from the AC power supply 2 into predetermined DC power in accordance with an instruction from the charging control unit 12, and outputs the converted DC power to the battery 31 in the power storage device 3 through the power line Lp. . Although one power supply unit 11 is shown in FIG. 1, the charging device 1 may include a plurality of power supply units 11.

  The charge control unit 12 is, for example, a processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or a PLD (Programmable Logic Device). The charging control unit 12 controls the operation of the entire charging device 1. The charging control unit 12 includes a timer 121, a determination unit 122, a communication unit 123, and a detection unit 124.

  The timer 121 starts time measurement after the charging device 1 is activated. The determination unit 122 determines whether or not the time measured by the timer 121 has passed a predetermined time. In addition, determination unit 122 determines whether or not charging device 1 is connected to power storage device 3.

  Communication unit 123 communicates with battery control unit (ECU) 32 in power storage device 3 through communication line Lc, and transmits and receives a control signal for charging power storage device 3 by charging device 1. The detection unit 124 detects that the charging device 1 is connected to the power storage device 3 by receiving the output detection signal via the detection signal line Ld. The detection signal line Ld is connected from the signal output end of the detection unit 124 to the signal input end when the charging device side connection connector 15 is connected to the power storage device side connection connector 35.

  When the first circuit breaker 13 is turned on or off manually or controlled by the charge control unit 12, the first circuit breaker 13 passes or blocks the AC power input from the AC power supply 2 to the power supply unit 11. When the second circuit breaker 14 is turned on or off manually or controlled by the charge control unit 12, the second circuit breaker 14 passes or blocks the AC power input from the AC power supply 2 to the charge control unit 12.

  As described above, the charging device 1 and the power storage device 3 are connected by connecting the charging device side connection connector 15 and the power storage device side connection connector 35. The power storage device 3 is mounted and connected to a load (not shown) such as an electric vehicle, a hybrid vehicle, or an electric lift.

  The battery 31 included in the power storage device 3 is, for example, a lithium ion battery. In FIG. 1, one battery cell is shown as the battery 31, but the battery 31 may be composed of a plurality of battery cells. The battery 31 is charged and discharged under the control of the battery control unit 32.

  The battery control unit 32 is, for example, a processor such as a CPU, an FPGA, or a PLD. Battery control unit 32 controls the operation of power storage device 3 as a whole. For example, the battery control unit 32 controls the battery 31 to be charged with the DC power input from the charging device 1 while turning on the switch 33 and monitoring the current value measured by the current sensor 34. The switch 33 is provided on the charging path between the power supply unit 11 and the battery 31 and passes or blocks the input current from the charging device 1. The switch 33 is, for example, a mechanical relay or a semiconductor relay. The current sensor 34 measures the value of the current input from the power supply unit 11 to the battery 31.

An example of a charging control method executed by the charging device according to the embodiment will be described with further reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a processing flow of the charge control method according to the embodiment.
If a power failure occurs during charging of the power storage device 3 connected to the charging device 1 (S1) due to an abnormality in the AC power source 2 or damage to the power cable between the AC power source 2 and the charging device 1 (S2), charging is performed. The device 1 stops (S3). When the charging device 1 stops, the power storage device 3 executes, for example, a charging stop process as described below.

  The battery control unit 32 confirms the communication interruption with the charging device 1 by not receiving a control signal necessary for charging the battery 31 from the communication unit 123 for a predetermined time. The battery control unit 32 turns off the switch 33 after confirming from the measured value of the current sensor 34 that the current input from the power supply unit 11 to the battery 31 has decreased to zero. The battery control unit 32 confirms that the switch 33 is turned off without causing welding or the like.

  As described above, the power storage device 3 performs various processes to stop the charging process from the charging apparatus 1, and the charging stop process takes time. If the power outage time is shorter than the time taken for the charge stop processing, the power storage device 3 does not complete the charge stop processing even after the power outage is restored, and communication for starting charging is performed from the charging device 1. Not ready to accept. For this reason, if the charging device 1 starts the charging operation for the power storage device 3 immediately after the power failure recovery, the charging for the power storage device 3 may not be started due to a communication abnormality. Therefore, when the predetermined time required for the power storage device 3 to stop the charging process from the charging device 1 when a power failure occurs, the charging operation for the power storage device 3 when the charging device 1 has started after the power failure is restored. The charging device 1 is configured to start.

  Specifically, when the power failure is restored (S4), the charging device 1 is activated (S5), and the timer 121 starts measuring time (S6). The determination unit 122 determines whether or not the measurement time by the timer 121 has passed a predetermined time (S7).

  The predetermined time includes at least a communication interruption confirmation time, a switch-off time, and a switch-off confirmation time, and is a total time of those contained. The communication interruption confirmation time refers to a time for the power storage device 3 to confirm communication interruption with the charging device 1. The switch-off time refers to a time for the power storage device 3 to turn off the switch 33 that passes or blocks the input current from the charging device 1. The switch-off confirmation time refers to a time for the power storage device 3 to confirm that the switch 33 is turned off. The predetermined time may include a current drop confirmation time. The current decrease confirmation time refers to the time for the power storage device 3 to confirm that the current input from the power supply unit 11 to the battery 31 has decreased to 0 from the measured value of the current sensor 34.

  When it is determined that the measurement time by the timer 121 has passed the predetermined time (“YES” in S7), the determination unit 122 detects whether or not the charging device side connection connector 15 is connected to the power storage device side connection connector 35. The determination is made based on the detection result by the unit 124 (S8). That is, determination unit 122 determines whether or not charging device 1 is connected to power storage device 3.

  When it is determined that the charging device side connection connector 15 is not connected to the power storage device side connection connector 35 (“NO” in S8), the charging control unit 12 charges until the charging device 1 is connected to the power storage device 3. Wait (S9).

  On the other hand, when it is determined that the charging device side connection connector 15 is connected to the power storage device side connection connector 35 (“YES” in S8), the communication unit 123 starts communication with the power storage device 3 to start charging. (S10). Then, the charging control unit 12 starts charging the power storage device 3 (S11).

  Thus, in the charge control method according to the embodiment, the predetermined time required for the power storage device to stop the charging process from the charging device when a power failure occurs has elapsed since the charging device was started after the power failure was restored. In this case, the charging device starts communication with the power storage device. Therefore, even if a power failure occurs during charging of the power storage device, charging of the power storage device connected to the charging device can be surely started after the charging device is activated by the power failure recovery.

  Further, in the charge control method according to the embodiment, it is determined whether or not the charging device side connection connector is connected to the power storage device side connection connector, and when the predetermined time has elapsed, the charging device enters a standby state. Transition or start communication with the power storage device. Specifically, in the example illustrated in FIG. 2, the determination unit 122 determines whether the charging device side connection connector 15 is connected to the power storage device side connection connector 35 after a predetermined time has elapsed (“YES” in S7). It is determined whether or not (S8). For example, even if the detection unit 124 does not detect the connection between the charging device side connection connector 15 and the power storage device side connection connector 35, the determination unit 122 connects the charging device side connection connector 15 to the power storage device side connection connector 35. It is not determined whether a predetermined time has elapsed. Then, according to the determination result after the predetermined time has elapsed, the charging control unit 12 waits for charging (S9), or the communication unit 123 starts communication with the power storage device (S10). Therefore, according to the charge control method according to the embodiment, it is possible to reliably start charging the power storage device connected to the charging device continuously from before the restoration of the power failure or after the restoration of the power failure after the activation of the charging device.

  Note that, depending on the embodiment, the order of the determination whether the predetermined time has passed (S7) and the determination whether the charging device side connection connector is connected to the power storage device side connection connector (S8) is as follows: The reverse may be used as described below. That is, the determination unit 122 first determines whether or not the charging device side connection connector 15 is connected to the power storage device side connection connector 35. When it is determined that the charging device side connection connector 15 is not connected to the power storage device side connection connector 35, the determination unit 122 next determines whether or not the measurement time by the timer 121 has passed a predetermined time. When it is determined that the measurement time has passed the predetermined time, the charging control unit 12 waits for charging until the charging device 1 is connected to the power storage device 3 (S9). On the other hand, when it is determined that the charging device side connection connector 15 is connected to the power storage device side connection connector 35, the determination unit 122 next determines whether or not the measurement time by the timer 121 has passed a predetermined time. When it determines with measurement time having passed predetermined time, the communication part 123 starts the communication for starting charge with the electrical storage apparatus 3 (S10). Even with such a processing flow, the charging device transitions to a standby state after a predetermined time has elapsed or starts communication with the power storage device, so that it continues from before the power failure recovery or is newly connected to the charging device after the power failure recovery. Charging the power storage device can be reliably started after the charging device is started.

  Moreover, the charge control method in the case where the power failure that occurred during the charging of the power storage device 3 has been recovered has been described above with reference to FIG. However, for example, in the case where the charging device 1 is powered on, that is, in the case where the first circuit breaker 13 and the second circuit breaker 14 are manually turned on and the charging device 1 is initially activated, The charge control method according to the embodiment is executable. In such a case, the processes of S1 to S4 in FIG. 2 are omitted, and the charge control method according to the embodiment is started from the process of S5. Therefore, according to the charging control method according to the embodiment, the charging device can reliably start charging the power storage device connected to the charging device after the charging device is activated by turning on the power.

  Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various improvements and modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Charging apparatus 11 Power supply unit 12 Charging control unit 121 Timer 122 Determination part 123 Communication part 124 Detection part 13 1st circuit breaker 14 2nd circuit breaker 15 Charging apparatus side connection connector 2 AC power supply 3 Power storage apparatus 31 Battery 32 Battery control Unit 33 Switch 34 Current sensor 35 Power storage device side connector Lp Power line Lc Communication line Ld Detection signal line

Claims (4)

Communication with the power storage device is started when a predetermined time required for the power storage device to stop the charging process from the charging device when a power failure occurs has elapsed since the charging device started up after the recovery from the power failure. A charging device including a charging control unit. The charging device according to claim 1,
The predetermined time includes a communication interruption confirmation time when the power storage device confirms communication interruption with the charging device, a switch-off time when the power storage device turns off a switch that passes or blocks an input current from the charging device, and At least a switch-off confirmation time for the power storage device to confirm that the switch is turned off,
Charging device. The charging device according to claim 1 or 2,
The charge control unit includes:
It is determined that the connection connector on the charging device side is connected to the connection connector on the power storage device side, and when the predetermined time has elapsed, communication with the power storage device is started.
Charging device. Communication with the power storage device is started when a predetermined time required for the power storage device to stop the charging process from the charging device when a power failure occurs has elapsed since the charging device started up after the recovery from the power failure. The charge control method which a charging device performs including this.

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