JP2020022332A - On-vehicle charger - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a configuration of an on-vehicle charger which charges a secondary battery using power supplied from a power system, and when an abnormal value is detected, can discriminate whether the on-vehicle charger is faulty or a fault occurs in the power system.SOLUTION: The on-vehicle charger includes a first charger and a second charger, loaded on the vehicle, which are connected in parallel, so as to charge a secondary battery using power supplied from the electric power system. The on-vehicle charger includes: a first sensor which detects a state between the electric power system and the first charger; a second sensor which detects a state between the electric power system and the second charger; and a control unit which, based on the detected values of the first sensor and the second sensor, determines whether or not a fault occurs in the electric power system or the on-vehicle charger is faulty.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a charging device mounted on a vehicle.

  With the spread of electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles, the demand for high-speed charging has been increasing. In order to realize high-speed charging, a vehicle-mounted charging device including a plurality of chargers connected in parallel has been put to practical use. In addition, in order to enhance the reliability of the charging operation, a technique for diagnosing a failure of the onboard charging device has been proposed.

  For example, a charging system including a power supply unit that generates DC charging power, a plurality of charging units that configure the power supply unit, a control unit, and a communication line that enables transmission and reception of data between the control unit and the charging unit is known. It has been proposed (for example, Patent Document 1). In this charging system, the charging unit creates charging unit status data relating to the result of its own failure diagnosis and transmits it to the control unit. The control unit groups the plurality of charging units into a plurality of charging unit groups, and upon receiving charging unit state data indicating a failure, changes the output states of the plurality of charging units for each charging unit group. As another related technology, a vehicle power supply device and a failure diagnosis method thereof have been proposed (for example, Patent Document 2).

JP 2013-85391 A JP-A-2017-70036

  An in-vehicle charging device normally charges a secondary battery using electric power supplied from an electric power system. Here, many in-vehicle charging devices have a function of monitoring a voltage applied from a power system and / or a current flowing from the power system. When an abnormal value is detected in such a monitor, the in-vehicle charging device outputs, for example, an alarm. In this case, the user replaces the in-vehicle charging device.

  However, even when the in-vehicle charging device has not failed, the above abnormal value may be detected due to a failure in the power system. That is, when an abnormal value is detected in the in-vehicle charging device, it may be difficult to determine whether the in-vehicle charging device has failed or a failure has occurred in the power system.

  An object according to one aspect of the present invention is to provide an in-vehicle charging device that charges a secondary battery using power supplied from a power system, when the abnormal value is detected, the in-vehicle charging device fails. It is an object of the present invention to provide a configuration capable of determining whether a failure has occurred in the power system.

  An on-vehicle charging device according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a first charger and a second charger mounted on a vehicle and connected in parallel, and uses a power supplied from a power system to supply a secondary battery. Charge. And this in-vehicle charging device detects a state between the power system and the first charger, and a state between the power system and the second charger. Based on a second sensor and a detection value of the first sensor and a detection value of the second sensor, it is determined whether a failure has occurred in the power system or the in-vehicle charging device has failed. A determination unit.

  In the in-vehicle charging device having the above configuration, the first charger and the second charger are connected in parallel. Therefore, assuming that the in-vehicle charging device operates normally, the power system and the first charger are connected to each other. And the state between the power system and the second charger should be the same as each other. That is, when the detection value of the first sensor and the detection value of the second sensor match each other, it is estimated that the in-vehicle charging device is operating normally, and the detection value of the first sensor and the detection value of the second sensor Are different from each other, it is estimated that the in-vehicle charging device is not operating normally. On the other hand, when a failure occurs in the power system, both the detection value of the first sensor and the detection value of the second sensor become abnormal values. That is, if both the detection value of the first sensor and the detection value of the second sensor are abnormal values, it is estimated that a failure has occurred in the power system. Therefore, by monitoring the detection value of the first sensor and the detection value of the second sensor, it is possible to determine whether a failure has occurred in the power system or the in-vehicle charging device has failed.

  According to the above aspect, in the in-vehicle charging device that charges the secondary battery using the power supplied from the power system, when an abnormal value is detected, whether the in-vehicle charging device is out of order, Can be used to determine whether a failure has occurred.

It is a figure showing an example of a charging device concerning an embodiment of the present invention. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a method for isolating a failure location. It is a figure showing other examples of an in-vehicle charging device concerning an embodiment of the present invention.

  FIG. 1 shows an example of a vehicle-mounted charging device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the in-vehicle charging device 1 is mounted on a vehicle and charges the secondary battery 3 using electric power supplied from the electric power system 2. The power system 2 is, for example, a commercial AC power supply. The vehicle-mounted charging device 1 and the secondary battery 3 are mounted on the same vehicle. The vehicle is, for example, an electric vehicle, a hybrid vehicle, an electric forklift, or the like.

  The vehicle-mounted charging apparatus 1 includes a plurality of chargers 10 and a control unit 20. The plurality of chargers 10 are electrically connected to each other in parallel. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the in-vehicle charging device 1 includes two chargers 10 (10 # 1 and 10 # 2), but may include three or more chargers 10. . Further, the in-vehicle charging device 1 may include other circuits or functions not shown in FIG.

  Each charger 10 includes a charger control unit 11, an AC / DC converter 12, and a sensor 13. Charger control unit 11 controls AC / DC converter 12 according to a power command value provided from control unit 20. The power command value specifies the output power of charger 10. Therefore, charger control unit 11 controls AC / DC converter 12 to realize the output power specified by the power command value. The AC / DC converter 12 converts electric power supplied from the electric power system 2 into direct current and outputs the electric power under the control of the charger control unit 11.

  Sensor 13 detects a state between power system 2 and charger 10. Specifically, sensor 13 detects an AC voltage applied from power system 2 to charger 10. Alternatively, the sensor 13 may detect a current flowing from the power system 2 to the charger 10. Hereinafter, it is assumed that the sensor 13 detects an AC voltage applied to the charger 10 from the power system 2. That is, the sensor 13 mounted on the charger 10 # 1 detects the voltage applied to the charger 10 # 1 from the power system 2, and the sensor 13 mounted on the charger 10 # 2 detects the voltage from the power system 2 The voltage applied to charger 10 # 2 is detected. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the sensor 13 is mounted in the charger 10, but the sensor 13 may be mounted outside the charger 10.

  In each charger 10, the detection value of the sensor 13 is given to the charger control unit 11. Then, the charger control unit 11 of each charger 10 notifies the control unit 20 of the detection value of the sensor 13. In this case, the charger control unit 11 may notify the control unit 20 of the detection value of the sensor 13 at predetermined time intervals during a period from when the in-vehicle charging device 1 starts the charging operation to when the charging operation ends. Alternatively, the charger control unit 11 may simply notify the control unit 20 of the detection value of the sensor 13 at the start of the charging operation.

  The control unit 20 controls the output power of each charger 10 based on the total power command value provided from the host control unit 4. Specifically, control unit 20 determines power command value # 1 given to charger 10 # 1 and power command value # 2 given to charger 10 # 2 based on the total power command value. Here, power command value # 1 and power command value # 2 are determined such that the sum of power command value # 1 and power command value # 2 matches the total power command value.

  Further, the control unit 20 acquires a detection value of the sensor 13 from each charger 10. Specifically, control unit 20 acquires detection value # 1 from charger 10 # 1, and acquires detection value # 2 from charger 10 # 2. In this embodiment, the detected value # 1 indicates the AC voltage applied from the power system 2 to the charger 10 # 1, and the detected value # 2 indicates the AC voltage applied from the power system 2 to the charger 10 # 2. Represents the voltage. Then, control unit 20 monitors an abnormal state in the charging operation based on acquired detection value # 1 and detection value # 2. Then, when an abnormal state is detected, the control unit 20 determines whether the cause is the power system 2 or the vehicle-mounted charging device 1 based on the detection value # 1 and the detection value # 2.

  It is assumed that the control unit 20 can recognize the voltage applied to the vehicle-mounted charging device 1 from the power system 2 during normal operation (when no abnormal state exists). For example, in a case where the voltage of the power system 2 connectable to the vehicle-mounted charging device 1 is predetermined, information indicating the voltage of the power system 2 is stored in the control unit 20 in advance. Alternatively, when the power system 2 is connected to the in-vehicle charging device 1, the control unit 20 may obtain information indicating a voltage of the power system 2 in a negotiation procedure with the power system 2. In the following description, the voltage applied to the vehicle-mounted charging device 1 from the power system 2 during normal operation (when no abnormal state exists) may be referred to as an “assumed voltage value”.

  In the in-vehicle charging device 1 having the above configuration, the control unit 20 is realized by, for example, an ECU (Electric Control Unit) including a processor and a memory. In this case, the processor provides a function of the control unit 20 by executing a program stored in the memory. However, the control unit 20 may be realized by a digital signal processing circuit.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a method of isolating a failure location. The process of this flowchart is executed, for example, when the power system 2 is connected to the vehicle-mounted charging device 1. However, the processing of this flowchart may be periodically executed.

  In S1, the control unit 20 acquires an assumed voltage value of the power system 2. In S2, the control unit 20 acquires the detection value of the sensor 13 from each charger 10. That is, the control unit 20 acquires the detection value # 1 representing the voltage applied to the charger 10 # 1 from the power system 2 and the detection value # 2 representing the voltage applied to the charger 10 # 2 from the power system 2. I do.

  In S3, the control unit 20 compares the detected value # 1 with the detected value # 2. Here, charger 10 # 1 and charger 10 # 2 are electrically connected in parallel to each other. That is, when the vehicle-mounted charging device 1 is operating normally, the detection value # 1 and the detection value # 2 should be substantially the same. Therefore, if detection value # 1 and detection value # 2 are different from each other, control unit 20 determines in S4 that in-vehicle charging device 1 has failed.

  When the detected value # 1 and the detected value # 2 are substantially the same, the process of the control unit 20 proceeds to S5. In S5, the control unit 20 determines whether the detected value # 1 and the detected value # 2 respectively match the assumed voltage values. Here, when the power system 2 is operating normally, the voltage applied to each charger 10 should match the assumed voltage value. Therefore, when detected value # 1 and detected value # 2 respectively match the assumed voltage value, control unit 20 determines in S6 that power system 2 is normal. On the other hand, when the detected value # 1 and the detected value # 2 each indicate an abnormal value different from the assumed voltage value, the control unit 20 determines that a failure has occurred in the power system 2 in S7.

  As described above, the control unit 20 can isolate the failure location based on the detection value obtained from each charger 10. In summary, the fault location is isolated as follows.

  Case 1: When the detected value # 1 and the detected value # 2 are different from each other, the control unit 20 determines that the in-vehicle charging device 1 has failed. For example, when the charger 10 # 2 is out of order, the detected value # 1 matches the assumed voltage value, but the detected value # 2 indicates an abnormal value different from the assumed voltage value. As a result, the detection value # 1 and the detection value # 2 are different from each other, and a failure of the vehicle-mounted charging device 1 is detected.

  Case 2: If the detected value # 1 and the detected value # 2 are substantially the same as each other, but the detected value # 1 and the detected value # 2 both indicate abnormal values different from the assumed voltage value, the control unit 20 Determines that a failure has occurred in the power system 2.

  When the above-described failure or failure is detected, the control unit 20 notifies the host control unit 4 of the detection. Then, the upper control unit 4 outputs an alarm. This alarm is created so as to notify the user of the vehicle, for example, whether a failure has occurred in the power system 2 or the in-vehicle charging device 1 has failed. Therefore, the alarm may be a voice message or may be displayed on a display device in the vehicle.

  When an alarm indicating that the in-vehicle charging device 1 has failed is output, the vehicle user can request, for example, a vehicle dealer to replace the in-vehicle charging device 1. On the other hand, when an alarm indicating that a failure has occurred in the power system 2 is output, the user of the vehicle can charge the secondary battery 3 by connecting another power system to the vehicle-mounted charging device 1. . Therefore, it is possible to avoid a situation in which the in-vehicle charging device 1 is replaced even if the cause of the abnormal value during charging is a failure in the power system 2.

  FIG. 3 shows another example of the vehicle-mounted charging device according to the embodiment of the present invention. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the wireless communication device 5 is connected to the vehicle-mounted charging device 1. That is, the in-vehicle charging device 1 includes the interface 30 for transmitting and receiving signals to and from the wireless communication device 5.

  When the control unit 20 of the in-vehicle charging device 1 detects an abnormal state, as described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, it is determined whether the in-vehicle charging device 1 has failed or a failure has occurred in the power system 2. Is determined. Then, the control unit 20 notifies the wireless communication device 5 of the determination result regarding the failure location via the interface 30. Note that the control unit 20 may notify the higher-level control unit 4 of the determination result regarding the failure location. In this case, the determination result regarding the failure location is notified to the wireless communication device 5 via the higher-level control unit 4.

  The wireless communication device 5 is, for example, a wireless terminal connectable to a wireless network such as a cellular network. Then, wireless communication device 5 transmits the determination result by control unit 20 to the outside of the vehicle.

  The address of the operating company that manages and operates the power system 2 is registered in the wireless communication device 5. When receiving the determination result indicating that a failure has occurred in the power system 2, the wireless communication device 5 transmits a message indicating the determination result to the operating company of the power system 2. At this time, if the wireless communication device 5 has a function of acquiring position information, the wireless communication device 5 sends the position information to the operating company in addition to the message indicating that a failure has occurred in the power system 2. Preferably, it is transmitted. In this case, the operating company of the power system 2 can identify the facility (for example, the charging station) in which the failure has occurred based on the received position information, so that the repair can be performed quickly.

  When receiving the determination result indicating that the in-vehicle charging device 1 is out of order, the wireless communication device 5 may transmit a message indicating the determination result to a predetermined address. For example, a determination result indicating that the in-vehicle charging device 1 is out of order is transmitted to a vehicle dealer.

<Variation>
In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the in-vehicle charging device 1 includes two chargers 10, but the present invention is not limited to this configuration. That is, the in-vehicle charging device 1 may include three or more chargers 10 connected in parallel.

  Even when the in-vehicle charging device 1 includes N (N is an integer equal to or greater than 3) chargers 10, the control unit 20 can isolate a fault location by the same procedure as the flowchart illustrated in FIG. . That is, when a part of the N detection values notified from the N chargers 10 is different from the other detection values, the control unit 20 determines that the in-vehicle charging device 1 has failed. I do. When the N detected values are substantially the same as each other, but the N detected values each indicate an abnormal value different from the assumed voltage value, the control unit 20 causes the power system 2 to fail. It is determined that there is.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, the sensor 13 detects the voltage applied from the electric power system 2, but the present invention is not limited to this configuration. For example, in the in-vehicle charging device 1 shown in FIG. 1 or FIG. 3, the charging operation is controlled so that the output powers of the chargers 10 # 1 and 10 # 2 are the same. In this case, if the in-vehicle charging device 1 is normal, the current flowing into the charger 10 # 1 and the current flowing into the charger 10 # 2 should match each other. Therefore, the sensor 13 of the charger 10 # 1 detects a current flowing from the power system 2 into the charger 10 # 1 and generates a detection value # 1, and the sensor 13 of the charger 10 # 2 To detect a current flowing into the charger 10 # 2 to generate a detection value # 2. Then, the control unit 20 can isolate a failure location based on the detection values # 1 and # 2 in the same manner as in the embodiment shown in FIG.

  When the control unit 20 determines that a failure has occurred in the power system 2, the power line between the power system 2 and each charger 10 and / or the power line between the vehicle-mounted charging device 1 and the secondary battery 3 The power line may be cut off. Further, when the control unit 20 determines that the in-vehicle charging device 1 has failed, the control unit 20 may request the power system 2 to stop power supply.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 In-vehicle charging apparatus 2 Power system 3 Secondary battery 4 Upper control unit 5 Wireless communication device 10 (10 # 1, 10 # 2) Charger 11 Charger control unit 12 AC / DC converter 13 Sensor 20 Control unit 30 Interface

Claims (4)

An in-vehicle charging device mounted on a vehicle, comprising a first charger and a second charger connected in parallel, and charging a secondary battery using power supplied from a power system.
A first sensor for detecting a state between the power system and the first charger;
A second sensor for detecting a state between the power system and the second charger;
A control unit that determines whether a failure has occurred in the power system or whether the in-vehicle charging device has failed, based on the detection value of the first sensor and the detection value of the second sensor;
An in-vehicle charging device comprising: The first sensor detects a voltage applied to the first charger from the power system,
The second sensor detects a voltage applied from the power system to the second charger,
If the detection value of the first sensor and the detection value of the second sensor are different from each other, the control unit determines that the in-vehicle charging device has failed. The in-vehicle charging device as described in the above. Although the detection value of the first sensor and the detection value of the second sensor are substantially the same, the detection value of the first sensor and the detection value of the second sensor are both abnormal values. The in-vehicle charging device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit determines that a failure has occurred in the power system. The on-board charging according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the determination result by the control unit is transmitted to the outside of the vehicle via a wireless communication device connected to the on-board charging device. apparatus.

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