KR20200058034A - System for managing an electric vehicle charging station and operating method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system for managing an electric vehicle charging station and an operating method thereof. The system for managing the electric vehicle charging station according to one embodiment of the present invention includes: a blocking device installed inside a parking space of an electric vehicle charging station respectively and controlling the movement of the electric vehicle in the parking space; a charging device installed around the parking space respectively to charge the electric vehicle; a camera that is installed around the charging device respectively and photographing a car that has entered the parking space or attempts to enter the parking space; a management device that determines that the vehicle is an electric vehicle and releases the blocking device to permit the electric vehicle to park in the parking space when there is a matching number by comparing the vehicle number information extracted from the vehicle image captured by the camera and the previously registered electric vehicle number.

Description

Electric vehicle charging station management system and its operation method {SYSTEM FOR MANAGING AN ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING STATION AND OPERATING METHOD THEREOF}

The present invention relates to an electric vehicle charging station management system and its operation method.

As energy and environmental issues have recently emerged as major issues, electric vehicles, which are internal combustion engines that use oil as a power source, are being replaced, and electric vehicles, which are eco-friendly new technology vehicles with low emissions, are in the spotlight as the next generation transportation technology, and are emerging as consumers. The commercialization is progressing rapidly.

In general, electric vehicle chargers are installed in various places with specialized charging stations to charge electric vehicles anytime, anywhere. Electric vehicle charging stations are installed in marts, highway rest areas, public places (institutions) to improve the convenience of electric vehicle users, and in order to maintain them, a service contract is signed with a maintenance company specialized in electric vehicle charging stations (maintenance, call center). Through this, breakdowns and repairs are implemented. However, complaints from users of electric vehicles are increasing due to lack of parking space and unauthorized parking of electric vehicle charging stations by ordinary vehicle owners. The government maintains related systems, such as imposing a fine on the parking lot of electric vehicles for unauthorized parking, but there is a limit to manpower management. In addition, even after charging of the electric vehicle is parked on a regular basis, complaints from users of the next electric vehicle charging station are increasing, and there is no manpower and related systems to manage it.

The above-mentioned background art is technical information acquired by the inventor for the derivation of the present invention or acquired in the derivation process of the present invention, and is not necessarily a known technology disclosed to the general public prior to the filing of the present invention.

Domestic Patent Publication No. 2010-0044154

The present invention has been devised to solve the above-mentioned problems and / or limitations, and an object of the present invention according to one aspect is to allow only an electric vehicle to enter an electric vehicle charging station.

An object of the present invention according to another aspect is to notify the user terminal and / or the terminal of a public institution when charging of the electric vehicle is completed.

An electric vehicle charging station management system according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a blocking device which is installed inside a parking space of an electric vehicle charging station and controls the movement of the electric vehicle in the parking space; A charging device installed in the periphery of the parking space to charge the electric vehicle; A camera which is installed around the charging device and attempts to enter the parking space or photographs a vehicle that has entered the parking space; And comparing the vehicle number information extracted from the vehicle image photographed by the camera with a previously stored registered electric vehicle vehicle number. If a matching number exists, it is determined that the vehicle is an electric vehicle, and the blocking device is unblocked to unlock the vehicle. It may include; a management device for allowing the electric vehicle to park in the parking space.

The management device compares the vehicle number information extracted from the vehicle image photographed by the camera and the previously stored registered electric vehicle vehicle number, and if there is no matching number, determines that the vehicle is a general vehicle, and the Blocking can be maintained.

The system may further include a user terminal provided by a user of the electric vehicle communicating with the management device through a communication network.

The management device may monitor the charging status of the charging device and transmit a charging completion message to the user terminal when charging of the electric vehicle is completed by the charging device.

The system may further include a government office terminal communicating with the management device through a communication network.

The management device may transmit the information of the electric vehicle to the government office terminal when the charging completion message is transmitted to the user terminal more than a predetermined number of times, but the electric vehicle is parked in the parking space.

An operation method of an electric vehicle charging station management system according to an embodiment of the present invention includes steps of installing an electric vehicle charging station inside a parking space of an electric vehicle charging station and controlling the movement of the electric vehicle in the parking space by a blocking device; Charging the electric vehicle by being installed in the periphery of the parking space by a charging device; Photographing a vehicle installed in the periphery of the charging device and attempting to enter the parking space or entering the parking space by a camera; And by the management device, comparing the vehicle number information extracted from the vehicle image photographed by the camera and a previously stored registered electric vehicle vehicle number, and determining that the vehicle is an electric vehicle, if a matching number exists. And releasing the blocking to permit the electric vehicle to park in the parking space.

The method compares the vehicle number information extracted from the vehicle image photographed by the camera and the previously stored registered electric vehicle vehicle number by the management device, and when there is no matching number, it is determined that the vehicle is a general vehicle. , Maintaining the blocking of the blocking device; may further include.

The method may further include a step of communicating through the communication network with the management device and a user terminal provided by the user of the electric vehicle.

The method may further include monitoring, by the management device, a charging state of the charging device, and transmitting a charging completion message to the user terminal when charging of the electric vehicle is completed by the charging device. .

The method may further include a step of communicating between the management device and a government office terminal through a communication network.

The method includes transmitting, by the management device, a charging completion message to the user terminal a predetermined number of times or more, but when the electric vehicle is parked in the parking space, transmitting information of the electric vehicle to the government office terminal. It may further include.

In addition to this, other methods for implementing the present invention, other systems, and computer programs for executing the methods may be further provided.

Other aspects, features, and advantages other than those described above will become apparent from the following drawings, claims, and detailed description of the invention.

According to embodiments, the electric vehicle charging station may be allowed to enter only the electric vehicle, and when the electric vehicle charging is completed, the user terminal and / or the public terminal may be notified to improve the convenience of using the charging station for the electric vehicle users.

The effects of the present invention are not limited to those mentioned above, and other effects not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

1 is a view schematically illustrating an electric vehicle charging station according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a view schematically illustrating an electric vehicle charging station management system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a view schematically illustrating the determination of whether to enter the parking space of the electric vehicle by the management device in the electric vehicle charging station management system of FIG. 2.
4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation method of an electric vehicle charging station management system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Advantages and features of the present invention, and methods for achieving them will be clarified with reference to embodiments described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments presented below, but may be implemented in various different forms, and should be understood to include all transformations, equivalents, and substitutes included in the spirit and scope of the present invention. . The embodiments presented below are provided to make the disclosure of the present invention complete, and to fully inform the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains. In the description of the present invention, if it is determined that a detailed description of known technologies related to the present invention may obscure the subject matter of the present invention, the detailed description will be omitted.

Terms used in the present application are only used to describe specific embodiments, and are not intended to limit the present invention. Singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. In this application, terms such as “include” or “have” are intended to indicate that a feature, number, step, operation, component, part, or combination thereof described in the specification exists, one or more other features. It should be understood that the existence or addition possibilities of fields or numbers, steps, operations, components, parts or combinations thereof are not excluded in advance. Terms such as first and second may be used to describe various components, but the components should not be limited by the terms. The terms are used only for the purpose of distinguishing one component from other components.

Hereinafter, embodiments according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, and in describing with reference to the accompanying drawings, identical or corresponding components are assigned the same reference numbers, and redundant description thereof is omitted. I will do it.

1 is a view schematically illustrating an electric vehicle charging station according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an electric vehicle charging station management system according to an embodiment of the present invention to be.

Referring to Figure 1, the electric vehicle charging station is installed in the parking space 100, the parking space 100, the electric vehicle 101, and the parking space 100, respectively installed in the parking space 100, the electric vehicle A blocking device 200 that controls the movement of the 101, a charging device 300 installed around the parking space 100 and charging the electric vehicle 101 parked in the parking space 100, and a charging device It may be installed in the vicinity of the 300 is to enter the parking space 100, or may include a camera 400 for photographing the car 101 (102 in FIG. 3) entered into the parking space 100.

Referring to FIG. 2, the electric vehicle charging station management system 1 includes a blocking device 200, a charging device 300, a camera 400, a management device 500, a user terminal 600, and a government office terminal 700. And a communication network 800.

The blocking devices 200 are respectively installed inside the parking space 100 to control the movement of the electric vehicle 101 in the parking space 100. In this embodiment, the blocking device 200 may release the blocking under the control of the management device 500, maintain the blocking, or release the blocking. Here, when the blocking device 200 releases the blocking, as shown in FIG. 3A, the blocking device 200 maintains an angle of 0 degrees around the parking space 100 and the vehicle enters the parking space 100. Or it may include a state that can enter from the parking space 100. Also, if the blocking device 200 maintains the blocking, as shown in FIG. 3B, the blocking device 200 maintains a 90 degree angle with the parking space 100 so that the vehicle can enter the parking space 100. It may include a missing state.

The charging devices 300 are respectively installed around the parking space 100 and connected to the electric vehicle 101 entering the parking space 100 to charge a battery (not shown) inside the electric vehicle 101. . The charging device 300 may include a display unit (not shown) that displays charging information to be paid by the user in response to a charging completion state and a charging amount during charging of the electric vehicle 101. The operation state signal of the charging device 300 may be transmitted to the management device 500 at the request of the management device 500.

The camera 400 may be installed around the charging device 300 and attempt to enter the parking space 100 or may photograph a car 101 (102 of FIG. 3) that has entered the parking space 100. In this embodiment, the camera 400 may generate a license plate image frame by attempting to enter the parking space 100 or by photographing a license plate of a vehicle entering the parking space 100. The camera 400 refers to a camera that photographs an object in a photographing area using, for example, a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (COMS) module (not shown) or a charge coupled device (CCD) module (not shown). The image frame is provided as a COMS module or a CCD module through a lens (not shown), and the COMS module or CCD module converts and outputs an optical signal of an object passing through the lens into an electrical signal. An image signal processing unit (not shown) is provided inside the camera to reduce noise in the captured image frame, gamma correction, color filter array interpolation, and color matrix. Image signal processing for image quality improvement such as matrix, color correction, and color enhancement may be performed.

The management device 500 performs overall management of the charging station for the electric vehicle, in particular, allows only the electric vehicle 101 to enter the charging station for the electric vehicle, and when charging is completed, can inform the user that charging is complete. In this embodiment, the management device 500 may include a determination unit 510, a memory 520, a control unit 530, a generation unit 540 and a communication unit 550.

The determination unit 510 compares the vehicle number of the electric vehicle registered in the environment unit pre-stored in the license plate image frame photographed by the camera 400 and the memory 520 with respect to the vehicle to enter the parking space 100 You can determine if there is a matching license plate. Here, the control unit 530 may periodically access the environment unit to update the registered vehicle number of the electric vehicle in the memory 520. If the license plate image frame photographed by the camera 400 and the license plate with the vehicle number of the electric vehicle registered in the environment unit pre-stored in the memory 520 match, the determination unit 510 enters the parking space 100 The vehicle to be tried may be determined by the electric vehicle 101 and a signal of the determination result may be output to the controller 530. However, if there is no license plate image frame photographed by the camera 400 and a license plate matching the vehicle number of the electric vehicle registered in the environment unit pre-stored in the memory 520, the determination unit 510 moves to the parking space 100. The vehicle to be entered may be determined as a general vehicle (102 in FIG. 3B), and a signal of the determination result may be output to the controller 530.

The controller 530 may release the blocking of the blocking device 200 or maintain the blocking of the blocking device 200 in response to the determination result signal of the determining unit 510. When the control unit 530 receives the determination result signal from the determination unit 510 as the electric vehicle 101 that determines the vehicle to enter the parking space 100, the control unit 530 sends a blocking release signal to the blocking device 200 to release the blocking. The output may permit the electric vehicle 101 to park in the parking space 100. When the blocking of the blocking device 200 is released, the electric vehicle 101 may enter or exit the parking space 100. 3A shows that the blocking of the blocking device 200 is released by the control unit 530 so that the electric vehicle 101 enters the parking space 100.

When the control unit 530 receives the determination result signal from the determination unit 510 as the general vehicle 102 that determines the vehicle to enter the parking space 100, the control unit 530 sends a blocking maintenance signal to the blocking device 200 to maintain the blocking. Can print When the blocking of the blocking device 200 is maintained, the electric vehicle 101 cannot enter the parking space 100. 3B shows that the blocking of the blocking device 200 is maintained by the control unit 530 so that the general vehicle 102 cannot enter the parking space 100.

After the blocking of the blocking device 200 is released and the electric vehicle 101 enters the parking space 100, the charging device 300 may be connected to the electric vehicle 101 to perform charging, and the charging device 300 ) May transmit the charging status to the control unit 530.

When the control unit 530 receives the charging completion signal of the electric vehicle 101 from the charging device 300, the generation unit 540 generates a charging completion message, and the charging completion message is a communication unit under the control of the control unit 530 ( 550) and the communication network 800 may be transmitted to the user terminal 600 of the electric vehicle 101.

The communication unit 550 may provide a communication interface required to provide transmission / reception signals between the management device 500 and the user terminal 600 and / or the government office terminal 700 in the form of packet data in cooperation with the communication network 800. have.

The controller 530 transmits a charging completion signal to the user terminal 600 for a predetermined number of times, for example, at a time interval, but when the electric vehicle 101 is still present in the parking space 100, the corresponding electricity For example, the vehicle terminal information of the vehicle 101, the license plate image frame, the charging completion time, and the charging completion signal transmission time and number information through the communication unit 550 and the communication network 800, the government office terminal 700, for example, It can be sent to public institutions that can charge fines such as police stations or municipalities. The control unit 530 may induce the movement of the electric vehicle 101 by warning the user terminal 600 once again immediately before transmitting the vehicle information to the government office terminal 700, and despite the warning, the electric vehicle 101 may If it is still present in the parking space 100, vehicle information may be transmitted to the government office terminal 700.

In this embodiment, the user terminal 600 is a terminal operated by an owner or driver of the electric vehicle 101, and may be equipped with an electric vehicle charging station management program or application. The user terminal 600 is a desktop computer, a smart phone, a laptop, a tablet PC, a smart TV, a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a laptop, a media player, a micro server, and a global positioning system (GPS) device operated by the user. , E-book terminal, digital broadcasting terminal, navigation, kiosk, MP3 player, digital camera, home appliance and other mobile or non-mobile computing devices, but is not limited thereto. In addition, the user terminal 600 may be a wearable terminal such as a watch, glasses, hair band, and ring equipped with a communication function and a data processing function.

Also, in this embodiment, the communication network 800 serves to connect the management device 500 and the user terminal 600 and / or the government office terminal 700. That is, the communication network 800 may mean a communication network that provides a connection path so that predetermined information can be transmitted and received between the management device 500 and the user terminal 600 and / or the government terminal 700. The communication network 800 includes, for example, wired networks such as Local Area Networks (LANs), Wide Area Networks (WANs), Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs), and Integrated Service Digital Networks (ISDNs), wireless LANs, CDMA, Bluetooth, satellite communication, etc. It may cover a wireless network, but the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto. In addition, the communication network 800 may transmit and receive information using short-range communication and / or long-distance communication. Here, the short-range communication may include Bluetooth, radio frequency identification (RFID), infrared data association (IrDA), ultra-wideband (UWB), ZigBee, wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) technology, and remote Communications include code division multiple access (CDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), and single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) technology. Can be.

4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation method of an electric vehicle charging station management system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the following description, portions overlapping with those of FIGS. 1 to 3 will be omitted.

Referring to FIG. 4, in step S401, the management device 500 receives the license plate image frame of the vehicle entering the parking space 100 photographed by the camera 400.

In step S403, the management apparatus 500 compares the license plate image frame received from the camera 400 and the vehicle number of the electric vehicle registered in the pre-stored environment unit.

In step S405, the management apparatus 500 determines whether there is a number matching the license plate image frame received from the camera 400 and the vehicle number of the electric vehicle registered in the pre-stored environment unit.

In step S407, if a matching number does not exist, the management apparatus 500 determines that the vehicle is a general vehicle 102 and transmits a blocking maintenance signal to maintain the blocking to the blocking apparatus 200.

S409: If a matching number exists, the management device 500 determines that the vehicle is an electric vehicle 101 and transmits a blocking release signal to release the blocking to the blocking device 200.

In step S411, the charging device 300 is connected to the electric vehicle 101 moved to the parking space 100 to perform charging, and the management device 500 monitors the charging status of the charging device 300.

In step S413, when the charging device 300 completes charging, the management device 500 generates a charging completion message and transmits it to the user terminal 600 through the communication network 800.

In step S415, the management device 500 determines whether the electric vehicle 101 has advanced from the parking space 100 after a predetermined time has elapsed. The management apparatus 500 may determine whether the electric vehicle 101 has advanced from the parking space 100 from the image frame photographed by the camera 400.

In step S417, if the electric vehicle 101 has not advanced from the parking space 100, the management device 500 has a standard number of times the number of charge completion messages transmitted to the user terminal 600 is transmitted (for example, 3 times). It is determined whether or not exceeded, and if the reference number of times is not exceeded, the feedback is returned to step S413.

In step S419, when the number of times the charging completion message transmitted to the user terminal 600 exceeds the reference number (for example, 3 times), the management device 500 is a vehicle of the electric vehicle 101 existing in the parking space The information is transmitted to the government office terminal 700 through the communication network 800.

The embodiment according to the present invention described above may be implemented in the form of a computer program that can be executed through various components on a computer, and such a computer program can be recorded on a computer-readable medium. At this time, the medium is a hard disk, a magnetic medium such as a floppy disk and magnetic tape, an optical recording medium such as CD-ROM and DVD, a magneto-optical medium such as a floptical disk, and a ROM , Hardware devices specially configured to store and execute program instructions, such as RAM, flash memory, and the like.

Meanwhile, the computer program may be specially designed and configured for the present invention, or may be known and available to those skilled in the computer software field. Examples of computer programs may include not only machine language codes produced by a compiler, but also high-level language codes executable by a computer using an interpreter or the like.

In the specification (particularly in the claims) of the present invention, the use of the term " above " and similar indication terms may be in both singular and plural. In addition, in the case of describing a range in the present invention, as including the invention to which individual values belonging to the range are applied (if there is no contrary description), each individual value constituting the range is described in the detailed description of the invention Same as

Unless explicitly stated or contrary to the steps constituting the method according to the invention, the steps can be done in a suitable order. The present invention is not necessarily limited to the description order of the above steps. The use of all examples or exemplary terms (eg, etc.) in the present invention is merely for describing the present invention in detail, and the scope of the present invention is limited due to the examples or exemplary terms unless defined by the claims. It does not work. In addition, those skilled in the art can recognize that various modifications, combinations, and changes can be configured according to design conditions and factors within the scope of the appended claims or equivalents thereof.

Accordingly, the spirit of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and should not be determined, and the scope of the spirit of the present invention, as well as the claims to be described later, and all ranges that are equivalent to or equivalently changed from the claims Would belong to

1: Electric vehicle charging station management system
100: parking space
200: blocking device
300: charging device
400: camera
500: management device
600: user terminal
700: government office terminal

Claims (13)

A blocking device installed in the parking space of the electric vehicle charging station and intermittently controlling the movement of the electric vehicle in the parking space;
A charging device installed in the periphery of the parking space to charge the electric vehicle;
A camera which is installed around the charging device and attempts to enter the parking space or photographs a vehicle that has entered the parking space; And
When the vehicle number information extracted from the vehicle image photographed by the camera is compared with a previously stored registered electric vehicle vehicle number, if a matching number exists, it is determined that the vehicle is an electric vehicle, and the blocking device is unblocked to release the electricity. Includes; management device for allowing a car to park in the parking space; Electric vehicle charging station management system comprising a. The method of claim 1, wherein the management device,
Comparing the vehicle number information extracted from the vehicle image taken by the camera and a previously stored registered electric vehicle vehicle number, if there is no matching number, it is determined that the vehicle is a general vehicle and maintains the blocking of the blocking device; Electric vehicle charging station management system. According to claim 1,
And a user terminal provided by a user of the electric vehicle communicating with the management device through a communication network. The method of claim 3, wherein the management device,
An electric vehicle charging station management system that monitors the charging status of the charging device and transmits a charging completion message to the user terminal when charging of the electric vehicle is completed by the charging device. According to claim 3,
An electric vehicle charging station management system further comprising a government office terminal communicating with the management device through a communication network. The method of claim 5, wherein the management device,
An electric vehicle charging station management system that transmits information of the electric vehicle to the government office terminal when the charging completion message is transmitted to the user terminal more than a predetermined number of times, but the electric vehicle is parked in the parking space. A step of blocking the movement of the electric vehicle in the parking space by being installed in the parking space of the electric vehicle charging station, respectively, by a blocking device;
Charging the electric vehicle by being installed in the periphery of the parking space by a charging device;
Photographing a vehicle installed in the periphery of the charging device and attempting to enter the parking space or entering the parking space by a camera; And
If a matching number exists by comparing the vehicle number information extracted from the vehicle image photographed by the camera with a previously stored registered electric vehicle vehicle number, the management apparatus determines that the vehicle is an electric vehicle and blocks the blocking device And releasing the permission to allow the electric vehicle to park in the parking space. A step of blocking the movement of the electric vehicle in the parking space by being installed in the parking space of the electric vehicle charging station, respectively, by a blocking device;
Charging the electric vehicle by being installed in the periphery of the parking space by a charging device;
Photographing a vehicle installed in the periphery of the charging device and attempting to enter the parking space or entering the parking space by a camera; And
If a matching number exists by comparing the vehicle number information extracted from the vehicle image photographed by the camera with a previously stored registered electric vehicle vehicle number, the management apparatus determines that the vehicle is an electric vehicle and blocks the blocking device And releasing the permission to allow the electric vehicle to park in the parking space. The method of claim 7,
Further comprising the step of communicating through the communication network and the user terminal provided by the user of the electric vehicle; the operation method of the electric vehicle charging station management system further comprising. The method of claim 9,
Further comprising, by the management device, monitoring the charging status of the charging device, and when the charging of the electric vehicle is completed by the charging device, transmitting a charging completion message to the user terminal, further comprising an electric vehicle charging station management system . The method of claim 9,
Further comprising the step of communicating with the management device and the government office terminal through a communication network, Operation method of the electric vehicle charging station management system further comprising. The method of claim 11,
Further comprising, by the management device, transmitting the information of the electric vehicle to the government office terminal when the charging completion message is transmitted to the user terminal more than a predetermined number of times, but the electric vehicle is parked in the parking space. How the electric vehicle charging station management system works. A computer program stored in a computer-readable recording medium to execute the method of any one of claims 7 to 12 using a computer.

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