Battery management device for electric moving body

Abstract

The invention provides a battery management device for an electric moving body. When a charging base located at a location far away from the current position of an electric moving body is selected to charge a battery, it is easy to determine which charging base should be selected. A battery management device for an electric moving body is a management device for managing a battery in cooperation with a control device for the electric moving body, and predicts the state of the battery after the battery is charged by moving to a charging base located at a location away from the current location.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a battery management device for an electric mobile body. Background Art

[0002] Electric vehicles (EVs) and other electric vehicles use a control unit (VCU) to control the operation of various components that affect each other, such as motors, inverters, batteries, and air conditioners. Among the components controlled by the VCU, the management of the battery, which is the source of the electric vehicle's operation, is particularly important.

[0003] As a conventional technology related to battery management of electric vehicles, there is known a technology that clearly displays the relationship between charging time and the cruising distance after charging (see Patent Document 1 listed below).

[0004] Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2019-103212 Summary of the invention Problems to be solved by the invention

[0005] Charging bases for electric vehicles (e.g., electric vehicles) have different charging conditions, such as charging bases with different charging outputs (fast charging, normal charging, etc.) and charging bases with charging time restrictions. When charging the electric vehicle at a charging base, it is often not possible to fully charge it 100% due to the above-mentioned charging output and charging time restrictions.

[0006] Therefore, when there are multiple charging bases at different distances from the current position of the electric vehicle, the battery state after charging may differ depending on the selected charging base due to the difference in power consumed by the movement to the charging base and the charging conditions of each charging base. In addition, depending on the selection of the charging base, the distance from the charging base to the destination may differ, so considering these situations, it is necessary to make a difficult judgment as to which of the multiple charging bases located far from the current position of the electric vehicle is appropriate.

[0007] In addition, the temperature control conditions of the battery can be changed during the journey from the current location to the charging base, such as cooling the battery before charging, but considering the effects of changing the temperature control conditions of the battery and the power required for temperature control of the battery, it is necessary to determine which of multiple charging bases located away from the current location to select, including how to set the temperature control conditions of the battery before charging.

[0008] The present invention is proposed to cope with such a situation. That is, the present invention aims to facilitate the determination of which charging base should be selected when selecting a charging base located at a location far from the current location of an electric vehicle to charge a battery. Means for solving problems

[0009] In order to solve such a problem, a battery management device for an electric vehicle according to the present invention has the following configuration. The battery management device for an electric vehicle is a management device that manages the battery in cooperation with a control device for the electric vehicle, and is characterized by comprising a management unit that predicts the battery state after moving to a charging base located at a location far from the current location for charging. Effects of the Invention

[0010] According to the present invention having such features, when the user selects a charging base located far from the current position of the electric vehicle to charge the battery, the user can understand the battery status after charging based on the prediction result of the management unit, and can easily determine which charging base to select. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] Figure 1 It is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration example of a battery management device for an electric mobile body according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2 It is an explanatory diagram showing units of a management unit of a battery management device. Figure 3 This is an explanatory diagram for explaining the accessible charging base extraction unit. Figure 4 It is an explanatory diagram for explaining the extracted charging base information notification unit. Figure 5 This is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a notification output by the management unit. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0012] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, the same reference numerals in different drawings represent parts with the same functions, and repeated descriptions in the drawings will be appropriately omitted.

[0013] In addition, in the following description, an electric vehicle is used as an example of an electric mobile body, but electric vehicles include not only cars traveling on roads, but also industrial vehicles traveling in areas such as factories, railway vehicles traveling on tracks, etc. Electric mobile bodies are not limited to electric vehicles, but include all machines that carry people or cargo and move electrically, such as ships, airplanes, and submersibles.

[0014] like Figure 1As shown, a battery management device 1 is mounted on an electric vehicle (for example, an electric vehicle EV, hereinafter referred to as EV), and manages a battery (not shown) in cooperation with a control unit (VCU) 20 of the electric vehicle. The battery management device 1 includes a management unit 10 that predicts the battery state after charging at a destination.

[0015] The management unit 10 transmits and receives information via a communication line (e.g., CAN: Controller Area Network) L that constructs a network in the EV. Thus, the operation information of each component (not shown) controlled by the control unit (VCU) 20 is input to the management unit 10 via the communication line L, and the output signal from the management unit 10 is sent to each component (not shown) via the communication line L.

[0016] The battery management unit 30 is connected to the communication line L. The battery management unit 30 manages the current state of the battery as the operating source of the EV, and transmits information on the current battery state (hereinafter referred to as battery management information) including the remaining battery amount to the management unit 10 via the communication line L.

[0017] Furthermore, the notification unit 40 and the operation input unit 41 are connected to the communication line L. The notification unit 40 has a function of notifying the EV occupant of information output from the management unit 10 and output information of the navigation system 31 described later by images, sounds, etc. Specific configuration examples of the notification unit 40 are a display device, a speaker device, etc.

[0018] The operation input unit 41 has a function of inputting information to the management unit 10 and the navigation system 31 described later. The operation input unit 41 and the notification unit 40 can be integrated by making the display screen of the notification unit 40 a touch input type or providing the notification unit 40 with a voice input function.

[0019] The navigation system 31 is connected to the communication line L. The navigation system 31 is a system that assists the EV to reach the destination, and displays the information of the current position of the EV and the databased map information 31A on the display screen of the notification unit 40 in an overlapping manner. The destination information such as the destination is input from the operation input unit 41, and the distance and direction to the destination are notified through the notification unit 40.

[0020] In addition to the map information 31A, the navigation system 31 also has information about charging bases for charging the battery of the EV (hereinafter referred to as charging base information) 31B. The charging base information 31B not only includes the location information of the charging base, but also includes the charging conditions of each charging base (charging output, the amount of chargeable electric power, and whether there is a limit on the charging time) in a database. In addition, the navigation system 31 here is shown as an example of a navigation system having a function of sending the map information 31A and the charging base information 31B to the management unit 10. In the battery management device 1, the function of assisting in reaching the destination is not an essential function.

[0021] A communication unit for exchanging information with the outside can be provided in the communication line L. Thus, each component connected to the communication line L can transmit and receive information with the external network via the communication unit. In this way, when the communication unit is provided in the communication line L, the map information 31A and the charging base information 31B can be used in a database constructed on the external network.

[0022] The detection information of the sensor unit 11 is input to the management unit 10. The sensor unit 11 is composed of various sensor groups in the EV. If the specific sensors of the sensor unit 11 are exemplified, they are an outside air temperature sensor for detecting the outside air temperature around the EV, a room temperature sensor for detecting the interior temperature of the vehicle cabin of the EV, a blow-out temperature sensor of the air conditioning unit 13 described later, a vehicle speed sensor and a torque sensor for detecting the moving state of the EV, a current sensor for detecting the battery state, and a positioning sensor for detecting the position information of the EV (including a GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) receiver of a GPS (Global Positioning System)).

[0023] The management unit 10 manages the thermal management of the EV including air conditioning, controls the heat medium circuit unit 12 and the air conditioning unit 13, and obtains their operation information. The heat medium circuit unit 12 includes a pump, a flow path switching valve, and a water heater for operating a heat medium circuit (for example, a water circuit) for temperature regulation of a battery or other temperature regulation objects, and the air conditioning unit 13 includes a blower, a damper, an air heater, and a compressor and an expansion valve of a refrigerant circuit as components of an HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) unit for delivering conditioned air to the interior of the EV.

[0024] The management unit 10 controls the heat medium circuit unit 12 and the air conditioning unit 13 based on the information inputted by the operation input unit 41 , thereby adjusting the indoor air of the EV to a set temperature and performing temperature adjustment control on temperature adjustment targets including the battery.

[0025] Furthermore, the management unit 10 predicts the battery state after the battery is moved to a charging base located at a location far from the current location and charged, and outputs the predicted battery state to the notification unit 40 .

[0026] like Figure 2 As shown, such a management unit 10 has a reachable charging base extraction unit 10A, an extracted charging base information notification unit 10B, a battery temperature adjustment condition selection unit 10C, a post-charge battery state calculation unit 10D and an electricity fee calculation unit 10E, etc., as functions obtained through calculation processing.

[0027] The reachable charging base extraction unit 10A extracts the charging base that can be reached from the current position of the EV with the current battery status based on the current position information of the EV obtained from the sensor unit 11, the destination information obtained from the navigation system 31, the location information of the charging base obtained from the charging base information 31A of the navigation system 31, and the current battery management information (for example, the current remaining battery power) obtained from the battery management unit 30.

[0028] like Figure 3 As shown, in a situation where the destination is set by the navigation system 31 or the like relative to the current position obtained from the sensor unit 11, first, the distance Lm that can be reached with the current battery state is calculated. Next, based on the map information 31A and the charging base information 31B, the charging bases (in the example shown, charging base A, charging base B, charging base C, and charging base D) that exist on the way from the current position to the destination (in the example shown, path L1, path L2, path L3, and path L4) are grasped. Then, the charging bases (in the example shown, charging base A, charging base B, and charging base C) whose distance (moving distance) from the current position to each grasped charging base is shorter than the reachable distance Lm are extracted. At this time, when the air conditioning unit 13 and the heat medium circuit unit 12 are operated during movement to perform air conditioning, battery temperature adjustment, etc., the reachable distance Lm is changed in consideration of the power consumption required for these operations.

[0029] The extracted charging base information notification unit 10B outputs information on the charging bases (charging base A, charging base B, and charging base C in the illustrated example) extracted by the reachable charging base extraction unit 10A to the notification unit 40 based on the charging base information 31B.

[0030] Figure 4The notification example (display example) of the extracted charging base information notification unit 10B is shown. In this example, the extracted charging base A has a device with a "power" of "ultra-high speed" and can perform ultra-high-speed charging, the "limited time" is "30 minutes", the "distance from the current position" is "120 km", and the "distance to the destination" is "110 km". The extracted charging base B has a device with a "power" of "high speed" and can perform high-speed charging, the "limited time" is "30 minutes", the "distance from the current position" is "100 km", and the "distance to the destination" is "100 km". The extracted charging base C has a device with a "power" of "medium speed" and can perform medium-speed charging, the "limited time" is "none" (no limit), the "distance from the current position" is "95 km", and the "distance to the destination" is "120 km". The "distance" here means the moving distance on the path.

[0031] The battery temperature adjustment condition selection unit 10C selects a temperature adjustment condition for adjusting the battery temperature by operating the heat medium circuit unit 12 during movement to the charging base extracted from the current value. As an example of battery temperature adjustment, there is pre-charge cooling in which the battery is cooled under high outside air temperature in summer so that the battery temperature before charging is below a predetermined value.

[0032] For pre-charge cooling, the amount of power that can be charged per unit time changes according to the degree of battery cooling, which can shorten the charging time. On the other hand, if pre-charge cooling is performed, the power consumption will increase. Therefore, considering the charging cost and whether the charging time needs to be shortened, whether to perform pre-charge cooling or the pre-charge cooling time and other temperature control conditions are selected.

[0033] As an example, the battery temperature adjustment condition selection unit 10 sets whether to pre-cool the battery or the extent (cooling time) of pre-charging the battery, and notifies the resulting change in battery charging time and the electricity charge during charging.

[0034] The post-charge battery state calculation unit 10D performs calculation processing for predicting the post-charge battery state (battery remaining amount, post-charged cruising distance) when a charging base is selected and a battery temperature adjustment condition such as cooling before charging is selected. At this time, the post-charge battery state is predicted by taking into account one or both of the travel distance to the selected charging base and the charging condition of the selected charging base and the battery temperature adjustment condition performed during the process of moving to the charging base.

[0035] Specifically, the battery state calculation unit 10D after charging calculates the battery state after charging based on the current battery state, the power consumption required to move from the current position to the selected charging base, the power consumption required for air conditioning when air conditioning is performed during movement, the power consumption corresponding to the selection of the battery temperature adjustment condition during movement, and the charging amount charged under the charging conditions (output and charging time) of the selected charging base. The charging time at this time takes into account the charging time limit of the selected charging base. When the battery temperature adjustment conditions such as cooling before charging are set, it is considered to shorten the charging time by setting.

[0036] The electricity cost calculation unit 10E performs calculation processing for predicting the electricity cost after charging when a charging base is selected and a battery temperature adjustment condition such as cooling before charging is selected. The electricity cost calculation unit 10E calculates the power balance between the consumed power and the charged amount calculated by the above-mentioned battery state calculation unit 10D for the current battery state, and calculates the additional electricity cost for the charged amount.

[0037] Figure 5 The following is a display example of the output of the management unit 10 being displayed on the display device of the notification unit 40. Here, the current position of the EV, the destination, and the positions of the extracted charging bases (charging bases A, B, C) are displayed in an overlapping manner with the map information 31A, and the moving distances D1, D2, and D3 from the current position to the multiple charging bases (charging bases A, B, C) as selected objects, the moving distances D4, D5, and D6 from the charging bases (charging bases A, B, C) as selected objects to the destination, and the predicted battery charge state D10 after charging are displayed. Furthermore, for the charging bases (charging bases A, B, C) as selected objects, the charging conditions (output and charging time limit) of each charging base are displayed.

[0038] At this time, the predicted battery charging state D10 after charging is obtained for each selected charging base (in the example shown, charging base A), and the pre-charging cooling implementation time as the battery temperature adjustment condition can be changed. Therefore, if the pre-charging cooling implementation time (battery temperature adjustment condition) is changed, the battery charging time, the cruising distance after charging, and the electricity fee during charging are respectively calculated and displayed according to the changed input.

[0039] The user can obtain information through such a display, thereby understanding the battery status after charging at the selected charging base according to the charging conditions there. In this way, the user can understand the cruising distance after charging at the selected charging base and confirm whether the cruising distance exceeds the travel distance from the selected charging base to the destination.

[0040] Furthermore, since the charging conditions of the selected charging base can be understood for each charging base, the user can determine whether the charging time needs to be shortened by adjusting the battery temperature (cooling before charging) when selecting a charging base.

[0041] Then, when the battery temperature is adjusted (cooling before charging) during the movement from the current position to the selected charging base, it can be confirmed whether the electricity bill obtained by adding the power consumption thus generated is commensurate with the effect of shortening the battery charging time brought about by the battery temperature adjustment. As a result, when the user selects a charging base located far from the current position of the mobile body for battery charging, it is easy to determine which charging base to select.

[0042] The embodiments of the present invention are described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, but the specific configuration is not limited to these embodiments, and changes in design within the scope of the present invention are also included in the present invention. In addition, the above embodiments can be combined with each other's technology as long as there is no special contradiction or problem in their purpose and configuration. Description of reference numerals:

[0043] 1: Battery management device; 10: Management unit; 10A: Reachable charging base extraction unit; 10B: Extracted charging base information notification unit; 10C: Battery temperature adjustment condition selection unit; 10D: Post-charging battery state calculation unit; 10E: Electricity fee calculation unit; 11: Sensor unit; 12: Heat medium circuit unit; 13: Air conditioning unit; 20: Control unit (VCU); 30: Battery management unit; 31: Navigation system; 31A: Map information; 31B: Charging base information; 40: Notification unit; 41: Operation input unit; EV: Electric vehicle; L: Communication line.

Claims

1. A battery management device for an electric vehicle, which manages the battery in cooperation with a control device for the electric vehicle, characterized in that: The battery management device for an electric mobile body includes a management unit that predicts a battery state after the vehicle moves to a charging base located at a location far from a current location and is charged.

2. The battery management device for an electric vehicle according to claim 1, characterized in that: The management unit predicts a battery state after charging in consideration of one or both of a travel distance to the charging base and a charging condition at the charging base and a battery temperature adjustment condition performed during movement to the charging base.

3. The battery management device for an electric vehicle according to claim 1, characterized in that: The charging base is selected from charging bases reachable with a current battery state based on the position information of the charging base.

4. The battery management device for an electric vehicle according to claim 3, characterized in that: The management unit displays the moving distances of the plurality of charging bases to be selected, the moving distance from the charging base to be selected to a destination, and the battery status together.

5. The battery management device for an electric vehicle according to claim 2, characterized in that: The management unit predicts the battery state when the battery temperature adjustment condition is changed.

6. The battery management device for an electric vehicle according to claim 5, characterized in that: The management unit predicts the electricity rate required for charging in addition to predicting the battery state.

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