Charging planning system for vehicle battery

Abstract

A determination server constituting a charging planning system for a vehicle battery determines whether or not each battery electric vehicle can respond to a demand response request from an electric power company on the basis of vehicle information relating to the state of charge of the vehicle battery for each battery electric vehicle and user settings set by a user of each battery electric vehicle. A determination server extracts a plurality of target vehicles to exclude a battery electric vehicle determined to be unable to respond to a demand response request, and transmits the same to a charging plan calculation server constituting a charging plan system for a vehicle battery. A charging plan calculation server formulates a charging plan for the plurality of extracted target vehicles, and transmits the charging plan to a charging command server.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to a charging schedule system for a vehicle battery. Background Technology

[0002] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2020-018104 discloses a charging management device that can manage the charging of multiple battery electric vehicles (EVs) under constraints based on power supply capacity. This charging management device calculates a charging schedule for multiple EVs considering the constraints and limits the number of EVs that can be charged simultaneously. Thus, the charging management device enables the charging of multiple EVs within the constraints. Summary of the Invention

[0003] In order to calculate a charging schedule that can cope with the constraints for all EVs that receive EV charging notifications from EV users, the charging management device has a high processing load and is prone to delays in responding to constraints.

[0004] The following describes the solutions used to address the aforementioned issues and their effects.

[0005] The vehicle battery charging planning system designed to address the aforementioned issues determines whether each battery electric vehicle can meet demand response requests from the power company based on vehicle information related to the charging status of the vehicle battery and user settings set by the users of each battery electric vehicle.

[0006] The vehicle battery charging plan system extracts multiple target vehicles to exclude battery-powered electric vehicles that are deemed unable to meet demand response requests.

[0007] The vehicle battery charging planning system generates charging plans for multiple extracted target vehicles.

[0008] The aforementioned vehicle battery charging planning system can formulate charging plans only for battery electric vehicles that can meet demand response requests. Attached Figure Description

[0009] Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings, the features, advantages, and technical and industrial significance of exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described, in which the same reference numerals denote the same elements, and wherein: Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a charging system equipped with a charging plan system for a vehicle battery according to the embodiments.

[0010] Figure 2This is a structural diagram of the determination server constituting the charging plan system for the vehicle battery according to the same implementation method.

[0011] Figure 3 This is a structural diagram of a charging plan calculation server constituting a charging plan system for a vehicle battery according to the same implementation method.

[0012] Figure 4 This is a timing diagram showing the processing flow of a vehicle battery charging planning system that generates a charging plan, as described in the same implementation.

[0013] Figure 5 This is a flowchart illustrating the process of retrieving the target vehicle from the server in the same implementation. Detailed Implementation

[0014] The following is for reference. Figures 1 to 5 An implementation of the vehicle battery charging plan system 10 will be described.

[0015] Overview of the charging system structure First, a general description of the charging system's structure will be given. For example... Figure 1 As shown, the charging system includes a charging planning system 10, a charging command server 20, a vehicle information database server 30, a user setting database server 40, user-side terminal devices 50 to 52, charging devices 60 to 62, and battery electric vehicles 90 to 92. These devices are able to communicate with each other via a communication network 1.

[0016] Charging devices 60 to 62 are powered by the power company via the power grid 2 and charge battery electric vehicles 90 to 92. Charging device 60 is installed at a charging station. Charging device 61 is installed at a user's home 70. Charging device 62 is installed at an office location 80.

[0017] The user-side terminal devices 50 to 52 are connected to the battery-powered electric vehicles 90 to 92 in a communicative manner. Figure 1 Examples of user-side terminal devices 50 to 52 include portable terminal devices 50 and 51, and terminal device 52 which functions as a personal computer. User-side terminal devices 50 to 52 can be used to set target SOC, departure time, and DR participation intention for their respective battery-powered electric vehicles 90 to 92. DR participation intention indicates the user's willingness to accept charging control in response to demand response requests.

[0018] Battery electric vehicles 90 to 92 are equipped with a vehicle battery, a vehicle ECU, a communication device, and a GPS receiver. Battery electric vehicles 90 to 92 can be charged using power supplied from an external source and can also output power from the vehicle battery to the outside. The GPS receiver can track the vehicle's location in real time. The vehicle ECU can manage vehicle information, including plug connection information (whether the plug is connected to the charging device 60 to 62), the current SOC (State of Charge) of the battery, the current vehicle location, charging status (start / stop / end / intermediate), and communication error status. The communication device can receive commands from the user or send vehicle information to external devices.

[0019] Vehicle information database server 30 stores vehicle information. Vehicle information database server 30 updates the stored information based on updates to the vehicle information. User setting database server 40 stores user setting data such as target SOC, departure time, and DR participation meaning. User setting database server 40 updates the stored setting data each time the user updates these setting data.

[0020] The charging planning system 10 is configured to include a decision server 11 and a charging plan calculation server 12. The decision server 11 extracts target vehicles from multiple battery electric vehicles 90 to 92 as the objects of the charging plan. The charging plan calculation server 12 formulates a charging plan for the extracted target vehicles. The charging instruction server 20, based on the charging plan formulated by the charging planning system 10, sends charging / discharging start / pause / end instructions, etc., to the corresponding battery electric vehicles 90 to 92 to execute the charging plan.

[0021] Determine the functional structure of server 11 Figure 2 This is a structural diagram representing the functional structure of the decision server 11. For example... Figure 2 As shown, the determination server 11 includes a processing circuit 13, a storage device 14, and a communication device 15. The CPU reads the program stored in the ROM and executes the program using the RAM as the working area to implement various functional structures. The communication device 15 is an interface for communicating with the outside world via the communication network 1. The storage device 14 stores vehicle information and user setting data for multiple battery electric vehicles 90 to 92. The processing circuit 13 determines which of the multiple battery electric vehicles 90 to 92 is capable of responding to demand response requests from the power company based on the vehicle information and user setting data stored in the storage device 14.

[0022] Functional structure of charging plan calculation server 12 Figure 3 This is a structural diagram representing the functional structure of the charging plan calculation server 12. For example... Figure 3 As shown, the charging plan calculation server 12 includes a processing circuit 16, a storage device 17, and a communication device 18. The CPU reads the program stored in the ROM and executes the program using the RAM as the working area to implement various functional structures. The communication device 18 is an interface for communicating with the outside world via the communication network 1. The processing circuit 16 formulates charging plans for target vehicles that can respond to demand response requests from the power company. The storage device 17 stores the charging plans for the target vehicles.

[0023] Actions of the implementation method Next, use Figure 4 The operation of the implementation method will be described. For example... Figure 4 As shown, the determination server 11 obtains vehicle information for multiple battery electric vehicles 90 to 92 from the vehicle information database server 30. Furthermore, the determination server 11 obtains user setting data for the multiple battery electric vehicles 90 to 92 from the user setting database server 40.

[0024] Next, the determination server 11 extracts the target vehicles for the charging plan based on the vehicle information of each battery electric vehicle 90 to 92 and the user setting data, thereby excluding vehicles that cannot respond to the demand response request. Subsequently, if the determination server 11 receives a demand response request through the communication device 15, it sends the extracted information about the target vehicles to the charging plan calculation server 12 as described above.

[0025] The charging plan calculation server 12 calculates a charging plan based on the demand response request and the target vehicle extracted by the decision server 11, and sends it to the charging instruction server 20. The charging instruction server 20 sends charging and discharging instructions to the target vehicles 90 to 92. The target vehicle that receives the charging instruction controls the charging device according to the charging instruction and executes the charging plan. For example, if the battery electric vehicle 90 is the target vehicle, the battery electric vehicle 90 controls the charging device 60 to execute the charging plan.

[0026] The process of retrieving the target vehicle from server 11 is determined. The following is for reference. Figure 5 The process of retrieving the target vehicle through the determination server 11 is explained. Upon receiving a request for a response, the determination server 11 begins... Figure 5 The process is illustrated in the following steps. First, in S100, it is determined whether each of the multiple battery electric vehicles 90 to 92 meets condition 1. Condition 1 is used to determine whether each battery electric vehicle 90 to 92 can handle the demand response request based on its vehicle information and user settings. If condition 1 is met, the determination server 11 determines that the battery electric vehicle cannot handle the demand response request.

[0027] Server 11 determines that condition 1 is satisfied if any one of the following four conditions is met.

[0028] • Plug connection information is not connected.

[0029] The location information is neither home (70) nor office (80).

[0030] • Unable to confirm DR's involvement.

[0031] That is, if any of the following conditions are met: the plug connection information is not connected; the location information is neither home (70) nor office (80); or the DR's intention to participate cannot be confirmed, the server 11 determines that it cannot respond to the request. As an example of a state where the DR's intention to participate cannot be confirmed, there may be a state where no information about the DR's intention to participate is obtained from the user settings database server 40. Another example of a state where the DR's intention to participate cannot be confirmed, there may be a state where the user does not intend to respond to the request and the user has not expressed any intention to participate in the DR process.

[0032] In S100, if condition 1 is determined to be met (S100: YES), the process proceeds to S110. In S110, the battery electric vehicle that is determined to meet condition 1 is excluded from the list of vehicles to be included in the charging plan. Next, the process proceeds to S120, where the target vehicle is extracted by excluding the battery electric vehicle that is determined to meet condition 1, thereby ending the process.

[0033] On the other hand, if the determination server 11 determines in S100 that condition 1 is not met (S100: NO), the process proceeds to S200. In S200, the determination server 11 determines whether condition 2 is met based on the vehicle information of the battery electric vehicle and the user setting data. Condition 2 is used to determine the following state: a state that was not excluded in condition 1, but cannot respond to the demand response request due to other reasons such as no actual charging demand or no room for charging adjustment.

[0034] The determination server 11 determines that condition 2 is met if any one of the following three conditions is satisfied. If condition 2 is satisfied, the determination server 11 determines that the vehicle is unable to respond to the demand request.

[0035] • The remaining SOC capacity has reached the target SOC.

[0036] • Currently in the process of charging.

[0037] • The time before departure is less than 6 hours.

[0038] That is, if any of the following conditions are met: the remaining SOC capacity reaches the target SOC, the charging state is in progress, or the time before departure is less than 6 hours, the server 11 will determine that it is unable to respond to the demand request.

[0039] If the determination server 11 determines in S200 that a vehicle meets condition 2 (S200: YES), the process proceeds to S210, where the vehicle is excluded from the target vehicles. Next, the process proceeds to S120, where the target vehicles are extracted, and the process ends.

[0040] If server 11 determines in S200 that condition 2 is not met (S200: NO), the process proceeds to S120, where the target vehicle is extracted and the process ends. In this case, no vehicle is excluded and is extracted as the target vehicle.

[0041] The function of this implementation method The vehicle battery charging planning system 10 determines whether each battery electric vehicle 90 to 92 is capable of handling demand response requests from the power company based on vehicle information related to the charging status of the vehicle battery and user settings set by the users of each battery electric vehicle 90 to 92. The vehicle battery charging planning system 10 extracts multiple target vehicles to exclude battery electric vehicles determined to be unable to handle demand response requests. The vehicle battery charging planning system 10 then formulates a charging plan based on the extracted multiple target vehicles.

[0042] Thus, the aforementioned vehicle battery charging planning system 10 can formulate charging plans that target only battery electric vehicles capable of responding to demand requests.

[0043] Effects of this implementation method (1) The vehicle battery charging planning system 10 calculates a charging plan that only targets the battery electric vehicles 90 to 92 that can respond to demand requests. Therefore, the vehicle battery charging planning system 10 can reduce the amount of data that needs to be processed and the amount of data that needs to be sent and received in order to formulate a charging plan.

[0044] In this way, the charging planning system 10 for the vehicle battery reduces the processing load required to calculate the charging plan and can quickly respond to demand requests.

[0045] (2) The vehicle battery charging plan system 10 includes: a determination server 11, which determines, based on vehicle information and user settings, whether each battery electric vehicle 90 to 92 can cope with the demand response request from the power company, and extracts multiple target vehicles to exclude battery electric vehicles determined to be unable to cope with the demand response request. Furthermore, the vehicle battery charging plan system 10 includes: a charging plan calculation server 12, which formulates a charging plan for the multiple target vehicles extracted by the determination server 11.

[0046] The charging plan calculation server 12 calculates charging plans only for battery electric vehicles that can meet demand response requests, as extracted by the decision server 11. Therefore, the amount of data that the charging plan calculation server 12 needs to process and the amount of data that needs to be sent and received can be reduced. Thus, the vehicle battery charging plan system 10 described above can reduce the processing load of the charging plan calculation server 12 required to calculate the charging plan, thereby improving responsiveness to demand response requests.

[0047] (3) In the vehicle battery charging plan system 10, as vehicle information, it is determined whether each battery electric vehicle 90 to 92 is connected to the plug of the corresponding charging device 60 to 62. Moreover, for battery electric vehicles that are not connected to the plug of the charging device 60 to 62, it is determined that they are unable to respond to the demand response request from the power company.

[0048] The vehicle battery charging plan system 10 calculates a charging plan only for the battery electric vehicles 90 to 92 that are connected to the plugs of the charging devices 60 to 62. Therefore, battery electric vehicles that do not intend to charge can be excluded. Thus, the vehicle battery charging plan system 10 can exclude battery electric vehicles that do not actually intend to charge from the charging plan, thereby enabling the formulation of an efficient charging plan.

[0049] (4) In the vehicle battery charging plan system 10, as vehicle information, it is determined whether the location of the battery electric vehicles 90 to 92 is home 70 or office 80. Furthermore, for battery electric vehicles whose location is not home 70 or office 80, it is determined that they are unable to respond to demand response requests from the power company.

[0050] The vehicle battery charging planning system 10 calculates a charging plan that only considers the battery electric vehicles located at home 70 or office 80 among multiple battery electric vehicles. Therefore, the charging plan can focus only on battery electric vehicles that can actually be charged at home 70 or office 80, and exclude vehicles with low charging feasibility from the charging plan. As a result, the vehicle battery charging planning system 10 can formulate a more accurate and efficient charging plan.

[0051] (5) The vehicle battery charging plan system 10 determines that a battery electric vehicle that has not expressed its intention to participate in demand response in the user setting data is unable to respond to demand response requests from the power company.

[0052] The aforementioned vehicle battery charging planning system 10 excludes vehicles that do not agree to participate in demand response from the charging plan. Therefore, it is possible to formulate an efficient charging plan that only targets vehicles actually capable of responding to demand response requests. Thus, the aforementioned vehicle battery charging planning system 10 can achieve charging usage that meets the user's expectations.

[0053] (6) The vehicle battery charging plan system 10 determines that a battery electric vehicle whose remaining SOC capacity has reached the target SOC is unable to respond to the demand response request from the power company.

[0054] For battery electric vehicles whose remaining SOC has already reached the target SOC, there is no need to re-formulate the charging plan. The aforementioned vehicle battery charging plan system 10 excludes battery electric vehicles whose remaining SOC has already reached the target SOC from the list of vehicles targeted for charging plans. This further reduces the processing load required to calculate the charging plan.

[0055] (7) The vehicle battery charging plan system 10 determines that a battery electric vehicle that is in the process of charging is unable to respond to the demand response request from the power company.

[0056] If charging is interrupted midway, it may accelerate the deterioration of the vehicle battery. The aforementioned vehicle battery charging planning system 10 excludes battery electric vehicles that are in the process of charging from the target vehicles for the charging plan. As a result, frequent starting and stopping of charging can be prevented, thus suppressing the deterioration of the vehicle battery and enabling the vehicle battery to be used for a longer period of time.

[0057] (8) The vehicle battery charging plan system 10 determines, in the user-defined data, that battery electric vehicles with a time less than 6 hours before the departure time are unable to respond to the demand response request from the power company.

[0058] When the time before departure is less than 6 hours, it is difficult to adjust the charging plan according to demand response requests, and it may be impossible to achieve demand response-based charging control. The aforementioned vehicle battery charging plan system 10 excludes battery electric vehicles with less than 6 hours before departure from the target vehicles for the charging plan. As a result, vehicles with room for adjusting the charging plan can be selected as target vehicles.

[0059] Change Example This embodiment can be modified as follows. This embodiment and the following modifications can be combined with each other within the scope of technical inconsistency.

[0060] In one embodiment, the vehicle battery charging planning system 10 includes a determination server 11 for identifying target vehicles and a charging plan calculation server 12 for formulating charging plans for the target vehicles. Alternatively, the vehicle battery charging planning system 10 may integrate the determination server 11 and the charging plan calculation server 12 into a single server.

[0061] In the implementation, conditions 1 and 2 are described separately, but conditions 1 and 2 can be substituted for each other within the scope of technical consistency. For example, the statement "no DR participation intention" can be changed to condition 2, and the statement "SOC remaining capacity has reached the target SOC" can be changed to condition 1.

[0062] In the implementation, only examples are given for conditions 1 and 2, but they should be understood to include all situations in which a demand response request cannot be responded to. For example, situations such as abnormal communication status, the user having already set the charging plan for the vehicle being used, and situations where the technical requirements for responding to a demand response request are not met can be cited.

Claims

1. A charging planning system for a vehicle battery, which formulates charging plans for multiple battery-powered electric vehicles, characterized in that, The vehicle battery charging plan system performs the following processing: Based on vehicle information related to the charging status of the vehicle battery of each battery electric vehicle and user settings set by the users of each battery electric vehicle, it is determined whether each battery electric vehicle can respond to demand response requests from the power company. Extract multiple target vehicles to exclude the battery electric vehicles that are determined to be unable to respond to the demand response request; and Execute a charging plan for the extracted multiple object vehicles.

2. The vehicle battery charging planning system according to claim 1, characterized in that, have: The determination server, based on the vehicle information and the user settings, determines whether each battery electric vehicle can respond to the demand response request, and extracts multiple target vehicles to exclude battery electric vehicles that are determined to be unable to respond to the demand response request. and A charging plan calculation server that formulates charging plans for a plurality of target vehicles extracted by the determination server.

3. The vehicle battery charging planning system according to claim 1, characterized in that, As vehicle information, it is determined whether each battery electric vehicle is connected to the plug of the charging device. For battery electric vehicles that are not connected to the plug of the charging device, it is determined that they cannot respond to the demand request.

4. The vehicle battery charging planning system according to claim 1, characterized in that, As the vehicle information, it is determined whether the location of the battery electric vehicle is a home or an office. If the location of the battery electric vehicle is not a home or an office, it is determined that the vehicle cannot respond to the demand request.

5. The vehicle battery charging planning system according to claim 1, characterized in that, For battery-powered electric vehicles that have not expressed their intention to participate in demand response in the user settings, they are determined to be unable to respond to the demand response request.

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