Charging control system, charging control method, and program

Abstract

To perform efficient charging of a vehicle by restraining misrecognition of full charge.SOLUTION: A charging control system includes a power acquisition unit that acquires power which can be supplied to a plurality of chargers, and a power supply unit that supplies the power acquired by the power acquisition unit to, among the plurality of chargers, a charger connected to a vehicle that has not been determined to be fully charged, without supplying the power to a particular charger connected to a vehicle that has been determined to be fully charged, and, after the elapse of a certain time period, supplies the power to, among the plurality of chargers, the particular charger and a charger connected to the vehicle that has not been determined to be fully charged.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a charge control system, a charge control method, and a program. [Background technology]

[0002] Patent Document 1 describes a vehicle charging device that has multiple chargers for charging vehicles and a charging control unit that collectively controls the charging current of the chargers, in which the charging control unit sets a charge amount threshold for each vehicle in order to prioritize the vehicles to be charged, and performs charging control that gives priority to charging of vehicles whose charge amount is below the threshold over vehicles whose charging has exceeded the threshold, obtains information on received power from the grid and controls vehicle charging so that the received power does not exceed a reference value, and excludes from charging any vehicles in which the charging current actually supplied by the charger is less than the indicated charging current value for a predetermined period of time. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2023-56897 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] A possible configuration is that once charging has been stopped, the vehicle is determined to be fully charged, and the charger connected to this vehicle is excluded from power supply and will not be used again. However, some vehicle models may stop charging even before the vehicle is fully charged, and restart it to get closer to full charging. In addition, although this is often the case when the vehicle is close to full charging, there may be a phenomenon in which the charging current decreases even when the vehicle is not fully charged. In such a case, if the above configuration is adopted, there is a risk that the vehicle may be mistaken for being fully charged.

[0005] An object of the present invention is to efficiently charge a vehicle by preventing the vehicle from being mistakenly recognized as being fully charged. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] With this objective in mind, the present invention provides a charging control system comprising: a power acquisition unit that acquires power that can be supplied to a plurality of chargers; and a power supply unit that does not supply the power acquired by the power acquisition unit to a specific charger among the plurality of chargers to which a vehicle determined to be fully charged is connected, but supplies the power to a charger to which a vehicle not determined to be fully charged is connected, and after a certain period of time has elapsed, supplies the power acquired by the power acquisition unit to the specific charger among the plurality of chargers and to the charger to which a vehicle not determined to be fully charged is connected.

[0007] The power supply unit may determine whether or not a vehicle connected to each of the multiple chargers is fully charged based on charging state information of each of the multiple chargers. In this case, the power supply unit may determine that a vehicle connected to a charger that is not charging among the multiple chargers is fully charged. In this case, the power supply unit may not determine that a vehicle connected to a charger that is not charging among the multiple chargers due to a factor other than full charging is fully charged.

[0008] The power supply unit may supply the power acquired by the power acquisition unit to a charger among the multiple chargers to which a vehicle that has not been determined to be fully charged is connected, in order of priority according to the accumulated charging amount since the vehicle was connected. The power supply unit may supply the power acquired by the power acquisition unit, after a certain period of time, to a specific charger among the multiple chargers and to a charger to which a vehicle that has not been determined to be fully charged is connected, by setting the priority of the specific charger lower than the priority of a charger to which a vehicle that has not been determined to be fully charged is connected.

[0009] The present invention also provides a charging control method including the steps of acquiring power that can be supplied to a plurality of chargers, supplying the acquired power not to a particular charger among the plurality of chargers to which a vehicle determined to be fully charged is connected, but to a charger to which a vehicle not determined to be fully charged is connected, and after a certain period of time has elapsed, supplying the power to the particular charger among the plurality of chargers and to the charger to which a vehicle not determined to be fully charged is connected.

[0010] Furthermore, the present invention also provides a program for enabling a computer to realize the functions of acquiring power that can be supplied to multiple chargers, and not supplying the acquired power to a specific charger among the multiple chargers to which a vehicle determined to be fully charged is connected, but supplying the acquired power to a charger to which a vehicle not determined to be fully charged is connected, and after a certain period of time has elapsed, supplying the power to the specific charger among the multiple chargers and to the charger to which a vehicle not determined to be fully charged is connected. Effect of the Invention

[0011] According to the present invention, it is possible to suppress the misidentification of a fully charged state and to efficiently charge a vehicle. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0012] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of a charging system according to an embodiment of the present invention; [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of a cloud server according to the present embodiment. [Diagram 3] 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a functional configuration of a cloud server according to the present embodiment. FIG. [Figure 4] 5 is a diagram showing full charge determination information stored in a full charge information storage unit; FIG. [Diagram 5] 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the operation of a power supply unit of the cloud server in the present embodiment. [Figure 6] 13 is a diagram showing an example of full-charge information before an Nth operation of a power supply unit is executed; FIG. [Figure 7]13 is a diagram showing an example of full charge information after an Nth operation of a power supply unit is performed. FIG. [Figure 8] 13 is a diagram showing an example of full charge information after the (N+1)th operation of the power supply unit is executed; FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0013] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0014] [Overall configuration of charging system] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of a charging system 1 in this embodiment. As shown in the figure, the charging system 1 includes chargers 10a to 10d, a power load 20, a commercial power source 30, a power receiving facility 40, and a cloud server 60. Among these, the chargers 10a to 10d, the power receiving facility 40, and the cloud server 60 are connected to a communication line 80. The figure also shows vehicles 90a to 90d, although they do not strictly constitute the charging system 1. Note that although the figure shows the chargers 10a to 10d and the vehicles 90a to 90d, they may be referred to as chargers 10 and vehicles 90 when there is no need to distinguish between them. Also, although four chargers 10 and four vehicles 90 are shown, the number may be three or less, or five or more.

[0015] The charger 10 charges the vehicle 90 connected to the charger 10. In response to a charging instruction from the cloud server 60, the charger 10 increases or decreases the charging current for the vehicle 90. The charger 10 may be, for example, a normal charger that complies with SAE J1772 or IEC 62196-2 type 1. The power load 20 is an electric component that consumes power other than the charger 10. The power load 20 is, for example, an air conditioner, lighting, etc. that consumes power in a building.

[0016] The commercial power source 30 is a power source that supplies AC power provided by a power company. The power receiving facility 40 is a facility that receives AC power supplied from the commercial power source 30 .

[0017] The cloud server 60 receives from the power receiving equipment 40 information on the received power received from the commercial power source 30 and information on the overall load including the power load 20 and the multiple chargers 10. The cloud server 60 also receives from the chargers 10 information on actual power, which is an actual value of power used by the chargers 10. Then, based on this information, the cloud server 60 determines the charging amount for each of the multiple chargers 10 and transmits a charging instruction to each of the multiple chargers 10 to instruct them to charge the connected vehicle 90.

[0018] The communication line 80 is a communication means used for information communication between the charger 10 and the cloud server 60, between the power receiving equipment 40 and the cloud server 60, etc. As the communication line 80, for example, the Internet may be used.

[0019] The vehicle 90 is, for example, an electric vehicle (EV) that is connected to the charger 10 via a charging cable and can be charged by the charger 10.

[0020] [Cloud server hardware configuration] 2 is a diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration of cloud server 60 in this embodiment. As shown in the figure, cloud server 60 includes a control unit 61, a hard disk drive 62, a communication interface 63, an input device 64, and a display device 65.

[0021] The control unit 61 is a so-called computer that controls the operation of the entire device. The control unit 61 has a CPU 611, a ROM 612 in which basic software, BIOS, etc. are stored, and a RAM 613 used as a work area. The CPU 611 may be a multi-core. The ROM 612 may be a rewritable non-volatile semiconductor memory.

[0022] The hard disk drive 62 is a device for storing data, etc. The hard disk drive 62 reads and writes data from a non-volatile storage medium having a magnetic material applied to the surface of a disk-shaped substrate. The non-volatile storage medium may be a semiconductor memory, etc. The communication interface 63 is an interface for realizing communication with other devices. The communication with other devices may be realized, for example, via a LAN (Local Area Network) or the Internet. The input device 64 is a device for inputting information to the apparatus, and may be, for example, a keyboard, a mouse, or a touch panel. The display device 65 is a device for displaying information on the apparatus, and may be, for example, a liquid crystal display or an organic EL (Electro Luminescence) display.

[0023] The control unit 61, the hard disk drive 62, the communication interface 63, the input device 64, and the display device 65 are connected via a bus 69 and signal lines (not shown).

[0024] [Problems and Solutions of the Present Embodiment] If the charger 10 is a normal charger conforming to, for example, SAE J1772 or IEC62196-2 type 1, the charger 10 cannot acquire SOC (State Of Charge) information and therefore cannot identify a vehicle 90 that is fully charged. Therefore, in the energy management control, power is allocated to the charger 10 to which a fully charged vehicle 90 is connected. However, this means that not all of the allocated power is utilized for charging, and it takes more time than necessary for all of the vehicles 90 to complete charging.

[0025] Therefore, in this embodiment, since charging of a vehicle 90 that is fully charged is stopped, the vehicle 90 for which charging has been stopped is determined to be fully charged, and power is not allocated to the charger 10 to which the fully charged vehicle 90 is connected.

[0026] [Cloud server functional configuration] 3 is a block diagram showing an example of a functional configuration of cloud server 60 according to the present embodiment. As shown in the figure, cloud server 60 includes a power acquisition unit 71 and a power supply unit 72.

[0027] The power acquisition unit 71 acquires information on the received power from the power receiving equipment 40 and information on the entire load including the power load 20 and the multiple chargers 10. Then, the power acquisition unit 71 acquires the power that can be supplied to the multiple chargers 10 by calculation based on the information on the received power and the information on the load. In this embodiment, the power acquisition unit 71 is used as an example of a power acquisition unit that acquires power that can be supplied to a plurality of chargers. Furthermore, the power acquisition unit 71 acquires information on the actual power from the charger 10.

[0028] The power supply unit 72 controls the supply of power to a plurality of chargers 10. At that time, the power supply unit 72 determines that the vehicle 90 for which charging has stopped is fully charged, and controls so as not to supply power to the charger 10 to which the fully charged vehicle 90 is connected. The power supply unit 72 includes a power supply control unit 721 , a connection detection unit 722 , a full charge determination unit 723 , a power allocation unit 724 , and a full charge information storage unit 725 .

[0029] The power supply control unit 721 controls the operation of the connection detection unit 722, the full charge determination unit 723, and the power allocation unit 724. Specifically, the power supply control unit 721 controls the connection detection unit 722, the full charge determination unit 723, and the power allocation unit 724 so that they operate at regular intervals. Here, the regular intervals are, for example, every 5 minutes, but are not limited to this.

[0030] The connection detection unit 722 detects the connection when the vehicle 90 is connected to the charger 10 via a charging cable. The connection detection unit 722 may detect this connection by receiving a signal indicating that the vehicle 90 is connected to the charger 10.

[0031] The full charge determination unit 723 determines whether or not the vehicle 90 is fully charged for each charger 10 to which the vehicle 90 is connected among the multiple chargers 10. Specifically, the full charge determination unit 723 determines whether or not the vehicle 90 is fully charged based on information related to the charging state of the charger 10. In this embodiment, the full charge determination unit 723 is provided with this function as an example of a function of the power supply unit to determine whether or not a vehicle connected to each of a plurality of chargers is fully charged based on the charging state information of each charger.

[0032] Here, the information on the charging state includes information on whether the charger 10 is charging the vehicle 90 or not. In other words, the full charge determination unit 723 determines that the vehicle 90 is fully charged when the charger 10 is not charging the vehicle 90, and determines that the vehicle 90 is not fully charged when the charger 10 is charging the vehicle 90. Note that "when not charging" may be when the charging status becomes "charging stopped" or when the charging power becomes 0 A. On the other hand, "when charging" may be when the charging status becomes "charging" or when the charging power is greater than 0 A. In this embodiment, the full charge determination unit 723 is provided with this function as an example of a function of the power supply unit to determine that a vehicle connected to a charger that is not currently charging among a plurality of chargers is fully charged.

[0033] The information regarding the charging state also includes information regarding whether or not the charger 10 has stopped charging the vehicle 90 due to a factor other than a full charge. In other words, when the charger 10 is not charging the vehicle 90, the full charge determination unit 723 determines that the vehicle 90 is fully charged unless charging has been stopped due to another factor, and determines that the vehicle 90 is not fully charged if charging has been stopped due to another factor. Here, "charging stopped due to another factor" may be, for example, charging stopped due to a temperature rise. In this embodiment, the full charge determination unit 723 is provided with this function as an example of a function of the power supply unit that does not determine that a vehicle is fully charged when it is connected to a charger that is not charging due to factors other than full charge among multiple chargers.

[0034] Furthermore, the full charge determination unit 723 is activated again by the power supply control unit 721 when a certain time has elapsed after the power allocation unit 724 described below has allocated power once. As a result, the full charge determination unit 723 determines again whether or not the vehicle 90 is fully charged for each of the chargers 10 to which the vehicle 90 is connected among the multiple chargers 10.

[0035] The power allocation unit 724 allocates the power acquired by the power acquisition unit 71 to a charger 10 connected to a vehicle 90 determined not to be fully charged by the full charge determination unit 723. In other words, the power allocation unit 724 does not allocate the power acquired by the power acquisition unit 71 to a charger 10 connected to a vehicle 90 determined to be fully charged by the full charge determination unit 723.

[0036] In addition, the power allocation unit 724 attempts to allocate power again after a certain time has elapsed, even if the charger 10 to which power was not allocated once because the vehicle 90 determined to be fully charged by the full charge determination unit 723 is connected is connected. The power allocation unit 724 then allocates power again to the charger 10 to which the vehicle 90 determined not to be fully charged by the full charge determination unit 723 is connected, and does not allocate power to the charger 10 to which the vehicle 90 determined to be fully charged again by the full charge determination unit 723 is connected. For example, some vehicle models stop charging once even before the vehicle is fully charged, and restart it to get closer to full charging, so stopping charging does not determine whether the vehicle is fully charged. Also, when the vehicle is close to full charging, the charging current may decrease even if the vehicle is not fully charged, so stopping charging does not determine whether the vehicle is fully charged.

[0037] In this embodiment, a power allocation unit 724 is provided as an example of a power supply unit that does not supply the power acquired by the power acquisition unit to a specific charger among multiple chargers to which a vehicle determined to be fully charged is connected, but rather supplies the power to a charger to which a vehicle not determined to be fully charged is connected, and after a certain period of time has elapsed, supplies the power to a specific charger among multiple chargers and to a charger to which a vehicle not determined to be fully charged is connected.

[0038] In addition, when allocating power to a plurality of chargers 10 to which a vehicle 90 determined not to be fully charged is connected, the power allocation unit 724 may prioritize the plurality of chargers 10. One possible priority order is a priority order based on an accumulated charge amount since the vehicle 90 was connected to the charger 10. In other words, the power allocation unit 724 allocates power to the plurality of chargers 10 by giving a higher priority to a charger 10 to which a vehicle 90 with a small accumulated charge amount is connected than to a charger 10 to which a vehicle 90 with a large accumulated charge amount is connected. The power allocation unit 724 may calculate the above-mentioned accumulated charge amount based on information related to the actual power acquired by the power acquisition unit 71. In this embodiment, this function of the power allocation unit 724 is provided as an example of a function of the power supply unit to supply power acquired by the power acquisition unit to a charger among multiple chargers to which a vehicle that has not been determined to be fully charged is connected, in order of priority according to the accumulated charge amount since the vehicle was connected.

[0039] Furthermore, when the power allocation unit 724 attempts to allocate power again after a certain time has elapsed to a charger connected to a vehicle 90 that was once determined to be fully charged, it may set the priority of that charger 10 lower than the priority of a charger 10 connected to a vehicle that has not been determined to be fully charged. In other words, the power allocation unit 724 allocates power to multiple chargers 10 by setting the priority of the charger 10 connected to the vehicle 90 that is attempting to be charged again lower than the priority of a charger 10 connected to a vehicle that has not been determined to be fully charged. In this embodiment, this function of the power allocation unit 724 is provided as an example of a function of supplying power acquired by the power acquisition unit of the power supply unit after a certain period of time has elapsed to a specific charger among multiple chargers and to a charger to which a vehicle that has not been determined to be fully charged is connected, by setting the priority of the specific charger lower than the priority of a charger to which a vehicle that has not been determined to be fully charged is connected.

[0040] Incidentally, in the above, the "priority" may be, for example, a ranking regarding the amount of power that the power allocation unit 724 allocates to each charger 10 from among the power acquired by the power acquisition unit 71. In other words, giving a higher priority to one charger 10 than the priority of another charger 10 may mean allocating a larger amount of power to the former charger 10 than a larger amount of power to the latter charger 10.

[0041] The full charge information storage unit 725 stores, for each of the multiple chargers 10, full charge information indicating whether or not the vehicle 90 connected to the charger 10 has been determined to be fully charged.

[0042] 4 is a diagram showing the full charge information stored in the full charge information storage unit 725. As shown in the diagram, the full charge information associates a charger ID with a full charge flag.

[0043] The charger ID is identification information for identifying each of the multiple chargers 10. Here, the charger IDs of the chargers 10a, 10b, 10c, and 10d are "A," "B," "C," and "D," respectively. The full charge flag indicates whether the vehicle 90 connected to the charger 10 with the corresponding charger ID has been determined to be fully charged. Here, the full charge flag is not stored as the vehicle 90 is not connected to any of the chargers 10. If the vehicle 90 is subsequently connected to any of the chargers 10, "True" or "False" is stored as the full charge flag. Here, the full charge flag "True" indicates that the vehicle 90 connected to the charger 10 with the corresponding charger ID has been determined to be fully charged, and the full charge flag "False" indicates that the vehicle 90 connected to the charger 10 with the corresponding charger ID has not been determined to be fully charged.

[0044] [Example of cloud server operation] First, in the cloud server 60, the power acquisition unit 71 acquires information on the power that can be supplied by the power supply unit 72 to the multiple chargers 10. Next, the power supply unit 72 controls the supply of power to the multiple chargers 10 based on the information on the available power acquired by the power acquisition unit 71.

[0045] FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the power supply unit 72 of the cloud server 60 in this embodiment.

[0046] As shown in the figure, in the power supply unit 72, the connection detection unit 722 determines whether or not the vehicle 90 is connected to any of the chargers 10 (step 601). If it is determined in step 601 that the vehicle 90 is connected to any of the chargers 10, the connection detection unit 722 stores the full charge flag "False" for the charger ID of that charger 10 in the full charge information stored in the full charge information storage unit 725 (step 602). Then, the connection detection unit 722 advances the process to step 603. On the other hand, if it is determined in step 601 that the vehicle 90 is not connected to any of the chargers 10, the connection detection unit 722 advances the process to step 603 without executing the process of step 602.

[0047] Next, the full charge determination unit 723 focuses on one charger 10 to which the vehicle 90 is connected (step 603). Then, the full charge determination unit 723 determines whether or not the charger 10 focused on in step 603 is charging (step 604). If it is determined in step 604 that the charger 10 is currently charging, the full charge determination unit 723 advances the process directly to step 609 .

[0048] On the other hand, suppose that it is determined in step 604 that the charger 10 is not charging. Then, the full charge determination unit 723 determines whether the full charge flag stored for the charger ID of the charger 10 in the full charge information stored in the full charge information storage unit 725 is "True" or "False" (step 605). Then, if it is determined in step 605 that the full charge flag stored for the charger ID of the charger 10 is "True", the full charge determination unit 723 sets the full charge flag to "False" so that the charger 10 is subject to power allocation by the power allocation unit 724 at regular time intervals. In other words, the full charge determination unit 723 stores the full charge flag "False" for the charger ID of the charger 10 in the full charge information stored in the full charge information storage unit 725 (step 606). Then, the full charge determination unit 723 advances the process to step 609.

[0049] On the other hand, suppose that it is determined in step 605 that the full charge flag stored for the charger ID of that charger 10 is "False." Then, the full charge determination unit 723 determines whether or not the stop of charging of that charger 10 is due to another cause (step 607). Then, if it is determined in step 607 that the stop of charging of that charger 10 is due to another cause, the full charge determination unit 723 proceeds directly to step 609.

[0050] On the other hand, suppose that it is determined in step 607 that the stop of charging of that charger 10 is not due to another factor. Then, the full charge determination unit 723 determines that the vehicle 90 connected to that charger 10 is fully charged. That is, the full charge determination unit 723 stores a full charge flag of "True" for the charger ID of that charger 10 in the full charge information stored in the full charge information storage unit 725 (step 608). Then, the full charge determination unit 723 advances the process to step 609.

[0051] Next, the full-charge determination unit 723 determines whether or not there is another charger 10 to which the vehicle 90 is connected (step 609). If it is determined in step 609 that there is another charger 10 to which the vehicle 90 is connected, the full-charge determination unit 723 returns the process to step 603 . On the other hand, if it is determined in step 609 that there is no other charger 10 currently connected to the vehicle 90 , the full-charge determination unit 723 advances the process to step 610 .

[0052] Next, the power allocation unit 724 allocates the power acquired by the power acquisition unit 71 to the charger 10 connected to the vehicle 90 that has not been determined to be fully charged. That is, the power allocation unit 724 allocates power to the charger 10 having the charger ID for which the full charge flag "False" is stored in the full charge information stored in the full charge information storage unit 725 (step 610). Conversely, the power allocation unit 724 does not allocate the power acquired by the power acquisition unit 71 to the charger 10 connected to the vehicle 90 that has been determined to be fully charged.

[0053] After that, the power supply control unit 721 judges whether or not a certain period of time has elapsed (step 611). If it is determined in step 611 that the certain period of time has not elapsed, the power supply control unit 721 repeats step 611 . On the other hand, if it is determined in step 611 that the certain period of time has elapsed, the power supply control unit 721 returns the process to step 601 .

[0054] Here, the transition of the full charge information stored in the full charge information storage unit 725 when the power supply unit 72 operates according to the flowchart of FIG. 5 will be described.

[0055] FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of full charge information before the Nth operation of the power supply unit 72 is performed. Here, the full charge flag "False" is stored for the charger IDs "A" and "B." This indicates that although a vehicle 90 is connected to the charger 10a with the charger ID "A" and the charger 10b with the charger ID "B," none of the vehicles 90 connected to either charger 10 is fully charged. Additionally, no full charge flag is stored for the charger IDs "C" and "D." This indicates that the vehicle 90 is not connected to the charger 10c with the charger ID "C" and the charger 10d with the charger ID "D." In this case, the power allocation unit 724 allocates the power acquired by the power acquisition unit 71 to the charger 10a with the charger ID "A" and the charger 10b with the charger ID "B."

[0056] FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of full charge information after the power supply unit 72 has performed an Nth operation. Here, a new full charge flag of "False" is stored for the charger ID "C." This indicates that in step 601 of Fig. 5, it was detected that the vehicle 90 was connected to the charger 10c with the charger ID "C," but in step 604, it was determined that the vehicle 90 is not fully charged. Also, the full charge flag for the charger ID "B" is changed from "False" to "True." This indicates that the vehicle 90 connected to the charger 10b with the charger ID "B" is determined to be fully charged in steps 604 and 607 in Fig. 5, and the full charge flag becomes "True" in step 608. In this case, the power allocation unit 724 allocates the power acquired by the power acquisition unit 71 to the charger 10a with the charger ID "A" and the charger 10c with the charger ID "C."

[0057] FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of full charge information after the power supply unit 72 has performed its (N+1)th operation. Here, a new full charge flag of "False" is stored for the charger ID "D." This indicates that in step 601 of Fig. 5, it was detected that the vehicle 90 was connected to the charger 10d with the charger ID "D," but in step 604, it was determined that the vehicle 90 is not fully charged. Also, the full charge flag for the charger ID "B" has returned from "True" to "False." This indicates that in step 604 of Fig. 5, it was determined that the vehicle 90 connected to the charger 10b with the charger ID "B" was fully charged, but in step 605 it was determined that the full charge flag was already "True," and in step 606 the full charge flag became "False." In this case, the power allocation unit 724 will allocate the power acquired by the power acquisition unit 71 to charger 10a with charger ID "A", charger 10b with charger ID "B", charger 10c with charger ID "C", and charger 10d with charger ID "D".

[0058] [Variations] In the above embodiment, the cloud server 60 controls charging by the multiple chargers 10, but this is not limited to the above. A charging control device (not shown) provided in association with the multiple chargers 10 may control charging for the multiple chargers 10. Furthermore, the cloud server 60 and the charging control device (not shown) may be a single device, or may be a system configured of multiple devices. In this sense, the cloud server 60 and the charge control device (not shown) are an example of a charge control system.

[0059] [program] The processes performed by the cloud server 60 or a charging control device (not shown) in this embodiment are prepared as a program such as application software, for example. In this case, the program that realizes this embodiment can be understood as a program that causes a computer to realize the functions of acquiring power that can be supplied to multiple chargers, and not supplying the acquired power to a specific charger among the multiple chargers to which a vehicle that has been determined to be fully charged is connected, but supplying the acquired power to a charger to which a vehicle that has not been determined to be fully charged is connected, and after a certain period of time has elapsed, supplying the power to the specific charger among the multiple chargers and to the charger to which a vehicle that has not been determined to be fully charged is connected. The program for realizing the present embodiment can be provided not only by communication means but also by being stored in a recording medium such as a CD-ROM. [Explanation of symbols]

[0060] 1... charging system, 10a to 10d... charger, 20... power load, 30... commercial power source, 40... power receiving equipment, 60... cloud server, 71... power acquisition unit, 72... power supply unit, 721... power supply control unit, 722... connection detection unit, 723... full charge determination unit, 724... power allocation unit, 725... full charge information storage unit

Claims

1. a power acquisition unit that acquires power that can be supplied to a plurality of chargers; a power supply unit that does not supply the power acquired by the power acquisition unit to a specific charger among the plurality of chargers to which a vehicle determined to be fully charged is connected, but supplies the power to a charger to which a vehicle not determined to be fully charged is connected, and after a certain time has elapsed, supplies the power acquired by the power acquisition unit to the specific charger among the plurality of chargers and to a charger to which a vehicle not determined to be fully charged is connected; A charging control system comprising:

2. The charging control system according to claim 1 , wherein the power supply unit determines whether or not the vehicle connected to each of the plurality of chargers is fully charged based on charging state information of each of the plurality of chargers.

3. The charging control system according to claim 2 , wherein the power supply unit determines that a vehicle connected to a charger that is not currently charging among the plurality of chargers is fully charged.

4. The charging control system according to claim 3 , wherein the power supply unit does not determine that a vehicle connected to a charger that is not being charged due to a factor other than full charge is fully charged among the plurality of chargers.

5. 2. The charging control system according to claim 1, wherein the power supply unit supplies the power acquired by the power acquisition unit to a charger among the plurality of chargers to which a vehicle that has not been determined to be fully charged is connected, in a priority order according to an accumulated charge amount since the vehicle was connected.

6. 2. The charging control system according to claim 1, wherein after the certain time has elapsed, the power supply unit supplies the power acquired by the power acquisition unit to the specific charger among the plurality of chargers and to a charger to which a vehicle that has not been determined to be fully charged is connected by setting a priority of the specific charger lower than a priority of a charger to which a vehicle that has not been determined to be fully charged is connected.

7. obtaining power available for a plurality of chargers; supplying the acquired power not to a specific charger among the plurality of chargers to which a vehicle determined to be fully charged is connected, but to a charger to which a vehicle not determined to be fully charged is connected, and after a certain period of time has elapsed, supplying the acquired power to the specific charger among the plurality of chargers and to the charger to which a vehicle not determined to be fully charged is connected; A charging control method comprising:

8. On the computer, A function for acquiring power available for multiple chargers; a function of not supplying the acquired power to a specific charger among the plurality of chargers to which a vehicle determined to be fully charged is connected, but to a charger to which a vehicle not determined to be fully charged is connected, and after a certain period of time has elapsed, supplying the acquired power to the specific charger among the plurality of chargers and to a charger to which a vehicle not determined to be fully charged is connected; A program to achieve this.

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