Hydrogen station management system

Abstract

To provide a technique for notifying a hydrogen station of an increase in the planned amount of hydrogen to be supplied.SOLUTION: A hydrogen station management system is provided, comprising a first hydrogen station, a second hydrogen station serving as an auxiliary hydrogen station to the first hydrogen station, and a notification unit configured to notify the second hydrogen station of an amount of hydrogen that was planned to be supplied by the first station when the first hydrogen station fails.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a management system for a hydrogen station. [Background technology]

[0002] For example, as described in Patent Document 1, a travel system is known that provides a fuel cell vehicle with a travel route for filling up with hydrogen based on the amount of hydrogen that can be supplied by a hydrogen station. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2023-18846 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] If a problem occurs at a hydrogen station, it may be necessary to guide passengers to another hydrogen station, which may not be ready to fill with hydrogen. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] The present disclosure has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and can be realized in the following forms.

[0006] According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a hydrogen station management system comprising a first hydrogen station, a second hydrogen station that is a backup hydrogen station for the first hydrogen station, and a notification unit that notifies the second hydrogen station of the amount of hydrogen that was scheduled to be filled at the first hydrogen station in the event of a failure at the first hydrogen station. According to this type of hydrogen station management system, if the first hydrogen station fails, the second hydrogen station is notified of the amount of hydrogen that was scheduled to be filled at the first hydrogen station, and the second hydrogen station is informed that the planned amount of hydrogen to be filled will increase, allowing it to prepare hydrogen.

[0007] The present disclosure can be realized in various forms, for example, as a server device, a method for notifying a planned amount of hydrogen to be filled, a method for preparing hydrogen at a hydrogen station, and the like. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an overview of a hydrogen station management system. [Diagram 2] 13 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a notification process. [Diagram 3] This is a graph showing the planned amount of hydrogen to be filled every hour. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0009] A. Embodiment: 1 is a schematic diagram showing an overview of a hydrogen station management system 10 in this embodiment. The management system 10 is a system that manages hydrogen stations that fill vehicles 100 with hydrogen. The management system 10 includes a first hydrogen station 200, a second hydrogen station 300, and a server device 400. The server device 400 is capable of communicating with the first hydrogen station 200 and the second hydrogen station 300. In this embodiment, the server device 400 communicates with the first hydrogen station 200 and the second hydrogen station 300 via wireless communication.

[0010] The vehicle 100 is a fuel cell vehicle. In this embodiment, the vehicle 100 is a delivery truck for a logistics business that travels along a predetermined basic route every day. The vehicle 100 is filled with a predetermined amount of hydrogen at a predetermined time. The vehicle 100 is also capable of communicating with a server device 400.

[0011] The first hydrogen station 200 is a hydrogen station that is mainly used by the vehicle 100. In this embodiment, the first hydrogen station 200 is located on a basic route along which the vehicle 100 travels.

[0012] The second hydrogen station 300 is a backup hydrogen station that the vehicle 100 uses when, for example, it is difficult to fill the vehicle with hydrogen at the first hydrogen station 200. The second hydrogen station 300 is also called a sub-hydrogen station of the first hydrogen station 200. In this embodiment, the second hydrogen station 300 is located on or near the basic route that the vehicle 100 travels.

[0013] The server device 400 is made up of a computer including a central processing unit (CPU), RAM, ROM, etc., and the CPU 420 executes a program preinstalled in the memory 410 of the server device 400 to realize the functions of a notification unit 421. The server device 400 includes an input / output interface 430 to which a communication device (not shown) for communicating with the outside world by wireless communication is connected. However, some or all of the functions of these units may be realized by a hardware circuit.

[0014] In this embodiment, the memory 410 stores the planned time for filling hydrogen (hereinafter also referred to as the "planned filling time") and the planned amount of hydrogen to be filled at the planned filling time (hereinafter also referred to as the "planned amount of hydrogen filled") at each of the first hydrogen station 200 and the second hydrogen station 300.

[0015] When a fault occurs in the first hydrogen station 200, the notification unit 421 notifies the second hydrogen station 300 of the amount of hydrogen that was to be filled at the first hydrogen station 200, which is stored in the memory 410.

[0016] 2 is a flowchart showing an example of the notification process. The notification process is, for example, a process that is repeatedly executed while the management system 10 is in operation. In step S100, the notification unit 421 determines whether or not a fault has occurred in the first hydrogen station 200. If a fault has occurred in the first hydrogen station 200, the notification unit 421 proceeds to the process of step S110. On the other hand, if a fault has not occurred in the first hydrogen station 200, the notification unit 421 ends the notification process.

[0017] For example, when a signal indicating the occurrence of a fault is received from the first hydrogen station 200, the notification unit 421 determines that a fault has occurred in the first hydrogen station 200. For example, when a fault occurs in a hydrogen tank, dispenser, compressor, or the like (none of which are shown) provided in the first hydrogen station 200, the first hydrogen station 200 transmits a signal indicating the occurrence of the fault to the notification unit 421.

[0018] In step S110, the notification unit 421 notifies the second hydrogen station 300 of the amount of hydrogen planned to be filled at the first hydrogen station 200, which is stored in the memory 410. In this embodiment, the notification unit 421 adds the planned amount of hydrogen to be filled at the first hydrogen station 200 to the planned amount of hydrogen to be filled at the second hydrogen station 300, and notifies the second hydrogen station 300 of the result.

[0019] 3 is a graph showing the planned hydrogen filling amount of the second hydrogen station 300 every hour. The notification unit 421 notifies the second hydrogen station 300 of this graph. In FIG. 3, the planned hydrogen filling amount shown in white is the planned hydrogen filling amount that was determined in advance, and the planned hydrogen filling amount shown in hatching is the hydrogen amount that was planned to be filled at the first hydrogen station 200. As shown in FIG. 3, hydrogen filling was not planned from 13:00 to 14:00 and from 14:00 to 15:00, but hydrogen filling was scheduled due to the occurrence of a fault at the first hydrogen station 200. In addition, the planned hydrogen filling amount from 15:00 to 16:00 has increased due to the occurrence of a fault at the first hydrogen station 200.

[0020] In this embodiment, the second hydrogen station 300 prepares to fill the hydrogen tank with the notified amount of hydrogen. More specifically, the second hydrogen station 300 controls the temperature and pressure in the hydrogen tank based on the graph shown in Figure 3 so that the planned amount of hydrogen can be filled at the scheduled time.

[0021] According to the management system 10 of the present embodiment described above, when the first hydrogen station 200 fails, the notification unit 421 notifies the second hydrogen station 300 of the amount of hydrogen that was scheduled to be filled at the first hydrogen station 200. Therefore, the second hydrogen station 300 can know that the planned amount of hydrogen to be filled will increase, and can prepare hydrogen.

[0022] B. Other embodiments: (B1) In the above-described embodiment, the notification process is executed by the server device 400. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the notification process may be executed by, for example, a communication device (not shown) mounted on the vehicle 100 or a terminal device (not shown) provided in the first hydrogen station 200.

[0023] (B2) In the above-described embodiment, the notification unit 421 determines that a fault has occurred in the first hydrogen station 200 when a signal indicating the occurrence of a fault is received from the first hydrogen station 200. The notification unit 421 may periodically acquire a detection signal from a sensor provided in a hydrogen tank or the like provided in the first hydrogen station 200 and determine whether a fault has occurred. More specifically, the notification unit 421 uses the acquired detection signal to determine whether a hydrogen tank or the like has failed, and determines that a fault has occurred when a fault has occurred. The notification unit 421 may also periodically acquire an image taken by a camera (not shown) provided in the first hydrogen station 200, analyze the image, and detect that a fault has occurred in the first hydrogen station 200. More specifically, the notification unit 421 determines that a fault has occurred when a traffic jam occurs at the first hydrogen station 200.

[0024] (B3) In the above embodiment, the graph shown in Fig. 3 is generated by the notification unit 421. However, this is not limiting, and the graph may be generated by the second hydrogen station 300. Alternatively, the vehicle 100 may obtain the graph shown in Fig. 3 and determine during what time period to go to fill up with hydrogen based on this graph.

[0025] The present disclosure is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, and can be realized in various configurations without departing from the spirit of the present disclosure. For example, the technical features in the embodiments corresponding to the technical features in each form described in the Summary of the Invention column can be appropriately replaced or combined in order to solve the above-mentioned problems or to achieve some or all of the above-mentioned effects. Furthermore, if the technical feature is not described as essential in this specification, it can be appropriately deleted. [Explanation of symbols]

[0026] Reference Signs List 10: Hydrogen station management system, 100: Vehicle, 200: First hydrogen station, 300: Second hydrogen station, 400: Server device, 410: Memory, 420: CPU, 421: Notification unit, 430: Input / output interface

Claims

[Claim 1] A hydrogen station management system, A first hydrogen station; a second hydrogen station which is a backup hydrogen station for the first hydrogen station; a notification unit that, when a fault occurs at the first hydrogen station, notifies the second hydrogen station of the amount of hydrogen that was scheduled to be filled at the first hydrogen station.

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