Prediction system

Abstract

To provide a prediction system that can predict total fill-up times, with good accuracy.SOLUTION: A prediction system, which predicts total fill-up times which are required in filling one or more fuel-cell vehicles that are standing by in a hydrogen station with hydrogen, comprises at least one control device. The at least one control device executes processing for obtaining pressure of a pressure accumulator installed in the hydrogen station, processing for obtaining a photographed image of the one or more fuel-cell vehicles which are standing by in the hydrogen station and processing for obtaining an outdoor temperature at an installation place in the hydrogen station; processes the photographed image to identify respective vehicle types of the one or more fuel-cell vehicles appearing in the photographed image; and executes processing for calculating times during which the fuel-cell vehicles are filled with hydrogen, on the basis of the identified vehicle types, the outdoor temperature and the pressure and processing for totalizing fill-up times calculated for the one or more fuel-cell vehicles respectively to calculate total fill-up times.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The technology disclosed in this specification relates to a prediction system that predicts the total filling time at a hydrogen station. [Background technology]

[0002] Patent Document 1 discloses a travel system that includes multiple hydrogen stations, multiple fuel cell vehicles, and a server. The server determines a travel route to reduce the time it takes to fill the fuel cell vehicle with hydrogen, based on the amount of hydrogen that each of the multiple hydrogen stations can supply. [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] At a given hydrogen station, the total time required to fill one or more fuel cell vehicles waiting at the station with hydrogen varies widely, so there is a demand for a technology that can accurately predict the total filling time.

[0005] The present specification provides a technique that can accurately predict the total filling time. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] This specification discloses a prediction system for predicting a total filling time required to fill one or more fuel cell vehicles waiting at a hydrogen station with hydrogen. The prediction system includes at least one control device, which executes the following processes: acquiring a pressure of a pressure accumulator installed at the hydrogen station, acquiring a captured image of the one or more fuel cell vehicles waiting at the hydrogen station, acquiring an outside air temperature at the installation location of the hydrogen station, processing the captured image to identify the vehicle type of each of the one or more fuel cell vehicles present in the captured image, and calculating the filling time of the fuel cell vehicle with hydrogen based on the identified vehicle type, the outside air temperature, and the pressure, and adding up the filling times calculated for each of the one or more fuel cell vehicles to calculate the total filling time.

[0007] In the above configuration, the control device calculates the time required to fill a fuel cell vehicle with hydrogen based on the identified vehicle model, outside temperature, and pressure, and calculates the total filling time by adding up the filling times corresponding to one or more fuel cell vehicles. This makes it possible to accurately predict the total filling time at a hydrogen station. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] 2 shows the configuration of a vehicle system 2. [Diagram 2] 1 shows a flowchart of a prediction process executed by the server 50. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0009] (Example) As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle system 2 includes a prediction system 10 and a terminal device 100. The prediction system 10 is a system for predicting a total filling time. The total filling time is the time required for a certain hydrogen station to fill one or more fuel cell vehicles waiting at the hydrogen station with hydrogen. In the following, a fuel cell vehicle waiting to be filled with hydrogen will be referred to as a "waiting vehicle". The terminal device 100 is, for example, a portable terminal device such as a mobile phone or a smartphone. The terminal device 100 is connected to the Internet 4.

[0010] The prediction system 10 includes a hydrogen supply system 20 and a server 50. The hydrogen supply system 20 is installed at a certain hydrogen station 6. The hydrogen station 6 may be an on-site hydrogen station or an off-site hydrogen station. The hydrogen supply system 20 is a system for supplying hydrogen to a fuel cell vehicle. The hydrogen supply system 20 includes a hydrogen dispenser 22, a precooler 24, a pressure accumulator 26, a pressure sensor 26a, a compressor 28, a camera 30, a temperature sensor 32, a communication interface 34, and a first control device 36. Hereinafter, the interface will be referred to as "I / F". The pressure sensor 26a detects the pressure (internal pressure) of the pressure accumulator 26. The camera 30 captures an image of one or more waiting vehicles at the hydrogen station 6. The temperature sensor 32 detects the outside air temperature at the location where the hydrogen station 6 is installed. The communication I / F 34 is connected to the Internet 4. The communication I / F 34 is an I / F for executing communication with other devices. The first control device 36 controls the operation of each component of the hydrogen supply system 20.

[0011] The server 50 is installed on the Internet 4 by a business operator who manages the hydrogen station 6. The server 50 predicts the total filling time at the hydrogen station 6 by using information received from the hydrogen supply system 20. The server 50 includes a communication I / F 52 and a second control device 54. The communication I / F 52 is connected to the Internet 4. The server 50 is capable of communicating with the hydrogen supply system 20 and the terminal device 100 via the Internet 4.

[0012] (Prediction process; Figure 2) The prediction process executed by the second control device 54 of the server 50 will be described with reference to Fig. 2. The prediction process is a process for predicting the total filling time at the hydrogen station 6. Note that the following communications are executed via the communications I / Fs 34 and 52. Therefore, when describing the communications between the devices, the descriptions "via the communications I / F 34" and "via the communications I / F 52" will be omitted.

[0013] In S10, the second control device 54 acquires the captured image captured by the camera 30 from the hydrogen supply system 20 in response to transmitting a captured image request to the hydrogen supply system 20.

[0014] In S12, the second control device 54 processes the captured image acquired in S10 to identify one or more waiting vehicles present in the captured image. Next, the second control device 54 identifies the waiting vehicle that is at the front of the line of waiting vehicles (hereinafter, the "leading vehicle") among the one or more waiting vehicles at the hydrogen station 6. The second control device 54 also processes the captured image to identify the type of vehicle of the leading vehicle.

[0015] In S20, the second control device 54 obtains the outside air temperature detected by the temperature sensor 32 from the hydrogen supply system 20 in response to transmitting the outside air temperature request to the hydrogen supply system 20.

[0016] In S22, the second control device 54 uses the outside air temperature acquired in S20 to predict the time required to warm up the hydrogen dispenser 22, etc. (hereinafter, "warm-up time"). The warm-up time becomes longer as the outside air temperature becomes lower.

[0017] In S24, in response to transmitting the pressure request to the hydrogen supply system 20, the second control device 54 obtains from the hydrogen supply system 20 the pressure detected by the pressure sensor 26a.

[0018] In S26, the second control device 54 uses the pressure obtained in S24 to predict the time required to restore the pressure in the accumulator 26 to a pressure suitable for filling waiting vehicles with hydrogen (hereinafter referred to as the "pressure restoration time").

[0019] In S28, the second control device 54 predicts the time required to supply hydrogen to the leading vehicle (hereinafter, referred to as the "supply time") based on the vehicle type of the leading vehicle identified in S12. Note that the supply time corresponding to each of a plurality of vehicle types may be stored in advance in the second control device 54.

[0020] In S30, the second control device 54 calculates the total of the warm-up time predicted in S22, the pressure recovery time predicted in S26, and the supply time predicted in S28 as the filling time for the leading vehicle.

[0021] In S40, the second control device 54 processes the captured image acquired in S10 and determines whether or not there is a waiting vehicle for which the filling time has not been calculated. If there is no waiting vehicle for which the filling time has not been calculated (NO in S40), the second control device 54 proceeds to S80. On the other hand, if there is a waiting vehicle for which the filling time has not been calculated (YES in S40), the second control device 54 proceeds to S50.

[0022] In S50, the second control device 54 processes the captured image acquired in S10 to identify a waiting vehicle (hereinafter, referred to as a "target vehicle") for which the filling time is to be predicted. In this embodiment, the second control device 54 identifies the waiting vehicles for which the filling time is to be calculated in the order in which the waiting vehicles are lined up. In a modified example, the order in which the second control device 54 identifies the waiting vehicles for which the filling time is to be calculated does not have to be the order in which the waiting vehicles are lined up. The second control device 54 also identifies the vehicle type of the target vehicle using the captured image.

[0023] In S60, the second control device 54 predicts the outside air temperature at the time of starting the supply of hydrogen to the target vehicle, using the outside air temperature acquired in S20 and the filling time calculated in S30. The processing content of S62 is the same as the processing content of S22, except that the outside air temperature predicted in S60 is used.

[0024] In S64, the second control device 54 predicts the pressure in the accumulator 26 at the time when hydrogen supply to the target vehicle is to begin. The process of S66 is similar to the process of S26, except that the pressure predicted in S64 is used. The process of S68 is similar to the process of S28, except that the vehicle model of the target vehicle is used.

[0025] The process of S70 is the same as that of S30. In this way, the filling time of the target vehicle is calculated. When S70 ends, the second control device 54 returns to S40.

[0026] Also, when it is determined NO in S40, the second control device 54 calculates the total filling time in S80. Specifically, when there is one waiting vehicle, the second control device 54 calculates the filling time calculated in S30 as the total filling time. When there are two or more waiting vehicles, the second control device 54 calculates the total filling time as the sum of the filling time calculated in S30 and one or more filling times calculated in S70. In this manner, the total filling time at the hydrogen station 6 is calculated. When S80 ends, the second control device 54 ends the processing of FIG. 2.

[0027] Thereafter, when the second control device 54 receives a signal requesting transmission of the total filling time from the terminal device 100, the second control device 54 transmits the total filling time to the terminal device 100. This allows the user of the terminal device 100 to create an operation schedule that utilizes the total filling time at the hydrogen station 6.

[0028] As described above, the prediction system 10, which predicts the total filling time required to fill one or more fuel cell vehicles waiting at the hydrogen station 6 with hydrogen, includes the second control device 54 (an example of "at least one control device"). The second control device 54 executes the following processes: acquiring the pressure of the pressure accumulator 26 installed at the hydrogen station 6 (S24 in FIG. 2); acquiring captured images of one or more fuel cell vehicles waiting at the hydrogen station 6 (S10 in FIG. 2); acquiring the outside air temperature at the installation location of the hydrogen station 6 (S20 in FIG. 2); processing the captured images to identify the vehicle type of each of the one or more fuel cell vehicles present in the captured images, and calculating the time to fill the fuel cell vehicle with hydrogen based on the identified vehicle type, outside air temperature, and pressure (S30, S70 in FIG. 2); and calculating the total filling time by adding up the filling times calculated for each of the one or more fuel cell vehicles (S80 in FIG. 2).

[0029] With the above configuration, the second control device 54 calculates the time required to fill the fuel cell vehicle with hydrogen based on the identified outside temperature and pressure, and calculates the total filling time by adding up the filling times corresponding to one or more fuel cell vehicles. Therefore, the total filling time at the hydrogen station 6 can be predicted with high accuracy.

[0030] Although each embodiment has been described in detail above, these are merely examples and do not limit the scope of the claims. The technology described in the claims includes various modifications and changes of the specific examples exemplified above.

[0031] Instead of the second control device 54, the first control device 36 of the hydrogen supply system 20 may execute the prediction process of FIG. 2, or a control device (not shown) of the terminal device 100 may execute the prediction process of FIG.

[0032] The technical elements described in this specification or drawings have technical utility either alone or in various combinations, and are not limited to the combinations described in the claims at the time of filing. In addition, the technologies illustrated in this specification or drawings can achieve multiple objectives simultaneously, and achieving one of these objectives is itself technically useful. [Explanation of symbols]

[0033] 2: vehicle system, 4: Internet, 6: hydrogen station, 10: prediction system, 20: hydrogen supply system, 22: hydrogen dispenser, 24: precooler, 26: pressure accumulator, 26a: pressure sensor, 28: compressor, 30: camera, 32: temperature sensor, 34: communication interface, 36: first control device, 50: server, 52: communication interface, 54: second control device, 100: terminal device

Claims

[Claim 1] A prediction system for predicting a total filling time required to fill one or more fuel cell vehicles waiting at a hydrogen station with hydrogen, comprising: At least one control device, the at least one control device comprising: A process of acquiring a pressure of a pressure accumulator installed in the hydrogen station; A process of acquiring a captured image of the one or more fuel cell vehicles waiting at the hydrogen station; A process of acquiring an outside air temperature at a location where the hydrogen station is installed; processing the captured image to identify a vehicle type for each of the one or more fuel cell vehicles present in the captured image, and calculating a time required to fill the fuel cell vehicle with hydrogen based on the identified vehicle type, the outside air temperature, and the pressure; a process of calculating a total filling time by adding up the filling times calculated for each of the one or more fuel cell vehicles; A prediction system that performs the above.

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