Rational quick-charging system for electric vehicle

Abstract

To solve a problem in which the spread of EVs is to inevitably necessitate the installation of large-scale quick-charging stations, and therefore, when the conventional method of simply increasing the number of individual quick-charging devices is used, there is to be situations in which, even when there are charging devices that are not charging, there is to be situations in which people have to wait for charging depending on in which they are parked.SOLUTION: When additional quick-charging equipment is installed, the output is first sent to a bus line, the EVs are allowed in multiple vehicle compartments to be charged from that bus line.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 6

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a rapid charging device for electric vehicles (EVs and PHVs) powered by electricity.

Background Art

[0002] Electric vehicles, which are fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly, have begun to spread rapidly. The capacity of the battery increases year by year, and it is rare to have problems with so-called battery depletion in the use of ordinary EVs. However, considering long-distance driving, charging is required during the journey to the destination, so rapid charging stations with multiple rapid charging devices installed along the main roads are needed.

[0003] Such a rapid charging station is desired to install a plurality of rapid charging devices and perform charging efficiently. Many patent documents can already be found in this regard. Among them, a useful method is that a user provides information related to the remaining amount of the battery of their own vehicle to a rapid charging reservation site, and the reservation site proposes in advance where to charge during the journey.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Patent Document 2

Patent Document 3

[0005] The above-described rapid charging reservation method is disclosed in Patent Document 1, but it is not very reasonable. However, when arriving at the actually reserved charging station, there are vehicles that quickly remove the vehicle charging plug from the charging device and do not leave immediately even though a certain amount of charging has been completed first.

[0006] Patent Document 2 discloses a method of making a vehicle that does not leave after charging pay an excessive additional charging fee separately to force it to leave the charging location. However, essentially, the problem is that one rapid charging device has only one charging cable.

[0007] Another Patent Document 3 provides a plurality of chargeable compartments, and the rapid charging device is provided with output cables that can charge in each compartment. A separately provided charge control device checks whether the charging time has reached the pre-registered and set charging time in the connection order of the charging cables. If the planned charging time is exceeded, the output of the rapid charging device is switched to the output cable of the next vehicle so that the next vehicle can be charged.

[0008] In this method, the rapid charging device can be effectively used because the vehicle that has completed the planned amount of charging does not need to remove the charging cable, and the rapid charging device can charge the next vehicle.

[0009] In addition, products have been developed that charge one of two vehicles with the full output of the rapid charging device, and charge each vehicle with half of the output when two vehicles are connected at the same time. In this case, one rapid charging device can charge up to two vehicles simultaneously, so users can avoid the drawback that they cannot charge until the vehicle that started charging earlier is finished.

[0010] However, in a large charging station with multiple such rapid charging devices installed, one rapid charging device can enable simultaneous charging of two vehicles parked in the compartments it covers, but it is independent of the second charging device added. So, if the charging in the second compartment is finished, the rapid charging device will not be utilized, and such drawbacks become more prominent as the number of rapid charging devices increases.

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0011] In the present invention, in order to fundamentally eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks, that is, since a plurality of rapid charging devices are independent, in one rapid charging device, while two vehicles are charging with half of the output of the rapid charging device, another rapid charging device is idle because there is no connected vehicle.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0012] In the present invention, when installing two or more rapid charging devices, in order to enable each charging device to supply charging power not only to the vehicles in the vehicle compartments that it conventionally covered but also to the vehicles in the vehicle compartments covered by other rapid charging devices, each rapid charging device is provided with a bus bar so that charging power can be supplied from the bus bar to the vehicle compartments covered by other rapid charging devices (Claim 1).

[0013] To realize this method, a bus bar provided in a plurality of rapid charging devices, a selection switch for controlling the connection to the charging cables provided in a plurality of vehicle compartments, and a rapid charging device management device for controlling the opening and closing of the selection switch are provided. The charging power to the vehicle parked in an arbitrary vehicle compartment is detected based on the connection order of the charging cables provided in the vehicle compartment or the entry time into the vehicle compartment, etc., and based on this, the priority order of charging power supply is determined and managed so that it can be supplied from any of the plurality of rapid charging devices (Claim 2).

[0014] The charging order determined by the rapid charging management device can also be set to a higher charging order (express charging mode) by a special fee (Claim 3). Also, the bus bar may be only a power line and a communication line may be provided separately, or the bus bar may be a composite of a power line and a communication line (Claims 4 and 5).

Advantages of the Invention

[0015] According to the present invention, in a rapid charging station equipped with a plurality of rapid charging devices, in any of the installed vehicle compartments, charging can be carried out reasonably based on the connection order of the entire charging cables and the priority charging mode, and in addition, the rapid charging devices are always utilized.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0016]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Figure 7

Figure 8

Figure 9

Figure 10

Figure 11

Embodiments for Carrying Out the Invention

Examples

[0017] FIG. 1 shows a fast charging stand equipped with a fast charging device CG that can charge one EV with only one connection cable. When an EV to be charged in vehicle compartment 4 connects charging cable 2 to the fast charging device CG and switch 3 is turned ON, the EV communicates with the fast charging device CG, and the fast charging device CG supplies the current required by the EV.

[0018] In the fast charging stand of FIG. 1, there is a drawback that even if the next EV wishes to be charged, it cannot enter the vehicle compartment or be charged unless the EV being charged disconnects the charging cable and exits vehicle compartment 4.

[0019] Figure 2 shows a rapid charging stand equipped with two charging cables 12 and 13 so that a single rapid charging device CG can charge the EV1 and EV2 in two passenger compartments A and B. In this case, when the EV1 in passenger compartment A finishes charging and switch 12 is opened, switch 13 is automatically closed, and the charging of EV2 in passenger compartment B, which had been pre-connected to charging cable 11, starts. In this way, even if the EV1 in passenger compartment A remains connected to charging cable 10, the next EV can be charged, eliminating the drawback of the case in Figure 1. This method is already an implemented method.

[0020] Also, recently, as shown in Figure 2, when charging two EVs in two passenger compartments A and B, improved rapid charging devices that can charge two EVs simultaneously have emerged. Such an improved rapid charging device CG can charge at full output when charging only one EV, and when charging two EVs, it can charge each EV at half the output. In such a charging stand, for example, even if the first-arriving EV1 is charging in passenger compartment A, if the second EV2 that enters passenger compartment B connects to charging cable 11, the selection switch 13 turns ON, and although the charging power is half of the charging capacity of the improved charging device CG for each, charging of two EVs simultaneously becomes possible, so it can be said to be a convenient and reasonable rapid charging stand for users.

[0021] When the introduction of EVs is not yet very extensive, an improved rapid charging device like that in Figure 2 is effective. However, when it becomes necessary to add more rapid charging devices for the increasing number of EVs to be charged, it becomes a rapid charging station like that in Figure 3.

[0022] That is, the rapid charging device CG1 will charge EVA and EVB in passenger compartments A and B, and the rapid charging device CG2 will charge EVC and EVD in passenger compartments C and D. It can be seen that if the rapid charging device is an improved type that can charge two EVs simultaneously, four EVs can be charged at once.

[0023] A rapid charging station as shown in Fig. 3 enables simultaneous charging of more EVs and is of course effective when the number of EVs increases. However, for example, as shown in Fig. 4, when EVC and EVD (in Fig. 3) that were charging in the four passenger compartments A, B, C, and D finished charging first and left, only EVA and EVB in passenger compartments A and B remained. Then, EVA and EVB in passenger compartments A and B continued charging with half the output of the improved rapid charging device CG1, while the other improved rapid charging device CG2 had no EV to charge and was idle. Such drawbacks become more prominent as the number of rapid charging devices and the number of passenger compartments to be charged increase.

[0024] It is obvious that such drawbacks are due to the fact that the added improved rapid charging device CG2 is only configured to supply charging power to EVC and EVD in passenger compartments C and D. In the present invention, in order to eliminate such drawbacks, the improved rapid charging devices CG1 and CG2 are configured to be able to charge the EVs in any of the passenger compartments from A to D.

[0025] Fig. 5 is a circuit configuration diagram of a rapid charging station equipped with two rapid charging devices CG1 and CG2 of the present invention and four passenger compartments, in which two main buses BUS1 and BUS2 are provided so that charging services can be received by any of the rapid charging devices anywhere in the four passenger compartments. The rapid charging device CG1 enables charging of any EV in any passenger compartment through the main bus BUS1 for power supply, and the rapid charging device CG2 enables charging through the main bus BUS2 for power supply.

[0026] In Fig. 5, the selection switches from 1A to 1D are connected to the main bus BUS1 of the present invention, and the selection switches from 2A to 2D are connected to the main bus BUS2 of the present invention. These selection switches are for connecting the EVs entering each passenger compartment to the rapid charging device CG1 or CG2.

[0027] In the circuit configuration of Fig. 5, when EVs enter compartments A, B, C, and D, and charging cables CA, CB, CC, and CD are connected to the EVs respectively, and switches SA, SB, SC, and SD are turned on, any one of the connection switches from 1A to 2D will be turned on so that charging can be carried out from either the rapid charging device CG1 or the rapid charging device CG2 by the rapid charging management device described later. For example, when EVA enters compartment A and the connection cable CA is connected to EVA, and switch SA is turned on, if the selection switch 1A is then turned on, EVA will be charged from the rapid charging device CG1, and if the selection switch 2A is turned on, it will be charged from the rapid charging device CG2. That is, there is a great effect that EVA that enters compartment A can be charged either from CG1 or from CG2.

[0028] When these connection plugs CA, CB, CC, and CD are attached to the EVs, switches SA, SB, SC, and SD are turned on, and furthermore, when any one of the selection switches from 1A to 1D or from 2A to 2D is turned on, if CG1 and CG2 are improved charging devices, up to 4 EVs that have entered compartments A to D can be charged simultaneously.

[0029] In the circuit configuration of Fig. 5 of the present invention, when rapidly charging the EVs that have entered the four compartments, a power supply management device that performs selection management on which bus to supply power from is required. Such a power supply management device stores the storage order of the EVs that have entered the charging compartments A to D, and turns on the switching switches 1A to 2D so that power is supplied with the storage order as the charging priority. When the charging of any one of the EVs being charged ends, the charging priority of each compartment is raised one by one. Also, the priority can be ranked based on the time when the EV entered the compartment, or it can be determined in the order in which the charging plugs are connected.

[0030] When ranking based on the time of entry into the compartment, some vehicle detection device must be provided in the compartment. On the other hand, when the EV side is based on the time when the connection plug is attached, there is an advantage that a vehicle detection device is not required in the compartment.

[0031] Furthermore, a high-speed charging mode with a high charging fee can be set in the charging fee system, and when this mode is selected, the power supply priority can be set to a higher level.

[0032] The power supply management device includes a storage device that stores the arrival time of the EV that has entered the charging bay, the attachment time of the connection plug, and the request for the high-speed charging mode, an algorithm that determines from which bus to supply power considering the charging priority, and when both the rapid charging devices CG1 and CG2 are of the improved type, it can also be provided with a function of determining whether to fully charge or supply half of the charging power.

[0033] As described above, when a second rapid charging device is added to the charging stand that originally had only one rapid charging device to form a charging station, and the output of each rapid charging device is supplied to the EV that has entered the bay through the bus attached to the rapid charging device of the present invention, the effect that the rapid charging device can be effectively utilized is achieved. The method of once outputting the output of each rapid charging device to the bus is of course also possible when further adding rapid charging devices.

[0034] FIG. 6 shows the charging circuit configuration via the bus of the present invention when there are three rapid charging devices. The bus consists of three buses, BUS1, BUS2, and BUS3. For example, when an EV enters bay A, when the connection cable CA is connected to the EV and the switch SA is turned on, if, as a rapid charging device capable of rapid charging, for example, CG3 is selected by the power supply management device CPU, the selection switch 3A is turned on, and thus EVA is rapidly charged through the bus BUS3 of the third rapid charging device CG3.

[0035] Even when further adding rapid charging devices, by adding the buses from these rapid charging devices, the EVs in all bays can be charged from all the rapid charging devices.

[0036] Figure 7 is a diagram showing the basic configuration of a charging circuit control system that controls the opening and closing of a selection switch in a charging circuit, taking as an example the case where there are four passenger compartments and two rapid charging devices. In order for the power supply management device CPU to operate the selection switches from 1A to 2D, first, when the detection circuit indicated by DT detects the connection of the connection cable, detects the entry of the EV into the passenger compartment, or detects the passenger compartment where charging is to be performed by means such as a camera, the signal is sent to the detector DTT and further transmitted to the power supply management device CPU.

[0037] When the power supply management device CPU receives the transmission of the data, it treats it as an event and stores information such as the occurrence time of the event, the name of the passenger compartment, and charging. As will be described later, the power supply management device CPU also stores information such as the time, the name of the passenger compartment, and exit as the occurrence of an event when the EV finishes charging and exits the passenger compartment or when it receives information that charging has ended from the detector DTT. These data are used by the charging order determination program equipped in the power supply management device CPU to determine the charging order for starting charging in each passenger compartment.

[0038] Figure 8 shows a circuit diagram in which the switch control device CNT sends a signal to the actuators ACT1 and ACT2 that operate the connection switches 1A and 2A through the signal line 54 to control the opening and closing of the selection switch 1A or 2A.

[0039] The power supply management device CPU must obtain the entry time of the EV that has entered the charging passenger compartment. As a method, as described above, a vehicle detection device (not shown in the figure), for example, the output of a loop coil type detection device, is placed in each passenger compartment, and the time when the device detects the entry is transmitted to the CPU via the detection device DTT and recorded as data for determining the charging order of the EV in the passenger compartment.

[0040] The above method is reliable as a method for checking whether an EV has entered the charging compartment. However, if the EV that has entered the compartment does not leave even after the charging is completed, the power supply management device may determine that the charging is not finished. Therefore, as a method for determining the charging end time, it is effective to determine the time when the charging stops as the charging end based on the charging current flowing through the connection switch SA of the charging circuit.

[0041] The power supply management device CPU can detect the time when the EV enters the compartment for charging in various ways as described above, including the method using a camera. The detected time and the information of the compartment are sent to the power supply management device CPU by the transmission device DTT in FIG. 7. The power supply management device CPU incorporates an algorithm for determining the charging priority order into the program, and uses the selection switch control device CNT in FIG. 7 to turn on any one of the eight switches from switch 1A to 2D for connecting the rapid charging device so that the EV in the chargeable compartment can be charged. Even when the power reception is completed, the switch among switches 1A to 2D that is supplying power to the corresponding compartment is turned off.

[0042] After the rapid charging device and the charging circuit of the EV that has entered the compartment are connected in this way, the charging current is controlled by the connected rapid charging device communicating with the EV.

[0043] FIG. 9 shows an example of how the power supply management device CPU manages power supply (determines the charging priority) after EVs for charging enter and leave the charging compartments one after another (events occur). This example is of the type where the rapid charging device can charge only one EV, with two rapid charging devices installed and four charging compartments provided.

[0044] After the charging management program starts at 101, at 102, the detector DTD shown in FIG. 8 detects whether the EV has entered the warehouse for charging or has left the warehouse after completing the charging, and sends it to the power supply management device CPU by the transmission device DTT, so that the CPU knows whether the EV has entered the warehouse, left the warehouse, or the charging has ended. That is, it is known that one event has occurred.

[0045] The power supply management device CPU checks whether there is an EV that has entered the charging compartment and is being charged immediately before the event occurs. If so, it confirms the compartment of the EV being charged and the charging priority.

[0046] When an EV enters any compartment for charging, if there was no EV charging in all compartments immediately before and in the case of step 107, one of the switches from 1A to 2D is turned on so as to charge using the rapid charging device closest to that compartment. Thereby, the charging of one EV is started. At this time, the selected rapid charging device communicates with the entered EV to perform charging current and other settings and start charging. And the charging priority of this EV is set to the first place.

[0047] When the next event occurs while the EV with charging priority 1 is being charged and that event is charging, in step 108, the corresponding connection switch from switch 1A to 2D is turned on to start charging using a rapid charging device that has not been used yet. Also in this case, the EV has its charging current set using the communication line with the selected rapid charging device. And the charging priority of this EV is set to 2.

[0048] In step 103, when an event of entry occurs again, at that time, since charging is already being performed in two compartments, charging cannot be done immediately. In this case, the entered EV is set to have a charging priority of 3, and it will not be able to use the rapid charging device until the EV already being charged finishes charging.

[0049] In this state, when another EV enters the empty compartment, that EV will have a charging priority of 4 and will wait until the vehicle being charged finishes charging.

[0050] When one event ends charging and the EV exits the passenger compartment, proceed to step 106. Further, depending on the charging status in the passenger compartment until just before, it is divided into four cases from steps 111 to 114. First, when there is only one EV with priority 1 to be charged, when it exits, all passenger compartments become empty, and in the event management file of the power supply management device CPU, the EVs with charging ranks are treated as non-existent.

[0051] Step 112, when there are two EVs charging (charging ranks 1 and 2) and one of them exits, the EV in the remaining passenger compartment becomes charging rank 1, and the data in the event management file is rewritten.

[0052] In step 113, when there were two EVs charging immediately before and one was waiting to charge (charging rank 3), turn off the selection switch of the circuit that has finished charging, rewrite the charging rank of the EV still charging to 1, turn on the selection switch to the EV waiting to charge with charging rank 3, start charging, and at the same time, increment the charging rank by one and rewrite the data in the event management file to charging rank 2.

[0053] Finally, in the case of step 114 where two chargings were being performed in two passenger compartments until just before, set the charging rank of the remaining EV to 1, set the EV waiting with charging rank 3 to charging rank 2, connect to the rapid charging that has finished charging, and start charging. The EV with charging rank 4 waits with charging rank 3.

[0054] The method of determining the rapid charging device for the charging destination with the flowchart as above can be clearly understood from the on / off status of the switches selected by switching for each event in Figure 10 shown below.

[0055] Figure 10 shows the passenger compartment to be charged and the charging ranks of the EVs (represented by numbers) for each event. In the first order of event occurrence, it is the case where an EV enters compartment A and charges in a situation where all passenger compartments have been empty until then. As shown in the figure, it can be seen that compartment A has selection switch 1A closed and is charged by rapid charging device CG1.

[0056] In the next Event 2, when an EV enters the passenger compartment C and charges, it can be seen that the charging is performed by closing the selection switch 2C from the fast charging device CG2 that has not been used yet. The charging priority of this EV is the second. The next Event 3 shows the case when an EV enters the passenger compartment D. Since the assumed fast charging device is of the type that charges only one vehicle at a time, the EV that enters the 4th passenger compartment E in Event 3 has a charging priority of 3 and must wait until either of the EVs being charged finishes charging.

[0057] The next Event 4 is the case when the EV in the passenger compartment A finishes charging. The selection switch 1A opens, and the EV waiting in the 4th passenger compartment closes the selection switch 1D to start charging. At this time, the charging priority of the EV in the passenger compartment B that was still continuing to charge moves up to 1, and the charging priority of the passenger compartment D that has become newly available for charging becomes 2.

[0058] The next Event 5 is the case when an EV enters the passenger compartment B. At this time, the charging priority of the EV that enters the passenger compartment B is 3 and it enters the standby state. Then in Event 6, when an EV enters the passenger compartment A, it enters the standby state with a charging priority of 4.

[0059] In the next Event 7, when the EV with a charging priority of 1 that was charging in the passenger compartment C finishes charging, the EVs in the remaining passenger compartments each have their charging priorities moved up by one. And it can be seen that the EV in the passenger compartment B is charged by closing the selection switch 2B from the fast charging device 2.

[0060] Regarding Events 8 and later, the explanation is omitted. However, for example, even when two EVs enter the passenger compartments C and D or A and B as in Event 4 or Event 8, it can be seen that the fast charging device is utilized without being idle.

[0061] The above description is for the case where the rapid charging device can only charge one EV. In contrast, Fig. 11 shows the charging status for each event when the rapid charging device is an improved model that can charge one EV at full power and charge two EVs at half the output.

[0062] Those surrounded by a circle indicate full - power charging, and those surrounded by a square indicate charging at half power. And the numbers indicate the charging order.

[0063] In this figure, for each event, it is written by taking as an example which EV enters or exits which compartment. For example, in Event 2, when the EVs enter Compartments A and C, they are charged at full power by Rapid Chargers 1 and 2 respectively. But in Event 6, the EVs that have entered all compartments are charged at half power. In Event 15, all compartments are charged at half power, but the EVs in Compartments C and D are charged not from the nearby Rapid Charger CG2 but from the adjacent Rapid Charger CG1, and the EVs in Compartments A and B are charged from the adjacent Rapid Charger CG2.

[0064] As described above, a major feature of the present invention is that the output from each rapid charging device is once connected to the bus, and from that bus, charging power can be supplied to any compartment by opening and closing the switch.

[0065] In Figs. 9 and 10, the case of charging the EVs in four compartments with two charging devices is described. However, when charging six or more compartments with two rapid charging devices, or as shown in Fig. 6, when increasing the number of rapid charging devices to three or more and further increasing the number of chargeable compartments, by once connecting the output from each rapid charging device to a dedicated bus for that rapid charging device and providing a switch that can charge any compartment from there, it can be clearly seen that the rapid charging devices are utilized more compared to the case of conventionally adding single rapid charging devices one by one.

[0066] In the above description, the bus bar may use both a power line and a communication line, or only a power line, and a signal for controlling the charging current may be provided separately by a wired or wireless communication line to communicate with the rapid charging device.

Industrial Applicability

[0067] The present invention epochally improves the rapid charging infrastructure for an increasing number of EVs, and it is obvious that it has high industrial utility value.

Claims

1. In a rapid charging station equipped with a plurality of rapid charging devices, each rapid charging device once outputs its charging output to its own output bus, and a selection switch is provided on the bus so that an EV (hereinafter abbreviated as an electric vehicle) can be charged in any of the plurality of charging bays provided in the rapid charging station. A rapid charging station characterized by this.

2. In the rapid charging station according to Claim 1, a power supply management device is provided to perform opening / closing control of the selection switch that supplies charging power from the bus connected to each rapid charging device to an arbitrary charging bay. The power supply management device determines a charging priority based on the arrival time of the EV that has entered the charging bay or the connection time of the charging cable, and operates the selection switch to charge the EV that has entered the bay based on the charging priority. A rapid charging station characterized by this.

3. In the rapid charging station according to Claim 2, the power supply management device can set an express charging mode, and for an EV that selects this mode and desires charging, the charging priority can be set to the top regardless of the arrival order of the EV or the connection order of the cable. A rapid charging station characterized by this.

4. In the rapid charging stations according to Claims 1 and 2, the output that is once connected to the bus from the rapid charging device has both a power line for supplying charging power and a communication line for the rapid charging device to communicate with the EV to determine the charging current, and the control of the charging current is performed by the selected rapid charging device. A rapid charging station characterized by this.

5. In the rapid charging stations according to Claims 1 and 2, the output from each rapid charging device is for supplying a charging current, and the control of the charging current is directly controlled by the EV and the rapid charging device through a separately provided wired or wireless communication line by communication from the power supply management device to the selected rapid charging device. A rapid charging station characterized by this.

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