Parking facility

Abstract

To provide a parking facility with a charging system, which enables easy computation of charging fees and is less likely to cause unfairness among users.SOLUTION: A parking facility is provided, comprising a drive system for driving the facility with power supplied from a common power source, a charging system configured to receive power from the common power source to charge vehicles at a set charging output, and a processing device configured to set the charging output of the charging system according to the driving situation of the drive system and compute charging fees based on the set charging output of the charging system and charging time.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] This application relates to parking facilities. [Background technology]

[0002] The following Patent Document 1 discloses a mechanical parking facility that includes multiple charging pallets that can carry electric vehicles, and multiple charging storage sections that store multiple charging pallets and charge the electric vehicles. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2024-17723 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] Typically, charging fees for electric vehicles are calculated based on charging time. However, in parking facilities equipped with charging systems, the charging system and the parking facility's drive system receive power from the same power source, which means that the charging output of the charging system may decrease depending on the drive system's operating status. In this case, calculating charging fees based on charging time would result in unfairness among users. On the other hand, it is not easy to calculate charging fees that keep up with the constantly fluctuating charging output.

[0005] Therefore, an object of the present application is to provide a parking facility equipped with a charging system, in which charging fees can be easily calculated and in which unfairness among users is unlikely to occur. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] A parking facility according to one aspect of the present application includes a drive system powered by electricity supplied from a common power source, a charging system that receives electricity from the common power source and charges a vehicle at a target charging output set for the vehicle, and a processing device that sets the target charging output according to the driving status of the drive system and calculates a charging fee based on the set target charging output and charging time.

[0007] With this configuration, the processing device can set a low target charging output in advance, taking into account the power consumption of the drive system, for example, when the drive system is in operation. In this case, even if the power consumption of the drive system increases, the target charging output is set low, so the actual charging output is likely to maintain the target charging output (is less likely to deviate from the target charging output). Therefore, if the charging fee is calculated based on the set target charging output, the calculation of the charging fee is easy and unfairness among users is less likely to occur.

[0008] In the parking facility, the processing device may set the target charging output according to the vehicle type in addition to the driving status of the drive system.

[0009] According to this configuration, the processing device can set the target charging output in accordance with, for example, the maximum value of the charging output that the vehicle can handle, thereby enabling the processing device to set the target charging output to a more appropriate value.

[0010] In addition, the above parking facility may further include an operating device that is operated by a user and drives the drive system in accordance with the user's operation, and the processing device may predict the drive status of the drive system from the user's operation of the operating device, and set the target charging output according to the predicted drive status of the drive system.

[0011] This configuration allows the processing device to quickly grasp the operating status of the drive system and quickly set the target charging output, making it easier to maintain the actual charging output at the target charging output even immediately after the drive system starts operating.

[0012] The parking facility may further include a plurality of pallets on which vehicles are loaded, and the drive system may include a transport device that transports the plurality of pallets.

[0013] According to this configuration, the target charging output can be set in accordance with the driving of the transport device, which consumes a large amount of power, so that the actual charging output can easily be maintained at the target charging output. [Effects of the Invention]

[0014] According to the present application, it is possible to provide a parking facility equipped with a charging device, in which charging fees can be easily calculated and in which unfairness among users is unlikely to occur. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0015] [Figure 1] Figure 1 is an overall view of the parking facility. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the power supply system and signal communication system of the parking facility. [Figure 3] FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of the charging fee calculation program. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the target charging output and charging time stored in the storage device. [Figure 5] FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the calculation result of the individual charging fee. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0016] (Overall configuration of parking facilities) The following describes a parking facility 100 according to an embodiment. First, the overall configuration of the parking facility 100 will be described. FIG. 1 is an overall view of the parking facility 100. The parking facility 100 is a facility for accommodating a vehicle 101. The parking facility 100 of this embodiment is a mechanical facility, and is classified as an elevator facility among mechanical facilities. However, the parking facility 100 is not limited to the elevator facility, and may be a box-type circulation facility, a horizontal circulation facility, a horizontal reciprocating facility, a vertical and horizontal movement puzzle facility, or any other facility.

[0017] As shown in Fig. 1, the parking facility 100 according to this embodiment includes a parking tower 10, a plurality of pallets 20, a drive system 30, a charging system 40, and an operating device 50. These components will be described below in order. In the following, the left side of Fig. 1 will be referred to as the "front," the right side of Fig. 1 will be referred to as the "rear," and the left-right direction of Fig. 1 will be referred to as the "front-rear direction."

[0018] <Parking tower> The parking tower 10 is a building that accommodates vehicles 101. The parking tower 10 of this embodiment has an entrance / exit entrance 11 in the front part of the first floor above ground. The vehicle 101 enters the parking tower 10 through this entrance / exit entrance 11. The parking tower 10 also has a boarding area 12 corresponding to the first floor above ground, an elevator shaft 13 located in the center in the front-to-rear direction and extending upward from the boarding area 12, and storage areas 14 located in front of and behind the elevator shaft 13. The front and rear storage areas 14 each have a plurality of parking shelves 15 lined up in the vertical direction. The parking shelves 15 of this embodiment include standard parking shelves 16 and charging parking shelves 17. Note that in this embodiment, the first and second parking shelves 15 from the bottom are charging parking shelves 17, and the other parking shelves 15 are standard parking shelves 16. However, the positions and numbers of the standard parking shelves 16 and charging parking shelves 17 are not limited.

[0019] <Palette> The pallets 20 are devices for carrying the vehicles 101, and move within the parking tower 10 with the vehicles 101 loaded on them. The pallets 20 in this embodiment include a standard pallet 21 and a charging pallet 22. Of these, the vehicle 101 to be charged is placed on the charging pallet 22. The vehicle 101 to be charged is an electric vehicle (EV), a plug-in hybrid vehicle (PHEV), or the like. Each pallet 20 is stored in a corresponding parking shelf 15. However, the standard pallet 21 is stored in the standard parking shelf 16, and the charging pallet 22 is stored in the charging parking shelf 17.

[0020] <Drive system> The drive system 30 is a system that drives the parking facility 100. The drive system 30 of this embodiment includes an access door 31, a turning device 32, and a transport device 33. However, the drive system 30 is not limited to these devices. The access door 31 is installed at the access entrance 11 of the parking tower 10 and opens and closes when the vehicle 101 enters and leaves the parking tower. The turning device 32 is located at the entrance section 12 of the parking tower 10 and is a device that turns the vehicle 101 together with the pallet 20 by 90 degrees. The transport device 33 is a device that transports the pallet 20. The transport device 33 of this embodiment includes a lifting platform 34 on which the pallet 20 is placed, an electric motor 36 that raises and lowers the lifting platform 34 via a wire rope 35, and a horizontal transfer device 37 that moves the pallet 20 between the lifting platform 34 and the parking shelf 15. The drive system 30 of this embodiment is basically not driven except when the vehicle 101 is being brought into or taken out of the garage or when maintenance is being performed.

[0021] <Charging system> The charging system 40 is a system that charges the vehicle 101 at a target charging output. The charging system 40 has a parking rack-side device 41 and a pallet-side device 42. The parking rack-side device 41 is provided in each charging parking rack 17, and the pallet-side device 42 is provided in each charging pallet 22. Note that the standard parking rack 16 is not provided with the parking rack-side device 41, and the standard pallet 21 is not provided with the pallet-side device 42.

[0022] The parking rack-side device 41 is supplied with power from a common power supply 90 (see FIG. 2 ), which will be described later. The pallet-side device 42 is configured to connect to the parking rack-side device 41 when the charging pallet 22 is stored in the charging parking rack 17. When the pallet-side device 42 and the parking rack-side device 41 are connected, power is supplied from the parking rack-side device 41 to the pallet-side device 42. Then, the pallet-side device 42 supplies the power supplied from the parking rack-side device 41 to the vehicle 101 via the charging cable 43.

[0023] <Operating device> The operating device 50 is a device that drives the drive system 30. The operating device 50 is operated by a user of the parking facility 100. In this embodiment, the operating device 50 is installed near the entrance / exit gate 11 of the parking tower 10. However, the operating device 50 may also be a mobile communication device such as a smartphone. By operating the operating device 50, the user can open and close the entrance / exit gate 31, rotate the swivel device 32, and move the pallet 20 by the transport device 33.

[0024] (Power supply system and signal communication system) Next, we will explain the power supply system and signal communication system of the parking facility 100 according to this embodiment. Figure 2 is a block diagram showing the power supply system and signal communication system of the parking facility 100. In Figure 2, solid arrows indicate the flow of power supply, and dashed lines indicate the flow of signal communication.

[0025] <Power supply system> First, we will explain the power supply system of the parking facility 100. As indicated by the solid arrows in Fig. 2, in this embodiment, power is supplied from a common power source 90 to the drive system 30 and the charging system 40. In other words, power is supplied to the drive system 30 and the charging system 40 from the same common power source 90. Furthermore, the power supplied from the common power source 90 to the charging system 40 is supplied to the vehicle 101 being charged via a charging cable 43.

[0026] The upper limit of the amount of power that can be output from the common power source 90 is determined in advance. In this embodiment, the upper limit of the amount of power that can be output from the common power source 90 is determined by a contract with the power company. However, the upper limit of the amount of power that can be output from the common power source 90 may also be determined based on the capabilities of devices included in the power supply system.

[0027] <Signal communication system> Next, we will explain the signal communication system of the parking facility 100. As shown in Fig. 2, the parking facility 100 includes a drive system 30, a charging system 40, an operation device 50, a processing device 60, and a storage device 70 as components of the signal communication system.

[0028] As described above, the drive system 30 includes the entrance / exit door 31, the swing device 32, and the transport device 33. The drive system 30 is communicably connected to the operation device 50. The drive system 30 receives control signals transmitted from the operation device 50 and drives based on the received control signals. The drive system 30 drives when the vehicle 101 enters or leaves the warehouse, and temporarily consumes a large amount of power at that time.

[0029] The charging system 40 is communicatively connected to the vehicle 101. The charging system 40 of this embodiment is communicatively connected to the vehicle 101 via a charging cable 43 that supplies power to the vehicle 101. The charging system 40 can acquire vehicle information about the vehicle 101 from the vehicle 101. The vehicle information includes information such as the vehicle model. Note that, depending on the vehicle model, an upper limit value for the available charging output may be set.

[0030] As described above, the operation device 50 is communicably connected to the drive system 30, and transmits a control signal corresponding to the user's operation to the drive system 30. Furthermore, the operation device 50 of this embodiment is communicably connected to the processing device 60. The operation device 50 supplies information related to the user's operation (hereinafter referred to as "operation information") to the processing device 60.

[0031] The processing device 60 is a device that performs various types of arithmetic processing. The processing device 60 has, for example, a processor, a volatile memory, a non-volatile memory, and an I / O interface. Various programs including a charging fee calculation program described below are stored in the non-volatile memory of the processing device 60, and the processor performs arithmetic processing using the volatile memory based on each program. The processing device 60 may be provided in the parking tower 10. Furthermore, all or part of the processing device 60 may be located on a network.

[0032] Furthermore, the processing device 60 is communicatively connected to the charging system 40, and can acquire vehicle information of the vehicle 101 from the charging system 40, as well as charging information indicating the charging status of the vehicle 101. Furthermore, the processing device 60 can set a target charging output for the charging system 40 and transmit a control signal to the charging system 40 to charge at the set target charging output.

[0033] The storage device 70 is a device that stores various information. The storage device 70 may be provided in the parking tower 10. Furthermore, all or part of the storage device 70 may be located on a network. Furthermore, the storage device 70 may be formed integrally with the processing device 60. For example, the non-volatile memory of the processing device 60 may function as the storage device 70. The storage device 70 is communicatively connected to the processing device 60, and can acquire and store information sent from the processing device 60, as well as send the stored information to the processing device 60.

[0034] (Charging fee calculation program) Next, a description will be given of the charging fee calculation program executed by the processing device 60. Fig. 3 is a flow diagram of the charging fee calculation program. The charging fee calculation program is a program that calculates a charging fee to be charged to a user when the user charges the vehicle 101.

[0035] For example, if the drive system 30 is driven while the vehicle 101 is being charged, the power supplied to the charging system 40 may decrease, which may result in a decrease in the charging output of the charging system 40. In this case, if the charging fee is calculated based on the charging time, this may result in unfairness among users. Therefore, in the charging fee calculation program of this embodiment, when the drive system 30 is in a driving state, the target charging output is set low in advance, taking into account the power consumption of the drive system 30, so that the actual charging output does not fluctuate, and the charging fee is calculated based on the set target charging output. This will be explained in detail below.

[0036] 3, when the charging fee calculation program is started, the processing device 60 first acquires vehicle information of the vehicle 101 to be charged (step S1). As described above, the processing device 60 can acquire the vehicle information of the vehicle 101 via the charging system 40.

[0037] Next, the processing device 60 determines the driving status of the drive system 30 (step S2). In this embodiment, the processing device 60 acquires operation information from the operation device 50 and predicts (determines) the driving status of the drive system 30 from the acquired operation information. For example, when the processing device 60 acquires operation information from the operation device 50 that an operation has been performed to cause the vehicle 101 to leave the garage, the processing device 60 predicts that the drive system 30 will drive. However, the processing device 60 may also acquire information related to the driving status of the drive system 30 directly from the drive system 30 and determine the driving status of the drive system 30 based on the acquired information.

[0038] Next, the processing device 60 sets the target charging output of the charging system 40 (step S3). In this embodiment, the processing device 60 sets the target charging output of the charging system 40 according to the type of vehicle 101 performing charging, as well as the driving status of the drive system 30. For example, when the drive system 30 is in a driving status, the target charging output is set to a small value such as 1.2 kW taking into account the power consumption of the drive system 30, and when the drive system 30 is not driving, the target charging output is set to 6 kW. However, if the vehicle 101 performing charging is a type of vehicle that supports a maximum charging output of 3 kW, the target charging output is set to 3 kW even when the drive system 30 is not driving.

[0039] Next, the processing device 60 causes the charging system 40 to perform charging (step S4). In this embodiment, the processing device 60 transmits a control signal to the charging system 40 so that charging is performed at the target charging output set in step S3.

[0040] Next, the processing device 60 determines whether or not charging is completed (step S5). In this embodiment, the processing device 60 acquires charging information from the charging system 40, and determines whether or not charging is completed based on the acquired charging information.

[0041] If the processing device 60 determines in step S5 that charging is not complete (NO in step S5), it again checks the driving status of the drive system 30 and determines whether the driving status of the drive system 30 has changed (step S6). If the processing device 60 determines in step S6 that the driving status of the drive system 30 has not changed (NO in step S6), it returns to step S4 and continues charging.

[0042] On the other hand, if the processing device 60 determines in step S6 that the driving status of the drive system 30 has changed (YES in step S6), it saves the target charging output set in step S3 and the charging time for charging at that target charging output (step S7). Specifically, the processing device 60 sends the target charging output and charging time to the storage device 70, and the storage device 70 saves the sent target charging output and charging time. After step S7, the process returns to step S2, where the driving status of the drive system 30 is grasped, the target charging output is set (step S3), and charging continues (step S4).

[0043] In this manner, in this embodiment, the processing device 60 stores the target charging output and the charging time each time the driving condition of the drive system 30 changes. As a result, for example, combinations of target charging output and charging time for each individual number as shown in FIG. 4 are sequentially stored in the storage device 70. Note that, hereinafter, data for each combination of target charging output and charging time will be referred to as "individual charging data." In other words, the processing device 60 sequentially stores the individual charging data each time the driving condition of the drive system 30 changes.

[0044] Returning to the explanation of step S5, when the processing device 60 determines that charging is completed (YES in step S5), it stores the individual charging data (step S8) as in step S7. However, after step S8, the processing device 60 acquires data (hereinafter referred to as "log data") that is an accumulation of the individual charging data stored in steps S7 and S8 from the storage device 70 (step S9).

[0045] Next, the processing device 60 calculates a charging fee based on the log data acquired from the storage device 70 in step S9 (step S10). In this embodiment, the processing device 60 calculates an individual charging fee for each individual charging data constituting the log data, and obtains the power receiving fee by summing up the calculated individual charging fees. For example, when the charging unit price for charging at 1 kW for 1 minute is set to 5 yen, the individual charging fee is calculated as shown in the table in FIG. 5. For the individual charging data of individual number 1 shown in FIG. 5, the individual charging fee is calculated as 900 yen, which is obtained by multiplying the target charging output and charging time (180 kW·min) and then multiplying this by the charging unit price of 5 yen / kW·min. The total amount of these individual charging fees is the charging fee. After calculating the charging fee in step S10, the processing device 60 ends the charging fee calculation program.

[0046] As described above, the charging fee calculation program of this embodiment pre-sets the target charging output to a small value when the drive system 30 is in operation, taking into account the power consumption of the drive system 30. This makes it easier for the actual charging output to maintain the target charging output even when the drive system 30 is operating and its power consumption increases. Therefore, calculating the charging fee based on the target charging output as in this embodiment makes it easier to calculate the charging fee and reduces the likelihood of unfairness among users. [Explanation of symbols]

[0047] 20 palettes 30 Drive System 31 Storage door 32 Swivel 33 Conveyor equipment 40 Charging System 50 Operating device 60 Processing equipment 70 Storage device 90 Common power supply 100 Parking facilities 101 vehicles

Claims

1. a drive system driven by power supplied from a common power source; a charging system that receives power from the common power source and charges the vehicle at a target charging output that is set for the vehicle; a processing device that sets the target charging output in accordance with the driving status of the drive system, and calculates a charging fee based on the set target charging output and charging time.

2. The parking facility according to claim 1 , wherein the processing unit sets the target charging output in accordance with the vehicle type as well as the driving status of the drive system.

3. an operating device that is operated by a user and drives the drive system in accordance with the user's operation; The parking facility according to claim 1, wherein the processing device predicts the driving status of the drive system from the operation of the operating device by the user, and sets the target charging output according to the predicted driving status of the drive system.

4. Further comprising a plurality of pallets on which the vehicles are mounted; The parking facility of claim 1 , wherein the drive system includes a transport device that transports the plurality of pallets.

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