electric vehicles

Abstract

Reduce the time required to charge at the charging station. [Solution] The electric vehicle comprises a motor for driving, a battery that exchanges power with the motor, a charging device that charges the battery using power from an external charging station, an air conditioning device that provides air conditioning for the passenger compartment, and a control device that controls the motor, charging device, and air conditioning device. When a charging reservation exists at a charging station or when a charging station is searched, the control device limits the driving force from the motor and the output of the air conditioning device. This suppresses a decrease in the battery's charge level and shortens the time required to charge the battery at a charging station.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to an electric vehicle, and more particularly, to an electric vehicle that charges a mounted battery using power from an external charging stand.

Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, as this type of electric vehicle, there has been proposed one that performs power saving control according to the driving distance to a charging stand and the remaining battery capacity (see, for example, Patent Document 1). The driving distance is calculated from the remaining battery capacity and the power consumption per unit driving distance, and power saving control is performed based on the driving distance and the driving distance from the current position to the charging stand.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] However, in the above-described electric vehicle, there are cases where power saving control is not performed when the driving distance is sufficiently longer than the driving distance from the current position to the charging stand. In this case, the time required for charging at the charging stand becomes longer compared to when power saving control is performed.

[0005] The main object of the electric vehicle of the present disclosure is to shorten the time required for charging at the charging stand. <00­00029>

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] The electric vehicle of the present disclosure has taken the following means to achieve the above main object.

[0007] The electric vehicle of the present disclosure An electric vehicle comprising: a motor for driving; a battery that exchanges power with the motor; a charging device that charges the battery using power from an external charging station; an air conditioning system that provides air conditioning for the passenger compartment; and a control device that controls the motor, the charging device, and the air conditioning system, The control device, when a charging reservation exists at the charging station or when the charging station is searched, limits the driving force from the motor and / or the output of the air conditioning unit. It is characterized by the following:

[0008] In the electric vehicle of this disclosure, when a charging reservation exists at a charging station or when a charging station is searched, the driving force from the traction motor and the output of the air conditioning system that air-conditions the passenger compartment are limited. This suppresses the decrease in the battery's state of charge (SOC) and shortens the time required to charge the battery at a charging station.

[0009] In the electric vehicle of this disclosure, the control device may perform temperature control so that when a charging reservation exists at the charging station, the battery temperature is within a temperature range that maximizes charging efficiency upon arrival at the charging station. This allows for efficient charging of the battery at the charging station and further reduces the time required for battery charging. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0010] [Figure 1] This is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of an electric vehicle 20 as one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 2] This flowchart shows an example of a charging preparation process performed by the electronic control unit 50. [Figure 3] This flowchart shows an example of the charging station search process performed by the electronic control unit 50. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0011] Next, embodiments for implementing this disclosure will be described. Figure 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of an electric vehicle 20 as one embodiment of this disclosure. As shown in the figure, the electric vehicle 20 of the embodiment includes a motor 22, an inverter 24, a battery 30, a bidirectional charging device 32, a navigation device 80, and an electronic control unit 50.

[0012] The motor 22 is configured, for example, as a three-phase AC motor, and comprises a rotor in which permanent magnets are embedded in a rotor core, and a stator in which three-phase coils are wound around a stator core. The rotor of the motor 22 is connected to a drive shaft 26 which is connected to drive wheels 28a and 28b via a differential gear 27.

[0013] The inverter 24 is used to drive the motor 22. The inverter 24 is connected to the battery 30 via a power line and consists of a well-known inverter circuit having six transistors as switching elements and six diodes connected in parallel to each of the six transistors.

[0014] The battery 30 is configured as a lithium-ion secondary battery or a nickel-metal hydride secondary battery and is connected to the inverter 24 via a power line.

[0015] The bidirectional charging device 32 is connected to the power line between the battery 30 and the inverter 24, and is configured as a circuit that charges the battery 30 with power from an external power source or supplies power from the battery 30 to an external power supply. The bidirectional charging device 32 is equipped with a connector 34 for connecting to an external charging stand or an external power supply stand.

[0016] The electronic control unit 50 is configured as a microcomputer having a CPU 51, ROM 52, RAM 53, flash memory 54, input / output ports (not shown), and communication ports. Signals from various sensors are input to the electronic control unit 50 via input ports. Examples of signals input to the electronic control unit 50 include the battery voltage Vb from a voltage sensor 31a attached between the output terminals of the battery 30, the battery current Ib from a current sensor 31b attached to the power line, and the battery temperature Tb from a temperature sensor 31c attached to the battery 30. Other examples include the ignition signal from the ignition switch 60, the vehicle speed V from the vehicle speed sensor 61, the acceleration α from the acceleration sensor 62, and the road surface gradient θr from the gradient sensor 63. Additionally, the shift position signal SP from the shift position sensor 65, which detects the position of the shift lever 64, the accelerator opening Acc from the accelerator pedal position sensor 67, which detects the amount the accelerator pedal 66 is pressed, and the brake pedal position BP from the brake pedal position sensor 69, which detects the amount the brake pedal 68 is pressed. Furthermore, an on / off signal from an air conditioning switch (not shown) that instructs the on / off of the air conditioning unit 74 can also be mentioned.

[0017] Various control signals are output from the electronic control unit 50 via its output ports. Examples of control signals output from the electronic control unit 50 include display control signals for the display device 70, communication control signals for the communication device 72, and air conditioning control signals for the air conditioning device 74.

[0018] The navigation device 80 includes a main body 82 with a built-in control unit, a GPS antenna 84 that receives information on the current location of the vehicle, and a display 86. The control unit of the main body 82 has a storage medium (such as a hard disk or SSD) in which map information and the like are stored, an input / output port, and a communication port. In the map information, service information (such as sightseeing information and parking lots) and road information for each driving section (such as between traffic lights and intersections) are stored as a database. The road information includes distance information, width information, number of lanes information, area information (urban and suburban areas), type information (general roads and highways), gradient information, legal speed, number of traffic lights, turning radius of each curve, and the like. The display 86 is configured as a touch panel display that can display various information such as information on the current location of the vehicle and the planned driving route to the destination, and allows the user to input various instructions. When the destination is set by the user's operation on the display 86, the main body 82 of the navigation device 80 sets a planned driving route from the current location of the vehicle to the destination based on the map information stored in the main body 82, the current location of the vehicle from the GPS antenna 84, and the destination, and displays the set planned driving route on the display 86 to provide route guidance.

[0019] Next, the operation of the electric vehicle 20 configured in this way, particularly the operation when making a charging reservation at a charging station or when searching for a charging station, will be described. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an example of the charging preparation process executed by the electronic control unit 50, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of the process when searching for a charging station executed by the electronic control unit 50.

[0020] When the charging preparation process is executed, the electronic control unit 50 first determines whether a charging reservation has been made for the charging station (step S100). The charging reservation is made, for example, by using the navigation device 80 to select a desired charging station and inputting the date and time for charging. When it is determined that no charging reservation has been made, this process is judged to be unnecessary and this process is terminated.

[0021] When it is determined in step S100 that a charging reservation has been made, a driving force limit is imposed on the motor 22 and an output limit is imposed on the air conditioner 74 (step S110), and when arriving at the charging stand for which the charging reservation has been made, temperature control is started to adjust the temperature Tb of the battery 30 so that it falls within the temperature range in which charging can be efficiently performed in a short time (step S120). As the driving force limit of the motor 22, it is conceivable to limit the maximum torque, reduce the time change of the torque, or use, as the torque command Tm*, the torque command Tm* multiplied by a coefficient k less than 1 when no limit is imposed. As the output limit of the air conditioner 74, it is conceivable to limit the maximum output or use, as the output, the output multiplied by a coefficient k less than 1 with respect to the normal output.

[0022] Then, waiting to arrive at the charging stand for which the charging reservation has been made (step S130), the driving force limit of the motor 22 and the output limit of the air conditioner 74 are released (step S140), and this process is terminated.

[0023] When the charging stand search process is executed, the electronic control unit 50 first determines whether a charging stand has been searched (step S200). The search for the charging stand can be performed using, for example, the navigation device 80. When it is determined that the search for the charging stand has not been performed, this process is judged to be unnecessary and this process is terminated.

[0024] When it is determined in step S200 that the search for the charging stand has been performed, a driving force limit is imposed on the motor 22 and an output limit is imposed on the air conditioner 74 (step S210), waiting to arrive at the searched charging stand (step S220), the driving force limit of the motor 22 and the output limit of the air conditioner 74 are released (step S230), and this process is terminated. When a charging reservation is made at the searched charging stand after the search for the charging stand has been performed, the charging preparation process in FIG. 2 is performed.

[0025] In the electric vehicle 20 of the embodiment described above, when a charging reservation is made or a charging station is searched for, the motor 22 is subjected to a driving force limit and the air conditioning unit 74 is subjected to an output limit until the vehicle arrives at the reserved charging station or the searched charging station. This suppresses a decrease in the battery 30's state of charge (SOC) and shortens the time required to charge the battery 30 at the charging station.

[0026] In the electric vehicle 20 of this embodiment, when a charging reservation is made, temperature control is performed to adjust the temperature Tb of the battery 30 so that it is within a temperature range that allows for efficient and quick charging when the vehicle arrives at the charging station where the reservation was made. This allows for efficient charging of the battery 30 at the charging station and further reduces the time required to charge the battery 30 at the charging station.

[0027] The correspondence between the main elements of the embodiment and the main elements of the invention described in the section on means for solving the problem will be explained. In the embodiment, the motor 22 corresponds to "motor", the battery 30 corresponds to "battery", the bidirectional charging device 32 corresponds to "charging device", the air conditioning device 74 corresponds to "air conditioning device", and the electronic control unit 50 corresponds to "control device".

[0028] Furthermore, the correspondence between the main elements of the embodiment and the main elements of the invention described in the section on means for solving the problem is merely an example to specifically explain the form in which the embodiment carries out the invention described in the section on means for solving the problem, and does not limit the elements of the invention described in the section on means for solving the problem. In other words, the interpretation of the invention described in the section on means for solving the problem should be based on the description in that section, and the embodiment is merely one specific example of the invention described in the section on means for solving the problem.

[0029] Although embodiments for carrying out the present invention have been described above using examples, the present invention is not limited in any way to these embodiments, and can be carried out in various forms without departing from the spirit of the present invention. [Industrial applicability]

[0030] This invention can be used in industries such as electric vehicle manufacturing. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0031] 20 Electric vehicle, 22 Motor, 24 Inverter, 26 Drive shaft, 27 Differential gear, 28a, 28b Drive wheels, 30 Battery, 31a Voltage sensor, 31b Current sensor, 31c Temperature sensor, 32 Bidirectional charging device, 34 Connector, 50 Electronic control unit, 51 CPU, 52 ROM, 53 RAM, 54 Flash memory, 60 Ignition switch, 61 Vehicle speed sensor, 62 Acceleration sensor, 63 Gradient sensor, 64 Shift lever, 65 Shift position sensor, 66 Accelerator pedal, 67 Accelerator pedal position sensor, 68 Brake pedal, 69 Brake pedal position sensor, 70 Display device, 72 Communication device, 74 Air conditioning device, 80 Navigation device, 82 Main unit, 84 GPS antenna, 86 Display.

Claims

[Claim 1] An electric vehicle comprising: a motor for driving; a battery that exchanges power with the motor; a charging device that charges the battery using power from an external charging station; an air conditioning system that provides air conditioning for the passenger compartment; and a control device that controls the motor, the charging device, and the air conditioning system, The control device, when a charging reservation exists at the charging station or when the charging station is searched, limits the driving force from the motor and / or the output of the air conditioning unit. An electric vehicle characterized by the following features.

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