Control device for charging equipment

Abstract

To significantly reduce the time required to verify the charging stop function. [Solution] The control device for the charging equipment is applied to a charging equipment that comprises multiple groups of units, each group consisting of multiple electrical supply units connected in parallel, which in turn include a function as a charger for the vehicle's battery. The control device is connected to the individual electrical supply units included in the multiple unit groups via a charging permission prohibition line. When performing a function check of the charging stop function using the charging permission prohibition line for all electrical supply units included in the multiple unit groups, the control device performs the function check process for each of the multiple unit groups simultaneously and in parallel, while sequentially performing the function check process for each of the multiple electrical supply units within the same unit group.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a control device for charging equipment for vehicles.

Background Art

[0002] Patent Document 1 discloses a charging system mounted on a vehicle that charges an in-vehicle battery using electric power supplied from charging equipment outside the vehicle.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] As charging equipment for charging an in-vehicle battery, the following charging equipment is assumed. That is, the charging equipment includes a plurality of unit groups in which a plurality of electric supply units are connected in parallel, and a plurality of the unit groups are connected in parallel to each other. In order to ensure that charging start / stop can be reliably implemented, the charging equipment is required to be able to stop charging each individual electric supply unit by a charging permission / prohibition line (dika line) (that is, to have a charging stop function). However, if the confirmation of the charging stop function for all the electric supply units included in the plurality of unit groups is simply performed by sequentially checking each individual electric supply unit one by one, it takes time.

[0005] The present disclosure has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide a control device for charging equipment that can satisfactorily shorten the time required for confirming the charging stop function.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] The control device for charging equipment according to this disclosure is applied to charging equipment that comprises multiple groups of units, each group consisting of multiple electrical supply units connected in parallel, which include a function as a charger for a vehicle's battery. The control device is connected to the individual electrical supply units included in the multiple unit groups via a charging permission prohibition line. When performing a function check of the charging stop function using the charging permission prohibition line for all electrical supply units included in the multiple unit groups, the control device performs the function check process for each of the multiple unit groups simultaneously and in parallel, while sequentially performing the function check process for each of the multiple electrical supply units within the same unit group. [Effects of the Invention]

[0007] According to this disclosure, the verification of the charging stop function for all power supply units included in multiple unit groups is performed by simultaneously executing the processing related to the function verification for each of the multiple unit groups in parallel, while sequentially executing the processing related to the function verification for each of the multiple power supply units within the same unit group. This makes it possible to significantly reduce the time required to verify the charging stop function. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0008] [Figure 1] This diagram schematically shows an example of the configuration of a charging equipment according to an embodiment. [Figure 2] This flowchart shows the processing flow for verifying the charging stop function (CHEN function) using the verification method according to the embodiment. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0009] Embodiments of this disclosure will be described with reference to the attached drawings.

[0010] 1. Configuration of the charging equipment Figure 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the configuration of the charging equipment 1 according to this embodiment. The charging equipment 1 is a charging facility (e.g., a fast charging station) for charging the battery of a vehicle 2. In the example shown in Figure 1, the charging equipment 1 can charge two vehicles 2 simultaneously. The charging equipment 1 includes housings 100 and 200 for housing various devices. In the example shown in Figure 1, a housing 200 is provided for each of the two vehicles 2.

[0011] The enclosure 100 houses first to fourth unit groups 10, 20, 30, and 40, which receive power from an AC power source 4 via power lines 3. The first to fourth unit groups 10 to 40, which are an example of the "multiple unit groups" described herein, are connected to each other in parallel.

[0012] Each of the first to fourth unit groups 10 to 40 contains multiple electrical supply units (ESUs) connected in parallel to each other. In the example shown in Figure 1, three ESUs are connected in parallel in each unit group 10 to 40. Hereinafter, the three ESUs in the first unit group 10 will be referred to as ESU11, 12, and 13. Similarly, the three ESUs in the second unit group 20, the third unit group 30, and the fourth unit group 40 will be referred to as ESU21, 22, 23, ESU31, 32, 33, and ESU41, 42, and 43, respectively. Furthermore, when individual ESUs are not specified, ESUs such as ESU11 will simply be referred to as ESUi.

[0013] The ESUi includes the function of a charger for the vehicle 2's battery. For example, the ESUi includes multiple AC chargers 5 connected in parallel with each other. In one example shown in Figure 1, the ESUi includes two AC chargers 5 (CHG1 and CHG2). Each AC charger 5 is configured to convert alternating current power supplied from an AC power source 4 into direct current power (power for charging the vehicle 2's battery). Each AC charger 5 is, for example, a 3-phase 11kW charger. Specific configuration examples of the AC chargers 5 are disclosed, for example, in Patent Document 1.

[0014] In addition, to reduce the cost of the charging equipment 1, an on-board AC charger may be used as the AC charger 5. Furthermore, to further reduce costs, the ESUi may be configured as a single unit that combines the AC charger 5, which is an on-board AC charger, with an on-board electronic control unit (on-board ECU) and an on-board DC / DC converter for controlling battery charging. In this example, the on-board ECU may be used to control each AC charger 5 within the same ESUi. The on-board DC / DC converter may be used to step down the DC voltage output by each AC charger 5.

[0015] Each of the first to fourth unit groups 10 to 40 includes a smoothing capacitor 6 and a discharge circuit 7 provided on the output side of three ESUs (e.g., ESUs 11, 12, and 13). Each of the first to fourth unit groups 10 to 40 may also include a pre-charge circuit for pre-charging the smoothing capacitor 6.

[0016] In the example shown in Figure 1, the power line 3 is divided at the output side of the first to fourth unit groups 10 to 40 into a power line 8 extending from the first unit group 10 and a power line 9 extending from the fourth unit group 40. Power line 8 is introduced into one of the two housings 200, and power line 9 is introduced into the other of the two housings 200. Within the housing 200, each of the power lines 8 and 9 is connected to a charging cable having a connector that is connected to the charging inlet of the vehicle 2. In addition, at the output side of the first to fourth unit groups 10 to 40, there are two power lines 50 and 51, and four relays 52, for selecting one to four of the first to fourth unit groups 10 to 40 as unit groups that output DC power to power lines 8 and 9, respectively. Furthermore, a relay 53, a current sensor 54, a discharge circuit 55, and a voltage sensor 56 are provided on each of the power lines 8 and 9, on the side of the housing 200 closer to the connection point with power lines 50 and 51. Note that the grounding wire inside the housing 100 is not shown in Figure 1.

[0017] The housing 100 further houses a power control ECU 60. On the other hand, each housing 200 houses a charge control ECU 70, for example, together with a charging cable. When the vehicle 2 is charged using the charging facility 1, the charge control ECU 70 exchanges various signals for controlling the charging with the ECU mounted on the vehicle 2. Then, the power control ECU 60 controls the first to fourth unit groups 10 to 40, and the relays 52 and 53 to output the DC power required for the charging according to the instructions from the charge control ECU 70.

[0018] The power control ECU 60 is connected to the first to fourth unit groups 10 to 40 via charge permission / prohibition lines (dika lines) 61, 62, 63, and 64, respectively. More specifically, the charge permission / prohibition line 61 is connected to each of the three ESUs 11, 12, and 13 included in the first unit group 10. The same applies to the other charge permission / prohibition lines 62 to 64.

[0019] In the charging facility 1, in order to ensure that the start / stop of charging can be surely implemented, it is required that each ESUi can be stopped from charging by the charge permission / prohibition lines 61 to 64 (that is, to have a charge stop function (also referred to as CHEN function)). More specifically, according to this CHEN function, when an abnormality occurs in the AC charger 5 during charging, the power control ECU 60 transmits a prohibition signal for prohibiting the power output from the ESUi including the AC charger 5 to the ECU (e.g., the in-vehicle ECU described above) included in the ESUi via any one of the charge permission / prohibition lines 61 to 64. Then, the output of the ESUi is stopped by controlling the ESUi according to this prohibition signal.

[0020] 2. Method for confirming the charge stop function (CHEN function) In order to shorten the time required for confirming the above CHEN function well, in the present embodiment, the power control ECU 6 (corresponding to the "control device" according to the present disclosure) executes the function confirmation as follows.

[0021] That is, when the power control ECU 60 executes the confirmation of the CHEN function using the charging permission / prohibition lines 61 to 64 for all the ESUis included in the first to fourth unit groups 10 to 40, it simultaneously and parallelly executes the processes related to the function confirmation for each of the first to fourth unit groups 10 to 40, and sequentially executes the processes related to the function confirmation for each of the plurality of ESUis within the same unit group 10 to 40.

[0022] FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the flow of the process related to the confirmation of the charging stop function (CHEN function) using the confirmation method according to the present embodiment. When receiving a charging request for the battery of the vehicle 2 via, for example, the charge control ECU 70, the power control ECU 60 executes the process shown in FIG. 2. Specifically, the power control ECU 60 includes, for example, a plurality of processors, and simultaneously and parallelly starts the processes related to the CHEN function confirmation for each of the first to fourth unit groups 10 to 40 shown in FIG. 2. More specifically, the power control ECU 60 executes the process in parallel within the range where the failure location can be specified in units of unit groups.

[0023] In the process related to the first unit group 10, first, in step S101, the power control ECU 60 determines whether the CHEN function of CHG1, which is one of the two AC chargers 5 included in the ESU11, is normal. This determination can be made by applying, for example, a known method described in Patent Document 1 (the method referring to FIG. 4 included in Patent Document 1). If the CHEN function of CHG1 in the ESU11 is normal (step S101; Yes), the process proceeds to step S102.

[0024] In step S102, the power control ECU 60 determines whether the CHEN function of CHG2, which is the other of the two AC chargers 5 included in the ESU11, is normal by the same method as the determination in step S101. As a result, if the CHEN function of CHG2 in the ESU11 is normal (step S102; Yes), the process proceeds to step S103.

[0025] In the example where the CHEN function of all CHG1 and CHG2 of ESU11-13 included in the first unit group 10 is normal, after the process proceeds to step S103, the power control ECU 60 determines that the CHEN function is normal for CHG1 of ESU12, CHG2 of ESU12, CHG1 of ESU13, and CHG2 of ESU13 in order (steps S103-S106). After that, the process proceeds to step S501, which will be described later.

[0026] On the other hand, if the power control ECU 60 determines that the CHEN function is abnormal in any of steps S101 to S106, the process proceeds to step S502, which will be described later.

[0027] The processing for the second unit group 20 (steps S201 to S206) can also be carried out in the same way as the processing for the first unit group 10 (steps S101 to S106) described above, while appropriately controlling the relay 52. ​​The same applies to the processing for the third unit group 30 (steps S301 to S306) and the fourth unit group 40 (steps S401 to S406). In addition, the processing for CHEN function verification, which is performed simultaneously and in parallel for each unit group 10 to 40, does not require synchronization. That is, the transition of the ESUi that is the target of judgment in the processing for each unit group 10 to 40 (e.g., transition from step S102 to step S103) can be executed independently of the processing for the other unit groups 10 to 40.

[0028] In the process shown in Figure 2, if all processes targeting each of the first to fourth unit groups 10 to 40 proceed to step S501, the power control ECU 60 ultimately determines that the CHEN function of the charging equipment 1 is normal. On the other hand, if at least one of the processes targeting the first to fourth unit groups 10 to 40 proceeds to step S502, the power control ECU 60 ultimately determines that there is an abnormality in the CHEN function of the charging equipment 1.

[0029] 3. Effects As described above, according to this embodiment, the verification of the charging stop function (CHEN function) for all ESUi included in the first to fourth unit groups 10 to 40 is performed as follows. That is, the processing related to the verification of the function is executed simultaneously and in parallel for each of the first to fourth unit groups 10 to 40 (i.e., proceeding simultaneously), while the processing related to the verification of the function for each of the multiple ESUi within the same unit group 10 to 40 is executed sequentially (i.e., one ESUi at a time, which is the replacement unit). This makes it possible to identify an ESUi that has malfunctioned or otherwise had an abnormality while significantly reducing the time required to verify the CHEN function.

[0030] In addition, according to this embodiment, as shown in Figure 2, the CHEN function of each of the multiple AC chargers 5 (e.g., CHG1 and CHG2) within the same ESUi is checked sequentially (in order). This makes it possible to properly check the CHEN function while preventing the generation of short-circuit current. [Explanation of symbols]

[0031] 1 Charging equipment, 3, 8, 9, 50, 51 Power lines, 4 AC power supply, 5 AC charger, 10, 20, 30, 40 Unit groups 1-4, 11-13, 21-23, 31-33, 41-43 Electrical supply unit (ESU), 52, 53 Relays, 60 Power control ECU, 61-64 Charging permission / prohibition lines

Claims

[Claim 1] A control device for a charging system comprising multiple groups of units, each group consisting of multiple electrical supply units connected in parallel, which include a function as a charger for a vehicle's battery, and these groups of units connected in parallel to one another, The control device is It is connected to the individual power supply units included in the aforementioned group of units via a charging permission prohibition line, When performing a function check of the charging stop function by the charging permission prohibition line for all power supply units included in the aforementioned group of units, the process related to the function check is performed simultaneously and in parallel for each of the group of units, while the process related to the function check is performed sequentially for each of the multiple power supply units within the same group of units. Control device for charging equipment.

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