Charging system, charging schedule generation program, and charging schedule generation method for charging system

Abstract

To provide a charging system as well as a charging schedule creation program and a charging schedule creation method for the charging system for improving the charging efficiency of the charging system that inserts and extracts a charging plug into and from a charging port of a vehicle by using arm mechanisms.SOLUTION: A charging system 1 comprises arm mechanisms A1-Am that hold a charging plug from a charger connected with a charging cable including the charging plug, and automatically insert and extract the charging plug into and from a charging port of a vehicle located in a charging area. The charging system has: a storage unit 22 that stores at least information on the types and the charging ports of the vehicles as vehicle information; a charging schedule management unit 23 that, based on vehicle information on vehicles being charged and vehicles waiting for charging, creates a charging schedule including the parking positions and parking attitudes of vehicles in which the transit time of the arm mechanisms A1-Am is minimized in a charging operation over the plurality of vehicles; and a vehicle position control unit 24 that shows stop positions and stop attitude to the vehicles based on the charging schedule.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a charging system, a charging schedule generation program, and a charging schedule generation method for a charging system, and more particularly to a charging system including an arm mechanism that automatically inserts and removes a charging plug from a charging port of a vehicle, and a charging schedule generation program and a charging schedule generation method for a charging system. [Background technology]

[0002] In recent years, the use of electric vehicles, including plug-in hybrid vehicles, has been expanding. In addition, automatic driving technology for automobiles has been improved. In response to this, a valet parking system has been proposed in which a vehicle is parked in a parking lot located at a different location from the passenger's boarding and disembarking location, and the vehicle is moved between the parking lot and the boarding and disembarking location by unmanned automatic driving. Here, electric vehicles require charging, and it has been proposed to charge the vehicle in the parking lot. An example of such a technology is disclosed in Patent Document 1.

[0003] The automated valet parking described in Patent Document 1 includes the steps of starting automated valet parking, determining whether charging of the electric vehicle is necessary, setting a wireless charging parking space as a first target position if charging is necessary, transmitting the first target position and a guide route from infrastructure to the vehicle, setting a vacant parking space as a second target position if charging of the electric vehicle is completed, and transmitting the second target position and the guide route. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] JP 2020-102220 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] When the arm mechanism inserts the charging plug into the charging port of the vehicle, the movement time of the arm mechanism affects the charging time. In particular, in a charging station that charges many vehicles, shortening the movement time of the arm mechanism has a significant effect on the charging efficiency of the entire system. However, the technology described in Patent Document 1 does not mention the time loss related to the arm mechanism, and is unable to solve the reduction in charging efficiency that accompanies the movement of the arm mechanism.

[0006] The present invention has been made to solve such problems, and aims to improve the charging efficiency of a charging system that uses an arm mechanism to insert and remove a charging plug from a vehicle's charging port. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] One aspect of the charging system of the present invention is a charging system equipped with an arm mechanism that grasps a charging plug from a charging device to which a charging cable including the charging plug is connected, and automatically inserts and removes the charging plug into and from a charging port of a vehicle located in a charging area, and has a memory unit that stores at least vehicle information such as information regarding the type of vehicle and the charging port, a charging schedule management unit that generates a charging schedule including vehicle parking positions and parking postures that minimize the movement time of the arm mechanism in a charging operation spanning multiple vehicles based on the vehicle information regarding vehicles being charged and vehicles waiting to be charged, and a vehicle position control unit that instructs the vehicle on a stopping position and stopping posture based on the charging schedule.

[0008] One aspect of a charging schedule generation program for a charging system according to the present invention is a charging schedule generation program executed by a control unit that controls a vehicle in a charging system equipped with an arm mechanism that grasps a charging plug from a charging device to which a charging cable including the charging plug is connected, and automatically inserts and removes the charging plug into a charging port of a vehicle located in a charging area, the charging schedule generation program reads at least vehicle information regarding the type of vehicle and the charging port from a storage unit accessible to the system, and generates a charging schedule including parking positions and parking postures of vehicles that minimize the movement time of the arm mechanism in a charging operation spanning multiple vehicles based on the vehicle information regarding vehicles being charged and vehicles waiting to be charged, and instructs the vehicle on a stopping position and stopping posture based on the charging schedule.

[0009] One aspect of the charging schedule generation method for a charging system of the present invention is a charging schedule generation method in a charging system equipped with an arm mechanism that grasps a charging plug from a charging device to which a charging cable including the charging plug is connected, and automatically inserts and removes the charging plug into a charging port of a vehicle located in a charging area, the method reading at least vehicle information regarding the type of vehicle and the charging port from a storage unit accessible to the system, generating a charging schedule including parking positions and parking postures of vehicles that minimize the movement time of the arm mechanism in a charging operation spanning multiple vehicles based on the vehicle information regarding vehicles being charged and vehicles waiting to be charged, and instructing the vehicles on a stopping position and stopping posture based on the charging schedule.

[0010] The charging system, charging schedule generation program, and charging schedule generation method of the present invention make the first distance on the side where there is a charging port that requires space for maneuvering the arm mechanism wider than the second distance between the vehicles on the side where there is no charging port. Effect of the Invention

[0011] According to the present invention, it is possible to increase the number of vehicles that can be parked in a limited area while ensuring space for maneuvering the arm mechanism. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0012] [Figure 1] 1 is a block diagram of a charging system according to a first embodiment. [Diagram 2] 1 is a schematic diagram of a parking area in a charging system according to a first embodiment. [Diagram 3] 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the charging system according to the first embodiment. [Figure 4] 4 is a flowchart illustrating a charging schedule generation process of the charging system according to the first embodiment. [Diagram 5] 10 is a flowchart illustrating a charging schedule generation process of a charging system according to a second embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0013] In order to clarify the description, the following description and drawings are omitted and simplified as appropriate. In addition, each element shown in the drawings as a functional block performing various processes can be configured in hardware with a CPU (Central Processing Unit), memory, and other circuits, and in software, can be realized by a program loaded into memory. Therefore, it is understood by those skilled in the art that these functional blocks can be realized in various forms by hardware alone, software alone, or a combination thereof, and are not limited to any one of them. In addition, the same elements are given the same symbols in each drawing, and duplicated explanations are omitted as necessary.

[0014] The above-mentioned program can be stored and provided to a computer using various types of non-transitory computer-readable media. The non-transitory computer-readable media includes various types of tangible recording media. Examples of the non-transitory computer-readable media include magnetic recording media (e.g., flexible disks, magnetic tapes, hard disk drives), magneto-optical recording media (e.g., magneto-optical disks), CD-ROMs (Read Only Memory), CD-Rs, CD-R / Ws, and semiconductor memories (e.g., mask ROMs, PROMs (Programmable ROMs), EPROMs (Erasable PROMs), flash ROMs, and RAMs (Random Access Memory)). The program may also be provided to a computer by various types of temporary computer-readable media. Examples of the temporary computer-readable media include electrical signals, optical signals, and electromagnetic waves. The temporary computer-readable media can provide the program to a computer via a wired communication path such as an electric wire and an optical fiber, or via a wireless communication path.

[0015] First embodiment In the charging system described below, a vehicle such as an electric vehicle is charged by inserting a charging plug at the end of a charging cable into the vehicle using an arm mechanism. Here, the vehicles to be charged in the charging system include not only cars that can accommodate occupants, but also unmanned vehicles that can move independently. In addition, the vehicles that the charging system targets move according to the instructions of the charging system in the parking area, which is the area managed by the charging system.

[0016] FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a charging system 1 according to a first embodiment. Note that FIG. 1 does not show the parking area that is to be managed by the system. As shown in FIG. 1, the charging system 1 according to the first embodiment has a control unit (e.g., a management device 10) and a vehicle communication unit 11. FIG. 1 also shows vehicles that are to be managed by the charging system 1 and arm mechanisms that are to be controlled by the charging system 1 (e.g., charging port operating arms A1 to Am (m is an integer indicating the number of charging port operating arms)). Also, it is sufficient that there is at least one vehicle that is to be managed by the charging system 1, and it is not necessarily necessary that there be multiple vehicles.

[0017] First, the charging system 1 includes an arm mechanism (e.g., charging port operation arms A1 to Am) that grabs a charging plug from a charging device to which a charging cable including a charging plug is connected, and automatically inserts and removes the charging plug from a charging port of a vehicle located in a charging area. Then, the charging system 1 connects a charging cable extending from the charging device to a target vehicle that is a target for charging, which is a plurality of vehicles waiting in a charging area, and charges the target vehicle. Also, the charging system 1 uses a control unit (e.g., a management device 10) to instruct a charging position at which the charging cable is to be connected to the target vehicle. At this time, the management device 10 generates a charging schedule including a parking position and a parking posture of a vehicle that minimizes the movement time of the arm mechanism in a charging operation across a plurality of vehicles, based on the vehicle information regarding the vehicle being charged and the vehicles waiting to be charged. Then, in the first embodiment, the movement time of the charging port operation arm is minimized by giving a movement instruction to the target vehicle according to this charging schedule. Also, in the charging system 1, the management device 10 communicates with the vehicle using a vehicle communication unit 11, and gives the vehicle a movement route instruction and a movement instruction. The vehicle communication unit 11 controls the communication between the management device 10 and the vehicle based on a predetermined communication standard.

[0018] 1 can be realized by dedicated hardware, or can be realized by executing a program in a computing unit of a computing device such as a computer. In addition, the storage unit of the processing blocks in the management device 10 is realized by a storage device accessible by a computer.

[0019] The management device 10 has a vehicle operation management unit 21, a vehicle information storage unit 22, a charging schedule management unit 23, a vehicle position control unit 24, and a charging port operation arm control unit 25. The vehicle operation management unit 21 manages the departure and arrival of vehicles in response to requests from users who use the vehicles. The vehicle operation management unit 21 also communicates with the vehicles using other communication paths not shown, and determines the vehicle operation schedule and grasps the vehicle's mileage and charging rate. The vehicle information storage unit 22 is a database that holds vehicle information such as the location of the charging port of the managed vehicle, the charging port specifications, and the full charge amount for each type of vehicle.

[0020] The charging schedule management unit 23 generates a charging schedule so that the vehicles under management can be efficiently charged based on the vehicle status, operation schedule, and vehicle information obtained from the vehicle operation management unit 21 and the vehicle information storage unit 22. More specifically, the charging schedule management unit 23 generates a charging schedule including the parking positions and parking postures of vehicles that minimize the movement time of the arm mechanism (e.g., charging port operating arms A1 to Am) in a charging operation spanning multiple vehicles, based on the vehicle information relating to the vehicles being charged and the vehicles waiting to be charged. The details of the generation process of this charging schedule will be described later.

[0021] Vehicle position control unit 24 specifies a parking position for a vehicle parked in a parking area, moves the parking position, and instructs the vehicle to move based on the charging schedule generated by charging schedule management unit 23. Charging port operation arm control unit 25 gives charging port operation arms A1-Am operational instructions to select a charging cable according to the charging schedule generated by charging schedule management unit 23 and insert a charging plug into the vehicle insertion port.

[0022] Here, the configuration of the parking area of ​​the charging system 1 according to the first embodiment will be described. Fig. 2 shows a schematic diagram of the parking area in the charging system according to the first embodiment. As shown in Fig. 2, a charging device 30 is provided in the parking area. A charging area is provided corresponding to the charging device 30. In the example shown in Fig. 2, a plurality of charging sections B1 to B6 (six in Fig. 2) are set in the charging area. The example shown in Fig. 2 shows a state in which vehicles V11 to V16 are parked in the charging sections B1 to B6, one vehicle per section.

[0023] In addition, the parking areas managed by the charging system 1 are provided with an uncharged vehicle parking area where vehicles waiting to be charged are parked, and a charged vehicle parking area where vehicles that have completed charging are parked. Vehicles that have entered the parking area are parked in the uncharged vehicle parking area, and vehicles waiting to leave are parked in the charged vehicle parking area.

[0024] In the example shown in Fig. 2, charging devices 30 are provided with charging cables compatible with two charging port standards. In the example shown in Fig. 2, a charging cable equipped with a charging plug compatible with charging port standard α and a charging cable equipped with a charging plug compatible with charging port standard β are shown. Also, charging port operation arms A1 and A2 are provided in association with charging device 30. In Fig. 2, two charging port operation arms corresponding to the charging area are shown, but it is sufficient that one or more charging port operation arms are provided.

[0025] As shown in FIG. 2, the charging system 1 according to the first embodiment specifies the parking position and parking posture of the vehicle so as to minimize the movement time of the charging port operation arms A1 and A2 with respect to the charging sections of the charging area. FIG. 2 shows an example in which the parking posture is adjusted to face forward or backward into the charging area based on the charging schedule generated by the charging schedule management unit 23. In the example shown in FIG. 2, when parking in the charging sections B1 to B3, the vehicle to be charged is parked so that the charging port is close to the charging port operation arm A1, and when parking in the charging sections B1 to B3, the vehicle to be charged is parked so that the charging port is close to the charging port operation arm A2. FIG. 2 also shows an example in which the parking position and parking posture of the vehicle are adjusted so that the charging port of each vehicle is close to the charging device 30.

[0026] The charging system 1 moves a vehicle parked in an uncharged vehicle parking area to a section of the parking area designated by the system, and moves a vehicle that has completed charging in the charging area to the charged vehicle parking area using the passages provided on the left and right sides of the charging area as a route. In the charging system 1 according to the first embodiment, when charging a vehicle to be charged, the parking section in which the vehicle is parked and the parking posture are adjusted based on the charging schedule according to the position of the vehicle's charging port. That is, in the charging system 1 according to the first embodiment, a movement instruction to be given to the vehicle to be charged is output as a parking position adjustment instruction to the vehicle position control unit 24 based on the charging support rule, and this parking position adjustment instruction is given to the vehicle to be charged.

[0027] Next, the operation of the charging system 1 according to the first embodiment will be described. FIG. 3 shows a flowchart for explaining the operation of the charging system 1 according to the first embodiment. As shown in FIG. 3, the charging system 1 according to the first embodiment starts various processes in response to the entry of a vehicle into the parking area (step S1). The charging system 1 according to the first embodiment first performs a charging schedule generation process based on information about the entered vehicle (step S2). In this charging schedule generation process, a charging schedule that minimizes the movement time of the charging port operation arm is generated. The charging schedule generation process will be described in detail later. Then, based on the charging schedule generated in step S2, the management device 10 instructs the waiting position of the vehicle to be charged and moves the vehicle to be charged (step S3). In addition, in this step S3, the vehicle to be charged is moved from the uncharged vehicle parking area to the charging area according to the charging schedule.

[0028] Then, the charging system 1 according to the first embodiment charges the target vehicle that was moved to the charging area in step S3 (step S4). When charging is completed, the charging system 1 moves the vehicle from the charging area to the charged parked vehicle area (step S5), and causes the vehicle parked in the charged parked vehicle area to leave the area at the request of the user (step S6).

[0029] Here, the charging schedule generation process in step S2 will be described in detail. Fig. 4 shows a flowchart illustrating the charging schedule generation process of the charging system according to the first embodiment. The charging schedule generation process shown in Fig. 4 is performed in the charging schedule management unit 23.

[0030] 4, charging schedule management unit 23 according to the first embodiment first reads vehicle information including position information of the charging ports of vehicles being charged, vehicles waiting to be charged, and entered vehicles from vehicle information storage unit 22 (step S11). Next, using the information read in step S11, charging schedule management unit 23 according to the first embodiment calculates a combination pattern of vehicle charging section positions, parking postures, and charging orders that minimizes the movement time of the charging port operating arm, and sets this combination pattern as a charging schedule (step S12).

[0031] Here, a detailed description will be given of combination patterns of the charging section location, parking posture, and charging order of the vehicle. An example of the charging schedule management unit 23 is an optimization device that uses artificial intelligence. By providing the vehicle information read out in step S11 to such an optimization device that uses artificial intelligence, a charging schedule that minimizes the movement time of the charging port operating arm in a relatively short time can be generated.

[0032] Another example of the charging schedule management unit 23 may be an optimization process that generates candidates for optimal combination patterns by combining the vehicle's charging section location, parking posture, and charging order according to predetermined rules, calculates an estimate of the travel time of the charging port operating arm for the candidate, and evaluates the estimate.

[0033] Another example of the charging schedule management unit 23 may be one that performs an order determination process such as adjusting the parking posture to align the position of the charging port with the charging section position and charging order determined based on the charging rate, etc.

[0034] From the above description, charging system 1 according to the first embodiment generates a charging schedule to minimize the movement time of the charging port operating arm. Then, by inserting a charging plug into the charging port of the vehicle according to this charging schedule, the movement time of the charging port operating arm can be minimized. And, by shortening the movement time of the charging port operating arm, charging system 1 according to the first embodiment can increase the charging efficiency of the entire system.

[0035] Embodiment 2 Another example of the charging schedule generation process will be described in the second embodiment. Fig. 5 shows a flowchart illustrating the charging schedule generation process of the charging system according to the second embodiment.

[0036] As shown in Fig. 5, the charging schedule generation process according to the second embodiment replaces steps S11 and S12 in Fig. 4 with steps S21 and S22. In step S21, the vehicle information read in step S11 includes information on the specifications of the vehicle's charging port. In step S22, a charging schedule that minimizes the movement time of the charging port operating arm is generated using the vehicle information read in step S21.

[0037] In the charging schedule generation process according to the second embodiment, vehicle information including the charging port specifications is used to generate the charging schedule, so that the movement time of the charging port operation arm for switching to a charging cable for a different charging port, etc. can be reduced. In other words, by using the charging schedule generation process according to the second embodiment, the movement time of the charging port operation arm can be reduced more than in the charging system 1 according to the first embodiment.

[0038] The invention made by the inventor has been specifically described above based on the embodiments, but it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments already described, and various modifications are possible without departing from the gist of the invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0039] 1 Charging System 10 Management device 11 Vehicle communication unit 21 Vehicle Operation Management Department 22 Vehicle information storage unit 23 Charging Schedule Management Department 24 Vehicle position control unit 25 Charging port operation arm control section 30 Charging device A1~Am Charging port operation arm B1~B6 Charging area

Claims

1. A charging system including an arm mechanism that grasps a charging plug from a charging device to which a charging cable including the charging plug is connected, and automatically inserts and removes the charging plug into and from a charging port of a vehicle located in a charging area, a storage unit that stores at least vehicle information, such as information regarding the type of the vehicle and the charging port; a charging schedule management unit that generates a charging schedule including parking positions and parking postures of vehicles that minimize the movement time of the arm mechanism in a charging operation spanning a plurality of vehicles, based on the vehicle information regarding the vehicles being charged and the vehicles waiting to be charged; a vehicle position control unit that instructs the vehicle on a stopping position and a stopping posture based on the charging schedule; A charging system having

2. 2. The charging system according to claim 1, wherein the charging schedule management unit estimates a movement time of the arm mechanism for a combination pattern of charging port positions, stopping positions, and stopping postures of a plurality of vehicles including the vehicle being charged and the vehicles waiting to be charged, and generates the charging schedule based on the combination pattern that minimizes the estimated value.

3. The charging system according to claim 2 , wherein the charging schedule management unit calculates the estimated value by including information on a standard of the charging port in the combination pattern.

4. The charging system according to claim 1 , wherein the charging schedule management unit generates the charging schedule that minimizes a movement time of an arm mechanism by an optimization process using artificial intelligence.

5. A charging schedule generation program executed by a control unit that controls a vehicle in a charging system including an arm mechanism that grasps a charging plug from a charging device to which a charging cable including the charging plug is connected, and automatically inserts and removes the charging plug into and from a charging port of a vehicle located in a charging area, Reading at least vehicle information related to the vehicle type and the charging port from a storage unit accessible by the system; generating a charging schedule including parking positions and parking postures of vehicles that minimize the movement time of the arm mechanism in a charging operation spanning a plurality of vehicles, based on the vehicle information regarding the vehicles being charged and the vehicles waiting to be charged; A charging schedule generating program for a charging system that instructs the vehicle on a stopping position and stopping posture based on the charging schedule.

6. A charging schedule generation method for a charging system including an arm mechanism that grasps a charging plug from a charging device to which a charging cable including the charging plug is connected, and automatically inserts and removes the charging plug into and from a charging port of a vehicle located in a charging area, the method comprising: Reading at least vehicle information related to the vehicle type and the charging port from a storage unit accessible by the system; generating a charging schedule including parking positions and parking postures of vehicles that minimize the movement time of the arm mechanism in a charging operation spanning a plurality of vehicles, based on the vehicle information regarding the vehicles being charged and the vehicles waiting to be charged; A charging schedule generating method for a charging system that instructs the vehicle on a stopping position and stopping posture based on the charging schedule.

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