Power transmission device control device

Abstract

To appropriately respond to charging requests when multiple vehicles submit charging requests at the same time.SOLUTION: Charging requests transmitted from vehicles 3 to 3c include method information that shows charging methods of charging devices mounted on the vehicles 3 to 3c. A controller 10 submits a notification of charge availability so that a vehicle 3 having no contact-type charger is preferentially charged than vehicles 3a to 3c having the contact-type charger when receiving charging requests from multiple vehicles such that power transmission periods of a power transmission unit 50 overlap.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a control device for a power transmission device, and more particularly to a control device for a power transmission device having a power transmission unit that transmits power in a non-contact manner to a power receiving unit mounted on a vehicle. [Background technology]

[0002] Contactless charging is known, in which power is transmitted contactlessly from a power transmission unit installed on the infrastructure side to a power receiving unit mounted on a vehicle to charge the vehicle battery. For example, in JP 2020-10451 A (Patent Document 1), the inter-unit distance between the power receiving unit mounted under the floor of the vehicle and the power transmission unit buried in the road surface is set to a predetermined value to improve charging efficiency. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2020-10451 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] In contactless charging, power is transmitted from the transmitting coil of the power transmitting unit to the receiving coil of the vehicle. One transmitting coil can transmit power to only one vehicle's receiving coil. Therefore, if there are simultaneous power transmission requests (charging requests) from multiple vehicles, it is possible to respond to the charging request of any one of them, but it is not possible to respond to the charging requests of the other vehicles.

[0005] An object of the present disclosure is to appropriately respond to charging requests when there are simultaneous charging requests from a plurality of vehicles. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The control device for a power transmission device according to the present disclosure is a control device for a power transmission device having a power transmission unit that transmits power contactlessly to a power receiving unit mounted on a vehicle. The control device includes a charging request acquisition unit that acquires a charging request from a vehicle, and a control unit that notifies the vehicle of whether charging is possible or not in response to the charging request. The charging request includes method information indicating a charging method of the charging device mounted on the vehicle, and when the control unit acquires charging requests from multiple vehicles such that the power transmission periods of the power transmission units overlap, the control unit notifies the vehicle of whether charging is possible or not so as to give priority to vehicles that do not have a contact charging device over vehicles that have a contact charging device.

[0007] According to this configuration, the charging request acquisition unit acquires a charging request. Then, when charging requests are acquired from a plurality of vehicles such that the power transmission periods of the power transmission units overlap, the control unit notifies the vehicles of whether charging is possible or not so that vehicles that do not have a contact-type charging device are given priority for charging over vehicles that have a contact-type charging device. As a result, a charging permission notification is sent to vehicles that do not have a contact-type charging device, and a charging non-permission notification is sent to vehicles that have a contact charging device.

[0008] Even if (contactless) charging by a power transmission device is postponed, a vehicle equipped with a contact-type charging device can be charged using a contact-type charging stand, so the probability of the SOC of the vehicle's power storage device being depleted is low. Also, a vehicle not equipped with a contact-type charging device can be charged using a power transmission device, so the SOC of the vehicle's power storage device can be appropriately managed. Effect of the Invention

[0009] According to the present disclosure, when charging requests are made simultaneously from a plurality of vehicles, the charging requests can be responded to appropriately. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a non-contact charging system according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing functional blocks configured in an ECU 11 of a control device 10 in the present embodiment. [Diagram 3] An example of information included in a charging request transmitted by the vehicles 3 to 3c is shown. [Figure 4] 10 is a flowchart showing a charging availability notification control process executed by a control unit 112. [Diagram 5] FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of priority. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0011] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, the same or corresponding parts are denoted by the same reference characters, and the description thereof will not be repeated.

[0012] 1 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a wireless charging system 100 according to an embodiment. The wireless charging system 100 includes a server 1, a vehicle 3, and a power transmitting device 5.

[0013] The vehicle 3 is an electric vehicle equipped with a contactless charging device, and includes a battery 30 and a power receiving unit 45. The battery 30 is mounted as a driving power source (i.e., a power source) of the vehicle 3. In the present embodiment, the vehicle 3 is an electric vehicle, but the vehicle 3 may be a plug-in hybrid vehicle or a fuel cell vehicle equipped with the battery 30. The battery 30 is configured to include a plurality of stacked batteries. The battery is, for example, a secondary battery such as a nickel-metal hydride battery or a lithium-ion battery. The battery may be a battery having a liquid electrolyte between the positive electrode and the negative electrode, or may be a battery having a solid electrolyte (an all-solid-state battery).

[0014] The power receiving unit 45 is disposed, for example, on the underside of a floor panel of the vehicle 3. The power receiving unit 45 includes a power receiving coil 46. The power receiving coil 46 receives power transmitted from the power transmitting unit 50 of the power transmitting device 5 in a wireless manner. The power received by the power receiving coil 46 is charged into the battery 30 via a charging device (not shown) that is configured from a rectifier, a DC / DC converter, etc.

[0015] The vehicle 3 includes an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) 41 and a communication device 42. The ECU 41 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit), memories (ROM (Read Only Memory) and RAM (Random Access Memory)), and input / output ports for inputting and outputting various signals (none of which are shown). The ECU 41 performs various calculations based on signals from various sensors and the like, and controls various devices. The ECU 41 is also configured to be able to calculate the SOC (State Of Charge) of the battery 30. The communication device 42 communicates with the server 1 and the control device 10 of the power transmission device 5 via a communication network 400.

[0016] In the present embodiment, the power transmitting device 5 includes two power transmitting units 50, each of which has a power transmitting coil 51. Each of the power transmitting units 50 receives power from an AC power source 52. The AC power source 52 is, for example, a commercial power system. The power transmitting unit 50 receives AC power from the AC power source 52, and forms an electromagnetic field around the power transmitting coil 51 by a power factor correction circuit, an inverter circuit, a filter circuit, and the like (not shown), and transmits power to the power receiving coil 46 of the power receiving unit 45 of the vehicle 3 in a non-contact manner.

[0017] The power transmission device 5 has a control device 10. The control device 10 receives a power reception request from the vehicle 3 and controls the power transmission device 5. The control device 10 includes an ECU 11 including a CPU and a memory and performing various controls, and a communication device 12 that communicates with the server 1 and a communication device 42 via a communication network 400. The communication device 12 and the communication device 42 are configured to be capable of two-way communication by short-range communication.

[0018] The server 1 is a management server that manages the contactless charging system 100 in an integrated manner, and includes a control device, a storage device, and a communication device (not shown). The server 1 acquires various information about the vehicle 3 and the power transmission device 5 via the communication network 400, and manages the contactless charging system 100.

[0019] In the non-contact charging system 100 of the present embodiment, charging is performed on the vehicles 3a, 3b, and 3c, which are equipped with a contact charging device in addition to a non-contact charging device. The vehicle 3a is capable of rapid charging in addition to non-contact charging by the power receiving unit 45. Rapid charging is to charge the battery 30 using power of, for example, 50 kW or more, and in the present embodiment, the battery 30 is charged with direct current power supplied from a DC (direct current) charging facility 200. The vehicle 3a is provided with an inlet 47, to which a DC charging connector 201 provided at the tip of a charging cable of the DC charging facility 200 can be connected. The charging connector 201 is inserted into the inlet 47 to electrically connect the inlet 47 and the DC charging facility 200, and power is transferred (contact charging) from the DC charging facility 200 to the vehicle 3a, and the battery 30 is charged via a charging device not shown.

[0020] Vehicle 3b is capable of normal charging in addition to contactless charging by power receiving unit 45. Normal charging involves charging battery 30 using power of less than 50 kW, for example. In this embodiment, AC power supplied from AC (alternating current) charging equipment 300 is converted to DC by a charging device mounted on vehicle 3b, and the DC power is used to charge battery 30. Vehicle 3b is provided with inlet 48, to which AC charging connector 301 provided at the tip of a charging cable of AC charging equipment 300 can be connected. Inserting charging connector 301 into inlet 48 electrically connects inlet 48 and AC charging equipment 300, and power is transferred (contact charging) from AC charging equipment 300 to vehicle 3b, and battery 30 is charged via a charging device (not shown) or the like.

[0021] Vehicle 3c is capable of rapid charging and normal charging in addition to contactless charging by power receiving unit 45. Vehicle 3c is provided with inlet 47 for rapid charging (DC charging) and inlet 48 for normal charging (AC charging), and battery 30 can be charged with power supplied from DC charging equipment 200 and AC charging equipment 300. Note that in FIG. 1, battery 30, ECU 41, communication device 42, etc. are omitted in some vehicles 3, vehicle 3b, and vehicle 3c.

[0022] An unspecified number of vehicles 3, 3a, 3b, and 3c use the power transmission device 5 to charge the battery 30. Since the power transmission device 5 has two power transmission units 50, when there are charging requests from a large number of vehicles 3, 3a, 3b, and 3c, it is not possible to charge three or more vehicles at the same time. Therefore, when there are charging requests that overlap the power transmission periods (charging periods) of the power transmission units 50, it is desirable to respond to the charging requests appropriately.

[0023] In the present embodiment, when there are charging requests that overlap with the power transmission periods (charging periods) of the power transmitting units 50, the charging requests are appropriately responded to by determining the priority based on the charging method installed in the vehicle.

[0024] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing functional blocks configured in the ECU 11 of the control device 10 in this embodiment. The charging request acquisition unit 111 acquires the charging request transmitted by the vehicle 3 to 3c via the communication device 12 by the communication network 400 or short-distance communication. FIG. 3 shows an example of information (charging request information) included in the charging request transmitted by the vehicle 3 to 3c. In FIG. 3, the vehicle ID is identification information of the vehicle 3 to 3c. The charging method is the charging method of the charging device mounted on the vehicle, and corresponds to the "method information indicating the charging method" in the present disclosure. "WPT" indicates that the vehicle is equipped with the power receiving unit 45 and is equipped with a non-contact charging device. "DC" indicates that the vehicle is equipped with a contact charging device equipped with the inlet 47 and capable of quick charging from the DC charging facility 200. "AC" indicates that the vehicle is equipped with a contact charging device equipped with the inlet 48 and capable of normal charging from the AC charging facility 300. In the example shown in FIG. 3, the vehicle is equipped with a non-contact charging device, a contact charging device capable of rapid charging, and a contact charging device capable of normal charging.

[0025] The current SOC is the current SOC of the battery 30, and the target SOC is the SOC at the time of completion of charging of the battery 30. The rated power is the rated power (rated output power) of a contactless charging device mounted on the vehicle.

[0026] 3, the control unit 112 determines whether charging is possible based on the charging request acquired by the charging request acquisition unit 111, and notifies the vehicles 3 to 3c of the possibility of charging. Fig. 4 is a flowchart showing the process of charging possibility notification control executed by the control unit 112. This flowchart is processed repeatedly at predetermined intervals.

[0027] In step 10 (hereinafter, step will be abbreviated as "S"), it is determined whether it is time to decide whether charging is possible (time to decide whether charging is possible). In this embodiment, when a charging request is received by communication device 12, if a charging request is received from another vehicle within a predetermined time (for example, 10 seconds to 1 minute) from the reception timing, it is determined whether charging is possible based on the charging method of the charging device mounted on the vehicle. In S10, it is determined whether a predetermined time has elapsed from the timing when the first charging request was received without determining whether charging is possible, and if the predetermined time has not elapsed, a negative determination is made and the current routine is terminated. If a predetermined time has elapsed from the timing when the first charging request was received without determining whether charging is possible, a positive determination is made and the routine proceeds to S12.

[0028] In S12, it is determined whether the power transmission periods of the power transmission units 50 overlap. If two power transmission units 50 are currently transmitting power (if charging is being performed), it is determined that the power transmission periods overlap, a positive determination is made, and the process proceeds to S14. If neither of the two power transmission units 50 is transmitting power, and if the number of charging requests is two or less, the power transmission periods of the power transmission units 50 do not overlap, a negative determination is made, and the process proceeds to S16. If neither of the two power transmission units 50 is transmitting power, and the number of charging requests is three or more, the power transmission periods of the power transmission units 50 overlap, a positive determination is made, and the process proceeds to S14. If one of the two power transmission units 50 is not transmitting power, and if the number of charging requests is one, charging can be performed using one of the power transmission units 50, the power transmission periods of the power transmission units 50 do not overlap, a negative determination is made, and the process proceeds to S16. Furthermore, when one of the two power transmitting units 50 is not transmitting power, if the number of charging requests is two or more, the power transmission periods of the power transmitting units 50 overlap, so a positive determination is made and the process proceeds to S14.

[0029] In S14, whether charging is possible or not is determined based on the priority. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the priority. In FIG. 5, priority 1 is the highest priority, and priority 4 is the lowest priority. The priority is set based on the charging method of the charging device mounted on the vehicle. As shown in FIG. 5, priority 1 is the highest priority for a vehicle 3 whose charging method is only "WPT" and which is equipped with only a non-contact charging device. Priority 2 is for a vehicle 3b whose charging method is "WPT / AC" and which is equipped with a non-contact charging device and a contact charging device capable of normal charging. Priority 3 is for a vehicle 3a whose charging method is "WPT / DC" and which is equipped with a non-contact charging device and a contact charging device capable of rapid charging. Priority 4 is for a vehicle 3c whose charging method is "WPT / DC / AC" and which is equipped with a non-contact charging device, a contact charging device capable of rapid charging, and a contact charging device capable of normal charging.

[0030] In this embodiment, the priority of the vehicle 3b (priority 2) equipped with a non-contact charging device and a contact charging device capable of normal charging is higher than that of the vehicle 3a (priority 3) equipped with a non-contact charging device and a contact charging device capable of rapid charging. Therefore, the vehicle 3a equipped with a contact charging device capable of rapid charging can be expected to charge using a contact charging device capable of rapid charging, and congestion at the power transmission device 5 (non-contact charging station) can be avoided. Furthermore, since the charging time for rapid charging is short, it is possible to suppress the time loss required for charging the vehicles 3a and 3b, even taking into account the time it takes for the vehicle 3a to move to a contact charging device capable of rapid charging.

[0031] In S14, whether charging is permitted or not is determined based on the priority shown in FIG. 5. For example, in S12, when both of the two power transmitting units 50 are not transmitting power, the number of charging requests is three or more, and the process proceeds to S14, charging of the two vehicles with the highest priority is permitted and charging of the remaining vehicles is not permitted. In addition, when one of the two power transmitting units 50 is not transmitting power, the number of charging requests is two or more, and the process proceeds to S12, charging of one vehicle with the highest priority is permitted and charging of the remaining vehicles is not permitted. Note that, when there are vehicles with the same priority (for example, when three vehicles 3 transmit charging requests and there are three vehicles with priority 1), the vehicle that transmitted the charging request earlier is given priority and charging is determined to be permitted or not. Note that, in S12, when two power transmitting units 50 are currently transmitting power and the process proceeds to S15 when it is determined that the power transmission periods overlap, charging of all vehicles is not permitted.

[0032] In S16, since the power transmission periods of the power transmission units 50 do not overlap, charging is permitted for the vehicle that transmitted the charging request.

[0033] In S18 following S14 and S16, the determined charging availability (charging permitted or not permitted) is transmitted to the vehicle 3-3c that transmitted the charging request, a notification of charging availability is given, and this routine ends. Note that the vehicle 3-3c that received the notification of charging availability displays the result of charging availability (charging permitted or not permitted) on a display (not shown) to notify the user of charging availability.

[0034] According to the above embodiment, the charging request acquisition unit 111 acquires charging requests from the vehicles 3 to 3c. When charging requests are acquired from a plurality of vehicles such that the power transmission periods of the power transmission unit 50 overlap, the control unit 112 determines whether charging is possible or not according to the priority shown in FIG. 5 and notifies the control unit 112 of the possibility of charging. The priority is set so that the priority of the vehicle 3 not equipped with a contact charging device is higher than that of the vehicles 3a, 3b, and 3c equipped with a contact charging device. As a result, when charging requests are acquired from the vehicle 3 not equipped with a contact charging device and the vehicles 3a, 3b, and 3c equipped with a contact charging device such that the power transmission periods of the power transmission unit 50 overlap, a charging permission notification is notified to the vehicle 3 not equipped with a contact charging device, and a charging non-permission notification is notified to the vehicles 3a, 3b, and 3c equipped with a contact charging device.

[0035] Even if (contactless) charging by the power transmission device 5 is postponed, the vehicles 3a, 3b, and 3c equipped with a contact-type charging device can be charged using a contact-type charging stand, so the SOC of the vehicle's battery 30 is unlikely to run out. In addition, the vehicle 3 not equipped with a contact-type charging device can be charged using the power transmission device 5, so the SOC of the vehicle's battery 30 can be appropriately managed.

[0036] According to this embodiment, when charging requests are received from vehicles 3a and 3b such that the power transmission periods of power transmission unit 50 overlap, a charging permission notification is sent to vehicle 3b capable of normal charging, and a charging non-permission notification is sent to vehicle 3a capable of rapid charging, according to the priority order shown in Fig. 5. Vehicle 3a capable of rapid charging can be charged in a short time by DC charging equipment (rapid charging equipment) 200, so that even if the priority order of contactless charging by power transmission unit 50 is low, time loss can be minimized.

[0037] In this embodiment, when charging requests are received from vehicles with the same priority such that the power transmission periods of the power transmission unit 50 overlap, the vehicle that transmitted the charging request earlier is given priority, and whether or not charging is permitted is determined. A charging permission notice is sent to the vehicle that transmitted the charging request earliest, and a charging denial notice is sent to the remaining vehicles. Since the vehicle that transmitted the charging request earlier is given priority among vehicles with the same priority, a sense of fairness and satisfaction can be fostered.

[0038] In the above embodiment, the ECU 11 of the control device 10 is used to perform the process of the chargeability notification control shown in Fig. 4. However, the function blocks shown in Fig. 3 may be configured in the control device of the server 1, and the process of the chargeability notification control may be performed by the control device of the server 1. In this case, the charging request transmitted by the vehicles 3 to 3c includes a power transmission device ID that is identification information of the power transmission device 5 that performs contactless charging. In addition, information such as the usage status of the power transmission unit 50 is transmitted from the power transmission device 5 to the server 1.

[0039] In the above embodiment, the power transmitting device 5 includes two power transmitting sections 50, but the number of power transmitting sections 50 may be one, or three or more.

[0040] In the above embodiment, the priority of the vehicle 3 that has only the "WPT" charging method and is equipped with only a non-contact charging device is set to 1, and the priority of the vehicle 3b that has the "WPT / AC" charging method and is equipped with a non-contact charging device and a contact charging device capable of normal charging is set to 2. However, the priority of the vehicle 3 that has only the "WPT" charging method and the vehicle 3b that has the "WPT / AC" charging method may be set to the same priority. In this case, the priority of the vehicle 3 that has only the "WPT" charging method and the vehicle 3b that has the "WPT / AC" charging method is set to 1, the priority of the vehicle 3 that has only the "WPT" charging method and the vehicle 3b that has the "WPT / AC" charging method is set to 2, and the priority of the vehicle 3 that has the "WPT / DC" charging method is set to 3, and the priority of the vehicle 3c that has the "WPT / DC / AC" charging method is set to 3. In this way, the priority of the vehicles 3a and 3c that can be quickly charged may be set to a low priority.

[0041] The following are examples of embodiments of the present disclosure. 1) A control device (1, 10) for a power transmission device (5) having a power transmission unit (50) that transmits power contactlessly to a power receiving unit (45) mounted on a vehicle (3 to 3 c), the control device (1, 10) including a charging request acquisition unit (111) that acquires a charging request from the vehicle (3 to 3 c) and a control unit (112) that notifies the vehicle (3 to 3 c) of whether charging is possible or not in response to the charging request, the charging request including method information indicating a charging method of the charging device mounted on the vehicle (3 to 3 c), the control unit (112) notifying the vehicle (3 to 3 c) of whether charging is possible or not so that, when charging requests are acquired from a plurality of vehicles such that the power transmission periods of the power transmission unit (50) overlap, a vehicle (3) that is not equipped with a contact-type charging device is given priority over a vehicle (3a to 3c) that is equipped with a contact-type charging device.

[0042] 2)1 further includes a communication device (12), and when the control unit (112) receives a charging request via the communication device (12), if the control unit (112) receives charging requests from a vehicle (3) not equipped with a contact-type charging device and vehicles (3a to 3c) equipped with a contact-type charging device within a predetermined time from the timing of reception of the charging request, the control unit (112) notifies the vehicle (3) not equipped with a contact-type charging device of a charging permission notification and notifies the vehicles (3a to 3c) equipped with the contact-type charging device of a charging denial notification.

[0043] In 3) 1, a priority is set based on the charging method of the charging device installed in the vehicle, and when the control unit (112) receives charging requests from vehicles with the same priority, the control unit (112) gives priority to the vehicle that transmitted the charging request earlier and determines whether or not charging is possible, notifies a charging permission notice to the vehicle that transmitted the charging request earlier, and notifies the remaining vehicles of a charging denial notice.

[0044] The embodiments disclosed herein should be considered to be illustrative and not restrictive in all respects. The scope of the present invention is defined by the claims, not by the description of the embodiments described above, and is intended to include all modifications within the meaning and scope of the claims. [Explanation of symbols]

[0045] 1 server, 3, 3a, 3b, 3c vehicle, 5 power transmission device, 10 control device, 11 ECU, 12 communication device, 30 battery, 41 ECU, 42 communication device, 14 communication device, 45 power receiving device, 46 power receiving coil, 47 inlet, 48 inlet, 50 power transmission device, 51 power transmitting coil, 52 AC power source, 100 non-contact charging system, 111 charging request acquisition unit, 112 control unit, 200 DC charging equipment, 201 DC charging connector, 300 AC charging equipment, 301 AC charging connector, 400 network.

Claims

[Claim 1] A control device for a power transmission device having a power transmission unit that transmits power in a non-contact manner to a power receiving unit mounted on a vehicle, a charging request acquisition unit that acquires a charging request from the vehicle; a control unit that notifies the vehicle whether charging is possible or not in response to the charging request, the charging request includes method information indicating a charging method of a charging device mounted on the vehicle, A control device for a power transmission device, in which when the control unit receives charging requests from multiple vehicles such that the power transmission periods of the power transmission units overlap, the control unit notifies the vehicle as to whether or not charging is possible, so that the vehicle that does not have a contact-type charging device is charged preferentially over the vehicle that has the contact-type charging device.

Images