Charging system

Abstract

To provide a charging system capable of easily and remotely grasping information about a battery and a charger therefor.SOLUTION: According to a charging system 2 of the first embodiment, it becomes possible for a person M in charge of monitoring to grasp charger individual information and battery individual information without visiting a work site where a charger 50 is placed, since displaying is made on a display 123 of a monitoring terminal device 121, even with the charger individual information about the charger 50 provided at a place point remote from the monitoring terminal device 121 connected to the Internet 100 and with the battery individual information about a plurality of batteries 20a and so forth charged therein. Further, it is made possible to control a charging operation of the charger 50 with respect to the plurality of batteries 20a and so forth from a key board 125, a pointing device and so forth of the monitoring terminal device 121. Thus, the person M in charge of monitoring can easily and remotely grasp information about the plurality of batteries 20a and so forth and the charger 50 thereof.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a charging system.

Background Art

[0002] As a device for charging a battery mounted on an electric vehicle such as a battery-powered forklift, for example, there is a charging device disclosed in Patent Document 1 below. This Document 1 discloses a charging device provided with a display having six LED lamps (L1 to L6) or the like for the progress of battery charging. Further, Patent Document 2 below discloses a charger battery capacity display device that displays the degree of charging by changing the blinking patterns of a plurality of LED lamps in various modes.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Patent Document 2

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] However, in the prior art disclosed in these Patent Documents 1 and 2, since the progress of battery charging is displayed by the lighting state of the LED lamps provided in the display or the display device, the information that can be grasped thereby is small. Therefore, a difference may occur between the progress of charging indicated by the LED lamps and the actual charging state. Further, when a charging device provided with such a display or the like is installed outdoors or the positional relationship between the charging device and the lighting device is inappropriate, it may be difficult to visually recognize the lighting state of the LED lamps depending on the incident angle of the light illuminating the display or the like. Therefore, even if the detailed degree of charging is displayed by the blinking patterns of a plurality of LED lamps, it is not always possible to grasp it at the site where the electric vehicle operates.

[0005] These problems can be solved, for example, by providing a dot matrix type liquid crystal display panel for outdoor use instead of an LED lamp in the charging device, which enables various display modes such as characters and graphics. For example, it can be solved by displaying battery charging information and charging device information on it. However, even if the charging device is equipped with such a liquid crystal display panel, such information cannot be obtained unless one goes to the site where the charging device is installed. Further, even if a method is adopted in which information obtained by visual confirmation by on-site workers is sequentially reported using communication means such as a mobile phone, new problems such as time and effort and increased communication costs may occur.

[0006] The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object thereof is to provide a charging system that can easily grasp information related to a battery and its charging device even remotely.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0007] To achieve the above object, the charging system according to claim 1 of the claims is Connected to an information communication network table Display unit and And input has a To show terminal device, a charging device provided at a location separated from the terminal device and connected to a recording information communication network via a wireless communication network, Before a monitoring device that transmits individual information of the battery (hereinafter referred to as "battery individual information") to the charging device via short-range wireless communication, and includes: The charging device Mounted on each of a plurality of electric vehicles, transmits the battery individual information and individual information of the charging device (hereinafter referred to as "charging device individual information") transmitted from the monitoring device to the terminal device, and the terminal device A control unit for acquiring and the individual information of the battery acquired by the control unit from the charging device By transmits a plurality of the battery individual information and Having a communication unit capable of, provided in the battery the charging device individual information For each of the plurality of electric vehicles to the table A plurality of which are possible and displays them Report and thereon. Transmitted a plurality of the battery individual information and / Or the charging device individual information Report to on the table Display unit and displays themAnd show , And transmit the charging control information input from the input unit of the terminal device to the charging device via the wireless communication network. The charging device performs charging control on the batteries mounted on each of the plurality of electric vehicles based on the charging control information transmitted from the terminal device , which is characterized by technical features. Note that "and / or" is an expression that can select either "and" or "or". (Same as below) .

[0008] In the invention of the charging system according to claim 1, Connected to an information communication network Table Display unit and And input a terminal device having a To show power unit, a charging device connected to a remote communication network via a wireless communication network, Information a monitoring device that transmits battery individual information to the charging device via short-range wireless communication, and includes. And the charging device Mounted on each of a plurality of electric vehicles, transmits the battery individual information and the charging device individual information transmitted from the monitoring device to the terminal device. In contrast, the terminal device A control unit for acquiring and the individual information of the battery acquired by the control unit from the charging device By a plurality of battery individual information and Having a communication unit capable of, provided in the battery the charging device individual information For each of the plurality of electric vehicles is displayed on the A plurality of which are possible table Report and . Thereby, the charging device individual information of the charging device provided at a location away from the terminal device or Transmitted the table of the terminal device / Or is displayed on the Report to table Display unit . Furthermore, the charging system described in claim And show of the claims And transmit the charging control information input from the input unit of the terminal device to the charging device via the wireless communication network. Also, the charging device performs charging control on the batteries mounted on each of the plurality of electric vehicles based on the charging control information transmitted from the terminal device is the charging system described in claim The battery individual information of the monitoring device is . In the charging system, the charging device Display unit determines the presence or absence of an abnormality based on the battery individual information received from the monitoring device, . Also, when the charging control information is transmitted from the terminal device to the charging device, the charging device performs charging control on a plurality of batteries

[0011] and when it is determined that there is an abnormality in at least 2 one aspect, information regarding the abnormality is transmitted to the terminal device, and the terminal device receives the information from the charging device 1 described above The charging device individual information and from the monitoring device Received the battery individual information Report to based on Regarding the charging control the presence or absence of an abnormality To judge is determined, The charging device individual information and the and when it is determined that there is an abnormality in at least Is also one one aspect, information regarding the abnormality is transmitted to the terminal device, and the terminal device Regarding the charging control receives the information regarding the abnormality from the charging device Charging control of received from the charging device Charging control ofInformation regarding abnormalities Together with the charging device individual information and a plurality of the battery individual information the said table Display unit displayed on, which is the technical feature 。

[0012] Claim 2 In the invention of the charging system described in claim, the charging device Charging device individual information and from the monitoring device Received battery individual information Report to based on Regarding the charging control the presence or absence of abnormalities To judge to determine. And The charging device individual information and the battery individual information of at least Is also one one side Regarding the charging control if it is determined that there is an abnormality, the information regarding the abnormality Charging control of is transmitted to the terminal device. The terminal device that has received this Charging control of information regarding the abnormality Together with the charging device individual information and a plurality of battery individual information table Display unit displayed on. Thereby On the display unit of the terminal device, three types of information, namely, the charging device individual information, the battery individual information, and information regarding an abnormality in the charging control, are displayed. Therefore, when there is an abnormality in the charging device or the battery, information regarding the abnormality is displayed on the display output unit of the terminal device, so that the person in charge of monitoring can easily determine which of the charging device individual information and the plurality of battery individual information is abnormal

[0013] Also, the charging system described in claim 3 in the charging system described in claim 1 Or 2 the terminal device Display the charging device individual information and the plurality of battery individual information transmitted from the charging device on the display unit, and enable changes to the charging control parameters among the displayed charging device individual information and / or the sensor operation parameters among the battery individual information which is the technical feature

[0014] Claim 3 In the invention of the charging system described in claim, the terminal device Display the charging device individual information and the plurality of battery individual information transmitted from the charging device on the display unit, and enable changes to the charging control parameters among the displayed charging device individual information and / or the sensor operation parameters among the battery individual information . Thereby, even for a charging device provided at a location far from the terminal device The charging device individual information and the plurality of battery individual information are displayed on the display unit, and the charging control parameters and sensor operation parameters among them are it can be changed by remote operation

Advantages of the Invention

[0017] In the invention of claim 1, even the individual charger information of a charger provided at a location away from the terminal device and the individual battery information of a plurality of batteries charged thereby are displayed on the display output unit of the terminal device. Thus, it becomes possible to grasp the individual charger information and the individual battery information without going to the site where the charger is installed. Also, it becomes possible to control the charging operation of the charger for a plurality of batteries from the operation input unit of the terminal device. Therefore, information regarding the battery and its charger can be easily grasped remotely.

[0019] In the invention of claim 3, when there is an abnormality in an arbitrary battery or charger, information regarding the abnormality is displayed on the display output unit of the terminal device. Thus, for example, it becomes possible for a person in charge of monitoring the operating status of the charger, battery, etc. to know that an abnormality has occurred in the charger or battery without looking at the individual charger information and individual battery information displayed on the terminal device. Therefore, in addition to being able to easily grasp information regarding the battery and its charger remotely, it is also possible to easily grasp remotely that an abnormality has occurred in an arbitrary battery or charger.

[0020] In the invention of claim 4, even for a charger provided at a location away from the terminal device, it becomes possible to change, by remote operation, the control parameters involved in the charging operation and the operation parameters of the sensors involved in the acquisition of individual battery information for the charger and the monitoring device. Therefore, in addition to being able to easily grasp information regarding the battery and its charger remotely, it is also possible to remotely change the control parameters of the charger and the operation parameters of the sensors of the monitoring device.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0022]

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Embodiments for Carrying Out the Invention

[0023] Hereinafter, each embodiment of the charging system of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. [First Embodiment] As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the charging system 2 according to the first embodiment charges the batteries 20a, 20b, 20c (hereinafter referred to as "batteries 20a, etc.") mounted on each of a plurality of, for example, three battery-powered forklifts (hereinafter referred to as "forklifts") 10a, 10b, 10c (hereinafter referred to as "forklifts 10a, etc.") with a charging device 50. In the first embodiment, the batteries 20a, etc. are monitored by BMUs 30a, 30b, 30c (hereinafter referred to as "BMUs 30a, etc.") mounted on the forklifts 10a, etc. corresponding to each of them.

[0024] Note that the forklift 10a or the like is an example of an electric vehicle driven by electric power supplied from a battery 20a or the like housed in a battery storage chamber 11. The electric vehicle of the first embodiment includes, for example, an automated guided vehicle (AGV), an electric cart, an electric wheelchair, and the like. Hereinafter, the forklift 10a or the like, the battery 20a or the like, the BMU 30a or the like may be collectively referred to simply as the "forklift 10", the "battery 20", or the "BMU 30".

[0025] In the first embodiment, information communication between the BMU 30a or the like and the charging device 50 is configured to be able to be performed via a wireless communication line 90a by short-range wireless communication, as will be described later. Further, the charging device 50 is configured to be able to communicate information with a monitoring terminal device 121 of a monitoring center 120 connected to the Internet 100 via a wireless communication line 90b (access point 110) by a wide-area wireless communication network. The charging device 50 and the monitoring center 120 are located at geographically separated points. Note that the Internet 100 is an example of a wide-area information communication line network for transmitting data and may also be referred to as the "cloud" in cloud computing. Instead of the Internet 100, a closed communication network provided by a communication carrier, a VPN (virtual private network or virtual dedicated line), a dedicated line, a public line network, or the like may be used.

[0026] As described above, the monitoring terminal device 121 included in the cloud (on the cloud) is, for example, a notebook-type personal computer (PC), and includes a display 123 as a display output unit and a keyboard 125 as an operation input unit. The monitoring terminal device 121 is connected to the Internet 100 via, for example, a line termination device 122 and an ISP (Internet connection provider), not shown. The monitoring terminal device 121 may include, as an operation input unit, a pointing device such as a mouse or a trackball, or a touch panel that can be input by touching with a touch pen, a stylus, a finger, etc. The monitoring terminal device 121 may be a desktop-type or tablet-type PC. Note that the monitoring terminal device 121 is monitored and operated by a person in charge (hereinafter referred to as the "monitoring person in charge") M who visually observes the operating states of the battery 20a, etc. and the charging device 50.

[0027] <Configuration of Charging Device 50> As shown in FIG. 2, the charging device 50 converts three-phase AC power input from an AC power supply AC into DC power suitable for the battery 20 and outputs it. The charging device 50 is mainly composed of, for example, a rectifying unit 52, a voltage converting unit 53, a control unit 54, a display unit 58, communication units 59a, 59b, etc., and these are housed in a metal housing 51. The housing 51 is provided with, for example, an input terminal to which three-phase AC power from the three-phase AC power supply AC is input, and an output terminal to which a charging device-side cable 71 of a charging cable 70 described later is connected.

[0028] The rectifying unit 52 is, for example, a semiconductor module composed of a plurality of diodes that can perform full-wave rectification on all phases (U phase, V phase, W phase) of a three-phase 200V AC voltage supplied from the three-phase AC power supply AC. It is connected to an input terminal provided in the housing 51 on the input side and to the voltage converting unit 53 on the output side. In the first embodiment, a zero-cross detection unit 57 described later is also connected to the input side of the rectifying unit 52.

[0029] The voltage conversion unit 53 is a DC-DC converter that steps down the DC voltage output from the rectification unit 52, and is configured by, for example, a step-down chopper circuit composed of a semiconductor switching element and an inductor. For the semiconductor switching element, for example, an IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor) is used, and the output voltage is controlled by changing the switching frequency (period). On the output side of the voltage conversion unit 53, a smoothing capacitor 55 capable of removing switching noise and ripple components that may be included in the output voltage is provided in parallel with the output.

[0030] The control unit 54 is a controller that controls the output voltage and output current of the voltage conversion unit 53, and is, for example, a microcomputer module composed of an MPU, memories (RAM, ROM (such as EEPROM)), an input / output interface, etc. In the first embodiment, various sensors such as a zero-cross detection unit 57, voltage sensors 61, 63, current sensors 62, 64, an acceleration sensor 65, a temperature sensor 66, and a humidity sensor 67 are connected to the control unit 54, and information such as input voltage, input current, output voltage, output current, vibration, temperature, and humidity output from these is input.

[0031] That is, the various sensors that input this information to the control unit 54 include, in addition to the zero-cross detection unit 57 connected between a predetermined two phases of the three-phase AC voltage supplied from the three-phase AC power supply AC and outputting the timing information of the zero-cross point, a voltage sensor 61, a current sensor 62, a voltage sensor 63, and a current sensor 64 that detect and output electrical information, and an acceleration sensor 65, a temperature sensor 66, and a humidity sensor 67 that detect and output environmental information. Note that the zero-cross point is the point at which the polarity of the AC voltage periodically switches.

[0032] More specifically, the voltage sensor 61 is connected in parallel to the input side of the voltage conversion unit 53 to output input voltage information, and the current sensor 62 is connected in series to the input side to output input current information. The voltage sensor 63 is connected in parallel to the output side of the voltage conversion unit 53 to output output voltage information, and the current sensor 64 is connected in series to the output side to output output current information. Further, the acceleration sensor 65 is attached to the bottom or the like inside the housing 51 to output vibration information inside the device, and the temperature sensor 66 and the humidity sensor 67 are attached to the side wall or the like inside the housing 51 to output temperature information and humidity information inside the device.

[0033] In the control unit 54, in addition to the information on zero-crossing timing, voltage, current, temperature, etc. input from the zero-crossing detection unit 57, the voltage sensor 61, etc., in the first embodiment, the battery 20 to be charged is monitored. Based on the information on the voltage between the terminals of the battery 20 (pre-charge voltage VBb, in-charge voltage VBc) and the terminal current (in-charge current IBc) sent from the BMU 30 via the communication unit 59a, the control for turning on and off the switching element of the voltage conversion unit 53 (switching control) is synchronized with the three-phase AC voltage. That is, the output voltage is controlled in an inverter manner. Instead of the voltage conversion unit 53 with various control parameters and complex control, a transformer method using a voltage conversion unit or the like with fewer control parameters and simpler control may be adopted.

[0034] The display unit 58 is a display panel capable of displaying information related to the control of the charging device 50 and is connected to the control unit 54. The display unit 58 is, for example, an LED display unit provided with a plurality of LEDs, or a liquid crystal display unit provided with a dot matrix liquid crystal display panel. In the case of the liquid crystal display unit, it may also serve as an operation touch panel. In the first embodiment, for example, the display unit 58 is used when displaying charging completion information, error information, etc. in the charging control process described later.

[0035] The communication unit 59a is a wireless unit capable of short-range wireless communication that can communicate with the BMU 30 via the wireless communication line 90a (for example, compliant with wireless standards such as Bluetooth (registered trademark) and ZigBee (registered trademark)), and is equipped with an antenna provided outside the housing 51. Further, the communication unit 59b is a wireless unit capable of wide-area wireless communication that can communicate with the monitoring terminal device 121 in the cloud via the wireless communication line 90b and the access point 110 (for example, LPWA (Low Power Wide Area) such as SIGFOX (registered trademark), LoRa (registered trademark), and NB-IoT (Narrow Band-IoT), or compliant with the wireless standard of a wireless data communication line using the third-generation or fourth-generation mobile communication service provided by a mobile carrier), and is equipped with an antenna provided outside the housing 51.

[0036] In the first embodiment, the communication units 59a and 59b are connected to the control unit 54. The communication unit 59a is configured to receive, via the wireless communication line 90a, charging information of the battery 20 sent from the BMU 30 and output it to the control unit 54, or transmit control information sent from the control unit 54 to the BMU 30 via the wireless communication line 90a. Further, as will be described later, the communication unit 59b is configured to transmit, via the wireless communication line 90b, information regarding the battery 20 such as the charging state (battery individual information, etc.) acquired from the BMU 30 and information regarding the charging device 50 (charging device individual information, etc.) to the monitoring terminal device 121 in the cloud, or receive charging control information sent from the monitoring terminal device 121 via the wireless communication line 90b and output it to the control unit 54.

[0037] The charging device 50 configured as described above outputs output power (output voltage, output current) to the battery 20 via the charging cable 70 attached to the housing 51. That is, charging power (charging voltage, charging current) is supplied to the battery 20. Here, the configuration of the charging cable 70 used in the charging system 2 of the first embodiment will be described.

[0038] <Configuration of Charging Cable 70> The charging cable 70 is composed of a charging device side cable 71 and a battery side cable 75. The charging device side cable 71 is a power cable connected to the charging device 50. For example, it is composed of a cable main body 72, an input connector 73 connected to one end side of the cable main body 72, and an output connector 74 connected to the other end side. The input connector 73 on one end side is configured to be electrically connectable to the output terminal of the charging device 50 and mechanically connectable around the output terminal. Also, the input connector 73 is electrically connected to the output connector 74 on the other end side via the cable main body 72.

[0039] The battery side cable 75 is a power cable connected to the battery 20. For example, it is composed of a cable main body 76, an output connector 78 connected to one end side of the cable main body 76, and an input connector 77 connected to the other end side. The output connector 78 on one end side is configured to be electrically connectable to the battery terminal of the battery 20 and mechanically connectable around the battery terminal. Also, the output connector 78 is electrically connected to the input connector 77 on the other end side via the cable main body 76. Note that the output connector 74 of the charging device side cable 71 and the input connector 77 of the battery side cable 75 are configured to be mechanically connectable by fitting of a concave portion 74a and a convex portion 77a and electrically connectable by pins and receptacles (not shown).

[0040] <Configuration of the battery 20> As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the battery 20 is housed, for example, in a battery housing chamber 11 provided below the driver's seat of the forklift 10. The battery housing chamber 11 is configured such that its side surface and bottom surface excluding the upper opening are partitioned by a wall 12, and the upper opening can be closed by the seat portion of the driver's seat that functions as a lid 13. In the first embodiment, the output connector 78 of the battery-side cable 75 is always connected to the battery 20 of the forklift 10. That is, the battery-side cable 75 is connected to the battery 20 even when not charging. Therefore, when not charging, that is, when the forklift 10 is in operation, the battery-side cable 75 is housed together with the battery 20 in the housing space 11a of the battery housing chamber 11 closed by the seat portion.

[0041] The battery 20 is mainly a battery pack composed of a battery case 21 and a plurality of battery cells 23 housed in the battery case 21. In the first embodiment, the plurality of battery cells 23 are configured to be electrically connected in series, for example, to output a DC voltage of 48V. Some can output a DC voltage of 24V. The rated capacity varies depending on the single-cell capacity of the battery cell or the number of parallel connections, and is, for example, 280Ah, 450Ah, etc. These battery cells 23 are physically arranged in a matrix, for example.

[0042] In the first embodiment, the battery cell 23 may be composed of a lead-acid battery (hereinafter referred to as "lead battery") or a lithium-ion secondary battery (hereinafter referred to as "lithium battery"). For example, when the battery cell 23 is an open-type (non-sealed type) lead battery, it is necessary to appropriately replenish the electrolyte injected into the battery cell 23. Therefore, a liquid level sensor 38 capable of detecting the liquid level is provided in the battery cell 23 located near the center in terms of arrangement among the plurality of battery cells 23. When the battery cell 23 is a sealed-type lead battery or a lithium battery, there is no need to replenish the electrolyte, so the battery cell 23 is not provided with a liquid level sensor 38.

[0043] The battery case 21 is provided with a plus terminal 21a and a minus terminal 21b. The plus terminal 21a is connected to the anode terminal of the battery cell 23, and the minus terminal 21b is connected to the cathode terminal of the battery cell 23. These terminals 21a, 21b are covered with the cover of the output connector 78. In the first embodiment, a voltage sensor 35 and a current sensor 36, which will be described later, are accommodated in the output connector 78.

[0044] <Configuration of BMU30> As shown in FIG. 3, the BMU 30 is composed of, for example, a housing 31, a control unit 32, a communication unit 33, various sensors 35 to 38, etc. The BMU 30 may be called a BMU; Battery Management Unit. The housing 31 containing the control unit 32 and the communication unit 33 is attached to the battery case 21 of the battery 20. Various sensors 35 to 38 are provided outside the housing 31 except for the temperature sensor 37.

[0045] The control unit 32 is composed of, for example, a one-chip microcomputer in which an MPU, a memory (RAM, ROM (EEPROM, etc.)), an input / output interface, etc. are incorporated in the same module. The communication unit 33 is a short-range wireless module capable of wireless communication with the communication unit 59 of the charging device 50 (for example, one compliant with a wireless standard such as Bluetooth (registered trademark) or ZigBee (registered trademark)) and is provided with an antenna. The control unit 32 and the communication unit 33 are electrically connected, and the control unit 32 is configured to be able to communicate information with the control unit 54 of the charging device 50 via the wireless communication line 90.

[0046] The voltage sensor 35 is connected between the plus terminal 21a and the minus terminal 21b so as to be able to measure the voltage between the terminals of the battery 20. The current sensor 36 is connected between the anode terminal of the battery cell group 23 and the plus terminal 21a (or in series with the plus terminal 21a) so as to be able to measure the current flowing through the plus terminal 21a (terminal current). As described above, these sensors 35, 36 are accommodated in the cover of the output connector 78.

[0047] The temperature sensor 37 is provided on the wall surface of the battery case 21 that is exposed within the housing 31 so as to be able to directly or indirectly measure the surface temperature of the battery cell 23 or the temperature of the electrolytic solution. Also, as described above, the liquid level sensor 38 is provided within the battery cell 23 of the battery 20. Further, in the present first embodiment, in order to measure the temperature inside and outside the battery housing chamber 11, a temperature sensor 81 is provided within the accommodation space 11a, and a temperature sensor 83 is provided outside the accommodation space 11a.

[0048] The outputs of these sensors 35 to 38, 81, 83 are all connected to the control unit 32, and are configured such that voltage information, current information, temperature information, liquid level information, etc. can be input to the control unit 32. Although not shown in FIG. 3, there may be a case where a humidity sensor for measuring the humidity inside (accommodation space 11a) and outside the battery housing chamber 11 is provided. When these humidity sensors are provided, their outputs are connected to the control unit 32 and are configured such that humidity information can be input to the control unit 32.

[0049] The BMU 30a etc. configured in this way acquire information (such as battery individual information) regarding the battery 20a etc., such as the charging state, discharging state, and maintenance state of the battery 20a etc., and transmit it to the outside. Also, the BMU 30a etc. are configured to be able to transmit the ID (identifier) (hereinafter referred to as "battery ID") given to the battery 20a etc. or itself, for example, to the charging device 50 etc. at regular intervals. Although the BMU 30a etc. described above adopt a configuration provided outside the battery 20a etc., for example, the BMU 30a etc. may be configured to be incorporated into the battery 20a etc.

[0050] By configuring the charging device 50 and the monitoring terminal device 121 in hardware in this way, control processing as described below is performed between the two. First, the control processing executed by the control unit 54 of the charging device 50 will be described based on FIG. 4(A). The flow of the main control processing is shown in FIG. 4(A), and the flow of the reception control processing for receiving charging control information and the like from the monitoring terminal device 121 is shown in FIG. 4(B). These control processes are realized by the MPU of the control unit 54 executing the control program stored in the memory (ROM) of the control unit 54 of the charging device 50.

[0051] <Main control processing of the charging device 50> The control program for realizing the main control processing is, for example, started by the control unit 54 immediately after the charging switch (not shown) provided in the charging device 50 is turned on, and is restarted until the switch is turned off when a series of information processing ends. Also, the control program for realizing the reception control processing is for receiving charging control information and the like transmitted by the monitoring terminal device 121. Therefore, for example, it is started immediately after the individual information collection processing (S300) of the main control processing ends, and is repeatedly executed at predetermined intervals (for example, every 100 milliseconds).

[0052] As shown in FIG. 4(A), in the main control processing, first, a predetermined initialization process is performed in step S100. In this process, for example, the work area for this process in the memory (RAM) of the control unit 54 is cleared, or the information to be added to the ID list stored in the memory is cleared as described later. Further, control commands for initialization are sent to the voltage conversion unit 53, the display unit 58, and the communication units 59a and 59b.

[0053] In the next step S101, state information acquisition processing is performed. In this process, the control unit 54 acquires state information (charging device individual information) such as input / output voltage and input / output current output from the above-mentioned respective sensors 61 to 67 provided in the charging device 50 and stores it in the memory. In the first embodiment, the state information (charging device individual information) of the charging device 50 is, for example, the following (1) to (7).

[0054] (1) Input voltage VCi (input voltage of voltage conversion unit 53) (2) Input current ICi (input current of voltage conversion unit 53) (3) Output voltage VCo (output voltage of voltage conversion unit 53) (4) Output current ICo (output current of voltage conversion unit 53) (5) In-device vibration GCi (vibration inside housing 51) (6) In-device temperature TCi (temperature inside housing 51) (7) In-device humidity HCi (humidity inside housing 51)

[0055] In the first embodiment, the input voltage VCi is measured by the voltage sensor 61, the input current ICi is measured by the current sensor 62, the output voltage VCo is measured by the voltage sensor 63, the output current ICo is measured by the current sensor 64, the in-device vibration GCi is measured by the acceleration sensor 65, the in-device temperature TCi is measured by the temperature sensor 66, and the in-device humidity HCi is measured by the humidity sensor 67, respectively.

[0056] Among the state information of these charging devices 50, the input voltage VCi, input current ICi, output voltage VCo, and output current ICo of (1) to (4) represent the electrical state before the charging operation of the charging device 50, and the in-device vibration GCi, in-device temperature TCi, and in-device humidity HCi of (5) to (7) represent the environmental state before the start of charging of the charging device 50. Note that when acquiring the state information of (1) to (7) even during the charging operation or after the charging operation of the charging device 50, it is necessary to add a processing step similar to the step S101, for example, in the charging control process (Fig. 6; S300) described later. This will be described in the explanation of the charging control process.

[0057] In the subsequent step S200, individual information collection processing is performed. In this processing, the charging device 50 acquires the individual information of each of the batteries 20a etc. that are scheduled to be charged from the BMU 30a etc., or acquires the state information of the charging device 50 from the voltage sensor 61 etc., and sends it to the monitoring terminal device 121 of the monitoring center 120 before starting the charge control processing. Thereby, the individual information (battery individual information) of the batteries 20a etc. and the state information (charging device individual information) of the charging device 50 can be displayed on the display 123 of the monitoring terminal device 121.

[0058] Thereby, the monitoring person M of the monitoring center 120 can control the charging device 50 so as to selectively charge, for example, the batteries 20a etc. as will be described later, by operating the monitoring terminal device 121. Note that since the flow of this individual information collection processing is illustrated in FIG. 5 as a subroutine, it will be described later with reference to FIG. 5.

[0059] In the next step S300, charge control processing is performed. This processing is such that the charging device 50 performs charge control etc. on the batteries 20a etc. based on the charge control information sent from the monitoring terminal device 121 by the operation of the monitoring person M, and the flow thereof is illustrated in FIG. 6 as a subroutine. Therefore, this processing will also be described later with reference to FIG. 6.

[0060] <Receiving control processing of the charging device 50> The reception control process shown in FIG. 4(B) is performed so that the charging device 50 can receive charging control information and the like sent from the monitoring terminal device 121 of the monitoring center 120. As described above, since the information communication between the charging device 50 and the monitoring terminal device 121 is performed by the communication unit 59b of the charging device 50, first, in the charging control information reception process according to step S901, the charging control information sent from the monitoring terminal device 121 is acquired. Then, the received (acquired) charging control information is stored (stored) in the memory (reception buffer) of the control unit 54 by the charging control information storage process of the next step S903. The reception buffer is used, for example, in a first-in, first-out (FIFO) method and is deleted when read out.

[0061] The charging control information stored in the reception buffer of the memory in this way is used in the charging control process (FIG. 6) described later. The reception control process constituted by the two steps S901 and S903 is repeatedly executed in parallel with the charging control process (FIG. 6) at least while the charging control process is being executed. This enables the reception of the charging control information appropriately transmitted from the monitoring terminal device 121 according to the operation of the monitoring person M.

[0062] <Individual Information Collection Process of Charging Device 50> Subsequently, the flow of the individual information collection process shown in FIG. 5 will be described. In the individual information collection process (S200), first, the battery ID reception process is performed according to step S201. As described above, the battery ID is transmitted from the BMU 30a or the like of the forklift 10a or the like waiting in a chargeable state via the wireless communication line 90a. Therefore, in this process, the battery ID transmitted from the BMU 30a or the like is received to identify the battery 20a or the like scheduled to be charged that is connected to the charging device 50.

[0063] In the subsequent step S203, a process is performed to determine whether the battery ID received in step S201 is an ID (already registered ID) registered in the charging device 50. For example, in the memory of the control unit 54 of the charging device 50, an ID list registering the battery IDs of the battery 20a or the like that can be charged by the charging device 50 or the BMU 30a or the like thereof is stored. Therefore, when the battery ID received previously is an already registered ID after being compared with this ID list (S203; Yes), since the battery 20a or the like can be charged by the charging device 50, the process proceeds to the next step S205.

[0064] On the other hand, when the battery ID received previously is not an already registered ID (S203; No), since the battery 20a or the like cannot be charged by the charging device 50 for a predetermined reason, the process proceeds to a determination process (S207) described later. The predetermined reason includes cases where the battery type is incompatible between the charging device 50 and the battery 20a or the like (when the battery 20a or the like is a lithium battery with respect to the charging device 50 for lead batteries), cases where the battery specifications are incompatible (when the output voltage of the charging device 50 does not match the nominal voltage of the battery 20a or the like), and the like.

[0065] In step S205 (S400), an individual information acquisition process is performed. This process is for the charging device 50 to acquire the battery individual information of the battery 20a or the like that may be charged from the BMU 30a or the like, and the flow thereof is illustrated in FIG. 7(A) as a subroutine.

[0066] As shown in Fig. 7(A), in the individual information acquisition process (S400), first, in step S401, a process of inquiring the battery information to the BMU 30a or the like is performed. For example, the battery ID for specifying the battery 20a or the like to be inquired and the inquiry command for the battery information are transmitted from the communication unit 59a of the charging device 50 to the communication unit 33 of the BMU 30a or the like via the wireless communication line 90a. As a result, the BMU 30a or the like that has received the inquiry command acquires the battery information of the battery 20a or the like within the immediate several seconds before or after the inquiry time from the various sensors 35 to 38 and the like described above, and transmits it to the charging device 50 as the battery individual information of the battery 20a or the like. The battery information in this case is information obtained from the voltage sensor 35 or the like before charging, and is, for example, the following (11) to (15).

[0067] (11) Pre-charge voltage VBb (voltage between terminals of the battery 20a or the like) (12) Pre-charge liquid level LRb (electrolyte liquid level of the battery 20a or the like) (13) Pre-charge battery temperature TBb (temperature of the battery 20a or the like) (14) Pre-charge indoor temperature TRb (temperature inside the battery housing chamber 11) (15) Pre-charge outdoor temperature TXb (temperature outside the battery housing chamber 11)

[0068] In the first embodiment, the pre-charge voltage VBb is measured by the voltage sensor 35, the pre-charge liquid level LRb is measured by the liquid level sensor 38, the pre-charge battery temperature TBb is measured by the temperature sensor 37, the pre-charge indoor temperature TRb is measured by the temperature sensor 81, and the pre-charge outdoor temperature TXb is measured by the temperature sensor 83, respectively.

[0069] Among these battery information, the pre-charge voltage VBb, the pre-charge liquid volume LRb, and the pre-charge battery temperature TBb in (11) to (13) are static information obtained by grasping the state of the battery 20a, etc. before charging. Also, the pre-charge indoor temperature TRb and the pre-charge outdoor temperature TXb in (14) and (15) are ambient environment information of the battery 20a, etc. Note that the temperatures in (14) and (15) are not information of the battery 20 itself, but they affect the charging conditions of the battery 20a, etc. Therefore, in this first embodiment, (14) and (15) are also included in the battery information.

[0070] The BMU 30a, etc. stores the following history information in (16) to (19) in the memory of the control unit 32. Therefore, in this first embodiment, the BMU 30a, etc. that has received the inquiry command also transmits this history information stored in the memory of the control unit 32 to the charging device 50 as battery information.

[0071] (16) Number of uses NTu (cumulative number of uses of the battery 20a, etc.) (17) Usage time TMu (cumulative usage time of the battery 20a, etc.) (18) Number of charge cycles NTc (cumulative number of charge cycles of the battery 20a, etc.) (19) Charge time TMc (cumulative charge time of the battery 20a, etc.)

[0072] The number of uses NTu is the total number of times the battery 20a, etc. has been used so far. For example, the control unit 32 of the BMU 30a, etc. counts the unit period from the start of operation (turning on the key switch) to the end of operation (turning off the key switch) of the forklift 10a, etc. as one time. The on / off information of the key switch is obtained by the control unit 32 from the in-vehicle LAN (e.g., CAN (Controller Area Network)) of the forklift 10a, etc., for example. The usage time TMu is the total time the battery 20a, etc. has been used so far. It is the total time of the required time for the unit period from the start of operation to the end of operation of the forklift 10a, etc. for all unit periods.

[0073] The number of charging times NTc is the total number of times the battery 20a or the like has been charged so far. Also, the charging time TMc is the total time the battery 20a or the like has been charged so far. For example, the control unit 32 can determine the discharge or charge of the battery 20a or the like based on the direction (polarity) of the terminal current detected by the current sensor 36. Therefore, the control unit 32 measures the time from the start to the end of charging (charging time) or counts the number of times from the start to the end of charging, that is, the number of charging times, by monitoring the terminal current of the battery 20a or the like.

[0074] In the battery information reception process of step S403, when the communication unit 59a of the charging device 50 receives the battery information of (11) to (19) above, the control unit 54 of the charging device 50 acquires them and stores them in the memory by the battery information storage process of step S405. In the memory of the control unit 54, they are stored in association with the battery ID of the battery 20a or the like.

[0075] In the subsequent step S407, a specification information reading process is performed. In the memory of the control unit 54, an ID list in which the battery IDs of the batteries 20a or the like that can be charged by the charging device 50 are registered is stored. In this ID list, information such as the type, nominal voltage, and rated capacity of the battery 20a or the like is stored in association with the battery ID of the battery 20a or the like as the specification information of the battery 20a or the like. Therefore, in this process, information such as the type, nominal voltage, and rated capacity of the battery 20a or the like stored in the memory of the control unit 54 is also read from the same memory as the individual battery information of the battery 20a or the like.

[0076] (20) Battery type (21) Nominal voltage (22) Rated capacity

[0077] When the specification information reading process in step S407 is completed, the process returns to the charging control process in FIG. 5, and a determination process is performed in step S207 to determine whether the battery individual information of all the batteries 20a etc. has been acquired. That is, a determination is made as to whether the battery individual information of all the batteries 20a etc. has been collected (stored) in the charging device 50. And when it is not determined that the battery individual information of all the batteries 20a etc. has been acquired (S207; No), since there are batteries 20a etc. for which the battery individual information has not been acquired, the process returns to step S201 and the battery ID reception process etc. are performed again.

[0078] On the other hand, when it is determined that the battery individual information of all the batteries 20a etc. has been acquired (stored in the charging device 50) (S207; Yes), it means that the battery individual information has been successfully acquired for all of the batteries 20a etc., so the process proceeds to the next step S209. In addition, if the battery individual information of all the batteries 20a etc. cannot be acquired even after a predetermined time has elapsed, a timeout process may be performed to forcibly move the process to step 209.

[0079] In the next step S209, an individual information etc. transmission process is performed. This process transmits, as information regarding the batteries 20a etc. (battery individual information etc.), the individual information of the batteries 20a etc. (the above (11) to (22)) and the battery ID (or ID list) of the batteries 20a etc. obtained by the individual information acquisition process (S205), and as information regarding the charging device 50 (charging device individual information etc.), the state information of the charging device 50 (the above (1) to (7)) obtained by the state information acquisition process (S101) and the charging device ID associated with and assigned to the charging device 50, to the monitoring terminal device 121 via the wireless communication line 90b by the communication unit 59b.

[0080] As a result, the individual information of all the batteries 20a and the like, the battery ID or ID list associated therewith, the status information (charger individual information) of the charging device 50, and its charger ID are transmitted to the monitoring terminal device 121 all at once. Therefore, in the charger control process described later, the monitoring terminal device 121 can acquire (receive) the individual information of the battery 20a and the like all at once. When a series of this individual information collection process ends, the process returns to the main control process of FIG. 4(A).

[0081] <Charging control process of charging device 50> Subsequently, the flow of the charging control process shown in FIG. 6 will be described. As shown in FIG. 6, in the charging control process (S300), first, a charging control information acquisition process for acquiring charging control information is performed in step S301. As will be described later, in the monitoring terminal device 121, in the charger control process (FIG. 8), the charging control information (chargeable information or non-chargeable information) input by the monitoring person M is transmitted and reaches the charging device 50.

[0082] The chargeable information and non-chargeable information transmitted from the monitoring terminal device 121 are received by the communication unit 59b by the above-described reception control process (FIG. 4(B)) (FIG. 4(B); S901), and then stored in the reception buffer which is the memory of the control unit 54 (FIG. 4(B); S903). Therefore, in the charging control information acquisition process of step S301, the chargeable information and the like are read out and acquired from the memory (reception buffer) of the control unit 54. When the chargeable information and the like are read out in this process, they are then deleted from the memory (reception buffer) of the control unit 54.

[0083] In the next step S302, a process for determining whether or not the battery 20a and the like are connected to the charging device 50 is performed. When it is determined that the battery 20a and the like are connected (S302; connection exists), a battery identification process is performed in the subsequent step S303. On the other hand, when it is determined that the battery 20a and the like are not connected (S302; no connection), this determination process is repeatedly performed until the battery 20a and the like are connected to the charging device 50.

[0084] For example, when a battery 20a or the like is connected to a charging device 50 via a charging cable 70, a battery voltage passing through the charging cable 70 is detected by a voltage sensor 63 of the charging device 50. Therefore, in the determination process of step S302, it is determined whether the battery 20a or the like is connected by detecting the presence or absence of such a battery voltage by the voltage sensor 63.

[0085] In step S303, the battery 20a or the like connected to the charging device 50 is identified. The identification of the battery 20a or the like is performed, for example, before the start of charging, by applying an applied voltage or a conduction current that changes with time in a predetermined pattern to the battery 20a or the like, and determining that the battery 20a or the like is connected to the charging device 50 when the battery terminal voltage or the terminal current sent from the BMU 30a or the like of the battery 20a or the like changes in the same pattern, and identifying the battery 20a or the like.

[0086] In the subsequent step S304, a determination process for whether charging can start is performed. In this process, based on the charging control information sent from the monitoring terminal device 121, that is, the chargeable information and the non-chargeable information acquired in the charge control information acquisition process (S301), a determination of whether charging can start is made. As a result, it becomes possible to "reservationally" perform the charging operation of the charging device 50 and the charging of the battery 20a or the like, that is, the charging control of the charging device 50, according to the chargeable information and the non-chargeable information preset by the monitoring terminal device 121.

[0087] When it is determined that charging can start because the charging control information is chargeable information (S304; possible), the charging process is performed in the subsequent step S308. On the other hand, when it is determined that charging cannot start because the charging control information is non-chargeable information (S304; not possible), charging of the battery 20a or the like is not performed. Therefore, in this case, the process proceeds to step S321.

[0088] In the error information display process of step S321, the content of the error corresponding to the display unit 58 of the charging device 50 is displayed. For example, in this case, information indicating that the charging is determined to be impossible by the monitoring center 120 is specified by the emission color or blinking pattern of the LED or character information on the liquid crystal display panel.

[0089] In the charging process of step S308, a process of charging the battery 20a or the like is performed according to a predetermined charging pattern. The predetermined charging pattern is, for example, a uniform charging pattern determined in advance, or an individual charging pattern for the battery 20a or the like associated with the battery ID. These charging patterns are read from the memory of the control unit 54 and used.

[0090] And this charging process is performed until the charging is completed (S315; No). In the first embodiment, however, the charging continuation determination is also performed during charging. That is, like the above-described individual information acquisition process (FIG. 5; S205), after the charging information acquisition process is performed in step S309, the charging continuation determination is performed in step S313. And when it is determined that the charging can be continued as it is (S313; possible), the process proceeds to step S315 and a determination process as to whether the charging is completed is performed.

[0091] In step S309, a charging information acquisition process is performed. This process acquires the individual information of the battery 20a or the like during charging as charging information from the BMU 30a or the like, and the flow thereof is illustrated in FIG. 7(B) as a subroutine. Therefore, the description will be mainly made with reference to FIG. 7(B) from here.

[0092] As shown in Fig. 7(B), in the charging information acquisition process, first, in step S501, a process of inquiring the battery information from the BMU 30a or the like is performed. Similar to the case of the individual information acquisition process in Fig. 7(A), the battery ID of the battery 20a or the like and the inquiry command of the battery information are transmitted from the communication unit 59a of the charging device 50 to the communication unit 33 of the BMU 30a or the like via the wireless communication line 90a. As a result, the BMU 30a or the like that has received the inquiry command acquires the battery information of the battery 20a or the like within the most recent few seconds before or after the inquiry time from the various sensors 35 to 38 and the like described above, and transmits it to the charging device 50 as the individual information of the battery 20a or the like. The battery information in this case is information obtained from the voltage sensor 35 during charging, for example, the following (23) to (28).

[0093] (23) Charging voltage VBc (charging voltage of the battery 20a or the like) (24) Charging current IBc (charging current of the battery 20a or the like) (25) Charging liquid level LRc (electrolyte level of the battery 20a or the like) (26) Charging battery temperature TBc (temperature of the battery 20a or the like) (27) Charging indoor temperature TRc (temperature inside the battery housing chamber 11) (28) Charging outdoor temperature TXc (temperature outside the battery housing chamber 11)

[0094] In the first embodiment, the charging voltage VBc is measured by the voltage sensor 35, the charging current IBc is measured by the current sensor 36, the charging liquid level LRc is measured by the liquid level sensor 38, the charging battery temperature TBc is measured by the temperature sensor 37, the charging indoor temperature TRc is measured by the temperature sensor 81, and the charging outdoor temperature TXc is measured by the temperature sensor 83, respectively.

[0095] Among these battery information during charging (hereinafter referred to as "battery information during charging"), the charging voltage VBc, charging current IBc, charging liquid level LRc, and battery temperature TBc during charging in (23) to (26) are dynamic information for grasping the state of the battery 20a, etc. during charging. Also, the indoor temperature TRc and outdoor temperature TXc during charging in (27) and (28) are ambient environment information of the battery 20a, etc. Note that the temperatures in (27) and (28) are not information of the battery 20a itself, but they affect the charging conditions of the battery 20a, etc. Therefore, in this first embodiment, (27) and (28) are also included in the battery information.

[0096] In the battery information reception process of step S503, when the charging device 50's communication unit 59a receives the battery information during charging in (23) to (28) above, the control unit 54 of the charging device 50 acquires them and stores them in the memory through the battery information storage process of step S505. They are stored in the control unit 54's memory in association with the battery ID of the battery 20a, etc.

[0097] Note that in the charging information acquisition process (S500), a process of acquiring the state information (charging device individual information) of the charging device 50 (Fig. 4(A); state information acquisition process (S101)) may be added. For example, the state information acquisition process (S101) is added before the battery information inquiry process (S501) or after the battery information storage process (S505). Thereby, it becomes possible to acquire the state information in (1) to (7) above (input voltage VCi, input current ICi, output voltage VCo, output current ICo, vibration inside the device GCi, temperature inside the device TCi, humidity inside the device HCi) even during the charging operation of the charging device 50.

[0098] When the battery information storage process in step S505 is completed, the process returns to the charging control process in FIG. 6, and the charging control information acquisition process is performed again in step S311. That is, when the charging process (S308) is started based on the chargeable information sent from the monitoring terminal device 121 and the battery 20a etc. is being charged by the charging device 50 (during charging), the monitoring terminal device 121 may send non-chargeable information or charge stop instruction information for the battery 20a etc. to the charging device 50. Therefore, the charging control information is acquired by the charging control information acquisition process (S311) even during charging.

[0099] In this case, the "non-chargeable information" is, for example, as will be described later with reference to FIG. 9, when the battery 20a etc. being charged is not the battery to be charged, but due to the misoperation of the supervisor M, the radio button 123g for "OK" charging is selected and the "Determine" button 123i is selected, or when a reason to stop charging occurs for the battery 20a etc. afterwards, etc., it is the charging control information sent from the monitoring terminal device 121 to the charging device 50 by the operation of the supervisor M.

[0100] Also, the "charge stop instruction information" is, for example, when a reason not to continue the charging operation such as an electrical malfunction occurs in the charging device 50 during charging, or when the "OK" button 123e allowing the charging operation is misselected and the "Determine" button 123i is further selected even though such a reason has existed since before the start of charging, etc., it is the charging control information sent from the monitoring terminal device 121 to the charging device 50 by the operation of the supervisor M.

[0101] In the subsequent charging continuation determination process in step S313, a determination is made as to whether charging can continue based on the charging battery information acquired by the charging in progress information acquisition process (S309) and the charging control information acquired by the charging control information acquisition process (S311). For example, when the charging voltage VBc and charging current IBc of the battery 20a etc. during charging are voltage values and current values within the range according to a predetermined charging pattern, a determination of "possible" is made to continue charging as it is (S311; possible).

[0102] On the other hand, when the charging voltage VBc or the charging current IBc of the battery 20a or the like during charging is a voltage value or a current value outside the range according to a predetermined charging pattern, a determination of "not possible" is made to stop the charging process (S313; not possible). Also, when the temperature TBc of the battery during charging, the indoor temperature TRc during charging, or the outdoor temperature TXc during charging is outside the range of a predetermined temperature (for example, 0°C to 40°C), a determination of "not possible" is made to prevent further deterioration of the performance of the battery 20a or the like.

[0103] Also, when the charging control information acquired by the charging control information acquisition process in step S311 is "charging impossible information" or "charging stop instruction information", the control to stop (abort) the charging is performed by the operation of the monitoring terminal device 121 by the monitoring person M. Therefore, also in such a case, a determination of "not possible" to stop (abort) the charging process is made (S313; not possible).

[0104] When a determination of "not possible" is made by the charging continuation determination process in step S313 (S313; not possible), the charging process is aborted and the process proceeds to the error information display process (S321), and information regarding a predetermined reason that is the basis for such a determination is clearly shown on the display unit 58 by the emission color or blinking pattern of the LED or the character information by the liquid crystal display panel.

[0105] When the error information display process is performed by step S321, by the next error information transmission process (S323), the error information displayed on the display unit 58 is, for example, encoded into a predetermined error code and then transmitted to the BMU 30a or the like via the wireless communication line 90a by the communication unit 59a. As a result, the BMU 30a or the like (control unit 32) that has received the error code can record or update the error history regarding the battery 20a or the like to be monitored, for example, by storing the error information according to the error code in the memory of the control unit 32. Note that the generation (encoding) of the error code may be performed in the error information display process (S321) or each determination process (S304, S313).

[0106] In the charging device 50, error information storage processing is performed in the subsequent step S325. In this processing, the control unit 54 stores the error information corresponding to the error code in its memory in association with the battery ID such as the battery 20a. As a result, the error history regarding the battery 20a or the like is recorded or updated.

[0107] On the other hand, when the determination of "impossible" is not made in step S313, that is, when the determination of "possible" is made (S313; possible), in order to determine whether the charging of the current battery 20a or the like has been completed, the process proceeds to step S315.

[0108] In step S315, a determination process is performed to determine whether the charging of the battery 20a or the like has been completed. For example, based on the charging voltage VBc and the charging current IBc acquired by the charging-information acquisition process (S309), a determination is made as to whether the charging of the battery 20a or the like has been completed. Also, in some cases, a determination as to whether the charging of the battery 20a or the like has been completed is made based on the elapsed time since the start of charging or after reaching a predetermined voltage. If it is determined that the charging has not been completed (S315; No), the process returns to the charging process in step S308 again. If it is determined that the charging has been completed (S315; Yes), after displaying the charging completion information that can notify that the charging has been completed on the display unit 58, the process proceeds to the next step S317.

[0109] In the charging completion information (charging information) transmission process of step S317, the charging information indicating that the charging of the battery 20a or the like that has been charged so far has been completed is associated with the battery ID of the battery 20a or the like and sent to the monitoring terminal device 121. This information is transmitted to the monitoring terminal device 121 via the wireless communication line 90b by the communication unit 59b together with, for example, the battery ID of the battery 20a or the like. As a result, in the monitoring terminal device 121 that has received such charging completion information, the information is stored in the memory or displayed on the display 123 as described later.

[0110] In step S318, based on the ID list stored in the memory of the control unit 54, a determination is made as to whether charging has been completed (finished) for all the batteries 20a and the like. For example, in the charging completion determination process (S315), information to that effect (charged information) is added to the battery ID of the battery 20a and the like for which charging has been completed. As a result, in step S318, by referring to such an ID list, it becomes possible to determine whether charging has been completed based on whether charged information has been added to the battery ID.

[0111] If it is not determined in the determination process of step S318 that charging has been completed for all (S318; No), since there are batteries 20a and the like for which charging is incomplete, the process returns to step S301 to perform the charging control information acquisition process and the like again. On the other hand, if it is determined that charging has been completed for all (S318; Yes), it means that there are no batteries 20a and the like for which charging is incomplete, so the process proceeds to the next step S319. In addition, if charging cannot be completed for all even after a predetermined time has elapsed, a timeout process may be performed to forcibly transfer the process to step S319.

[0112] Note that the process of acquiring the state information (charging device individual information) of the charging device 50 (FIG. 4(A); state information acquisition process (S101)) may be added immediately after the determination processes of steps S315 and S318 described above. As a result, even after the charging operation of the charging device 50 has stopped, it becomes possible to acquire the state information (1) to (7) described above (input voltage VCi, input current ICi, output voltage VCo, output current ICo, in-device vibration GCi, in-device temperature TCi, in-device humidity HCi).

[0113] In the charging information storage process of step S319, among the results determined by each of the above-described determination processes (S304, S313) and the individual information of the battery 20a etc. described above, at least each of the information (battery type, nominal voltage, rated capacity) of (20) to (22) above that does not change once registered, and each of the information (charging voltage VBc, charging current IBc, charging liquid level LRc, charging battery temperature TBc, charging indoor temperature TRc, charging outdoor temperature TXc) of (23) to (28) above during charging, the information of (11) to (19) above excluding these is associated with the battery ID of the charged battery 20a etc. and stored in the memory of the control unit 54. Also, when each of the information (input voltage VCi, input current ICi, output voltage VCo, output current ICo, in-device vibration GCi, in-device temperature TCi, in-device humidity HCi) of (1) to (7) above is acquired, these information are also associated with the operation information of the charging device 50 (information representing before the charging operation, during the charging operation, and after the charging operation stops respectively) and stored in the memory of the control unit 54.

[0114] For example, regarding each of the information (pre-charging voltage VBb, pre-charging liquid level LRb, pre-charging battery temperature TBb, pre-charging indoor temperature TRb, pre-charging outdoor temperature TXb) of (11) to (15) above, it is stored in the memory together with the acquired year, month, day, hour, minute, and second information. Also, regarding each of the information (charging count NTc, charging time TMc) of (18) and (19) above, for the current charging, information in which the charging count NTc is incremented by 1 and the time required for charging is added to the charging time TMc is stored in the memory.

[0115] In addition, when there is sufficient memory capacity in the control unit 54, for example, regarding each of the above-mentioned pieces of information (charging voltage VBc, charging current IBc, charging liquid volume LRc, battery temperature TBc during charging, indoor temperature TRc during charging, outdoor temperature TXc during charging) obtained while the battery 20a or the like was being charged this time, it may also be stored in the memory together with the information of the date and time of year, month, day, hour, minute, and second obtained in association with the battery ID of the charged battery 20a or the like. As a result, for example, the charging information of each battery 20a or the like can be accumulated over time, so that these data can be utilized as raw data for statistical processing regarding the battery 20a or the like, for example.

[0116] <Charging Device Control Process of Monitoring Terminal Device 121> Next, the flow of the charging device control process shown in FIG. 8 will be described. The monitoring terminal device 121 is an information terminal device through which a monitoring person M can monitor and operate the operating states of the battery 20a or the like and the charging device 50. The charging device control process is provided, for example, as a function of a predetermined application software (for example, a forklift battery management application) installed in the monitoring terminal device 121. Therefore, when the corresponding icon of the charging device control process is selected on the main screen or the like of the application, the present charging device control process is activated.

[0117] As shown in FIG. 8, in the charging device control process, first, a predetermined initialization process is performed in step S1001. In this process, for example, the display format and initial values regarding the list of individual information of the battery 20a or the like, which will be described later with reference to FIG. 9, are set.

[0118] In the next step S1003, the reception process of individual information and the like is performed. As described above, in the first embodiment, by the individual information transmission process (FIG. 5; S209) of the individual information collection process (S200), from the charging device 50, individual information (the above (11) to (22)) regarding all the batteries 20a etc. registered in the ID list, the battery ID (or battery ID), and the state information of the charging device 50 (the above (1) to (7)) are sent. Therefore, in this step S1003, the process of receiving these information transmitted from the charging device 50 via the wireless communication line 90b is performed.

[0119] In the subsequent step S1005, the detection process of abnormal values and the like is performed. This process is based on the battery individual information (the above (11) to (22)) and the charging device individual information (the above (1) to (7)) among the information received from the charging device 50 by the individual information reception process in step S1003, and abnormal conditions and other detections that may occur in the battery 20a etc. and the charging device 50 are performed. The detection results are associated with the battery ID of each battery 20a etc. and the charging device ID of the charging device 50 and stored in the memory of the monitoring terminal device 121.

[0120] For example, regarding the battery 20a etc., when the pre-charge liquid volume LRb is less than the first predetermined amount, or when the pre-charge battery temperature TBb, the pre-charge indoor temperature TRb, or the pre-charge outdoor temperature TXb is outside the range of a predetermined first temperature (for example, 0°C to 40°C), charging may lead to performance deterioration of the battery 20a etc., so "abnormal" is detected. Also, for example, when the number of usage times NTu or the number of charge times NTc of the battery 20a etc. exceeds a predetermined number of times requiring battery replacement, or when the usage time TMu or the charge time TMc of the battery 20a etc. exceeds a predetermined time requiring battery replacement, the battery 20a etc. needs to be replaced, so "abnormal" is detected. In addition, when the pre-charge voltage VBb of the battery 20a etc. is equal to or higher than a predetermined voltage value where charging is not necessary, "no charging required" is detected as other.

[0121] Also, for the charging device 50, for example, when the input voltage VCi, input current ICi, output voltage VCo, or output current ICo is outside the range of their respective predetermined voltage values, there may be a possibility that a normal charging operation cannot be performed on the battery 20a or the like, or a failure may occur in the charging device 50, so "abnormality" is detected. Even before the charging operation of the charging device 50, if the input current ICi or output current ICo is flowing beyond the specified value, "abnormality" is detected. Also, even when the internal temperature TCi, internal humidity HCi, or internal vibration GCi of the device is outside the range of their respective predetermined specified values, if the charging device 50 performs a charging operation, it may lead to the occurrence of a failure or insufficient charging, so "abnormality" is detected.

[0122] In the subsequent step S1007, a list creation process is performed. This process generates an individual information list displayed on the display 123 of the monitoring terminal device 121, and a table that can display the individual information (the above (11) to (22)) of all the batteries 20a, etc. registered in the ID list and the status information (the above (1) to (7)) of the charging device 50 is created. In this list, the presence or absence information of abnormalities, etc. detected in step S1005 is clearly indicated by the display color of the □ mark displayed at the left end of each individual information. For example, when there are abnormalities, etc., a black ■ mark is displayed.

[0123] Also, in this first embodiment, for example, for the battery 20, a format (hereinafter referred to as the "aggregated format") in which the individual information is aggregated and displayed for each battery 20a, etc. is adopted (see FIG. 9). Although not shown, it may be configured to create a list in a format that enables comparison of the same type of information of each battery 20a, etc. for each item of these battery individual information.

[0124] In the next step S1009, a list display process is performed. In this process, for example, as shown in FIG. 9, an information area 123a in which the state information (charger individual information) of the charger 50 and the charger ID of the charger 50 are collected in a listable manner is displayed on the upper side of the screen of the display 123, and on the left side of the screen, a selection area 123b including an "OK" button 123e that permits the operation (i.e., charging operation) of the charger 50 and an "NG" button 123f that rejects it is displayed.

[0125] Also, on the lower side of the screen of the information area 123a, an information area 123c in which a list table in an aggregated form is represented for each of the batteries 20a, etc. is displayed, and on the left side of the screen, a selection area 123d including radio buttons 123g that can select whether or not to charge the battery 20a, etc. is displayed. In FIG. 9, the individual information of the first battery #01 (battery 20a) to the third battery #03 (battery 20c) is respectively represented. If there is individual information after the battery #04, it is displayed by scrolling the screen upward.

[0126] In the monitoring terminal device 121, in the information areas 123a and 123c and the selection areas 123b and 123d displayed on the display 123, for example, it is provided with an individual information display function, a charging control instruction function, an abnormality display function, etc.

[0127] The individual information display function is a function that displays the individual information of the battery 20a and the like and the charging device 50 in the information areas 123c and 123a. For example, as shown in FIG. 9, for the battery 20a, corresponding to the battery ID and the above-mentioned individual information (20) to (22), the battery ID is "#01", the battery type is "Pb", the nominal voltage is "48V", and the rated capacity is "280Ah", which is displayed at the top of the information area 123c. "Pb" for the battery type means a lead-acid battery, and in the case of a lithium battery, it is displayed as "Li". Also, below that, corresponding to the battery information (11) to (19) above, the charging front terminal voltage is "41V", the pre-charge electrolyte volume is "100%", the pre-charge battery temperature is "30°C", the pre-charge indoor temperature is "30°C", the pre-charge outdoor temperature is "27°C", the number of uses is "123 times", the usage time is "1234 hours", the number of charges is "123 times", and the charging time is "456 hours", which is displayed.

[0128] Also, for the charging device 50, corresponding to the charging device ID and the above-mentioned status information (1) to (7), at the top of the information area 123a, it is displayed that the charging device ID is "#91". Also below that, the input voltage is "200V", the input current is "0.5A", the output voltage is "48.1V", the output current is "0.0A", the temperature inside the device is "35°C", the humidity inside the device is "47%", and the vibration inside the device is "0.4Gal", which is displayed. In this display example, since it is before the start of charging, the input current and output current of the charging device 50 are very small or zero.

[0129] The charging control instruction function is to output chargeable information and non-chargeable information for the charging device 50 by the monitoring person M via the monitoring terminal device 121 to the charging device 50. In this first embodiment, regarding the operation (charging operation) of the charging device 50, for example, after selecting either the "OK" button 123e or the "NG" button 123f displayed in the selection area 123b, and then selecting the "Determine" button 123i, chargeable information and non-chargeable information will be transmitted to the charging device 50 as described later. For example, the "OK" button 123e and the "NG" button 123f can be selected by touching them with a pointing device, a touch pen, etc. (including selection by the keyboard 125, the same hereinafter), and the character information and its background are displayed with negative-positive inversion (for example, the "OK" button 123e). Note that the "Back" button 123h is selected when ending this charging device control process (S1013; Esc) and returning to the main screen of a predetermined application software, etc.

[0130] Also, regarding the charging of the battery 20a, etc., after selecting either of the two radio buttons 123g displayed in the selection area 123d, and then selecting the "Determine" button 123i, chargeable information and non-chargeable information will be transmitted as described later. The radio button 123g is marked with a ○ (white circle) when not selected, and is selected by touching it with a pointing device, a touch pen, etc., and a ● (black circle) mark is displayed inside the ○ mark. In FIG. 9, for example, the radio button 123g corresponding to "OK" displayed in the selection area 123d of the battery ID "#01" is selected, and the radio button 123g corresponding to "NG" displayed in the selection area 123d of the battery ID "#03" is selected. In this example, when the "OK" radio button 123g is selected, the character color of "OK" is displayed darker, and when the "NG" radio button 123g is selected, the character information and its background in the selection area 123d are displayed with negative-positive inversion.

[0131] The abnormality display function is based on the detection result of the above-described abnormality value detection process (S1005). For example, when a value corresponding to the individual charger information of the charger 50 or the individual battery information of the battery 20a, etc. exceeds or does not meet a threshold value predetermined as a normal-time reference value, that information is explicitly indicated. In this first embodiment, for example, the □ (white square) mark displayed at the left end of each piece of individual information changes to a ■ (black square) mark to display information that exceeds or does not meet the reference value. In FIG. 9, among the pieces of individual information displayed in the information area 123c of the battery ID "#02", the ■ mark displayed on the left side of the charging front terminal voltage "46V" indicates that it exceeds the normal-time reference value during charging, that is, it indicates "charging not required". Also, the ■ mark displayed on the left side of the number of charging times "1001 times" of the battery ID "#03" indicates that it exceeds the allowable number of times of 1000 times.

[0132] The input of such charging control information (chargeable information and non-chargeable information) is received by the charging control information input process in step S1011, and the input of the charging control information is confirmed by the selection of the "Determine" button 123i. The determination as to whether or not the "Determine" button 123i is selected is made by the input confirmation determination process in step S1013. That is, until the "Determine" button 123i is selected (S1013; No), the input of the charging control information is received (S1011). And when it is determined that the "Determine" button 123i has been selected (S1013; Yes), after creating it as transmission data to be transmitted to the charger 50 based on the charging control information for which the input has been confirmed (S1015), the transmission data is transmitted (S1017).

[0133] As a result, the transmission data transmitted from the monitoring terminal device 121 reaches the charger 50 via the line termination device 122, the Internet 100, and the access point 110 and then via the wireless communication line 90b, whereby the charging control of the battery 20a, etc. by the charger 50 as described above is performed. That is, it becomes possible to remotely control the charging operation of the charger 50 with respect to the battery 20a, etc. from the monitoring terminal device 121.

[0134] When the charging control information transmission process in step S1017 ends, a series of main charging device control processes end, and the process returns to the main screen of a predetermined application software or the like. In the input confirmation determination process in step S1013, if it is determined that the "Return" button 123h is selected or the "Esc" key on the keyboard 125 is pressed (S1013; Esc), the main charging device control process also ends, and the process returns to the main screen of a predetermined application software or the like.

[0135] As described above, in the charging system 2 of the first embodiment, a monitoring terminal device 121 having a display 123 and a keyboard 125 and connected to the Internet 100, and a charging device 50 provided at a location away from the monitoring terminal device 121 and connected to the Internet 100 via a wireless communication line 90b so as to be able to communicate information with the monitoring terminal device 121, and a plurality of BMU30a etc. provided corresponding to each of a plurality of batteries 20a etc. charged by the charging device 50 and transmitting corresponding battery individual information to the charging device 50 via a wireless communication line 90a.

[0136] Then, the charging device 50 receives and stores the battery individual information (the above (11) to (22)) transmitted from the BMU30a etc. for each of the plurality of batteries 20a etc. Further, the charging device 50 transmits the battery individual information (the above (11) to (22)) corresponding to the plurality of stored batteries 20a etc. and the charging device individual information (the above (1) to (7)) to the monitoring terminal device 121. On the other hand, the monitoring terminal device 121 displays the battery individual information (the above (11) to (22)) and the charging device individual information (the above (1) to (7)) received from the charging device 50 on the display 123, or controls the charging operation of the charging device 50 for the plurality of batteries 20a etc. based on the charging control information input from a pointing device or the like.

[0137] As a result, even the individual charger information of the charger 50 installed at a location far from the monitoring terminal device 121 and the individual battery information of a plurality of batteries 20a etc. charged thereby are displayed on the display 123 of the monitoring terminal device 121. Thus, the monitoring staff M can grasp the individual charger information and the individual battery information without going to the site where the charger 50 is installed. Also, it becomes possible to “reservationally” control the charging operation of the charger 50 with respect to a plurality of batteries 20a etc. from a pointing device etc. of the monitoring terminal device 121. Therefore, the monitoring staff M can easily grasp information regarding the battery 20a etc. and its charger 50 even remotely.

[0138] Also, such individual battery information of a plurality of batteries 20a etc. (the above (11) to (22)) is collected (stored) in the charger 50 and then transmitted to the monitoring terminal device 121 of the monitoring center 120 via the wireless communication line 90b. Therefore, when communication costs are required for the use of the wireless communication line 90b, compared to a system configuration in which each BMU 30a etc. individually transmits the individual battery information to the monitoring terminal device 121 via the wireless communication line 90b, it becomes possible to significantly reduce the initial cost at the time of line opening and the communication cost during operation.

[0139] Furthermore, based on such individual charger information and individual battery information, it becomes possible to grasp the occurrence of malfunctions etc. in the charger 50, the battery 20a etc. and the BMU 30a etc., and in some cases, it is also possible to grasp the cause of the occurrence of malfunctions etc. Therefore, regarding the cause of the occurrence of malfunctions etc. that could not be grasped conventionally without going to the site where the charger 50 is installed, it becomes possible to remotely clarify it. For example, it is possible to provide a prompt and accurate malfunction response by a service technician.

[0140] In addition, in the charging system 2 of the first embodiment, the monitoring terminal device 121 detects the presence or absence of abnormalities in the batteries 20a, etc. based on the individual battery information (the above (11) to (22)) of the batteries 20a, etc. sent from the BMU 30a, etc., or detects the presence or absence of abnormalities in the charging device 50 based on the state information (the above (1) to (7)) of the charging device 50, and outputs the detection result in a list displayed on the display 123. The algorithm of the charging device control process (Fig. 8) is configured (S1005, S1009). As a result, the abnormality diagnosis of the batteries 20a, etc. and the charging device 50 is performed by the monitoring terminal device 121 of the monitoring center 120, and the result is displayed on the display 123. Therefore, the monitoring person M can easily distinguish between the battery 20 that can be charged without problems (chargeable) and the battery 20 for which charging is not desirable (non-chargeable) at a glance. Therefore, the monitoring person M can easily grasp the result information of the remote diagnosis as information regarding the batteries 20a, etc. and the charging device 50.

[0141] [Second Embodiment] Next, a second embodiment of the charging system of the present invention will be described with reference to Figs. 10 to 14. As described above, in the charging system 2 of the first embodiment, in the monitoring terminal device 121 of the monitoring center 120, the individual battery information (the above (11) to (22)) and the individual charging device information (the above (1) to (7)) are displayed on the display 123, and based on the charging control information input from the keyboard 125, the pointing device, etc., the charging operation of the charging device 50 for a plurality of batteries 20a, etc. can be "reservedly" controlled.

[0142] However, for the battery 20a or the like connected to the charging device 50 via the charging cable 70, it may be convenient to remotely operate the charging device 50 in real time by transmitting a charging start instruction or a stop instruction from the monitoring terminal device 121. For example, when an operator driving the forklift 10a or the like is not familiar with the operation of the charging device 50, or when the charging schedule of the battery 20a or the like is elaborate due to the power supply conditions at the site where the forklift 10a or the like operates and it is difficult for the on-site operator to handle it.

[0143] Therefore, in the charging system 2' according to the second embodiment, the monitoring person M who operates the monitoring terminal device 121' is configured to be able to remotely control the charging start and charging stop by the charging device 50' in real time. Note that the system configuration of the charging system 2' and the hardware configurations of the forklift 10, the battery 20, the BMU 30, and the charging device 50' are the same as those of the charging system 2 (FIGS. 1 to 3) of the first embodiment, so the illustration is omitted. Also, in FIGS. 10 to 14, the same reference numerals are given to the substantially same components as those of the charging system 2 of the first embodiment, and the description thereof is omitted.

[0144] <Main control process of the charging device 50'> As shown in FIG. 10, in the main control process performed by the charging device 50' of the second embodiment, first, a predetermined initialization process is performed in step S100. In this process, for example, the work area for this process in the memory (RAM) of the control unit 54 is cleared, and the determination result flag described later is set to off, which means "charging impossible". This determination result flag is composed of, for example, a collection (multiple bits) of each bit associated with each battery ID such as the battery 20a and one bit associated with the charging device ID of the charging device 50'. Here, all bits are set to off.

[0145] In the next step S101, a state information acquisition process is performed. In this process, the charging device individual information (the same as (1) to (7) of the first embodiment) output from the above-described respective sensors 61 to 67 provided in the charging device 50' is stored in the memory.

[0146] In the subsequent step S600, individual information collection processing is performed. This processing performs abnormality determination processing (S607) based on the battery information (the same as (11) to (19) of the first embodiment) obtained by the individual information acquisition processing (S605 (S400)), and is different from the individual information collection processing (S200) of the first embodiment in that it includes each related processing (S609, S613).

[0147] In the next step S300’, charge control processing is performed. In the second embodiment, since charging is performed on the battery 20a etc. connected to the charging device 50’ via the charging cable 70, in the charge control processing of step S300’, first, it is determined whether the battery 20a etc. is connected to the charging device 50’ (S302). If it is connected, after transmitting the information to the monitoring terminal device 121’ of the monitoring center 120 (S305), the process of acquiring charge control information from the monitoring terminal device 121’ (S306) is performed, which is different from the charge control processing (S300) of the first embodiment. The charge control processing (S300’) will be described later.

[0148] <Receiving control processing of charging device 50’> The receiving control processing performed by the charging device 50’ is the same as the receiving control processing of the first embodiment (the same as FIG. 4(B), so the description is omitted). <Individual information collection processing of charging device 50’> As shown in FIG. 11, in the individual information collection process (S600) performed by the charging device 50', first, after the battery ID reception process is performed in step S601, it is then determined in the next S603 whether it is a registered ID. If it is a battery ID registered in the ID list stored in the memory of the control unit 54 (S603; Yes), the individual information acquisition process in step S605 is performed. Also, if the battery ID is not registered in the ID list (S603; No), the process proceeds to a process (S611) of determining whether battery information (the above (11) to (19)) has been acquired for all BMUs 30a, etc. having the battery ID registered in the ID list. Since each of these processes (S601, S603, S605) is the same as each of the processes in steps S201, S203, and S205 of the individual information collection process of the first embodiment, detailed description thereof is omitted.

[0149] In step S607, a process of determining the presence or absence of an abnormality in a battery 20a, etc. for which the charging device 50' may perform charging based on the battery information (the above (11) to (19)) acquired by the individual information acquisition process (S605 (S400)) is performed. Also, in this process, the presence or absence of an abnormality in the charging device 50' is also determined based on the state information (the above (1) to (7)) acquired by the state information acquisition process (S101). Note that the examples regarding the above (11) to (19) and the determination examples based thereon, and the examples regarding the above (1) to (7) and the determination examples based thereon are the same as those in the abnormal value detection process (S1005) in the charging device control process (FIG. 8) described in the first embodiment, so description thereof is omitted here.

[0150] Then, if it is determined as "abnormal" in the abnormality determination process in step S607 (S607; Yes), it is not desirable to perform charging on the battery 20a, etc. by the charging device 50', so the process proceeds to a determination process (S611) described later. On the other hand, if it is determined as "none" in step S607 (S607; no), the determination result storage process is performed in the subsequent step S609.

[0151] In the determination result storage process of step S609, the determination result flag stored in the memory (RAM) of the control unit 54 is set to on. The determination result flag is set to off (non-chargeable) for all bits in the above-described predetermined initialization process (S100). Therefore, in this determination result storage process (S609), only the determination result flag (bit) corresponding to the battery 20a or the like determined as "none" in the determination process of step S607 and the charging device 50' is set to on, and the determination result information (chargeable information) indicating "chargeable" is stored.

[0152] Note that for the battery 20a or the like determined not to be a registered ID (S603; No) or determined to have an abnormality (S607; Yes) in the above-described determination process, the determination result storage process of step S609 is not performed. Therefore, since the determination result flag (bit) associated with these batteries 20a or the like remains set to off, which means "non-chargeable", in the memory, the information indicating "non-chargeable" (non-chargeable information) is stored as the determination result information.

[0153] In the subsequent step S611, based on the ID list stored in the memory of the control unit 54 (information registering the battery IDs of the battery 20a or the like chargeable by the charging device 50' or their BMU 30a or the like), it is determined whether the battery individual information of all the batteries 20a or the like (the same as (11) to (22) of the first embodiment) has been acquired. For example, information indicating that fact (acquired information) is added to the battery ID of the battery 20a or the like for which the battery individual information has already been acquired, and based on the presence or absence of the additional information, it is determined whether the battery individual information has been acquired.

[0154] If it is determined by the determination process in step S611 that not all of the battery individual information of the batteries 20a etc. has been acquired (S611; No), since there are batteries 20a etc. for which the battery individual information could not be acquired, the process returns to step S601 and the battery ID reception process etc. is performed again. On the other hand, if it is determined that all of the battery individual information of the batteries 20a etc. has been acquired (S611; Yes), it means that the battery individual information could be acquired for all of the batteries 20a etc., so the process proceeds to the next step S613. Note that if the battery individual information of all of the batteries 20a etc. cannot be acquired even after a predetermined time has elapsed, a timeout process may be performed to forcibly shift the process to step S613.

[0155] In step S613, the determination result etc. transmission process is performed. This process transmits, as the determination result information (determination result flag) by the above-described abnormality presence / absence determination process (S607), the information regarding the battery 20 (battery individual information etc.), the individual information (the above (11) to (22)) of the battery 20a etc. acquired by the above-described individual information acquisition process (S605 (S400)) and the battery ID (or ID list) of the battery 20a etc., and as the information regarding the charging device 50' (charging device individual information etc.), the status information (the above (1) to (7)) of the charging device 50' acquired by the status information acquisition process (S101) and the charging device ID associated with and assigned to the charging device 50', to the monitoring terminal device 121' via the wireless communication line 90b by the communication unit 59b.

[0156] As a result, the determination result information (determination result flag), the battery individual information of all of the batteries 20a etc. and the battery ID or ID list associated therewith, the status information (charging device individual information) of the charging device 50' and its charging device ID, are transmitted to the monitoring terminal device 121' all at once. Therefore, at the monitoring terminal device 121', in the charging device control process described later, it becomes possible to collectively acquire (receive) the individual information etc. of the battery 20a etc. When a series of this individual information collection process ends, the process returns to the main control process in FIG. 10.

[0157] <Charge control process of the charging device 50'> As shown in FIG. 12, in the charging control process (S300') performed by the charging device 50', first, in step S302, it is determined whether a battery 20a or the like is connected to the charging device 50', and this determination process is repeatedly performed (S302; No) until the battery 20a or the like is connected (S302; Yes). Then, when the battery 20a or the like is connected to the charging device 50', the battery identification process of step S303 is performed. Since each of these processes (S302, S303) is the same as each of the processes of steps S302 and S303 of the charging control process of the first embodiment, detailed description thereof is omitted.

[0158] When any battery 20 (for example, battery 20a) connected by the charging cable 70 is identified by the battery identification process of step S303 and information on the battery ID is obtained, the charging device 50' can charge the battery 20a. Therefore, in the next step S305, a charging preparation completion information transmission process for transmitting charging preparation completion information (charging information) indicating that the charging preparation is completed to the monitoring terminal device 121' of the monitoring center 120 is performed. As will be described later, in the charging device control process (FIG. 13) of the monitoring terminal device 121', when this charging information is received (S1209), information indicating that the charging preparation for the battery 20a is complete is displayed on the display 123, so that the monitoring person M can give an instruction to start charging for the battery 20a.

[0159] In the subsequent step S306, a charging control information acquisition process is performed. In this process, charging control information transmitted from the monitoring terminal device 121’, that is, acquisition of charging start instruction information for the battery 20a for which charging preparation has been completed is performed. Then, in the charging start determination process of the next step S307, it is determined whether the charging information acquired in step S306 is charging start instruction information. In this second embodiment, these charging control information acquisition process (S306) and charging start determination process (S307) are repeated until charging start instruction information is acquired (S307; possible), or until a predetermined time elapses (S307; Time's UP) (S307; impossible).

[0160] If it is determined in the determination process of step S307 that a predetermined time has elapsed (S307; Time's UP), information indicating that there was no charging start instruction within the predetermined time is clearly shown on the display unit 58 of the charging device 50’ by the emission color or blinking pattern of the LED or character information by the liquid crystal display panel. Also, similar to the case of the first embodiment, after executing the error information display process (S321) and error information storage process (S325), the process proceeds to the determination process of step S318.

[0161] If it is determined in the determination process of step S307 that it is charging start instruction information (S307; possible), a charging process is performed in the next step S308. Including this charging process (S308), each process performed thereafter (S309(S500), S311, S313, S315, S317, S318, S319, S321, S323, S325) is substantially the same as the charging control process (Fig. 6) of the first embodiment. The difference from the first embodiment is that the charging stop instruction information included in the charging control information acquired in step S311 includes a case where charging is instructed to stop by selecting the radio button 123g by the operation of the person in charge of monitoring M as described later.

[0162] <Charging Device Control Process of Monitoring Terminal Device 121’> As shown in FIG. 13, in the charging device control process performed by the monitoring terminal device 121' of the second embodiment, first, after a predetermined initialization process is performed in step S1201, a determination result reception process and the like are performed in the next step S1203. As described above, in the second embodiment, by the determination result transmission process and the like of the individual information collection process (FIG. 11; S613), from the charging device 50', determination result information (determination result flag), battery individual information (the above (11) to (22)) regarding all the batteries 20a and the like registered in the ID list, and the battery ID (or ID list) of the battery 20a and the like, and the state information of the charging device 50' (the above (1) to (7)) and the charging device ID of the charging device 50' are sent. Therefore, in this step S1203, a process of receiving these pieces of information transmitted from the charging device 50' via the wireless communication line 90b is performed.

[0163] In the subsequent step S1205, in the next step S1207, a list of individual information to be displayed on the display 123 is generated. This list is created as a table that can display the battery individual information (the above (11) to (22)) of the battery 20a and the like received in S1203 and the charging device individual information (the above (1) to (7)) of the charging device 50'. In this list, based on the display color of the □ mark displayed at the left end of each piece of individual information, abnormal information based on the determination result information (determination result flag) is clearly shown. For example, when there is an abnormality or the like, a black ■ mark is displayed. Note that the information displayed in the information areas 123a and 123c of the display 123 is the same as in the case of the first embodiment (FIG. 9). Therefore, here, the description will focus on the differences from the case of the first embodiment.

[0164] In the second embodiment, the monitoring person M who operates the monitoring terminal device 121' can remotely control the start and stop of charging by the charging device 50' in real time. Therefore, as information for instructing the start and stop of charging, charging start instruction information and charging stop instruction information are configured to be inputtable to the monitoring terminal device 121' by the operation of the monitoring person M. These inputs are performed in the selection area 123d.

[0165] For example, when charging preparation completion information (Fig. 12; S305) indicating that the charging preparation transmitted from the charging device 50' has been completed is received and acquired by the charging information reception process in step S1209, the list displayed in step S1207 is updated (S1211), and this is visually displayed to the monitoring person M. In the second embodiment, for example, for the battery 20 for which charging preparation is complete, the character color of "Charge" displayed in the selection area 123d where the start and stop of charging can be selected is changed to black.

[0166] In the example of the screen display of the display 123 shown in Fig. 14, in the selection area 123d of the first battery "#01" (battery 20a), the character color of "Charge" is displayed in black, while in the selection area 123d of the second battery "#02" (battery 20b), the character color of "Charge" is displayed in light gray. This indicates that the battery 20a with the battery ID "#01" has completed charging preparation, while the battery 20b with the battery ID "#02" has not completed it (the battery 20b is not connected to the charging device 50').

[0167] Also, when a radio button 123g is selected in the selection area 123d, the character color of "Start" or "Stop" corresponding to the selected radio button 123g is displayed darker than others. For example, for the radio button 123g of the battery 20a with the battery ID "#01", since the character color of "Start" is darker than that of "Stop", it indicates that "Start" has been selected by the radio button 123g.

[0168] Furthermore, when charging completion information (Fig. 12; S317) indicating that the charging transmitted from the charging device 50' has been completed is received and acquired by the charging information reception process in step S1209, the list displayed in step S1207 is updated (S1211), and this is visually displayed to the monitoring person M. For example, when the charging of the battery 20a with the battery ID "#01" is completed, the character colors of "Start" and "Stop" are displayed faintly and the character color of "End" is displayed darkly.

[0169] Note that also in the second embodiment, the monitoring terminal device 121' has the three functions (individual information display function, charging control instruction function, abnormality display function, etc.) described in the first embodiment. Therefore, as the individual information display function, similar to the first embodiment, in the information areas 123a, 123c, etc. displayed on the display 123, battery individual information such as the battery 20a (corresponding to the above (11) to (22)) and their battery IDs, and charging device individual information of the charging device 50' (corresponding to the above (1) to (7)) and its charging device ID can be output.

[0170] Also, as the charging control instruction function, as described above, when the monitoring person M selects the radio button 123g and the "Determine" button 123i displayed in the selection area 123d, the charging start instruction information and charging stop instruction information for the charging device 50' can be output to the charging device 50' via the monitoring terminal device 121'.

[0171] Furthermore, as the abnormality display function, based on the determination result information (determination result flag) transmitted from the charging device 50', similar to the first embodiment, for example, in the information areas 123a, 123c, for information that exceeds the normal reference value or is less than the normal reference value, a ■ (black square) mark is displayed at the left end of each individual information to indicate that it is an abnormal value. Thereby, when the values corresponding to the charging device individual information of the charging device 50' or the battery individual information such as the battery 20a exceed or are less than the threshold value predetermined as the normal reference value, that information can be clearly shown.

[0172] Also, in this second embodiment, in addition to the display at the left end of each piece of individual information, for the battery 20 for which charging is prohibited, character information "Charging not possible" is displayed in the selection area 123d with negative-positive inversion, and it has a function of disabling the start instruction of charging (battery 20c with battery ID "#03" shown in FIG. 14). The conditions for prohibiting charging are, for example, that any one of the accumulated number of uses, use time, number of charging times, or charging time has reached the upper limit value. In the display example shown in FIG. 14, since the accumulated number of charging times of the battery 20c exceeds the upper limit value of the allowable number of times (for example, 1000 times), "Charging not possible" is displayed in the selection area 123d.

[0173] Note that the transmission data generation process (S1217) and the charging control information transmission process (S1219) are the same as the transmission data generation process (S1015) and the charging control information transmission process (S1017) in the charging device control process (FIG. 8) of the first embodiment. Therefore, the description is omitted here.

[0174] Each process (S1209, S1211, S1213, S1215, S1217, S1219) for controlling the update of such a list display and the input of charging control information is repeatedly performed until the charging of all the batteries 20a, etc. displayed in the information area 123a is completed (S1221; No). When the charging of all the batteries 20a, etc. is completed (S1221; Yes), a series of this charging device control process is terminated and the process returns to the main screen of a predetermined application software or the like. Also, in the input confirmation determination process in step S1215, when it is determined that the "Return" button 123h is selected or the "Esc" key of the keyboard 125 is pressed (S1215; Esc), this charging device control process is terminated and the process returns to the main screen of a predetermined application software or the like.

[0175] The transmission data sent from the monitoring terminal device 121' reaches the charging device 50' via the line termination device 122, the Internet 100, and the access point 110, and then via the wireless communication line 90b. As a result, the charging control of the battery 20a, etc., by the charging device 50' as described above is performed. That is, it becomes possible to remotely and in real time control the charging operation of the charging device 50' for the battery 20a, etc., from the monitoring terminal device 121'.

[0176] As described above, in the charging system 2' of the second embodiment, when an arbitrary battery 20a among a plurality of batteries 20a, etc., is connected to the charging device 50' via the charging cable 70, the monitoring terminal device 121' of the monitoring center 120 controls the start and stop (end of charging) of the charging device 50' for the battery 20a based on the control information input from a pointing device or the like. As a result, even for a charging device 50' provided at a location far from the monitoring terminal device 121', it becomes possible to remotely and in real time operate the start and stop (end of charging) of the charging for the battery 20a.

[0177] Therefore, in addition to easily grasping information regarding the battery 20a, etc., and its charging device 50' remotely, it is possible to remotely operate the start and end (stop of charging) of the charging of the battery 20a, etc. Further, by remotely operating the start and end (stop of charging) of the charging of the battery 20a, etc., it becomes possible to temporally shift the power demand at the site where the forklift 10a, etc., operates. Thus, it becomes possible to shift the time point of the power demand at the site (peak shift) or suppress the maximum value of the power demand (peak cut).

[0178] Also, in the charging system 2' of the second embodiment, the charging device 50' determines the presence or absence of abnormalities for any battery 20a and the charging device 50' based on the battery individual information and the charging device individual information transmitted from the BMU 30a or the like. When it is determined that there is an abnormality in the battery 20a or the charging device 50', information regarding the abnormality is transmitted to the monitoring terminal device 121'. The monitoring terminal device 121' that has received this displays the information regarding the abnormality on the display 123.

[0179] As a result, when there is an abnormality in the battery 20a or the charging device 50', information regarding the abnormality is displayed on the display 123 of the monitoring terminal device 121'. For example, a monitoring person M who monitors the operating status of the charging device 50', the battery 20a, etc. can know that an abnormality has occurred in the charging device 50', the battery 20a, etc. without looking at the charging device individual information and the battery individual information displayed on the display 123. Therefore, in addition to being able to easily grasp information regarding the battery 20a, etc. and its charging device 50' remotely, it is also possible to easily grasp remotely that an abnormality has occurred in any battery 20a or charging device 50'.

[0180] Furthermore, in the charging system 2' of the second embodiment, the charging device 50' determines the presence or absence of abnormalities in the battery 20a, etc. based on battery information (the above (11) to (19)) of the battery 20a, etc. sent from the BMU 30a, etc., or determines the presence or absence of abnormalities based on the status information (the above (1) to (7)) of the charging device 50'. The algorithm of the individual information collection process (S600) is configured. As a result, the charging device 50' can perform the abnormality diagnosis of the battery 20a, etc. and the charging device 50' instead of the monitoring terminal device 121' of the monitoring center 120 (local diagnosis is possible). For example, at the operation site of the forklift 10a, etc. where a plurality of charging devices 50' are installed, such abnormality diagnosis can be distributed and processed by the plurality of charging devices 50'. Therefore, compared with the case where such an abnormality diagnosis process (Fig. 8; S1005) is performed by one monitoring terminal device 121' as in the first embodiment, in the second embodiment, the load of the abnormality diagnosis can be distributed, so that the load of the information processing by the monitoring terminal device 121' can be reduced.

[0181] In the second embodiment described above, as the battery individual information and the charging device individual information, the battery individual information (the above (11) to (22)) of the battery 20a, etc. "before charging" and the charging device individual information (the above (1) to (7)) of the charging device 50' are output in the list displayed on the display 123 of the monitoring terminal device 121'. However, among these information, the information that can vary during charging of the battery 20a, etc., that is, the in-charge battery information obtained by the in-charge information acquisition process (S500) (the same as (23) to (28) of the first embodiment), may be output in the list displayed on the display 123 of the monitoring terminal device 121' by configuring the algorithms of the charge control process (Fig. 12) and the charging device control process (Fig. 13).

[0182] In this case, in the charging control process (Fig. 12) executed by the charging device 50’, a charging information transmission process (S310) for transmitting the in-charging battery information (the above (23) to (28)) to the monitoring terminal device 121’ is added between the in-charging information acquisition process (S309) and the charging control information acquisition process (S311). Also, the charging information reception process (S1209) of the charging device control process (Fig. 13) executed by the monitoring terminal device 121’ receives the in-charging information transmitted by this charging information transmission process (S310) as charging information. As a result, every time the list update process (S1211) of the charging device control process (Fig. 13) is performed, the latest in-charging battery information (the above (23) to (28)) is displayed on the display 123 of the monitoring terminal device 121’. That is, the monitoring person M can grasp the latest information of the above (23) to (28) of the battery 20a etc. during charging almost in real time.

[0183] In addition, in the in-charging information acquisition process (S309 (S500)) of the charging control process (Fig. 12), a state information acquisition process (S101) is added before the battery information inquiry process (Fig. 7(B); S501) or after the battery information storage process (Fig. 7(B); S505), and the algorithm of the charging control process (Fig. 12) is configured so that the state information of the above (1) to (7) during the charging operation obtained thereby can also be transmitted by the previously added charging information transmission process (S310). As a result, every time the list update process (S1211) of the charging device control process (Fig. 13) is performed, the latest state information of the above (1) to (7) of the charging device 50’ during the charging operation is also displayed on the display 123 of the monitoring terminal device 121’. That is, the monitoring person M can grasp the latest information of the above (1) to (7) of the charging device 50’ during charging almost in real time.

[0184] In the above-described first and second embodiments, the case where the charging device individual information is displayed in the information area 123a and the battery individual information is displayed in the information area 123c on the displays 123 of the monitoring terminal devices 121 and 121' has been described as an example. However, an algorithm of the charging device control process (FIGS. 8 and 13) executed by the monitoring terminal device 121' may be configured so that only one of these individual information can be displayed on the display 123 as needed.

[0185] Also, in the above-described first and second embodiments, the display unit 58 provided in the charging devices 50 and 50' is configured to display charging completion information, error information, etc. to inform the on-site workers and the like of such information. However, for example, a large LED panel or the like with high visibility for such workers may be provided in place of or in addition to the display unit 58. Further, an arbitrary character string may be transmitted from the monitoring terminal devices 121 and 121' to the charging devices 50 and 50', and the character string may be configured to be displayed on such an LED panel or the like or the display unit 58. Thereby, it becomes possible to clearly show, for example, a message for prompting the on-site workers and the like to pay attention or to be careful about safety management. Also, a device capable of acoustic output may be provided in place of or in addition to the display unit 58. Thereby, by configuring the charging devices 50 and 50' so that a predetermined sound can be emitted by the device, it becomes possible to call the attention of such workers.

[0186] [Third Embodiment] Subsequently, a third embodiment of the charging system of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 15 to 19. As described above, in the charging systems 2 and 2' of the first and second embodiments, in the monitoring terminal devices 121 and 121' of the monitoring center 120, the battery individual information (the above (11) to (22)) and the charging device individual information (the above (1) to (7)) are displayed on the display 123, and the charging operation of the charging devices 50 and 50' for a plurality of batteries 20a and the like is controlled based on the charging control information input from the keyboard 125, the pointing device, or the like.

[0187] However, in maintenance work on the charging device 50, BMU 30a, etc., it may be more convenient to change (update) the control parameters and operation parameters set in the control unit 54 of the charging device 50, the control unit 32 of the BMU 30a, etc. by remote operation from the monitoring center 120 rather than on-site work. For example, when on-site workers are not used to changing such control parameters, or when it is difficult for on-site workers to handle time-consuming work such as these control parameters due to a shortage of man-hours.

[0188] Therefore, in the charging system 2” according to the third embodiment, for example, during the start-up maintenance period that is possible within about 10 minutes immediately after the start-up of the charging device 50”, the monitoring person M who operates the monitoring terminal device 121” is configured to be able to remotely update the control parameters and operation parameters of the charging device 50” and the BMU 30”. Note that the system configuration of the charging system 2”, the forklift 10, the battery 20, the hardware configurations of the BMU 30” and the charging device 50” are the same as those of the charging system 2 (Figs. 1 to 3) in the first embodiment, so the illustration is omitted. Also, in Figs. 15 to 19, the same reference numerals are given to substantially the same components as those of the charging system 2 in the first embodiment and the charging system 2’ in the second embodiment, and the description thereof is omitted.

[0189] <Main control process of charging device 50”> As shown in Fig. 15, in the main control process performed by the charging device 50” of the third embodiment, first, a predetermined initialization process is performed in step S100, and then a state information acquisition process is performed in step S101. So far, it is the same as the first embodiment. Then, a device information acquisition process is performed in step S103. In this process, information on the control parameters required for the charging control performed by the control unit 54 of the charging device 50” is acquired.

[0190] The information on control parameters varies depending on the charging control method. For example, when the battery cells 23 of the battery 20 are composed of lead batteries, charging is performed by the quasi-constant voltage charging method. Therefore, for example, the charging termination voltage value is set to a predetermined value. Also, in the case of rapid charging, the charging current value and the charging timer value for rapid charging are each set to a predetermined value. Further, when it is necessary to perform temperature correction for these voltage and current predetermined values, a temperature correction value is also set. Incidentally, when the battery cells 23 of the battery 20 are composed of lithium batteries, for example, charging is performed by the constant current constant voltage charging method, and as control parameters, a charging current value, a charging termination voltage value, etc. are set.

[0191] The individual information collection process of step S200’ is almost the same as the individual information collection process (S200) of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 5, but the difference is that the individual information acquisition process (S205(S400)) shown in the figure is replaced with the individual information acquisition process (S400’) shown in FIG. 15(B). Therefore, regarding the individual information collection process of step S200’, the individual information acquisition process (S400’) shown in FIG. 15(B) will be described, and the description of other processes will be omitted.

[0192] Incidentally, the information on the control parameters of the charging device 50” obtained by the device information acquisition process (S103) of the main control process and the information on the operation parameters of the BMU30”a etc. obtained by the BMU information acquisition process (S409) of the individual information acquisition process (S400’) to be described hereinafter are transmitted to the monitoring terminal device 121” together with the battery individual information and the charging device individual information by the individual information etc. transmission process (S209) of the individual information collection process (S200’).

[0193] <Individual Information Acquisition Process of Charging Device 50”> As shown in Fig. 15(B), the only difference between the individual information acquisition process (S400’) and the individual information acquisition process (S400) shown in Fig. 7(A) is that the BMU information acquisition process is added after step S407. That is, first, in step S401, a process of inquiring battery information from the BMU30”a etc. is performed. After receiving the battery information (the same as (11) to (19) in the first embodiment) in step S403, they are stored in the memory of the control unit 54. Also, in step S407, the specification information (the same as (20) to (22) in the first embodiment) is read from the ID list stored in the memory of the control unit 54. Thereby, the battery individual information of the battery 20a etc. (the same as (11) to (22) in the first embodiment) is acquired.

[0194] In the individual information acquisition process (S400’) of the third embodiment, in addition to this, the BMU information acquisition process is performed in step S409. In this process, information on the operation parameters necessary for the operation of the sensors 35 to 38, 81, 83, which are the sensors of the BMU30”a etc. and are involved in the acquisition of the battery individual information of the monitored battery 20a etc., is acquired.

[0195] Specifically, for example, when a predetermined command (parameter information request command) is transmitted to the BMU30”a etc. via the wireless communication line 90a in the BMU information acquisition process of step S409, after the communication unit 33 of the corresponding BMU30”a etc. receives it, the control unit 32 of the BMU30”a etc. acquires the parameter information request command. Then, after the control unit 32 that has analyzed the command reads out the operation parameters of each of the sensors 35 to 38, 81, 83 from the memory (such as EPROM), it returns (transmits) it to the charging device 50”. Thereby, the control unit 54 of the charging device 50” can acquire the information on the operation parameters of the sensors 35 to 38, 81, 83 of the BMU30”a etc.

[0196] In the next step S690, a determination process is performed to check whether update parameter information has been received. As will be described later, in the charging device control process executed by the monitoring terminal device 121”, this process determines whether the update parameter information transmitted from the monitoring terminal device 121” to the charging device 50” has arrived. The “update parameter information” is transmitted from the monitoring terminal device 121” when, for example, the monitoring person M operates the monitoring terminal device 121” of the monitoring center 120 to change the control parameters of the charging device 50” or the operation parameters of the BMU 30”a, etc.

[0197] Therefore, in the determination process of step S690, if the update parameter information arrives at the charging device 50” within a predetermined time (for example, about 10 minutes), the process proceeds to the parameter update process of step S700 (S690; Yes). If it does not arrive (S690; No), and the update parameter information still does not arrive even after receiving it again and after the elapse of the predetermined time (S690; Time's Up), the parameter update process of step S700 is skipped and the process proceeds to the charging control process of step S300. That is, in the charging device 50” of this third embodiment, if the update parameter information cannot be received within about 10 minutes after the power is turned on and the main control process is started, the algorithm of the main control process is configured so that the charging control process (S300) in FIG. 6 can be executed without updating the control parameters, etc.

[0198] Note that, for example, when the monitoring terminal device 121” transmits information without parameter update to the charging device 50” and the charging device 50” receives it, the algorithm of the main control process and the charging device control process described later may be configured so that the charging control process (S300) in FIG. 6 can be executed without waiting for the elapse of such a predetermined time. <Receiving Control Process of Charging Device 50”> The receiving control process performed by the charging device 50” is the same as the receiving control process in the first embodiment (the same as FIG. 4(B)), so the description is omitted. <Parameter Update Process of Charging Device 50”> As shown in FIG. 16, in the parameter update process (S700) performed by the charging device 50", first, a charging device update information acquisition process is performed in step S701. When this parameter update process is executed, as described above, the charging device 50" has received the update parameter information transmitted from the monitoring terminal device 121" (S690; Yes). Therefore, in this step S701, a process of acquiring charging device update information from the received update parameter information is performed. As will be described later, the charging device update information includes the charging device ID of the charging device 50" that is the target for parameter update.

[0199] Therefore, in the determination process of the next step S703, it is determined whether the charging device ID included in the charging device update information is the charging device ID of the charging device 50". That is, it is determined whether the charging device 50" is the target for parameter update. And when it is determined that it is the target for update (S703; Yes), in the subsequent step S705, a process of shifting the operation mode of the charging device 50" to the parameter update mode is performed. On the other hand, when it is determined that it is not the target for update (S703; No), the process proceeds to step S713, and a process of acquiring BMU update information is performed. This will be described later.

[0200] When the operation mode of the charging device 50" shifts to the parameter update mode, next, an update parameter acquisition process is performed in step S707. That is, the information of the parameter to be updated is acquired from the received update parameter information. And based on that information, in the next step S709, a process of writing to the memory (for example, EEPROM) of the control unit 54 is performed. For example, when the parameter information acquired from the update parameter information is information for changing the charge termination voltage value as a control parameter and the changed value is, for example, 49.5V, a process of writing the information of 49.5V as the control parameter of the charge termination voltage value is performed.

[0201] As a result, the update of the control parameters of the charging device 50” is completed. Therefore, in the subsequent step S711, a process of shifting to the normal mode is performed, and the charging device 50” can perform a charging control information acquisition process or the like using the updated control parameters.

[0202] In step S713, a process of acquiring BMU update information is performed. In this process, a process of acquiring BMU update information from the received update parameter information is performed. As will be described later, the BMU update information includes battery IDs such as BMU30”a which is the target to update parameters. There may be a plurality of battery IDs such as BMU30”a of the update target included in the BMU update information. Therefore, it is determined by the determination process in step S731 described later whether or not all of the BMU30”a etc. of the update target have completed the update.

[0203] In the next step S715, a process of determining whether or not the BMU update information includes the battery IDs such as BMU30”a of the update target is performed. That is, if the BMU update information does not include the battery ID, it means that there is no BMU30”a etc. of the update target. Therefore, in such a case (S715; No), this parameter update process is terminated and the process returns to the main control process in FIG. 15(A). On the other hand, if the BMU update information includes the battery ID (S715; Yes), the process proceeds to step S717.

[0204] In step S717, an update parameter acquisition process is performed. That is, the information of the parameter to be updated is acquired from the received update parameter information. Then, based on that information, in the next step S719, a process of transmitting a “parameter update mode command” to the BMU30”a etc. having that battery ID is performed. For example, when the battery ID included in the BMU update information is “#02”, a “parameter update mode command” is transmitted to the BMU30”b that monitors the battery 20b mounted on the forklift 10b via the wireless communication line 90a. From here, the update process executed by the BMU30” will also be described.

[0205] <Update Process of "BMU30"> As shown in FIG. 17, in the BMU30, it is always in a command waiting state by the command reception process (S2101) and the command reception determination process (S2103). Therefore, for example, when a "parameter update mode command" is transmitted from the charging device 50 to the BMU30b, the control unit 32 of the BMU30b that has received the command first performs a process of analyzing the command in step S2105 and determining the mode corresponding to the command. Then, the process is distributed to the corresponding mode. For example, when it is determined that the received command is in the parameter update mode (S2105; parameter update mode), the process proceeds to step S2107, and when it is determined that the received command is in another ○○ mode (S2105; other ○○ mode), the process proceeds to step S2108.

[0206] When the command transmitted from the charging device 50 to the BMU30b is a "parameter update mode command", the control unit 32 of the BMU30b changes the operation mode of the BMU30b by the parameter update mode transition process (S2107) to the parameter update mode. Then, in the subsequent step S2109, the mode information of the parameter update mode, which is the mode information after the transition, is transmitted to the charging device 50 (S2109).

[0207] After that, when the information of the parameter to be updated transmitted from the charging device 50 is received in step S2111, a process of writing to the memory (for example, EEPROM) of the control unit 32 is performed in the next step S2113 based on the information of the parameter to be updated. For example, when the information of the parameter to be updated is information for changing the temperature correction value as the operation parameter of the temperature sensor 83 that measures the temperature outside the battery housing chamber 11 and the change value is, for example, +0.5°C, a process of writing the information of +0.5°C as the operation parameter for correcting the temperature information of the temperature sensor 83 is performed.

[0208] As a result, the update of the operation parameters of the BMU 30”b is completed. Subsequently, in step S2115, a process of transmitting update completion information from the BMU 30”b to the charging device 50” is performed. Thereafter, in step S2117, a process of shifting to the normal mode is performed, and the update process of the BMU 30”b is completed. After this, in the BMU 30”b, since the updated operation parameters are used, the measured value of the temperature outside the battery compartment 11 measured by the temperature sensor 83 is corrected by the correction value of the operation parameters.

[0209] <Parameter Update Process of Charging Device 50” (Continued)> Here, returning to FIG. 16, the continuation of the parameter update process will be described. When the mode information after shifting to the parameter update mode is transmitted from the BMU 30”b to the charging device 50” in step S2109 of the BMU 30”b (see FIG. 17), the charging device 50” receives the mode information in step S721 (S721), and in the subsequent step S723, a process of determining whether the mode information is in the parameter update mode is performed. Then, until it is determined that the mode information is in the parameter update mode (S723; Yes), or until a predetermined time elapses (S723; Time's UP), the mode information reception process in step S721 is repeatedly performed (S723; No).

[0210] When it is determined that the mode information is in the parameter update mode, since the BMU 30”b, which is the target of parameter update, is waiting for the information of the parameter to be updated (FIG. 17; S2111), the information of the parameter to be updated is transmitted to the BMU 30”b by the parameter information transmission process in the next step S725. In the BMU 30”b, as described above, when the parameter update is completed, in order to transmit information indicating that the parameter update is completed (update completion information) to the charging device 50” (FIG. 17; S2115), in the charging device 50”, the update information reception process in step S727 is repeatedly performed until the update completion information is received (S729; Yes) (S729; No).

[0211] Then, in step S731, a determination process is performed to determine whether all updates of the BMUs 30"a to be updated included in the BMU update information have been completed. If it is determined that all updates have been completed (S731; Yes), a series of this parameter update process is terminated and the process returns to the main control process in Fig. 15(A). On the other hand, if it is not determined in step S731 that all updates have been completed, that is, if there are still BMUs 30"a to be updated remaining (S731; No), the process proceeds to step S715 and performs each process for advancing the parameter update for the remaining BMUs 30"a and the like.

[0212] <Charging Device Control Process of Monitoring Terminal Device 121"> The charging device control process performed by the monitoring terminal device 121" of the third embodiment is different from the charging device control processes performed by the monitoring terminal devices 121, 121' of the first and second embodiments in that, in addition to the individual information list, a list of control parameters of the charging device 50" and operation parameters of the BMUs 30"a and the like (parameter list) is displayed. Therefore, here, the parameter list displayed in addition to the individual information list will be described. Accordingly, the illustration and description of the individual information list of the third embodiment in which the same one as the individual information list in Fig. 9 of the first embodiment is displayed are omitted.

[0213] As shown in Fig. 18, in the charging device control process performed by the monitoring terminal device 121" of the third embodiment, first, a predetermined initialization process is performed in step S1401. This process is the same as the initialization process (S1001) performed by the charging device control process of the first embodiment, except that the display format and initial values related to the parameter list are set.

[0214] In the next step S1403, the individual information reception process is performed. As described above, in the third embodiment, in the main control process (FIG. 15(A)), the process of acquiring the device information of the charging device 50” (S103) is performed, and in the individual information acquisition process (FIG. 15(B)) of the individual information collection process (S200’), the process of acquiring the information of the BMU 30”a, etc. (S409) is performed. Therefore, the “information on the control parameters of the charging device 50” and the “information on the operation parameters of the BMU 30”a, etc.” acquired by these processes are transmitted to the monitoring terminal device 121” together with the battery individual information and the charging device individual information by the individual information transmission process (S209) of the individual information collection process (S200’). Therefore, in the individual information reception process of step S1403, in addition to the battery individual information and the charging device individual information, the “information on the control parameters of the charging device 50” and the “information on the operation parameters of the BMU 30”a, etc.” are also received from the charging device 50”.

[0215] In the subsequent step S1405, a list generation process is performed. In this process, for the battery individual information ((11) to (22) above) and the charging device individual information ((1) to (7) above), the same as the individual information list described in the first embodiment is created, and it is displayed on the display 123 in the next step S1407 (FIG. 9). On the other hand, for the “information on the control parameters of the charging device 50” and the “information on the operation parameters of the BMU 30”a, etc., a list that collects the respective parameters, that is, a parameter list is created, and it is displayed on the display 123 in the next step S1407 (FIG. 19).

[0216] That is, as shown in the example of the screen display of the display 123 shown in FIG. 19, as control parameters of the charging device 50", what is currently set in the charging device 50" is displayed in the information area 123j on the upper side of the screen of the display 123. For example, for the charging device 50" with the charging device ID "#91", the charging termination voltage value for quasi-constant voltage charging is "49.0 V", the charging timer value for rapid charging is "30 minutes", the charging current value for rapid charging is "560 A", and the temperature correction value is "+0.3 °C", respectively. Each of these values can be increased, for example, by touching the "increase" button 123m with the "▲" mark or decreased by touching the "decrease" button 123n with the "▼" mark using a pointing device, a touch pen, or the like.

[0217] Also, as operation parameters of the BMU 30"a etc., what is currently set in the BMU 30"a etc. is displayed in the information area 123k on the lower side of the screen of the information area 123j. For example, the BMU 30"a that monitors corresponding to the battery 20a with the battery ID "#01" has a voltage correction value of the voltage sensor 35 of "+0.2 V", a current correction value of the current sensor 36 of "-0.5 A", a liquid level correction value of the liquid level sensor 38 of "+0%", a battery temperature correction value of the temperature sensor 37 of "+0.0 °C", a housing chamber temperature correction value of the temperature sensor 81 of "-0.2 °C", and a housing chamber outside temperature correction value of the temperature sensor 83 of "+0.5 °C", respectively. Each of these values can also be increased, for example, by touching the "increase" button 123m with the "▲" mark or decreased by touching the "decrease" button 123n with the "▼" mark using a pointing device, a touch pen, or the like.

[0218] Note that each value of the control parameters and operation parameters changed by the "increase" button 123m and the "decrease" button 123n is transmitted to the charging device 50" as update parameter information as described later by selecting the "OK" button 123i. Note that the "back" button 123h is selected when ending this charging device control process (S1411; Esc) and returning to the main screen of a predetermined application software or the like.

[0219] The input of such update parameter information is received by the update parameter information input process in step S1409, and the input of the update parameter information is confirmed by the selection of the "Determine" button 123i. The determination as to whether or not the "Determine" button 123i is selected is made by the input confirmation determination process in step S1411. That is, until the "Determine" button 123i is selected (S1411; No), the input of the update parameter information is received (S1409). When it is determined that the "Determine" button 123i has been selected (S1411; Yes), after creating it as transmission data to be transmitted to the charging device 50” based on the update parameter information for which the input has been confirmed (S1413), the transmission data is transmitted (S1415).

[0220] As a result, the transmission data transmitted from the monitoring terminal device 121” reaches the charging device 50” via the line termination device 122, the Internet 100, and the access point 110 and then via the wireless communication line 90b, whereby the update process of the control parameter and the operation parameter by the BMU 30”a or the like is performed by the charging device 50” as described above. That is, it becomes possible to remotely control the update of each of the control parameter of the charging device 50” and the operation parameter of the BMU 30”a or the like from the monitoring terminal device 121”.

[0221] When the update parameter information transmission process in step S1415 ends, the series of the main charging device control processes ends and returns to the main screen of the predetermined application software or the like. In the input confirmation determination process in step S1411, when it is determined that the "Return" button 123h has been selected or the "Esc" key of the keyboard 125 has been pressed (S1411; Esc) as well, the main charging device control process ends and returns to the main screen of the predetermined application software or the like.

[0222] In the above-described third embodiment, as the information to be updated by the monitoring terminal device 121”, control parameters and operation parameters of the charging device 50” and the BMU 30”a etc. were exemplified and described, but it is not limited thereto. For example, constants, variables, etc. stored in the EEPROM of the charging device 50” and the BMU 30”a etc. may be updated by the monitoring terminal device 121”.

[0223] As described above, in the charging system 2” of the present third embodiment, the monitoring terminal device 121” of the monitoring center 120 changes the control parameters involved in the charging operation by the charging device 50” based on the control information input from a pointing device or the like. Further, the monitoring terminal device 121” changes the operation parameters of voltage sensors 35 etc. (involved in obtaining battery individual information) of the BMU 30”a corresponding to any battery 20a among a plurality of batteries 20a etc. based on the control information input from a pointing device or the like. As a result, even for a charging device 50” provided at a location remote from the monitoring terminal device 121”, it becomes possible to remotely operate (update) the control parameters involved in the charging operation and the operation parameters of the voltage sensors 35 etc. of the charging device 50” and the BMU 30”a etc.

[0224] Therefore, in addition to being able to easily grasp information regarding the battery 20a etc. and its charging device 50” remotely, it is possible to remotely change (update) the control parameters of the charging device 50” and the operation parameters of the voltage sensors 35 etc. of the BMU 30”a etc. Also, for example, it becomes possible to prevent the occurrence of change mistakes etc. of control parameters etc. that may occur when on-site workers are not used to changing operations of such control parameters etc. Furthermore, even when there is a shortage of on-site man-hours, it is possible to update the control parameters etc. of the charging device 50”.

[0225] The specific examples of the present invention have been described in detail above, but these are merely examples and do not limit the scope of the claims. The technology described in the claims includes various modifications or changes to the above-described specific examples. In addition, the technical elements described in this specification or the drawings exhibit technical utility either alone or in various combinations, and are not limited to the combinations described in the claims at the time of filing. Furthermore, the technology exemplified in this specification or the drawings achieves a plurality of objectives simultaneously, and achieving one of these objectives itself has technical utility. Note that the descriptions in parentheses in the [Description of Reference Numerals] column can clarify the correspondence between the terms used in each of the above-described embodiments and the terms described in the claims.

Description of Reference Numerals

[0226] 2,2’,2”… Charging system 10,10a,10b,10c… Forklift (Electric vehicle) 20,20a,20b,20c… Battery 30,30”,30a,30”a,30b,30”b,30c… BMU (Monitoring device) 32…Control unit 33…Communication unit 50,50’,50”… Charging device 61,63… Voltage sensor 62,64… Current sensor 65… Acceleration sensor 66,79,81,83… Temperature sensor 67… Humidity sensor 70… Charging cable 90a… Wireless communication line (Wireless communication network) 90b… Wireless communication line (Short-range wireless communication line) 100… Internet (Information communication network) 120… Monitoring center 121,121’,121”… Monitoring terminal device (Terminal device) 123… Display (Table Display unit ) 125… Keyboard (Input Force part) AC... Alternating current power supply M... Person in charge of monitoring

Claims

1. A terminal device connected to an information communication network and having a display unit and an input unit, A charging device provided at a location away from the terminal device and connected to the information communication network via a wireless communication network, A monitoring device mounted on each of a plurality of electric vehicles, having a control unit for acquiring individual information of a battery (hereinafter referred to as "battery individual information") and a communication unit capable of transmitting the individual information of the battery acquired by the control unit to the charging device by short-range wireless communication, The charging device transmits a plurality of the battery individual information transmitted from the respective monitoring devices of the plurality of electric vehicles and individual information of the charging device (hereinafter referred to as "charging device individual information") to the terminal device, The terminal device displays the plurality of the battery individual information and / or the charging device individual information transmitted from the charging device on the display unit, and transmits charging control information input from the input unit of the terminal device to the charging device via the wireless communication network, The charging device performs charging control on the batteries mounted on the respective ones of the plurality of electric vehicles based on the charging control information transmitted from the terminal device. A charging system characterized by this.

2. The charging device determines the presence or absence of an abnormality in the charging control based on the charging device individual information and the battery individual information received from the monitoring device, and when it is determined that there is an abnormality in the charging control in at least one of the charging device individual information and the battery individual information, information regarding the abnormality in the charging control is transmitted to the terminal device, The terminal device displays the information regarding the abnormality in the charging control received from the charging device together with the charging device individual information and the plurality of the battery individual information on the display unit. The charging system according to Claim 1, characterized by this.

3. The terminal device displays the charging device individual information and the plurality of the battery individual information transmitted from the charging device on the display unit, and it is possible to change a charging control parameter among the charging device individual information displayed on the display unit and / or a sensor operation parameter among the battery individual information. The charging system according to Claim 1 or 2, characterized by this.

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