Charging system and charging method

Abstract

To provide an art, in a charging system used in a factory where vehicles are manufactured utilizing automatic travel by remote control, capable of suppressing or preventing trouble where a charging rate is lower than a target value.SOLUTION: A charging system includes: a remote control part making a vehicle capable of travelling on a factory runway by remote control and provided with a communication device having a communication function and a travelling secondary battery in a manufacturing process in a factory; a manufacturing situation acquisition part acquiring a manufacturing situation from a previous process where charging to the installed second battery or installation of the charged second battery is performed to a post process as a travel destination of the vehicle travelling on the runway; and a charging rate deciding part deciding an on-board charging rate as a charging rate of the second battery at the time of being installed on the vehicle using the manufacturing situation of the acquired post process.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a charging system and a charging method. [Background technology]

[0002] For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a vehicle running method in a manufacturing system for manufacturing vehicles, in which a vehicle is run by remote control from the end of an assembly line of the manufacturing system to a parking lot of the manufacturing system. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Special Publication No. 2017-538619 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] At a manufacturing plant where vehicles are manufactured, delays in production can cause the vehicle's remotely controlled driving time to be longer than planned. In this case, the power of the secondary battery installed in the vehicle for driving may be consumed more than planned, and the state of charge (SOC) of the secondary battery may fall below a target value or a management value. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] The present disclosure can be realized in the following forms.

[0006] (1) According to one aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a charging system for use in a factory that manufactures vehicles, the charging system including: a remote control unit that remotely controls a vehicle that can be driven on a track within the factory during a manufacturing process at the factory, the vehicle including a communication device having a communication function and a secondary battery for driving the vehicle before driving on the track, a manufacturing status acquisition unit that acquires a manufacturing status from an upstream process where the mounted secondary battery is charged or the charged secondary battery is mounted to a downstream process to which the vehicle will travel on the track; and a charging rate determination unit that uses the acquired manufacturing status of the downstream process to determine an on-board charging rate that is a charging rate of the secondary battery when it is mounted on the vehicle. According to this charging system, the on-board charging rate is determined based on the production status of the downstream process where the vehicle is traveling, so that even if the production time of the downstream process deviates from the target production time, the on-board charging rate can be adjusted to correspond to the deviation of the production time of the downstream process. Therefore, it is possible to suppress or prevent the problem of the charging rate being lower than the target value when the vehicle arrives at the downstream process. (2) In the charging system of the above type, the charging rate determination unit may use the acquired manufacturing status of the subsequent process to calculate a travel-decreased charging rate that is reduced by the vehicle's travel until it arrives at the subsequent process, and may use the calculated travel-decreased charging rate to determine the on-board charging rate. According to this type of charging system, even if the vehicle's driving method is switched depending on the manufacturing time difference in the subsequent process, the on-board charging rate can be determined using the reduced charging rate for each switched vehicle driving method. (3) In the charging system of the above aspect, the charging rate determination unit may further determine the on-board charging rate using a target charging rate that is predetermined as a reference value for the charging rate of the secondary battery at the time the vehicle arrives at the subsequent process. According to this type of charging system, even if the vehicle's driving method is switched depending on the manufacturing time difference in the subsequent process, an appropriate on-board charging rate can be determined for each switched vehicle driving method. (4) In the charging system of the above aspect, the charging rate determination unit may determine the on-board charging rate to be a charging rate that is equal to or greater than the sum of the calculated reduced charging rate due to traveling and the target charging rate. According to the charging system of this aspect, the charging rate of the secondary battery when the vehicle arrives at the subsequent process can be more reliably set to be equal to or higher than the target charging rate. The present disclosure can also be realized in various forms other than a charging system, such as a charging method, a remote automated driving system, a vehicle, a server, a vehicle manufacturing method, a charging device, a control method for a charging device, a computer program for implementing the control method, a non-transitory recording medium on which the computer program is recorded, etc. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0007] [Figure 1] 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic configuration of a charging system according to a first embodiment; [Figure 2] 4 is a flowchart showing a battery charging method in the first embodiment. [Figure 3] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic configuration of a charging system according to a second embodiment. [Figure 4] 10 is a flowchart showing a battery charging method according to a second embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0008] A. First embodiment: FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic configuration of a charging system 500 according to a first embodiment. The charging system 500 is used in a factory FC where a vehicle 100 is manufactured. The vehicle 100 may be, for example, a passenger car, a truck, a bus, or a construction vehicle. The charging system 500 transports the vehicle 100 through the manufacturing process within the factory FC by remotely controlling the vehicle 100 to automatically travel. Transporting the vehicle 100 using remotely controlled automatic travel is also referred to as "self-driving transport." The charging system 500 also determines the state of charge (SOC) of a battery 120 mounted on the vehicle 100. Specifically, the charging system 500 determines the SOC at the time the vehicle 100 is mounted on the vehicle 100 so that the SOC at the time the vehicle 100 arrives at a downstream process 60 will be a predetermined target value. The SOC at the time when the vehicle 100 is loaded is also referred to as the "loading SOC," and the target value of the SOC at the time when the vehicle 100 arrives at the subsequent process 60 is also referred to as the "target SOC."

[0009] The vehicle 100 includes a vehicle communication unit 190, a power receiving device 150, a motor 140, a battery 120, a PCU (Power Control Unit) 130, and an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) 180. The vehicle communication unit 190 is a communication device having a communication function for wirelessly communicating with devices external to the vehicle 100, such as a server 300 connected to a network 72, via an access point 70 in a factory FC. The vehicle communication unit 190 may transmit information such as the SOC of the battery 120 to the charging device 52, the server 300, etc.

[0010] The power receiving device 150 includes a power receiver 152 and a power receiving circuit 154. The power receiver 152 is a power supply inlet or the like that corresponds to the power supply connector of the charging device 52. The power receiving circuit 154 is a rectifier, a DC / DC converter, or the like.

[0011] The motor 140 is, for example, an AC synchronous motor, and functions as both an electric motor and a generator. When the motor 140 functions as an electric motor, the motor 140 is driven by the electric power stored in the battery 120 as a power source. The output of the motor 140 is transmitted to the wheels via a reducer and an axle. When the vehicle 100 decelerates, the motor 140 functions as a generator that uses the rotation of the wheels and generates regenerative electric power.

[0012] Battery 120 is a rechargeable secondary battery such as a lithium-ion battery or a nickel-metal hydride battery. Battery 120 stores electric power and the like used for traveling vehicle 100. When electric power supplied from charging device 52 to power receiving device 150 and regenerative electric power generated by motor 140 are supplied to battery 120, battery 120 is charged and the SOC of battery 120 increases. PCU 130 is electrically connected to battery 120 and motor 140. PCU 130 has an inverter, a boost converter, and a DC / DC converter.

[0013] The ECU 180 is mounted on the vehicle 100 and executes various controls of the vehicle 100. The ECU 180 includes a memory such as an HDD, an optical recording medium, or a semiconductor memory, and a CPU as a central processing unit. The CPU executes various computer programs stored in the memory to realize functions such as a driving control unit 184 that executes driving control of the vehicle 100. "Driving control" includes, for example, adjustment of acceleration, speed, and steering angle. In remote control, the ECU 180 controls each actuator mounted on the vehicle 100 in accordance with a remote control control signal received from the server 300 via the vehicle communication unit 190.

[0014] The factory FC is equipped with a front-end process 50, a back-end process 60, and a track RT for the vehicle 100. The track RT is a transport section for the vehicle 100 that connects the front-end process 50 and the back-end process 60. The factory FC and each process in the manufacturing process may be located across multiple locations. "The vehicle 100 travels within the factory FC" includes cases where the vehicle 100 travels on public roads as well as private roads to move between processes located in multiple locations.

[0015] The upstream process 50 and downstream process 60 are various processes that belong to the manufacturing process of the vehicle 100. The downstream process 60 is, for example, an inspection process for the vehicle 100. After the downstream process 60, the vehicle 100 is completed as a product and shipped to the shipping destination corresponding to each vehicle 100. The target SOC differs depending on, for example, the shipping destination. The target SOC is a management item in the inspection process.

[0016] The post-process 60 is equipped with a post-process control device 62 for managing manufacturing information of the vehicle 100. The post-process control device 62 is equipped with a CPU 622, a memory 624 such as a ROM or RAM, and a communication unit 64 for communicating with the server 300, etc. The CPU 622 executes a program stored in the memory 624 to realize some or all of the functions of a post-process status acquisition unit 626, etc.

[0017] The downstream process status acquisition unit 626 acquires the manufacturing status of the vehicle 100 in the downstream process 60 from sensors in the downstream process 60, etc. "Manufacturing status" refers to the difference between the actual manufacturing time and the target manufacturing time. "Target manufacturing time" refers to the target value of the manufacturing time required to process one vehicle 100. The target manufacturing time is sometimes called "takt time." The target manufacturing time may be adjusted as appropriate depending on the target number of vehicles to be manufactured per day and the manufacturing status of the upstream and downstream processes. The target manufacturing time is managed for each vehicle model and vehicle identification information. "Vehicle identification information" refers to various information that can individually identify the vehicle 100. The vehicle identification information includes, for example, ID information assigned to each vehicle 100, such as a vehicle identification number (VIN), and specification information for the vehicle 100, such as the vehicle model, color, and shape. The vehicle identification information can be acquired, for example, from an RF-ID (Radio Frequency Identification) tag attached to each vehicle 100. The manufacturing status of the downstream process 60 is acquired for each vehicle identification information and transmitted to the server 300, etc., via the communication unit 64.

[0018] The upstream process 50 is an assembly process in which vehicle parts such as the battery 120p are manufactured and the manufactured vehicle parts are assembled into a vehicle body. The upstream process 50 is equipped with a charging device 52 and a upstream process control device 54. The upstream process control device 54 acquires the determined on-board SOC from the charging system 500. Other configurations of the upstream process control device 54 are the same as those of the downstream process control device 62.

[0019] The charging device 52 supplies power from an external power source to the battery 120p. The supply of power from the charging device 52 to the battery 120p is performed, for example, by manual operation by a worker in the preceding process 50. The battery 120p is charged to the acquired on-board SOC and then loaded onto the vehicle 100. The vehicle 100 released from the preceding process 50 travels on the route RT by remote control to the following process 60, where it is to travel. Charging of the battery 120p may be performed automatically by the charging device 52 that acquires the on-board SOC from the charging system 500. Alternatively, the battery 120p may be adjusted to the on-board SOC after being loaded onto the vehicle 100 by being charged after being loaded onto the vehicle 100.

[0020] From the viewpoint of production efficiency, it is preferable that the timing at which the vehicle 100 delivered from the preceding process 50 arrives at the following process 60 coincides with the start timing of processing by the following process 60. The arrival timing of the vehicle 100 can be adjusted by switching the driving method of the vehicle 100 in self-propelled transport, such as adjusting the driving speed of the vehicle 100 on the track RT. If an abnormality or delay occurs in the following process 60, the driving time of the vehicle 100 may be extended in order to delay the arrival timing. In this case, the vehicle 100 will consume more power from the battery 120 than usual, and if the on-board SOC is managed at a fixed value, there is a possibility that the target SOC will not be achieved.

[0021] As shown in FIG. 1 , the charging system 500 includes a camera 80 as a vehicle detector and a server 300. The vehicle detector detects vehicle information including at least one of an image of the vehicle 100 and the position of the vehicle 100. The detected vehicle information is used for remote control by the charging system 500. The "vehicle information" may further include the traveling direction and orientation of the vehicle 100. The traveling direction and orientation of the vehicle 100 may be obtained using, for example, changes in the shape and position of the vehicle 100 over time.

[0022] The camera 80 is communicatively connected to the server 300. The camera 80 acquires an image of the vehicle 100 as vehicle information. By analyzing the acquired image, various vehicle information that can be used for remote control, such as the relative position of the vehicle 100 with respect to the road RT and the orientation of the vehicle 100, can be acquired. As the vehicle detector, various detectors capable of detecting the position of the vehicle 100, such as LiDAR, an infrared sensor, a laser sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, and a millimeter-wave radar, may be used.

[0023] The server 300 includes a CPU 310 as a central processing unit, a storage device 320, and a remote communication unit 390. These are interconnected via an internal bus, an interface circuit, etc. The remote communication unit 390 is a circuit for communicating with the vehicle 100, the front-end process control device 54, the back-end process control device 62, etc. via the network 72.

[0024] The storage device 320 is, for example, a RAM, a ROM, an HDD (hard disk drive), an SSD (solid state drive), etc. When the computer program stored in the storage device 320 is executed by the CPU 310, the CPU 310 functions as a remote control unit 312, a charging rate determination unit 314, and a manufacturing status acquisition unit 316. However, some or all of these functions may be configured by hardware circuits.

[0025] The manufacturing status acquisition unit 316 acquires the manufacturing status of the downstream process 60 from the downstream process control device 62 or a production management system that comprehensively manages each process in the factory FC. The manufacturing status acquisition unit 316 may acquire information that allows estimation of the manufacturing status of the downstream process 60, such as the manufacturing status of processes subsequent to the downstream process 60.

[0026] The charging rate determination unit 314 determines the on-board SOC using the manufacturing status of the subsequent process 60 acquired by the manufacturing status acquisition unit 316. In this embodiment, the charging rate determination unit 314 further calculates the traveling reduced SOC using the manufacturing status of the subsequent process 60. The "traveling reduced SOC" is the SOC reduced by the power consumed by the vehicle 100 traveling from the previous process 50 to the subsequent process 60 by self-propelled transport. The traveling reduced SOC is calculated according to the traveling method of the vehicle 100 until it arrives at the subsequent process 60, such as the traveling time, traveling speed, acceleration, and deceleration of the vehicle 100.

[0027] The charging rate determination unit 314 determines the on-board SOC using the calculated reduced SOC due to traveling and the target SOC. More specifically, the charging rate determination unit 314 calculates the sum of the calculated reduced SOC due to traveling and the target SOC, and determines the calculation result as the on-board SOC. The on-board SOC may be a value equal to or greater than the sum. The on-board SOC or reduced SOC due to traveling may be determined using a correspondence map that indicates a correspondence with the manufacturing time of the subsequent process 60. The on-board SOC, reduced SOC due to traveling, and target SOC are each set so as not to exceed 100%.

[0028] If the production time of the subsequent process 60 is delayed from the schedule, the vehicle 100 heading to the subsequent process 60 will travel for a longer time than usual to accommodate the delay. In this case, the travel-decreased SOC may increase by the amount of the delay. The charging rate determination unit 314 can calculate the travel-decreased SOC for the travel time including the delay in the subsequent process 60 by using the production status of the subsequent process 60. As a result, the on-board SOC is set higher than usual. In addition, the delay in the subsequent process 60 may be offset by increasing the travel speed of the vehicle 100. In this case, since the travel-decreased SOC is calculated according to the driving method of the vehicle 100, the on-board SOC is set higher than the reference value by the amount of the travel speed being faster than usual.

[0029] If the production status of the downstream process 60 is faster than the target production time, for example, the traveling speed of the vehicle 100 may be increased in order to speed up the arrival time of the vehicle 100 at the downstream process 60. In this case, too, the traveling speed is set higher than the reference value by the amount that the traveling speed is faster than normal. However, if the traveling speed of the vehicle 100 is not changed even when the production status of the downstream process 60 is faster than the target production time, the on-board SOC may be determined to be the reference value.

[0030] The remote control unit 312 transmits a control signal to the vehicle 100 via the remote communication unit 390, requesting remote control of the vehicle 100. When the vehicle 100 receives the request for remote control, the ECU 180 performs driving control, causing the vehicle 100 to travel automatically. The remote control unit 312 analyzes images of the vehicle 100 acquired by the camera 80, and causes the ECU 180 to perform driving control of the vehicle 100. The remote control unit 312 adjusts the relative position of the vehicle 100 with respect to a target route preset on the road RT through image analysis, thereby causing the vehicle 100 to travel along the target route.

[0031] 2 is a flowchart showing a method for charging the battery 120 in the first embodiment. This flow is started, for example, when the battery 120 is mounted on the vehicle 100 or before that.

[0032] In step S10, the manufacturing status acquisition unit 316 acquires the manufacturing status of the subsequent process 60 from the subsequent process management device 62. In step S20, the charging rate determination unit 314 checks the acquired manufacturing status of the subsequent process 60. If the manufacturing status of the subsequent process 60 is on schedule (S20: as planned), the charging rate determination unit 314 proceeds to step S32 and determines the on-board SOC to be a predetermined reference value. In this case, calculation of the reduced SOC due to running may be omitted. "On schedule" allows for a general margin of error relative to the target manufacturing time.

[0033] If the manufacturing status of the subsequent process 60 is behind the target manufacturing time (S20: slower than planned), the charging rate determination unit 314 proceeds to step S34 to calculate the on-board SOC. More specifically, the charging rate determination unit 314 calculates the traveling-decreased SOC using the planned traveling method of the vehicle 100 to the subsequent process 60 and the delay time in the subsequent process 60. The charging rate determination unit 314 calculates the sum of the calculated traveling-decreased SOC and the target SOC, and determines the calculation result as the on-board SOC. As a result, the on-board SOC is determined to be a value higher than the reference value.

[0034] If the production status of the downstream process 60 is earlier than the target production time (S20: earlier than planned), the charging rate determination unit 314 proceeds to step S30 to calculate the on-board SOC. More specifically, the charging rate determination unit 314 determines the sum of the travel-decreased SOC and the target SOC as the on-board SOC. In this embodiment, the travel speed of the vehicle 100 is set to be increased in order to speed up the arrival time of the vehicle 100 at the downstream process 60. Therefore, the travel-decreased SOC is higher than normal, and the on-board SOC is determined to be higher than the reference value.

[0035] In step S40, the charging rate determination unit 314 outputs the determined on-board SOC to the upstream process control device 54. In step S50, the worker in the upstream process 50 completes charging of the battery 120 so that the on-board SOC becomes the same as the on-board SOC input to the upstream process control device 54. In step S60, the charged battery 120 is mounted on the vehicle 100. In step S70, the remote control unit 312 remotely controls the vehicle 100 to travel toward the subsequent process 60, thereby ending this flow. The vehicle 100 reaches the subsequent process 60 by consuming power equivalent to the calculated amount of reduced SOC due to travel, and as a result, the SOC of the battery 120 at the time of arrival at the subsequent process 60 becomes the target SOC.

[0036] As described above, the charging system 500 of this embodiment includes a remote control unit 312 that remotely controls the vehicle 100 to run, a manufacturing status acquisition unit 316 that acquires the manufacturing status of the downstream process 60, and a charging rate determination unit 314 that determines the on-board SOC of the battery 120 when it is installed in the vehicle 100 using the acquired manufacturing status of the downstream process 60. By determining the on-board SOC using the manufacturing status of the downstream process 60, the on-board SOC can be adjusted according to the manufacturing time difference of the downstream process 60 even if the manufacturing time of the downstream process 60 deviates from the target manufacturing time. Therefore, it is possible to suppress or prevent a problem in which the SOC at the time of arrival at the downstream process 60 is lower than the target value. Furthermore, by adjusting the on-board SOC, it is possible to suppress or prevent a shortage of SOC using a simpler process than a method of adjusting the amount of SOC decrease by adjusting the driving method of the vehicle 100 after the battery 120 is installed.

[0037] According to the charging system 500 of this embodiment, the charging rate determination unit 314 uses the acquired manufacturing status of the subsequent process 60 to calculate the traveling-decreased SOC that is reduced by the vehicle 100 traveling until the vehicle arrives at the subsequent process 60, and determines the on-board SOC using the calculated traveling-decreased SOC. Therefore, even if the traveling method of the vehicle 100 is switched depending on the difference in the manufacturing time of the subsequent process 60, the on-board SOC can be determined using the traveling-decreased SOC for each of the switched traveling methods of the vehicle 100.

[0038] According to the charging system 500 of this embodiment, the charging rate determination unit 314 further determines the on-board SOC using the target SOC at the time when the vehicle 100 arrives at the downstream process 60. Therefore, even if the driving method of the vehicle 100 is switched depending on the manufacturing status of the downstream process 60, it is possible to determine an appropriate on-board SOC for each of the switched driving methods of the vehicle 100.

[0039] The charging rate determination unit 314 determines the on-board SOC so that it is equal to or greater than the sum of the reduced SOC due to traveling and the target SOC. Therefore, the SOC of the battery 120 when the vehicle 100 arrives at the subsequent process 60 can be more reliably set to be equal to or greater than the target SOC.

[0040] B. Second embodiment: 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic configuration of a charging system 500 of a second embodiment. In this embodiment, the charging system 500 differs from the first embodiment in that a server 300b is provided instead of the server 300. In the server 300b, the CPU 310 further functions as a charging rate acquisition unit 318. The charging rate acquisition unit 318 acquires the traveling-decreased SOC transmitted from the vehicle 100.

[0041] In this embodiment, the vehicle 100 is provided with an ECU 180b instead of the ECU 180. In the ECU 180b, the CPU further functions as a charging rate reporting unit 186. The charging rate reporting unit 186 calculates a traveling-decreased SOC and reports the calculation result to the server 300b. The charging rate reporting unit 186 calculates the SOC using, for example, the cell voltage, current, temperature, etc. of the battery 120. The charging rate reporting unit 186 calculates the traveling-decreased SOC using the difference between the SOC at the time of departure from the previous process 50 and the SOC at the time of arrival at the subsequent process 60.

[0042] 4 is a flowchart showing a method for charging the battery 120 in the second embodiment. The charging method of this embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that steps S12, S36, and S38 are provided instead of steps S20 to S34.

[0043] In step S12, the charging rate acquisition unit 318 acquires the previous travel reduction SOC from the vehicle 100 that arrived at the subsequent process 60 the previous time. Furthermore, the manufacturing status acquisition unit 316 acquires, from the subsequent process management device 62, the manufacturing status of the subsequent process 60 at the time of travel of the vehicle 100 that arrived at the subsequent process 60 the previous time (also referred to as the "previous manufacturing status of the subsequent process 60"). In step S36, the charging rate determination unit 314 corrects the acquired previous travel reduction SOC to acquire an estimated value of the current travel reduction SOC. More specifically, the charging rate determination unit 314 calculates the ratio between the previous manufacturing status of the subsequent process 60 acquired in step S12 and the current manufacturing status of the subsequent process 60 acquired in step S10, and acquires the value obtained by multiplying the acquired previous travel reduction SOC by the ratio as the current travel reduction SOC. In step S38, the sum of the acquired travel reduction SOC and the target SOC is calculated and the result is determined as the on-board SOC.

[0044] As described above, according to the charging system 500 of this embodiment, the current traveling reduced SOC is estimated by feedback of the actual measured value of the previous traveling reduced SOC. By calculating the traveling reduced SOC using the actual measured value of the traveling reduced SOC, it is possible to obtain an on-board SOC that is suitable for the actual traveling of the vehicle 100. Furthermore, it is possible to obtain the traveling reduced SOC through simpler processing than when calculating the traveling reduced SOC using the traveling method of the vehicle 100 up to the subsequent process 60.

[0045] C. Other Embodiments: (C1) In the above embodiments, an example was shown in which the charging rate determination unit 314, the manufacturing status acquisition unit 316, and the charging rate acquisition unit 318 were provided in the server 300, 300b. However, all or part of these functions may be provided in a device other than the server 300, 300b, such as the vehicle 100, the front-end process control device 54, or the back-end process control device 62.

[0046] (C2) In the first embodiment described above, examples were given in which the vehicle 100 was a passenger car, truck, bus, construction vehicle, or the like. However, the vehicle 100 is not limited to these, and may include various automobiles such as two-wheeled vehicles and four-wheeled vehicles, as well as trains. It may also be various moving bodies other than the vehicle 100. A "moving body" refers to an object that can move. Moving bodies include vehicles, such as ships, aircraft, robots, and linear motor cars. In this case, the terms "vehicle" and "car" in this disclosure may be replaced with "moving body" as appropriate, and the term "traveling" may be replaced with "moving" as appropriate.

[0047] (C3) In each of the above embodiments, an example has been shown in which the charging rate determination unit 314 calculates the traveling reduced SOC using the acquired manufacturing status of the subsequent process 60. The charging rate determination unit 314 may be configured not to calculate the traveling reduced SOC. Furthermore, in the above first embodiment, an example has been shown in which the charging rate determination unit 314 uses the target SOC at the time the vehicle 100 arrives at the subsequent process 60. The charging rate determination unit 314 may be configured not to use the target SOC. In this case, the charging rate determination unit 314 acquires, for example, the manufacturing time of the subsequent process 60 as the manufacturing status of the subsequent process 60. The charging rate determination unit 314 can acquire the mounting SOC by multiplying the reference value of the mounting SOC by the ratio of the acquired manufacturing time to the target manufacturing time.

[0048] (C4) In each of the above embodiments, an example has been shown in which the charging system 500 determines the state of charge (SOC) of the battery 120 mounted on the vehicle 100. However, the charging system 500 is not limited to determining only the state of charge, and may determine the state of charge of the battery 120 by determining information equivalent to the state of charge of the battery 120, such as the amount of power stored in the battery 120, the electric capacity, the electricity charge, the cell voltage, and the cell current of the battery 120.

[0049] The present disclosure is not limited to the above-described embodiments and can be realized in various configurations without departing from the spirit thereof. For example, the technical features in the embodiments corresponding to the technical features in each aspect described in the Summary of the Invention section can be appropriately replaced or combined to solve some or all of the above-described problems or achieve some or all of the above-described effects. Furthermore, if a technical feature is not described as essential in this specification, it can be appropriately deleted. [Explanation of symbols]

[0050] 50...pre-process, 52...charging device, 54...pre-process management device, 60...post-process, 62...post-process management device, 64...communication unit, 70...access point, 72...network, 80...camera, 100...vehicle, 120, 120p...battery, 130...PCU, 140...motor, 150...power receiving device, 152...power receiver, 154...power receiving circuit, 180, 180b...ECU, 184...operation Transfer control unit, 186...charging rate reporting unit, 190...vehicle communication unit, 300, 300b...server, 310...CPU, 312...remote control unit, 314...charging rate determination unit, 316...manufacturing status acquisition unit, 318...charging rate acquisition unit, 320...storage device, 390...remote communication unit, 500...charging system, 622...CPU, 624...memory, 626...post-process status acquisition unit, FC...factory, RT...road

Claims

1. A charging system used in a vehicle manufacturing factory, a remote control unit that remotely controls the vehicle to run on a track within the factory during a manufacturing process in the factory, the vehicle comprising a communication device having a communication function and a secondary battery for running that is mounted on the vehicle before running on the track; a manufacturing status acquisition unit that acquires a manufacturing status from an upstream process where the mounted secondary battery is charged or the charged secondary battery is mounted to a downstream process where the vehicle traveling on the road is to travel; a charging rate determination unit that determines an on-board charging rate, which is a charging rate of the secondary battery when it is mounted on the vehicle, using the acquired manufacturing status of the subsequent process. Charging system.

2. 2. The charging system according to claim 1, wherein the charging rate determination unit calculates a travel-decreased charging rate that is reduced by travel of the vehicle until the vehicle arrives at the subsequent process, using the acquired manufacturing status of the subsequent process, and determines the on-board charging rate using the calculated travel-decreased charging rate.

3. 3. The charging system according to claim 2, wherein the charging rate determination unit further determines the on-board charging rate using a target charging rate that is predetermined as a reference value for the charging rate of the secondary battery at the time the vehicle arrives at the subsequent process.

4. The charging system according to claim 3 , wherein the charging rate determination unit determines the on-board charging rate to be equal to or greater than the sum of the calculated reduced charging rate due to traveling and the target charging rate.

5. A charging method for charging a secondary battery for driving mounted on a vehicle that can be driven on a track within a factory by remote control, comprising: Acquire a manufacturing status from an upstream process where the mounted secondary battery is charged or the charged secondary battery is mounted to a downstream process where the vehicle traveling on the road is to travel; determining an on-board charging rate, which is the charging rate of the secondary battery when it is mounted on the vehicle, using the acquired manufacturing status of the downstream process; Charging method.

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