Vehicle charging equipment

Abstract

To provide a vehicle charging device capable of recognizing a fully charged vehicle to exclude it from an order of priority even when a charger cannot acquire information, such as a charge residual quantity and a full charge, from a vehicle, and thereby, of performing efficient charge control.SOLUTION: A vehicle charging device comprises: a plurality of chargers 2 for charging vehicles 4; and a charge controller 3 that controls charge currents of the charger 2 as a block. The charge controller 3 provides a threshold for a charge amount provided for each vehicle 4 for the purpose of setting an order of priority to the vehicles 4 to be charged, performs charge control of giving priority to charging of a vehicle with the charge amount equal to or less than the threshold over charging of a vehicle with progressed charging more than the threshold, acquires power reception power information from a system, controls vehicle charging so that a power reception power does not exceed a reference value, and removes from a charging target such a vehicle that a state where a charge current actually supplied from the charger 2 is less than an instruction value of the charge current has continued for a predetermined time period.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a vehicle charging device, and more particularly to a vehicle charging device that is installed in a store or the like and can charge a plurality of vehicles simultaneously. [Background technology]

[0002] Some charging devices that can simultaneously charge multiple vehicles, such as electric cars, suppress the overall charging current while prioritizing the supply of current to vehicles that have not yet reached a certain amount of charged power, thereby shortening the charging time until a certain amount of power is charged. For example, in Patent Document 1, control is implemented to prioritize charging of vehicles whose charge level has not reached the level required to travel a certain distance over vehicles that have reached that level, and charging of each vehicle is implemented so that the power received from the grid does not exceed a set reference value or maximum demand value. The maximum demand value is the maximum value of the average power consumption measured every 30 minutes over the past year. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2020-182330 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] However, although the technology of Patent Document 1 above is effective in reducing contracted power by responding to demand control, it is configured on the assumption that the charger has the function of obtaining information such as remaining charge and full charge from the vehicle to which it is connected, and cannot be applied if the charger does not have the function of communicating with the vehicle.

[0005] In view of these problems, the present invention aims to provide a vehicle charging device that can recognize fully charged vehicles and remove them from the priority list, thereby enabling efficient charging control, even when the charger is configured to perform demand control and cannot obtain information such as remaining charge or full charge from the vehicle. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] In order to solve the above problem, the vehicle charging device according to the invention of claim 1 comprises a plurality of chargers for charging vehicles, and a charging current control unit for controlling the chargers. control The charging control unit sets a threshold for the amount of charge to prioritize the vehicles to be charged, and prioritizes charging of vehicles whose amount of charge is below the threshold over vehicles whose charging has exceeded the threshold. to increase the charging current In addition to carrying out control, it also obtains information on the power received from the grid, The power received from the grid is set to a value that does not exceed the set reference value. Controlling vehicle charging; and The charging control unit instructed The actual charging current supplied by the charger is different from the indicated charging current. Few Vehicles that have been in this state for a specified period of time are no longer eligible for charging. Do not remove and charge It is characterized by: This configuration implements demand control to limit the amount of power received from commercial power, while giving priority to charging vehicles whose charge level is below a threshold. This shortens the charging time until the threshold is reached, and reduces the stress felt by users even when the overall current is limited. Furthermore, even without obtaining full charge information from the vehicle, the system can determine full charge from current information supplied from the charger and terminate charging. This allows fully charged vehicles to be reliably excluded from charging targets, enabling efficient vehicle charging. The threshold value is, for example, the amount of charge that allows the vehicle to travel a distance of 30 km and return home.

[0007] The invention of claim 2 is the configuration of claim 1, wherein the charging control unit is From the current average power calculation value If it is predicted that the reference value will be exceeded, control is performed to reduce the charging current from vehicles that have exceeded the threshold. With this configuration, vehicles below the threshold are less susceptible to the current reduction control, and charging up to the threshold is given priority.

[0008] The invention of claim 3 is characterized in that, in the configuration described in claim 2, the charging control unit assigns priorities to vehicles in a group that have exceeded the threshold in order of the amount of charge since charging began, and reduces the charging current to vehicles in that group starting with the vehicle with the lowest priority. With this configuration, the charging current is reduced from the vehicle with the least amount of charge among the vehicles that exceed the threshold, so the amount of charge of a vehicle that starts charging later does not exceed the amount of charge of a vehicle that starts charging earlier, and users who take long charging times will not be dissatisfied.

[0009] The invention of claim 4 is characterized in that, in the configuration described in claim 2, the charging control unit assigns priorities to vehicles in a group that have exceeded the threshold in order of the longest charging time since charging began, and reduces the charging current starting with the vehicle with the lowest priority. With this configuration, the charging current is reduced starting from the vehicle with the shortest charging time among the vehicles that exceed the threshold, so the charge amount of a vehicle that starts charging later does not exceed the charge amount of a vehicle that starts charging earlier, and users who take a long time to charge do not become dissatisfied.

[0010] The invention of claim 5 is characterized in that, in the configuration described in any of claims 1 to 4, the charging control unit controls to increase the charging current from vehicles whose charge amount is below a threshold when the received power is below a reference value. According to this configuration, when the received power is below the reference value and there is a surplus, the charging current for the vehicle below the threshold is increased first, which is convenient as it shortens the charging time to reach the threshold.

[0011] The invention of claim 6 is characterized in that, in the configuration described in claim 5, the charging control unit assigns priorities to a group of vehicles that are below a threshold in order of the amount of charge since charging began, and increases the charging current to the vehicle with the highest priority. According to this configuration, the charging current is increased starting from the vehicle with the highest charge among the vehicles with charge levels below the threshold, so the charge level of a vehicle that starts charging later will not exceed the charge level of a vehicle that starts charging earlier, and users who take long charging times will not be dissatisfied.

[0012] The invention of claim 7 is characterized in that, in the configuration described in claim 5, the charging control unit assigns priorities to a group of vehicles below the threshold in order of the longest charging time since charging began, and increases the charging current starting with the vehicle with the highest priority. According to this configuration, the charging current is increased in order from the vehicle with the longest charging time among the vehicles with a charge amount below the threshold, so the charge amount of a vehicle that starts charging later will not exceed the charge amount of a vehicle that starts charging earlier, and users who take a long time to charge will not be dissatisfied. [Effects of the Invention]

[0013] According to the present invention, even when demand control is implemented to limit the amount of power received from commercial power, vehicles with a charge level below a threshold are given priority for charging. This shortens the charging time until the threshold is reached, and reduces the stress felt by users even in situations where the overall current is limited. Furthermore, even without obtaining full charge information from the vehicle, the system can determine full charge from current information supplied from the charger and terminate charging. This allows fully charged vehicles to be reliably excluded from charging targets, enabling efficient vehicle charging. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0014] [Figure 1] 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a vehicle charging device according to the present invention; [Figure 2] 10 is a flowchart showing a procedure for assigning priorities. [Figure 3] 10 is a flowchart of a process for determining whether the battery is fully charged. [Figure 4] 10 is a flowchart showing the flow of a repetitive process. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0015] Hereinafter, embodiments embodying the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a vehicle charging device according to the present invention. As shown in Fig. 1, the vehicle charging device 1 has a plurality of chargers 2 to which a charging cable L1 extending from a vehicle 4 such as an EV (Electric Vehicle) is connected, and a charging control unit 3 that obtains received power information from a smart meter (watt-hour meter) 10 and outputs a power control signal to each charger.

[0016] The charger 2 includes a circuit (not shown) that receives a control signal from the charge control unit 3 and increases or decreases the charging current. The charging control unit 3 includes a measuring unit 31 connected to the smart meter 10 via a communication line L2, a memory unit 32 that stores demand values, reference values ​​and threshold values ​​described later, a charging control unit CPU 34 that determines the charging current to each charger 2 and controls each unit of the charging control unit 3, and multiple communication units 35 that communicate with each charger 2.

[0017] The threshold is the amount of charge required to travel a certain distance, such as 30 km, and is set uniformly based on the amount of charging power since charging began. 5 indicates a step-down transformer that converts high voltage to low voltage, 6 indicates loads such as air conditioners that are supplied with three-phase power, and 7 indicates loads such as lighting that are supplied with single-phase 100 / 200V. Charger 2 is supplied with single-phase 200V power.

[0018] The vehicle charging device 1 configured as above controls charging of a plurality of vehicles 4 as follows: First, a priority order for allocating charging current is set. Fig. 2 shows the flow of assigning priorities to vehicles 4 to be charged, and will be described with reference to Fig. 2. When a vehicle 4 is connected to the charger 2 (the charging plug of the vehicle 4 is connected) and an operation to start charging is performed, the charging control unit CPU34 starts charging with a preset current value. At the same time, a priority is assigned to the vehicle 4 together with other vehicles 4 for which charging control is already being performed. First, the number of vehicles 4 whose charge amount is below the threshold and not fully charged (number of unsatisfied vehicles: n) is determined (S1), and then the number of vehicles 4 whose charge amount exceeds the threshold and not fully charged (number of achieved vehicles: m) is determined (S2). The charging control unit CPU 34 determines the amount of charge from the start of charging of each vehicle 4 based on the charging current and charging time, and compares this value with a threshold value to make a determination.

[0019] Next, the group of vehicles 4 (number of vehicles: n) whose charge levels are below the threshold and not fully charged is ranked from 1st to nth in descending order of charge amount, and assigned (S3). Subsequently, the group of vehicles 4 (number of vehicles: m) whose charge levels exceed the threshold and are not fully charged is ranked from n+1th to n+mth in descending order of charge amount, and assigned (S4). In this way, the vehicles are ranked from 1 to n+m. However, among the 1st to nth vehicles 4, the 1st vehicle 4 has the most charged amount, and the nth vehicle 4 has the least. And among the n+1st to n+mth vehicles 4, the n+1st vehicle 4 has the most charged amount, and the n+mth vehicle 4 has the least charged amount. After prioritizing in this way, the process proceeds to increase / decrease control of the current.

[0020] Fig. 3 is a flowchart of the full charge determination process, which will be described with reference to Fig. 3. The vehicle charging device 1 issues a charging current instruction to each charger 2, and the determination is made based on the response from the charger 2 to this instruction. First, a command value for the charging current is sent to the charger 2 (S11). In response to this command value, information on the actual current value being supplied to the vehicle 4 from the charger 2 is received (S12). If the actual charging current value is the same as the command value (NO in S13), it is determined that the vehicle is not fully charged and the determination is terminated.

[0021] If the actual charging current is smaller than the indicated value (YES in S13), it is then determined whether the charging current is smaller than a specific current value that is smaller than the indicated value (S14). If it is not smaller (NO in S14), it is determined that there is an error and the battery is not fully charged, and the determination is terminated. If it is smaller (YES in S14), counting of a predetermined time starts (S15), and if the charging current does not recover (NO in S16) and the predetermined time has elapsed (YES in S17), the vehicle 4 is determined to be fully charged (S18) and the process ends. Vehicles 4 determined to be fully charged are excluded from the priority allocation shown in Figure 2 above. However, if the actual charging current reaches a specific current value or more (YES in S16) before the predetermined time has elapsed (NO in S17), it is determined that the battery is not fully charged and the process ends.

[0022] 4 is a flowchart showing the flow of control for increasing or decreasing the current for each of the ordered vehicles 4, and the control will be explained with reference to this flow. This control is performed collectively by the charging control unit 3, and the control changes significantly depending on whether the current received power is in relation to the demand value or reference value. The reference value is a power value that is, for example, 10% smaller than the maximum demand value, and indicates a numerical value set by the consumer in order to reduce the maximum demand value and thereby reduce the contract fee.

[0023] The following describes the case where the control criterion is a reference value. After receiving the priority allocation information (S21), if the deviation information is equal to 0 (proceed to the left in S22), that is, if the current received power is approximately equal to the reference value, the charging current of any vehicle 4 is not changed and the process ends, and the process returns to the first step, S21, where priority allocation is performed. The deviation information is a value defined as in the following equation 1. Deviation information = current received power - reference value (Equation 1)

[0024] Next, if the deviation information is a positive value (proceeding downward in S22), that is, if the received power exceeds the reference value, control is implemented to reduce the current. More precisely, if the average power for 30 minutes is calculated and predicted from the current received power, and it is determined that there is a possibility that the reference value will be exceeded, control is implemented to reduce the current. Specifically, the excessive current value (deviation value) is calculated using the following equation 2 (S23), and the charging current reduction control (S24) is performed in order from the vehicle 4 that is below the threshold and has the least amount of charge. Deviation value = deviation information / voltage (Equation 2)

[0025] However, the maximum reduction amount per vehicle is the smaller of the current current value minus a predetermined minimum current value or the calculated deviation value (S25). For example, if the deviation value is 10 amperes and the current current value minus the predetermined minimum current value is 5 amperes, 5 amperes is selected, and control is implemented to reduce the charging current of the (n+m)th vehicle 4, which has the most charged amount, by 5 amperes. In this way, the vehicle 4 with the least charged amount below the threshold is given the highest priority for reducing the charging current. In other words, it has the lowest charging priority.

[0026] Then, the current value obtained by subtracting the reduced current value from the deviation value is set as the new deviation value (S26), and steps S24 to S27 are repeated for all vehicles 4 to be charged until the deviation value becomes 0 or until the control is performed for the vehicles in the set order. In this way, the newly set charging current value is notified from the communication unit 35 to each charger 2 (S33), and the control of S21 to S33 is repeated at predetermined time intervals to control the charging current. In this way, the charging current is reduced starting from the vehicle 4 with the least amount of charge among the vehicles 4 that exceed the threshold, so vehicles 4 that start charging later are less likely to be affected by the current reduction control and their charge amount will not exceed that of vehicles 4 that started charging earlier. Therefore, priority is given to charging vehicles 4 that are below the threshold, so users who take long charging times will not be dissatisfied.

[0027] On the other hand, if the deviation information is negative, that is, if the received power does not reach the reference value, control is performed to increase the charging current. Specifically, the current value that can be increased (margin value) is calculated using the following equation (3) (S28), and the charging current is increased in order from the vehicle 4 with the most charged capacity to the vehicle 4 with the least charged capacity among the vehicles 4 that are below the threshold (S29). Margin value = - deviation information / voltage (Equation 3)

[0028] However, the maximum increase per vehicle is set to the smaller of the value obtained by subtracting the current current value from the predetermined maximum charging current value or the calculated margin value (S30). For example, if the value obtained by subtracting the current current value from the maximum charging current value is 5 amperes and the margin value is 10 amperes, 5 amperes is selected, and control is performed to increase the charging current of the first vehicle 4, which has the least amount of charge, by 5 amperes. In this way, the charging current is increased starting from the vehicle 4 with the largest charge among the vehicles 4 whose charge amounts are below the threshold, so the charge amount of the vehicle 4 that starts charging later will not exceed the charge amount of the vehicle that started charging earlier, and users who take long charging times will not be dissatisfied.

[0029] Then, the current value obtained by subtracting the increased current value from the margin value is set as the new margin value (S31), and steps S29 to S32 are repeated until the margin value becomes 0 or for all vehicles 4 to be charged, and control is performed in the set order of vehicles. In this way, the newly set charging current value is notified to each charger 2 (S33), and charging is controlled.

[0030] In this way, while demand control is implemented to limit the received power of commercial power, vehicles 4 whose charge amount is below the threshold are charged preferentially. This shortens the charging time until the threshold is reached, and reduces the stress felt by users even in situations where the overall current is limited. Furthermore, even if full charge information is not obtained from the vehicle 4, the charging can be terminated by determining full charge from the current information supplied from the charger 2. Therefore, a vehicle 4 that has become fully charged can be reliably excluded from the vehicles to be charged, enabling efficient vehicle charging. Furthermore, even if demand control is implemented to limit the power received from the grid, vehicles 4 whose charge level is below a threshold are given priority for charging, which shortens the charging time required to travel a certain distance, thereby reducing the stress felt by users even in situations where the overall current is limited. Furthermore, vehicles 4 below the threshold are less affected by current reduction control, and charging up to the threshold is given priority.If the received power is below the reference value and there is spare capacity, the charging current for vehicles 4 below the threshold is increased first, which shortens the charging time to reach the threshold, making it more convenient.

[0031] In the above embodiment, the priority is assigned based on the charge amount, but the priority may be assigned based on the charge time. In that case, this can be achieved by changing "sort in descending order of charge amount" in S3 and S4 of Fig. 2 to "sort in descending order of charge time." This control can also achieve the same effect as in the above embodiment. That is, when reducing the charging current, the charging current is reduced starting from the vehicle 4 with the shortest charging time among the vehicles 4 that have exceeded the threshold, so the charge amount of a vehicle 4 that started charging later does not exceed the charge amount of a vehicle 4 that started charging earlier, and users who have spent a long time charging will not be dissatisfied. Furthermore, when the charging current is increased, the charging current is increased in order from the vehicle 4 with the longest charging time among the vehicles 4 whose charge amount is below the threshold, so that the charge amount of a vehicle 4 that starts charging later does not exceed the charge amount of a vehicle 4 that starts charging earlier, and users who have long charging times will not become dissatisfied. [Explanation of symbols]

[0032] 1·· Vehicle charging device, 2·· Charger, 3·· Charging control unit, 4·· Vehicle, 10·· Energy meter, 31·· Measurement unit, 34·· Charging control unit CPU, 35·· Communication unit

Claims

1. a plurality of chargers for charging vehicles; and a charge control unit for controlling the charging current of the chargers; The charging control unit sets a threshold value of a charge amount to prioritize vehicles to be charged, and performs control to increase a charging current for a vehicle whose charge amount is equal to or less than the threshold value, giving priority to the charging of the vehicle whose charge amount exceeds the threshold value and is being charged more than the vehicle whose charge amount exceeds the threshold value and is being charged more. Obtaining information about power received from the grid and controlling vehicle charging so that the power received from the grid does not exceed a set reference value; Furthermore, if a vehicle continues for a predetermined period of time in which the charging current actually supplied from the charger is lower than the charging current value instructed by the charging control unit, the vehicle is excluded from the list of vehicles to be charged and charging is not performed.

2. 2. The vehicle charging device according to claim 1, wherein the charging control unit performs control to reduce the charging current from a vehicle that has exceeded the threshold when it is predicted that the received power will exceed the reference value in the future based on the calculated value of the current average power.

3. The vehicle charging device according to claim 2, characterized in that the charging control unit assigns the priority to the group of vehicles that exceed the threshold in order of the amount of charge since the start of charging, and reduces the charging current starting with the vehicle with the lowest priority.

4. The vehicle charging device according to claim 2, characterized in that the charging control unit assigns the priority to the group of vehicles that exceed the threshold in order of the longest charging time since the start of charging, and reduces the charging current starting with the vehicle with the lowest priority.

5. 5. The vehicle charging device according to claim 1, wherein the charging control unit controls the charging current to be increased from a vehicle whose charge amount is below the threshold when the received power is below the reference value.

6. The vehicle charging device according to claim 5, characterized in that the charging control unit assigns the priority to the group of vehicles below the threshold in order of the amount of charge since the start of charging, and increases the charging current to the vehicle with the highest priority.

7. The vehicle charging device according to claim 5, characterized in that the charging control unit assigns the priority to the group of vehicles below the threshold in order of the longest charging time since the start of charging, and increases the charging current to the vehicle with the highest priority.

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