Parking lot management device and parking lot management method

Abstract

To provide a parking management device and a parking management method that ensure that a stand-type charger installed on a pallet in a mechanical parking lot, which can change between a standing state and a stored state, is in a stored state before a vehicle to be parked enters the parking lot so that the vehicle can safely enter the parking lot.SOLUTION: A parking management device is installed on a pallet on which vehicles are loaded in a parking lot, and is connected to communicate with a charger having: a pillar; a charging outlet installed on the pillar; and a charger state change mechanism that can be changed between a state in which the pillar is erected from the pallet to be able to use the charging outlet and a state stored in the pallet. The parking management device includes: a charger state determination unit that determines whether the charger is in the erected or stored state; and a charger state control unit that controls the charger state change mechanism to cause the charger to be stored in the pallet, when no vehicle is on the pallet and the charger is determined to be in the erected state.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a parking lot management device and a parking lot management method. [Background technology]

[0002] BACKGROUND ART In recent years, electric vehicles powered by battery power have become widespread, and as a result, there is a need to develop charging facilities for charging the batteries of electric vehicles.

[0003] In view of this, by installing chargers on each pallet in a mechanical parking lot in an apartment building or large facility, electric vehicles can be charged while parked in the parking lot. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2020-84663 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] One type of charger installed on each pallet in a mechanical parking lot is a stand-type charger that can be switched between standing on the pallet and stored inside the pallet. When not in use, this stand-type charger is stored inside the pallet, and when a vehicle enters the parking lot, the user performs a specific operation to stand it up and connect it to the vehicle with a cable, making it ready for charging. When leaving the parking lot, the user removes the cable from the charger and performs a specific operation to store the charger inside the pallet.

[0006] In mechanical parking lots where such stand-type chargers are installed, if a user forgets to store the charger and it is left standing, there is a problem that the next time a vehicle enters the pallet, the vehicle may come into contact with it and damage the charger or the vehicle itself.

[0007] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and aims to provide a parking lot management device and a parking lot management method that reliably puts a stand-type charger, which is installed on a pallet in a mechanical parking lot and can be changed between an upright state and a stored state, into the stored state before the vehicle to be parked enters the parking lot, allowing the vehicle to enter safely. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the parking lot management device of the present invention is installed on a pallet on which vehicles are loaded in a parking lot, and is communicatively connected to a charger having a support pole, a charging outlet installed on the support pole, and a charger state change mechanism that can change the support pole between a state in which it is erected from the pallet so that the charging outlet is usable and a state in which it is stored in the pallet, and is equipped with a charger state determination unit that determines whether the charger is in an erected state or a stored state, and a charger state control unit that, when it determines that the charger is in an erected state when there is no vehicle on the pallet, controls the charger state change mechanism to store the charger in the pallet.

[0009] In addition, the parking lot management method of the present invention is a method in which a parking lot management device is communicatively connected to a charger that is installed on a pallet on which vehicles are loaded in a parking lot, and that has a support pole, a charging outlet installed on the support pole, and a charger state change mechanism that can change the support pole between a state in which it is erected from the pallet so that the charging outlet is usable, and a state in which it is stored in the pallet, and when it determines that the charger is in an erected state when no vehicle is stored on the pallet, it controls the charger state change mechanism to store the charger in the pallet. [Effects of the Invention]

[0010] According to the parking lot management device and parking lot management method of the present invention, a stand-type charger that is installed on a pallet in a mechanical parking lot and can be changed between an upright state and a stored state can be reliably put into the stored state before the vehicle to be parked enters the parking lot, allowing the vehicle to enter safely. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0011] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a parking lot management system using a parking lot management device according to one embodiment. [Figure 2] Regarding a foldable charger installed on a pallet in a mechanical parking lot that is managed by a parking lot management device according to one embodiment, (a) is a top view of the charger stored along the short side of the pallet, (b) is a top view of the charger stored along the long side of the pallet, (c) is a side view of the charger stored on the pallet, and (d) is a side view of the charger 30a standing upright on the pallet 11. [Figure 3] Regarding a lift-up type charger installed on a pallet in a mechanical parking lot that is managed by a parking lot management device according to one embodiment, (a) is a top view of the charger stored in one corner of the pallet, (b) is a side view of the charger stored on the pallet, and (c) is a side view of the charger 30b lifted up onto the pallet 11. [Figure 4] 1 is a top view of an entry / exit area in a mechanical parking lot that is managed by a parking lot management device according to an embodiment. FIG. [Figure 5] 10 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing executed by a parking lot management device according to one embodiment when a vehicle enters a mechanical parking lot. [Figure 6A] 10 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing executed by a parking lot management device according to one embodiment when a vehicle leaves a mechanical parking lot. [Figure 6B] 10 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing executed by a parking lot management device according to one embodiment when a vehicle leaves a mechanical parking lot. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0012] <Configuration of a parking lot management system using a parking lot management device according to an embodiment> The configuration of a parking lot management system using a parking lot management device according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to Figure 1. The parking lot management system 1 according to this embodiment comprises a mechanical parking lot 10 and a parking lot management device 20 connected to the mechanical parking lot 10 via communication.

[0013] The mechanical parking lot 10 includes a pallet 11 for loading vehicles to be parked, a transport mechanism 12, object detection devices 13-1 and 13-2, an operation panel 14, and an entrance / exit door 15. Although only one pallet 11 is shown in FIG. 1, the mechanical parking lot 10 may have multiple pallets.

[0014] A charger 30 is installed on the pallet 11. The charger 30 is a stand-type charger that includes a support pole 31, a charging outlet 32 ​​installed on the support pole 31, a charger state change mechanism 33 that changes the state of the support pole 31 between a state in which the support pole 31 is erected from the pallet 11 so that the charging outlet 32 ​​can be used and a state in which the support pole 31 is stored in the pallet 11, and a wireless communication unit 34.

[0015] The installation position of the charger 30 within the pallet 11 and the configuration of the charger 30 will be described with reference to Figs. 2 and 3. Figs. 2(a) to 2(d) show the installation position and configuration of a foldable charger 30a, which is an example of the charger 30. Fig. 2(a) is a top view of the charger 30a stored along the short side of the pallet 11, and Fig. 2(b) is a top view of the charger 30a stored along the long side of the pallet 11. Fig. 2(c) is a side view of the charger 30a stored in the pallet 11, and Fig. 2(d) is a side view of the charger 30a standing on the pallet 11.

[0016] The charger 30a includes a support 31a, a charging outlet 32a installed on the support 31a, a charger state change mechanism 33a that changes the state of the support 31a between a state in which it is erected from the pallet 11 so that the charging outlet 32a can be used and a state in which it is folded and stored in the pallet 11, and a wireless communication unit 34a.

[0017] Figures 3(a) to 3(c) show the installation position and configuration of a rise-type charger 30b, which is another example of charger 30. Figure 3(a) is a top view of charger 30b stored in a corner of pallet 11. Figure 3(b) is a side view of charger 30b stored on pallet 11, and Figure 3(c) is a side view of charger 30b raised above pallet 11.

[0018] Charger 30b has a support pole 31b that extends upward and rises up, a charging outlet 32b installed on support pole 31b, a charger state change mechanism 33b that changes support pole 31b between a state in which it is extended from pallet 11 and erected so that charging outlet 32b can be used, and a state in which it is stored in pallet 11, and a wireless communication unit 34b.

[0019] The transport mechanism 12 transports and moves the pallet 11 within the mechanical parking lot 10.

[0020] The object detection devices 13-1 and 13-2 are configured, for example, by 3DLiDAR, and are installed near the entrance and exit of the mechanical parking lot 10 to detect objects within the entrance and exit area AR where vehicles are processed for entering and leaving. The installation positions and detection ranges of the object detection devices 13-1 and 13-2 will be described with reference to FIG. 4.

[0021] Figure 4 is a top view of the loading / unloading area AR. Object detection devices 13-1 and 13-2 are installed at diagonal corners of the loading / unloading area AR. In Figure 4, the object detection range of object detection device 13-1 is indicated by D1, and the object detection range of object detection device 13-2 is indicated by D2. The position where pallet 11 stops in the loading / unloading area AR is included in at least either object detection range D1 or object detection range D2.

[0022] The operation panel 14 is a device that allows a user to perform various operations when entering and leaving the vehicle in the mechanical parking lot 10. The transport mechanism 12, the object detection devices 13-1 and 13-2, the operation panel 14, and the entrance / exit door 15 are each connected to the parking lot management device 20 by wire.

[0023] The parking lot management device 20 has a wireless communication unit 21-1, a wired communication unit 21-2, and a CPU 22. The wireless communication unit 21-1 performs wireless communication with the charger 30 in the mechanical parking lot 10. The wired communication unit 21-2 performs communication with the transport mechanism 12, object detection devices 13-1 and 13-2, operation panel 14, and entrance / exit door 15 in the mechanical parking lot 10.

[0024] The CPU 22 includes an operation information acquisition unit 221 , a pallet control unit 222 , a loading / unloading area status acquisition unit 223 , a charger status determination unit 224 , a door opening / closing control unit 225 , and a charger status control unit 226 .

[0025] The operation information acquisition unit 221 acquires user operation information from the operation panel 14. The pallet control unit 222 controls the operation of the pallet 11. The loading / unloading area status acquisition unit 223 acquires information indicating whether a pallet 11 is present in the loading / unloading area AR, and, when a pallet 11 is present in the loading / unloading area AR, information indicating whether a vehicle is stored on that pallet 11. The charger state determination unit 224 determines whether the charger 30 of the pallet 11 in the loading / unloading area AR is in an upright position or a stored position based on information detected by the object detection devices 13-1 and 13-2. The door opening / closing control unit 225 controls the opening / closing of the loading / unloading entrance door 15. When the charger state control unit 226 determines that the charger 30 of the pallet 11 in the loading / unloading area AR is in an upright position when no vehicle is loaded on that pallet 11, it transmits a charger storage instruction to the charger state change mechanism 33 of the corresponding charger 30 to store the charger 30 in the pallet 11.

[0026] <Operation of parking lot management system using parking lot management device according to one embodiment> Next, the operation of the parking lot management system 1 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to Figures 5, 6A, and 6B. Figure 5 is a flowchart showing the processing executed by the parking lot management device 20 when a vehicle enters the mechanical parking lot 10, and Figures 6A and 6B are flowcharts showing the processing executed by the parking lot management device 20 when a vehicle leaves the mechanical parking lot 10.

[0027] In this embodiment, multiple pallets 11 are installed in the mechanical parking lot 10. The charger 30 installed on each pallet 11 may be either the charger 30a shown in Fig. 2 or the charger 30b shown in Fig. 3, and will hereinafter be simply referred to as "charger 30."

[0028] When a user parks a vehicle in the mechanical parking lot 10, the user performs a parking operation on the operation panel 14 of the mechanical parking lot 10. When the user performs the parking operation, the operation information is transmitted to the parking lot management device 20. In the parking lot management device 20, the parking operation information transmitted from the operation panel 14 is acquired by the operation information acquisition unit 221 via the wired communication unit 21-2 ("YES" in S1).

[0029] When the warehousing operation information is acquired, the pallet control unit 222 identifies the pallet 11 carrying the vehicle to be stored, and sends a pallet movement instruction to the conveying mechanism 12 to move the corresponding pallet 11 to the storage / retrieval area AR (S2).

[0030] When the conveying mechanism 12 receives the pallet movement instruction, it moves the corresponding pallet 11 to the incoming / outgoing area AR. Then, the incoming / outgoing area status acquisition unit 223 acquires information indicating that the pallet 11 has moved to the incoming / outgoing area AR based on the operation of the conveying mechanism 12.

[0031] In addition, the charger status determination unit 224 determines whether the charger 30 of the pallet 11 that has been moved into the loading / unloading area AR is in an upright position based on the detection information obtained via wireless communication from the object detection devices 13-1 and 13-2 (S3).

[0032] When the loading / unloading area status acquisition unit 223 acquires information indicating that the pallet 11 has moved to the loading / unloading area AR and the charger status determination unit 224 determines that the charger 30 of the pallet 11 is in an upright state ("YES" in S3), the charger status control unit 226 generates a charger storage instruction to store the charger 30 of the pallet 11 in the pallet 11, and sends it to the charger status change mechanism 33 of the corresponding charger 30 (S4).

[0033] The charger state change mechanism 33 of the charger 30 that has received the charger storage instruction stores the charger 30 on the pallet 11. When the charger 30 is stored on the pallet 11, the charger state determination unit 224 detects this ("YES" in S5).

[0034] When the charger state determination unit 224 detects that the charger 30 has been stored on the pallet 11, the door opening / closing control unit 225 generates a door open instruction for the loading / unloading entrance door 15 and sends it to the loading / unloading entrance door 15 (S6). When the loading / unloading entrance door 15 receives the door open instruction, it performs a door open operation. Then, the user brings the vehicle into the warehouse through the opened loading / unloading entrance and stops it on the pallet 11. When the vehicle stops on the pallet 11, the loading / unloading area status acquisition unit 223 acquires information indicating that the vehicle has been brought into the pallet 11.

[0035] After stopping the vehicle on the pallet 11, the user sets up the charger 30 on the pallet 11 by performing a predetermined operation, such as manually applying force to the charger state change mechanism 33, operating a button connected to the charger state change mechanism 33, operating a remote control, or operating an application on a smart device.The user then connects the vehicle and charger 30 with a cable to enable charging.

[0036] Thereafter, when the user operates the entrance / exit door 15 to close using the operation panel 14, the operation information is transmitted to the parking lot management device 20. In the parking lot management device 20, the door close operation information transmitted from the operation panel 14 is acquired by the operation information acquisition unit 221 via the wired communication unit 21-2 ("YES" in S7).

[0037] When the door close operation information is acquired, the door opening / closing control unit 225 generates a door close instruction for the loading / unloading entrance door 15 and transmits it to the loading / unloading entrance door 15 (S8). When the loading / unloading entrance door 15 receives the door close instruction, it performs the door close operation.

[0038] When the entrance door 15 is closed, the pallet control unit 222 transmits a pallet movement instruction to move the pallet 11 to a predetermined parking space in the mechanical parking lot 10 (S9). When the transport mechanism 12 receives the pallet movement instruction, it moves the corresponding pallet 11 to the predetermined parking space and stores it there. A charging process is performed appropriately on the vehicle stored in the parking space while the vehicle is parked.

[0039] Next, we will explain the process when a user leaves a vehicle in the mechanical parking lot 10. When a user leaves a vehicle in the mechanical parking lot 10, the user performs the vehicle leaving operation on the operation panel 14 of the mechanical parking lot 10. When the user performs the leaving operation, the operation information is transmitted to the parking lot management device 20. In the parking lot management device 20, the pallet call operation information transmitted from the operation panel 14 is acquired by the operation information acquisition unit 221 via the wired communication unit 21-2 ("YES" in S11).

[0040] When the unloading operation is acquired, the pallet control unit 222 transmits a pallet movement instruction to the transport mechanism 12 to move the pallet 11 carrying the vehicle to be unloaded to the loading / unloading area AR (S12).

[0041] When the conveying mechanism 12 receives the pallet movement instruction, it moves the corresponding pallet 11 to the incoming / outgoing area AR. Then, the incoming / outgoing area status acquisition unit 223 acquires information indicating that the corresponding pallet 11 has moved to the incoming / outgoing area AR based on the operation of the conveying mechanism 12 ("YES" in S13).

[0042] When the loading / unloading area status acquisition unit 223 acquires information indicating that the corresponding pallet 11 has been moved to the loading / unloading area AR, the door opening / closing control unit 225 generates a door open instruction for the loading / unloading entrance door 15 and sends it to the loading / unloading entrance door 15 (S14). Upon receiving the door open instruction, the loading / unloading entrance door 15 performs a door open operation. Then, the user enters through the opened loading / unloading entrance, disconnects the cable connecting the charger 30 to the vehicle, stores the charger 30 by a predetermined operation, gets into the vehicle, and causes the vehicle to leave the parking lot. When the vehicle leaves the parking lot, the loading / unloading area status acquisition unit 223 acquires information indicating that the vehicle has left the parking lot.

[0043] Next, when the user operates the entrance / exit door 15 to close using the operation panel 14, the operation information is transmitted to the parking lot management device 20. In the parking lot management device 20, the door close operation information transmitted from the operation panel 14 is acquired by the operation information acquisition unit 221 ("YES" in S15).

[0044] When the door close operation information is acquired, the door opening / closing control unit 225 generates a door close instruction for the loading / unloading entrance door 15 and transmits it to the loading / unloading entrance door 15 (S16). When the loading / unloading entrance door 15 receives the door close instruction, it performs the door close operation.

[0045] When the entrance / exit door 15 is closed, the entrance / exit area status acquisition unit 223 acquires information indicating that the entrance / exit door 15 has been closed ("YES" in S17). When the information indicating that the entrance / exit door 15 has been closed is acquired, the operation information acquisition unit 221 determines whether or not there is a vehicle waiting to enter. Specifically, the operation information acquisition unit 221 determines that there is a vehicle waiting to enter if the operation information acquisition unit 221 has performed an entry operation for another vehicle between the time when the exit operation for the vehicle that just left the parking lot was performed in step S11 and the time when door closure is detected in step S17. Furthermore, a reservation system may be constructed for the mechanical parking lot 10 so that users can make reservations using a web application from their mobile terminals, and it may also be determined that there is a vehicle waiting to enter if there is a vehicle that has been reserved for entry during the processing from steps S11 to S17 and within a predetermined time after the processing of step S17.

[0046] Here, if the operation information acquisition unit 221 determines that there is a vehicle waiting to be loaded ("YES" in S18), the charger status determination unit 224 determines, based on the detection information acquired from the object detection devices 13-1 and 13-2, whether the charger 30 of the pallet 11 currently in the loading / unloading area AR, i.e., the pallet 11 from which a vehicle has just loaded and which does not have a vehicle loaded thereon, is in an upright state (S19).

[0047] Here, if the charger state determination unit 224 determines that the charger 30 on the pallet 11 is in an upright state because the user has forgotten to store the charger 30 ("YES" in S19), the charger state control unit 226 generates a charger storage instruction to store the charger 30 on the pallet 11 and sends it to the charger state change mechanism 33 of the corresponding charger 30 (S20). Once the charger state control unit 226 sends the charger storage instruction to the corresponding charger 30, the process proceeds to step S5, and the warehousing process for the vehicle waiting to be stored is started.

[0048] Furthermore, in step S18, when the operation information acquisition unit 221 determines that there are no vehicles waiting to enter the depot ("NO" in S18), it determines whether there are any vehicles waiting to leave the depot. Specifically, if the operation information acquisition unit 221 has performed a leaving operation for another vehicle between the time when the leaving operation for the vehicle that just left the depot in step S11 was performed for the vehicle that just left the depot and the time when door closure is detected in step S17, the operation information acquisition unit 221 determines that there are vehicles waiting to leave the depot. Furthermore, the above-mentioned reservation system may also determine that there are vehicles waiting to leave the depot if there are vehicles that have been reserved for leaving during the processing from step S11 to step S17 and within a predetermined time after the processing of step S17.

[0049] Here, when the operation information acquisition unit 221 determines that there is a vehicle waiting to be released ("YES" in S21), the charger state control unit 226 does not send an instruction to the charger state change mechanism 33 to store the charger 30 on the pallet 11, even if the charger 30 on the pallet 11 currently in the loading / unloading area AR is in an upright state. Then, the pallet control unit 222 sends a pallet movement instruction to move the pallet 11 to a predetermined parking space in the mechanical parking lot 10, regardless of whether the charger 30 on the pallet 11 is in an upright state or not (S22).

[0050] When the transport mechanism 12 receives the pallet movement instruction, it moves the corresponding pallet 11 to a specified parking space. Then, the process proceeds to step S12, where it starts the unloading process for the vehicle waiting to be unloaded. By performing the process in this manner, it is possible to quickly start the unloading process for the vehicle waiting to be unloaded. In this case, even if the charger 30 remains in an upright position, the charger 30 is stored in steps S3 and S4 the next time the pallet 11 is used for the loading process.

[0051] Also, in step S21, if the operation information acquisition unit 221 determines that there are no vehicles waiting to be released ("NO" in S21), the charger status determination unit 224 determines whether the charger 30 of the pallet 11 currently in the loading / unloading area AR is in an upright state based on the detection information acquired from the object detection devices 13-1 and 13-2 (S22).

[0052] When the charger state determination unit 224 determines that the charger 30 of the pallet 11 currently in the loading / unloading area AR is in an upright state ("YES" in S22), the charger state control unit 226 generates a charger storage instruction to store the charger 30 of the pallet 11 on the pallet 11, and sends it to the charger state change mechanism 33 of the corresponding charger 30 (S23).

[0053] The charger state change mechanism 33 of the charger 30 that has received the charger storage instruction stores the charger 30 on the pallet 11. When the charger 30 is stored on the pallet 11, the charger state determination unit 224 detects this ("YES" in S24).

[0054] When the charger state determination unit 224 detects that the charger 30 has been stored on the pallet 11, the pallet control unit 222 transmits a pallet movement instruction to move the pallet 11 to a predetermined parking space in the mechanical parking lot 10 (S25). When the transport mechanism 12 receives the pallet movement instruction, it moves the corresponding pallet 11 to the predetermined parking space.

[0055] In step S22, when the charger status control unit 226 determines that the charger 30 of the pallet 11 currently in the loading / unloading area AR is in a stored state by the charger status determination unit 224 ("NO" in S22), the process proceeds to step S25.

[0056] According to the above embodiment, a stand-type charger that is installed on a pallet in a mechanical parking lot and can be changed between an upright state and a stored state can be reliably put into the stored state before the vehicle to be parked enters the parking lot, allowing the vehicle to enter safely.

[0057] In the above-described embodiment, the charger status determination unit 224 of the parking lot management device 20 determines whether the charger 30 on the pallet 11 in the loading / unloading area AR is in an upright state or a stored state based on information detected by the object detection devices 13-1 and 13-2. However, the present invention is not limited to this. A sensor that detects the state (upright state or stored state) of the charger 30 may be installed on the pallet 11, and the charger status determination unit 224 may determine the state of the charger 30 based on the detection result from the sensor. Alternatively, the charger 30 itself may be provided with a function for determining whether the charger 30 is in an upright state or a stored state, and the charger status determination unit 224 may determine the state of the charger 30 based on the result determined by this function.

[0058] Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the embodiments can be modified or varied based on the above disclosure. All components of the above embodiments and all features described in the claims may be individually extracted and combined as long as they are not mutually inconsistent. [Explanation of symbols]

[0059] 1. Parking lot management system 10 Mechanical Parking Lot 11 Palettes 12 Transport mechanism 13-1, 13-2 Object detection device 14 Control panel 15. Entrance and exit door 20 Parking lot management device 21 Radio Communication Department 22 CPU 30, 30a, 30b charger 31, 31a, 31b posts 32, 32a, 32b charging outlets 33, 33a, 33b Charger state change mechanism 221 Operation information acquisition section 222 Pallet control unit 223 Incoming / outgoing area status acquisition unit 224 Charger status determination unit 225 Door opening / closing control unit 226 Charger status control unit

Claims

1. the charger is installed on a pallet on which vehicles are loaded in a parking lot, and is communicatively connected to a charger having a support pole, a charging outlet installed on the support pole, and a charger state change mechanism that can change the support pole between a state in which it is erected from the pallet so that the charging outlet is usable and a state in which it is stored in the pallet; a charger state determination unit that determines whether the charger is in an upright position or a stored position; A parking lot management device comprising: a charger state control unit that, when it determines that the charger is in an upright position when no vehicle is stored on the pallet, controls the charger state change mechanism to store the charger on the pallet.

2. The parking lot management device of claim 1, wherein when the charger state control unit receives an instruction to store a vehicle on a pallet that does not have a vehicle thereon, or when it detects that a vehicle has left the pallet, and determines that the charger is in an upright state, it sends an instruction to the charger state change mechanism to store the charger on the pallet.

3. The parking lot management device of claim 2, wherein the charger state control unit does not send an instruction to the charger state change mechanism to store the charger on the pallet when a vehicle leaves the pallet and there is another vehicle waiting to be released.

4. The charger state change mechanism The support poles are changed between a state in which they are erected from the pallet and a state in which they are folded and stored in the pallet, or 2. The parking lot management device according to claim 1, wherein the support poles are changed between a state in which they are extended from the pallet and erected, and a state in which they are stored in the pallet.

5. A parking lot management device as described in claim 1, wherein the charger state change mechanism causes the charger to stand up when one of the following operations is performed: applying force to the charger state change mechanism, operating a button or remote control connected to the charger, or operating a specified application on a smart device connected to the charger.

6. A parking lot management device as described in claim 1, wherein the charger status determination unit determines whether the charger on the pallet is in an upright state or a stored state based on the detection results of an object detection device that detects objects in the entry / exit area of ​​the parking lot, the detection results of a sensor that detects the upright state or stored state of the charger installed on the pallet, or the determination results of a function that determines the upright state or stored state of the charger installed on the charger.

7. A parking lot management device as described in claim 1, wherein the charger state control unit does not send an instruction to the charger state change mechanism to store the charger when there is a vehicle waiting to leave the parking lot, even if the charger is in an upright position.

8. a parking lot management device communicably connected to a charger that is installed on a pallet on which vehicles are loaded in a parking lot, the charger having a support pole, a charging outlet installed on the support pole, and a charger state change mechanism that can change the support pole between a state in which it is erected from the pallet so that the charging outlet is usable and a state in which it is stored in the pallet; A parking lot management method in which, when it is determined that the charger is in an upright position when no vehicle is stored on the pallet, the charger state change mechanism is controlled to store the charger on the pallet.

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