Management device

Abstract

To provide a management device capable of estimating chargeable / dischargeable power with higher accuracy in charging / discharging between charging / discharging equipment based on a charge / discharge schedule and a secondary battery installed by a vehicle.SOLUTION: A management device 30 transmits chargeable / dischargeable power to a charge / discharge stand 400 between the charge / discharge stand 400 and a drive battery 70, that are determined based on a charge / discharge schedule between charging / discharging equipment and the drive battery 70, and power of the drive battery 70 limited by a control of suppressing a charge / discharge current for protecting the drive battery 70.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

Technical Field

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[0001] This disclosure relates to a management device.

Background Art

[0007] This disclosure was made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and its purpose is to provide a management device that can estimate the amount of power that can be charged and discharged with higher accuracy in the charging and discharging of a secondary battery in a vehicle based on a charge and discharge schedule. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] A control device according to one aspect of this disclosure is a device for managing the charging and discharging between a charging and discharging facility and a secondary battery provided in a vehicle. The control device comprises a processor and a memory for storing a program executable by the processor. The processor transmits to the charging and discharging facility the power available for charging and discharging between the charging and discharging facility and the secondary battery, which is determined based on the charging and discharging schedule between the charging and discharging facility and the secondary battery, and the power of the secondary battery, which is limited by a control that suppresses the charging and discharging current to protect the secondary battery.

[0009] In the above-described management device, control is taken into consideration to suppress the charge and discharge current in order to protect the secondary battery, and the power that can be charged and discharged between the charge and discharge equipment and the secondary battery is transmitted to the charge and discharge equipment, so that a charge and discharge plan can be made based on the power that the vehicle can actually charge and discharge. [Effects of the Invention]

[0010] According to this disclosure, it is possible to estimate the amount of power that can be charged or discharged more accurately during charging and discharging between a charging and discharging facility based on a charge and discharge schedule and a secondary battery installed in a vehicle. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0011] [Figure 1] This diagram shows the configuration of the management system according to the embodiment. [Figure 2] This graph shows an example of a charge / discharge schedule and the amount of power that can be charged or discharged. [Figure 3] This is a flowchart of the processes performed by the management system. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0012] The embodiments of this disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, the same or corresponding parts are denoted by the same reference numerals and their descriptions will not be repeated.

[0013] Figure 1 shows the configuration of the management system 1 according to this embodiment. The management system 1 according to this embodiment consists of a server 500, a charging / discharging stand 400, a vehicle 10 equipped with a management device 30, and a user terminal 300 used by the user of the vehicle 10.

[0014] The management device 30 is a device that manages the charging and discharging between the charging / discharging station 400 and the drive battery 70 provided in the vehicle 10. The charging / discharging station 400 is a V2G (Vehicle to Grid) (or V2H (Vehicle to Home)) compatible charging / discharging device that charges the drive battery 70 with power supplied from the power grid, or supplies power discharged from the drive battery 70 to the power grid.

[0015] Management System 1 is configured as part of a Virtual Power Plant (VPP) system that integrates and controls multiple distributed energy resources (DERs) as if they were a single power plant. The power grid provided by the VPP is a power grid consisting of power plants, etc., and is a power network managed by power companies such as power generators.

[0016] Server 500 is a server managed and operated by the resource aggregator, and it directly enters into VPP service contracts with customers (e.g., vehicle users) who own DERs, and controls the DERs. Server 500 creates a charging and discharging schedule for the DERs based on Demand Response (DR) requests from the aggregation coordinator or the power company. Multiple charging and discharging stations, including charging and discharging station 400, are connected to the power grid and control the charging and discharging of the DERs based on the charging and discharging schedule transmitted from Server 500.

[0017] Users who own vehicles 10 that have entered into a contract with an aggregator can receive a predetermined incentive by performing charging and discharging in accordance with the aggregator's requests. Users who fail to comply with the requests despite having agreed to do so will be subject to a predetermined penalty or will not receive the incentive under the above contract.

[0018] The user terminal 300 is a portable device owned by the user of the vehicle 10, and may be, for example, a smartphone or a mobile device. The user terminal 300 is configured to communicate with the vehicle 10 and the server 500, and displays various information such as the contracted charging and discharging schedule.

[0019] Protection control is performed on the drive battery 70. In this embodiment, the protection control is a control that suppresses the charge / discharge current (or power) to protect the drive battery 70. If the drive battery 70 is a lithium-ion battery, due to its characteristics, ion imbalance occurs if charging or discharging continues, so control is performed to reduce the current to protect the battery. Also, if high-power charging and discharging continues, the battery temperature rises, so to protect the battery, the control upper limit of the charge / discharge power input and output to the drive battery 70 is lowered. In addition, the amount of power that can be charged and discharged differs depending on the State of Charge (SOC) state of the vehicle 10. For example, if the SOC is low, the maximum value of the charging power decreases.

[0020] When these states occur, the user may not be able to comply with the requests from the aggregator. Therefore, in this embodiment, in consideration of the above protection control, the power that can be charged and discharged between the charge and discharge stand 400 and the drive battery 70 is calculated and transmitted to the charge and discharge stand 400. This will be specifically described below.

[0021] The management device 30 includes a battery ECU (Electronic Control Unit) 200 that controls the drive battery 70, a charge ECU 210 that manages charge and discharge information, a navigation system (navi) 130, and a DCM (Data Communication Module) 140.

[0022] The battery ECU 200 includes a processor 201, a memory 202, and a communication IF (Interface) 203. The charge ECU 210 includes a processor 211, a memory 212, and a communication IF 213. The DCM 140 includes a processor 141, a memory 142, and a communication IF 143. Thus, the management device 30 is configured to include a plurality of processors including the processors 201, 211, 141 and a plurality of memories including the memories 202, 212, 142. Each of these plurality of processors executes a program stored in each of the plurality of memories.

[0023] The battery ECU 200 communicates with the drive battery 70 and the charge ECU 210 via the communication IF 203 to exchange various data. The charge ECU 210 communicates with the charge and discharge stand 400, the battery ECU 200, the navi 130, and the DCM 140 via the communication IF 213. The DCM 140 communicates with the charge ECU 210 and the server 500 via the communication IF 143. Although not shown, the navi 130 also includes a processor, a memory, and a communication IF.

[0024] Similarly, the server 500 also comprises a processor 501, memory 502, and a communication interface 503, and the charging / discharging stand 400 also comprises a processor 401, memory 402, and a communication interface 403. Although not shown in the diagram, the user terminal 300 also comprises a processor, memory, and a communication interface. Each processor is configured to execute programs stored in memory and to communicate with other devices via the communication interface.

[0025] Furthermore, the vehicle 10 includes a drive battery 70 for storing power for driving, a drive load 60, a charger / discharger 170, and a charge / discharge port 160. The vehicle 10 is configured to be able to run using the power stored in the drive battery 70. The vehicle 10 according to this embodiment is an electric vehicle (BEV: Battery Electric Vehicle) without an engine (internal combustion engine). The drive battery 70 is made of, for example, a lithium-ion secondary battery. The drive load 60 includes a PCU (Power Control Unit) and an MG (Motor Generator), and is configured to drive the vehicle 10 using the power stored in the drive battery 70.

[0026] Vehicle 10 can charge and discharge power to and from the charging / discharging station 400. The drive battery 70 can be charged by power supplied from the charging / discharging station 400 via the charger / discharger 170. The drive battery 70 can charge the charging / discharging station 400 via the charger / discharger 170. The charging / discharging port 160 is a power interface for charging and discharging to and from the charging / discharging station 400. During charging and discharging, a connector 410 for charging and discharging between the charging / discharging station 400 and vehicle 10 is connected to the charging / discharging port 160.

[0027] Figure 2 is a graph showing an example of a charge / discharge schedule and available power for charging and discharging. For example, as shown in Figure 2, the charge / discharge schedule between the charge / discharge station 400 and the drive battery 70 is scheduled to be from 15:00 to 15:30, with a power of P1kW from the charge / discharge station 400 to the drive battery 70.

[0028] In this embodiment, the vehicle 10's management device 30 transmits the charge / discharge power to the charge / discharge station 400. Here, "charge / discharge power" is the power that can be charged and discharged between the charge / discharge station 400 and the drive battery 70. The charge / discharge power is referred to as "chargeable power" during charging and "dischargeable power" during discharging. The charge / discharge power is determined based on the charge / discharge schedule and the power of the drive battery 70, which is limited by the protection control described above. This will be explained in detail below.

[0029] The graph in Figure 2 shows time on the horizontal axis and the power supplied to charge the drive battery 70 on the vertical axis. If the drive battery 70 is charged according to the charge / discharge schedule, between time t0 (15:00) and time t2 (15:30), 1kW of power (dotted line L1) is supplied from the charge / discharge station 400 to the drive battery 70 of the vehicle 10.

[0030] The chargeable power to the drive battery 70 is P1kW at time t0 (15:00). The chargeable power remains P1kW until time t1. However, after time t1, due to the protection control described above, the chargeable power decreases over time (solid line L2), and drops to P2kW at time t2 (15:30), 30 minutes after time t0.

[0031] If rechargeable power is supplied between times t0 and t2, the amount of power supplied from the charge / discharge station 400 to the drive battery 70 (referred to as "rechargeable power") will be the area shown in region AR (times t0 to t1: rechargeable power shown by the dashed line L1, times t1 to t2: rechargeable power shown by the solid line L2). Note that if the remaining charge of the drive battery 70 is high (close to full charge), the maximum rechargeable power decreases. In this case, charging may start at a power lower than P1kW at time t0. Also, if the remaining charge of the drive battery 70 is high, the rechargeable power will be smaller than the area shown in region AR (it will reach full charge).

[0032] Figure 3 is a flowchart of the process executed by the management system 1. In this process, one of the battery ECU 200, charging ECU 210, or DCM 140 in the vehicle management device 30 of the vehicle 10 executes the process. This process is started when it is detected that the connector 410 has been inserted into the charge / discharge port 160.

[0033] By inserting the connector 410 into the charge / discharge port 160, the charging ECU 210 establishes a communication connection with the charge / discharge stand 400 (S11). As a result, the charge / discharge stand 400 establishes communication with the charging ECU 210 (S31).

[0034] In S32, the charging / discharging station 400 transmits its charging / discharging performance (information such as the power that can be charged / discharged) to the charging ECU 210. Meanwhile, in S21, the server 500 transmits the vehicle 10's charging / discharging schedule (see Figure 2) to the DCM 140. The charging / discharging schedule is transmitted to the charging ECU 210 via the DCM 140. The charging / discharging schedule may also be acquired by the navigation system 130.

[0035] In S12, the charging ECU 210 performs a verification process for the charging schedule of vehicle 10 received from the server 500. In this verification process, the charging ECU 210 obtains from the charging schedule whether to perform charging or discharging, the start and end times of charging and discharging, and the charging and discharging power. In the example in Figure 2, information is obtained from the charging schedule indicating that "charging" will be performed with a start time of "15:00", an end time of "15:30", and a power of "P1" kW. This information is transmitted from the charging ECU 210 to the battery ECU 200.

[0036] In step S13, the battery ECU 200 performs a check of the remaining charge of the drive battery 70. In this check, the battery ECU 200 obtains the remaining charge (SOC) of the drive battery 70 and calculates the amount of energy that can be charged to the drive battery 70 or the amount of energy that can be discharged (how many kWh of charge / discharge is possible).

[0037] In S14, the battery ECU 200 calculates the charge / dischargeable power of the drive battery 70 (see Figure 2) based on the charge / discharge schedule and the power of the drive battery 70 limited by protection control. The charge / dischargeable power and charge / dischargeable power amount of the drive battery 70 are transmitted from the battery ECU 200 to the charging ECU 210. If the charging schedule cannot be obtained, the charge / dischargeable power calculated when the battery is fully charged and the charge / dischargeable power calculated when the battery is discharged to zero are calculated.

[0038] In S15, the management device 30 transmits to the charging / discharging station 400 the performance of the vehicle 10's drive battery 70, including the chargeable / dischargeable power, which has been calculated above.

[0039] After processing in S15, the vehicle 10 performs a charge / discharge process (S16). Similarly, the charge / discharge stand 400 also performs a charge / discharge process (S33). As a result, charging and discharging occur between the drive battery 70 and the charge / discharge stand 400 based on the calculated charge / dischargeable power, etc. Once charging and discharging are complete, the charge / discharge stand 400 transmits the results of the charging and discharging to the server 500.

[0040] In this embodiment, the management device 30 transmits to the charge / discharge stand 400 the amount of power that can be charged and discharged between the charge / discharge stand 400 and the drive battery 70, which is determined based on the charge / discharge schedule between the charge / discharge stand 400 and the drive battery 70, and the power of the drive battery 70 limited by control that suppresses the charge / discharge current to protect the drive battery 70. In this way, the amount of power that can be charged and discharged between the charge / discharge stand 400 and the drive battery 70 can be estimated with higher accuracy based on the charge / discharge schedule. By accurately estimating the amount of power that can be charged and discharged, the charge / discharge schedule can be adjusted to comply with the requirements of the power system.

[0041] In this embodiment, the vehicle 10 is equipped with a management device 30. However, the system is not limited to this, and the server 500 may also have the functions of the management device 30. For example, the server 500 may acquire information such as the protection control of the drive battery 70 and the battery level from the vehicle 10, calculate the amount of power that can be charged and discharged from this information and the charge / discharge schedule, and transmit this to the charge / discharge stand 400.

[0042] The embodiments disclosed herein should be considered in all respects to be illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of this disclosure is indicated by the claims rather than by the description of the embodiments above, and all modifications within the meaning and scope equivalent to the claims are intended to be included. [Explanation of symbols]

[0043] 1 Management system, 10 Vehicles, 30 Management devices, 60 Drive loads, 70 Drive batteries, 130 Navigation, 140 DCM, 141, 201, 211, 401, 501 Processors, 142, 202, 212, 402, 502 Memory, 143, 203, 213, 403, 503 Communication IF, 160 Charge / discharge ports, 170 Chargers / dischargers, 200 Battery ECUs, 210 Charging ECUs, 410 Connectors, 300 User terminals, 400 Charge / discharge stands, 500 Servers. L1: Dotted line, L2: Solid line, AR: Area.

Claims

[Claim 1] A management device configured as part of a system comprising a power grid, for managing charging and discharging between a charging and discharging facility and a secondary battery provided in a vehicle, Processor and The system comprises a memory that stores a program executable by the aforementioned processor, The processor is a management device that transmits to the charge / discharge equipment the amount of power that can be charged and discharged between the charge / discharge equipment and the secondary battery, which is determined based on a charge / discharge schedule between the charge / discharge equipment and the secondary battery, based on information determined from the supply and demand of power in the power system, and the power of the secondary battery, which is limited by control that suppresses the charge / discharge current to protect the secondary battery.

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