JP2021027687A - vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To notify a user of the fact that the external charging has stopped at a minimum while suppressing annoyance felt by the user. An electric vehicle includes a power storage device, a charging device that executes external charging that receives electric power from an external power source to charge the power storage device, and a DCM that outputs information for notifying a user of information on charging. It is equipped with an ECU. When the ECU controls the charging device so as to stop the external charging regardless of the user's operation, such as when the battery is fully charged (S121) and when the charging is abnormal (S122), the mail transmission condition is satisfied. In the case of (S124), the DCM is controlled to output information for notifying the user that the external charging has stopped (S125), while in the case of unlocking the door lock device (S111), the user's When the charging device is controlled to stop the external charging due to the operation (S114), the information for notifying the user that the external charging has stopped is not output. [Selection diagram] Fig. 2

Description

The disclosure relates to a vehicle, and more particularly to a vehicle capable of performing external charging, which receives power from a power source outside the vehicle to charge a power storage device.

Conventionally, there has been a vehicle in which the charging connector is unlocked together with the unlocking of the door lock (see, for example, Patent Document 1). When the charging connector is unlocked in this way, it is conceivable to stop the charging current so that the charging connector is not pulled out while a high voltage current is flowing.

In addition, for a user who is away from the vehicle during external charging, the travel time required for the user to return to the vehicle and the remaining charge time so that the user can return to the vehicle when the battery charge is completed. There was a vehicle that transmitted a message notification command based on the comparison of (see, for example, Patent Document 2). Further, there is a vehicle that sends an e-mail notifying the user that charging is completed when charging is completed (see, for example, Patent Document 3).

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2009-081917 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2013-186519 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2017-077129

As mentioned above, in the case of specifications where external charging can be stopped many times in the middle, such as when external charging is interrupted each time the door lock is unlocked, notifications that external charging has stopped are repeated many times. When transmitted to the user's mobile terminal, the user may feel annoyed.

This disclosure is made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and the purpose of the disclosure is to suppress the annoyance felt by the user by notifying the user that the external charging has stopped, and to inform the user that the external charging has stopped. At a minimum, it is to provide a vehicle that can be notified.

The vehicle according to this disclosure notifies the user of information on a power storage device, a charging device configured to perform external charging for charging the power storage device by receiving electric power from a power source outside the vehicle, and charging by the charging device. A communication device for outputting information for the purpose and a control device for controlling the charging device and the communication device are provided. The control device outputs information for notifying the user that the external charging has stopped when the charging device is controlled so as to stop the external charging regardless of the user's operation and when a predetermined condition is satisfied. When the communication device is controlled so as to stop the external charging due to the operation of the user, the information for notifying the user that the external charging has stopped is not output.

According to this disclosure, when the external charging is stopped without being caused by the user's operation and when a predetermined condition is satisfied, the user is notified that the external charging is stopped, while the user's operation is caused. When the external charging is stopped, the user is not notified that the external charging has stopped. As a result, it is possible to provide a vehicle capable of notifying the user of the stop of external charging at a minimum while suppressing the annoyance felt by the user by notifying the user that the external charging has stopped.

It is an overall block diagram of an electric vehicle shown as an example of a vehicle according to the embodiment of this disclosure. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the charge stop process of this embodiment.

Hereinafter, embodiments of this disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The same or corresponding parts in the drawings are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will not be repeated.

[Composition of electric vehicle]
FIG. 1 is an overall block diagram of an electric vehicle shown as an example of a vehicle according to an embodiment of this disclosure. The electric vehicle is, for example, an electric vehicle or a hybrid vehicle.

With reference to FIG. 1, the electric vehicle 100 includes an inlet 110, a connector lock device 111, a power storage device 120, a charging device 130, a PCU (Power Control Unit) 140, a DCM (Data Communication Module) 160, and the like. It includes an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) 170 and a door lock device 180.

The door lock device 180 is a device that can switch between a state in which the door (not shown) of the electric vehicle 100 is mechanically locked and a state in which the door (not shown) is unlocked.

The charging connector 210 of the charging cable 200 is connected to the inlet 110. Then, the electric power from the external power source 300 is transmitted to the electric vehicle 100 through the charging connector 210 and the inlet 110.

The connector lock device 111 is a device that can switch between a state in which the charging connector 210 connected to the inlet 110 is mechanically locked and a state in which the charging connector 210 is unlocked. In this embodiment, the locked state and the unlocked state of the connector lock device 111 are switched in conjunction with the locked state and the unlocked state of the door lock device 180. When the connector lock device 111 is in the unlocked state, charging through the inlet 110 is stopped.

The power storage device 120 is a power storage element configured to be chargeable and dischargeable. The power storage device 120 includes, for example, a secondary battery such as a lithium ion battery, a nickel hydrogen battery or a lead storage battery, and a power storage element such as an electric double layer capacitor.

The charging device 130 is connected between the inlet 110 and the power storage device 120. The charging device 130 converts the AC power supplied from the external power source 300 through the inlet 110 into the charging power of the power storage device 120, and charges the power storage device 120. Charging the power storage device 120 of the electric vehicle 100 from the external power source 300 is also referred to as "external charging" below.

The PCU 140 includes an inverter, a motor connected to the inverter, and the like, and generates a traveling driving force of the electric vehicle 100 by the electric power supplied from the power storage device 120.

The DCM160 is a communication device capable of wireless communication with the outside, such as a user's mobile terminal 500. The mobile terminal 500 is a general-purpose terminal that can be carried by a user such as a smartphone. The DCM160 is, for example, a communication standard such as W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) and LTE (Long Term Evolution), and a wireless LAN (Local Area Network) standard such as IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers) 802.11. Includes communication modules that comply with. Although not shown, the communication between the DCM160 and the mobile terminal 500 is performed by a server of a communication service provider using the DCM160, a server of a communication carrier, a base station and a communication line, and a WAN such as the Internet. Wide Area Network) and communication networks such as LAN such as wireless LAN in the facility.

The ECU 170 has a built-in CPU (Central Processing Unit) and a memory (not shown), and based on the information stored in the memory and the information from each sensor (not shown), each device (charging device 130, PCU140,) of the electric vehicle 100 DCM160, connector lock device 111, door lock device 180) are controlled. The ECU 170 executes a predetermined function such as an external charging function for the power storage device 120 including timer charging.

Next, timer charging will be described. The timer charging is a function that automatically completes the external charging of the power storage device 120 by the scheduled departure time set in advance by the user. The user sets the next scheduled departure time, for example, through a navigation device (not shown). The ECU 170 calculates the charging start time so as to complete the external charging of the power storage device 120 by the scheduled departure time, taking into consideration the electricity charges for each time zone. When the calculated charging start time arrives, the ECU 170 controls the charging device 130 so as to start external charging of the power storage device 120. As a result, in the electric vehicle 100, the external charging of the power storage device 120 can be completed by the scheduled departure time. The scheduled departure time does not necessarily have to be set by the user. For example, the ECU 170 may predict the next scheduled departure time from the usage status of the user's electric vehicle 100. Further, the scheduled departure time does not necessarily have to be set through the navigation device, and may be set, for example, by receiving the input content of the user to the mobile terminal 500 such as a smartphone through the DCM160.

When the timer charging is completed, the ECU 170 transmits a message to the effect that charging is completed (hereinafter, also referred to as “external charging completion notification”) to the user's mobile terminal 500 through the DCM160. By receiving this message, the user can know that the external charging is completed.

[Explanation of charge stop processing]
As described above, in the electric vehicle 100 of this embodiment, when the external charging is completed, the ECU 170 transmits the external charging completion notification to the user's mobile terminal 500 through the DCM160. Further, even when the charging is interrupted, the ECU 170 transmits a message to the effect that the external charging is interrupted (hereinafter, also referred to as “external power receiving interruption notification”) to the user's mobile terminal 500 through the DCM160.

Further, in the electric vehicle 100 of this embodiment, the ECU 170 switches the door lock device 180 to the unlocked state and controls the connector lock device 111 so as to unlock the charging connector 210. Then, the ECU 170 controls the charging device 130 so as to stop the external charging when the charging connector 210 is unlocked.

In this way, in the case of a specification in which the external charging can be stopped many times in the middle such that the external charging is interrupted every time the door lock device 180 is switched to the unlocked state, the notification that the external charging has stopped is notified. If it is transmitted to the user's mobile terminal 500 many times, the user may feel annoyed.

Therefore, in the electric vehicle 100 according to the present disclosure, the ECU 170 stops the external charging when the charging device 130 is controlled so as to stop the external charging regardless of the operation of the user and when a predetermined condition is satisfied. When the DCM 160 is controlled to output information for notifying the user to that effect, while the charging device 130 is controlled to stop the external charging due to the user's operation, the user is notified that the external charging has stopped. Do not output the information to do.

As a result, when the external charging is stopped not due to the user's operation and when a predetermined condition is satisfied, the user is notified that the external charging has stopped, while the external charging is caused by the user's operation. When charging is stopped, the user is not notified that external charging has stopped. As a result, it is possible to notify the user at a minimum that the external charging has stopped, while suppressing the annoyance felt by the user in the notification that the external charging has stopped.

Hereinafter, the control in this embodiment will be described. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the flow of the charge stop processing of this embodiment. This charge stop process is called and executed from a higher-level process executed by the ECU 170 at predetermined intervals.

With reference to FIG. 2, the ECU 170 determines whether or not the unlock operation of the door lock device 180 has been performed by the user (step S111). When it is determined that the door unlock operation has been performed (YES in step S111), the ECU 170 controls the door lock device 180 to be in the unlocked state (step S112), and sets the charging connector 210 to the unlocked state. The connector lock device 111 is controlled (step S113), and the charging device 130 is controlled so as to stop the external charging (step S114).

After step S114, and when it is determined that the door unlock operation has not been performed (NO in step S111), the ECU 170 determines whether or not the power storage device 120 is in a fully charged state (step S121). ). When it is determined that the power storage device 120 is not in the fully charged state (NO in step S121), the ECU 170 determines whether or not a charging abnormality has occurred in the external charging of the power storage device 120 (step S122). When it is determined that no charging abnormality has occurred in the external charging of the power storage device 120 (NO in step S122), the ECU 170 returns the process to be executed to the process higher than the caller of the charge stop process.

When it is determined that the power storage device 120 is in a fully charged state (YES in step S121), or when it is determined that a charging abnormality has occurred in the external charging of the power storage device 120 (YES in step S122), the ECU 170 Controls the charging device 130 so as to stop the external charging (step S123).

Then, the ECU 170 determines whether or not the predetermined mail transmission condition is satisfied (step S124). The mail transmission conditions may be that (1) charging stop is continued for a predetermined time, and (2) charging stop cannot be restarted without user operation (for example, charging abnormality). (3) The detection state by the ECU 170 of the smart key that enables opening and closing of the door when the door is within a predetermined range capable of close communication with the electric vehicle 100 is predetermined. It may be a condition that the state indicates that the vehicle is within the range to the state indicating that the vehicle is out of the predetermined range. (4) With the in-vehicle camera of the electric vehicle 100, a person is around the electric vehicle 100. It may be a condition that the ECU 170 confirms that the door is not present, and (5) the position information of the user's mobile terminal 500 (for example, the position information obtained by GPS (Global positioning system)) is close to the electric vehicle 100. It may be a condition that it indicates that it is within a predetermined range that can be determined to be, or (6) it may be a condition that the key of the front door of the user's home is unlocked. 7) The in-vehicle camera of the electric vehicle 100 may not recognize the user's face around the electric vehicle 100, or (8) the user is not in the passenger compartment of the electric vehicle 100. It may be a condition that (9) the user is checking the state of the electric vehicle 100 such as the charging progress of the electric vehicle 100 with the mobile terminal 500, or (10) any two of these. It may be a combination of two or more conditions.

If it is determined that the mail transmission condition is not satisfied (NO in step S124), the ECU 170 returns the process to be executed to the higher-level process of the caller of the charge stop process.

On the other hand, if it is determined that the mail transmission condition is satisfied (YES in step S124), the ECU 170 controls to send a message to the effect that charging has been stopped to the user's mobile terminal 500 through the DCM160 (step S125). After that, the ECU 170 returns the process to be executed to a higher-level process of the caller of the charge stop process.

[Modification example]
(1) In the above-described embodiment, in the case of stopping the external charging due to the user's operation as shown in steps S111 to S114 of FIG. 2, the user is notified that the external charging has stopped. I tried not to be done. However, the user's operation is not limited to the unlocking operation of the door lock device 180 shown in step S111, and may be another operation such as a remote operation for stopping the external charging from the user's mobile terminal 500.

(2) In the above-described embodiment, as shown in steps S123 to S125 of FIG. 2, external charging is stopped regardless of the user's operation, and the mail transmission condition is satisfied. The user is notified that charging has stopped. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and when the external charging is stopped regardless of the user's operation, the user is notified that the external charging has stopped regardless of whether or not the mail transmission condition is satisfied. You may do it. That is, the process of step S124 may not be included in FIG.

(3) In the above-described embodiment, the mobile terminal 500 notifies the user by e-mail that the external charging has stopped. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the user may be notified that the external charging has been stopped by the application that handles the information about the electric vehicle 100 installed in the mobile terminal 500. Further, instead of a general-purpose device such as the mobile terminal 500, a dedicated device corresponding to the electric vehicle 100 (for example, a portable device such as a smart key) is used to notify the user that the external charging has stopped. You may.

[Summary]
(1) As shown in FIG. 1, the electric vehicle 100 includes a power storage device 120, a charging device 130 configured to receive electric power from an external power source 300 to charge the power storage device 120, and an external charging device 130. It includes a DCM 160 that outputs information for notifying the user of information about charging by the charging device 130, and an ECU 170 that controls the charging device 130 and the DCM 160.

As shown in FIG. 2, the ECU 170 is charged in step S123 so as to stop external charging regardless of the user's operation, such as in the case of full charge shown in step S121 and the case of charging abnormality shown in step S122. While controlling the device 130 and controlling the DCM160 in step S125 to output information for notifying the user that the external charging has stopped when the mail transmission condition shown in step S124 is satisfied. When the charging device 130 is controlled so as to stop the external charging due to the operation of the user in step S114, such as in the case of the unlocking operation of the door lock device 180 shown in step S111, the fact that the external charging has stopped is indicated. Does not output information for notifying the user.

As a result, when the external charging is stopped regardless of the user's operation, and when the mail transmission condition is satisfied, the user is notified that the external charging has stopped, but due to the user's operation. When the external charging is stopped, the user is not notified that the external charging has stopped. As a result, it is possible to notify the user at a minimum that the external charging has stopped, while suppressing the annoyance felt by the user in the notification that the external charging has stopped.

(2) As shown in step S124 of FIG. 2, the mail transmission condition may be a condition that the charging stop is continued for a predetermined time, or the charging stop cannot be restarted without user operation. (For example, interruption due to abnormal charging) may be the condition, or detection by the ECU 170 of the smart key that enables opening and closing of the door when the door is within a predetermined range capable of close communication with the electric vehicle 100. It may be a condition that the state has changed from a state indicating that the state is within the predetermined range to a state indicating that the state is outside the predetermined range, or a person is around the electric vehicle 100 by the in-vehicle camera of the electric vehicle 100. It may be a condition that it is confirmed by the ECU 170 that there is no door, or it is a condition that the position information of the user's mobile terminal 500 is within a predetermined range that can be determined to be close to the electric vehicle 100. It may be present, or it may be a condition that the key of the front door of the user's home is unlocked, or the user's face is not recognized by the in-vehicle camera of the electric vehicle 100 around the electric vehicle 100. It may be the condition that the user is not in the passenger compartment of the electric vehicle 100, or the user confirms the state of the electric vehicle 100 such as the charging progress of the electric vehicle 100 with the mobile terminal 500. It may be a condition that it is inside, or it may be a condition that combines any two or more of these conditions.

It is also planned that the embodiments disclosed this time will be implemented in appropriate combinations. And it should be considered that the embodiments disclosed this time are exemplary in all respects and not restrictive. The scope of the present disclosure is indicated by the scope of claims rather than the description of the embodiment described above, and is intended to include all modifications within the meaning and scope equivalent to the scope of claims.

100 electric vehicle, 110 inlet, 111 connector lock device, 120 power storage device, 130 charging device, 140 PCU, 160 DCM, 170 ECU, 180 door lock device, 200 charging cable, 210 charging connector, 300 external power supply, 500 mobile terminal.

Claims (1)

Power storage device and
A charging device configured to perform external charging that receives power from a power source outside the vehicle to charge the power storage device.
A communication device that outputs information for notifying the user of information regarding charging by the charging device, and
The charging device and the control device for controlling the communication device are provided.
The control device is
When the charging device is controlled so as to stop the external charging regardless of the user's operation, and when a predetermined condition is satisfied, information for notifying the user that the external charging has stopped is output. While controlling the communication device
A vehicle that does not output information for notifying the user that the external charging has stopped when the charging device is controlled so as to stop the external charging due to the operation of the user.

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