JPH10304582A - Inductive charging equipment and inductive charging system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an inductive charging equipment and charging system which can start recharging, when a power supply equipment on the infra structure has returned from service interrupt by improving the constitution for starting a charge control equipment such as a battery ECU. SOLUTION: When a paddle 8 is inserted in a C/P unit 44 and a limit switch 46 is closed, a current is supplied to an RF board 48 as a communication equipment, and the state capable of communication is obtained. When the RF board 48 receives a communication signal from the infra side, a starting signal is formed and sent to a battery ECU 18, which is started. When service interrupt is generated, the battery ECU 18 is turned off. When the service interrupt ends, the communication signal from the infrastructure is received, and the RF board 48 forms the starting signal, by which the battery ECU 18 is started. As a result, recharging can be started.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an inductive charging device and a charging system for charging a battery by an induced current generated in a charging coil which is electromagnetically coupled to a power feeding coil, and more particularly to a power failure in which a power failure occurs on a power feeding side and a recovery. It relates to a preferable activation of the charging device when the charging is performed. INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION This invention can be suitably applied for charging of an electric vehicle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An electric vehicle has a motor for generating a driving force and a battery for storing electric energy to be supplied to the motor. Then, the vehicle is driven using the energy charged in the battery, and the battery is charged again when the energy is reduced. When charging the battery, the vehicle is carried to a facility having a power supply device, and current is supplied from the power supply device to the battery. One of the methods for supplying a current from a power supply device on a facility side to a battery mounted on a vehicle is an inductive type. In this type, a primary coil provided on the facility side and a secondary coil provided on the vehicle side are brought close to each other to electromagnetically couple them. As a result, an induced current is generated in the secondary coil, and the battery is charged by this current. The inductive type charging system has an advantage that charging operation is easier than a type in which a power supply device on the facility side is electrically connected to a vehicle using a connector or the like. Inductive type charging systems are described in, for example, JP-A-5-111168 and JP-A-7-170668.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a conventional inductive charging system. The power supply device 2 on the infrastructure side includes an AC power supply 4 that generates a 200 V AC current, and an SCM (standard charge module, the same applies hereinafter) 6 connected to the AC power supply 4. The SCM 6 has an inverter and a CPU that controls the inverter. SCM6
Is connected to the paddle 8 via a cable. The paddle 8 has a substantially semicircular main body as shown in the figure, and a core and a power feeding coil 9 as a primary winding wound around the core are provided in the main body. This feeding coil 9 and SCM
6 are electrically connected to each other. Also, S
The CM 6 has a communication device 6a, and the antenna 10 is attached to the communication device 6a. The antenna 10 is SC
The paddle 8 is disposed along a cable connecting the M6 and the paddle 8, and a distal end portion thereof is attached to a main body of the paddle 8. The communication device 6a performs communication with the charging device 12 on the vehicle side.

On the other hand, the vehicle-side charging device 12 is mounted on an electric vehicle (not shown). The C / P (charge port) unit 14 is provided, for example, at the rear of the vehicle,
It has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped unit body as shown. A port 15 for inserting the paddle 8 is provided in the unit body.
Is provided. The opening of the port 15 is provided to the outside of the vehicle so that the paddle 8 can be inserted into the port from outside the vehicle. Preferably, a member such as a lid for preventing water from entering the port is provided at the port opening. The unit body has positioning means for mechanically positioning the paddle 8 so as not to move at the predetermined position when the paddle 8 is inserted to a predetermined position in the port. Hereinafter, this predetermined position is referred to as a charging position.

[0005] In the unit body of the C / P unit 14, a core and a charging coil 16 as a secondary coil wound around the core are provided. The position where the core and the charging coil 16 are provided is a position where the power feeding coil 9 and the charging coil 16 are close to each other when the paddle 8 is in the charging position, and the electromagnetic induction occurs when a current flows through the power feeding coil 9. This is a position where an induced current is generated in the charging coil 16 by the action.

A limit switch 17 is provided in a port of the C / P unit 14. When the paddle 8 is inserted and reaches the charging position, the limit switch 17 is pressed by the tip of the paddle 8 and closes. The limit switch 17 is connected to an auxiliary battery (not shown) having a voltage of 12 V. When the limit switch 17 is closed, a battery ECU activation signal is generated and sent to the battery ECU 18. As shown, one terminal of the limit switch 17 is grounded. Therefore, by closing the switch, the supply signal to the battery ECU 18 is switched from high to low, and the battery ECU 18 is activated in response to this switching.

[0007] The charging coil 16 of the C / P unit 14
It is connected to a battery 22 to be charged via a rectifier 20. The rectifier 20 converts the current generated in the charging coil 16 into a DC current for charging the battery, and
To supply.

The battery ECU 18 includes a rectifier 20,
It controls the entire charging device, and is supplied with a 12V current from the auxiliary battery. The battery ECU 18 is connected to an RF board 24 serving as a communication device,
An antenna 26 is attached to 4. Antenna 2
Reference numeral 6 is provided on the unit body of the C / P unit 14. The antenna 26 and the antenna 10 of the power supply device 2
It approaches when the paddle 8 is in the charging position. Communication with the communication device 6a of the SCM 6 is performed by the RF board 24. That is, the communication signal sent from the SCM 6 is
The battery EC is received by the RF board 24 and is
It is sent to U18. Further, battery ECU 18 sends a communication signal to SCM 6 via RF board 24. In this way, the battery ECU 18 and the CPU of the SCM 6 obtain information required for charging.

The rectifier 20, the RF board 24, and other charging accessory parts (not shown) are connected to an accessory battery via an accessory main relay 28. The auxiliary relay main relay 28 is turned on / off by the battery ECU 18.

The operation of the inductive charging system having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIG. The vehicle is brought closer to the power supply device 2 and stopped by the charging operator. The operator removes the paddle 8 from a predetermined hook (not shown). The CPU of the SCM 6 detects that the paddle 8 has been removed from the hook and causes the communication device 6a to start transmitting a communication signal. When the operator inserts the paddle 8 into the port 15 of the C / P unit 14 and positions it at the charging position (S10), the limit switch 17 is turned on from off (S12), and a battery ECU activation signal is transmitted. (S14). With this start signal, the battery ECU
18 is started (S16), and the auxiliary relay main relay 28 is closed by the battery ECU 18 (S18). As a result, a 12V power is supplied to the rectifier 20 and the RF board 24 (S
20), the RF board 24 receives a communication signal from the SCM 6 of the power supply device 2 (S22). Then, communication about charging information necessary for charging is started between the communication device 6a of the SCM 6 and the RF board 24 (S24). For example, data indicating a charge command value such as a current value is transmitted from the battery ECU 18 via the RF board 24. SC receiving this
From M6, data indicating that the current supply according to the instruction is ready is sent via the communication device 6a.
Then, the SCM 6 operates the built-in inverter to cause a current to flow to the feeding coil 9 of the paddle 8. As a result, an induced current flows through the charging coil 16 electromagnetically coupled to the power feeding coil 9. The battery ECU 18 controls the rectifier 20 and the like to transfer the current generated in the charging coil 16 to the battery 2.
2 to be supplied. Thus, charging of the battery 22 is started (S26). The battery ECU 18 ends the charging when the SOC (state of charge) of the battery 22 reaches a predetermined value based on the detection results of the various sensors.

In the above, the limit switch 17 is
Originally, the charging device 12 performs an operation for charging when the paddle 8 is at a predetermined charging position. In particular, in the system shown in FIG. 4, by generating a battery ECU activation signal in response to switching of the limit switch 17, when the paddle 8 is inserted into the C / P unit 14, the charging device is automatically activated and charged. Can be started.

[0012]

In the conventional inductive charging system, including the system shown in FIG. 4, as described below, a power failure occurs on the infrastructure side, and it is possible to appropriately cope with a return from the power failure. Is not configured as such.

In the system shown in FIG. 4, when a power failure occurs,
No current is supplied from the AC power supply 4, the function of the SCM 6 is stopped, and transmission of a communication signal to the charging device 2 is also disabled. The battery ECU 18 knows that a power failure has occurred by detecting that no induced current is generated in the charging coil 16 or detecting that communication with the SCM 6 cannot be performed. Then, a timer for measuring a predetermined time (for example, 10 minutes) from the occurrence of the power failure is operated. Battery EC
U18 maintains the activated state during the above-described predetermined time, but stops functioning after a predetermined time has elapsed, and enters a so-called suspend state. At this time, the auxiliary system main relay 28
The power supply from the auxiliary battery to the RF board 24 and the rectifier 20 is also stopped.

Thereafter, when the power is restored from the power failure, the supply of the current from the AC power supply 4 can be restarted on the infrastructure side, and the SCM 6 functions so that the communication device 6a can transmit and receive communication signals. However, at this time, the paddle 8 is still inserted in the C / P unit 14 on the vehicle side.
Since the limit switch is not switched from off to on, no battery ECU activation signal is generated. Therefore, the battery ECU 18 does not start in the suspended state. Naturally, wireless communication using the RF board 24 is not performed, and charging is not restarted.

As described above, in the conventional system, when a power failure occurs, charging is interrupted on the way, and charging is not resumed even after returning from the power failure. Even if the worker arrives at the charging place at the end of charging, the charging is not completed. If a power failure occurs when not much time has elapsed since the start of charging, charging is almost impossible. In particular, the above problem becomes remarkable in an area where power outages are relatively frequent.

In order to enable charging to be resumed when returning from a power failure, the battery ECU 18 is kept activated even during a power failure without shutting down the system on the charging side as described above. It is conceivable to keep it functioning. However, adopting such a configuration is not preferable because current is consumed in the charging device even during a power failure, resulting in waste of energy and draining of the auxiliary battery.

As described above, in the conventional apparatus, the operation of arranging the power supply coil and the charging coil at a position where electromagnetic coupling can be performed (paddle insertion, limit switch OFF to ON) is triggered by the battery ECU. Then, charging is started. At the time of power recovery, since there is no such trigger operation, the battery ECU 18 is not activated and charging cannot be resumed. Therefore, there is a possibility that charging cannot be performed sufficiently due to the occurrence of a power failure, and the vehicle that has been scheduled after charging cannot be driven.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to improve the configuration for activating a charge control device such as a battery ECU so that the power supply device on the infrastructure side can recover from a power failure. To provide an inductive charging device and a charging system capable of restarting charging.

[0019]

An inductive charging device according to the present invention is a device for charging a battery by an induced current generated in a charging coil electromagnetically coupled to a power feeding coil,
When the power supply coil is at a charging position where electromagnetic coupling can be performed with respect to the charging coil, communication is enabled, and a communication device that outputs an activation signal in response to communication with the power supply device in this state; A charging control device that is activated by the activation signal and controls charging of the battery by the current of the charging coil, and when the power supply coil is at the charging position, activates the charging control device based on communication by the communication device. ,
You can start charging.

According to the above configuration, at the start of charging, if the power supply coil is placed at the charging position, the communication device becomes communicable. For example, a limit switch that closes when the power supply coil is at the charging position is provided, and current is supplied to the communication device while the limit switch is closed. In this state, the communication device communicates with the power supply device and outputs a start signal in response to the communication. As a result, the charge control device is activated, and the battery is charged under the control of the charge control device. Thus, at the start of charging, although the method is different from the conventional one, the same operation as the conventional one can be obtained in that the charging control device can be started when the power supply coil is placed at the charging position.

The operation when the infrastructure recovers from a power failure will be described. Even if a power failure occurs, the power supply coil is at the charging position, and the communication device is in a communicable state. Therefore, when returning from a power failure, the communication device can communicate with the power supply device and generate a start signal as in the case of starting charging. The charge control device is started by the start signal, and charging is restarted.

As described above, the communication device of the present invention is in a communicable state when the power supply coil is at the charging position, and outputs a start signal in response to communication with the power supply device in this state. A start signal can be output both at the start of charging and at the time of recovery from a power failure. Therefore, it is possible to restart charging at the time of recovery from power failure without providing a special configuration for recovery from power failure separately from that at the start of charging. Conventionally, an inductive charging device has been provided with a communication device for receiving information required for charging, and this communication device can be used.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to realize a charging device having a function of resuming charging at the time of recovery from a power failure with a simple configuration without complicating the configuration of a conventional charging device.
Then, when the power is restored, the charging is restarted, and a sufficient amount of energy can be stored in the battery by the charging after the restart. It is possible to avoid a situation where charging cannot be resumed and charging cannot be sufficiently performed.

The present invention can be suitably applied to a battery charging device for driving a motor of an electric vehicle. However, it is needless to say that the present invention can be similarly applied to a device for charging other batteries not for electric vehicles.

There are various types of configurations for turning off the charge control device when a power failure occurs. For example, the charging control device can be configured to automatically turn off when there is no induced current in the charging coil.

The inductive charging system of the present invention is a system for charging a battery connected to a charging device by electromagnetically coupling a power supply coil of the power feeding device and a charging coil of the charging device. When the power supply coil and the charging coil are arranged in a predetermined positional relationship that allows electromagnetic coupling, the communication device on the charging device side is in a communicable state. Then, predetermined communication is performed between the communication device of the power supply device and the communication device of the charging device, and a start signal of a charging control circuit that controls charging of the battery by the charging device is generated according to a result of the communication.
The generated start signal activates the charge control circuit, and the battery is charged under the control of the charge control circuit. With this configuration, the same effect as above can be obtained.

[0027]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention (hereinafter, referred to as embodiments) will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a charging system, which includes a power supply device 40 on the infrastructure side,
It has a charging device 42 mounted on an electric vehicle. 1, the same reference numerals are given to members equivalent to those in FIG. 4, and the description thereof is omitted. The description will be focused on the differences from the conventional system shown in FIG. In this system, the configuration of the power supply device 40 is the same as that of the conventional system in FIG. On the other hand, the charging device 42 is different from the conventional system mainly in the configuration for activating the battery ECU 18.

The C / P unit 44 of the charging device 42 has substantially the same configuration as the conventional one, and has the port 15 into which the paddle 8 is inserted and the charging coil 16. Further, a limit switch 46 is provided which is pushed and closed by the tip of the paddle when the paddle 8 reaches the charging position. However, in the conventional device, the limit switch is a switch for transmitting a battery ECU activation signal to the battery ECU 18. On the other hand, as a feature of the present embodiment, the limit switch 46 is connected to an RF board 48 as a communication device, and functions as a power-on switch for the RF board 48.

The RF board 48 has the same configuration as the conventional one. However, as a difference from the related art, it is connected to an auxiliary battery (not shown) without passing through the auxiliary main relay 28. Limit switch 46 of C / P unit 44
Is closed, 12V power is supplied from the auxiliary battery to the RF board 48, and the RF board 48 is connected to the communication device 6a of the SCM 6.
Transmission and reception of a communication signal with the communication device. While the limit switch 46 is closed, the RF board 48 is in a continuously communicable state. Further, the RF board 48 has a start signal generation unit 50 for generating a battery ECU start signal, and the generated battery ECU start signal is generated by the battery ECU 18.
Sent to

The battery ECU 18 has the same configuration as the conventional one, and controls the entire charging device. As a difference from the related art, as described above, the battery ECU activation signal is
8 is input.

The operation of the inductive charging system having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 2 shows an operation at the start of charging, and FIG. 3 shows an operation at the time of recovery from power failure.

The vehicle is brought closer to the power supply device 40 and stopped by the charging operator. The operator removes the paddle 8 from a predetermined hook (not shown). SCM6 is paddle 8
Is detected to be removed from the hook, and causes the communication device 6a to start transmitting a communication signal. The operator inserts the paddle 8 into the port 15 of the C / P unit 44,
When the switch is located at the charging position (S40), the limit switch 46 is turned on from off (S42), and the RF board 48 is turned on.
Is turned on (S44). In the RF substrate 48, S
When the signal transmitted by the CM 6 is received (S46), the capacitor provided in the activation signal generation unit 50 inside the board is charged (S48). When the charging voltage reaches a predetermined threshold value, a battery ECU activation signal is generated, and the battery EC
The call is transmitted to U18 (S50). The battery ECU 18 is activated by the battery ECU activation signal (S52), and the battery ECU 18 is activated.
18 closes the auxiliary relay 28 (S54). As a result, power is supplied to the rectifier 20 and the like, and the vehicle-side system is turned on. Then, communication about the charging information necessary for charging is started between the communication device 6a of the SCM 6 and the RF board 24 (S56). As mentioned above, for example,
Data indicating a charge command value such as a current value is sent from the battery ECU 18 via the RF board 24. Upon receiving this, data indicating that the current supply according to the instruction is ready is sent from the SCM 6 via the communication device 6a. Then, the SCM 6 operates the built-in inverter to cause a current to flow to the feeding coil 9 of the paddle 8. Thereby, the charging coil 1 electromagnetically coupled to the feeding coil 9
6, an induced current flows. The battery ECU 18 includes a rectifier 20
The current generated in the charging coil 16 is supplied to the battery 22. Thus, charging of the battery 22 is started (S58). The battery ECU 18 ends the charging when the SOC (state of charge) of the battery 22 reaches a predetermined value based on the detection results of the various sensors.

When a power failure occurs, no current is supplied from the AC power supply 4, the function of the SCM 6 is stopped, and the transmission of a communication signal to the charging device becomes impossible. Battery ECU1
8 detects the occurrence of a power failure by detecting that no induced current is generated in the charging coil 16 or detecting that communication with the SCM 6 cannot be performed. Then, a timer for measuring a predetermined time (for example, 10 minutes) from the occurrence of the power failure is operated. The battery ECU 18 maintains the activation state during the above-mentioned predetermined time, but stops functioning after the predetermined time has elapsed, and enters a so-called suspend state. At this time, the auxiliary relay main relay 28 is also turned off, and the current supply from the auxiliary battery to the rectifier 20 and the like is stopped.

However, even if a power failure occurs, the paddle 8 remains at C /
The limit switch 46 remains closed because it is not removed from the P unit 44. Therefore, the RF board 48 can continuously receive the current supply from the auxiliary battery, and the communicable state is maintained.

FIG. 3 shows an operation at the time of recovery from a power failure. When returning from the power failure (S70), the AC power supply 4
, And the SCM 6 functions. The CPU of the SCM 6 causes the communication device 6a to start transmitting a communication signal in the same manner as when the paddle 8 is detached from the predetermined hook at the start of charging. In the RF board 48,
When the signal transmitted by the SCM 6 is received (S72),
As in step S48 of FIG. 2, the capacitor of the activation signal generation unit 50 is charged (S74). Subsequent operations are the same as at the start of charging. Battery ECU activation signal is battery ECU
18 (S76), the battery ECU 18 is activated (S78), and the auxiliary relay main relay 28 is turned on again (S80). Then, communication about charging information necessary for charging is started between the communication device 6a of the SCM 6 and the RF board 24 (S82), and charging of the battery 22 is restarted (S84).

The configuration and operation of this embodiment have been described. In the present embodiment, when a power failure occurs on the infrastructure side, S
Although the communication signal from the CM 6 is interrupted, attention is paid to the fact that the communication function of the SCM 6 is restored when the power is restored. Since the SCM 6 starts transmitting the communication signal after the power failure occurs, the vehicle can determine that the infrastructure has recovered from the power failure. At this time, if the battery ECU 18 can be started, charging can be restarted at the time of recovery from power failure.

Therefore, in this embodiment, the auxiliary main relay 28 which is turned on / off by the battery ECU 18 is not interposed between the RF board 48 and the auxiliary battery.
While the paddle 8 is at the charging position, current is supplied to the RF board 48. Therefore, the RF board 48 can communicate even when the infrastructure side is out of power. Then, the RF board 48 is connected to the battery ECU 18 based on the communication with the SCM 6.
Start. That is, the RF board 48 generates an activation signal triggered by reception of the communication signal transmitted from the infrastructure side.

With this configuration, similarly at the start of charging and at the time of recovery from power failure, the RF board 48 generates an activation signal triggered by reception of a communication signal (step S46 in FIG. 2, step S72 in FIG. 3). . Therefore, charging can be restarted without providing a special configuration for recovery from power failure. Moreover, as compared with the conventional device of FIG. 4, by transferring the function of generating the battery ECU activation signal to the RF board, a charge restart function can be added to the conventional device. Therefore,
With a simple configuration, it is possible to realize a charging device having a charging restart function at the time of recovery from power failure.

According to the present embodiment, even when a power failure occurs on the infrastructure side, charging is restarted when the power failure recovers, and a sufficient amount of energy can be stored in the battery by subsequent charging. It is possible to avoid the occurrence of a situation in which charging is terminated halfway due to the occurrence of a power failure, charging cannot be performed sufficiently, and the vehicle that has been scheduled after charging cannot run.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of an inductive charging system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the system of FIG. 1 at the start of charging.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a charge resuming operation of the system of FIG. 1 when returning from a power failure.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a conventional inductive charging system.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the conventional system of FIG. 4 at the start of charging.

[Explanation of symbols]

2,40 power supply device, 4 AC power supply, 6 SCM (standard charge module), 8 paddle, 9 power supply coil, 10,26 antenna, 12,42 charging device,
14,44 C / P (charge port) unit, 15
Port, 16 charging coil, 17, 46 limit switch, 18 battery ECU, 20 rectifier, 22 battery, 24, 48 RF board, 28 auxiliary main relay, 50 start signal generation unit.

Claims (3)

[Claims] In an inductive charging device for charging a battery by an induced current generated in a charging coil electromagnetically coupled to a power supply coil, communication is possible when the power supply coil is located at a charging position capable of electromagnetically coupling to the charging coil. A communication device that outputs a start signal in response to communication with the power supply device in this state, and a charge control device that is started by the start signal from the communication device and controls charging of the battery by current of the charging coil. An inductive charging device, comprising: when the power supply coil is at the charging position, activating the charging control device based on communication by the communication device to start charging. 2. The inductive charging device according to claim 1, wherein the charging control device automatically turns off when there is no induced current in the charging coil. 3. An inductive charging system for electromagnetically coupling a power supply coil of a power supply device and a charging coil of a charging device to charge a battery connected to the charging device, wherein the power supply coil and the charging coil can be electromagnetically coupled. When the communication device of the charging device is placed in a predetermined positional relationship, the communication device on the charging device side can communicate with the communication device of the power supply device and the communication device of the charging device perform predetermined communication. Generating a start signal of a charge control circuit for controlling charging of the battery by the charging device, starting the charge control circuit by the generated start signal, and charging the battery under the control of the charge control circuit. Features an inductive charging system.