JP2013106504A - Electric vehicle charging system and in-vehicle warning device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a charging system for electric vehicles, which can timely issue a warning for the prevention of forgetting about charging.SOLUTION: The charging system for an electric vehicle 100 includes: a charging cable connection detector 104 which detects the connection of a charging cable for use in charging a battery 101 to the electric vehicle 100; and a separation determining part 106a which determines whether a vehicle key 200 having a radio communication function has been separated by a certain distance or more from the electric vehicle 100. A forgetting-to-charge preventing device 106 carries out the following processing when the vehicle key 200 is separated by the certain distance or more from the electric vehicle 100 before the charging cable is connected to the electric vehicle 100: it uses a light 107 and a speaker 108 to issue a warning to prompt the user to charge the electric vehicle 100.

Description

  The present invention relates to a charging system for charging a battery of an electric vehicle.

  In recent years, electric vehicles (hereinafter, collectively referred to as “electric vehicles”) such as electric vehicles (EV) and plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHV) have been widely used. An electric vehicle uses electric power stored in a battery as a power source, but charging the battery requires a certain time unlike replenishment of gasoline. For this reason, for example, if the user forgets to charge the electric vehicle after the previous driving and the remaining battery charge is low when the user tries to get on the electric vehicle next time, the electric vehicle is used as planned. An impossible situation occurs.

  In order to solve the problem, for example, Patent Document 1 below proposes a charging system that prevents forgetting to charge an electric vehicle. Specifically, a system that issues an alarm when the battery charging operation is not performed within a predetermined time after the power source (main switch) of the electric vehicle is turned off, or after the electric vehicle is turned off in the parking lot, There has been proposed a system that issues an alarm when a parking door switch is operated before a battery charging operation is performed. It has also been proposed that alarm means such as a buzzer be provided not only on an electric vehicle but also on a vehicle key for operating the main switch.

JP-A-9-37473

  In a system that issues a warning when a battery charging operation is not performed within a predetermined time as in Patent Document 1, if a charging operation is not performed within a predetermined time, the alarm is issued regardless of the action of the user (driver). Is emitted. Therefore, for example, even when the user stays in the car after parking, an alarm is issued, and the user may feel troubled. This problem will be reduced if the above-mentioned predetermined time is made sufficiently long, but an alarm may be issued after the user is far away from the vehicle, and the user is troubled to return to the vehicle for charging. You will feel.

  On the other hand, in a system that issues an alarm when a parking lot door switch is operated, it is necessary to provide the parking door switch with a communication function, which increases costs. In addition, since it is difficult to apply the electric vehicle to a place other than the home parking lot, it cannot contribute to measures for forgetting to charge on the go.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a charging system for an electric vehicle that can issue an alarm for preventing forgetting to charge at an appropriate timing.

  In the electric vehicle charging system according to the present embodiment, an electric vehicle equipped with a battery, a portable device having a wireless communication function with the electric vehicle, and a charging cable used for charging the battery are connected to the electric vehicle. A cable connection detection device that detects that, a separation determination unit that determines whether or not the portable device and the electric vehicle are separated from each other by a certain distance, and before the charging cable is connected to the electric vehicle, When it is determined by the separation determination unit that the portable device and the electric vehicle are separated from each other by a certain distance, an alarm control unit that outputs an alarm signal and an alarm generation unit that issues an alarm according to the alarm signal It is to be prepared.

  According to the present invention, since the user detects that he / she has left the vehicle without connecting the charging cable to the vehicle, an alarm is issued. For example, when the user stays in the vehicle after parking, the alarm is issued. It is possible to issue an alarm prompting charging at an appropriate timing. In addition, as a portable device, a smart keyless system (a system that can lock and unlock the door of a vehicle without using a mechanical key) is used for comparison, by using a communication terminal device such as a vehicle key or a mobile phone. Can be realized at low cost. Moreover, since it can operate | move regardless of a place, it is also possible to prevent forgetting to charge on the go.

1 is a configuration diagram of an electric vehicle charging system according to Embodiment 1. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation of the electric vehicle charging system according to the first embodiment. It is a block diagram of the electric vehicle charging system which concerns on Embodiment 2. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation of the electric vehicle charging system according to the second embodiment. FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of an electric vehicle charging system according to a third embodiment. 10 is a flowchart showing an operation of the electric vehicle charging system according to Embodiment 3. FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of an electric vehicle charging system according to a fourth embodiment. 10 is a flowchart showing an operation of the electric vehicle charging system according to the fourth embodiment.

<Embodiment 1>
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of the electric vehicle charging system according to the first embodiment. This system is a system for preventing forgetting to charge an electric vehicle. The electric vehicle charging system according to Embodiment 1 includes an electric vehicle 100 that is an EV or a PHV, and a vehicle key 200 that is used to lock and unlock the electric vehicle 100 and to turn on / off the power.

  The electric vehicle 100 and the vehicle key 200 constitute a so-called smart keyless system. That is, the user (driver) simply holds the vehicle key 200 and leaves the electric vehicle 100 to automatically lock the door of the electric vehicle 100, and touches the door of the electric vehicle 100 with the vehicle key 200. Just unlock the door. Such locking / unlocking operation is performed by the electric vehicle 100 to determine whether or not the vehicle key 200 exists within a predetermined distance from the electric vehicle 100 by mutual wireless communication between the electric vehicle 100 and the vehicle key 200. This is realized by judging. Therefore, the vehicle key 200 is a kind of portable communication device having a transmission / reception unit 201 that performs wireless communication with the electric vehicle 100.

  The electric vehicle 100 includes a battery 101, a battery monitoring device 102, a charging cable connection port 103, a charging cable connection detection device 104, a key confirmation device 105, a charge forgetting prevention device 106, an illumination 107, a speaker 108, and a locking / unlocking device 109. I have.

  The battery 101 stores electric power serving as a power source for the electric vehicle 100. The battery monitoring device 102 monitors the remaining charge of the battery 101 and inputs information indicating the remaining charge (charge remaining amount information) to the forget-to-charge prevention device 106.

  The battery 101 is charged by connecting a charging cable of an external charging device (not shown) to the charging cable connection port 103. The charging cable connection detection device 104 detects whether or not the charging cable is connected to the charging cable connection port 103, and charges information (cable connection information) indicating that the charging cable is connected to the charging cable connection port 103. Input to the forgetting prevention device 106.

  When the electric vehicle 100 has two charging cable connection ports 103 for normal charging and quick charging, the charging cable connection detection device 104 determines whether the charging cable is connected to any of them. Operates to detect. If it is configured to monitor only one of the two, normally normal charging is usually performed, so it is effective to monitor the one for normal charging.

  The key confirmation device 105 confirms whether the vehicle key 200 is detected in the vicinity of the electric vehicle 100. The key confirmation device 105 includes a transmission / reception unit 105a that performs wireless communication with the transmission / reception unit 201 of the vehicle key 200. The vehicle key 200 is separated from the electric vehicle 100 by a predetermined distance depending on whether the wireless communication is established. It is determined whether it exists in the inside (hereinafter referred to as “the vicinity of the electric vehicle 100”). The key confirmation device 105 inputs key detection information indicating the determination result to the locking / unlocking device 109. In the present embodiment, the key detection information output from the key confirmation device 105 is also input to the forget-to-charge prevention device 106.

  The locking / unlocking device 109 refers to the key detection information. When the vehicle key 200 is no longer detected in the vicinity of the electric vehicle 100, the locking / unlocking device 109 determines that the user has left the electric vehicle 100 and opens the door of the electric vehicle 100. Lock it. Further, while the vehicle key 200 is detected in the vicinity of the electric vehicle 100, it is determined that the user is near the electric vehicle 100, and when the door of the electric vehicle 100 is touched, the door is unlocked.

  When the electric vehicle 100 is turned off and the user leaves the electric vehicle 100 without connecting the charging cable to the charging cable connection port 103 after the electric vehicle 100 is turned off, An alarm is issued using the speaker 108.

  The forget-to-charge prevention device 106 includes a separation determination unit 106a and an alarm control unit 106b for controlling the alarm operation. As described above, the remaining charge information from the battery monitoring device 102, the cable connection information from the charging cable connection detection device 104, and the key detection information from the key confirmation device 105 are input to the forget charging prevention device 106. Is done.

  The separation determination unit 106a determines whether or not the vehicle key 200 and the electric vehicle 100 are separated by a certain distance or more based on the key detection information.

  The alarm control unit 106b determines whether the user has forgotten the charging operation and left the electric vehicle 100 based on the determination result by the separation determination unit 106a and the cable connection information. That is, when the alarm control unit 106b detects that the vehicle key 200 is away from the electric vehicle 100 by a predetermined distance or more before the charging cable is connected to the charging cable connection port 103, the user forgets to perform the charging operation. It is determined that the user has left the car 100. In that case, the alarm control unit 106 b inputs an alarm signal to the illumination 107 and the speaker 108.

  The illumination 107 and the speaker 108 are alarm generation units that perform a predetermined alarm operation upon receiving an alarm signal from the forget-to-charge prevention device 106. The lighting 107 and the speaker 108 may be provided in a general electric vehicle as long as the user can recognize from outside the vehicle. Specifically, the illumination 107 may be a headlamp, a blinker, a hazard lamp, or the like. As the speaker 108, for example, an electric vehicle for outputting a simulated running sound for notifying a pedestrian of approach, or a speaker for outputting a chime or a voice message linked to a direction indicator often found in a large vehicle can be cited. . The speaker 108 may be an audio output device in a broad sense, and includes, for example, a sounding device such as a horn or an electronic sound (buzzer) that is sounded when the door is locked or unlocked.

  The content of the alarm operation by the illumination 107 and the speaker 108 may be arbitrary. For example, it is conceivable to cause the hazard lamp to blink in a specific pattern or to sound a specific electronic sound. However, the operation at the time of alarm output should be distinguishable from the operation of the illumination 107 and the speaker 108 associated with another operation of the electric vehicle 100 (for example, locking / unlocking the door). From the viewpoint of clarifying distinction from other operations, it is preferable to output a voice message instructing charging such as “please charge”.

  Next, the operation of the electric vehicle charging system according to Embodiment 1 will be described. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation.

  When the user (driver) parks electric vehicle 100 and turns off electric vehicle 100 (YES in step S101), forget-for-charge prevention device 106 starts operating.

  The forget-to-charge prevention device 106 refers to the remaining charge information from the battery monitoring device 102 and checks the remaining charge amount of the battery 101 (step S102). If the remaining amount of charge of battery 101 is greater than the predetermined value at this time (NO in step S103), forget-for-charge prevention device 106 determines that charging of battery 101 is not necessary and ends the operation. The predetermined value in step S103 may be a constant value close to full charge, or may change according to the travel plan of electric vehicle 100. As described above, the forget-to-charge prevention device 106 operates only when the remaining amount of charge of the battery 101 is equal to or less than a predetermined value, thereby preventing an unnecessary alarm that is annoying to the user.

  When the remaining charge of battery 101 is less than or equal to a predetermined value (YES in step S103), separation determination unit 106a of forget-for-charge prevention device 106 uses vehicle key 200 based on key detection information output from key confirmation device 105. Is present within a predetermined range from the electric vehicle 100 (in the vicinity of the electric vehicle 100) (step S104). While vehicle key 200 is detected in the vicinity of electric vehicle 100 (YES in step S105), forget-for-charge prevention device 106 stands by.

  Thereafter, when vehicle key 200 is no longer detected in the vicinity of electric vehicle 100 (NO in step S105), separation determination unit 106a determines that the user has left electric vehicle 100. In this case, the alarm control unit 106b refers to the cable connection information from the charging cable connection detection device 104 and confirms whether the charging cable is connected to the charging cable connection port 103 (step S106).

  At this time, if the charging cable is not connected to charging cable connection port 103 (NO in step S107), alarm control unit 106b transmits an alarm signal to illumination 107 and speaker 108 serving as an alarm generation unit. As a result, a predetermined alarm operation is performed by the illumination 107 and the speaker 108 (step S108). Thereby, the user notices that the charging cable is not connected, and forgetting to charge the battery 101 is prevented.

  When the vehicle key 200 is no longer detected in the vicinity of the electric vehicle 100, if the charging cable is already connected to the charging cable connection port 103 (YES in step S107), the alarm control unit 106b outputs an alarm signal. Without this, the operation of the forget-to-charge prevention device 106 ends.

  According to the charging system of the present embodiment, an alarm is generated when it is detected that the user has left the electric vehicle 100 with the vehicle key 200 without connecting the charging cable to the charging cable connection port 103. It is done. Therefore, for example, it is possible to prevent an alarm from being issued when the user stays in the vehicle after parking, and to issue an alarm prompting charging at an appropriate timing. Further, since the system can be constructed using the vehicle key 200 of the existing smart keyless system, it can be realized at a relatively low cost. Moreover, since it can operate | move regardless of a place, it is also possible to prevent forgetting to charge on the go.

  In this embodiment, since the key detection information for controlling the operation of the locking / unlocking device 109 is also used for the operation control of the separation determining unit 106a, the operation of the separation determining unit 106a and the locking / unlocking operation are performed. The operation of the device 109 will be synchronized. However, these operations may be independent of each other. For example, a key detection device for the separation determination unit 106a may be provided separately from the key confirmation device 105 for the locking / unlocking device 109. From the viewpoint of simplification of the system configuration and cost reduction, it is desirable to share key detection information between the locking / unlocking device 109 and the separation determination unit 106a as in the present embodiment.

<Embodiment 2>
FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of an electric vehicle charging system according to the second embodiment according to the second embodiment. The charging system is provided with an alarm signal transmitting device 110 on the electric vehicle 100 side as compared with the system of the first embodiment, and an alarm signal receiving device 202, an alarm generating unit 203, and an alarm storage unit 204 on the vehicle key 200 side. It is provided.

  The alarm signal transmission device 110 is for transmitting the alarm signal output from the forget-for-charge prevention device 106 to the vehicle key 200. The alarm signal receiver 202 receives the alarm signal transmitted from the alarm signal transmitter 110 and inputs the received alarm signal to the alarm generator 203.

  When receiving an alarm signal from the alarm signal receiving device 202, the alarm generating unit 203 performs a predetermined alarm operation that prompts the user to perform a charging operation. Examples of the alarm generation unit 203 that can be mounted on the vehicle key 200 include a light emitting element such as an LED, a small liquid crystal panel, a speaker, and a vibrator. Since the vehicle key 200 of the smart keyless system is often stored in a user's pocket or the like, it is preferable that the alarm can be generated by a method other than a visual method such as a speaker or a vibrator.

  The alarm storage unit 204 stores that the alarm operation has been performed by the alarm generation unit 203. While the alarm storage unit 204 stores that the alarm operation has been performed, the alarm generation unit 203 repeats the alarm operation continuously or periodically. Alternatively, the user can confirm whether the alarm storage unit 204 has been implemented by operating the vehicle key 200. As a result, even when the user does not notice the first alarm, it is possible to know that there was an alarm after that and to forget charging more reliably.

  The stored contents of the alarm storage unit 204 can be reset by the user operating the vehicle key 200. Further, when the charging cable connection detecting device 104 detects that the charging cable is connected to the charging cable connection port 103, a reset signal of the alarm storage unit 204 is transmitted from the alarm signal transmitting device 110. It may be configured such that the key 200 receives it and automatically resets the alarm generation unit 203.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation of the electric vehicle charging system according to the second embodiment. The operation of the electric vehicle charging system according to the second embodiment is almost the same as that of the first embodiment, but the alarm signal output from the forget-for-charge prevention device 106 is an alarm generating unit (the illumination 107 and the speaker 108) of the electric vehicle 100. ) As well as being sent to the vehicle key 200 via the warning signal transmission device 110 (step S109), and a warning operation is also performed in the warning generation unit 203 of the vehicle key 200. Other operations (steps S101 to S108) are the same as those in the first embodiment, and a description thereof is omitted here.

  According to the present embodiment, a warning for preventing forgetting to charge electric vehicle 100 is issued not only from electric vehicle 100 but also from vehicle key 200. In addition, since the alarm generation unit 203 stores the execution of the alarm operation, even when the user does not notice the initial alarm, it can be known that the alarm has occurred after that. Therefore, it is possible to more reliably perform warning to the user and prevent forgetting to charge.

<Embodiment 3>
FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of an electric vehicle charging system according to the third embodiment. The charging system includes an electric vehicle 100 and a mobile phone 300 that is a communication terminal device owned by a user of the electric vehicle 100.

  In Embodiment 3, electric vehicle 100 and mobile phone 300 are configured to be able to perform short-range wireless communication with each other. As short-range wireless communication, an apparatus having a function of automatically searching for a communication partner and establishing a communication connection, for example, Bluetooth (registered trademark) class 2 output (communication distance is about 10 m) is suitable.

  The electric vehicle 100 of the third embodiment is different from the configuration of the first embodiment in that a short-range wireless communication device 111 for performing the short-range wireless communication is provided instead of the key confirmation device 105. In the case where the electric vehicle 100 adopts the smart keyless system, the key confirmation device 105 and the locking / unlocking device 109 are also provided. They are omitted because they are not involved.

  Other components included in the electric vehicle 100 are almost the same as those in the first embodiment, but the separation determination unit 106a of the forget-to-charge prevention device 106 in the third embodiment is between the electric vehicle 100 and the mobile phone 300. Thus, it is configured to determine whether or not the mobile phone 300 and the electric vehicle 100 are separated from each other by a certain distance depending on whether or not communication connection is established (whether or not the connection is possible).

  On the other hand, the mobile phone 300 includes a short-range wireless communication device 301, a separation determination unit 302, an alarm generation unit 303, and an alarm storage unit 304. The short-range wireless communication device 301 performs short-range wireless communication with the electric vehicle 100 (short-range wireless communication device 111).

  The separation determination unit 302 establishes communication connection between the electric vehicle 100 and the mobile phone 300 (between the short-range wireless communication device 111 and the short-range wireless communication device 301), similarly to the separation determination unit 106a of the electric vehicle 100. It is determined whether or not the mobile phone 300 and the electric vehicle 100 are separated from each other by a certain distance depending on whether or not they are established (whether they can be connected).

  Further, the separation determination unit 302 outputs an alarm signal for causing the alarm generation unit 303 to perform a predetermined alarm operation when it is determined that the mobile phone 300 and the electric vehicle 100 are separated by a certain distance or more. However, the separation determination unit 302 is configured to stop the operation when receiving information (cable connection information) indicating that the charging cable is connected to the charging cable connection port 103.

  The alarm generation unit 303 of the mobile phone 300 may be output means provided in a general mobile phone, for example, a light emitting element such as an LED, a liquid crystal panel, a speaker, a vibrator, or the like.

  The alarm storage unit 304 stores information that the alarm generation unit 303 has performed an alarm operation. While the alarm storage unit 304 stores the execution of the alarm operation, the alarm generation unit 303 repeats the alarm operation continuously or periodically. Alternatively, the user can confirm whether the alarm storage unit 304 has been implemented by operating the mobile phone 300. As a result, even when the user does not notice the first alarm, it is possible to know that there was an alarm after that, and more reliably prevent forgetting to charge.

  The stored contents of the alarm storage unit 304 can be reset by the user operating the mobile phone 300. When the charging cable connection detecting device 104 detects that the charging cable is connected to the charging cable connection port 103, the user who has the alarm generation unit 303 is near the electric vehicle 100 (in the communication area of short-range wireless communication). The reset signal of the alarm storage unit 304 is output from the short-range wireless communication device 111, and the mobile phone 300 receives the reset signal and automatically resets the alarm generation unit 303. May be.

  Next, the operation of the electric vehicle charging system according to Embodiment 3 will be described. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation. The left side of FIG. 6 corresponds to the operation flow of the electric vehicle 100, and the right side corresponds to the operation flow of the mobile phone 300.

  When the user (driver) parks electric vehicle 100 and turns off electric vehicle 100 (YES in step S201), forget charging prevention device 106 starts operating.

  The forget-for-charge prevention device 106 refers to the remaining charge information from the battery monitoring device 102 and checks the remaining charge amount of the battery 101 (step S202). At this time, if the remaining charge of the battery 101 is greater than the predetermined value (NO in step S203), the forget-to-charge prevention device 106 determines that it is not necessary to charge the battery 101 and ends the operation. The predetermined value in step S203 may be a constant value close to full charge, or may change according to the travel plan of electric vehicle 100. As described above, the forget-to-charge prevention device 106 operates only when the remaining amount of charge of the battery 101 is equal to or less than a predetermined value, thereby preventing an unnecessary alarm that is annoying to the user.

  When the remaining charge of battery 101 is equal to or less than the predetermined value (YES in step S203), short-range wireless communication device 111 of electric vehicle 100 establishes a communication connection with short-range wireless communication device 301 of mobile phone 300. Establish (steps S204, S301).

  Thereafter, in the forget-to-charge prevention device 106 of the electric vehicle 100, the separation determination unit 106a confirms whether the short-range wireless communication connection between the electric vehicle 100 and the mobile phone 300 is maintained (step S205). The alarm control unit 106b monitors the cable connection information from the charging cable connection detection device 104, and confirms whether the charging cable is connected to the charging cable connection port 103 (steps S206 and S207). The operations in steps S <b> 205 to S <b> 207 are repeated until the short-range wireless communication connection is released or the charging cable is connected to the charging cable connection port 103.

  If the short-range wireless communication connection is released before the charging cable is connected to charging cable connection port 103 (YES in step S205), separation determination unit 106a indicates that the user has left electric vehicle 100, It is determined that mobile phone 300 has come out of an area where short-range wireless communication is possible. In that case, the alarm control unit 106b transmits an alarm signal to the illumination 107 and the speaker 108 serving as an alarm generation unit (step S209). As a result, a predetermined alarm operation is performed by the illumination 107 and the speaker 108. Thereby, the user notices that the charging cable is not connected, and forgetting to charge is prevented.

  If the charging cable is connected to charging cable connection port 103 before the connection of short-range wireless communication is released (YES in step S207), forget charging prevention device 106 connects charging cable connection port 103 to charging cable. A signal indicating that is connected (cable connection signal) is transmitted to the vehicle key 200 by short-range wireless communication (step S208). In this case, the warning control unit 106b does not output an alarm signal, and the operation of the forget-to-charge prevention device 106 ends.

  On the other hand, in the mobile phone 300, after the short-range wireless communication connection with the electric vehicle 100 is established, the separation determination unit 302 maintains the short-range wireless communication connection between the electric vehicle 100 and the mobile phone 300. Whether the cable connection signal from the electric vehicle 100 is received (that is, whether the charging cable is connected to the charging cable connection port 103) (steps S303 and S304). The operations in steps S302 to S304 are repeated until the short-range wireless communication connection is released or the mobile phone 300 receives a cable connection signal.

  If the short-range wireless communication connection is released before the mobile phone 300 receives the cable connection signal (YES in step S302), the separation determination unit 302 determines that the mobile phone 300 It is determined that 300 is out of an area where short-range wireless communication is possible. In that case, the separation determination unit 302 sends an alarm signal to the alarm generation unit 303 to execute a predetermined alarm operation (step S305). At this time, the alarm storage unit 304 stores that the alarm operation has been performed.

  If the cable connection signal is received before the connection of the short-range wireless communication is released (YES in step S304), the operation of the mobile phone 300 is terminated without outputting an alarm signal from the separation determination unit 302. .

  According to the charging system of the present embodiment, an alarm is issued when it is detected that the user has left the electric vehicle 100 with the mobile phone 300 without connecting the charging cable to the charging cable connection port 103. . Therefore, for example, it is possible to prevent an alarm from being issued when the user stays in the vehicle after parking, and to issue an alarm prompting charging at an appropriate timing. Further, if the operation of the mobile phone 300 described above is realized by application software, the mobile phone 300 itself may be a general one and can be realized at a relatively low cost. Moreover, since it can operate | move regardless of a place, it is also possible to prevent forgetting to charge on the go.

<Embodiment 4>
FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram of an electric vehicle charging system according to the fourth embodiment. The charging system includes an electric vehicle 100 and a mobile phone 300 that is a communication terminal device owned by a user of the electric vehicle 100. In the fourth embodiment, the electric vehicle 100 and the mobile phone 300 can perform mutual communication by wireless communication having a relatively wide communication area (for example, a wireless LAN (Local Area Network) or a mobile phone network). It is configured as follows.

  The electric vehicle 100 according to the fourth embodiment is different from the configuration according to the third embodiment in that a wireless communication device 112 that performs wireless communication with a relatively wide communication area is provided in place of the short-range wireless communication device 111 and GPS reception is further performed. The unit 113 and the position information storage unit 114 are provided.

  The GPS receiving unit 113 is a means for acquiring a current position using GPS (Global Positioning System), and the position information storage unit 114 can store the position information acquired by the GPS receiving unit 113. Particularly in the present embodiment, the position information storage unit 114 stores a history of the position of the electric vehicle 100 (charging position history) when the battery 101 is charged.

  On the other hand, the mobile phone 300 is provided with a wireless communication device 305 that communicates with the wireless communication device 112 in place of the short-range wireless communication device 301 with respect to the configuration of the third embodiment, and further includes a GPS receiving unit 306. It is a thing. Here, each of the wireless communication device 112 and the wireless communication device 305 has a function of automatically searching for a communication partner and establishing a communication connection.

  Further, the separation determination unit 106 a of the electric vehicle 100 and the separation determination unit 302 of the vehicle key 200 are the position information acquired by the GPS reception unit 113 of the electric vehicle 100 and the position information acquired by the GPS reception unit 306 of the mobile phone 300. Based on the above, it is configured to determine whether or not the mobile phone 300 and the electric vehicle 100 are separated by a certain distance or more.

  That is, the separation determination unit 106a and the separation determination unit 302 perform the same determination process. However, since the determination process is executed after the electric vehicle 100 is parked, the position information of the electric vehicle 100 is a fixed value in the determination process, and only the position information of the mobile phone 300 varies. Therefore, it is more efficient for the determination process to be performed on the mobile phone 300 side because there is no need to transfer new position information. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the actual determination process is performed only by the separation determination unit 302 of the mobile phone 300, and the separation determination unit 106a of the electric vehicle 100 determines that the mobile phone 300 and the electric vehicle 100 are separated by a certain distance or more. When this is done, a signal (separation signal) indicating the determination result is transmitted.

  Next, the operation of the electric vehicle charging system according to Embodiment 4 will be described. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the operation. The left side of FIG. 8 corresponds to the operation flow of the electric vehicle 100, and the right side corresponds to the operation flow of the mobile phone 300.

  When the user (driver) parks electric vehicle 100 and turns off electric vehicle 100 (YES in step S401), forget charging prevention device 106 starts operating.

  The forget-charging prevention device 106 acquires the position of the electric vehicle 100 at that time (that is, the parking position of the electric vehicle 100) from the GPS receiving unit 113 (step S402). Then, the wireless communication device 112 is controlled to establish a communication connection with the mobile phone 300 (wireless communication device 305), and the link operation between the electric vehicle 100 and the mobile phone 300 is started (steps S403 and S501). At this time, information on the parking position of the electric vehicle 100 is sent to the mobile phone 300.

  Subsequently, the forget-to-charge prevention device 106 refers to the history of the position where the battery 101 is charged (charge position history) stored in the position information storage unit 114, and determines the current parking position of the electric vehicle 100. Is included, and the presence or absence is transmitted to the mobile phone 300 (steps S404 and S502). Subsequently, in the mobile phone 300, measurement of the current position by the GPS receiving unit 306 is started (step S503).

  Thereafter, in the mobile phone 300, the separation determination unit 302 confirms whether or not the signal (cable connection signal) indicating that the charging cable is connected to the charging cable connection port 103 is received from the electric vehicle 100 (step S504). , S505), the information on the current position of the mobile phone 300 is updated (step S506), and compared with the position information (position information on the parking position) of the electric vehicle 100 acquired earlier, the mobile phone 300 and the electric vehicle It is determined whether or not 100 is a certain distance or more (step S507). The operations in steps S504 to S507 are repeated until the mobile phone 300 receives a cable connection signal or until it is determined that the mobile phone 300 and the electric vehicle 100 are separated by a certain distance or more.

  When it is determined that the mobile phone 300 and the electric vehicle 100 are separated from each other by a certain distance before the mobile phone 300 receives the cable connection signal (before the charging cable is connected to the charging cable connection port 103) (in step S507) YES), the separation determination unit 302 transmits a separation signal indicating the determination result to the electric vehicle 100 (step S508).

  Further, the separation determination unit 302 confirms whether or not there is a charging history at the current parking position of the electric vehicle 100 based on the charging history information received in step S502 (step S509). If there is a charging history, an alarm is generated. An alarm signal is transmitted to the unit 303 to cause the alarm generation unit 303 to perform a predetermined alarm operation (step S510). At this time, the alarm storage unit 304 stores that the alarm operation has been performed. Thereafter, the connection by wireless communication is released (step S511), and the operation of the mobile phone 300 ends.

  On the other hand, if mobile phone 300 receives a cable connection signal before it is determined that mobile phone 300 and electric vehicle 100 are separated from each other by a certain distance (YES in step S505), the connection by wireless communication is released (step S512). ), The alarm signal is not output from the separation determination unit 302, and the operation of the mobile phone 300 ends.

  In parallel with the operation of the mobile phone 300 described above, in the forget-to-charge prevention device 106 for the electric vehicle 100, whether the separation determination unit 106a has received a separation signal from the mobile phone 300 (that is, the cellular phone 300 and the electric vehicle 100 are (Steps S405 and S406) while referring to the cable connection information from the charging cable connection detecting device 104 to check whether the charging cable is connected to the charging cable connection port 103 (step S407). , S408). The operations in steps S405 to S408 are repeatedly performed until the charging cable is connected to the charging cable connection port 103 or the electric vehicle 100 receives the separation signal.

  If electric vehicle 100 receives a separation signal before charging cable is connected to charging cable connection port 103 (YES in step S406), separation determination unit 106a causes mobile phone 300 to be separated from electric vehicle 100 by a certain distance or more. Recognize that. In that case, the alarm control unit 106b refers to the charging position history stored in the position information storage unit 114, and checks whether or not there is a charging history at the current parking position of the electric vehicle 100 (step S411). If there is a charging history at this time, a warning signal is transmitted to the illumination 107 and the speaker 108 as a warning generation unit to perform a predetermined warning operation (step S412).

  If the charging cable is connected to charging cable connection port 103 before electric vehicle 100 receives the separation signal (YES in step S408), a signal indicating that the charging cable is connected to charging cable connection port 103 (Cable connection signal) is transmitted to the mobile phone 300 (step S409).

  The fact that the charging cable is connected to the charging cable connection port 103 means that the current parking position of the electric vehicle 100 is a place where charging can be performed. The charging history at the parking position is updated in addition to the charging position history, and is stored in the position information storage unit 114 (step S410). Then, the operation of the forget-to-charge prevention device 106 ends without outputting an alarm signal from the alarm control unit 106b.

  For example, when the vehicle is parked at a place where the electric vehicle 100 is charged for the first time, an alarm is not issued even if the charging operation is not performed. Is added to the charging history information, so that an alarm is issued from the next parking.

  According to the charging system of the present embodiment, an alarm is issued when the user leaves the electric vehicle 100 with the mobile phone 300 without connecting the charging cable to the charging cable connection port 103. Therefore, for example, it is possible to prevent an alarm from being issued when the user stays in the vehicle after parking, and to issue an alarm prompting charging at an appropriate timing. Further, if the operation of the mobile phone 300 described above is realized by application software, the mobile phone 300 itself may be a general one and can be realized at a relatively low cost. Moreover, since it can operate | move regardless of a place, it is also possible to prevent forgetting to charge on the go.

  Furthermore, in the present embodiment, the history of the position where the electric vehicle 100 has been charged (charging position history) is accumulated in the position information storage unit 114 and only when the electric vehicle 100 has been charged in the past. The alarm signal is output from the forget-to-charge prevention device 106 and the alarm generator 303. That is, when the electric vehicle 100 is parked in a place that has not been charged in the past, no warning is issued. Usually, since it is assumed that the electric vehicle 100 is charged at a certain place such as the user's home, an alarm is issued at a place where the user does not intend to charge, and the user is prevented from feeling bothersome.

  In the present embodiment, the parking position of electric vehicle 100 is acquired by GPS receiving unit 113 provided in electric vehicle 100, but may be acquired using GPS receiving unit 306 on mobile phone 300 side. That is, immediately after the electric vehicle 100 is turned off and the mobile phone 300 starts the link operation with the electric vehicle 100, the current position first acquired by the GPS receiver 306 is assumed to be the parking position of the electric vehicle 100. May be. In that case, the separation determination unit 302 determines that the mobile phone 300 and the electric vehicle 100 are at a certain distance based on the position of the mobile phone 300 when the power of the electric vehicle 100 is turned off and the current position of the mobile phone 300. Since it can be determined whether or not the vehicle is away from the above, it is not necessary to use the GPS receiver 113 on the electric vehicle 100 side.

  However, when it takes time until the current position is first acquired after the GPS receiver 306 of the mobile phone 300 starts operating, the user may move with the mobile phone 300 in the meantime. . In that case, it should be noted that the mobile phone 300 cannot accurately obtain the parking position of the electric vehicle 100.

  In this respect, the GPS receiving unit 113 of the electric vehicle 100 can always acquire the correct parking position of the electric vehicle 100 and can quickly acquire the parking position because the current position is continuously updated while traveling. Therefore, it is preferable to use the GPS receiver 113 of the electric vehicle 100 for acquiring the parking position of the electric vehicle 100.

  In the present embodiment, for simplicity of explanation, an alarm is issued regardless of the remaining charge of battery 101. However, as in the first to third embodiments, the remaining charge of battery 101 is predetermined. An alarm may be issued only when the value is less than or equal to the value (that is, steps S102 and S103 of FIG. 2 may be added to the operation flow of FIG. 8).

  In the first to third embodiments, since position acquisition means such as GPS is not used, it is not configured to determine whether or not to perform an alarm operation based on the charging position history information. The technique can also be applied to the first to third embodiments. That is, also in the first to third embodiments, the GPS receiver 113 and the position information storage unit 114 are mounted on the electric vehicle 100, and the charging position history is accumulated in the position information storage unit 114 every time the battery 101 is charged. You may comprise so that alarm operation may be performed only when it is a position which charged the electric vehicle 100 in the past.

  It should be noted that the present invention can be freely combined with each other within the scope of the invention, and each embodiment can be appropriately modified or omitted.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Electric vehicle, 101 Battery, 102 Battery monitoring apparatus, 103 Charging cable connection port, 104 Charging cable connection detection apparatus, 105 Key detection apparatus, 105a Transmission / reception part, 106 Charge forget prevention apparatus, 106a Detachment determination part, 106b Alarm control part, 107 Illumination, 108 Speaker, 109 Locking / Unlocking Device, 110 Alarm Signal Transmitting Device, 111 Short-range Wireless Communication Device, 112 Wireless Communication Device, 113 GPS Reception Unit, 114 Location Information Storage Unit, 200 Vehicle Key, 201 Transmission / Reception Unit 202 Alarm signal receiving device 203 Alarm generation unit 204 Alarm storage unit 300 Mobile phone 301 Short-range wireless communication device 302 Distant determination unit 303 Alarm generation unit 304 Alarm storage unit 305 Wireless communication device 306 GPS Receiver.

Claims (24)

An electric vehicle equipped with a battery,
A portable device having a wireless communication function with the electric vehicle;
A cable connection detection device for detecting that a charging cable used for charging the battery is connected to the electric vehicle;
A separation determination unit that determines whether or not the portable device and the electric vehicle are separated by a certain distance,
An alarm control unit that outputs an alarm signal when the separation determination unit determines that the portable device and the electric vehicle are separated by the predetermined distance or more before the charging cable is connected to the electric vehicle;
An electric vehicle charging system comprising: an alarm generation unit that issues an alarm in response to the alarm signal. The portable device is a vehicle key that locks the door of the electric vehicle when it is separated from the electric vehicle,
The electric vehicle includes a key confirmation device that detects whether the vehicle key is within a predetermined distance from the electric vehicle,
2. The electric vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the separation determination unit determines whether or not the vehicle key and the electric vehicle are separated by a certain distance or more based on a detection result of the vehicle key by the key confirmation device. Charging system. The electric vehicle is
A transmission unit that transmits the warning signal output by the warning control unit to the vehicle key;
The vehicle key is
A receiver for receiving the alarm signal transmitted by the transmitter;
The electric vehicle charging system according to claim 2, further comprising a key side alarm generating unit that issues an alarm when the receiving unit receives the alarm signal. The vehicle key is
The electric vehicle charging system according to claim 3, further comprising an alarm storage unit that stores that the key side alarm generation unit has issued an alarm. The portable device is a communication terminal device owned by a user of the electric vehicle,
The wireless communication is short-range wireless communication,
The separation determination unit determines whether or not the communication terminal device and the electric vehicle are separated by a certain distance or more depending on whether or not the communication terminal device and the electric vehicle can be connected by the short-range wireless communication. The electric vehicle charging system according to claim 1. The portable device is a communication terminal device owned by a user of the electric vehicle,
Each of the electric vehicle and the communication terminal device includes a position acquisition unit that acquires a current position.
The separation determination unit is configured such that the communication terminal device and the electric vehicle are separated by a predetermined distance or more based on the position acquired by the position acquisition unit of the communication terminal device and the position acquired by the position acquisition unit of the electric vehicle. The electric vehicle charging system according to claim 1, wherein it is determined whether or not the vehicle has been operated. The portable device is a communication terminal device owned by a user of the electric vehicle,
The communication terminal device includes a position acquisition unit that acquires a current position,
The separation determination unit is configured to determine whether the communication terminal device and the electric vehicle are constant based on the position of the communication terminal device when the power of the electric vehicle is turned off and the current position of the communication terminal device. The electric vehicle charging system according to claim 1, wherein it is determined whether or not a distance is exceeded. The electric vehicle according to any one of claims 5 to 7, wherein the separation determination unit, the alarm control unit, and the alarm generation unit are mounted on at least one of the electric vehicle and the communication terminal device. Charging system. The electric vehicle charging system according to claim 8, wherein the communication terminal device includes the alarm generation unit, and further includes an alarm storage unit that stores that the alarm generation unit has issued an alarm. The electric vehicle charging system according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the separation determination unit starts an operation after a power source of the electric vehicle is turned off. The electric vehicle charging system according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the alarm generation unit outputs the alarm using any one of an illumination device and an audio output device of the electric vehicle. The electric vehicle charging system according to claim 11, wherein the alarm issued from the voice output device includes a voice message. The electric vehicle charging system according to any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein the alarm control unit outputs the alarm signal only when a remaining charge amount of the battery is equal to or less than a predetermined value. The electric vehicle is
A charge position storage unit for acquiring and storing the position of the electric vehicle when the battery is charged;
The electric vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 13, wherein the alarm control unit outputs the alarm signal only when the position of the electric vehicle is a position where the battery has been charged in the past. Charging system. A cable connection detection device for detecting that a charging cable used for charging a battery is connected to an electric vehicle;
A separation determination unit that determines whether a predetermined portable device and the electric vehicle are separated by a certain distance or more,
An alarm control unit that outputs an alarm signal when the separation determination unit determines that the portable device and the electric vehicle are separated by the predetermined distance or more before the charging cable is connected to the electric vehicle;
An in-vehicle alarm device comprising: an alarm generation unit that issues an alarm in response to the alarm signal. The portable device is a vehicle key that locks the door of the electric vehicle when it is separated from the electric vehicle,
The electric vehicle includes a key confirmation device that detects whether the vehicle key is within a predetermined distance from the electric vehicle,
The on-vehicle alarm according to claim 15, wherein the separation determination unit determines whether or not the vehicle key and the electric vehicle are separated by a certain distance or more based on a detection result of the vehicle key by the key confirmation device. apparatus. The portable device is a communication terminal device owned by a user of the electric vehicle,
The wireless communication is short-range wireless communication,
The separation determination unit determines whether or not the communication terminal device and the electric vehicle are separated by a certain distance or more depending on whether or not the communication terminal device and the electric vehicle can be connected by the short-range wireless communication. The in-vehicle alarm device according to claim 15. The portable device is a communication terminal device owned by a user of the electric vehicle,
Each of the electric vehicle and the communication terminal device includes a position acquisition unit that acquires a current position.
The separation determination unit is configured such that the communication terminal device and the electric vehicle are separated by a predetermined distance or more based on the position acquired by the position acquisition unit of the communication terminal device and the position acquired by the position acquisition unit of the electric vehicle. The in-vehicle alarm device according to claim 15, wherein it is determined whether or not the vehicle is on. The portable device is a communication terminal device owned by a user of the electric vehicle,
The communication terminal device includes a position acquisition unit that acquires a current position,
The separation determination unit is configured to determine whether the communication terminal device and the electric vehicle are constant based on the position of the communication terminal device when the power of the electric vehicle is turned off and the current position of the communication terminal device. The in-vehicle alarm device according to claim 15, wherein it is determined whether or not the distance is greater than a distance. The on-vehicle alarm device according to any one of claims 15 to 19, wherein the separation determination unit starts to operate after the electric vehicle is powered off. The on-vehicle alarm device according to any one of claims 15 to 20, wherein the alarm generation unit outputs the alarm using one of an illumination device and an audio output device of the electric vehicle. The in-vehicle alarm device according to claim 21, wherein the alarm issued from the audio output device includes an audio message. The on-vehicle alarm device according to any one of claims 15 to 22, wherein the alarm control unit outputs the alarm signal only when a remaining charge of the battery is equal to or less than a predetermined value. A charge position storage unit for acquiring and storing the position of the electric vehicle when the battery is charged;
The on-vehicle alarm according to any one of claims 15 to 23, wherein the alarm control unit outputs the alarm signal only when the position of the electric vehicle is a position where the battery has been charged in the past. apparatus.

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