JP5691869B2 - Vehicle display device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a display device for a vehicle, and more particularly to a display device for a vehicle having a function of charging an in-vehicle battery with electric power obtained by regenerating the travel energy of the vehicle.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a technique for charging an in-vehicle battery with electric power obtained by regenerating vehicle travel energy is known. According to this technique, the electric power obtained by regeneration can be used for vehicle travel or used for in-vehicle electric device driving. As a result, a decrease in the in-vehicle battery remaining amount can be delayed and the cruising distance of the vehicle can be extended. Here, in such a vehicle, Patent Document 1 describes a display device for a vehicle that displays a charge amount when charging an in-vehicle battery with electric power obtained by regeneration.

JP 2009-35049 A

  However, the display apparatus for vehicles of patent document 1 only displays the charge amount to a vehicle-mounted battery, and does not give sufficient motivation to increase the charge amount to a user (driver). . Therefore, the user may not always try to execute an operation pattern for further increasing the charge amount by visually recognizing the display on the display device. As a result, the remaining amount of the in-vehicle battery decreases rapidly, and it is impossible to expect a sufficient extension of the cruising distance.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is for a vehicle that can extend the cruising distance of a vehicle that charges an in-vehicle battery with electric power obtained by regenerating the traveling energy of the vehicle. It is to provide a display device.

To achieve the above object, a first aspect of the invention, the charging amount obtaining periodically acquiring the charge amount for the power that will be charged per unit time in the vehicle-mounted battery obtained by regenerating running energy of the vehicle Means,
Storage means for storing the maximum charge amount that has the maximum value among the charge amounts acquired by the charge amount acquisition means;
Display means for displaying the charge amount acquired by the charge amount acquisition means and the maximum charge amount stored in the storage means;
Each time the charge amount is acquired by the charge amount acquisition unit, the display unit displays the acquired charge amount, and the display control unit displays the maximum charge amount stored in the storage unit on the same display unit. It is characterized by that.

  According to the present invention, the display control means causes the display means to display the charge amount periodically acquired by the charge amount acquisition means, so that the charge amount that changes from moment to moment is displayed on the display means. . For this reason, the user who visually recognizes the display can grasp the temporal change in the charge amount of the power to the in-vehicle battery. Further, in the present invention, the display control means causes the display means to display the maximum charge amount stored in the storage means and having the maximum value among the acquired charge amounts. Thereby, in addition to the charging amount that changes every moment, the maximum charging amount is displayed on the display means. Here, when a target is set, a human being has a habit of actively acting on the target. The present invention utilizes the habits of this human being. Thus, when the maximum charge amount is displayed on the display means in addition to the charge amount that changes from moment to moment, the maximum charge amount is visually recognized. The user actively acts to execute an operation pattern in which this value is regarded as a target value and the charging amount that changes from time to time approaches the maximum charging amount. As a result, a decrease in the remaining amount of the in-vehicle battery is suppressed, and the cruising distance of the vehicle is extended.

  In the invention of claim 2, the storage means compares the amount of charge acquired this time with the maximum amount of charge stored in the storage means every time the amount of charge is acquired by the charge amount acquisition means, and as a result, If the charge amount acquired this time is less than or equal to the stored maximum charge amount, the already stored maximum charge amount is maintained, and if the charge amount acquired this time is greater than the already stored maximum charge amount, this time The acquired charge amount is stored as a new maximum charge amount.

  According to this invention, whenever the charge amount is acquired by the charge amount acquisition means, the storage means compares the charge amount acquired this time with the maximum charge amount stored by the storage means. As a result of the comparison, if the maximum charge amount is larger than the current charge amount, the maximum charge amount is maintained.If the current charge amount is larger than the maximum charge amount, the current charge amount is newly set. Memorize as charge amount. Thus, since the maximum charge amount is stored by the storage means, the latest maximum charge amount is stored. As a result, the maximum charge amount having the largest value among the acquired charge amounts is displayed on the display means.

The invention of claim 3 is characterized in that the display control means keeps the maximum charge amount displayed on the display means when the main switch is in the ON position in the vehicle.

According to the present invention, the maximum charging amount is always displayed on the display means when the main switch is in the ON position in the vehicle. Therefore, when the user who visually recognizes the maximum charge amount is aware of a drive pattern that approaches the maximum charge amount when the main switch is in the ON position in the vehicle , the frequency of the drive pattern increases. Therefore, a reduction in the remaining amount of the on-vehicle battery can be further suppressed.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the electric vehicle containing the display apparatus by 1st Embodiment. The display example of the indicator of the display apparatus by 1st Embodiment is shown, (a) is a figure which shows the example of a display which displays charge amount, (b) is the example of a display which displays discharge amount. FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the display process of the amount of charging / discharging to the indicator of the display apparatus by 1st Embodiment. The example of a display of the indicator of the display device by a 1st embodiment is shown, and (a) is from the maximum charge amount by which the charge amount acquired this time is memorized when the maximum charge amount is not memorized in RAM. (B) is a diagram showing a display example when the amount of charge acquired this time is equal to or less than the stored maximum amount of charge.

(First embodiment)
A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an electric vehicle 10 including a display device 12 according to the first embodiment.

  The electric vehicle 10 includes a motor generator 14 having a function of causing the electric vehicle 10 to travel by rotating an axle (not shown) and a function of regenerating the driving energy of the electric vehicle 10 and converting it into electric power. The motor generator 14 is driven by electric power from a battery 16 connected to the motor generator 14. The electric power generated by the motor generator 14 is charged in the battery 16. The battery 16 is an assembled battery in which a plurality of batteries such as a lithium ion battery and a nickel metal hydride battery are connected in series and parallel.

  The controller 20 connected to the battery 16 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 20a that executes arithmetic processing, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 20b that stores processing programs, and a RAM (Random) that temporarily stores processing data. (Access Memory) 20c and a microcomputer including various input / output interfaces. In particular, the RAM 20c of the controller 20 stores the maximum charge amount having the largest value among the charge amounts of power to the battery 16 detected within one traveling period. In the present embodiment, one traveling period is a period from when the user switches the main switch 26 (described later) to the ON position in order to drive the electric vehicle 10 to when the main switch 26 is set to the OFF position.

  When the electric vehicle 10 travels, the controller 20 controls an inverter (not shown) based on various information input via the interface to control the rotation speed and torque of the motor generator 14. Furthermore, the controller 20 controls the display drive circuit 22 to control the display screen of the display 24 described later.

  Connected to the controller 20 are a display drive circuit 22, a main switch 26, an operation unit 28, a battery sensor 18 that detects a charge / discharge amount of the battery 16, and the like. The battery sensor 18 periodically detects the amount of charge and the amount of discharge per unit time of the battery 16 using the voltage value and the current value detected by the voltage sensor and the current sensor, and calculates the amount of charge and the amount of discharge. Each time it is detected, it is output to the controller 20. The charge amount and discharge amount per unit time are input to the controller 20 via the input / output interface, and the controller 20 acquires the charge amount and the discharge amount. Hereinafter, the charge amount and the discharge amount per unit time are simply referred to as the charge amount and the discharge amount, respectively.

  Here, the controller 20 stores the maximum charge amount having the largest value among the acquired charge amounts in the RAM 20c of the controller 20. Specifically, when the controller 20 acquires the charge amount from the battery sensor 18, the controller 20 compares the maximum charge amount already stored in the RAM 20c with the currently acquired charge amount. As a result, if the already stored maximum charge amount is larger than the currently acquired charge amount, the controller 20 stores the already stored maximum charge amount in the RAM 20c as it is. On the other hand, if the currently acquired charge amount is larger than the already stored maximum charge amount, the controller 20 changes the currently acquired charge amount to the already stored maximum charge amount and sets a new maximum charge amount. Is stored in the RAM 20c. When the main switch 26 is in the OFF position, the maximum charge amount stored in the RAM 20c is deleted. In this case, immediately after the start of the predetermined period, that is, immediately after the main switch 26 enters the ON position, since the maximum charge amount is not stored in the RAM 20c, the controller 20 determines the charge amount acquired first as the maximum charge amount. Is stored in the RAM 20c.

  The main switch 26 is closed when operated to the ON position. After that, when the main switch 26 is operated to the OFF position, the circuit is opened and the electric vehicle 10 stops. The operation unit 28 includes, for example, a reset switch and outputs a signal corresponding to the operation content of the user's reset switch to the controller 20. For example, the maximum charge amount stored in the RAM 20c is reset by turning on the reset switch of the operation unit 28 even during one running period. That is, according to the operation of the reset switch, the storage period of the maximum charge amount stored in the RAM 20c can be freely set. The display drive circuit 22 displays the charge / discharge amount for the battery 16 periodically input from the battery sensor 18 on the display 24 in accordance with the display command from the controller 20, and the maximum charge amount stored in the RAM 20c. The data is displayed on the display 24.

  The indicator 24 is a liquid crystal display installed in, for example, a combination meter disposed on an instrument panel in the vehicle interior. As shown in FIG. 2, the liquid crystal display displays a charge amount or a discharge amount and a maximum charge amount by a bar graph, and has a plurality of segment electrodes arranged in a line. When the segment electrode is driven in accordance with a display command from the display drive circuit 22, the charge amount or discharge amount that changes every moment and the maximum charge amount are displayed on the display 24.

  FIG. 2 shows a display example of the charge / discharge amount of the display 24. 2A shows a state where the battery 16 is charged with electric power, and FIG. 2B shows a state where the battery 16 is discharged with electric power. As shown in FIG. 2A, the charge amount is displayed on the left side of the reference segment with the segment at the center of the screen of the display 24 as a reference. The larger the charge amount, the more segments to drive and the longer the graph. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 2B, the discharge amount is displayed on the right side of the reference segment with the segment at the center of the screen of the display 24 as a reference. The larger the discharge amount, the greater the number of segments to be driven, and the longer the graph. In addition, as shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, the segment corresponding to the maximum charge amount within a predetermined period is driven.

  Next, a display control flow when the controller 20 displays the charge amount or the discharge amount and the maximum charge amount on the display 24 will be described based on the flowchart of FIG.

  This display control flow is executed when the main switch 26 is turned on or when the reset switch of the operation unit 28 is turned on. This display control flow is repeatedly executed until the main switch 26 is in the OFF position.

  In step S10, the detection result from the battery sensor 18 is acquired. In step S20, it is determined whether the acquired detection result is a charge amount or a discharge amount. If it is determined in step S20 that the acquired amount is the discharge amount, the process proceeds to step S30. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S20 that the acquired amount is the charge amount, the process proceeds to step S40.

  In step S30, a display command signal for driving the number of segment electrodes corresponding to the magnitude of the discharge amount acquired this time is output to the display drive circuit 22, and the discharge amount acquired this time is displayed on the display 24. Thereby, as shown in FIG.2 (b), the display 24 displays the bar graph according to the discharge amount acquired this time. After step S30 is executed, the process proceeds to step S130 to determine whether or not the main switch 26 is in the OFF position. In step S130, if the main switch 26 is not in the OFF position, the process returns to step S10. If the main switch 26 is in the OFF position, the process proceeds to step S140, and the maximum charge amount stored in the RAM 20c of the controller 20 is reached. Is deleted, and this display control flow is terminated.

  In step S40, a display command signal for driving the number of segment electrodes corresponding to the magnitude of the charge amount acquired this time is output to the display drive circuit 22, and the charge amount acquired this time is displayed on the display 24. Thereby, as shown in FIG. 2A, a bar graph corresponding to the amount of charge acquired this time is displayed on the display 24.

  In a succeeding step S50, it is determined whether or not the maximum charge amount is stored in the RAM 20c of the controller 20. If it is determined in step S50 that the maximum charge amount is not stored in the RAM 20c, the process proceeds to step S60. If it is determined that the maximum charge amount is stored in the RAM 20c, the process proceeds to step S80.

  In step S60, the value of the charge amount acquired this time is stored in the RAM 20c as the maximum charge amount. In the next step S70, the maximum charge amount stored in the RAM 20c is displayed on the display 24. In this case, since the amount of charge acquired this time is the same value as the maximum amount of charge, the display on the display 24 seems to display only the amount of charge acquired this time as shown in FIG. Display. After step S70 is executed, the process proceeds to step S130, where it is determined whether or not the main switch 26 is in the OFF position. In step S130, if the main switch 26 is not in the OFF position, the process returns to step S10. If the main switch 26 is in the OFF position, the process proceeds to step S140, and the maximum charge amount stored in the RAM 20c of the controller 20 is reached. Is deleted, and this display control flow is terminated.

  An affirmative determination is made in the determination process of step S50, and in step S80 to be executed thereafter, it is determined whether or not the amount of charge acquired this time is larger than the maximum amount of charge stored in the RAM 20c. In the determination process of step S80, if the amount of charge acquired this time is larger than the maximum amount of charge stored in the RAM 20c, the process proceeds to step S90, and the amount of charge acquired this time is less than or equal to the maximum amount of charge stored in the RAM 20c. If so, the process proceeds to step S110.

  In the determination process of step S80, an affirmative determination is made, and in step S90 executed thereafter, the previous maximum charge amount is deleted, and the charge amount acquired this time is stored in the RAM 20c as a new maximum charge amount. In subsequent step S100, the maximum charge amount stored in the RAM 20c is displayed on the display 24. In this case, since the amount of charge acquired this time is the same value as the maximum amount of charge, as in the case of step S70, the display on the display 24 shows the charge acquired this time as shown in FIG. The display is such that only the amount is displayed. After step S100 is executed, the process proceeds to step S130, where it is determined whether or not the main switch 26 is in the OFF position. In step S130, if the main switch 26 is not in the OFF position, the process returns to step S10. If the main switch 26 is in the OFF position, the process proceeds to step S140, and the maximum charge amount stored in the RAM 20c of the controller 20 is reached. Is deleted, and this display control flow is terminated.

  In the determination process of step S80, a negative determination is made, and in step S110 executed thereafter, the maximum charge amount already stored in the RAM 20c is maintained. Subsequently, in step S120, the maximum charge amount stored in the RAM 20c is displayed on the display 24. In this case, since the maximum charge amount is a value larger than the charge amount acquired this time, the display on the display 24 shows the charge amount acquired this time and the charge amount as shown in FIG. The maximum charge amount is displayed at a position spaced from the left end to the left side. After step S120 is executed, the process proceeds to step S130, where it is determined whether or not the main switch 26 is in the OFF position. In step S130, if the main switch 26 is not in the OFF position, the process returns to step S10. If the main switch 26 is in the OFF position, the process proceeds to step S140, and the maximum charge amount stored in the RAM 20c of the controller 20 is reached. Is deleted, and this display control flow is terminated.

  By executing the display control flow described above, the display 24 has a charge amount that is periodically acquired and changed every moment by executing step S40 after the main switch 26 is turned on. In addition to being displayed, the maximum charge amount is displayed by executing step S70, S100 or S120 (see FIGS. 4A and 4B).

  Here, when a target is set, a human being has a habit of actively acting on the target. In this embodiment, this human behavior is used. As described above, when the maximum charge amount is displayed on the display 24 in addition to the charge amount that changes every moment, the maximum charge amount is visually recognized. The user actively acts to execute an operation pattern in which this value is regarded as a target value and the charging amount that changes from time to time approaches the maximum charging amount. As a result, a decrease in the remaining amount of the battery 16 is suppressed, and the cruising distance of the electric vehicle 10 is extended.

  In this embodiment, the index that the user sets as the target value is the maximum charge amount. Since the maximum charge amount uses a charge amount periodically acquired from the battery sensor 18, it is not necessary to calculate a target value to be displayed on the display 24 by another means. Therefore, by displaying the maximum charge amount on the display 24, it is possible to suppress complication of the configuration of the display device 12 while suppressing a decrease in the remaining amount of the battery 16.

  In the present embodiment, as described in the above display control flow, the maximum charge amount stored in the RAM 20c is the current charge amount acquired by the controller 20 and the maximum charge amount stored in the RAM 20c. As a result, if the amount of charge acquired this time is less than or equal to the maximum amount of charge stored in the RAM 20c, the stored maximum amount of charge is maintained and the amount of charge acquired this time is stored. If larger than this, the amount of charge acquired this time is stored in the RAM 20c as a new maximum amount of charge. Since the maximum charge amount is stored in the RAM 20c in this way, the latest maximum charge amount is stored in the RAM 20c. As a result, the display unit 24 displays the maximum charge amount having the largest value among the acquired charge amounts.

Furthermore, according to the present embodiment, the maximum charge amount displayed on the display 24 is displayed until this display control flow ends. That is, the maximum charge amount is displayed on the display 24 when the main switch 26 is in the ON position in the electric vehicle 10. Therefore, the user who visually recognizes the maximum charge amount is aware of a drive pattern that approaches the maximum charge amount when the main switch 26 is in the ON position in the electric vehicle 10 , and therefore the frequency of the drive pattern is high. Get higher. Therefore, the remaining amount of the battery 16 can be further suppressed.

  In this embodiment, the period in which the maximum charge amount is stored in the RAM 20c has been described as one traveling period, but this period can be changed as appropriate. For example, a period from when the reset switch of the operation unit 28 is turned on to when the main switch 26 is in the OFF position may be used. In this case, when the reset switch is turned on, the controller 20 erases the maximum charge amount that has been stored in the RAM 20c so far. In addition, the above period may be a period from when the battery 16 is charged with power from the outside to become fully charged until the next charging is started. In this case, even if the electric vehicle 10 is stopped and the main switch 26 is turned to the OFF position, the controller 20 does not erase the maximum charge amount stored in the RAM 20c. Further, the above period may be a period that starts after the electric vehicle 10 is shipped. Also in this case, even if the main switch 26 is in the OFF position, the controller 20 does not erase the maximum charge amount stored in the RAM 20c. Further, the period may be determined by distance or may be determined by time.

Further, in the present embodiment, the operator displays an indication of the charge amount and the maximum charge amount in the bar graph. According to such a display, the user can intuitively grasp how far the maximum charge amount is from the charge amount as compared with the case where the charge amount and the maximum charge amount are displayed numerically.

  In the above description, the controller 20 that executes step S10 corresponds to the “charge amount acquisition unit” recited in the claims, and the controller 20 that executes steps S60, S80, S90, and S110 is recited in the claims. The controller 20 that executes steps S40, S70, S100, and S120 corresponds to the “display control means” described in the claims, and the display 24 is described in the claims. It corresponds to “display means”.

(Other embodiments)
Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not construed as being limited to the embodiment, and can be applied to various embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention.

Previous display 24 in the embodiment of the charge amount or the discharge amount by bar graph, and displays the maximum charge amount, may be adopted another date forms. For example, the charging amount or discharging amount and the maximum charging amount are indicated by a pointer rotating on the dial. In this case, in order to display the maximum charge amount, a structure as indicated by a guideline different from the guideline indicating the charge amount and the discharge amount may be employed. Various forms of displaying the charge amount or discharge amount and the maximum charge amount other than those based on the bar graph and the pointer are conceivable. For example, the charge amount or discharge amount, and the maximum charge amount may be displayed by numerical values. Moreover, you may make it display combining the display form mentioned above.

  In the previous embodiment, a liquid crystal display in which segment electrodes are arranged in a line is used as the display 24. However, the form of the display 24 is not limited to this. For example, a dot matrix type liquid crystal display may be used.

  In the previous embodiment, the vehicle on which the display device 12 is mounted has been described as the electric vehicle 10. However, if the battery 16 is charged with the electric power obtained by regenerating the travel energy of the vehicle, the type of the vehicle is It doesn't matter. For example, it may be a so-called hybrid vehicle in which an internal combustion engine that generates power by burning fuel and a motor generator for traveling are mounted. Further, it may be a fuel cell vehicle that uses electric power generated by the fuel cell as energy for traveling.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Electric vehicle, 12 Display apparatus, 14 Motor generator, 16 Battery, 18 Battery sensor, 20 Controller, 20a CPU, 20b ROM, 20c RAM, 22 Display drive circuit, 24 Display, 26 Main switch, 28 Operation part

Claims (3)

A charge amount acquisition means for acquiring periodically charge amount of the power that will be charged per unit time in the vehicle-mounted battery obtained by regenerating running energy of the vehicle,
Storage means for storing a maximum charge amount having a maximum value among the charge amounts acquired by the charge amount acquisition means;
Display means for displaying the charge amount acquired by the charge amount acquisition means and the maximum charge amount stored in the storage means;
Display control means for displaying the acquired charge amount on the display means and displaying the maximum charge amount stored in the storage means on the same display means each time the charge amount is acquired by the charge amount acquisition means. And a vehicle display device.   Whenever the charge amount is acquired by the charge amount acquisition means, the storage means compares the charge amount acquired this time with the maximum charge amount stored by the storage means, and as a result, the charge acquired this time If the amount is equal to or less than the stored maximum charge amount, the already stored maximum charge amount is maintained, and if the currently acquired charge amount is greater than the already stored maximum charge amount, the currently acquired charge amount The vehicle display device according to claim 1, wherein a new maximum charge amount is stored. The vehicle display device according to claim 1, wherein the display control unit keeps the maximum charge amount displayed on the display unit when the main switch is in the ON position in the vehicle.

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