CHARGING CONTROL APPARATUS FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLE

• US 20130231818A1
• Filed: 11/02/2011
• Published: 09/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Jidosha Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Jidosha Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
• Inventors: Saito, Jun
• Granted Patent: US 8,880,264 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/22
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2210/10 DC to DC converters
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2210/30 AC to DC converters
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/547 Voltage
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2250/16 by display
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 50/51 characterised by AC-motors
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/11 DC charging controlled by the charging station, e.g. mode 4
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/14 Conductive energy transfer
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/64 Optimising energy costs, e.g. responding to electricity rates
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/15 Preventing overcharging
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/20 having different nominal voltages
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/44 Methods for charging or discharging circuits for charging H02J7/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/48 Accumulators combined with arrangements for measuring, testing or indicating the condition of cells, e.g. the level or density of the electrolyte constructional details of current conducting connections for detecting conditions inside cells or batteries, e.g. details of voltage sensing terminals, H01M50/569
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/10 Energy storage using batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/70 Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/7072 Electromobility specific charging systems or methods for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/72 Electric energy management in electromobility
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/12 Electric charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/14 Plug-in electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/167 Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies for supporting the interoperability of electric or hybrid vehicles, i.e. smartgrids as interface for battery charging of electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV]
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 30/14 Details associated with the interoperability, e.g. vehicle recognition, authentication, identification or billing

Abstract

A charging control apparatus for an electric vehicle comprises: a charging efficiency computation device 21 for computing the charging efficiency of a driving battery 2; a charging rate computation device 22 for computing the charging rate of the driving battery 2; and a switching device 25 for switching, in response to a request from a user of the vehicle, between a first charging mode in which the charger 7 is controlled based on the charging efficiency to charge the driving battery 2, and a second charging mode in which the charger 7 is controlled based on the charging rate to charge the driving battery 2.

Claims

1. A charging control apparatus for an electric vehicle in which a driving battery loaded on the vehicle is charged by power supplied from an external power supply via a charger, comprising:

a charging efficiency computation device that computes a charging efficiency of the driving battery;

a charging rate computation device that computes a charging rate of the driving battery; and

a switching device that switches, in response to a request from a user of the vehicle, between a first charging mode in which the charger is controlled based on the charging efficiency to charge the driving battery, and a second charging mode in which the charger is controlled based on the charging rate to charge the driving battery.

2. The charging control apparatus for an electric vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising

a first determination device that determines whether or not the charging efficiency of the driving battery computed by the charging efficiency computation device is lower than a predetermined value,

wherein if the first charging mode is selected by the switching device, and if it is determined by the first determination device that the charging efficiency is lower than the predetermined value, then the charger is controlled to stop charging of the driving battery.

3. The charging control apparatus for an electric vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising

a charger-supplied power computation device that computes power supplied from the external power supply to the charger, and

a battery-supplied power computation device that computes power supplied from the charger to the driving battery,

wherein the charging efficiency computation device computes the charging efficiency based on results of computations by the charger-supplied power computation device and the battery-supplied power computation device.

4. The charging control apparatus for an electric vehicle according to claim 3, wherein

the charging efficiency computation device sets a value, which has been obtained by dividing the power supplied from the charger to the driving battery by the power supplied from the external power supply to the charger, as the charging efficiency.

5. The charging control apparatus for an electric vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising

a second determination device that determines whether or not the charging rate of the driving battery computed by the charging rate computation device has reached a predetermined value,

wherein if the second charging mode is selected by the switching device, and if it is determined by the second determination device that the charging rate has reached the predetermined value, then the charger is controlled to stop charging of the driving battery.

6. The charging control apparatus for an electric vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising

a charging state display device that allows a display unit provided in the vehicle to display a charging state of the driving battery,

wherein the charging state display device allows the display unit to display at least the charging efficiency as the charging state.

7. The charging control apparatus for an electric vehicle according to claim 6, wherein

the charging state display device allows the display unit to display the charging rate as well as the charging efficiency as the charging state.

8. The charging control apparatus for an electric vehicle according to claim 6, wherein

the charging state display device allows the display unit to display a degree of the charging efficiency as a height of a segment.

9. The charging control apparatus for an electric vehicle according to claim 6, wherein

the charging state display device allows the display unit to display a change in the charging efficiency as a change in a color of the segment.

10. The charging control apparatus for an electric vehicle according to claim 2, further comprising

a charger-supplied power computation device that computes power supplied from the external power supply to the charger, and

a battery-supplied power computation device that computes power supplied from the charger to the driving battery,

wherein the charging efficiency computation device computes the charging efficiency based on results of computations by the charger-supplied power computation device and the battery-supplied power computation device.

11. The charging control apparatus for an electric vehicle according to claim 2, further comprising

a second determination device that determines whether or not the charging rate of the driving battery computed by the charging rate computation device has reached a predetermined value,

wherein if the second charging mode is selected by the switching device, and if it is determined by the second determination device that the charging rate has reached the predetermined value, then the charger is controlled to stop charging of the driving battery.

12. The charging control apparatus for an electric vehicle according to claim 3, further comprising

a second determination device that determines whether or not the charging rate of the driving battery computed by the charging rate computation device has reached a predetermined value,

wherein if the second charging mode is selected by the switching device, and if it is determined by the second determination device that the charging rate has reached the predetermined value, then the charger is controlled to stop charging of the driving battery.

13. The charging control apparatus for an electric vehicle according to claim 4, further comprising

a second determination device that determines whether or not the charging rate of the driving battery computed by the charging rate computation device has reached a predetermined value,

wherein if the second charging mode is selected by the switching device, and if it is determined by the second determination device that the charging rate has reached the predetermined value, then the charger is controlled to stop charging of the driving battery.

14. The charging control apparatus for an electric vehicle according to claim 2, further comprising

a charging state display device that allows a display unit provided in the vehicle to display a charging state of the driving battery,

wherein the charging state display device allows the display unit to display at least the charging efficiency as the charging state.

15. The charging control apparatus for an electric vehicle according to claim 3, further comprising

a charging state display device that allows a display unit provided in the vehicle to display a charging state of the driving battery,

wherein the charging state display device allows the display unit to display at least the charging efficiency as the charging state.

16. The charging control apparatus for an electric vehicle according to claim 4, further comprising

a charging state display device that allows a display unit provided in the vehicle to display a charging state of the driving battery,

wherein the charging state display device allows the display unit to display at least the charging efficiency as the charging state.

17. The charging control apparatus for an electric vehicle according to claim 5, further comprising

a charging state display device that allows a display unit provided in the vehicle to display a charging state of the driving battery,

wherein the charging state display device allows the display unit to display at least the charging efficiency as the charging state.

18. The charging control apparatus for an electric vehicle according to claim 7, wherein

the charging state display device allows the display unit to display a degree of the charging efficiency as a height of a segment.

19. The charging control apparatus for an electric vehicle according to claim 7, wherein

the charging state display device allows the display unit to display a change in the charging efficiency as a change in a color of the segment.