Charge/discharge control apparatus

• US 8,330,415 B2
• Filed: 08/14/2009
• Issued: 12/11/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Sato, Yasuo, Matsuzaki, Takao, Watanabe, Masahiro, Tomita, Yasushi
• Primary Examiner(s): Ramadan, Ramy
• Application Number:
  US12/541,198
• Publication Number:
  US 20100076825A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,215 Days
• Field of Search: 320/109
• US Class Current: 320/109
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2260/56 Temperature prediction, e.g. for pre-cooling
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 3/12 Recording operating variables ; Monitoring of operating variables
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/14 Conductive energy transfer
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/305 Communication interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/60 Monitoring or controlling charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/64 Optimising energy costs, e.g. responding to electricity rates
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/65 involving identification of vehicles or their battery types
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/665 Methods related to measuring, billing or payment
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 55/00 Arrangements for supplying energy stored within a vehicle to a power network, i.e. vehicle-to-grid [V2G] arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/48 for electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV]
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/322 the battery being on-board an electric or hybrid vehicle, e.g. vehicle to grid arrangements [V2G], power aggregation, use of the battery for network load balancing, coordinated or cooperative battery charging
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/00 Enabling technologies; Technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to GHG emissions mitigation
• 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 90/12 Electric charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/14 Plug-in electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/16 Information or communication technologies improving the operation of 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 10/126 : the energy generation units being or involving electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV], i.e. power aggregation of EV or HEV, vehicle to grid arrangements [V2G]
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 30/14 : Details associated with the interoperability, e.g. vehicle recognition, authentication, identification or billing

Abstract

A charge/discharge control apparatus includes: a charge/discharge reward information receiving unit for receiving charge/discharge reward information representing a reward given to a charge/discharge action of a customer and a restriction in conducting a charging/discharging from a charge management central server; a computing unit for creating a charge/discharge plan including a total charging quantity in a time zone and an estimated use start time of an electric vehicle such that a reward is maximized, based on the charge/discharge reward information; a charge/discharge instruction transmitting unit for instructing the electric vehicle to start or finish a charging/discharging according to the charge/discharge plan; a charge/discharge quantity monitoring unit for monitoring the charging/discharging; and a charge/discharge results transmitting unit for transmitting results of monitored charging/discharging including contents of the conducted charging/discharging and individual identification information for identifying itself, to a charge management central server.

Claims

1. A charge/discharge control apparatus for monitoring and controlling a charging of one or more electric power installations, comprising:

a memory unit that;

receives, out of charge/discharge reward information which specifies rewards which are set by region for each prescribed time zone such that a user of the electric power installation can enjoy a reward by performing an action of the charging to the electric power installation and restrictions which are set by region for each prescribed time zone on conducting the charging of the electric power installation, at least a reward and a restriction in a region corresponding to a charging position where a charging is conducted, from an external computer, and

memorizes the at least the reward and the restriction, together with individual identification information for identifying the charge/discharge control apparatus itself; and

a control unit that provides controls of;

creating a charge/discharge plan covering from a start to an end of a charging of an electric power installation by a user, based on the charge/discharge reward information, such that the reward is maximized, according to the region corresponding to the charging position, the restriction according to the region corresponding to the charging position is satisfied, and the charging is completed before a usage start time of the electric power installation by the user,

instructing the electric power installation to start or finish a charging according to the created charge/discharge plan,

monitoring the charging conducted to the electric power installation, and

transmitting results of the charging including contents of the conducted charging and the individual identification information, to the external computer.

2. The charge/discharge control apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the memory unit memorizes history information including a charging quantity or a discharging quantity of a charging or a discharging conducted for the electric power installation on a daily basis, and

wherein the control unit computes an average value of the charging quantities or the discharging quantities for a prescribed number of days included in the history information, and creates the charge/discharge plan of the following day using the computed average value.

3. The charge/discharge control apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the electric power installation is a charging type mobile vehicle, is connected to a switch of a charging plug for use in a charging of the charging type mobile vehicle as an output destination in the instruction, is also connected to a voltmeter for measuring a power quantity passing the charging plug in the monitoring, and is mounted in a charging installation for providing a charging service to the charging type mobile vehicle.

4. The charge/discharge control apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the control unit receives from a unit into which vehicle identification information for identifying the charging type mobile vehicle is inputted, the vehicle identification information and creates the charge/discharge plan for the identified charging type mobile vehicle.

5. The charge/discharge control apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the control unit transmits the vehicle identification information to an external computer and receives, from the external computer, a drive plan including at least a drive start time and a scheduled drive distance of the identified charging type mobile vehicle, and creates the charge/discharge plan for the identified charging type mobile vehicle.

6. The charge/discharge control apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the electric power installation is a charging facility mounted in the charging type mobile vehicle, and

wherein the charge/discharge control apparatus is mounted in the charging type mobile vehicle and is connected to a controlled communication controller of the charging facility which is a target of the instruction and the monitoring.

7. The charge/discharge control apparatus according to claim 6,

wherein the charging type mobile vehicle has a positioning device for detecting a location of the charging type mobile vehicle itself as positioning information, and

wherein the control unit transmits the positioning information to an external computer, receives the charge/discharge reward information as the restriction, in which a region where the user can receive the reward is set, from the external computer, and creates the charge/discharge plan based on the charge/discharge reward information.

8. The charge/discharge control apparatus according to claim 7,

wherein the positioning device is a car navigation system which sets a start point, a destination point, and a route for connecting the start point and the destination point and creates a drive plan in which at least a total drive distance and a drive start time are specified, and

wherein the control unit computes a power consumption required for a drive of the charging type mobile vehicle based on the drive plan and creates the charge/discharge plan using the computed power consumption.

9. The charge/discharge control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the charge/discharge reward information is created based on a limit fuel cost or a limit greenhouse effect gas emission quantity computed in the external computer from a demand estimation processing of a whole power system, a start-and-stop plan processing of a plurality of power generators connected to the power system, and an economical load dispatching processing.

10. The charge/discharge control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the charge/discharge reward information is created based on a reserved capacity of power feeding computed in the external computer from a demand estimation processing of a whole power system, a start-and-stop plan processing of a plurality of power generators connected to the power system, and an economical load dispatching processing.

11. The charge/discharge control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the charge/discharge reward information is created based on a flow constraint of each power transmission line which is computed in the external computer from a power supply reliability processing of a regional power transmission network of a power system.

12. The charge/discharge control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the charge/discharge reward information is created based on a flow constraint of each power distribution line which is computed in the external computer from an installation management processing of a regional power distribution network of a power system.

13. The charge/discharge control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the results of charging/discharging is transmitted to the external computer which adds up the results of charging/discharging received one after another and sequentially manages a total quantity of rewards for a charge/discharge action for each customer.

14. The charge/discharge control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the charge/discharge reward information includes a value which is obtained by quantifying a service to be provided to a user who conducts a charge action or a discharge action in a unit quantity, and the value is specified for each prescribed time in a future prescribed time period.

15. The charge/discharge control apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the service is redeemable as a monetary value for a usage specified in advance.

16. The charge/discharge control apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the service has a non-monetary value quantitatively representing a great contribution to society.

17. A computer-effected charge/discharge control method for monitoring and controlling a charging of one or more electric power installations, the charge/discharge control method comprising:

receiving, out of charge/discharge reward information which specifies rewards which are set by region for each prescribed time zone such that a user of the electric power installation can enjoy a reward by performing an action of the charging to the electric power installation and restrictions which are set by region for each prescribed time zone on conducting the charging of the electric power installation, at least a reward and a restriction in a region corresponding to a charging position where a charging is conducted, from an external computer, and

memorizing the at least the reward and the restriction, together with individual identification information for identifying the charge/discharge control apparatus itself;

creating a charge/discharge plan covering from a start to an end of a charging of an electric power installation by a user, based on the charge/discharge reward information, such that the reward is maximized, according to the region corresponding to the charging position, the restriction according to the region corresponding to the charging position is satisfied, and the charging is completed before a usage start time of the electric power installation by the user,

instructing the electric power installation to start or finish a charging according to the created charge/discharge plan,

monitoring the charging conducted to the electric power installation, and

transmitting results of the charging including contents of the conducted charging and the individual identification information, to the external computer.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium embodying a program to execute a computer-effected charge/discharge control method for monitoring and controlling a charging of one or more electric power installations, the charge/discharge control method comprising:

receiving, out of charge/discharge reward information which specifies rewards which are set by region for each prescribed time zone such that a user of the electric power installation can enjoy a reward by performing an action of the charging to the electric power installation and restrictions which are set by region for each prescribed time zone on conducting the charging of the electric power installation, at least a reward and a restriction in a region corresponding to a charging position where a charging is conducted, from an external computer, and

memorizing the at least the reward and the restriction, together with individual identification information for identifying the charge/discharge control apparatus itself;

creating a charge/discharge plan covering from a start to an end of a charging of an electric power installation by a user, based on the charge/discharge reward information, such that the reward is maximized, according to the region corresponding to the charging position, the restriction according to the region corresponding to the charging position is satisfied, and the charging is completed before a usage start time of the electric power installation by the user,

instructing the electric power installation to start or finish a charging according to the created charge/discharge plan,

monitoring the charging conducted to the electric power installation, and

transmitting results of the charging including contents of the conducted charging and the individual identification information, to the external computer.