Battery reservation device and battery reservation method

• US 10,650,444 B2
• Filed: 11/02/2016
• Issued: 05/12/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Omron Corporation
• Original Assignee: Omron Corporation
• Inventors: Takatsuka, Hiromasa, Wada, Junichi, Kasai, Kazuki
• Primary Examiner(s): Dunn, Darrin D
• Application Number:
  US15/759,221
• Publication Number:
  US 20180253788A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,287 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 6/28 characterised by the electric energy storing means, e.g. batteries or capacitors
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2200/12 Bikes
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/54 related to batteries
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 50/60 using power supplied by batteries in combination with fuel cells B60L50/75
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/65 involving identification of vehicles or their battery types
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/80 Exchanging energy storage elements, e.g. removable batteries
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/12 responding to state of charge [SoC]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0645 Rental transactions; Leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/425 Structural combination with electronic components, e.g. electronic circuits integrated to the outside of the casing printed circuits H05K1/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/44 Methods for charging or discharging circuits for charging H02J7/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/441 for several batteries or cells simultaneously or sequentially
• 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: H01M 2010/4271 Battery management systems including electronic circuits, e.g. control of current or voltage to keep battery in healthy state, cell balancing
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 2220/20 Batteries in motive systems, e.g. vehicle, ship, plane
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00 Circuit arrangements for charging or depolarising batteries or for supplying loads from batteries
• 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 90/12 : Electric charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/14 : Plug-in electric vehicles

Abstract

A battery reservation device (10) comprises a battery state acquisition component (12), a scheduled return time acquisition component (13c), a remaining battery charge prediction component (14), a battery station information acquisition component (15), and a reservation acceptance component (17). The battery state acquisition component (12) acquires the remaining battery charge of a battery pack (1) scheduled to be returned to a battery station (30a). The scheduled return time acquisition component (13c) acquires the scheduled return time of the battery pack (1). The remaining battery charge prediction component (14) predicts the remaining battery charge at the time of return on the basis of the current remaining battery charge of the battery pack (1) and the scheduled return time. The battery station information acquisition component (15) acquires the charging speed of a charger (31). The reservation acceptance component (17) accepts a rental reservation for the battery pack (1) scheduled to be returned on the basis of the remaining battery charge at the time of return and the charging speed of the charger (31).

Claims

1. A battery reservation device that accepts reservations for battery packs that are rented out from a battery station and are installed in a power consumption element, the device comprising a processor configured with a program to perform operations comprising:

operation as a battery state acquisition component configured to acquire a current remaining battery charge of battery packs scheduled to be returned to the battery station;

operation as a scheduled return time acquisition component configured to acquire a scheduled return time at which the battery packs scheduled to be returned will be returned to the battery station;

operation as a remaining battery charge prediction component configured to predict a remaining battery charge of the battery packs when the battery packs are returned to the battery station, based on the current remaining battery charge of the battery packs acquired by the battery state acquisition component and the scheduled return time of the battery packs acquired by the scheduled return time acquisition component;

operation as a charging speed acquisition component configured to acquire a charging speed of a charger configured to charge the battery packs at the battery station; and

operation as a reservation acceptance component configured to add the battery packs scheduled to be returned to a reservation information table and accept a rental reservation for the battery packs scheduled to be returned based on the remaining battery charge at a time of return predicted by the remaining battery charge prediction component and the charging speed of the charger acquired by the charging speed acquisition component.

2. The battery reservation device according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured with the program to perform operations further comprising

operation as a reservation possibility determination component configured to determine whether a battery pack scheduled for return can be rented out, based on the remaining battery charge at the time of return predicted by the remaining battery charge prediction component and the charging speed of the charger acquired by the charging speed acquisition component.

3. The battery reservation device according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured with the program to perform operations further comprising

operation as a charging completion time calculator configured to calculate a charging completion time for a battery pack scheduled to be returned, based on the remaining battery charge at the time of return predicted by the remaining battery charge prediction component and the charging speed of the charger acquired by the charging speed acquisition component.

4. The battery reservation device according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured with the program to perform operations further comprising:

operation as an actual return time acquisition component configured to acquire an actual return time at which a battery pack was returned to the battery station;

operation as an actual remaining battery charge acquisition component configured to acquire an actual remaining battery charge of the battery pack returned to the battery station; and

operation as a reservation information update component configured to update information related to scheduled battery pack rental based on the actual return time acquired by the actual return time acquisition component and the actual remaining battery charge acquired by the actual remaining battery charge acquisition component.

5. The battery reservation device according to claim 1,

wherein the processor is configured with the program to perform operations such that operation as the battery state acquisition component comprises operation as the battery state acquisition component that further acquires one or more of the following:

a unique ID of a battery pack, remaining capacity history information about the battery pack, voltage history, current history, and temperature history.

6. The battery reservation device according to claim 1,

wherein the power consumption element comprises a vehicle, including an electric motorcycle, an electric bicycle, an electrically assisted bicycle, an electric automobile, or a PHV (plug-in hybrid vehicle).

7. The battery reservation device according to claim 6, wherein the processor is configured with the program to perform operations further comprising:

operation as a location information acquisition component configured to acquire current location information for the vehicle; and

operation as a travel time calculator configured to calculate a travel time from a current location to a reserved battery station based on the current location information for the vehicle acquired by the location information acquisition component.

8. The battery reservation device according to claim 7,

wherein the processor is configured with the program to perform operations such that operation as the scheduled return time acquisition component comprises operation as the scheduled return time acquisition component that calculates the scheduled return time of a battery pack to the battery station based on the travel time calculated by the travel time calculator.

9. The battery reservation device according to claim 7,

wherein the processor is configured with the program to perform operations such that operation as the remaining battery charge prediction component comprises operation as the remaining battery charge prediction component that calculates an amount of power required to reach the battery station based on the current location information for the vehicle acquired by the location information acquisition component and an average power consumption of the vehicle.

10. A battery reservation method in which reservations are accepted for battery packs that are installed in a power consumption element and are rented out at battery stations, the method comprising:

a battery state acquisition step of acquiring a current remaining battery charge of the battery packs scheduled to be returned to the battery station;

a scheduled return time acquisition step of acquiring a scheduled return time at which the battery packs scheduled to be returned will be returned to the battery station;

a remaining battery charge prediction step of predicting a remaining battery charge of the battery packs when the battery packs are returned to the battery station, based on the current remaining battery charge of the battery packs acquired by the battery state acquisition step and the scheduled return time of the battery packs acquired by the scheduled return time acquisition step;

a charging speed acquisition step of acquiring a charging speed of a charger configured to charge the battery packs at the battery station; and

a reservation acceptance step of adding the battery packs scheduled to be returned to a reservation information table and accepting a rental reservation for the battery packs scheduled to be returned based on the remaining battery charge at a time of return predicted by the remaining battery charge prediction step and the charging speed of the charger acquired by the charging speed acquisition step.