Vehicular electric charge control apparatus and emergency notification system

• US 20120001746A1
• Filed: 06/29/2011
• Published: 01/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/01/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vmware LLC (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: Kamiya, Shinji
• Granted Patent: US 9,000,728 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/449
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/007192 in response to temperature
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/007194 of the battery
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/04 Regulation of charging current or voltage

Abstract

A charge control apparatus includes a main control unit and a power source control unit. The main control unit acquires time-divided temperature information, which corresponds to a predetermined period covering the present time, based on present time information and the time-divided temperature information indicating a location temperature of a backup battery in each predetermined period. The main control unit determines a charge/discharge amount of the backup battery based on the time-divided temperature information and a residual charge amount of the backup battery. The power source control unit controls the backup battery by charging and discharging in accordance with the determined charge/discharge amount.

Claims

1. An electric charge control apparatus for a vehicle having a backup battery, which is a secondary battery for supplying electric power to in-vehicle devices mounted in the vehicle in case of emergency, the electric charge control apparatus comprising:

a residual charge amount monitor unit that monitors a residual charge amount of the backup battery;

a time information acquisition unit that acquires present time information indicating a present time;

a time-divided temperature information storage unit that stores time-divided temperature information, which indicates a temperature in each predetermined period at a battery location of the backup battery;

a charge/discharge amount determination unit that determines a charge/discharge amount of the backup battery based on the time-divided temperature information and the residual charge amount, the time-divided temperature information being acquired based on the present time information and the time-divided temperature information; and

a residual charge amount control unit that controls the residual charge amount of the backup battery by charging and discharging the backup battery in accordance with the charge/discharge amount determined by the charge/discharge amount determination unit.

2. The electric charge control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the charge/discharge amount determination unit determines the charge/discharge amount, by using a predetermined charge/discharge amount of the backup battery as a reference amount, so that the residual charge amount of the backup battery increases toward a full-charge amount as the temperature indicated by the time-divided temperature information falls.

3. The electric charge control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the predetermined period is set to either one of one month or one season in one year.

4. The electric charge control apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising:

a temperature monitor unit that monitors a temperature of the battery location of the backup battery; and

a temperature condition learning unit that learns a temperature condition of the battery location of the backup battery for the predetermined period based on the temperature repetitively monitored by the temperature monitor unit,

wherein the time-divided temperature information is stored in the time-divided temperature information storage unit based on a learning result of the temperature condition learning unit.

5. The electric charge control apparatus according to claim 4, wherein:

the temperature condition learning unit learns temperature condition of the battery location of the backup battery for the each predetermined period based on the temperature repetitively monitored at the battery location of the backup battery for at least two years.

6. The electric charge control apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising:

a year elapse determination unit that determines years of elapse after manufacture of the backup battery,

wherein the charge/discharge amount determination unit sets the reference amount to increase toward the full charge capacity amount as the years of elapse increase, by using at most one-half of the full charge capacity at time of manufacture as the reference amount.

7. The electric charge control apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising:

a temperature monitor unit that monitors a temperature at the battery location of the backup battery; and

an integrated environmental temperature determination unit that determines an integrated value of the temperature of the battery location of the backup battery monitored after manufacture of the backup battery,

wherein the charge/discharge amount determination unit sets the reference amount to increase toward the full charge capacity amount as the integrated value of the temperature increases, by using at most one-half of the full charge capacity amount of the backup battery at time of manufacture as the reference amount.

8. The electric charge control apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a position detection unit that detects a present position of the vehicle,

wherein the time-divided temperature information storage unit stores the time-divided temperature information for each geographical area, and

wherein the charge/discharge amount determination unit selects the time-divided temperature information of an area, which corresponds to the present position of the vehicle, acquires the time-divided temperature information, which corresponds to the predetermined period of the present time and the area of the present position of the vehicle, based on the selected time-divided temperature information and the acquired present time information, and determines the charge/discharge amount of the backup battery based on the time-divided temperature information and the monitored residual charge amount.

9. The electric charge control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the time-divided temperature information indicates an average temperature in the each predetermined period at the battery location of the backup battery.

10. An emergency notification system comprising:

an emergency notification apparatus that is mounted in the vehicle as an in-vehicle device and performs an emergency notification when event information indicating an occurrence of emergency is inputted;

a management station that receives the emergency notification from the emergency notification apparatus through communication with the emergency notification apparatus;

a backup battery, which is a secondary battery for supplying electric power to the emergency notification apparatus in case of emergency; and

the electric charge control apparatus according to claim 1.

11. The emergency notification system according to claim 10, wherein:

the electric charge control apparatus has a temperature monitor unit that monitors a temperature at the battery location of the backup battery; and

the emergency notification apparatus has a notification unit that notifies that a continuation period of emergency notification from the emergency notification apparatus is shortened, when the temperature monitored by the temperature monitor unit is less than a predetermined temperature.

12. The emergency notification system according to claim 10, wherein:

the emergency notification apparatus has an emergency notification continuation period calculation unit that calculates a continuation period of the emergency notification based on the residual charge amount of the backup battery monitored by the residual charge amount monitor unit; and

the continuation period of the emergency notification is notified to the management station.

13. The emergency notification system according to claim 12, wherein:

the emergency notification apparatus and the management station communicate each other through a base station;

the emergency notification continuation period calculation unit estimates a power consumption based on a distance to the base station and a transmission power required to transmit the emergency notification, the distance being estimated based on a delay time of radio wave propagation from the emergency notification apparatus to the base station;

the emergency notification continuation period calculation unit calculates the continuation period of the emergency notification based on the estimated power consumption and the residual charge amount of the backup battery monitored by the residual charge monitor unit; and

the continuation period of the emergency notification repetitively calculated is repetitively notified to the management station.

14. The emergency notification system according to claim 10, wherein:

the backup battery is formed of any one of a lithium-ion secondary battery, a lithium-ion polymer secondary battery and a nickel-hydride secondary battery.