Patent Application
20090050630
The present invention relates to a mobile object (e.g., vehicle) with a fuel tank, and a management technique for relevant information on the fuel tank and the mobile object, which is suitable when the fuel tank is consecutively used over a plurality of mobile objects.
Recently, development of electric automobiles has progressed, and a vehicle mounted with a fuel cell as the power source for a motor has been proposed (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-224105). A fuel cell is a unit which generates power by the chemical reaction of hydrogen and oxygen finally supplied as fuel. When hydrogen is used for fuel, water vapor is emitted from the fuel cell, and does not contain a toxic component, so that the hydrogen is environmentally advantageous.
Information on the manufacturer name, the production date, the fuel type, the owner, etc. of a fuel tank (hydrogen tank) which is mounted in a fuel cell vehicle should be managed to adequately check the fatigue and degradation of members. With regard to the current owner or the like of a fuel tank, for example, Container Safety Regulations, Chapter 4, Article 10 defines that a tank should have an owner or the like clearly indicated thereon. Information on a fuel filling date is often managed on a management ledger by a dealer or the like.
In general, a fuel tank (particularly, a fuel gas tank, compressed-gas tank) has various kinds of relevant information on the fuel tank, such as the manufacturer, production date, serial number and fuel type, integrated with the fuel tank (as a set) by means of an indication member or an electronic storage medium.
When such a fuel tank is mounted in a mobile object (including an object which actively moves, such as a vehicle like an automobile or train, a ship, an airplane, a movable robot, as well as an object which passively moves accompanying another object, such as a portable electronic device) for use, it is desirable to be able to track what kind of a fuel tank is mounted in what kind of mobile object and how the fuel tank is used.
Conventionally, however, while a fuel tank alone is managed by referring to the indication member or the like, the fuel tank and the mobile object are not managed in association with each other. This makes it difficult to carry out the tracking.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to improve the management quality of a fuel tank by managing a set of relevant information on the fuel tank and relevant information on a mobile object associated with each other and allowing a history of use of the fuel tank to be trackable.
The present inventors have made studies to achieve the object, and found that the following problems were present.
Conventionally, once a fuel tank is mounted in a mobile object like a vehicle, the fuel tank is hardly removed and used in another vehicle or the like again, so that there is no system which manages the history of use of the fuel tank when the fuel tank is consecutively used over a plurality of vehicles or the like. Even if the fuel filling date or the like for each fuel tank is actually managed on a management ledger by a dealer or the like, there is generally no management on how the fuel tank has been used in what vehicles or the like.
Due to the recent progress of the general commercial use of fuel tanks, however, fuel cells are used in various situations, so that it is expected that remounting a fuel tank in another vehicle or the like for use within a period of its given life will be increasing. When a fuel-cell mounted vehicle is used as a business vehicle, such as a taxi, for example, it is well conceivable to dynamically (variably) assign a fuel tank to a vehicle to be used therein on the premise that the fuel tank is shared by a plurality of vehicles.
Under such a circumstance, it is desirable to be able to continuously manage the history of use of a fuel tank over a plurality of vehicles or the like so that the fatigue, degradation, etc. of members can be adequately checked.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to ensure the traceability on a fuel tank and to provide a system capable of adequately managing the history of use of the fuel tank even when the fuel tank is consecutively used over a plurality of vehicles or the like.
A mobile object with a fuel tank according to the present invention comprises storage means for storing fuel tank relevant information on the fuel tank and mobile object relevant information on the mobile object in association with each other.
A mobile object with the fuel tank according to the present invention comprises control means for storing the fuel tank relevant information stored in first storage means provided at the fuel tank, and the mobile object relevant information stored in second storage means provided at the mobile object in the first storage means and/or the second storage means in association with each other.
It is desirable that the fuel tank relevant information should include at least one of information on an owner of the fuel tank, information on production of the fuel tank, information on an attribute of fuel to be filled, and information on the filling work, and the mobile object relevant information should include at least one of information on an owner of the mobile object, a serial number of the mobile object, and a registration number of the mobile object.
It is desirable that the fuel tank should be a fuel gas tank, and that the mobile object should be a fuel cell vehicle.
It is preferable that the control means should acquire the fuel tank relevant information referring to the first storage means, and store the fuel tank relevant information in the second storage means in association with the mobile object relevant information. It is also preferable that the control means should acquire the mobile object relevant information referring to the second storage means, and store the mobile object relevant information in the first storage means in association with the fuel tank relevant information.
It is preferable that the control means should execute a process of storing the fuel tank relevant information and the mobile object relevant information in association with each other based on a timing at which the fuel tank is mounted in the mobile object.
It is preferable that the control means should execute a process of storing the fuel tank relevant information and the mobile object relevant information in association with each other based on a timing at which a fuel filling work on the fuel tank is executed.
It is preferable that further, the control means should control communication means to transmit a set of the fuel tank relevant information and the mobile object relevant information corresponding thereto, stored in the first storage means or the second storage means, to a managing device located outside the mobile object.
A managing device according to the present invention comprises means for receiving a set of relevant information on the fuel tank mounted in the mobile object and mobile object relevant information on the mobile object, transmitted from the mobile object; and means for registering the fuel tank relevant information and the mobile object relevant information included in the received set in a database in association with each other.
A managing method for a fuel tank mounted in the mobile object according to the present invention comprises a step of storing fuel tank relevant information stored in first storage means provided at the fuel tank, and mobile object relevant information stored in second storage means provided at the mobile object in the first storage means and/or the second storage means in association with each other when the fuel tank is mounted in the mobile object; and a step of transmitting a set of the fuel tank relevant information and the mobile object relevant information corresponding thereto, stored in the first storage means or the second storage means, to a managing device located outside the mobile object.
A program according to the present invention executes individual steps of the managing method of the invention on a computer. The program of the invention can be installed or loaded into a computer from various kinds of recording mediums, such as a CD-ROM, a magnetic disk, and a semiconductor memory, or as it is downloaded over a communication network.
In the present specification, “means” does not simply mean physical means but includes a case where the functions of the means are achieved by software. The functions of single means may be realized by two or more physical means, or the functions of two or more means may be realized by single physical means.
The present invention can improve the management quality of a fuel tank by managing a set of relevant information on the fuel tank and relevant information on a mobile object associated with each other and allowing a history of use of the fuel tank to be trackable.
The present invention can ensure the traceability on a fuel tank and provide a system capable of adequately managing the history of use of the fuel tank even when the fuel tank is consecutively used over a plurality of vehicles or the like.
An embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. While the type of mobile object in which a fuel tank is mounted can be determined according to the design according to the invention, the following description will be given of an example where a fuel tank is mounted into a fuel cell vehicle.
An on-vehicle terminal unit 11 is mounted in the fuel cell vehicle 10, and the on-vehicle terminal unit 11 and the managing device 20 are so configured as to be communicatable with each other over a predetermined communication network N (any one of LAN, Internet, packet communication network, a combination thereof, and including cable or wireless or both). When the managing device 20 is set at a fuel supply stand or the like, it is desirable to construct the communication network N by a wireless packet communication network so that communications are possible without using a cable, for example, at the time of feeding fuel.
The fuel cell system 40 is configured to mainly have a fuel gas supply unit 41 including a fuel tank 30, an oxidizing gas supply unit 42, a fuel cell 43 and a controller 44. A fuel gas is, for example, a hydrogen gas, and an oxidizing gas is, for example, air. The controller 44 acquires the required amount of power generation of the fuel cell 43 from the accelerator opening detected by an acceleration sensor 48, and controls the fuel gas supply unit 41 and the oxidizing gas supply unit 42 to acquire the desired amount of power generation, thereby adjusting the flow rate of the fuel gas and flow rate of the oxidizing gas which are supplied to the fuel cell 43. A PCU 45 is a power control unit including an inverter and a DC/DC converter. The PCU 45 converts the DC power generated by the fuel cell 43 into AC power and supplies the AC power to a motor 46 for driving the vehicle, and stores excess power in a secondary cell 47. The secondary cell 47 serves as a regenerated energy storage source at the time of brake energy regeneration and an energy buffer at the time of a load change originated from vehicle acceleration or deceleration.
A small electronic tag 31 is attached to the fuel tank 30 of the embodiment by a screw, a fitting structure or the like. The electronic tag 31 stores relevant information on the fuel tank 30 in a built-in semiconductor circuit. As will be described later, the on-vehicle terminal unit 11 wirelessly reads the fuel tank relevant information at a predetermined timing through an RF reader and sends the relevant information to the managing device 20. Such a technique of wirelessly accessing the electronic tag 31 and the fuel tank relevant information can be configured using the conventional data carrier technique.
The set information storage means 12 stores, as vehicle relevant information, at least one of information on the owner of the vehicle (the name of a person or organization, the address, etc.), the vehicle body number, and the number on a number plate. A predetermined host device (not shown) can write the vehicle relevant information into the set information storage means 12 through the communication interface or using the user interface equipped in the on-vehicle terminal unit 11, on a timing at which the fuel cell vehicle 10 is registered as a new car or the owner of the fuel cell vehicle 10 is changed, etc.
The set information storage means 12 stores relevant information on the fuel tank 30 in association with the vehicle relevant information. The fuel tank relevant information is structured to include at least one of information on the owner of the fuel tank (the name of a person or organization, the address, etc.), information on production of the fuel tank (production date, serial number, etc.), information on the attribute of fuel to be filled (the types of the contents, etc.), information on the filling work (fuel filling date, and the number of fuel fillings, etc.). As will be described later, the set of the vehicle relevant information and fuel tank relevant information is written in the set information storage means 12 by the control means 14.
The communication means 13 is configured to be able to input and output data to and from the managing device 20 over the communication network N. The communication means 13 includes communications modules, e.g., a PPP driver and a TCP/IP driver.
Based on the program stored in the ROM or the like, the control means 14 controls the general operation of the on-vehicle terminal unit 11, and executes a fuel tank-vehicle set information acquiring/storing process, a fuel tank-vehicle set information transmitting process, and so forth.
The set information database 21, like the set information storage means 12, stores relevant information on the fuel tank 30 in association with the vehicle relevant information. As will be described later, the set of the vehicle relevant information and fuel tank relevant information, transmitted from the on-vehicle terminal unit 11, is received via the communication means 22 and is written in the relevant set information database 21 by the control means 23.
The communication means 22 is configured to be able to input and output data to and from the on-vehicle terminal unit 11 over the communication network N. The communication means 22 includes communications modules, e.g., a PPP driver and a TCP/IP driver.
Based on the program stored in the ROM or the like, the control means 23 controls the general operation of the managing device 20, and executes a fuel tank-vehicle set information receiving/registering process, a fuel tank-vehicle set information managing process, and so forth.
The operation of the managing system 100 will be explained based on flowcharts illustrated in
(Set Information Acquiring/Storing Process)
With the fuel tank 30 mounted in the fuel cell vehicle 10, the control means 14 of the on-vehicle terminal unit 11 controls the RFID reader at a given timing to wirelessly access the electronic tag 31 attached to the fuel tank 30 and read (acquire) fuel tank relevant information stored in the electronic tag 31 (S100).
The given timing can be, for example, the timing at which the fuel tank 30 is mounted in the fuel cell vehicle 10, the timing at which the work of filling fuel in the fuel tank 30 is carried out, the timing at which a user has given an instruction, or a combination of those timings. To determine the timing of mounting the fuel tank 30 and the timing of executing the fuel filling work, the configuration may be designed in such a way as to be able to electrically or mechanically detect the mount state of the fuel tank and the execution or non-execution of the work, using a conventional technology.
Next, the control means 14 stores the acquired fuel tank relevant information in association with the vehicle relevant information in the set information storage means 12 (stores a set of the vehicle relevant information and the fuel tank relevant information) (S101). At this time, the control means 14 may first read the vehicle relevant information on the fuel cell vehicle 10 by referring to the set information storage means 12, and then store the acquired fuel tank relevant information in an area different from the read area in the set information storage means 12 in association with the read vehicle relevant information. The control means 14 may be configured to store date information, such as the timing of acquisition of fuel tank relevant information and the storage timing to the set information storage means 12, together with respective items of relevant information.
Next, the control means 14 determines if the fuel tank relevant information has been changed (S102), and terminates the process when it is not changed.
When the fuel tank relevant information like the fuel filling date has been changed due to execution of the fuel filling work or the like, the control means 14 controls the RFID reader to wirelessly access the electronic tag 31 attached to the fuel tank 30 and update the fuel tank relevant information stored in the electronic tag 31 (S103).
The control means 14 stores the updated fuel tank relevant information in association with the vehicle relevant information in the set information storage means 12 (S104), then terminates the process.
(Set Information Transmitting Process)
The control means 14 of the on-vehicle terminal unit 11 refers to the set information storage means 12 at a given timing to read set information (i.e., vehicle relevant information and fuel tank relevant information associated therewith) (S200).
The given timing can be, for example, a regular timing (every predetermined time or every predetermined traveling distance), the timing at which the fuel tank relevant information stored in the electronic tag 31 is updated, the timing at which a user has given an instruction, or a combination of those timings. To determine the regular timing, the on-vehicle terminal unit 11 has a function of determining the elapsed time and the traveling distance based on information acquired from an internal or external timer or the control system of the fuel cell vehicle 10.
Next, the control means 14 controls the communication means 13 to transmit the read set information to the managing device 20 (S201). When date information or the like is stored in the set information storage means 12 together with respective items of information, the control means 14 may be configured to execute the transmitting process for untransmitted set information stored after the previous timing of executing the set information transmitting process, based on the date information or the like.
(Set Information Receiving/Registering Process)
The control means 23 of the managing device 20 controls the communication means 22 to receive set information transmitted from the fuel cell vehicle 10 (S300). The set information includes the fuel tank relevant information on the fuel tank 30 mounted in the fuel cell vehicle 10 and the vehicle relevant information on the fuel cell vehicle 10.
Next, the control means 23 registers the received set information in the set information database 21 (S301).
(Set Information Managing Process)
The control means 23 of the managing device 20 executes a process of referring to the set information database 21 to extract set information relating to the fuel tank 30 based on an instruction from the user of the managing device 20, and processes of displaying use history information of the fuel tank 30 (how the fuel tank has been used in what vehicles, etc.) on a display or the like, showing which fuel tank is mounted in which vehicle, and determining the durability or the like of the fuel tank 30, and so forth based on the extracted set information.
Because the on-vehicle terminal unit 11 or the managing device 20 employs the configuration to store and manage set information having fuel tank relevant information and vehicle relevant information associated with each other in the embodiment, the traceability of the fuel tank 30 can be secured and the history of use thereof can be adequately managed and grasped even when the fuel tank 30 is consecutively used over a plurality of vehicles.
(Others)
The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be modified and adapted in various forms. While the foregoing description of the embodiment has been given of an example where the fuel cell vehicle is where the fuel tank is located, for example, similar advantages can be acquired when the fuel tank is provided at a location different from the fuel cell vehicle if the fuel tank may be used consecutively at a plurality of set locations.
Although the embodiment is configured to store set information of vehicle relevant information and fuel tank relevant information in the set information storage means 12 of the on-vehicle terminal unit 11, the invention is not limited to such a configuration. For example, the set information may be stored in the electronic tag 31 of the fuel tank 30 in place of or in addition to the set information storage means 12. In case of storing the set information in the electronic tag 31 in place of the set information storage means 12, the control means 14 refers to predetermined storage means to read (acquire) vehicle relevant information, and stores the read vehicle relevant information in the electronic tag 31 in association with fuel tank relevant information stored in the electronic tag 31 (stores set information). At the time of executing the set information transmitting process, the RFID reader is controlled to read the set information from the electronic tag 31 attached to the fuel tank 30, and is transmitted to the managing device 20.
Although the foregoing description of the embodiment has been given of the configuration that uses the electronic tag 31 as means to store fuel tank relevant information, the configuration may be modified to store fuel tank relevant information in a storage medium other than the electronic tag 31. For example, an information storage medium which does not include an electric circuit, such as a bar code or a two-dimensional code, can be used instead of the electronic tag 31. In this case, the fuel cell vehicle 10 has a reader according to the information storage medium, such as a bar code reader, in place of the RFID reader. It is to be noted that when the storage means attached to the fuel tank 30 is not such a rewritable information storage medium, it is necessary to store update fuel tank relevant information or set information of vehicle relevant information and fuel tank relevant information in the set information storage means 12 of the on-vehicle terminal unit 11 as done in the embodiment.
While the embodiment uses the set information storage means 12 as storage means to store vehicle relevant information, the invention is not limited to such a configuration. As has been described above, for example, an information storage medium which does not include an electric circuit, such as a bar code or a two-dimensional code, can be used as storage means to store vehicle relevant information.
The embodiment is configured to store set information in the set information storage means 12 and read the information and execute the transmitting process at the time of transmission. However, the configuration may be modified to read vehicle relevant information from predetermined storage means, prepare set information by associating the read vehicle relevant information with fuel tank relevant information acquired from the electronic tag 31, and execute the transmitting process at the time of transmission.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005-110733 | Apr 2005 | JP | national |
This is a 371 national phase application of PCT/JP2006/307517 filed 4 Apr. 2006, claiming priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2005-110733 filed 7 Apr. 2005, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2006/307517 | 4/4/2006 | WO | 00 | 10/1/2007 |
