Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Yasunobu Seki

Yoshinobu Nozaki

Mitsuaki Tomita

Shoichi Iwamoto

Hisashi Fujisawa

Hiroyuki Ogura

Hideo Sakamoto

Taizo Masuda

Hiroki Awano

Kosuke Yonekawa

Tomoko Nakamura

Tsuyoshi Kaneko

Equipped with a solar power generation device that includes a light collecting member that collects and irradiates sunlight, a drive device that drives the light collecting member, and a control device that controls the drive device, and that has at least one solar cell panel. A light collecting device that irradiates light to a parked vehicle using a light concentrating member, the control device determining the power generation efficiency of solar power generation by the solar power generation device based on the position of the solar cell panel. The drive device is controlled so that the power generation efficiency is equal to or higher than the initial power generation efficiency that is the power generation efficiency at the initial position of the light collecting member.

Light collecting device

A vehicle management device for managing parking positions in a parking lot of a plurality of vehicles equipped with a solar battery and a power storage device for storing electric power generated by the solar battery, wherein based on the conversion efficiency of the solar battery of each vehicle and the sunlight conditions of the parking lot, the parking position of each vehicle is set so that the amount of solar electric power generation by multiple vehicles per unit time or the sum total of the amount of power generated by the solar cells mounted on multiple vehicles is large. As a result, the amount of electric power generated per unit time and the sum of the amount of electric power generated of the vehicles as a whole can be improved.

Vehicle management device managing parking position in a parking lot and vehicle

A charge support system is provided for a plurality of autonomously movable vehicles, each including a solar cell panel and a storage battery for storing electricity from the solar panel. The system includes an acquisition unit that obtains information regarding vehicles parked within a predetermined parking area, including charging efficiencies of the solar panels, current charging rates of the storage batteries, and scheduled driving times for each vehicle. A traveling control unit is configured to move the vehicles within the parking area based on the acquired information. The system prioritizes movement of vehicles with earlier scheduled driving times to areas of higher charging efficiency to ensure their storage batteries reach a predetermined charge threshold. Additionally, for vehicles without scheduled driving times, the system periodically moves the vehicles to equalize battery charge levels within a specified error range. This enables efficient solar charging across multiple vehicles in a shared parking environment.

Charge support system, charge support method, and control program

A power generation support system for a vehicle in which a plurality of solar cell panels are attached to a vehicle body, the power generation support system including: a estimation unit configured to estimate an amount of power generated per unit hour by the plurality of solar cell panels when the vehicle is to be parked in a scheduled parking area so that the front of the vehicle faces a first direction and estimate an amount of power generated per unit hour by the plurality of solar cell panels when the vehicle is to be parked in the scheduled parking area so that the front of the vehicle faces a second direction that is opposite to the first direction; and an output unit configured to output information about a direction in which the vehicle faces when it is to be parked in the scheduled parking area.

Power generation support system

A vehicle equipped with a driving unit for traveling, a power storage device capable of supplying power to the drive unit, and a solar cell system capable of supplying power generated by a solar cell to the power storage device. A vehicle management device that determines the cause, based on whether or not a decrease in the amount of power generation has occurred while the vehicle is running and whether or not a decrease in the amount of power generation has occurred while the vehicle is parked, determines whether the decrease in the amount of power generation is caused by the state abnormality of the solar cell or the external environment.

Growing community of inventors

Nisshin, Japan

Yasunobu Seki