A method and system for softly combining power exchange cabinets

Abstract

The present invention provides a method and system for soft-connecting power exchange cabinets, which belongs to the technical field of power exchange cabinets. The present invention has the following steps: the user scans the QR code of the power exchange cabinet, and the server receives the user's power exchange request; it is determined whether the power exchange cabinet scanned by the current user has an empty compartment and a fully charged battery. If so, the power exchange process is executed in the current power exchange, otherwise, the next step is executed; the power exchange cabinet soft-connecting cabinet group to which the current power exchange cabinet belongs is obtained; it is determined whether there are empty compartments and fully charged batteries in the cabinet group, and if so, a door opening command is issued to the power exchange cabinet where the empty compartment is located; after the power exchange cabinet where the empty compartment is located receives the battery placed by the user, it checks whether the battery is matched, and feeds back the inspection result to the server; if it is matched, the compartment door of the fully charged battery in the cabinet group is opened, and the user takes the battery away, and the power exchange is successful. If the inserted battery is found to be mismatched, the current power exchange fails. The beneficial effects of the present invention are: improving the utilization rate of the power exchange cabinet when it is full, and improving the efficiency of power exchange operations.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a power exchange cabinet technology, and in particular to a method and system for soft-connecting power exchange cabinets. Background Art

[0002] Now the number of battery swap cabinets is increasing, and the general battery swap process is as follows:

[0003] 1. Open the empty compartment and insert the battery;

[0004] 2. Open the fully charged battery compartment door and the user takes out the battery.

[0005] The requirement here is that there needs to be an empty compartment to put the battery in. For a battery swap cabinet with a relatively small number of compartments, such as 4 compartments, there must be an empty compartment. Batteries cannot be charged in an empty compartment, so the charging utilization rate in the battery swap cabinet is only 75%. If there are two cabinets with 4 compartments, if one empty compartment is to be retained in each, then the charging utilization rate is still 75%. If they can be combined and used, there are a total of 8 compartments, leaving one empty compartment, 7 / 8=87.5%, which is equivalent to an 8-compartment battery swap cabinet. Therefore, it is urgent to develop a solution to combine multiple battery swap cabinets to improve the utilization rate of the battery swap cabinets. Summary of the invention

[0006] In order to solve the problem of low utilization rate of power swap cabinets in the prior art, the present invention provides a method and system for soft-connecting power swap cabinets.

[0007] The method for soft-connecting power exchange cabinets of the present invention comprises the following steps:

[0008] S1: The user scans the QR code of the battery swap cabinet, and the server receives the user's battery swap request;

[0009] S2: Determine whether the battery swap cabinet scanned by the current user has an empty or fully charged battery. If so, execute the battery swap process of the battery swap cabinet. This process is the same as the battery swap process of a single battery swap cabinet. Otherwise, execute the next step.

[0010] S3: The server connects multiple power-swap cabinets through the platform soft-connection to form a soft-connection cabinet group including the current power-swap cabinet;

[0011] S4: Determine whether there are empty cells and fully charged batteries in the soft-connect cabinet group. If yes, send a door opening command to the power-swap cabinet where the empty cell is located;

[0012] S5: After the user puts in the battery, the battery swap cabinet where the empty compartment is located checks whether the battery is matched and feeds back the inspection result to the server;

[0013] S6: If they match, open the fully charged compartment door of the battery swap cabinet where the fully charged battery in the soft-connect cabinet group is located, and the user takes out the battery. The battery swap is successful. If they do not match, the battery swap fails.

[0014] The present invention is further improved. In step S3, the operation method of the soft cabinet combination is: the server combines several power swap cabinets into a cabinet combination group, scans the QR code of one of the power swap cabinets, and the battery compartments of all the power swap cabinets in the cabinet combination group are used as the battery compartments of the power swap cabinet that scans the code. The power swap cabinets in the cabinet combination group are equal, and there is no need to distinguish between master and slave. For the user experience, the power swap cabinet that the user currently scans the code is used first for power swap operations.

[0015] The present invention is further improved, and the server implements virtual cabinet combination in the platform. The platform will automatically check whether all the power swap cabinets in the power swap cabinet group meet the power swap conditions as a whole, whether there are empty compartments and batteries that can be swapped. If so, the power swap will start. Otherwise, the power swap conditions are not met and the power swap failure will be prompted.

[0016] The present invention is further improved in that the models of the power exchange cabinets (4-compartment, 8-compartment, 12-compartment) in the power exchange cabinets of the combined cabinet group do not have to be consistent, they can be the same or different, and the battery models (voltage and capacity) do not have to be the same.

[0017] The present invention is further improved. In step S6, when the batteries do not match, it also includes fault-tolerant processing. The battery exchange cabinet reopens the empty compartment door that matches the user's battery based on the inspection results. After the user puts in the battery, the compartment door of the fully charged battery in the cabinet group is opened. The user takes out the battery, and the battery exchange is successful.

[0018] The present invention is further improved. In step S6, when the batteries do not match, it also includes fault-tolerant processing, returning to execute step S4 a limited number of times. When the set number of times is reached and there is still no match, the battery replacement fails.

[0019] The present invention is further improved. In the fault-tolerant processing, the empty compartment door is opened a limited number of times. If there is still a mismatch, the user is reminded to select other power exchange cabinets outside the cabinet group.

[0020] The present invention also provides a system for implementing the method of soft combining of power swap cabinets, including a server and several power swap cabinets. The power swap cabinets are used independently. When the power swap cabinet scanned by the user has no empty compartments and fully charged batteries, the server soft combines the several power swap cabinets through the platform to form a soft combining cabinet group including the current power swap cabinet, and the battery compartments of all power swap cabinets are used as the battery compartments of the current power swap cabinet.

[0021] Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effect of the present invention is: treating more than two power swap cabinets as one power swap cabinet, actively controlling the power swap process of the power swap cabinets, so that only one empty compartment is left to use, thereby improving the utilization rate of the empty compartment of the power swap cabinet. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] Figure 1 is a flow chart of the method of the present invention;

[0023] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the interaction of an existing single power exchange cabinet;

[0024] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of system interaction according to an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0025] The present invention is further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments.

[0026] like Figure 1 As shown, the method for soft-connecting power exchange cabinets of the present invention comprises the following steps:

[0027] S1: The user scans the QR code of the battery swap cabinet, and the server receives the user's battery swap request;

[0028] S2: Determine whether the battery swap cabinet scanned by the current user has an empty or fully charged battery. If so, execute the battery swap process of the battery swap cabinet. This process is the same as the battery swap process of a single battery swap cabinet. Otherwise, execute the next step.

[0029] S3: The server connects multiple power-swap cabinets through the platform soft-connection to form a soft-connection cabinet group including the current power-swap cabinet;

[0030] S4: Determine whether there are empty cells and fully charged batteries in the soft-connect cabinet group. If yes, send a door opening command to the power-swap cabinet where the empty cell is located;

[0031] S5: After the user puts in the battery, the battery swap cabinet where the empty compartment is located checks whether the battery is matched and feeds back the inspection result to the server;

[0032] S6: If they match, the fully charged compartment door of the battery swap cabinet where the fully charged battery in the soft-connect cabinet group is located is opened, and the user takes out the battery, and the battery swap is successful. If they do not match, the battery swap fails.

[0033] Treat two or more battery swap cabinets as one battery swap cabinet, and actively control the battery swap process of the battery swap cabinets, so that only one empty compartment is left to use, thereby improving utilization rate.

[0034] like Figure 3 As shown, as another embodiment of the present invention, this example does not perform the normal battery swapping process, but directly performs soft cabinet connection in advance on the server side. In this way, as long as two or more battery swapping cabinets are set as connected cabinets in the platform, the following functions can be completed:

[0035] Each battery swap cabinet has its own QR code. After scanning the QR code on one of the battery swap cabinets, the platform will automatically check whether each battery swap cabinet in the battery swap cabinet group meets the battery swap conditions as a whole, whether there are empty compartments, and whether there are batteries that can be swapped. If so, the battery swap will start, otherwise the battery swap will fail.

[0036] The server can merge the power exchange cabinets selected by the user into a combined cabinet group. The present invention can trigger the power exchange of the combined cabinet group by scanning the QR code of any combined cabinet group, and no longer distinguishes between master and slave, which simplifies the combined cabinet operation and increases convenience.

[0037] This example is not only applicable to batteries of the same power, but also to batteries of different powers and different models, and the models of battery swap cabinets are not necessarily the same. For example, battery swap cabinets with different numbers of compartments can also be soft-connected. In step S6, when the batteries do not match, the present invention also includes fault-tolerant processing. The new method changes the execution of the original single battery swap cabinet to the execution of a distributed battery swap cabinet. One battery swap will involve the operation of two or more battery swap cabinets, which increases the difficulty and complexity. Any battery swap cabinet may make an execution error after receiving the command. It is necessary to support the addition of an automated fault-tolerant processing mechanism on the platform side to retry and reselect the battery swap cabinet to execute the command.

[0038] Specifically, as an embodiment of the fault-tolerant processing of the present invention, the battery exchange cabinet in this example reopens the empty compartment door that matches the user's battery according to the inspection results. After the user puts in the battery, the compartment door of the fully charged battery in the cabinet group is opened. The user takes out the battery, and the battery exchange is successful.

[0039] As another embodiment of the fault-tolerant processing of the present invention, when the battery does not match, return to execute step S4 three times, each time opening a different empty warehouse door, or opening an empty warehouse door with different power. When it reaches three times and there is still no match, report to the service end and the battery replacement fails.

[0040] The present invention requires that the data of the platform and the battery swap cabinet must have very strong consistency. In the original process, the empty warehouse inspection and the selection of fully charged batteries are completed in the battery swap cabinet, and the platform only needs to issue a command. The new method is completed in the platform, which requires the platform data and the battery swap cabinet data to be synchronized in real time and consistent, to avoid the empty warehouse and fully charged batteries calculated on the platform due to inconsistent data, which are not empty warehouses and fully charged batteries in the actual battery swap cabinet.

[0041] The present invention only needs to complete the soft cabinet connection on the service end, the operation is simple and convenient, and no hardware change is required, which can greatly improve the utilization rate of the power exchange cabinet and maximize the production capacity and economic benefits of the power exchange cabinet.

[0042] The specific implementation modes described above are preferred implementation modes of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the specific implementation scope of the present invention. The scope of the present invention includes but is not limited to the specific implementation modes, and all equivalent changes made according to the present invention are within the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for soft-connecting power exchange cabinets, characterized in that: The steps include: S1: The user scans the QR code of the battery swap cabinet, and the server receives the user's battery swap request; S2: Determine whether the battery swap cabinet scanned by the current user has an empty or fully charged battery. If so, execute the battery swap process of the battery swap cabinet. This process is the same as the battery swap process of a single battery swap cabinet. Otherwise, execute the next step. S3: The server connects multiple power-swap cabinets through the platform soft-connection to form a soft-connection cabinet group including the current power-swap cabinet; S4: Determine whether there are empty cells and fully charged batteries in the soft-connect cabinet group. If yes, send a door opening command to the power-swap cabinet where the empty cell is located; S5: After the user puts in the battery, the battery swap cabinet where the empty compartment is located checks whether the battery is matched and feeds back the inspection result to the server; S6: If they match, open the fully charged compartment door of the battery swap cabinet where the fully charged battery in the soft-connect cabinet group is located, and the user takes out the battery. The battery swap is successful. If they do not match, the battery swap fails.

2. The method for soft-connecting power exchange cabinets according to claim 1 is characterized in that: In step S3, the operation method of the soft cabinet combination is: the server combines several power swap cabinets into a cabinet combination group, scans the QR code of one of the power swap cabinets, and the battery compartments of all the power swap cabinets in the cabinet combination group are used as the battery compartments of the scanned power swap cabinet.

3. The method for soft-connecting power exchange cabinets according to claim 2 is characterized in that: The server implements virtual cabinet combination in the platform. The platform will first check whether the current battery swap cabinet has empty compartments and batteries that can be replaced. If so, the current battery swap cabinet will be used for battery replacement. Otherwise, it will automatically check whether the battery swap cabinets in the combined battery swap cabinet group meet the battery replacement conditions as a whole, that is, whether there are empty compartments and batteries that can be replaced. If so, the battery replacement will start. Otherwise, the battery replacement conditions are not met and the battery replacement failure will be prompted.

4. The method for soft-connecting power exchange cabinets according to claim 3 is characterized in that: The number of battery compartments in the power exchange cabinets of the combined cabinet group is the same or different, and the battery models, voltages and capacities in the battery compartments are not necessarily the same.

5. The method for soft-connecting power-swap cabinets according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: In step S6, when the batteries do not match, it also includes fault-tolerant processing. The battery swap cabinet reopens the empty compartment door that matches the user's battery based on the inspection results. After the user puts in the battery, it opens the compartment door of the fully charged battery in the cabinet group. The user takes out the battery and the battery swap is successful.

6. The method for soft-connecting power exchange cabinets according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: In step S6, when the batteries do not match, it also includes fault-tolerant processing, returning to execute step S4 a limited number of times. When the set number of times is reached and there is still no match, the battery replacement fails.

7. The method for soft-connecting power-swap cabinets according to claim 6 is characterized in that: In the fault-tolerant processing, the empty compartment door is opened a limited number of times. If there is still a mismatch, the user is reminded to select other battery swap cabinets outside the cabinet group.

8. A system for implementing the method for soft-connecting power-swap cabinets according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that: It includes a server and several power swap cabinets. The power swap cabinets are used independently. When the power swap cabinet scanned by the user has neither empty nor fully charged batteries, the server soft-combines the several power swap cabinets through the platform to form a soft-combined cabinet group including the current power swap cabinet. The battery compartments of all power swap cabinets are used as the battery compartments of the current power swap cabinet.

Images