Electric vehicle battery swapping system based on visual positioning

By using a visual positioning device and a fully automated battery replacement process, the problem of low efficiency in electric vehicle battery swapping systems has been solved, enabling fast and safe battery replacement.

CN114872577BActive Publication Date: 2025-10-21QINGDAO UNITED NEW ENERGY AUTOMOBILE CO LTD
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Patent Information

Application Number
CN202210374154.1
Authority / Receiving Office
CN · China
Patent Type
Patents(China)
Current Assignee / Owner
Filing Date
2022-04-11
Publication Date
2025-10-21
Estimated Expiration
2042-04-11

AI Technical Summary

Technical Problem

Existing electric vehicle battery swapping systems suffer from low swapping efficiency, and users have to wait at the swapping station for battery charging, leading to extended time and safety hazards.

Method used

The electric vehicle battery swapping system adopts a vision-based positioning method. It uses a vision positioning device to locate the electric vehicle and utilizes on-board and battery swapping cabinet components to realize a fully automated battery swapping process, including the removal of depleted batteries and the replacement of fully charged batteries.

Benefits of technology

It achieves fully automated battery replacement, improves the accuracy and efficiency of the battery swapping process, shortens user waiting time, and solves battery swapping failure and safety issues.

✦ Generated by Eureka AI based on patent content.

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Abstract

The application discloses a kind of electric vehicle battery swap system based on visual positioning, comprising: vehicle-mounted component and battery swap cabinet;The battery swap method of electric vehicle battery swap system includes: electric vehicle positioning step, the battery swap cabinet control module controls the displacement part to adjust the pose of battery swap part, so that it can be received and transferred to the buffer storage position;Full battery enters the interactive step of warehouse, including: selecting the buffer storage position with full battery, control displacement part adjusts the pose of battery swap part, reaches the selected buffer storage position, takes out full battery, and is transferred to the vehicle-mounted battery warehouse.The electric vehicle battery swap system of the application, the whole battery swap process is completed automatically, solves the battery swap failure caused by the inaccuracy of the battery swap cabinet to the battery warehouse positioning of battery swap vehicle even many safety problems, improves the accuracy of battery swap process.
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Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention belongs to the technical field of electric vehicles, and in particular relates to an electric vehicle battery replacement system based on visual positioning. Background Art

[0002] At present, with the large-scale development of electric vehicles, the battery replacement market for electric vehicles is gradually emerging. According to current technology, when a vehicle needs to replace its battery, it is necessary to use a battery replacement cabinet to replace the battery pack that matches the power supply system of the electric vehicle. Therefore, a complete set of standardized and interchangeable battery replacement equipment (including the battery compartment under the vehicle, battery pack and battery replacement cabinet) is needed to meet the battery replacement needs of different types of vehicles.

[0003] Since the efficiency of converting electrical energy into mechanical energy in battery packs of new energy vehicles at the current stage is still lower than that of fuel, in order to provide sufficient energy, the battery packs are generally relatively large in size and mass. Therefore, this places high demands on the design of the battery swap mechanism and the storage space of the battery swap cabinet, and will increase the time of the battery swap process, resulting in low battery swap efficiency; and in the existing battery swap process, the battery swap device needs to first be connected to the battery to be replaced in the electric vehicle, and move it to the location designated by the computer in the battery swap cabinet for storage and charging, and then move the battery to be replaced into the battery compartment of the electric vehicle. This increases the computer's computing power and task load to a certain extent, resulting in low battery swap efficiency.

[0004] The above information disclosed in this background technology is only used to increase the understanding of the background technology of this application. Therefore, it may contain information that does not constitute the prior art known to ordinary technicians in this field. Summary of the Invention

[0005] In response to the problems pointed out in the background technology, the present invention proposes an electric vehicle battery replacement system based on visual positioning to improve the battery replacement efficiency of electric vehicles.

[0006] In order to achieve the above-mentioned purpose, the present invention adopts the following technical solutions:

[0007] An electric vehicle battery replacement system based on visual positioning, comprising:

[0008] On-board components and battery swap cabinets;

[0009] The vehicle-mounted components include:

[0010] On-board control module;

[0011] an onboard battery compartment having an inner door and an outer door;

[0012] a battery drive mechanism electrically connected to the vehicle-mounted control module;

[0013] The power exchange cabinet includes:

[0014] Battery swap cabinet control module;

[0015] Multiple charging bays for charging low-power batteries;

[0016] Multiple buffer locations for transferring depleted batteries;

[0017] Battery replacement department;

[0018] A shifting unit connected to the battery swapping unit and configured to receive a control signal from the battery swapping cabinet control module to drive the battery swapping unit to move;

[0019] Visual positioning device;

[0020] The battery replacement method of the electric vehicle battery replacement system includes:

[0021] An electric vehicle positioning step in which a visual positioning device positions the electric vehicle to be battery-swapped so that it is within the operating range of the battery-swapped cabinet;

[0022] The interactive steps for removing a low-charge battery from the warehouse include:

[0023] The vehicle-mounted control module controls the opening of the inner door, and the battery drive mechanism sends out the low-power battery located in the vehicle-mounted battery compartment;

[0024] The battery swap cabinet control module controls the shifting unit to adjust the posture of the battery swap unit so that it can receive and transfer the low-power battery to the cache position;

[0025] The interactive steps for loading a fully charged battery into the storage include:

[0026] Select a cache position with a fully charged battery, control the shifting unit to adjust the position of the battery exchange unit, reach the selected cache position, take out the fully charged battery, and transfer it to the vehicle-mounted battery compartment.

[0027] In some embodiments of the present invention, the electric vehicle positioning step includes:

[0028] The visual positioning device performs visual positioning on the inner door and sends the positioning information to the power exchange cabinet control module;

[0029] The battery swap cabinet control module determines whether the inner door is within the operating range of the battery swap cabinet, and sends the judgment result to the vehicle control module;

[0030] When the inner door is within the operating range of the battery exchange cabinet, the on-board control module controls the opening of the inner door.

[0031] In some embodiments of the present invention, the visual positioning device positions the inner door by the translational coordinates of the inner door along the x, y, and z axes and the rotational coordinates of the z axis.

[0032] In some embodiments of the present invention, when the inner door is not within the operating range of the battery swap cabinet, the battery swap cabinet controls an alarm to prompt the electric vehicle to readjust its position.

[0033] In some embodiments of the present invention, in the step of interactively removing the low-power battery from the warehouse, the visual positioning device positions the battery delivered by the battery driving mechanism;

[0034] The battery exchange cabinet control module controls the displacement unit to adjust the posture of the battery exchange unit according to the position of the battery so that the position deviation between it and the battery is within a set threshold.

[0035] In some embodiments of the present invention, the vehicle-mounted assembly further includes a locking mechanism electrically connected to the vehicle-mounted control module for locking the battery located in the vehicle-mounted battery compartment;

[0036] In the interactive step of removing the low-power battery from the compartment, before the battery driving mechanism sends the battery out, the locking mechanism also includes unlocking the battery in the vehicle-mounted battery compartment;

[0037] In the fully-charged battery entering the warehouse interaction step, after the fully-charged battery is transferred to the vehicle-mounted battery compartment, the fully-charged battery is also locked.

[0038] In some embodiments of the present invention, the step of interactively moving the low-charged battery out of the compartment also includes a step of determining whether all low-charged batteries in the vehicle-mounted battery compartment have been moved out. When all low-charged batteries have been moved out, the step of interactively moving the fully-charged battery into the compartment is executed.

[0039] In some embodiments of the present invention, after the interactive step of fully charged batteries entering the warehouse, an internal scheduling step of the battery swap cabinet is also included, and the battery swap unit transfers the low-charged batteries in the cache position to the charging position for charging.

[0040] In some embodiments of the present invention, the displacement portion includes a lateral displacement portion and a vertical displacement portion, and the power exchange portion is provided on the vertical displacement portion;

[0041] The lateral displacement portion drives the vertical displacement portion to reciprocate in the horizontal direction, and the vertical displacement portion drives the power exchange portion to reciprocate in the vertical direction.

[0042] In some embodiments of the present invention, the lateral shifting portion includes a lateral driving portion and a lateral shifting frame, the lateral shifting frame is provided in front of the charging position and the buffer position, and the lateral driving portion drives the lateral shifting frame to move horizontally;

[0043] The vertical shifting portion includes a vertical driving portion and a vertical shifting frame, wherein the vertical shifting frame is slidably arranged on the horizontal shifting frame, and the vertical driving portion drives the vertical shifting frame to move vertically;

[0044] The power exchange unit is arranged on the vertical shift frame.

[0045] Compared with the prior art, the advantages and positive effects of the present invention are:

[0046] The electric vehicle battery replacement system based on visual positioning disclosed in the present application uses a visual positioning device to locate the electric vehicle to be replaced when a vehicle comes to replace its battery. The low-charged battery in the electric vehicle can be automatically removed and stored in the cache compartment of the battery replacement cabinet, and then the fully charged battery in the charging compartment can be replaced in the vehicle. After the vehicle battery replacement is completed, the user can leave. After the user leaves, the battery replacement cabinet will then perform the transfer of the low-charged battery in the cache compartment and the fully charged battery in the charging compartment. Through the above-mentioned battery replacement process, the problem in the prior art that users need to wait for the battery charging process next to the battery replacement cabinet is solved, which greatly shortens the time for users to replace batteries and improves the battery replacement efficiency.

[0047] The entire battery swapping process is completed fully automatically, solving the problem of battery swapping failure and even many safety issues caused by inaccurate positioning of the battery compartment of the battery swapping vehicle by the existing battery swapping cabinet, and improving the accuracy of the battery swapping process.

[0048] Other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent after reading the detailed description of the present invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0049] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention, the following is a brief introduction to the drawings required for use in the embodiments. Obviously, the drawings described below are some embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying any creative work.

[0050] Figure 1 This is a structural diagram of a battery swap cabinet in one embodiment of the electric vehicle battery swap system proposed by the present invention;

[0051] Figure 2 This is a schematic structural diagram of the on-board components in one embodiment of the electric vehicle battery replacement system proposed by the present invention;

[0052] Figure 3 This is a block diagram of the electric control principle of the battery swap cabinet in one embodiment of the electric vehicle battery swap system proposed by the present invention;

[0053] Figure 4 yes Figure 1 Schematic diagram of one of the states of the power exchange cabinet;

[0054] Figure 5 yes Figure 1 Exploded view of the power exchange cabinet;

[0055] Figure 6 yes Figure 5 Schematic diagram of the partial structure of the middle battery swap unit and the shift unit;

[0056] Figure 7 yes Figure 5 Schematic diagram of the partial structure of the central battery swap unit and vertical shift frame;

[0057] Figure 8 yes Figure 7 Exploded view of

[0058] Figure 9 yes Figure 3 Schematic diagram of the partial structure of the battery swap unit;

[0059] Figure 10 This is a flow chart of a battery replacement method in one embodiment of the electric vehicle battery replacement system proposed by the present invention;

[0060] Figure 11 yes Figure 10 Flowchart of interactive steps for unloading depleted batteries;

[0061] Figure 12 yes Figure 10 Flowchart of the interactive steps for loading fully charged batteries into the warehouse. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0062] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention more clear, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without making creative efforts shall fall within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0063] It should be noted that in the description of the present invention, terms such as "upper," "lower," "left," "right," "vertical," "horizontal," "inner," and "outer" indicating directions or positional relationships are based on the directions or positional relationships shown in the accompanying drawings. These are merely for ease of description and do not indicate or imply that the device or component described must have a specific orientation, be constructed, or operate in a specific orientation. Therefore, they should not be construed as limitations on the present invention. Furthermore, the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be construed as indicating or implying relative importance.

[0064] Example 1

[0065] This embodiment proposes an electric vehicle battery replacement system based on visual positioning, referring to Figures 1 to 3 , including a vehicle-mounted component 1 and a battery exchange cabinet 2.

[0066] like Figure 2 As shown, the vehicle-mounted components include a vehicle-mounted battery compartment 100, a vehicle-mounted control module, and a battery drive mechanism. The vehicle-mounted battery compartment 100 has an inner door 111 and an outer door (not shown due to perspective). The battery drive mechanism is electrically connected to the vehicle-mounted control module.

[0067] The battery compartment 100 includes a compartment 110, which is used to accommodate a battery 104. An inner door 111 is provided at one end of the compartment 110; the battery driving mechanism is used to drive the battery 104 in and out of the compartment through the inner door 111; the battery driving mechanism is a linear displacement module 120, which includes a linear guide rail 121 and a slider 122 slidably connected to the linear guide rail 121. The length direction of the linear guide rail 121 is parallel to the direction of entry and exit of the battery 104 (the direction indicated by the double arrow on the side of the battery 104), the slider 122 is connected to the battery 104, and when the linear displacement module 120 is actuated, the slider 122 drives the battery 104 to slide linearly along the linear guide rail 121 to drive the battery 104 in and out of the compartment 110, such as moving a low-power battery out of the compartment 110, and then transporting a fully charged battery into the compartment 110, to realize battery-swap charging of the electric vehicle.

[0068] Specifically, the slider 122 and the battery 104 can be connected in various ways, such as through a detachable connection via a connector, or through the friction force generated by the slider 122 and the battery 104 abutting against each other to achieve connection, or through the connection and disconnection of an electromagnet by turning on and off power.

[0069] In this embodiment, the compartment 110 includes a bottom plate and two side panels 113 parallel to the direction in which the batteries 104 enter and exit the compartment. One end of the compartment 110 is the aforementioned inner door 111, and the other end is closed to protect the batteries 104 placed therein or to allow for electrical connection. The aforementioned linear guide rail 121 is fixedly mounted below the bottom plate of the compartment 110.

[0070] In this embodiment, the linear displacement module 120 is located below the battery 104 to drive the battery 104 in and out of the compartment. It is easy to install and does not occupy space in the compartment. It is particularly suitable for electric vehicles with higher chassis.

[0071] The battery exchange cabinet 2 mainly includes a cache position 200, a charging position 201, a battery exchange cabinet control module 203, a visual positioning device 202, a battery exchange unit 300 and a shifting unit.

[0072] There are multiple charging positions 201 for charging the low-power batteries 104.

[0073] There are multiple cache slots 200 for transferring low-charged batteries and fully-charged batteries. That is, the low-charged batteries taken out from the battery compartment of the vehicle are first placed in the cache slot 200, and then transferred from the cache slot 200 to the charging slot 201 for charging; the fully-charged batteries in the charging slot 201 are first transferred to the cache slot 200, and then transferred from the cache slot 200 to the battery compartment of the vehicle.

[0074] The battery exchange unit 300 is used to receive a low-charged battery 104 taken out from the battery compartment of the vehicle and place the low-charged battery 104 into the cache position 200, and to receive a fully charged battery taken out from the cache position 200 and place the fully charged battery into the battery compartment of the vehicle, and to transfer the battery between the buffer position 200 and the charging position 201.

[0075] The displacement unit is connected to the battery exchange unit 300 and is used to move the battery exchange unit 300 between the charging position 201 and the buffer position 200 so as to realize the transfer of batteries between the buffer position 200 and the charging position 201 through the battery exchange unit 300.

[0076] like Figure 10 As shown, the battery replacement process of the battery swap cabinet 2 for the vehicle is as follows:

[0077] The battery replacement methods of electric vehicle battery replacement systems include:

[0078] In the electric vehicle positioning step, the visual positioning device locates the electric vehicle to be swapped so that it is within the operating range of the battery swap cabinet 2. The battery swap vehicle is parked in the specified area after adjusting its position. The front of the battery swap vehicle should be facing the battery swap cabinet. At this time, the outer door of the battery compartment at the front of the vehicle is opened.

[0079] The interactive steps for removing a low-charge battery from the warehouse include:

[0080] The vehicle-mounted control module controls the opening of the inner door 111 , and the battery driving mechanism sends out the depleted battery in the vehicle-mounted battery compartment 100 .

[0081] The battery exchange cabinet control module 203 controls the shifting unit to adjust the posture of the battery exchange unit 300 so that it can take over and transfer the low-power battery to the cache position 200.

[0082] The interactive steps for loading a fully charged battery into the storage include:

[0083] Select a cache position with a fully charged battery, control the shifting unit to adjust the position of the battery replacement unit 300, reach the selected cache position, take out the fully charged battery, and transfer it to the vehicle-mounted battery compartment 100.

[0084] The battery replacement method of this embodiment completes the entire battery replacement process fully automatically, solving the problem of battery replacement failure and even many safety issues caused by inaccurate positioning of the battery compartment of the battery replacement vehicle by the existing battery replacement cabinet, and improving the accuracy of the battery replacement process.

[0085] In some embodiments of the present invention, the electric vehicle positioning step includes:

[0086] The visual positioning device performs visual positioning on the inner door 111 and sends it to the battery swap cabinet control module;

[0087] The battery swap cabinet control module determines whether the inner door 111 is within the operating range of the battery swap cabinet 2 and sends the judgment result to the vehicle control module;

[0088] When the inner door 111 is within the operating range of the battery swap cabinet 2 , the on-board control module controls the opening of the inner door 111 .

[0089] In some embodiments of the present invention, the battery swap cabinet receives information that the battery swap vehicle has stopped, and the visual positioning device carried by the cabinet begins to identify the position of the inner door 111.

[0090] The visual positioning device positions the inner door, that is, the position of the battery compartment inner door relative to the visual positioning device, including the translational coordinates of the inner door's x, y, and z axes and the rotational coordinates of the z axis.

[0091] In some embodiments of the present invention, when the inner door is not within the operating range of the battery swap cabinet, the battery swap cabinet controls an alarm to prompt the electric vehicle to readjust its position.

[0092] After receiving the inner door coordinates, the battery swap cabinet determines whether they exceed the maximum adjustment limit of the battery swap device. If so, the indicator light turns red, and the battery swap cabinet prompts the vehicle to reposition and align, repeating the judgment. If within the maximum adjustment limit, the indicator light turns green, and the low-charge battery removal process begins.

[0093] like Figure 11 As shown, in the interactive step of removing low-power batteries from the warehouse, the visual positioning device positions the batteries sent out by the battery driving mechanism;

[0094] The battery exchange cabinet control module controls the displacement unit to adjust the posture of the battery exchange unit according to the position of the battery so that the position deviation between the battery and the battery is within a set threshold.

[0095] If the position deviation does not meet the requirements, the control shift unit continues to adjust the posture of the battery swap unit until the requirements are met.

[0096] In some embodiments of the present invention, Figure 12 、 Figure 2As shown, the vehicle-mounted assembly further includes a locking mechanism, which is electrically connected to the vehicle-mounted control module and is used to lock the battery located in the vehicle-mounted battery compartment;

[0097] In the interactive step of removing the low-power battery from the compartment, before the battery driving mechanism sends the battery out, the locking mechanism also includes unlocking the battery in the vehicle battery compartment;

[0098] In the fully-charged battery entering the warehouse interaction step, after the fully-charged battery is transferred to the vehicle-mounted battery compartment, the fully-charged battery is also locked.

[0099] The locking mechanism includes a vertical locking mechanism and a transverse locking mechanism 150 . The vertical locking mechanism is provided at the upper portion of the compartment 110 and abuts against the top surface of the battery 200 to vertically position the battery 200 .

[0100] In this embodiment, longitudinal locking mechanisms 130 are provided on both sides of the battery 200, located on the two side plates 113 of the compartment 110. When the battery 200 is properly positioned, the longitudinal locking mechanisms 130 on both sides simultaneously lock the battery 200, clamping the battery 200 in place and effectively improving the secure positioning of the battery 200. The longitudinal locking mechanism 130 can specifically be an oil cylinder, a pneumatic cylinder, or a cam mechanism; its telescopic rod extends to abut against the side of the battery 200 to longitudinally position the battery 200, or retracts to disengage the battery 200.

[0101] Specifically, the vertical locking mechanism includes a mounting bracket 140 and a vertical locking component disposed on the lower surface of the mounting bracket 140. The mounting bracket 140 is in the shape of an elongated rod and is positioned above the compartment 110. Its ends are fixed to corresponding side panels of the compartment 110 or to the longitudinal locking mechanism 130. In this embodiment, the mounting bracket 140 is fixed to the longitudinal locking mechanism 130. Similarly, the vertical locking component can also be a hydraulic cylinder or a pneumatic cylinder. The telescopic rod extends and abuts against the top surface of the battery 200 to vertically lock the battery 200 in place, or retracts to disengage the battery 200.

[0102] To further improve the positioning reliability of the battery 200 that has been properly positioned, the battery compartment 100 in this embodiment further includes a transverse locking mechanism 150 .

[0103] In some embodiments of the present invention, the step of interactively moving the low-charged battery out of the compartment also includes a step of determining whether all low-charged batteries in the vehicle-mounted battery compartment have been moved out. When all low-charged batteries have been moved out, the step of interactively moving the fully-charged battery into the compartment is executed.

[0104] In some embodiments of the present invention, after the interactive step of fully charged batteries entering the warehouse, an internal scheduling step of the battery swap cabinet is also included, and the battery swap unit transfers the low-charged batteries in the cache position to the charging position for charging.

[0105] like Figure 4-Figure 6 As shown, the low-charged battery in the cache compartment 200 is transferred to the charging compartment 201 for charging through the battery replacement unit 300 and the shifting unit, and the fully-charged battery in the charging compartment 201 is transferred to the cache compartment 200 for placement.

[0106] The cache slot 200 is used to place low-charged batteries and fully-charged batteries taken out of the vehicle, ensuring that there are always fully-charged batteries in the cache slot 200. When the vehicle comes to replace the battery, the low-charged battery in the vehicle is first placed directly in the empty space in the nearest cache slot 200, and then the fully-charged battery in the cache slot 200 is directly replaced in the vehicle. The vehicle can leave after the battery replacement is completed. After the user leaves, the battery exchange cabinet will execute the transfer of the low-charged battery in the cache slot 200 and the fully-charged battery in the charging slot 201. Through the above-mentioned battery replacement process, the problem in the prior art that users need to wait for the battery charging process next to the battery exchange cabinet is solved, which greatly shortens the time for users to replace batteries and improves the battery replacement efficiency.

[0107] In some embodiments of this application, refer to Figure 1 The cache storage 200 includes a first cache storage for storing low-charge batteries and a second cache storage for storing fully-charged batteries.

[0108] At least a portion of the first cache positions and a portion of the second cache positions are located at the lower portion of the battery swap cabinet.

[0109] When a vehicle comes to replace its battery, since the battery compartment of the vehicle is located lower, part of the first buffer compartment and the second buffer compartment are set lower, so that the low-charged battery taken out of the battery compartment of the vehicle can be placed in the first buffer compartment in the shortest path and time, and then the fully charged battery in the second buffer compartment can be loaded into the battery compartment of the vehicle in the shortest path and time, thereby further shortening the battery replacement time and improving the battery replacement efficiency.

[0110] In some embodiments of the present application, the remaining first cache positions and second cache positions are located above the battery exchange position, that is, the charging position 201 is located in the middle of the entire battery exchange cabinet, and the cache position 200 is located above and below the charging position.

[0111] When there is no space in the second cache compartment below, the fully charged battery can be placed in the second cache compartment above; when there is no space in the charging compartment, the low-charged battery in the first cache compartment below can be transferred to the first cache compartment above.

[0112] Such an arrangement of the storage spaces can, on the one hand, ensure the user's short-time requirement for battery replacement, and on the other hand, improve the transfer efficiency of low-charged batteries and fully charged batteries in the battery replacement cabinet, and improve the charging efficiency of the charging space.

[0113] In some embodiments of the present application, the frame structure 600 is used to construct the charging positions 201, the first cache positions and the second cache positions distributed in a matrix inside the battery exchange cabinet. The overall structure is compact, small in size and occupies a small area.

[0114] The battery exchange unit 300 and the displacement unit are arranged in front of the charging position 201, the first cache position and the second cache position. The displacement unit drives the battery exchange unit 300 to move horizontally left and right and vertically up and down in the vertical plane. The battery exchange unit 300 can be used to transfer the battery between the cache position 200 and the charging position 201, and the structure is simpler and more compact.

[0115] In some embodiments of the present application, by expanding the frame structure 600, the number of charging slots 201 and cache slots 200 can be expanded as needed, thereby improving the applicability and expandability of the battery exchange cabinet.

[0116] In some embodiments of the present application, the displacement portion includes a lateral displacement portion 400 and a vertical displacement portion 500 , and the battery exchange portion 300 is disposed on the vertical displacement portion 500 .

[0117] The horizontal displacement part 400 drives the vertical displacement part 500 to reciprocate in the horizontal direction, and the vertical displacement part 500 drives the battery exchange part 300 to reciprocate in the vertical direction, thereby realizing the left and right and up and down movement of the battery exchange part 300 in the vertical plane, so that the battery exchange part 300 moves back and forth between the charging position 201 and the cache position 200.

[0118] For the specific structure of the lateral displacement portion 400, in some embodiments of the present application, refer to Figures 2 to 3 The lateral shifting portion 400 includes a lateral driving portion 420 and a lateral shifting frame 410 .

[0119] The transverse shift frame 410 is arranged in front of the charging position 201 and the cache position 200. Specifically, a front frame 700 is provided in front of the frame structure 600 of the battery exchange cabinet. The transverse shift frame 410 is slidably arranged on the front frame 700, and the transverse drive unit 420 drives the transverse shift frame 410 to move horizontally along the front frame 700.

[0120] The transverse drive unit 420 includes a first motor 421 and a first lead screw 422. The first motor 421 drives the first lead screw 422 to rotate. The first motor 421 is fixed to the front frame 700, and the first lead screw 422 is connected to the transverse shift frame 410. The front frame 700 is provided with a first sliding portion 710 (e.g., a slide rail), and the transverse shift frame 410 is correspondingly provided with a second sliding portion 411 (e.g., a slider).

[0121] The first motor 421 is started to drive the first lead screw 422 to rotate, and the first lead screw 422 drives the lateral shift frame 410 to move horizontally along the first sliding portion 710 .

[0122] For the specific structure of the vertical displacement portion 500, in some embodiments of the present application, refer to Figures 2 to 3 The vertical shifting portion 500 includes a vertical driving portion 520 and a vertical shifting frame 510 .

[0123] The vertical shift frame 510 is slidably arranged on the horizontal shift frame 410. Specifically, the horizontal shift frame 410 is provided with a third sliding part 412 (such as a slide rail), and the vertical shift frame 510 is provided with a fourth sliding part 511 (such as a slider). The vertical driving part 520 drives the vertical shift frame 510 to move vertically.

[0124] The vertical drive unit 520 includes a second motor 521 and a second lead screw 522. The second motor 521 drives the second lead screw 522 to rotate. The second motor 521 is fixed to the lateral shift frame 410, and the second lead screw 522 is connected to the vertical shift frame 510. When the second motor 521 is activated, it drives the second lead screw 522 to rotate, and the second lead screw 522 drives the vertical shift frame 510 to move up and down along the third sliding portion 412.

[0125] In some embodiments of the present application, the battery exchange unit 300 is arranged on the vertical shift frame 500 and moves up and down with the vertical shift frame 500.

[0126] The vertical shift rack 500 extends toward the front side of the battery exchange cabinet, and the battery exchange unit 300 is slidably arranged on the vertical shift rack 510. The battery exchange unit 300 can move back and forth in the horizontal direction, that is, the battery exchange unit 300 can move away from or close to the charging position 201 and the cache position 200.

[0127] When the battery replacement unit 300 moves forward, it is convenient to receive a low-charged battery taken out of the vehicle's battery compartment, and to install a fully charged battery into the vehicle's battery compartment.

[0128] When the battery exchange unit 300 moves backward, it is convenient to place the low-power battery into the cache compartment 200.

[0129] For the specific structure of the battery swap unit 300, in some embodiments of the present application, refer to Figures 5 to 7 The battery exchange unit 300 includes a battery exchange compartment body 310, which is provided with a battery accommodating cavity 311 with front and rear ends passing through. The battery exchange compartment body 310 is arranged on the displacement part, specifically on the vertical displacement frame 510.

[0130] The battery receiving cavity 311 is aligned with the battery compartment of the vehicle to allow the battery to enter / exit between the battery receiving cavity 311 and the battery compartment.

[0131] The battery receiving cavity 311 is opposite to the buffer compartment 200 to allow the battery to enter / exit between the battery receiving cavity 311 and the buffer compartment 200 .

[0132] In some embodiments of the present application, the battery exchange unit 300 also includes a mounting frame 320, which is disposed on the top of the battery exchange compartment 310 through a slewing support 330, and the mounting frame 320 is connected to the displacement unit, specifically to the vertical displacement frame 510.

[0133] A driving gear (referred to as a first driving gear 350 ) is provided on the mounting frame 320 . The first driving gear 350 meshes with the outer ring gear 331 of the slewing bearing 330 . The third motor 340 drives the first driving gear 350 to rotate, which in turn drives the slewing bearing 330 to rotate, thereby driving the battery swap compartment 310 to rotate in a horizontal plane. The third motor 340 is fixed to the mounting frame 320 .

[0134] When a battery-swap vehicle is parked, there may be a certain angle error, resulting in the battery outlet of the battery compartment in the vehicle not being able to face the battery accommodating cavity 311 of the battery-swap compartment body 310. At this time, by rotating the battery-swap compartment body 310 in the horizontal plane, the vehicle battery compartment and the battery accommodating cavity 311 are made to face each other, which facilitates the entry and exit of the battery and improves the reliability of battery replacement.

[0135] In some embodiments of the present application, the mounting frame 320 is slidably connected to the displacement portion, specifically, is slidably connected to the vertical displacement frame 510, and the mounting frame 320 drives the battery exchange compartment 310 to move back and forth in the horizontal direction.

[0136] like Figure 7-Figure 9 As shown, for the specific structure to realize the forward and backward movement of the battery swap compartment 310, in some embodiments of the present application, a fifth sliding portion 512 (such as a slider) is provided on the left and right sides of the vertical shift frame 510, and a sixth sliding portion 321 (such as a slide rail) is provided on the left and right sides of the mounting frame 320, respectively. The fifth sliding portion 512 is slidably connected to the sixth sliding portion 321. A fourth motor 530 is fixedly provided on the vertical shift frame 510, and the power output end of the fourth motor 530 is connected to the second driving gear 540. The mounting frame 320 is provided with a rack 322 that meshes with the second driving gear 540.

[0137] The fourth motor 530 drives the second driving gear 340 to rotate, and the second driving gear 340 drives the rack 322 to move forward and backward, thereby realizing the forward and backward movement of the battery exchange compartment body 310.

[0138] In some embodiments of the present application, a rolling portion 312 is provided on the bottom wall of the battery accommodating cavity 311. The rolling portion 312 is in rolling contact with the battery located in the battery accommodating cavity 311, reducing the friction of the battery in the battery accommodating cavity 311 and reducing wear.

[0139] In some embodiments of the present application, a linear displacement module 313 is provided on the outer side of the battery exchange compartment 310, and the linear displacement module 313 is used to realize the forward and backward movement of the battery in the battery exchange compartment 310.

[0140] The above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention, rather than to limit the same. Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the aforementioned embodiments, it is still possible for a person skilled in the art to modify the technical solutions described in the aforementioned embodiments, or to replace some of the technical features therein with equivalents. However, these modifications or replacements do not deviate the essence of the corresponding technical solutions from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions claimed to be protected by the present invention.

Claims

1. An electric vehicle battery replacement system based on visual positioning, characterized in that: include: On-board components and battery swap cabinets; The vehicle-mounted components include: On-board control module; an onboard battery compartment having an inner door and an outer door; a battery drive mechanism electrically connected to the vehicle-mounted control module; The power exchange cabinet includes: A battery swap cabinet control module, which communicates with the vehicle-mounted control module; Multiple charging bays for charging low-power batteries; Multiple buffer locations for transferring depleted batteries; Battery replacement department; A shifting unit connected to the battery swapping unit and configured to receive a control signal from the battery swapping cabinet control module to drive the battery swapping unit to move; Visual positioning device; The battery replacement method of the electric vehicle battery replacement system includes: An electric vehicle positioning step in which a visual positioning device positions the electric vehicle to be battery-swapped so that it is within the operating range of the battery-swapped cabinet; The interactive steps for removing a low-charge battery from the warehouse include: The vehicle-mounted control module controls the opening of the inner door, and the battery drive mechanism sends out the low-power battery located in the vehicle-mounted battery compartment; The battery swap cabinet control module controls the shifting unit to adjust the posture of the battery swap unit so that it can receive and transfer the low-power battery to the cache position; The interactive steps for loading a fully charged battery into the storage include: Selecting a cache position with a fully charged battery, controlling the shifting unit to adjust the position of the battery swapping unit to reach the selected cache position, taking out the fully charged battery, and transferring it to the vehicle-mounted battery compartment; The vehicle-mounted battery compartment includes: a compartment for accommodating batteries, with an inner door provided at one end of the compartment; a battery drive mechanism for driving the batteries into and out of the compartment through the inner door; the battery drive mechanism is a linear displacement module, which includes a linear guide rail and a slider slidably connected to the linear guide rail, wherein the length direction of the linear guide rail is parallel to the direction in which the batteries enter and exit the compartment. When the linear displacement module is actuated, the slider drives the batteries to slide linearly along the linear guide rail to drive the batteries into and out of the compartment; The linear guide rail is fixed under the bottom plate of the chamber, and the linear displacement module drives the battery in and out of the chamber under the battery; The locking mechanism includes a vertical locking mechanism and a transverse locking mechanism. The vertical locking mechanism is provided at the upper portion of the compartment and abuts against the top surface of the battery to vertically position the battery. The vertical locking mechanism includes a mounting bracket and a vertical locking component provided on the lower surface of the mounting bracket. The mounting bracket is in the shape of an elongated rod and is arranged above the chamber. The two ends are fixed to the corresponding side panels of the chamber or to the longitudinal locking mechanism. Longitudinal locking mechanisms are provided on the outer sides of both sides of the battery, which are respectively arranged on the two side plates of the compartment. When the battery is put into the compartment, the longitudinal locking mechanisms on both sides lock the battery at the same time, clamping the battery in place.

2. The electric vehicle battery replacement system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The steps for electric vehicle positioning include: The visual positioning device performs visual positioning on the inner door and sends the positioning information to the power exchange cabinet control module; The battery swap cabinet control module determines whether the inner door is within the operating range of the battery swap cabinet, and sends the judgment result to the vehicle control module; When the inner door is within the operating range of the battery exchange cabinet, the on-board control module controls the opening of the inner door.

3. The electric vehicle battery replacement system according to claim 2, characterized in that: The visual positioning device positions the inner door including the translational coordinates of the inner door's x, y, and z axes and the rotational coordinates of the z axis.

4. The electric vehicle battery replacement system according to claim 2, characterized in that: When the inner door is not within the operating range of the battery swap cabinet, the battery swap cabinet controls an alarm to prompt the electric vehicle to readjust its position.

5. The electric vehicle battery replacement system according to claim 2, characterized in that: In the step of interactively removing the low-power battery from the warehouse, the visual positioning device positions the battery delivered by the battery driving mechanism; The battery exchange cabinet control module controls the displacement unit to adjust the posture of the battery exchange unit according to the position of the battery so that the position deviation between it and the battery is within a set threshold.

6. The electric vehicle battery replacement system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The vehicle-mounted assembly further includes a locking mechanism electrically connected to the vehicle-mounted control module for locking the battery located in the vehicle-mounted battery compartment; In the interactive step of removing the low-power battery from the compartment, before the battery driving mechanism sends the battery out, the locking mechanism also includes unlocking the battery in the vehicle-mounted battery compartment; In the fully-charged battery entering the warehouse interaction step, after the fully-charged battery is transferred to the vehicle-mounted battery compartment, the fully-charged battery is also locked.

7. The electric vehicle battery replacement system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that: The interactive step of removing the low-charged battery from the compartment also includes a step of determining whether all low-charged batteries in the vehicle battery compartment have been moved out. When all low-charged batteries have been moved out, the interactive step of bringing the fully-charged battery into the compartment is executed.

8. The electric vehicle battery replacement system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that: After the interactive step of fully charged batteries entering the warehouse, it also includes the internal scheduling step of the battery swap cabinet. The battery swap department transfers the low-charged batteries in the cache position to the charging position for charging.

9. The electric vehicle battery replacement system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that: The displacement portion includes a lateral displacement portion and a vertical displacement portion, and the power exchange portion is provided on the vertical displacement portion; The lateral displacement portion drives the vertical displacement portion to reciprocate in the horizontal direction, and the vertical displacement portion drives the power exchange portion to reciprocate in the vertical direction.

10. The electric vehicle battery replacement system according to claim 9, characterized in that: The lateral shifting portion includes a lateral driving portion and a lateral shifting frame, wherein the lateral shifting frame is arranged in front of the charging position and the buffer position, and the lateral driving portion drives the lateral shifting frame to move horizontally; The vertical shifting portion includes a vertical driving portion and a vertical shifting frame, wherein the vertical shifting frame is slidably arranged on the horizontal shifting frame, and the vertical driving portion drives the vertical shifting frame to move vertically; The power exchange unit is arranged on the vertical shift frame.

Citation Information

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