Intelligent power management system for unmanned vehicles

Abstract

The present disclosure provides an intelligent power-on management system for unmanned vehicles. The system is applied to unmanned vehicles or unmanned vehicles, and includes: after the unmanned vehicle is powered off, the control unit judges the fault condition of the battery system, and when any of the two battery systems is fault-free, controls the fault-free battery system to be turned on; when both battery systems are fault-free, the control unit judges the power condition of the battery system, and when the remaining power of the two battery systems is greater than a predetermined threshold, controls the battery system with the lower remaining power to be turned on, and when the remaining power of the two battery systems is less than or equal to the predetermined threshold, controls the battery system with the higher remaining power to be turned on; after the battery system is turned on, controls the pre-charge relay to be closed, and after the pre-charge condition is met, closes the total negative relay, disconnects the pre-charge relay, and powers on the unmanned vehicle. The present disclosure reduces the power-on time of the unmanned vehicle battery system, and improves the power-on efficiency and power-on safety of the unmanned vehicle.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the technical field of unmanned vehicles, and in particular to an intelligent power-on management system for unmanned vehicles. Background Art

[0002] Unmanned vehicles, also known as driverless vehicles, autonomous vehicles, or wheeled mobile robots, are integrated, intelligent technologies that combine environmental perception, path planning, state recognition, and vehicle control. They are typically powered by a drive motor, which in turn draws energy from lithium batteries. Currently, due to limited charging stations, onboard charging is inconvenient and time-consuming, impacting operational time.

[0003] In the prior art, when replacing the battery system in an unmanned vehicle, it is necessary to first power off the vehicle and then manually replace the current battery system. To facilitate manual replacement of the battery system, the heavier battery system is usually split into several small battery packs to reduce the weight of each battery pack, allowing manual removal and replacement of the batteries. However, as the number of battery packs increases, when managing the power-on of the battery system, the existing unmanned vehicle battery system selects a suitable battery system for power-on through manual judgment, and the power-on operation is also completed manually. This not only increases the power-on time of the battery system, making the power-on process time-consuming and labor-intensive, but also reduces the efficiency and safety of the unmanned vehicle power-on, and also affects the vehicle's operating time. Summary of the Invention

[0004] In view of this, the embodiments of the present disclosure provide an intelligent power-on management system for unmanned vehicles to solve the problems existing in the prior art of increasing the power-on time of the battery system, resulting in a time-consuming and labor-intensive power-on process, reducing the efficiency and safety of powering on unmanned vehicles, and affecting the vehicle's operating time.

[0005] An embodiment of the present disclosure provides an intelligent power-on management system for an unmanned vehicle, comprising: two battery systems and a control unit, the two battery systems being used to power the unmanned vehicle, and the control unit being used to judge the fault conditions and power conditions of the two battery systems; after the unmanned vehicle is powered off, the control unit judges the fault condition of each battery system, and when any of the two battery systems has no fault, the control unit controls the battery system with no fault to turn on; when both battery systems have no fault, the control unit judges the power condition of each battery system, and when the remaining power of the two battery systems is greater than a predetermined threshold, the control unit controls the battery system with the lower remaining power of the two battery systems to turn on, and when the remaining power of the two battery systems is less than or equal to the predetermined threshold, the control unit controls the battery system with the higher remaining power of the two battery systems to turn on; after the control unit controls the battery system to turn on, the control unit controls the pre-charging relay to close, and after the pre-charging condition is met, closes the total negative relay and disconnects the pre-charging relay, and the unmanned vehicle is powered on.

[0006] At least one of the above technical solutions adopted in the embodiments of the present disclosure can achieve the following beneficial effects:

[0007] Two battery systems are used to power the unmanned vehicle, and a control unit is used to judge the fault conditions and power conditions of the two battery systems; after the unmanned vehicle is powered off, the control unit judges the fault condition of each battery system, and when any of the two battery systems has no fault, the control unit controls the battery system with no fault to turn on; when both battery systems have no fault, the control unit judges the power condition of each battery system, and when the remaining power of the two battery systems is greater than a predetermined threshold, the control unit controls the battery system with the lower remaining power of the two battery systems to turn on, and when the remaining power of the two battery systems is less than or equal to the predetermined threshold, the control unit controls the battery system with the higher remaining power of the two battery systems to turn on; after the control unit controls the battery system to turn on, the control unit controls the pre-charge relay to close, and after the pre-charge condition is met, the total negative relay is closed and the pre-charge relay is disconnected, and the unmanned vehicle is powered on. The present disclosure realizes intelligent power-on management of the battery system of the unmanned vehicle, and can automatically select the battery system that best suits the current situation for replacement, shortening the power-on time of the battery system. The power-on process does not require manual operation, thereby improving the power-on efficiency of the unmanned vehicle, while reducing the impact of the power-on process on the vehicle's operating time, and extending the operating time of the unmanned vehicle. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0008] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the following briefly introduces the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the description of the prior art. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present disclosure. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without any creative work.

[0009] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of an intelligent power-on management system for an unmanned vehicle provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0010] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of an intelligent power-on management system for an unmanned vehicle provided by another embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0011] Figure 3 This is a flow chart of intelligent power-on management for unmanned vehicles provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0012] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of an electronic device provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0013] In the following description, specific details such as specific system structures and techniques are provided for purposes of illustration rather than limitation to facilitate a thorough understanding of the embodiments of the present disclosure. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present disclosure may be implemented in other embodiments without these specific details. In other cases, detailed descriptions of well-known systems, devices, circuits, and methods are omitted to avoid obscuring the description of the present disclosure with unnecessary detail.

[0014] With the development of autonomous driving technology and new energy vehicle technology, unmanned vehicle technology has become more mature, and the application scenarios and usage scope of unmanned vehicles have gradually expanded. For example, unmanned vehicles are divided according to application scenarios, including but not limited to unmanned delivery vehicles, unmanned retail vehicles, unmanned sweepers, unmanned patrol vehicles, etc. Unmanned vehicles can also be called autonomous driving vehicles or unmanned vehicles.

[0015] Autonomous driving typically relies on new energy vehicles, so unmanned vehicles are typically powered by a drive motor, which draws energy from the lithium-ion batteries in the battery system. Currently, due to limited charging stations, unmanned vehicles can use on-board charging. On-board charging involves charging the vehicle's lithium-ion battery via a charging station or onboard charger. This requires an external charging station to provide power, and the unmanned vehicle must be parked in a fixed location for charging. Therefore, on-board charging is very inconvenient and takes a long time, impacting operational time.

[0016] Compared to on-board charging, battery swapping is one of the preferred solutions for solving the energy supply problem of autonomous vehicles. Battery swapping refers to the process of switching from one battery pack (or battery system) to another. Before switching, the battery needs to be charged separately. The fully charged battery pack is then used to replace the depleted battery pack on the autonomous vehicle. The battery swapping process is also the process of switching the battery system. However, the existing battery system switching process still has the following problems:

[0017] When switching the battery system in an unmanned vehicle, it is usually necessary to first power down the vehicle and then manually replace the low-charge battery system with a fully charged one. However, due to the heavy weight of a complete battery system, mechanical equipment is required and the battery replacement must be performed at a fixed location. To facilitate manual battery replacement, the heavier complete battery system is split into several smaller battery packs, reducing the weight of each battery pack and making it easier for humans to replace the batteries.

[0018] However, small battery packs often have low power levels. To increase the maximum power limit for autonomous vehicles, the number of battery packs needs to be increased. However, as the number of battery packs increases, multiple battery systems need to be intelligently managed when the autonomous vehicle is powered on to ensure safer power-on operations. However, existing autonomous vehicle battery systems primarily rely on manual judgment to select a suitable battery system for power-on, and the power-on operation is also performed manually. This not only increases the power-on time of the battery system, making the power-on process time-consuming and labor-intensive, but also reduces the efficiency and safety of autonomous vehicle power-on, while also impacting the vehicle's operating time.

[0019] For example, in a specific embodiment of the prior art, by splitting a heavier battery system into multiple battery packs, the weight of a single battery pack is reduced, making it easier to manually replace the battery packs. For example, a battery system weighing 65 kg is split into four small battery packs. When the power of a battery pack cannot meet the power supply demand, the low-power battery pack is manually replaced with a high-power battery pack. However, when powering on this type of battery system in the prior art, the large number of battery packs increases the operational difficulty of powering on the battery system. In addition, the current power-on management mainly relies on manual judgment to select a suitable battery system for powering on, and all power-on operations are also performed manually, which increases the time consumption of the battery system power-on and reduces the safety of the battery system power-on.

[0020] In view of the problems existing in the above-mentioned prior art, the embodiment of the present disclosure provides an improved intelligent power-on management system for unmanned vehicles. When the unmanned vehicle is in a power-off state, the control unit judges the fault condition and power condition of the battery system in the unmanned vehicle. When any of the two battery systems is fault-free, the faulty battery system is eliminated and the fault-free battery system is directly selected for power-on. When both battery systems are fault-free, based on the judgment results of the power conditions of the two battery systems, when the remaining power of the two battery systems is greater than a predetermined threshold, the battery system with the lower remaining power of the two battery systems is selected as the power-on target. When the remaining power of the two battery systems is less than or equal to the predetermined threshold, the battery system with the higher remaining power of the two battery systems is selected as the power-on target. After selecting the power-on target that best suits the current battery system condition of the unmanned vehicle, the selected battery system is controlled to be turned on, and the control unit controls the pre-charge relay to be closed. After the pre-charge condition is met, the total negative relay is closed and the pre-charge relay is disconnected, thereby completing the power-on process of the unmanned vehicle. The disclosed embodiment can automatically select the power-on object that best suits the current battery system situation based on the judgment result of the current battery system situation, and control the vehicle to automatically power on. This not only shortens the power-on time of the battery system and improves the power-on efficiency, but also improves the safety of the power-on operation. The disclosed embodiment can ensure that the unmanned vehicle can be in a fully charged state for as much time as possible, thereby extending the vehicle's operating time.

[0021] The structure of the intelligent power-on management system for unmanned vehicles provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure is described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of an intelligent power-on management system for unmanned vehicles provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure. Figure 1 As shown, the overall structure of the intelligent power-on management system for unmanned vehicles may specifically include the following:

[0022] Two battery systems (such as battery system A and battery system B) and a control unit, the two battery systems are used to power the unmanned vehicle, and the control unit is used to judge the fault conditions and power conditions of the two battery systems; after the unmanned vehicle is powered off, the control unit judges the fault condition of each battery system, and when any battery system in the two battery systems has no fault, the control unit controls the battery system with no fault to turn on; when both battery systems have no fault, the control unit judges the power condition of each battery system, and when the remaining power of the two battery systems is greater than a predetermined threshold, the control unit controls the battery system with the lower remaining power of the two battery systems to turn on, and when the remaining power of the two battery systems is less than or equal to the predetermined threshold, the control unit controls the battery system with the higher remaining power of the two battery systems to turn on; after the control unit controls the battery system to turn on, the control unit controls the pre-charge relay to close, and after the pre-charge conditions are met, the total negative relay is closed and the pre-charge relay is disconnected, and the unmanned vehicle is powered on.

[0023] Specifically, the embodiment of the present disclosure re-modularizes and subcontracts the battery system of the unmanned vehicle based on the characteristics of lithium batteries and the technical features of the battery management system, splitting a battery system with high power and heavy weight into multiple battery packs, where every two battery packs are connected in series to form a battery system, thereby dividing the overall battery system into multiple sets of smaller battery systems. The battery packs in each battery system can reach a weight that can be manually replaced. It should be noted that the power-on management system provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure also supports manual battery replacement and power-on operations.

[0024] like Figure 1 As shown, the disclosed embodiment splits a previously complete large battery system into four smaller battery packs, with each two battery packs connected in series to form a battery system. For example, each unmanned vehicle can be equipped with four battery packs, forming two parallel battery systems: Battery System A and Battery System B. Taking a complete large battery system with a voltage platform of 72V and a capacity of 12.9kWh as an example, the specific splitting method adopted may be to split the 12.9kWh large battery pack into four smaller battery packs, such as Battery Pack A, Battery Pack B, Battery Pack C, and Battery Pack D. Each battery pack has a capacity of 3.2kWh, and a battery pack arrangement of 10 in series and 28 in parallel can be used. Therefore, each battery pack corresponds to a voltage platform of 36V and weighs 17.5kg. Battery Packs A and B are connected in series to form Battery System A, while Battery Packs C and D are connected in series to form Battery System B. Both Battery System A and Battery System B correspond to a voltage platform of 72V and a capacity of 6.45kWh.

[0025] Furthermore, the intelligent power-on management system in the embodiment of the present disclosure can be composed of two battery systems and a control unit, each battery system includes two battery packs connected in series, and each battery pack includes a BMU (Battery Management Unit) and a BMU relay; the control unit integrates the VCU (Vehicle Control Unit) and the BCU (Battery Control Unit), so the control unit has both the functions of the VCU and the BCU.

[0026] Furthermore, the BMU can collect information such as cell voltage, cell temperature, remaining charge, and fault status, and feed this information back to the VCU via the CAN bus. For example, CAN1 in Figure 1 is used to transmit status information for each battery pack in Battery System A and Battery System B. Furthermore, the BMU can control the opening and closing of the BMU relay, and the BCU can control the BMU's wakeup and sleep mode via an activation signal. The activation signal is a power supply signal transmitted through the circuit between the BCU and the BMU, for example, a 12V power supply signal can be used to control the BMU's wakeup and sleep mode.

[0027] Furthermore, the battery controller BCU can control the opening and closing of the total negative relay and the pre-charge relay according to the feedback information of the BMU to realize the switching of the battery system. The pre-charge relay is also called the pre-charge relay. The vehicle controller VCU is the electronic control system of the unmanned vehicle, which can also be called the vehicle control unit or electronic control unit. It is the core electronic control unit for realizing vehicle control decision-making in the unmanned vehicle. It can be used to collect vehicle information, control vehicle operation, diagnose vehicle faults, etc. It should be noted that the VCU of the embodiment of the present disclosure is integrated into the control unit, and the BMS battery system can be integrated into the VCU, so the control unit also has the function of BMS.

[0028] It should be noted that the overall structure of the intelligent power-on management system provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure is described using two parallel battery systems consisting of four battery packs as an example. Therefore, the following specific embodiments of the present disclosure describe the intelligent power-on process between the two battery systems as an example. It should be understood that the intelligent power-on management system of the embodiments of the present disclosure is not limited to two battery systems, but is also applicable to power-on management of more than two battery systems. The number of battery systems and battery packs does not constitute a limitation on the technical solution of the present disclosure.

[0029] In some embodiments, the system also includes a central computing platform and a server backend. The server backend is used to send a power-on signal to the central computing platform via a network signal. The central computing platform is used to transmit the power-on signal to the control unit. After receiving the power-on signal, the control unit activates the battery management units of the two battery systems through the circuit.

[0030] Specifically, in addition to Figure 1 In addition to the structure of the intelligent power-on management system shown, another embodiment of the present disclosure provides another overall structure of an intelligent power-on management system for an unmanned vehicle. Figure 2 FIG2 is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of an intelligent power-on management system for an unmanned vehicle provided by another embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG2 , the overall structure of the intelligent power-on management system for an unmanned vehicle may specifically include the following contents:

[0031] Figure 2 The intelligent power management system shown is Figure 1 The same structural parts of the intelligent power-on management system are not described in detail here, and the different structural parts between the two are described below. Figure 2 Another intelligent power-on management system shown also includes a central computing platform and a server backend.

[0032] Furthermore, the central computing platform can utilize the Xavier chip, an intelligent system within the connected vehicle (IoV) system, also known as an intelligent control unit (ICU). This chip transmits received information to the server backend via IoV network signals, such as 5G signals or WiFi. The Xavier chip can also forward the power-on signal from the server backend to the control unit via the CAN bus. Upon receiving the power-on signal, the control unit sends a 12V electrical signal to each of the two battery systems' BMUs via a hardwired circuit, activating them.

[0033] Furthermore, the server backend can be an autonomous driving server backend or a remote driving server backend. The autonomous driving server backend can also be called an unmanned driving server backend. The autonomous driving server backend corresponds to the background program of the autonomous driving function of the unmanned vehicle, and the remote driving server backend corresponds to the background program of the remote driving function of the unmanned vehicle.

[0034] Furthermore, the control unit is connected to the BMUs of the two battery systems respectively through the CAN1 bus, the central computing platform is connected to the control unit through the CAN2 bus, and the server backend is connected to the central computing platform through network signals.

[0035] In some embodiments, each battery system includes one or more battery packs connected in series, and each battery pack includes a battery management unit and a relay. The battery management unit is used to send the status information and power information of the battery pack to the control unit via the CAN bus. The control unit is used to judge the fault condition or power condition of each battery system based on the status information or power information of each battery system.

[0036] Specifically, the BMU in each battery system collects the status information and power information corresponding to each battery pack, and transmits the status information and power information of the battery pack to the control unit through the CAN1 bus. For example, the BMU reports all the status information of the battery pack (including voltage, temperature, serial number, fault status, etc.) to the VCU in the control unit through the CAN1 bus. The VCU in the control unit determines whether there is a fault in the battery system based on this status information.

[0037] In some embodiments, the status information of the battery pack includes the voltage, temperature, serial number and fault status information corresponding to each battery pack, and the control unit judges the fault condition of the battery system based on the status information of the battery system, including: the control unit calculates the voltage difference and temperature difference corresponding to each battery system based on the voltage and temperature of the battery pack in the battery system, and uses the voltage difference and temperature difference to judge the fault condition of the battery system; and / or, the control unit matches the serial numbers of the battery packs in each battery system based on the serial numbers of the battery packs in the battery system, and judges the fault condition of the battery system according to the serial number matching result; and / or, the control unit judges the fault condition of the battery system based on the BMU fault information and battery fault information in the fault status information.

[0038] Specifically, the control unit judges the fault condition of each battery system based on the status information of the battery pack reported by each BMU. The embodiment of the present disclosure provides three methods of fault judgment based on status information, namely, the first method is to judge the fault based on voltage difference and temperature difference, the second method is to judge the fault based on the serial number of the battery pack, and the third method is to judge the fault based on fault status information. The above three fault judgment methods can be executed in parallel, or one or more methods can be selected for judgment separately.

[0039] Furthermore, when performing fault diagnosis based on the first method, the control unit calculates the voltage difference and temperature difference corresponding to each battery system based on the voltage and temperature of each battery pack within each battery system. Since multiple battery packs within the same battery system are connected in series, the voltage difference and temperature difference corresponding to the entire battery system can be calculated based on the voltage and temperature corresponding to each battery pack reported by each BMU. In actual applications, the BMU can also directly report the voltage and temperature corresponding to the detection points within each battery system. Based on the voltage and temperature of each detection point, the voltage difference and temperature difference of each battery system are calculated, and the battery system is judged to have a fault based on the voltage and temperature difference. For example, if the temperature difference is greater than 10°, the battery system is considered to have a fault.

[0040] Furthermore, when fault judgment is performed based on the second method, the BMU of each battery pack corresponds to a unique battery serial number. According to the battery serial number, it can be determined whether two or more battery packs belong to the same battery system. Only when the battery packs in the same battery system are connected in series will the battery system not fail. In actual applications, it can be determined whether the battery packs belong to the same battery system based on the last two digits of the battery serial number corresponding to the battery pack.

[0041] Furthermore, when fault judgment is performed based on the second method, when a fault occurs in the battery pack or BMU, fault status information will be generated, such as a fault code. The BMU reports the fault code of the battery pack to the control unit. The control unit can directly determine which battery system has failed based on the fault code, thereby making a judgment on the fault condition of the battery system. In actual applications, the fault status information includes but is not limited to the following two types: BMU fault information and battery fault information.

[0042] In some embodiments, the control unit controls the fault-free battery system to start, including: the control unit sends a closing signal to the battery management unit of the fault-free battery system through a CAN bus connected to the fault-free battery system, and the battery management unit of the fault-free battery system controls the relay to close after receiving the closing signal, and the fault-free battery system starts.

[0043] Specifically, the battery management unit (BMU) is also used to control the opening and closing of the BMU relay. When the BMU relay is open, the battery system is shut down, and when the BMU relay is closed, the battery system is turned on. In actual application, the control unit sends an opening or closing signal to the BMUs in the battery system via the CAN bus. After receiving the opening or closing signal, the BMUs control the opening or closing of their respective BMU relays, thereby realizing the opening and closing control of the battery system.

[0044] Furthermore, if either of the two battery systems is fault-free, the unaffected battery system is prioritized for powering the unmanned vehicle. After confirming the unaffected battery system, the control unit sends a closure signal to the battery management unit (BMU) of the unaffected battery system via a CAN signal. Upon receiving the closure signal, the BMU of the unaffected battery system immediately controls the BMU relay to close, turning on the unaffected battery system and making it the working battery system for powering the unmanned vehicle. In actual applications, if both battery systems are determined to be faulty, power is stopped.

[0045] In some embodiments, the power information of the battery pack includes the remaining power corresponding to each battery pack, and the control unit judges the power status of the battery system based on the power information of the battery system, including: the control unit calculates the remaining power of each battery system based on the remaining power of the battery pack in the battery system, compares the remaining power of the two battery systems with a predetermined threshold value according to the remaining power of the battery system, and compares the remaining power between the two battery systems, wherein the predetermined threshold value is 30% remaining power.

[0046] Specifically, the remaining capacity refers to the SOC of a battery pack or battery system. SOC refers to the state of charge of a battery pack or battery system, reflecting the remaining capacity of the battery pack or battery system. Its numerical value is defined as the ratio of the remaining capacity to the total battery capacity, often expressed as a percentage. The battery SOC can be estimated based on parameters such as the battery terminal voltage, charge and discharge current, and internal resistance. In practical applications, the predetermined threshold can be set to 30%, or the threshold can be adjusted based on actual needs. The specific threshold value does not constitute a limitation of the technical solution disclosed herein.

[0047] Furthermore, when it is determined that both battery systems are fault-free, the SOCs corresponding to each battery system are compared. Each BMU within the battery system reports the power information of its respective battery pack (e.g., the SOC). The control unit calculates the SOC corresponding to the battery system based on the SOC of each battery pack within the battery system. The SOC of each battery system is then compared with a predetermined threshold. When the SOCs of both battery systems are greater than the predetermined threshold (i.e., 30%), that is, when the SOCs of both battery systems are greater than 30%, the battery system with the lesser power is selected as the operating target (i.e., the operating battery system). When the SOCs of both battery systems are not greater than the predetermined threshold (i.e., 30%), that is, when the SOCs of both battery systems are less than or equal to 30%, the battery system with the greater power is selected as the operating target (i.e., the operating battery system).

[0048] In some embodiments, the control unit controls the battery system with lower remaining power among the two battery systems to turn on, including: the control unit sends a closing signal to the battery management unit of the battery system with lower remaining power through a CAN bus connected to the battery system with lower remaining power, and the battery management unit of the battery system with lower remaining power controls the relay to close after receiving the closing signal, and the battery system with lower remaining power is turned on.

[0049] Specifically, when a battery system with lower remaining power is selected as the battery system to power the unmanned vehicle, that is, when the battery system with lower remaining power is selected as the power-on object, the control unit sends a closing signal to the BMU of the battery system with lower remaining power in the form of a CAN signal. After receiving the closing signal, the BMU of the battery system with lower remaining power immediately controls the BMU relay to close. At this time, the battery system with lower remaining power is turned on, and the battery system with lower remaining power is used as the working battery system to power the unmanned vehicle.

[0050] In some embodiments, the control unit controls the battery system with higher remaining power among the two battery systems to turn on, including: the control unit sends a closing signal to the battery management unit of the battery system with higher remaining power through a CAN bus connected to the battery system with higher remaining power, and the battery management unit of the battery system with higher remaining power controls the relay to close after receiving the closing signal, and the battery system with higher remaining power is turned on.

[0051] Specifically, when the battery system with higher remaining power is selected as the battery system to supply power to the unmanned vehicle, that is, when the battery system with higher remaining power is selected as the power-on object, the control unit sends a closing signal to the BMU of the battery system with higher remaining power in the form of a CAN signal. After receiving the closing signal, the BMU of the battery system with higher remaining power immediately controls the BMU relay to close. At this time, the battery system with higher remaining power is turned on, and the battery system with higher remaining power is used as the working battery system to supply power to the unmanned vehicle.

[0052] In some embodiments, after the control unit controls the battery system to turn on, the control unit controls the pre-charging relay to close through the circuit, and the pre-charging relay pre-charges the capacitor of the drive motor controller of the unmanned vehicle. When the voltage of the capacitor is the same as the voltage of another battery system, the total negative relay is closed and the pre-charging relay is disconnected, and the unmanned vehicle is powered on again.

[0053] Specifically, after the control unit sends a closing instruction (i.e., a closing signal) to the BMU of the battery system that is powered on via the CAN bus, the BMU closes the relay. At this time, only the relay of one of the two battery systems (i.e., the working battery system that supplies power to the unmanned vehicle) is closed. Therefore, the situation where the relays of the two parallel battery systems are closed at the same time can be avoided. If the relays of the two parallel battery systems are closed at the same time, the high-voltage battery system will quickly charge the low-voltage battery system, which will cause great damage to the batteries and relays.

[0054] Furthermore, the unmanned vehicle powering off in the disclosed embodiment can also be referred to as powering off the high voltage, and the unmanned vehicle powering on can also be referred to as powering on the high voltage. In other words, the powering on process of the unmanned vehicle is the powering on process of the unmanned vehicle. After the control unit controls the pre-charge relay to close, the pre-charge relay begins to pre-charge the pre-charge capacitor. Only when the voltage of the pre-charge capacitor reaches a certain value can the total negative relay be closed. For example, when the voltage of the pre-charge capacitor is close to the voltage value of the second battery system, the total negative relay is closed. The purpose of this is to use the pre-charge relay and the pre-charge resistor to form a pre-charge circuit, and to pre-charge the pre-charge capacitor through the pre-charge circuit when the unmanned vehicle is at high voltage. Since the battery system is connected to the drive motor controller, the drive motor controller has a large capacity capacitor. If the capacitor is in a zero state before powering on, that is, there is no energy in the capacitor, then at the moment the circuit is closed, the current will be very large. If the current is not limited, it will cause a huge impact on the battery and relay. Therefore, by charging the pre-charge capacitor of the drive motor controller, the spark arcing when the high-voltage relay is closed is reduced, the high-voltage impact is avoided to damage the high-voltage components, and the safety of the high-voltage system is improved.

[0055] In some embodiments, the control unit integrates the vehicle controller VCU and the battery controller BCU, the battery management unit adopts the BMU unit, the relay adopts the BMU relay, the central computing platform adopts the Xavier chip, and the server backend includes the autonomous driving server backend or the remote driving server backend.

[0056] Specifically, the control unit in the disclosed embodiment integrates all the functions of the vehicle control unit (VCU) and the battery control unit (BCU). For example, the BCU can be used to control the charging and discharging of the battery pack, as well as to control and manage the battery pack's ambient temperature. It also communicates with the VCU via an internal CAN bus to receive data and provide feedback on circuit breaker status. In actual applications, the VCU also integrates the functions of the BMS battery system.

[0057] According to the technical solution provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure, the present disclosure first determines the fault status of each battery system based on the battery status information and power information reported by the BMU in each battery system. Based on the judgment result, the faulty battery system can be eliminated and the fault-free battery system can be directly selected for power-on operation. Secondly, when both battery systems are fault-free battery systems, the intelligent power-on management system can select the optimal battery system for power-on operation based on the SOC of each battery system. For example, when the SOC of both battery systems is greater than 30%, the battery system with the smaller SOC is selected for power-on operation. The power in the battery system with the smaller remaining power is first used up, and then the battery system is switched. The used battery system can be immediately manually replaced, thereby ensuring that the unmanned vehicle is always fully charged. If the SOC of both battery systems is less than or equal to 30%, the battery system with the larger SOC is selected for power-on operation. Since the battery system with the larger remaining power can continue to work for a longer time, the battery system with the smaller remaining power is easier to manually select a time for replacement, avoiding frequent switching of battery systems, facilitating subsequent battery replacement of the unmanned vehicle, and improving the operating time and operating performance of the unmanned vehicle.

[0058] The above embodiments provide a detailed explanation of the structure and principle of the unmanned vehicle intelligent power-on management system disclosed herein. Below, in combination with the unmanned vehicle intelligent power-on management system provided in the above embodiments, a brief introduction is given to the process of performing intelligent power-on management of unmanned vehicles using the unmanned vehicle intelligent power-on management system.

[0059] Figure 3 This is a flow chart of the intelligent power-on management of the unmanned vehicle provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure. Figure 3 As shown, the intelligent power-on management method of the unmanned vehicle may specifically include:

[0060] S301, when the unmanned vehicle is in a powered-off state, obtaining status information and power information of each battery system in the unmanned vehicle, and sending an activation signal to a battery management unit in the battery system to activate the battery management unit of the battery system;

[0061] S302, after the battery management unit is activated, the battery system fault condition is determined based on the battery system status information. When it is determined that one battery system in the battery system is not faulty, a closing instruction is sent to the battery management unit of the battery system that is not faulty, so that the battery system that is not faulty is turned on.

[0062] S303: When all battery systems are fault-free, the battery system power status is determined based on the battery system power information. When it is determined that the remaining power of all battery systems is greater than a predetermined threshold, a closing instruction is sent to the battery management unit of the battery system with the lower remaining power, so that the battery system with the lower remaining power is turned on. When it is determined that the remaining power of all battery systems is less than or equal to the predetermined threshold, a closing instruction is sent to the battery management unit of the battery system with the higher remaining power, so that the battery system with the higher remaining power is turned on.

[0063] S304, using the control unit to control the pre-charging relay to close, and after the pre-charging condition is met, closing the total negative relay and disconnecting the pre-charging relay, so that the unmanned vehicle enters the power-on state.

[0064] It should be understood that the size of the serial numbers of the steps in the above method embodiment does not mean the order of execution. The execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0065] Figure 4 FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an electronic device 4 provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure. Figure 4 As shown, the electronic device 4 of this embodiment includes: a processor 401, a memory 402, and a computer program 403 stored in the memory 402 and executable by the processor 401. When the processor 401 executes the computer program 403, the steps of the above-described method embodiment are implemented. Alternatively, when the processor 401 executes the computer program 403, the functions of the modules / units in the above-described apparatus embodiments are implemented.

[0066] The electronic device 4 may be a desktop computer, a notebook, a PDA, a cloud server, or other electronic device. The electronic device 4 may include but is not limited to a processor 401 and a memory 402. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that Figure 4 This is merely an example of the electronic device 4 and does not limit the electronic device 4 . The electronic device 4 may include more or fewer components than shown in the figure, or different components.

[0067] The processor 401 may be a central processing unit (CPU), or other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSP), application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, etc.

[0068] Memory 402 can be an internal storage unit of electronic device 4, such as a hard drive or memory of electronic device 4. Memory 402 can also be an external storage device of electronic device 4, such as a plug-in hard drive, a Smart Media Card (SMC), a Secure Digital (SD) card, a flash memory card, etc. equipped on electronic device 4. Memory 402 can also include both an internal storage unit of electronic device 4 and an external storage device. Memory 402 is used to store computer programs and other programs and data required by the electronic device.

[0069] Those skilled in the art will clearly understand that for the sake of convenience and brevity of description, only the division of the above-mentioned functional units and modules is used as an example for illustration. In actual applications, the above-mentioned functions can be distributed and completed by different functional units and modules as needed, that is, the internal structure of the device can be divided into different functional units or modules to complete all or part of the functions described above. The functional units and modules in the embodiments can be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit can exist physically separately, or two or more units can be integrated into one unit. The above-mentioned integrated units can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional units.

[0070] If the integrated module / unit is implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the present disclosure implements all or part of the processes in the above-mentioned embodiment method, and can also be completed by instructing the relevant hardware through a computer program. The computer program can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, and when the computer program is executed by the processor, it can implement the steps of the above-mentioned method embodiment. The computer program may include computer program code, which may be in source code form, object code form, executable file or some intermediate form. The computer-readable medium may include: any entity or device capable of carrying computer program code, recording medium, USB flash drive, mobile hard disk, magnetic disk, optical disk, computer memory, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), electric carrier signal, telecommunication signal and software distribution medium. It should be noted that the content contained in the computer-readable medium can be appropriately increased or decreased according to the requirements of legislation and patent practice in the jurisdiction. For example, in some jurisdictions, according to legislation and patent practice, computer-readable media do not include electric carrier signals and telecommunication signals.

[0071] The above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present disclosure, rather than to limit them. Although the present disclosure has been described in detail with reference to the aforementioned embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that they can still modify the technical solutions described in the aforementioned embodiments, or make equivalent replacements for some of the technical features therein. These modifications or replacements do not deviate the essence of the corresponding technical solutions from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the various embodiments of the present disclosure, and should all be included in the scope of protection of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. An intelligent power-on management system for unmanned vehicles, characterized in that: include: Two battery systems and a control unit, wherein the two battery systems are used to power the unmanned vehicle, and the control unit is used to determine the fault conditions and power conditions of the two battery systems; After the unmanned vehicle is powered off, the control unit determines the fault condition of each battery system, and when any one of the two battery systems is not faulty, the control unit controls the battery system without fault to be turned on; When both battery systems are fault-free, the control unit determines the power status of each battery system. When the remaining power of the two battery systems is greater than a predetermined threshold, the control unit controls the battery system with the lower remaining power of the two battery systems to be turned on. When the remaining power of the two battery systems is less than or equal to the predetermined threshold, the control unit controls the battery system with the higher remaining power of the two battery systems to be turned on. After the control unit controls the battery system to turn on, the control unit controls the pre-charge relay to close, and after the pre-charge condition is met, closes the total negative relay and disconnects the pre-charge relay, and the unmanned vehicle is powered on.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein: The system also includes a central computing platform and a server backend. The server backend is used to send a power-on signal to the central computing platform via a network signal. The central computing platform is used to transmit the power-on signal to the control unit. After receiving the power-on signal, the control unit activates the battery management units of the two battery systems through the circuit.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein: Each of the battery systems includes one or more battery packs connected in series, and each of the battery packs includes a battery management unit and a relay. The battery management unit is used to send the status information and power information of the battery pack to the control unit via the CAN bus. The control unit is used to judge the fault condition or power condition of each battery system based on the status information or power information of each battery system.

4. The system according to claim 3, characterized in that The battery pack status information includes voltage, temperature, serial number, and fault status information corresponding to each battery pack. The control unit determines the fault condition of the battery system based on the battery system status information, including: The control unit calculates a voltage difference and a temperature difference corresponding to each battery system based on the voltage and temperature of the battery pack in the battery system, and uses the voltage difference and the temperature difference to determine a fault condition of the battery system; and / or, The control unit matches the serial numbers of the battery packs in each battery system based on the serial numbers of the battery packs in the battery system, and determines the fault condition of the battery system according to the serial number matching result; and / or, The control unit determines the fault condition of the battery system based on the BMU fault information and the battery fault information in the fault status information.

5. The system according to claim 1, wherein: The control unit controls the fault-free battery system to start, including: The control unit sends a closing signal to the battery management unit of the fault-free battery system through the CAN bus connected to the fault-free battery system. After receiving the closing signal, the battery management unit of the fault-free battery system controls the relay to close, and the fault-free battery system is turned on.

6. The system according to claim 3, wherein: The power information of the battery pack includes the remaining power corresponding to each battery pack. The control unit judges the power status of the battery system according to the power information of the battery system, including: The control unit calculates the remaining power of each battery system based on the remaining power of the battery pack within the battery system, compares the remaining power of the two battery systems with a predetermined threshold value according to the remaining power of the battery system, and compares the remaining power between the two battery systems, wherein the predetermined threshold value is 30% remaining power.

7. The system according to claim 1, wherein: The control unit controls the battery system with the lower remaining power in the two battery systems to start up, including: The control unit sends a closing signal to the battery management unit of the battery system with low remaining power through the CAN bus connected to the battery system with low remaining power. After receiving the closing signal, the battery management unit of the battery system with low remaining power controls the relay to close, and the battery system with low remaining power is turned on.

8. The system according to claim 1, wherein: The control unit controls the battery system with a higher remaining power in the two battery systems to start up, including: The control unit sends a closing signal to the battery management unit of the battery system with higher remaining power through the CAN bus connected to the battery system with higher remaining power. After receiving the closing signal, the battery management unit of the battery system with higher remaining power controls the relay to close, and the battery system with higher remaining power is turned on.

9. The system according to claim 1, wherein: After the control unit controls the battery system to turn on, the control unit controls the pre-charging relay to close through the circuit. The pre-charging relay pre-charges the capacitor of the drive motor controller of the unmanned vehicle. When the voltage of the capacitor is the same as the voltage of another battery system, the total negative relay is closed and the pre-charging relay is disconnected, and the unmanned vehicle is powered on again.

10. The system according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that The control unit integrates the vehicle controller VCU and the battery controller BCU, the battery management unit adopts the BMU unit, the relay adopts the BMU relay, the central computing platform adopts the Xavier chip, and the server backend includes the autonomous driving server backend or the remote driving server backend.

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