Charging system for multi-battery system unmanned vehicle, unmanned vehicle and charging control method

Abstract

The present invention relates to a charging system for an unmanned vehicle with multiple battery systems, an unmanned vehicle and a charging control method, wherein the control circuit comprises: a charging unit, a control unit, a total positive switch, a pre-charging switch and several battery systems; the several battery systems are connected in parallel; the battery system comprises several battery modules, a power management unit, a battery changing relay and a power management unit relay; the battery changing relay is connected in series with several battery modules; each battery module is connected to a power management unit through a power management unit relay; the total positive switch and the pre-charging switch are connected in parallel, and the two are connected to the battery system; the control unit is connected to the total positive switch and the pre-charging switch; the control unit is respectively connected to the charging unit and each power management unit signal; the control unit can control the conduction of the total positive switch, the pre-charging switch and the battery changing relay and the power management unit relay in each battery system according to the battery status of each battery system.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of vehicle battery control, and in particular to a charging system for an unmanned vehicle with a multi-battery system, an unmanned vehicle and a charging control method. Background Art

[0002] With the development of autonomous driving technology and new energy vehicle technology, unmanned vehicle technology has become more mature. The power of unmanned vehicles is provided by drive motors, and the energy is provided by lithium batteries.

[0003] In order to facilitate battery replacement, unmanned vehicles are designed to be small modules connected in series to form a battery system. Currently, most unmanned vehicles use only one battery system, which contains a large-capacity battery. However, considering the large weight and small capacity of a single battery system, it is possible to consider designing a combination of two or more battery systems. However, multiple battery systems cannot be charged continuously on board. It is necessary to fully charge one battery system and then manually switch to another battery system for charging. In this way, someone needs to monitor and operate the charging process to fully charge all batteries, resulting in long charging time and high cost.

[0004] Therefore, designing a charging system and a control method for unmanned vehicles with multiple battery systems has become a difficult problem that needs to be solved urgently. Summary of the invention

[0005] The present invention discloses a charging system for an unmanned vehicle with multiple battery systems, an unmanned vehicle and a charging control method, aiming to solve the technical problem in the prior art that when there are multiple battery systems on an unmanned vehicle, one group of battery systems cannot be automatically switched after charging is completed.

[0006] The present invention adopts the following technical solutions:

[0007] In a first aspect, a charging system for a multi-battery system unmanned vehicle is provided, comprising: a charging unit, a control unit, a total positive switch, a pre-charge switch, and a plurality of battery systems;

[0008] Several battery systems are connected in parallel; the battery system includes several battery modules, a power management unit, a battery replacement relay and a power management unit relay; the battery replacement relay is connected in series with several battery modules; each battery module is connected to a power management unit through a power management unit relay; the battery replacement relay and the power management unit relay are used together to control the on and off of circuits in different battery systems; the battery management unit is used to send the battery status of each battery module to the control unit;

[0009] The total positive switch is connected in parallel with the pre-charge switch, and both are connected to the battery system;

[0010] The control unit is connected to the main positive switch and the pre-charge switch; the control unit is respectively connected to the charging unit and each power management unit signal; the control unit can determine the charging sequence according to the battery status of each battery system, and respectively control the main positive switch, the pre-charge switch and the switches of the battery replacement relay and the power management unit relay in each battery system.

[0011] As a preferred technical solution, the battery-changing relay is also connected in parallel with a diode; the cathode of the diode is connected to the battery module, and the anode of the diode is connected to the main positive switch.

[0012] As a preferred technical solution, the control unit includes a VCU; the power management unit includes a BMU; and the battery management unit relay includes a BMU relay.

[0013] As a preferred technical solution, the total positive switch includes a total positive relay; the pre-charging switch includes a pre-charging relay.

[0014] As a preferred technical solution, the control unit is connected to the charging unit and each power management unit via a CAN bus signal.

[0015] As a preferred technical solution, the number of battery systems is not less than 2.

[0016] In a second aspect, the present application provides an unmanned vehicle, comprising a charging system for an unmanned vehicle with a multi-battery system as described in any of the above items.

[0017] In a third aspect, the present application provides a charging control method, which is applied to a charging system of a multi-battery system unmanned vehicle as described in any one of the above items, and the charging control method includes:

[0018] The control unit simultaneously receives the battery status information of each battery system sent by the power management unit, and determines the first rechargeable battery system;

[0019] The first rechargeable battery system is selected, and the control unit sends a command to sequentially close the battery replacement relay, the power management unit relay, the pre-charge switch and the total positive switch, and start charging;

[0020] After the battery system is fully charged, the control unit determines the remaining rechargeable battery systems again;

[0021] Disconnect the power management unit relay, battery replacement relay and main positive switch of the previous fully charged battery system in sequence;

[0022] Repeat the above battery system charging steps until all battery systems are fully charged.

[0023] As a preferred technical solution, the battery status information includes the power level and health status of the battery system; when judging a rechargeable battery system, the weight of the health status is greater than the weight of the power level.

[0024] As a preferred technical solution, before the control unit simultaneously receives the battery status information of each battery system sent by the power management unit, it also includes the following steps:

[0025] The charging unit is connected to AC power to activate the control unit and the battery system;

[0026] After the steps of sequentially disconnecting the power management unit relay, the battery replacement relay and the total positive switch of the last fully charged battery system, the following steps are also included:

[0027] The battery system, charging unit and control unit go into sleep mode in sequence.

[0028] The technical solution adopted by the present invention can achieve the following beneficial effects:

[0029] When two or more battery systems are provided in the power supply system of the unmanned vehicle, the charging system described in the present invention can simultaneously obtain the status information of each battery system during charging, and preferably charge the battery system without faults. When there are two or more battery systems without faults, preferably charge the battery system with less power. After the battery system to be charged is selected, the battery replacement relay, BMU relay and pre-charging relay of the battery system are closed in sequence. At this time, the battery replacement relays and BMU relays in other uncharged battery systems are in a disconnected state. When the high voltage power-on is completed, the main positive relay is turned on, and the charger outputs the charging voltage and charging current to start charging the battery system. When the battery system is fully charged, the status information of other battery systems is then judged and the next battery system to be charged is selected, and so on until all the battery systems are fully charged, and the BMU relay, battery replacement relay and main positive relay of the last charged battery system are disconnected, and then the BMU, charging unit and VCU also go into sleep mode.

[0030] In the above control circuit, the VCU automatically wakes up after external AC power is input. The selection of the battery system to be charged and the charging order are automatically determined by the VCU. During the charging process of a certain battery system, other battery systems remain in an open circuit state and do not affect each other. After charging is completed, it automatically switches to the next battery system to be charged. There is no need for manual supervision and manual switching, which improves the automation and charging efficiency of the unmanned vehicle during charging. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0031] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, the following briefly introduces the drawings required for describing the embodiments, which constitute a part of the present invention. The exemplary embodiments of the present invention and their descriptions explain the present invention and do not constitute improper limitations on the present invention. In the drawings:

[0032] Figure 1This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a charging system for an unmanned vehicle with a multi-battery system in a preferred implementation manner disclosed in Example 1 of the present invention;

[0033] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of the implementation flow of a charging control method in a preferred implementation mode disclosed in Example 2 of the present invention;

[0034] Figure 3 A circuit diagram of a charging system for an unmanned vehicle with a multi-battery system in a preferred implementation manner disclosed in Example 2 of the present invention;

[0035] Figure 4 It is a schematic diagram of the implementation flow of a charging control method in a preferred implementation mode disclosed in Example 2 of the present invention.

[0036] Description of reference numerals:

[0037] Charging unit 10, charger 11, control unit 20, VCU21, main positive switch 30, main positive relay 31, pre-charging switch 40, pre-charging relay 41, battery module 50, power management unit 60, BMU61, first switch circuit unit 70, battery replacement relay A 71, battery replacement relay B 72, second switch circuit unit 80, BMU relay 81, diode 90. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0038] In order to make the purpose, technical solution and advantages of the present invention clearer, the technical solution of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the specific embodiments of the present invention and the corresponding drawings. In the description of the present invention, it should be noted that the term "or" is usually used in the sense of including "and / or", unless the content clearly indicates otherwise.

[0039] In the description of the present invention, the terms “first”, “second”, etc. are only used to distinguish the descriptions and should not be understood as indicating or implying relative importance.

[0040] Obviously, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present invention, not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0041] Example 1

[0042] In the existing technology, although most unmanned vehicles are currently powered by only a single battery system, with the increasing requirements for vehicle speed, body quality, endurance, and whether it can be disassembled, it is necessary to set up two or more battery systems to increase capacity. However, although the multi-battery system solves the disadvantage of low capacity of a single battery system, it also introduces new problems: currently most dual-battery / multi-battery systems are still charged manually, requiring manual monitoring, with cumbersome steps and prolonged charging time.

[0043] To solve the above problems, in this embodiment, a charging system for a multi-battery system unmanned vehicle is provided. Figure 1 , Figure 3 Preferably, the charging system includes a charging unit 10, a control unit 20, a total positive switch 30, a pre-charge switch 40 and several battery systems. Preferably, the battery system includes several battery modules 50, a power management unit, a first switch circuit unit 70 and a second switch circuit unit 80.

[0044] Optionally, the battery system is set to 2-5. In a preferred embodiment, the battery system is set to 2, which are defined as A (battery system) and B (battery system), and the two are connected in parallel; preferably, each battery system is composed of 2 battery modules 50 connected in series, and the specifications of each battery system are 72V, 6.45kwh. At the same time, those skilled in the art should understand that the series connection between battery modules 50 and battery modules 50 is used for boosting, and the parallel connection between battery systems is used for capacity expansion; the number of battery modules 50 in each battery system can be freely determined according to actual needs; furthermore, the battery module 50 is composed of a number of single cells connected in series and parallel, and the specifications of each battery module 50 can also be freely selected and designed according to actual needs and the number of single cells connected in series and parallel, which will not be repeated here.

[0045] Preferably, a power management unit is also connected to each battery module 50, and a second switching circuit unit 80 is also provided between the battery module 50 and the power management unit; the second switching circuit unit 80 is used to control the conduction and disconnection between the battery modules 50, and the power management unit is used to collect various parameters of the internal state of the battery module 50.

[0046] In a preferred embodiment, the power management unit is BMU61, which is used to sample the external characteristic parameters of the battery module 50 such as voltage, current, temperature, insulation resistance, etc. in real time, and adopt appropriate algorithms to realize the estimation and monitoring of the internal states of the battery module 50 such as remaining capacity (SOC), health state (SOH), power handling capacity (SOP), etc., and perform effective monitoring after correctly obtaining the state of the battery module 50; preferably, the second switching circuit unit 80 is a BMU relay 81; BMU61 can collect the voltage / temperature of the single cell in the battery module 50 and control the opening and closing of the BMU relay 81. When all the BMU relays 81 in a battery system are closed, the series circuit is turned on, but even if the BMU relay 81 of a battery module 50 is in a disconnected state, the battery system is also in a circuit-breaking state.

[0047] Preferably, in a battery system, when two battery modules 50 are connected in series, the positive end thereof is also connected in series with a first switch circuit unit 70. Preferably, the first switch circuit unit 70 is also connected in parallel with a diode 90; the cathode of the diode 90 is connected to the battery module 50, and the anode of the diode 90 is connected to the total positive switch 30; preferably, the total positive switch 30 is connected in parallel with the pre-charge switch 40.

[0048] In a preferred embodiment, the first switch circuit unit 70 includes a battery replacement relay, and each battery system is connected in series with a battery replacement relay. When the battery replacement relay of a battery system is closed (and all the second switch circuit units 80 in the battery system are also closed), the battery system is in a chargeable (or charging) state; and when the battery replacement relay of a battery system is disconnected, due to the presence of its parallel diode 90, the current of the battery system can only flow to the load, and the charging current cannot be conducted.

[0049] In a preferred embodiment, the total positive switch 30 is a total positive relay 31, and the pre-charge switch 40 is a pre-charge relay 41. In order to improve the safety during charging, the pre-charge relay 41 is closed first during charging, and when the voltage gradually rises to the target value, it is considered that the high voltage power-on is completed, and then the pre-charge relay 41 is disconnected, and then the total positive relay 31 is closed, and charging can start.

[0050] Preferably, the control unit 20 is connected to the main positive switch 30 and the pre-charge switch 40; the control unit 20 is respectively connected to the charging unit 10 and each power management unit signal; the control unit 20 can control the conduction of the main positive switch 30, the pre-charge switch 40 and the first switch circuit unit 70 and the second switch circuit unit 80 in each battery system according to the battery status of each battery system, so as to realize the switching of different pairs of battery systems during charging.

[0051] In a preferred embodiment, the control unit 20 is a VCU21. As the core control component of the entire vehicle, the VCU21 has the following main functions: driving torque control, optimal control of braking energy, monitoring and management of the battery system, management of relays, maintenance and management of the CAN network, diagnosis and processing of faults, vehicle status monitoring, etc. In this embodiment, the management of the battery system and each relay by the VCU21 is mainly reflected.

[0052] Preferably, VCU21 is connected to the main positive relay 31 and the pre-charge relay 41 through hard wires. Through the feedback information of BMU61, VCU21 can control the opening and closing of the main positive relay 31 and the pre-charge relay 41 to achieve switching between different battery systems.

[0053] Preferably, VCU21 is connected to the charging unit 10 and each BMU61 signal through a vehicle control bus. The vehicle control bus may include but is not limited to a data bus that supports the CAN protocol, etc. Of course, if other buses are used in the unmanned vehicle, then VCU21 and the charging unit 10 and BMU61 can also be connected through the bus. The present invention does not limit the type of data bus connecting VCU21 and the charging unit 10 and BMU61.

[0054] In a preferred embodiment, VCU21 is connected to the BMU61 signals of the two battery modules 50 in A through CAN1, connected to the BMU61 signals of the two battery modules 50 in B through CAN2, and connected to the charging unit 10 through CAN3. Preferably, the charging unit 10 is a charger 11.

[0055] Preferably, VCU21 can control the wakeup and sleep of BMU61 through an activation signal, BMU61 feeds back the information of the battery module 50 to VCU21 through the CAN1 / CAN2 line, and VCU21 uniformly manages the information of all battery modules 50; the charger 11 can convert 220VAC into 72V voltage to charge the battery system, VCU21 can control the output current and output voltage of the charger 11 to charge the battery system through CAN3, and the charger 11 can also wake up VCU21 through CAN3.

[0056] In a preferred embodiment, when the charger 11 has a 220VAC input, the charger 11 wakes up the VCU21 through CAN3, and VCU21 wakes up the two battery systems A and B through an activation signal; preferably, VCU21 obtains the battery status of the battery system through CAN1 and CAN2, and the battery status includes the battery power and health status, which is used as the basis for selecting the battery system for charging; more preferably, when judging the battery system to be charged, the weight of the health status is greater than the weight of the battery power, that is, when there is a faulty battery system among several battery systems, it is preferred to charge the fault-free battery system, and when several battery systems are all fault-free, the battery system with less power is selected for charging, so as to ensure the charging efficiency and the balance of power in each battery system.

[0057] In a preferred embodiment, after VCU21 selects the battery system to be charged through the status information of each battery system, VCU21 closes the battery system's battery replacement relay through a hard wire, so that the current can bypass the diode 90 to power the battery system; at this time, those skilled in the art should understand that the battery replacement relays connected to other battery systems are in a disconnected state, that is, only the selected battery system to be charged can form a closed loop, while other battery systems are in an open circuit state and cannot be charged; then VCU21 sends an instruction to close the BMU relay 81 to the BMU61 of the selected battery system through CAN, and after receiving the instruction, BMU61 closes the BMU relays 81 in all battery modules 50 in the battery system. At this time, the selected battery system forms a closed loop, and the BMU relays 81 in other battery systems are all in a disconnected state (as mentioned above, the battery replacement relays in other battery systems are also in a disconnected state), so other battery systems are all open circuited, and the charger 11 can only power the selected battery system.

[0058] In a preferred embodiment, when the battery replacement relay and BMU relay 81 of the selected battery system are closed successively, VCU21 closes the pre-charging relay 41 through a hard wire, and the pre-charging voltage reaches a certain value. Then VCU21 closes the main positive relay 31 through a hard wire, and finally VCU21 disconnects the pre-charging relay 41 through a hard wire, and the high-voltage power-on is completed. VCU21 sends the required voltage and required current to the charger 11 through CAN, and the charger 11 outputs the charging voltage and charging current to start charging the selected battery system.

[0059] In a preferred embodiment, after the selected battery system is fully charged, VCU21 again determines the status information of the remaining battery systems. Since the faulty battery system has been excluded in the first determination, only whether the power information of other battery systems is less than 100% can be determined in this determination. In other embodiments, to ensure safety, when determining the status information of other battery systems, it is determined again whether other battery systems have faults, and a battery system with less power is selected from the battery systems without faults as the next battery system to be charged.

[0060] Preferably, when the VCU 21 determines the next battery system to be charged again, there are two possibilities. One possibility is that there is no more battery system to be charged; the other possibility is that there is still a battery system to be charged.

[0061] If there are still battery systems without faults and with less than 100% power in other battery systems, one of them with less power is selected again, and VCU21 sends a command requiring voltage and current to be 0 to the charger 11 through CAN, and disconnects the BMU relay 81 and the battery replacement relay in the last fully charged battery system in turn through CAN to make them open circuit (technical personnel in this field should understand that at this time, the BMU relay 81 and the battery replacement relay in all battery systems are disconnected), and then controls the main positive relay 31 to be disconnected; at this time, the entire charging control circuit returns to the state before charging, and VCU21 closes the battery replacement relay of the battery system to be charged this time through a hard line again, and repeats the above steps for charging the previous battery system until the battery system is fully charged.

[0062] When all battery systems are fully charged, VCU21 determines through the information from BMU61 that there are no more battery systems that need to be charged. VCU21 sends a command to the charger 11 through CAN to require the voltage and current to be 0, and disconnects the BMU relay 81 and the battery replacement relay in the last fully charged battery system in turn through CAN. At this time, all battery systems are in an open-circuit state in the charging control circuit; at this time, VCU21 disconnects the activation signal of BMU61, and sends a shutdown command to the charger 11 through CAN. The charger 11 and VCU21 go into sleep mode in turn, and charging is completed.

[0063] Example 2

[0064] This embodiment provides a charging control method, which is applied to the charging system of the multi-battery system unmanned vehicle described in Embodiment 1, wherein the features already included in Embodiment 1 are naturally inherited in this embodiment.

[0065] refer to Figure 1-2 Preferably, the charging control method at least includes steps S10-S70:

[0066] S10. The charging unit is connected to AC power to activate the control unit and the battery system;

[0067] Preferably, when the charging unit 10 has a 220VAC input, the charging unit 10 wakes up the control unit 20 through the vehicle control bus, and the control unit 20 wakes up the entire battery system through an activation signal.

[0068] In a preferred embodiment, the charging unit 10 is a charger 11 in an unmanned vehicle or a new energy vehicle, the control unit 20 is a VCU 21 of the vehicle, and the number of battery systems is at least 2; the VCU 21 is connected to the charger 11 and the battery system via CAN data.

[0069] S20. The control unit simultaneously receives the battery status information of each battery system sent by the power management unit, and determines the first rechargeable battery system;

[0070] Preferably, the control unit 20 obtains the battery status of each battery system through the vehicle control bus. The battery status information includes the battery power and health status of the battery system, and the battery system to be charged is determined by the battery status.

[0071] Preferably, when judging a rechargeable battery system, the weight of the health status is greater than the weight of the power. When there is a faulty battery system, the fault-free one is selected for charging; when multiple battery systems are all fault-free, the battery system with less power is selected for charging.

[0072] Preferably, a plurality of battery systems are connected in parallel; each battery system is composed of a plurality of battery modules 50 and a first switch circuit unit 70 connected in series, and each battery module 50 is also connected in series with a second switch circuit unit 80 and a battery management unit 60 .

[0073] In a preferred embodiment, the first switch circuit unit 70 is a battery replacement relay, which is connected in parallel with a diode 90; the battery management unit 60 includes BMU61, and the second switch circuit unit 80 is a BMU relay 81. BMU61 can collect the voltage / temperature of the single battery in the battery module 50 and control the opening and closing of the BMU relay 81, and the BMU61 of each battery module 50 is data-connected to the control unit 20 through the vehicle control bus, for sending the battery status information of the battery module 50.

[0074] S30. Select the first rechargeable battery system, the control unit sends a command, sequentially closes the first switch circuit unit, the second switch circuit unit, the pre-charge switch and the total positive switch, and starts charging;

[0075] Preferably, when the battery system to be charged is selected, the control unit 20 first closes the first switch circuit unit 70 of the battery system through a hard line, and then sends an instruction to close the second switch circuit unit 80 to the battery management unit 60 of the battery system through the vehicle control bus. After receiving the instruction, the battery management unit 60 closes the second switch circuit unit 80 in each battery module 50 in the battery system, so that the battery system can form a closed loop in the entire charging control circuit, while other battery systems are in an open circuit state.

[0076] Preferably, the control unit 20 closes the pre-charge switch 40 through a hard wire. After the pre-charge voltage reaches a certain value, the control unit 20 closes the main positive switch 30 through a hard wire. Finally, the control unit 20 disconnects the pre-charge switch 40 through a hard wire, and the high-voltage power-on is completed; the control unit 20 sends the required voltage and required current to the charging unit 10 through the vehicle control bus, and the charging unit 10 outputs the charging voltage and charging current to start charging.

[0077] In a preferred embodiment, the pre-charging switch 40 is a pre-charging relay 41 , and the total positive switch 30 is a total positive relay 31 .

[0078] S40. After the battery system is fully charged, the control unit again determines the remaining rechargeable battery systems;

[0079] Preferably, after the selected battery system is fully charged, the control unit 20 determines the status information of the remaining battery systems again. Since the faulty battery system has been excluded in the first determination, only whether the power information of other battery systems is less than 100% may be determined in this determination. More preferably, to ensure safety, when determining the status information of other battery systems, it is determined again whether other battery systems have faults, and a battery system with less power is selected from the battery systems without faults as the next battery system to be charged.

[0080] Preferably, when the control unit 20 determines the next battery system to be charged again, there are two possibilities, one possibility is: there is no more battery system to be charged; the other possibility is: there is still a battery system to be charged.

[0081] S50. Sequentially disconnect the second switch circuit unit, the first switch circuit unit and the total positive switch of the previously fully charged battery system;

[0082] Preferably, if there are still battery systems without faults and with less than 100% power in other battery systems, one of them with less power is selected again, and the control unit 20 sends a command requiring voltage and current to be 0 to the charging unit 10 through the vehicle control bus, and disconnects the second switch circuit unit 80 and the first switch circuit unit 70 in the last fully charged battery system in turn through the vehicle control bus to make them open circuit, and then controls the main positive switch 30 to be disconnected; at this time, the entire charging control circuit returns to the state before charging, and the control unit 20 closes the first switch circuit unit 70 of the battery system to be charged selected this time through a hard line again, and repeats step 30 until the battery system is fully charged.

[0083] S60. Repeat steps S20-S50 until all battery systems are fully charged;

[0084] Preferably, when all battery systems are fully charged, the control unit 20 determines through the information transmitted from the battery management unit 60 that there are no more battery systems that need to be charged. The control unit 20 sends an instruction requiring the voltage and current to be 0 to the charging unit 10 through the vehicle control bus, and disconnects the second switch circuit unit 80 and the first switch circuit unit 70 in the last fully charged battery system in sequence through the vehicle control bus. At this time, all battery systems are in an open-circuit state in the charging control circuit.

[0085] S70. The battery system, the charging unit and the control unit go into sleep mode in sequence.

[0086] Preferably, the control unit 20 disconnects the activation signal of the battery management unit 60 and sends a shutdown command to the charging unit 10 through the vehicle control bus, and the charging unit 10 and the control unit 20 go into sleep mode in turn, and charging is completed.

[0087] refer to Figure 3-4 In a preferred embodiment, two battery systems are set, namely A and B, A is composed of two battery modules 50 connected in series, A and B are composed of two battery modules 50 connected in series, C and D are connected in series, and A and B are connected in parallel; the control unit 20 is VCU21, the total positive switch 30 is the total positive relay 31, the pre-charge switch 40 is the pre-charge relay 41, the first switch circuit unit 70 is the battery replacement relay, the second switch circuit unit 80 is the BMU relay 81, the battery management unit 60 is BMU61, and the charging unit 10 is a charger 11; VCU21 is connected to the BMU61 of A through CAN1, is connected to the BMU61 of B through CAN2, and is connected to the charger 11 through CAN3.

[0088] When the charger 11 has 220VAC input, the charger 11 wakes up the VCU21 through CAN3, and the VCU21 wakes up the battery systems A and B through the activation signal. VCU21 obtains the battery status of the two battery systems through CAN1 and CAN2, selects and charges; when both battery systems are fault-free, the battery system with less power is selected for charging, and when one of the battery systems is faulty, the fault-free one is selected for charging.

[0089] For example, if the selected battery system is A, VCU21 first closes the battery replacement relay A71 through the hard wire, and then sends a command to close the BMU relay 81 to BMU61 through CAN1. After receiving the command, BMU61 closes the BMU relays 81 of groups A and B. After the closing is completed, VCU21 closes the pre-charge relay 41 through the hard wire. After the pre-charge voltage reaches a certain value, VCU21 closes the main positive relay 31 through the hard wire. Finally, VCU21 disconnects the pre-charge relay 41 through the hard wire, and the high-voltage power-on is completed. VCU21 sends the required voltage and required current to the charger 11 through CAN3. The charger 11 outputs the charging voltage and charging current to start charging.

[0090] When the battery of system A is fully charged, VCU21 determines the battery status of system B. When system B has no faults and the battery level is less than 100%, VCU21 sends the required voltage and current of 0 to the charger 11 through CAN3, and then disconnects the BMU relay 81 / battery swapping relay A 71 / total positive relay 31 in sequence, and then closes the battery swapping relay B 72 / B's BMU relay 81 / pre-charging relay 41 in sequence. When the pre-charging voltage reaches a certain condition, the total positive relay 31 is closed again, and the pre-charging relay 41 is disconnected. VCU21 sends the required voltage and current to the charger 11 through CAN3, and the charger 11 outputs the charging voltage and charging current to start charging.

[0091] When battery B is fully charged, VCU21 sends a required voltage and current of 0 to charger 11 through CAN3, and then disconnects battery B's BMU relay 81 / battery replacement relay B 72 / total positive relay 31 in sequence, and then controls BMU61 to sleep through the activation signal, sends a shutdown command to charger 11, and charger 11 and sleep, and finally VCU21 also sleeps.

[0092] Example 3

[0093] Corresponding to the charging system or charging control method of the multi-battery system unmanned vehicle provided in the above embodiment, this embodiment provides an unmanned vehicle, including a vehicle body and the charging system provided in the above embodiment. The charging control circuit can automatically wake up VCU21 after power input, and VCU21 automatically determines the battery system to be charged and selects the charging sequence. During the charging process of a certain battery system, other battery systems remain in an open circuit state and do not affect each other. After charging is completed, it automatically switches to the next battery system to be charged.

[0094] Specifically, in practice, the charging control method of the first embodiment can also be applied to unmanned vehicles or new energy vehicles to achieve automatic switching of the battery system during charging until all battery systems are fully charged.

[0095] In summary, the beneficial effects of the present invention compared with the prior art are:

[0096] When two or more battery systems are set in the power system of the unmanned vehicle, VCU21 can automatically wake up after external AC power is input, and simultaneously obtain the status information of each battery system. VCU21 automatically determines the battery system to be charged and the charging order, and preferably charges the battery system without faults. When there are two or more battery systems without faults, the battery system with less power is preferably charged. After the battery system to be charged is selected, the other battery systems remain in an open circuit state and do not affect each other. After charging is completed, it automatically switches to the next battery system to be charged, and so on, until all battery systems are fully charged. There is no need for manual supervision and manual switching, which improves the automation and charging efficiency of the unmanned vehicle during charging.

[0097] The embodiments of the present invention are described above in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, but the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned specific implementation modes, which are merely illustrative rather than restrictive. Under the guidance of the present invention, ordinary technicians in this field can also make many forms without departing from the scope of protection of the present invention and the claims, all of which are within the protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. A charging system for a multi-battery system unmanned vehicle, characterized in that: include: Charging unit, control unit, total positive switch, pre-charge switch and several battery systems; Several of the battery systems are connected in parallel; the battery system includes several battery modules, a power management unit, a battery replacement relay and a power management unit relay; the battery replacement relay is connected in series with several of the battery modules; each of the battery modules is connected to a power management unit via a power management unit relay; the battery replacement relay and the power management unit relay are used together to control the on and off of circuits in different battery systems; the battery management unit is used to send the battery status of each of the battery modules to the control unit; The total positive switch is connected in parallel with the pre-charge switch, and both are connected to the battery system; The control unit is connected to the total positive switch and the pre-charge switch; the control unit is respectively connected to the charging unit and each of the power management units by signal; the control unit can determine the charging order according to the battery status of each of the battery systems, preferably charging the battery system without faults, and when there are two or more battery systems without faults, preferably charging the battery system with less power, and respectively control the total positive switch, the pre-charge switch and the switches of the battery replacement relay and the power management unit relay in each of the battery systems; After the battery system to be charged is selected, the battery exchange relay, the power management unit relay and the pre-charging switch of the battery system are closed in sequence. At this time, the battery exchange relays and the power management unit relays in other uncharged battery systems are all in the disconnected state; when the high voltage power-on is completed, the main positive switch is turned on, the charger outputs the charging voltage and charging current, and starts to charge the battery system; when the battery system is fully charged, the status information of other battery systems is then judged and the next battery system to be charged is selected, and so on until all battery systems are fully charged, and the power management unit relay, the battery exchange relay and the main positive switch of the battery system charged last are disconnected, and then the power management unit, the charging unit and the control unit also go into sleep mode.

2. The charging system for a multi-battery system unmanned vehicle according to claim 1, characterized in that: The battery-changing relay is also connected in parallel with a diode; the cathode of the diode is connected to the battery module, and the anode of the diode is connected to the main positive switch.

3. The charging system for a multi-battery system unmanned vehicle according to claim 1, characterized in that: The control unit includes a VCU; the power management unit includes a BMU; and the power management unit relay includes a BMU relay.

4. The charging system for a multi-battery system unmanned vehicle according to claim 1, characterized in that: The total positive switch includes a total positive relay; the pre-charge switch includes a pre-charge relay.

5. The charging system for a multi-battery system unmanned vehicle according to claim 1, characterized in that: The control unit is signal-connected to the charging unit and each of the power management units via a CAN bus.

6. The charging system for a multi-battery system unmanned vehicle according to claim 1, characterized in that: The number of the battery systems is not less than 2.

7. An unmanned vehicle, characterized in that: A charging system for an unmanned vehicle with a multi-battery system comprising the charging system of any one of claims 1-6.

8. A charging control method, applied to the charging system of a multi-battery system unmanned vehicle as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that: The charging control method comprises: The control unit simultaneously receives the battery status information of each battery system sent by the power management unit, and determines the first rechargeable battery system; the battery status information includes the power and health status of the battery system; when determining the rechargeable battery system, the weight of the health status is greater than the weight of the power; The first rechargeable battery system is selected, and the control unit sends a command to sequentially close the battery replacement relay, the power management unit relay, the pre-charge switch and the total positive switch, and start charging; After the battery system is fully charged, the control unit determines the remaining rechargeable battery systems again; Disconnect the power management unit relay, battery replacement relay and main positive switch of the previous fully charged battery system in sequence; Repeat the above battery system charging steps until all battery systems are fully charged.

9. The charging control method according to claim 8, characterized in that: Before the control unit simultaneously receives the battery status information of each battery system sent by the power management unit, the step further includes: connecting the charging unit to AC power to activate the control unit and the battery system; After the step of disconnecting the power management unit relay, the battery replacement relay and the main positive switch of the last fully charged battery system in sequence, the step also includes: the battery system, the charging unit and the control unit are put into sleep in sequence.

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