Visual guidance and positioning integrated method for heavy truck battery swap station vehicle

Abstract

The invention provides a vehicle visual guidance and positioning integrated method for a heavy truck battery swap station, and the method comprises the following steps: a path planning module carries out the planning of a path from an entrance of the battery swap station to a battery swap operation region, and employs the entrance of the battery swap station as a coordinate origin; a camera in the visual guidance and visual positioning integrated device photographs a vehicle, four vehicles and a battery replacement battery are used as feature points to be compared with a coordinate origin in path planning so as to derive position deviation and offset, a derivation result is transmitted to a guidance module in the visual guidance and visual positioning integrated device, and the guidance module is used for guiding the vehicle to move. And starting to execute a guiding function, and notifying adjustment of the direction of the vehicle, so that the vehicle drives into a battery replacement operation area. Visual positioning and visual guiding are integrated, the guiding and positioning process is completed through one camera, asynchronous operation of positioning and guiding is achieved, the positioning and guiding interaction time is shortened, and meanwhile the hardware construction cost is reduced.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of new energy battery swapping, and particularly to a method for integrating vehicle visual guidance and positioning in a heavy truck battery swapping station. Background Art

[0002] Currently, there is no integrated system for positioning and guiding battery swapping vehicles in a battery swapping station. The two systems operate independently to perform the guiding and positioning functions. The battery swapping process for a heavy truck battery swapping station is as follows: through the visual guidance system, the vehicle is guided into the battery swapping operation area, and then through visual guidance, the battery is positioned, so as to replace the vehicle battery. The removed battery is placed in the battery swapping station for charging to provide a swapped battery for the next battery swapping vehicle, thereby achieving the purpose of rapid battery swapping.

[0003] However, the vehicles undergoing battery swapping in the battery swapping station complete the photographing through two sets of camera hardware devices of different systems. They need to wait for the previous process to be completed and receive the completion instruction to execute the next process. For the guidance and positioning of the vehicle, one system is paired with one set of visual camera hardware devices, which increases the hardware cost, and also increases the battery swapping duration. Moreover, the process is long and cumbersome.

[0004] However, for the current integrated system of vehicle guidance and positioning in a heavy truck battery swapping station, two sets of visual systems need to be deployed in the host computer, which increases the configuration requirements for the host computer. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The present invention aims to provide a method for integrating vehicle visual guidance and positioning in a heavy truck battery swapping station to overcome or at least partially solve the above problems.

[0006] To achieve the above object, the technical solution of the present invention is specifically implemented as follows:

[0007] The present invention provides a method for integrating vehicle visual guidance and positioning in a heavy truck battery swapping station, including the following steps:

[0008] Step S1, the vehicle drives into the battery swapping station;

[0009] Step S2, the sensor detection device in the battery swapping station works to identify the vehicle, and at the same time transmits the identification result to the PLC control terminal, and the PLC control terminal controls the operation of the integrated device of visual guidance and visual positioning respectively.

[0010] Step S3: The path planning module in the integrated visual guidance and positioning device plans the path from the entrance of the battery swapping station to the battery swapping operation area. Taking the entrance of the battery swapping station as the coordinate origin, the camera in the integrated visual guidance and positioning device takes pictures of the vehicle, and uses the four corners of the vehicle and the battery to be swapped as feature points to compare with the coordinate origin in the path planning, so as to deduce the position deviation and offset, and transmit the deduced results to the guidance module in the integrated visual guidance and positioning device, and start to execute the guidance function, notify the adjustment of the vehicle's orientation, and make the vehicle drive into the battery swapping operation area;

[0011] Step S4: After the vehicle drives into the battery swapping operation area, the camera in the integrated visual guidance and positioning device takes pictures of the vehicle again, and uses the four corners of the vehicle and the battery to be swapped as feature points. Taking the battery swapping operation area as the coordinate origin, compare the coordinate feature points with the coordinate origin to deduce the specific position of the vehicle in the battery swapping operation area, and calculate the specific moving value of the PLC hoist;

[0012] Step S5: Give the moving value to the PLC hoist through the TCP protocol to move the hoist of the hoist, and the hoist accurately falls into the center of the battery box, take out the battery from the vehicle, and replace it with a new battery;

[0013] Step S6: The vehicle drives away from the battery swapping station.

[0014] As a further solution of the present invention, in the said step S3;

[0015] The camera takes pictures of the vehicle once first, and based on the position deviation and offset deduced from the first picture, gives preliminary guidance to the vehicle. At the same time, during the preliminary guidance process, the camera operates asynchronously and takes pictures of the vehicle for the second time;

[0016] After the preliminary guidance is completed, based on the second picture, deduce the secondary position deviation and offset of the vehicle, and give secondary guidance to the vehicle;

[0017] According to the above steps, until the position deviation and offset of the feature points of the vehicle relative to the coordinate origin at the entrance of the battery swapping station are 0, stop guiding the vehicle.

[0018] The present invention provides a method for integrated visual guidance and positioning of vehicles in heavy truck battery swapping stations, and the beneficial effects are as follows:

[0019] By integrating visual positioning and visual guidance, through one camera, complete the guidance and positioning process, achieve asynchronous operation of positioning and guidance, reduce the positioning and guidance interaction time, and at the same time reduce the hardware construction cost;

[0020] Real-time guidance and positioning. After the guidance is completed, the positioning process can be triggered, realizing fast guidance and positioning, reducing the battery swapping time, and improving the battery swapping efficiency. Description of the Drawings

[0021] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings required for the description of the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention. For those of ordinary skill in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative efforts.

[0022] Figure 1 It is a flowchart of the method of the present invention.

[0023] Figure 2 It is a working principle block diagram of a device integrating visual guidance and visual positioning in the present invention.

[0024] In the figure: 1. PLC control terminal; 2. Path planning module; 3. Camera; 4. Guidance module; 5. Voice speaker; 6. Alarm lamp. Detailed Embodiments

[0025] The exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in more detail below with reference to the drawings. Although the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are shown in the drawings, it should be understood that the present disclosure can be implemented in various forms and should not be limited by the embodiments set forth herein. On the contrary, these embodiments are provided so that the present disclosure can be more thoroughly understood and the scope of the present disclosure can be completely conveyed to those skilled in the art.

[0026] See Figure 1 and Figure 2 A method for integrating vehicle visual guidance and positioning in a heavy truck battery swapping station provided by an embodiment of the present invention includes the following steps:

[0027] Step S1, the vehicle drives into the battery swapping station;

[0028] Step S2, the sensor detection device in the battery swapping station works to identify the vehicle, and at the same time transmits the identification result to the PLC control terminal 1, and the PLC control terminal 1 controls the operation of the device integrating visual guidance and visual positioning respectively.

[0029] Step S3: The path planning module 2 in the integrated visual guidance and positioning device plans the path from the entrance of the battery swapping station to the battery swapping operation area. Taking the entrance of the battery swapping station as the coordinate origin, the camera 3 in the integrated visual guidance and positioning device takes pictures of the vehicle, and uses the four corners of the vehicle and the battery to be swapped as feature points to compare with the coordinate origin in the path planning, so as to deduce the position deviation and offset, and transfer the deduced results to the guidance module 4 in the integrated visual guidance and positioning device, and start to execute the guidance function, notify the adjustment of the vehicle's orientation, and make the vehicle drive into the battery swapping operation area;

[0030] The camera 3 takes pictures of the vehicle once first, and conducts preliminary guidance on the vehicle based on the position deviation and offset deduced from the first picture taking. At the same time, during the preliminary guidance process, the camera 3 operates asynchronously and takes pictures of the vehicle again;

[0031] After the preliminary guidance is completed, the secondary position deviation and offset of the vehicle are deduced based on the second picture taking, and secondary guidance is carried out on the vehicle;

[0032] According to the above steps, until the position deviation and offset of the feature points of the vehicle relative to the coordinate origin at the entrance of the battery swapping station are 0, the guidance of the vehicle is stopped;

[0033] Step S4: After the vehicle drives into the battery swapping operation area, the camera 3 in the integrated visual guidance and positioning device takes pictures of the vehicle again, and uses the four corners of the vehicle and the battery to be swapped as feature points. Taking the battery swapping operation area as the coordinate origin, the coordinate feature points are compared with the coordinate origin to deduce the specific position of the vehicle in the battery swapping operation area, and calculate the specific moving value of the PLC hoist;

[0034] Step S5: The moving value is given to the PLC hoist through the TCP protocol to make the hoist spreader move, and the spreader accurately falls into the center of the battery box, takes out the battery from the vehicle, and replaces it with a new battery;

[0035] Step S6: The vehicle drives away from the battery swapping station.

[0036] An integrated visual guidance and positioning device includes a path planning module 2, a camera 3, and a guidance module 4. The path planning module 2, the camera 3, and the guidance module 4 are all connected to the PLC control terminal 1 through wires.

[0037] The path planning module 2 is set in the PLC control terminal 1, and the path planning module 2 is used to plan the path from the entrance of the battery swapping station to the battery swapping operation area.

[0038] The camera 3 is set inside the battery swapping station, and a camera with 3D function is selected. The camera 3 is used to take pictures of the vehicle, and the four wheels of the vehicle and the battery to be swapped are used as feature points to compare with the coordinate origin in the path planning, so as to deduce the position deviation and offset.

[0039] The guiding module 4 is used to guide the vehicle, notify the adjustment of the vehicle orientation, and make the vehicle drive into the battery swapping operation area. The guiding module 4 includes a voice horn 5 and an alarm light 6. Both the voice horn 5 and the alarm light 6 are set inside the battery swapping station. The voice horn 5 is used to give voice reminders to the vehicle driver, such as "turn left, turn right, go forward, go backward". The alarm light 6 includes a red flashing light and a blue flashing light. The red flashing light is used to indicate that the vehicle position needs to be adjusted, and the blue flashing light is used to show that the vehicle has driven into the battery swapping operation area.

[0040] The above are only the embodiments of the present application and are not used to limit the present application. For those skilled in the art, various changes and modifications can be made to the present application. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the present application shall be included within the scope of the claims of the present application.

Claims

1. A method for integrating vehicle vision guidance and positioning in a heavy - truck battery swapping station, characterized in that, It includes the following steps: Step S1, the vehicle drives into the battery swapping station; Step S2, the sensor detection equipment in the battery swapping station works and identifies the vehicle, and at the same time transmits the identification result to the PLC control terminal, and the PLC control terminal controls the operation of the visual guidance and visual positioning integrated equipment respectively; Step S3, the path planning module in the visual guidance and visual positioning integrated equipment plans the path from the entrance of the battery swapping station to the battery swapping operation area, takes the entrance of the battery swapping station as the coordinate origin, the camera in the visual guidance and visual positioning integrated equipment takes a photo of the vehicle, and takes the four vehicles of the vehicle and the battery to be swapped as feature points, and compares them with the coordinate origin in the path planning to derive the position deviation and offset, and transmits the derivation result to the guidance module in the visual guidance and visual positioning integrated equipment, and starts to execute the guidance function, notifies the adjustment of the vehicle orientation, and makes the vehicle drive into the battery swapping operation area; Step S4, after the vehicle drives into the battery swapping operation area, the camera in the visual guidance and visual positioning integrated equipment takes a photo of the vehicle again, takes the four vehicles of the vehicle and the battery to be swapped as feature points, takes the battery swapping operation area as the coordinate origin, compares the coordinate feature points with the coordinate origin to derive the specific position of the vehicle in the battery swapping operation area, and calculates the specific moving value of the PLC overhead crane; Step S5, gives the moving value to the PLC overhead crane through the TCP protocol to make the hoist of the overhead crane move, the hoist accurately falls into the center of the battery box, takes out the battery from the vehicle, and replaces it with a new battery; Step S6, the vehicle drives away from the battery swapping station.

2. A method for integrating vehicle vision guidance and positioning in a heavy truck battery swapping station according to claim 1, characterized in that In the said step S3; The camera takes a photo of the vehicle once first, and conducts preliminary guidance on the vehicle based on the position deviation and offset derived from the first photo. At the same time, during the preliminary guidance process, the camera operates asynchronously and takes a second photo of the vehicle; After the preliminary guidance ends, derive the secondary position deviation and offset of the vehicle based on the second photo, and conduct secondary guidance on the vehicle; According to the above steps, stop guiding the vehicle until the position deviation and offset of the feature points of the vehicle relative to the coordinate origin of the entrance of the battery swapping station are 0.

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