Automatic charging robot

Abstract

The invention provides an automatic charging robot capable of coping with a charging port not corresponding to a charging connector. An automatic charging robot according to the present invention is provided with: an arm mechanism capable of gripping a charging connector connected to a charging device via a charging cable; a control device that automatically controls the operation of the arm mechanism; and a camera capable of capturing an image of the charging port of the vehicle, the automatic charging robot being capable of attaching an accessory corresponding to the shape of the charging port to the charging connector according to the shape of the charging port captured by the camera.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to an automatic charging robot. BACKGROUND

[0002] An external charging device that charges a secondary battery mounted on a vehicle with electric power supplied from the outside of the vehicle is disclosed in Patent Literature 1, and the external charging device is provided with a charging gun that connects to a charging port of the vehicle in order to supply electric power for charging the secondary battery.

[0003] A vehicle is disclosed in Patent Literature 2, and is provided with a charging inlet that corresponds to both an AC charging connector and a DC charging connector, an electric storage device, a charging device that can charge the electric storage device with at least either of AC and DC electric power input from the charging inlet, and an output section that outputs a report signal for reporting whether the charging device corresponds to AC charging.

[0004] Patent Literature 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2019-140782

[0005] Patent Literature 2: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2020-065394

[0006] In the technologies disclosed in Patent Literatures 1 and 2, there is no clear response to a case where a charging port of a vehicle does not correspond to a charging connector. SUMMARY

[0007] The present application was made in view of the above-described problem, and has an object to provide an automatic charging robot that can respond to a charging port that does not correspond to a charging connector.

[0008] In order to solve the above-described problem and achieve the object, the automatic charging robot of the present application is provided with an arm mechanism that can hold a charging connector connected to a charging device through a charging cable, a control device that automatically performs control to cause the arm mechanism to act, and a camera that can capture a charging port of a vehicle, and the automatic charging robot can install a fitting that corresponds to a shape of the charging port to the charging connector according to the shape of the charging port captured by the camera.

[0009] The automatic charging robot of the present application has an effect of being able to respond to a charging port that does not correspond to a charging connector. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0010] Figure 1 is a block diagram that shows a schematic structure of a charging system according to an embodiment.

[0011] Figure 2 is a perspective view that shows a schematic structure of a charging system according to an embodiment.

[0012] Figure 3 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of a charging system to which the embodiment relates.

[0013] Figure 4 is a side view showing a schematic configuration of a charging system to which the embodiment relates.

[0014] Figure 5 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an accessory capable of being connected with a charging connector.

[0015] Figure 6 is a diagram showing a state in which an accessory to be installed in a charging connector is connected with a charging port. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0016] Hereinafter, an embodiment of a charging system provided with an automatic charging robot to which the present application relates will be described. Note that the present application is not limited to the present embodiment.

[0017] Figure 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a charging system 100 to which the embodiment relates. Figure 2 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of a charging system 100 to which the embodiment relates. Figure 3 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of a charging system 100 to which the embodiment relates. Figure 4 is a side view showing a schematic configuration of a charging system 100 to which the embodiment relates.

[0018] The charging system 100 to which the embodiment relates is used for, for example, simultaneously charging a plurality of vehicles using chargers provided in a parking lot or the like. As shown in Figure 1 , the charging system 100 to which the embodiment relates has a charger 1, an automatic charging robot 2, a control device 3, an infrastructure 4, and a vehicle 5. The charger 1, the automatic charging robot 2, the control device 3, the infrastructure 4, and the vehicle 5 each have a communication function and are configured to be able to communicate with each other through a network N to exchange various information. The network N is constituted by, for example, an Internet line network, a mobile phone line network, or the like.

[0019] The charger (charging column, charging post) 1 is a charging device for supplying electric power to a vehicle 5 as a charging target. As shown in Figures 2-4 , the charger 1 is provided on a pedestal 6. In addition, the charger 1 is connected with a control panel 7. The control panel 7 is connected with, for example, a transformer device (cubicle) or the like that performs voltage conversion on electric power from a power plant.

[0020] As shown in Figure 1 , the charger 1 has a control section 11, a communication section 12, a charging connector 13, and a charging cable 14.

[0021] The control section 11 is realized by, for example, a processor constituted by a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or the like and a memory (main storage section) constituted by a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), or the like. The control section 11 supplies electric power to the vehicle 5 as a charge target based on an instruction from the control device 3.

[0022] The communication section 12 is constituted by, for example, a LAN (Local Area Network) interface board, a wireless communication circuit for wireless communication, or the like. The communication section 12 performs exchange of information with, for example, the automatic charging robot 2 and the control device 3 through communication via the network N.

[0023] The charging connector (charging gun, charging plug) 13 is used to supply electric power to the vehicle 5 as a charge target. The charging connector 13 is latched to the side surface of the charger 1 when not charging. Also, the charging connector 13 is held by the stationary automatic charging robot 2 and is inserted into the charging port 53 of the vehicle 5 when charging of the vehicle 5 is started. In this state, electric power is supplied from the charger 1 side to the vehicle 5 side through the charging connector 13. Then, if charging of the vehicle 5 is completed, the charging connector 13 is latched to the side surface of the charger 1 after being pulled out of the charging port 53 of the vehicle 5 again by the automatic charging robot 2.

[0024] Further, in Figures 2-4 , an example in which one charging connector 13 is provided for one charger 1 is shown, but a plurality of charging connectors 13 can be provided for one charger 1.

[0025] The charging cable 14 is provided between the charging connector 13 and the charger 1 (charger main body). The charging cable 14 is constituted in a length that enables the charging connector 13 to be inserted into the charging port 53 regardless of the position of the charging port 53 in the vehicle 5. For example in Figure 3 , an example in which the charging port 53 is disposed on the left front side of the vehicle 5 is shown, but depending on the vehicle type, there are cases in which the charging port 53 is disposed on the left rear side, the center front side, the center rear side, or the like of the vehicle 5. Therefore, the charging cable 14 is constituted in a length that enables the charging connector 13 to be inserted in a case in which the charging port 53 is disposed on any one of the left front side, the left rear side, the center front side, and the center rear side of the vehicle 5.

[0026] Further, depending on the vehicle type of the vehicle 5, there are cases in which the charging port 53 is disposed on the right front side or the right rear side of the vehicle 5. In this case, for example in Figure 3In this configuration, vehicles 5 in the left and right charging spaces Sp1 are parked in opposite directions, so that the charging ports 53 face the charger 1 for charging. For example... Figure 3 Vehicle 5 on the right is parked in charging space Sp1 with its front facing down and its rear facing up. Vehicle 5 on the left is parked with its front facing up and its rear facing down.

[0027] The automatic charging robot 2 is used to hold the charging connector 13 when charging from the charger 1 to the vehicle 5. The automatic charging robot 2 is mounted and fixed to the base 6.

[0028] like Figure 1 As shown, the automatic charging robot 2 includes an arm mechanism 20, a control unit 21, a communication unit 22, a camera 23, and a drive device.

[0029] The base end of the arm mechanism 20 is disposed and fixed on the base 6. The arm mechanism 20 has a robot hand 241, which is disposed at the front end of the robot arm 201, i.e., the front end 24 of the arm, which has multiple joints, and is capable of holding the charging connector 13.

[0030] The control unit 21 is, for example, a control device implemented by a processor such as a CPU and a memory (main storage unit) such as RAM and ROM. Based on instructions from the control device 3, the control unit 21 automatically controls the drive device, and through the robot hand 241 of the arm mechanism 20, it holds the charging connector 13, inserting the charging connector 13 into the charging port 53 and removing the charging connector 13 from the charging port 53. That is, the control unit 21 automatically controls the movement of the arm mechanism 20 based on instructions from the control device 3. Furthermore, the control unit 21 is, for example, disposed within the base end of the arm mechanism 20.

[0031] Furthermore, when the held charging connector 13 is inserted into the charging port 53, the control unit 21 determines, for example, the position of the charging port 53 and the distance to the charging port 53 (the distance between the charging connector 13 and the charging port 53) based on an image captured by a camera 23 located at the front end of the automatic charging robot 2. The shape of the charging port 53 of the vehicle 5 is standardized. Therefore, the position of the charging port 53 can be determined by pattern matching based on the image of the charging port 53 captured by the camera 23. In addition, the distance from the charging connector 13 held by the automatic charging robot 2 to the charging port 53 can be determined by obtaining information about the depth direction using a 3D (three-dimensional) camera as the camera 23.

[0032] The communication unit 22 is composed of, for example, a LAN interface board and a wireless communication circuit for wireless communication. The communication unit 22 exchanges information with, for example, the charger 1 and the control device 3 via communication through the network N.

[0033] Camera 23 is used to photograph the charging port 53. Camera 23 is positioned at the front end of the automatic charging robot 2 (arm mechanism body). Furthermore, a 3D camera capable of acquiring depth information is preferably used as camera 23.

[0034] The control device 3 is used to control the charger 1, the automatic charging robot 2, and multiple vehicles 5. The control device 3 performs functions such as charging control of the charger 1, controlling the movement of the automatic charging robot 2, controlling the infrastructure 4, and controlling the movement of the vehicles 5. The control device 3 can be implemented via a workstation, a general-purpose computer such as a personal computer, or a server configured in the cloud. Furthermore, the control device 3 can also be composed of independent hardware depending on the controlled object (charger 1, automatic charging robot 2, infrastructure 4, and vehicles 5). Additionally, the function of controlling the charging of the charger 1 in the control device 3 can also be performed by the control panel 7.

[0035] like Figure 1 As shown, the control device 3 includes a control unit 31 and a communication unit 32.

[0036] The control unit 31 is implemented, for example, by a processor consisting of a CPU or the like and a memory consisting of RAM, ROM or the like (main storage unit). The specific processing operations of the control unit 31 will be described below.

[0037] The control unit 31 performs driving control of the vehicle 5 based on information obtained from the infrastructure 4 (such as the location information of the vehicle 5). For example, the control unit 31 accepts a charging reservation for the vehicle 5 from the user of the vehicle 5 (such as the driver). The charging reservation can be accepted based on information entered by the user into their information terminal (such as a smartphone connected to the network N), or it can be accepted based on information entered by the user into an in-vehicle terminal (such as a car navigation system connected to the network N).

[0038] If the charging sequence of vehicles 5 is close, the control unit 31 uses the location information of vehicles 5 obtained from the infrastructure 4 to make vehicles 5 automatically move from the parking space where they are parked to the standby space, and then makes them automatically stop. In this way, by moving the vehicles 5 to the standby space in advance and putting them in standby mode, the switching time of vehicles 5 being charged can be minimized, and the operating efficiency of the charger 1 can be improved.

[0039] Next, when the charging sequence for vehicle 5 arrives, the control unit 31 uses the vehicle 5's location information obtained from the infrastructure 4 to automatically drive vehicle 5 from the standby space to the charging space Sp1, and then automatically stops it. Then, the control unit 31 uses the automatic charging robot 2 to hold the charging connector 13 and inserts the charging connector 13 held by the automatic charging robot 2 into the charging port 53, thus starting the charging of the charger 1.

[0040] Next, if vehicle 5 is fully charged, control unit 31 instructs automatic charging robot 2 to take hold of charging connector 13 again, and then removes the charging connector 13 from charging port 53. Following this, control unit 31 uses the vehicle 5's location information obtained from infrastructure 4 to automatically move vehicle 5 from charging space Sp1 to standby space, and then automatically stops it.

[0041] When the control unit 31 parks the vehicle 5 in the charging space Sp1, the vehicle 5 is parked with the charging port 53 facing the charger 1. For example, when charging the vehicle 5 with the charging port 53 located on the left front, if... Figure 3 As shown, the vehicle is positioned with its front facing upwards and its rear facing downwards so that the charging port 53 is on the left, so that the vehicle 5 is parked in the charging space Sp1 on the right side of the charger 1. Conversely, the vehicle is positioned with its front facing downwards and its rear facing upwards so that the charging port 53 is on the right, so that the vehicle 5 is parked in the charging space Sp1 on the left side of the charger 1.

[0042] In addition, depending on the model of vehicle 5, there is also a charging port 53 and Figure 3 Conversely, the vehicle is positioned at the front right and rear right side of vehicle 5. In this case, for example, in Figure 3 In the example of the two vehicles 5 shown, the front of the vehicle is facing down to the side of the paper and the rear of the vehicle is facing up to the side of the paper so that the charging port 53 is on the left, so that the vehicle 5 is parked in the charging space Sp1 on the right side of the charger 1. Conversely, the front of the vehicle is facing up to the side of the paper and the rear of the vehicle is facing down to the side of the paper so that the charging port 53 is on the right, so that the vehicle 5 is parked in the charging space Sp1 on the left side of the charger 1.

[0043] The control unit 31 is capable of simultaneously charging two or more vehicles 5 using one automatic charging robot 2. In this case, the control unit 31 moves the first vehicle 5 (hereinafter referred to as "vehicle A") to a charging space Sp1. Then, the control unit 31 causes the automatic charging robot 2 to hold the charging connector 13 of the first charger 1. Next, the control unit 31 inserts the charging connector 13 held by the automatic charging robot 2 into the charging port 53 of vehicle A, thus initiating charging of vehicle A.

[0044] Next, the control unit 31 moves the second vehicle 5 (hereinafter referred to as "vehicle B") to the charging space Sp1 on the other side. Next, the control unit 31 causes the automatic charging robot 2 to hold the charging connector 13 of the second charger 1. Next, while vehicle A is charging, the control unit 31 inserts the charging connector 13 held by the automatic charging robot 2 into the charging port 53 of vehicle B, thus initiating the charging of vehicle B.

[0045] Thus, in the charging system 100 described in this embodiment, regardless of the location of the charging port 53 of the vehicle 5 or the type of parking lot, one automatic charging robot 2 can charge two or more vehicles 5 simultaneously. As a result, the charging turnover rate can be improved.

[0046] Because there are multiple charging standards (charging port standards) for vehicles, there may be situations where multiple charging cables are provided from a single charger for each charging standard (charging port standard). The charger user needs to select a charging connector that conforms to the charging standard (charging port standard).

[0047] Therefore, in the charging system 100 according to the embodiment, such as Figure 4 As shown, the accessory 8 corresponding to the charging standard (charging port standard) is prepared to be held in a detachable manner on the accessory rack 80 provided on the base 6.

[0048] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram showing the structure of accessory 8 that can be connected to charging connector 13. (See diagram for example.) Figure 5 As shown in (a), accessory 8 has an accessory body portion 81, a charging connector side connection portion 82, and a charging port side connection portion 83. The charging connector side connection portion 82 is provided on the base end side in the length direction of the accessory body portion 81, and has... Figure 5 (b) shows a connector section 821 that can be connected to the charging connector 13. Furthermore, Figure 5 (b) is in Figure 5 The diagram in (a) shows the charging connector-side connection portion 82 viewed from the direction of arrow A. The charging port-side connection portion 83 is located on the front end side along the long side of the accessory body portion 81, and has... Figure 5 (c) shows a connector portion 831 that can connect to the charging port 53 of vehicle 5. Furthermore, Figure 5 (c) is in Figure 5 The diagram in (a) shows the connection part 83 on the charging port side viewed from the direction of arrow B.

[0049] like Figure 5 (b) and Figure 6As shown in (c), the connector portion 821 of the charging connector side connection portion 82 and the connector portion 831 of the charging port side connection portion 83 have different shapes. Thus, in the charging system 100 of the embodiment, the charging standard (the standard of the charging port 53) corresponding to the charging connector 13 is different from the charging standard (the standard of the charging port 53) corresponding to the accessory 8.

[0050] Furthermore, the automatic charging robot 2, based on image information captured by camera 23 that reveals the shape of the charging port 53, uses control unit 21 to determine the charging standard (charging port standard) corresponding to the charging port 53. Then, control unit 21 determines whether to connect charging connector 13 to the charging port 53 alone or to connect it to the charging port 53 with accessory 8 installed on the charging connector 13, and installs accessory 8 on the charging connector 13 as needed. For example, as... ​ As shown, the charging connector 13, held by the robot hand 241 located at the front end 24 of the arm, is inserted into the charging connector side connection part 82 of the accessory 8 for installation. Then, the charging port side connection part 83 of the accessory 8 is inserted into the charging port 53 of the vehicle 5 for connection.

[0051] As described above, in the charging system 100 according to the embodiment, the charging cable 14 connected to the charging connector 13 can be integrated into a single cable, and multiple charging standards (charging port standards) can be accommodated. Therefore, in the charging system 100 according to the embodiment, the device cost of the charger 1 can be reduced, and charging ports 53 that do not correspond to the charging connector 13 can be accommodated.

[0052] Explanation of reference numerals in the attached figures:

[0053] 2…Automatic charging robot; 5…Vehicle; 8…Accessories; 13…Charging connector; 14…Charging cable; 20…Arm mechanism; 21…Control unit; 22…Communication unit; 23…Camera; 24…Arm tip; 53…Charging port; 100…Charging system; 201…Robot arm; 241…Robot hand.

Claims

1. An automatic charging robot, wherein, have: The arm mechanism is capable of holding the charging connector that is connected to the charging device via a charging cable; The control device automatically controls the movement of the arm mechanism; and The camera is capable of photographing the vehicle's charging port. The automatic charging robot can install accessories corresponding to the shape of the charging port onto the charging connector based on the shape of the charging port captured by the camera.

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