Crawler-type photovoltaic panel cleaning robot and control method thereof
By combining a tracked drive module with radar and antenna modules, the problem of poor movement stability of the photovoltaic panel cleaning robot in the arrayed photovoltaic panel area is solved, achieving a more stable cleaning effect.
Patent Information
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Applications(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2026-07-03
- Publication Date
- 2026-08-04
AI Technical Summary
Existing photovoltaic panel cleaning robots use wheeled walking mechanisms, which result in poor movement stability in the area of arrayed photovoltaic panels, affecting the cleaning effect.
By adopting a tracked drive module to increase the contact area with the photovoltaic panels, the track crosses the gaps between the panels, and combined with radar and antenna modules to acquire map data, stable cleaning is achieved.
Tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robots can walk stably in the gaps between photovoltaic panels, improving cleaning efficiency, enhancing adhesion, and ensuring the completion of cleaning tasks.
Smart Images
Figure CN122499996A_ABST
Abstract
Description
Technical Field
[0001] This application relates to the field of photovoltaic system cleaning robot technology, and in particular to a tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot and its control method. Background Technology
[0002] In a photovoltaic (PV) power generation system, the core component is the photovoltaic panel. The PV panel converts absorbed solar energy into electrical energy, which is then stored in an energy storage module (such as a battery). This energy storage module then supplies power to the grid or directly to users. A typical PV power generation system consists of multiple PV panels arranged in an array in a sunny, open outdoor location. If an outdoor PV power generation system encounters strong winds, sandstorms, or other adverse weather conditions, dirt and dust can accumulate on the PV panels, severely reducing its power generation efficiency.
[0003] Currently, in order to clean the photovoltaic panels of photovoltaic power generation systems in a timely manner, photovoltaic panel cleaning robots are used to clean the photovoltaic panels. However, the current photovoltaic panel cleaning robots use a wheeled walking mechanism (as in the invention patent application number CN202110592947.6). If there are gaps between adjacent photovoltaic panels in the array of multiple photovoltaic panels, the movement stability of the photovoltaic panel cleaning robot under the wheeled walking mode will be affected, thus affecting the cleaning effect of the photovoltaic panels. Summary of the Invention
[0004] This application provides a tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot and its control method, aiming to solve the problem that in the prior art, if the photovoltaic panel cleaning robot adopts a wheeled walking mechanism and there are gaps between adjacent photovoltaic panels in the array of multiple photovoltaic panels, the movement stability of the photovoltaic panel cleaning robot in the wheeled walking mode is affected, thereby affecting the cleaning effect on the photovoltaic panels.
[0005] In a first aspect, embodiments of this application provide a tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot, including a robot body and a photovoltaic panel brush connected to one end of the robot body; the robot body includes a robot chassis structure and a chassis superstructure, the chassis superstructure being disposed at the top of the robot chassis structure; the robot chassis structure includes at least a chassis body, a main controller, a tracked drive module, a battery module, a charging interface, a switch module, and a display module, the main controller and the battery module being disposed within the chassis body, the tracked drive module, the charging interface, the switch module, and the display module being disposed on the chassis body, and the tracked drive module, the battery module, the switch module, and the display module being all connected to the main controller. The charging interface is connected to the battery module, which serves as the power supply for the device. The tracked drive module drives the robot body. The upper chassis structure includes at least an upper structure body and a radar, antenna module, wireless charging module, and ground detection sensor module mounted on the upper structure body. The radar, antenna module, wireless charging module, and ground detection sensor module are all connected to the main controller. The wireless charging module is also connected to the battery module. When the robot body is placed in the area of the photovoltaic panel to be cleaned and moves under the drive of the tracked drive module, with the main controller correspondingly controlling the movement path, it drives the photovoltaic panel brush to clean the photovoltaic panel in the area to be cleaned.
[0006] Secondly, this application also provides a control method for a tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot, applied to a tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot cleaning system. The tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot cleaning system includes the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot described in the first aspect, and further includes a server and a user terminal; the method includes: If the main controller in the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot detects a power-on cleaning command, it acquires differential dataset and positioning data transmitted by low-orbit satellites through the antenna module, and acquires point cloud dataset of photovoltaic panels in the area to be cleaned through radar, and sends it to the server. The server constructs a map of the area to be cleaned corresponding to the area of the photovoltaic panel to be cleaned based on the differential dataset, the positioning data, and the point cloud dataset, and sends it to the user terminal. If the user terminal detects a cleaning task instruction for the map data of the area to be cleaned, it obtains the corresponding cleaning task data and sends it to the main controller through the server. The main controller, driven by the tracked drive module, drives the photovoltaic panel brush to clean the photovoltaic panels in the area to be cleaned, based on the map data of the area to be cleaned and the cleaning task data, until the photovoltaic panel cleaning task is completed.
[0007] This application provides a tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot and its control method, including a robot body and a photovoltaic panel brush connected to one end of the robot body; the robot body includes a robot chassis structure and a chassis superstructure, with the chassis superstructure located at the top of the robot chassis structure; the robot chassis structure includes at least a chassis body, a main controller, a tracked drive module, a battery module, a charging interface, a switch module, and a display module, with the main controller and battery module located inside the chassis body, and the tracked drive module, switch module, and display module located on the chassis body; the tracked drive module, charging interface, and... The battery module, switch module, and display module are all connected to the main controller. The charging interface is connected to the battery module, which serves as the power supply for the device. The tracked drive module drives the robot body. The upper chassis structure includes at least the upper structure body, a second controller located within the upper structure body, and radar, antenna module, wireless charging module, and ground detection sensor module located on the upper structure body. The radar, antenna module, wireless charging module, and ground detection sensor module are all connected to the second controller, which is connected to the main controller. The wireless charging module is also connected to the battery module. In this embodiment, the robot body can move under the drive of the tracked drive module after being placed in the area of the photovoltaic panel to be cleaned. When the main controller controls the movement path, it drives the photovoltaic panel brush to clean the photovoltaic panel in the area to be cleaned. During the movement, the tracked drive module effectively increases the adhesion to the photovoltaic panel, enabling more stable movement and cleaning work. Attached Figure Description
[0008] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are some embodiments of this application. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort.
[0009] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot provided in an embodiment of this application from a first-view perspective; Figure 2 A schematic diagram of the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot provided in an embodiment of this application from a second perspective; Figure 3 A schematic diagram of the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot provided in an embodiment of this application from a third-person perspective; Figure 4 A schematic diagram of a partial structure of the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot provided in an embodiment of this application, viewed from a fourth perspective; Figure 5A schematic diagram of a partial structure of the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot provided in an embodiment of this application, viewed from a fifth perspective; Figure 6 A schematic block diagram of the structure of the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot provided in the embodiments of this application; Figure 7 A schematic diagram illustrating an application scenario of the control method for the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot provided in this application embodiment; Figure 8 A flowchart illustrating the control method for a tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot provided in an embodiment of this application; Figure 9 This is a schematic diagram of a sub-process of the control method for a tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot provided in an embodiment of this application. Detailed Implementation
[0010] The technical solutions of the embodiments of this application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of this application, not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments of this application, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative effort are within the scope of protection of this application.
[0011] It should be understood that, when used in this specification and the appended claims, the terms "comprising" and "including" indicate the presence of the described features, integrals, steps, operations, elements and / or components, but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integrals, steps, operations, elements, components and / or collections thereof.
[0012] It should also be understood that the terminology used in this specification is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to limit the scope of the application. As used in this specification and the appended claims, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
[0013] It should also be further understood that the term “and / or” as used in this application specification and the appended claims means any combination of one or more of the associated listed items and all possible combinations, and includes such combinations.
[0014] Please also refer to Figures 1-6 ,in Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot provided in an embodiment of this application from a first-view perspective; Figure 2 A schematic diagram of the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot provided in an embodiment of this application from a second perspective; Figure 3A schematic diagram of the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot provided in an embodiment of this application from a third-person perspective; Figure 4 A schematic diagram of a partial structure of the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot provided in an embodiment of this application, viewed from a fourth perspective; Figure 5 A schematic diagram of a partial structure of the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot provided in an embodiment of this application, viewed from a fifth perspective; Figure 6 This is a schematic block diagram illustrating the structure of a tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot provided in an embodiment of this application. Figures 1-6 As shown, the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot 10 includes a robot body 100 and a photovoltaic panel brush body 200 connected to one end of the robot body; the robot body 100 includes a robot chassis structure 110 and a chassis upper structure 120, the chassis upper structure 120 being located at the top of the robot chassis structure 110; the robot chassis structure 110 includes at least a chassis body 111, a main controller 112, a tracked drive module 113, a battery module 114, a charging interface 115, and a switch module 1. 16 and display module 117, the main controller 112 and the battery module 114 are located inside the chassis body 111, the tracked drive module 113, the charging interface 115, the switch module 116 and the display module 117 are located on the chassis body 111, the tracked drive module 113, the battery module 114, the switch module 116 and the display module 117 are all connected to the main controller 112, the charging interface 115 is connected to the battery module 114, and the battery module 115 is connected to the main controller 112. The pool module 114 is used as a power supply for the device, and the tracked drive module 113 is used to drive the robot body to move; the chassis upper structure 120 includes at least an upper structure main body 121, a second controller 122 disposed within the upper structure main body 121, and a radar 123, an antenna module 124, a wireless charging module 125, and a ground detection sensor module 126 disposed on the upper structure main body 121. The sensor modules 126 are all connected to the second controller 122, which is also connected to the main controller 112. The wireless charging module 125 is also connected to the battery module 114 (this connection relationship is not shown). When the robot body 100 is placed in the area of the photovoltaic panel to be cleaned, it moves under the drive of the tracked drive module 113 and the main controller 112 controls the movement path accordingly, thereby driving the photovoltaic panel brush body 200 to clean the photovoltaic panel in the area of the photovoltaic panel to be cleaned.
[0015] In this embodiment, the difference from the traditional photovoltaic panel cleaning robot that uses a wheeled walking mechanism is that the robot chassis structure 110 in this application is equipped with a tracked drive module 113. Through the two tracks in the tracked drive module 113, the contact area and adhesion with the photovoltaic panel can be effectively increased. When walking to the gap between the photovoltaic panels, the tracks can easily cross over, enabling more stable walking and cleaning work.
[0016] To better understand the working principle of the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot in this application, its specific working process is described in detail below: 1) Users place the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot in the area of photovoltaic panels to be cleaned by manual handling or hoisting; for example, placing it in the area corresponding to several photovoltaic panels near the edge of the area to be cleaned. 2) Click the power switch button in the switch module 116 to turn on the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot; at this time, you can also view the remaining power status of the battery module 114 and other equipment information through the display module 117; 3) If it is determined that the remaining power state of the battery module 114 corresponds to the sufficient power state (e.g., if the remaining power percentage corresponding to the remaining power state is greater than the preset percentage threshold, it is considered to be in the sufficient power state, or for example, the preset percentage threshold is set to 90%), and it is determined that the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot has stored the map data of the area to be cleaned corresponding to the area of the photovoltaic panel to be cleaned, which was sent by the server, then the robot can perform path planning according to the cleaning task instructions set by the user for the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot, and walk according to the planned path to complete the cleaning of the photovoltaic panel.
[0017] It should be noted that if the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot is placed in the area of photovoltaic panels to be cleaned for the first time, since it does not initially store map data of the area to be cleaned corresponding to the area of photovoltaic panels to be cleaned, it needs to obtain differential dataset and positioning data from low-orbit satellites based on antenna module 124, and obtain point cloud dataset of photovoltaic panels in the area to be cleaned through radar 123. Then, these data are uploaded to the server by the second controller 122 through a wireless communication module (such as a 4G communication module, 5G communication module, etc.). The server completes the construction of the map data of the area to be cleaned corresponding to the area of photovoltaic panels to be cleaned based on the above data and sends it to the user terminal. The user terminal user sets the corresponding cleaning task data for the map data of the area to be cleaned, so that the main controller 112 drives the photovoltaic panel brush to clean the photovoltaic panels in the area to be cleaned under the drive of the tracked drive module 113 according to the map data of the area to be cleaned and the cleaning task data, until the photovoltaic panel cleaning task is completed.
[0018] Furthermore, if the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot malfunctions during the cleaning process of the photovoltaic panels in the area to be cleaned, it can send an emergency stop command to the robot through the user terminal or the user can directly click the emergency stop button in the switch module 116 to stop the robot from working immediately, thereby protecting it from failure and preventing it from continuing to work in a faulty state and causing equipment damage.
[0019] The second controller 122 in the superstructure body 121 of the chassis superstructure 120 serves as another main controller. The difference between the main controller 112, which is mainly responsible for the motion control of the tracked drive module 113, is that the second controller 122 is responsible for receiving relevant data from the radar 123, antenna module 124 and ground detection sensor module 126, processing it, and then transmitting it to the main controller 112 for corresponding motion control. The radar 123 can be located at the highest point of the upper structure 121, while the antenna module 124 is located near the tail of the upper structure 121 (for example, three limiting holes are provided on the upper structure 121, and the three antennas included in the antenna module 124 are respectively attached to the corresponding limiting holes by magnetic bases to limit the antennas). The wireless charging module 125 is located at the tail of the upper structure 121, and the four ground detection sensors included in the ground detection sensor module 126 are respectively located at or near the four apex positions of the upper structure 121. The photovoltaic panel brush 200 is connected to the head of the upper structure 121.
[0020] If the area to be cleaned is a large area with many solar panels, and requires regular cleaning and maintenance, a charging workstation can be set up on one side of the area. At least one charging cabinet with a wireless charging transmitter coil should be installed at the charging station (with a charging indicator light on its side wall to show the charging status). When the tracked solar panel cleaning robot is moved to the solar panel and placed at the charging workstation, align the wireless charging module 125 of the tracked solar panel cleaning robot with the wireless charging transmitter coil of the charging cabinet (the distance between them must be less than the preset inductive charging distance). A rain shelter should be installed on the top of the charging cabinet to prevent the tracked solar panel cleaning robot from being exposed to prolonged sun and rain when idle or charging, while also providing good ventilation. Louvered structures can also be installed on both sides of the charging cabinet to improve heat dissipation.
[0021] In one embodiment, such as Figures 1-6As shown, the tracked drive module 113 includes a first drive motor 1131, a second drive motor 1132, a first drive wheel 1133, a second drive wheel 1134, a first guide wheel assembly 1135, a second guide wheel assembly 1136, a first driven wheel 1137, a second driven wheel 1138, a first track 11391, and a second track 11392. The first drive motor 1131 and the second drive motor 1132 are respectively located on both sides of the front end of the chassis body 111. The first drive wheel 1133 and the second drive wheel 1134 are respectively located on both sides of the front end of the chassis body 111, and the first drive wheel 1133 is connected to the drive shaft of the first drive motor 1131, and the second drive wheel 1134 is connected to the drive shaft of the second drive motor 1132. The first driven wheel 1137 and the second driven wheel 1138 are respectively located at the rear end of the chassis body 111. The first track 11391 is sleeved on the first drive wheel 1133 and the first driven wheel 1137, and the second track 11392 is sleeved on the second drive wheel 1134 and the second driven wheel 1138. The first guide wheel assembly 1135 is located on one side of the chassis body 111 and is on the same side as the first drive wheel 1133. The first guide wheel assembly 1135 is located in the inner ring space of the first track 11391 and the bottom end of the first guide wheel assembly 1135 is in contact with the inner wall of the inner ring of the first track 11391. The second guide wheel assembly 1136 is located on one side of the chassis body 111 and is on the same side as the second drive wheel 1134. The second guide wheel assembly 1136 is located in the inner ring space of the second track 11392 and the bottom end of the second guide wheel assembly 1136 is in contact with the inner wall of the inner ring of the second track 11392.
[0022] In this embodiment, when the tracked drive module 113 with the above structure is adopted, the first drive motor 1131 and the second drive motor 1132 form a dual-end drive and each has an encoder, which can realize basic motion control of the chassis body 111 through the differential motion of the two wheels. The main controller 112 connected to the first drive motor 1131 and the second drive motor 1132 can be an STM32F series motion control board, and the battery module 114 supplying power to it uses a battery with a capacity of at least 40 amp-hours, thereby ensuring a long working range.
[0023] Specifically, when both the first drive motor 1131 and the second drive motor 1132 are started, the first drive motor 1131 drives the first driven wheel 1137 to rotate through the first track 11391. The first guide wheel group 1135 includes multiple guide wheels arranged in a horizontal direction, and each guide wheel can be connected to the chassis body 111 through the Christie independent suspension structure. The multiple guide wheels in the first guide wheel group 1135 can also fully spread the first track 11391, so that the first track 11391 can be fully extended to increase the contact area with the photovoltaic panel. Similarly, the second drive motor 1132 drives the second driven wheel 1138 to rotate via the second track 11392. The second guide wheel group 1136 includes multiple guide wheels arranged in a horizontal direction, and each guide wheel can be connected to the chassis body 111 via the Christie independent suspension structure. The multiple guide wheels in the second guide wheel group 1136 can also fully spread the second track 11392, so that the second track 11392 can be fully extended to increase the contact area with the photovoltaic panel.
[0024] In one embodiment, such as Figures 1-5 As shown, the photovoltaic panel brush body 200 includes a brush body cover structure 210, a brush body drive motor 220, a synchronous pulley (not shown), a brush body drive rod 230, a cleaning brush body 240, and a brush body connecting rod 250. One end of the brush body connecting rod 250 is connected to the front end of the upper structure 120 of the chassis, and the other end of the brush body connecting rod 250 is connected to the brush body cover structure 210. The brush body drive motor 220 is located on one side of the brush body cover structure 210. One end of the brush body drive rod 230 is rotatably connected to one side of the brush body cover structure 210, and the other end of the brush body drive rod 230 is connected to the drive shaft of the brush body drive motor 220 through the synchronous pulley. The cleaning brush body 240 is sleeved on the brush body drive rod 230.
[0025] In this embodiment, the cleaning brush body 240 can be made of nylon material for the roller core and bristles (for example, its dimensions include a roller core diameter of 50mm, a bristle length of 25mm, a mounting square hole of 15×15mm, and an overall length of 1000mm for the cleaning brush body 240). The brush body drive motor 220 can be a 200W geared motor (for example, with a reduction ratio of 10), which can enable the cleaning brush body 240 to reach a rotation speed of 300r / min, thus ensuring its cleaning efficiency for the photovoltaic panel.
[0026] Furthermore, when the other end of the brush drive rod 230 is connected to the drive shaft of the brush drive motor 220 via the synchronous pulley, the synchronous pulley can specifically be a HTD3M model, made of aluminum alloy, and with 30 teeth. The center distance between the two pulleys can be 114mm, and a synchronous belt drive is provided. Both the brush drive rod 230 and the drive shaft of the brush drive motor 220 are connected to the synchronous pulley by a key. The mounting hole on the motor mounting surface of the brush drive motor 220 is an oblong hole, which can be adjusted to allow the synchronous belt to be tensioned to obtain better transmission capacity.
[0027] The cleaning brush body 240 is a detachable structure. For example, after the cleaning brush body 240 is sleeved on the brush body drive rod 230, it will be fixed by a detachable screw. When it is necessary to remove the cleaning brush body 240, the brush body drive rod 230 is separated from the brush body cover structure 210, and the detachable screw is removed from one end of the brush body drive rod 230 to remove the cleaning brush body 240 for maintenance, cleaning or replacement.
[0028] In one embodiment, such as Figures 1-5 As shown, the photovoltaic panel brush body 200 also includes an electric push rod 260. The bottom end of the electric push rod 260 is connected to the chassis body 111, and the top end of the electric push rod 260 is connected to the brush body connecting rod 250. The electric push rod 260 is used to drive the brush body connecting rod 250 to move the cleaning brush body 240 longitudinally to move away from or towards the photovoltaic panel.
[0029] In this embodiment, the electric push rod 260 drives the brush body connecting rod 250 to move the cleaning brush body 240 longitudinally to move away from or towards the photovoltaic panel. When cleaning the photovoltaic panel with the cleaning brush body 240 is required, the push rod of the electric push rod 260 retracts, causing the cleaning brush body 240 to move longitudinally and lower its height to contact the photovoltaic panel. When cleaning the photovoltaic panel with the cleaning brush body 240 is not required, the push rod of the electric push rod 260 extends, causing the cleaning brush body 240 to move longitudinally and raise its height to separate from the photovoltaic panel. Therefore, the height of the cleaning brush body can be adaptively adjusted using the electric push rod.
[0030] In one embodiment, such as Figure 1 and Figure 6 As shown, an inertial navigation module 118 is also provided inside the chassis body 111, and an altitude ranging sensor 119 is provided at the bottom of the chassis body 111. Both the inertial navigation module 118 and the altitude ranging sensor 119 are connected to the main controller 112.
[0031] In this embodiment, the gyroscope in the inertial navigation module 118, which is respectively installed on the robot body 100 of the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot, can measure the current roll, pitch, and yaw rotation rate of the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot, and the height ranging sensor 119 can measure the current height of the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot to detect whether it has fallen off the photovoltaic panel.
[0032] As can be seen, in the embodiment of this device, after the robot body is placed in the area of the photovoltaic panel to be cleaned, it moves under the drive of the tracked drive module. When the main controller controls the movement path, it drives the photovoltaic panel brush to clean the photovoltaic panel in the area to be cleaned. During the walking process, the tracked drive module effectively increases the adhesion to the photovoltaic panel, enabling more stable walking and cleaning work.
[0033] Corresponding to the above-mentioned tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot, this application embodiment also provides a control method for a tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot, applied to a tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot cleaning system, such as... Figure 7 As shown, the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot system includes the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot 10 described in any of the foregoing embodiments, and also includes a server 20 and a user terminal 30. Both the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot 10 and the user terminal 30 are communicatively connected to the server 20. Figure 8 As shown, the control method steps S110~S140 of the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot are described.
[0034] S110. If the main controller in the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot detects the start-up cleaning command, it acquires the differential dataset and positioning data transmitted by the low-orbit satellite through the antenna module, and acquires the point cloud dataset of the photovoltaic panels in the area to be cleaned through radar, and sends it to the server.
[0035] In this embodiment, please continue to refer to Figures 1-6 The working principle of the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot under this control method is as follows: 11) Users place the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot in the area of photovoltaic panels to be cleaned by manual handling or hoisting; for example, placing it in the area corresponding to several photovoltaic panels near the edge of the area to be cleaned. 12) Click the power switch button in the switch module 116 to turn on the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot; at this time, you can also view the remaining power status of the battery module 114 and other equipment information through the display module 117. 13) If it is determined that the remaining power state of the battery module 114 corresponds to the sufficient power state (e.g., if the remaining power percentage corresponding to the remaining power state is greater than the preset percentage threshold, it is considered to be in the sufficient power state, or for example, the preset percentage threshold is set to 90%), and it is determined that the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot has stored the map data of the area to be cleaned corresponding to the area of the photovoltaic panel to be cleaned, which was sent by the server, then the robot can perform path planning according to the cleaning task instructions set by the user for the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot, and walk according to the planned path to complete the cleaning of the photovoltaic panel.
[0036] It should be noted that if the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot is placed in the area of photovoltaic panels to be cleaned for the first time, since it does not initially store map data of the area to be cleaned, it needs to obtain differential dataset and positioning data from low-orbit satellites based on antenna module 124. At the same time as the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot moves in the area to be cleaned, it obtains point cloud dataset of photovoltaic panels in the area to be cleaned through radar 123. Then, the second controller 122 uploads this data to server 20 through wireless communication module (such as 4G communication module, 5G communication module, etc.). In server 20, the map data of the area to be cleaned corresponding to the area to be cleaned is constructed based on the above data and sent to user terminal 30. The user on user terminal 30 sets the corresponding cleaning task data for the map data of the area to be cleaned. Thus, the main controller 112 drives the photovoltaic panel brush to clean the photovoltaic panels in the area to be cleaned under the drive of tracked drive module 113 according to the map data of the area to be cleaned and the cleaning task data, until the photovoltaic panel cleaning task is completed.
[0037] S120. The server constructs a map data of the area to be cleaned corresponding to the area of the photovoltaic panel to be cleaned based on the differential dataset, the positioning data and the point cloud dataset, and sends it to the user terminal.
[0038] In this embodiment, in order to reduce the data processing pressure in the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot, a map data of the area to be cleaned corresponding to the area of the photovoltaic panel to be cleaned can be constructed after the differential dataset, the positioning data and the point cloud dataset are received in the server.
[0039] In one embodiment, such as Figure 9 As shown, step S120 includes: S121. Based on the positioning data, obtain the translation vector and rotation vector and form a homogeneous transformation matrix accordingly; S122. For each point cloud data in the point cloud dataset, the first coordinate of the point cloud data in the radar coordinate system is transformed into the second coordinate of the point cloud data in the global map coordinate system according to the homogeneous transformation matrix. S123. Determine the point cloud normal vector for the second coordinate of each point cloud data in the point cloud dataset and filter it according to the preset point cloud filtering conditions. Filter out point cloud data that meet the point cloud filtering conditions to form a photovoltaic panel area, and filter out point cloud data that do not meet the point cloud filtering conditions to form a non-photovoltaic panel area. S124. Project the photovoltaic panel area and the non-photovoltaic panel area into a two-dimensional grid coordinate system to obtain the map data of the area to be cleaned.
[0040] The map data of the area to be cleaned is in raster map data format.
[0041] In this embodiment, traditional photovoltaic panel cleaning robots employ a visual SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) scheme. However, in scenarios such as overcast skies, heavy fog, nighttime, dust storms, or backlighting, the mapping of the photovoltaic panel area to be cleaned may fail, resulting in map drift or inability to navigate long distances. In such cases, if differential datasets and positioning data are acquired from low-Earth orbit satellites via an antenna module, and the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot is initially driven to move within the area to be cleaned while simultaneously acquiring a point cloud dataset of the photovoltaic panels in that area via radar, the latitude, longitude, and altitude of the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot can be extracted from the positioning data. This data corresponds to the global map coordinate system. However, the point cloud dataset of the photovoltaic panels in the area to be cleaned, acquired via radar, has each point cloud corresponding to a radar coordinate system. Therefore, the coordinates of the point cloud data in the radar coordinate system need to be converted to coordinates in the global map coordinate system before the map data for the area to be cleaned can be constructed.
[0042] Specifically, the rotation matrix required to convert the point cloud data from radar coordinates to global map coordinates can be calculated by continuously driving a tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot to move a certain distance on the photovoltaic panel in the area to be cleaned. For example, after the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot moves a short distance on the photovoltaic panel in the area to be cleaned, the two positioning data obtained before and after the movement correspond to positioning data 1 in the global map coordinate system, represented as [x t1 ,y t1 ,z t1 ] T and location data 2, represented as [x t2 ,y t2 ,zt2 ] T These two positioning data can be used to determine the relationship between ψ=arctan2(y t2 - y t1 , x t2 - x t1 The yaw angle ψ is obtained, and then the homogeneous transformation matrix R is reconstructed using the derived yaw angle ψ, the roll angle (denoted as φ) which is approximately 0, and the pitch angle (denoted as θ). The specific representation is as follows: ; By first adjusting the absolute latitude, longitude, and altitude of positioning data 2 and positioning data 1 using a differential dataset (RTK-GNSS), and then subtracting them, the translation vector T can be obtained. The final homogeneous transformation matrix is represented as follows: ; in, This represents the homogeneous transformation matrix.
[0043] For each point cloud data point in the point cloud dataset, the first coordinate of the point cloud data in the radar coordinate system is transformed into the second coordinate of the point cloud data in the global map coordinate system according to the homogeneous transformation matrix obtained above. Then, combining the second coordinate of each point cloud data point in the global map coordinate system, principal component analysis is performed on each point cloud data point with its neighboring points. The eigenvector corresponding to the smallest eigenvalue of the covariance matrix is calculated, which is the point cloud normal vector corresponding to that point cloud data point. Since the photovoltaic panels in the area to be cleaned have a fixed tilt angle, after calculating the angle between the point cloud normal vector and the ground normal vector corresponding to all point cloud data points, if the absolute value of the difference between the angle between the point cloud normal vector and the ground normal vector and the tilt angle of the photovoltaic panel is within 3°, it is considered to meet the preset point cloud screening conditions; otherwise, it is considered not to meet the point cloud screening conditions. Once the point cloud data points that meet the preset point cloud screening conditions are selected, they can form the photovoltaic panel area, and the point cloud data points that do not meet the point cloud screening conditions are selected to form the non-photovoltaic panel area.
[0044] Finally, the photovoltaic panel area and the non-photovoltaic panel area are projected onto a two-dimensional raster coordinate system to obtain the map data of the area to be cleaned. This map data of the area to be cleaned is a raster map that can be directly displayed on the user interface of the user terminal.
[0045] S130. If the user terminal detects a cleaning task instruction for the map data of the area to be cleaned, it obtains the corresponding cleaning task data and sends it to the main controller through the server.
[0046] In this embodiment, after the user terminal receives the map data of the area to be cleaned sent by the server and displays it on its user interface, it can refer to the operation of a household robot vacuum cleaner to set a cleaning task to trigger the generation of a cleaning task instruction. The cleaning task data corresponding to the cleaning task instruction is relayed to the main controller through the server.
[0047] In one embodiment, step S130 includes: The selected cleaning mode and the corresponding area to be cleaned are obtained for the map data of the area to be cleaned, and the cleaning task data is formed and sent to the main controller through the server.
[0048] In this embodiment, the user can set a selected cleaning mode (such as full coverage cleaning mode, edge cleaning mode, designated area cleaning mode, etc.) and the corresponding area to be cleaned (such as areas that can be cleaned and areas that do not need to be cleaned) for the map data of the area to be cleaned, and form the cleaning task data. This cleaning task data is set locally on the user terminal and needs to be relayed to the main controller through the server before the main controller can control the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot to perform the corresponding photovoltaic panel cleaning operation.
[0049] In this embodiment, after the main controller obtains the map data of the area to be cleaned and the cleaning task data, it can further extract the planned path. Driven by the tracked drive module, the photovoltaic panel brush body cleans the photovoltaic panels in the area to be cleaned until the cleaning task is completed. During this cleaning process, the photovoltaic panel brush body needs to be in contact with the photovoltaic panel rather than being in a lifted state.
[0050] In one embodiment, as a first specific embodiment of step S140, step S140 includes: If the selected cleaning mode in the cleaning task data is determined to be the full coverage cleaning mode, then a first cleaning planning path is obtained according to the map data of the area to be cleaned. The tracked drive module is then controlled to drive the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot to move and drive the photovoltaic panel brush to clean the photovoltaic panels in the area to be cleaned, until the robot travels from the starting point to the end point of the first cleaning planning path to complete the photovoltaic panel cleaning task.
[0051] In this embodiment, if the selected cleaning mode in the cleaning task data is determined to be the full coverage cleaning mode, it means that all photovoltaic panels in the area to be cleaned need to be cleaned. At this time, the main controller can perform cleaning path planning based on the map data of the area to be cleaned to obtain a first cleaning planning path (the coverage area corresponding to this path covers the entire photovoltaic panel area to be cleaned), and control the tracked drive module to drive the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot to move and drive the photovoltaic panel brush to clean the photovoltaic panels in the area to be cleaned until it travels from the starting point of the first cleaning planning path to the end point to complete the photovoltaic panel cleaning task.
[0052] In one embodiment, as a second specific embodiment of step S140, step S140 includes: If the selected cleaning mode in the cleaning task data is determined to be the edge cleaning mode, then a second cleaning planning path is obtained according to the map data of the area to be cleaned. The tracked drive module is then controlled to drive the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot to move and drive the photovoltaic panel brush to clean the photovoltaic panels in the area to be cleaned, until the robot travels from the starting point to the end point of the second cleaning planning path to complete the photovoltaic panel cleaning task.
[0053] In this embodiment, if the selected cleaning mode in the cleaning task data is determined to be the edge cleaning mode, it means that the boundary area of the photovoltaic panel area to be cleaned needs to be cleaned. At this time, the main controller can perform cleaning path planning according to the map data of the area to be cleaned to obtain a second cleaning planning path, and control the tracked drive module to drive the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot to move and drive the photovoltaic panel brush to clean the photovoltaic panels in the area to be cleaned, until it travels from the starting point of the second cleaning planning path to the end point to complete the photovoltaic panel cleaning task.
[0054] Because tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robots face the risk of falling when moving along the boundary areas of the photovoltaic panels to be cleaned, their height and distance sensors can be used to frequently detect the distance between the robot and the ground during the cleaning process, providing real-time high-frequency feedback to the main controller. If the distance exceeds a safe distance threshold, movement is interrupted, and the robot cannot move forward further. Furthermore, virtual walls can be defined in the map data of the area to be cleaned, allowing the robot to avoid them during movement and thus prevent falls.
[0055] As can be seen, the embodiment of this method can move under the drive of the tracked drive module after the robot body is placed in the area of the photovoltaic panel to be cleaned. When the main controller controls the movement path, it drives the photovoltaic panel brush to clean the photovoltaic panel in the area to be cleaned. During the walking process, the tracked drive module effectively increases the adhesion to the photovoltaic panel, which can walk more stably and perform cleaning work.
[0056] In summary, this application provides a tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot and its control method, including a robot body and a photovoltaic panel brush connected to one end of the robot body; the robot body includes a robot chassis structure and a chassis superstructure, with the chassis superstructure located at the top of the robot chassis structure; the robot chassis structure includes at least a chassis body, a main controller, a tracked drive module, a battery module, a charging interface, a switch module, and a display module, with the main controller and battery module located inside the chassis body, and the tracked drive module, switch module, and display module located on the chassis body. The interface, battery module, switch module, and display module are all connected to the main controller. The charging interface is connected to the battery module, which serves as the power supply for the device. The tracked drive module is used to drive the robot body. The chassis upper structure includes at least the upper structure main body, a second controller located within the upper structure main body, and radar, antenna module, wireless charging module, and ground detection sensor module located on the upper structure main body. The radar, antenna module, wireless charging module, and ground detection sensor module are all connected to the second controller, which is connected to the main controller. The wireless charging module is also connected to the battery module. In this embodiment, after the robot body is placed in the area of the photovoltaic panel to be cleaned, it moves under the drive of the tracked drive module. When the main controller controls the movement path, it drives the photovoltaic panel brush to clean the photovoltaic panel in the area to be cleaned. During the movement, the tracked drive module effectively increases the adhesion to the photovoltaic panel, enabling more stable movement and cleaning work.
[0057] Those skilled in the art will recognize that the units and algorithm steps of the various examples described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in electronic hardware, computer software, or a combination of both. To clearly illustrate the interchangeability of hardware and software, the components and steps of the various examples have been generally described in terms of functionality in the foregoing description. Whether these functions are implemented in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Those skilled in the art can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementations should not be considered beyond the scope of this application.
[0058] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed apparatus and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative. For example, the division of each unit is merely a logical functional division, and there may be other division methods in actual implementation. For example, multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be ignored or not executed.
[0059] The steps in the methods of this application embodiment can be adjusted, merged, or deleted according to actual needs. The units in the apparatus of this application embodiment can be merged, divided, or deleted according to actual needs. Furthermore, the functional units in the various embodiments of this application 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.
[0060] If the integrated unit is implemented as a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of this application, in essence, or the part that contributes to the prior art, or all or part of the technical solution, can be embodied in the form of a software product. This computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions to cause a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a terminal, or a network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in the various embodiments of this application.
[0061] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of this application, but the scope of protection of this application is not limited thereto. Any person skilled in the art can easily conceive of various equivalent modifications or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed in this application, and these modifications or substitutions should all be covered within the scope of protection of this application. Therefore, the scope of protection of this application should be determined by the scope of the claims.
Claims
1. A tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot, characterized in that, The system includes a robot body and a photovoltaic panel brush connected to one end of the robot body. The robot body includes a robot chassis structure and a chassis superstructure, with the chassis superstructure located at the top of the robot chassis structure. The robot chassis structure includes at least a chassis body, a main controller, a tracked drive module, a battery module, a charging interface, a switch module, and a display module. The main controller and the battery module are located within the chassis body. The tracked drive module, the charging interface, the switch module, and the display module are located on the chassis body. The tracked drive module, the battery module, the switch module, and the display module are all connected to the main controller. The charging interface is connected to the battery module, which serves as the power supply for the device. The tracked drive module is used to drive the robot body to move; the chassis upper structure includes at least an upper structure body, a second controller disposed within the upper structure body, and a radar, antenna module, wireless charging module, and ground detection sensor module disposed on the upper structure body. The radar, antenna module, wireless charging module, and ground detection sensor module are all connected to the second controller, which is also connected to the main controller. The wireless charging module is also connected to the battery module. When the robot body is placed in the photovoltaic panel area to be cleaned and moves under the drive of the tracked drive module and the movement path is controlled by the main controller, the photovoltaic panel brush body drives the photovoltaic panel in the area to be cleaned to clean the photovoltaic panel.
2. The tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot of claim 1, wherein, The tracked drive module includes a first drive motor, a second drive motor, a first drive wheel, a second drive wheel, a first guide wheel assembly, a second guide wheel assembly, a first driven wheel, a second driven wheel, a first track, and a second track. The first drive motor and the second drive motor are respectively located on both sides of the front end interior of the chassis body. The first drive wheel and the second drive wheel are respectively located on both sides of the front end of the chassis body, and the first drive wheel is connected to the drive shaft of the first drive motor, and the second drive wheel is connected to the drive shaft of the second drive motor. The first driven wheel and the second driven wheel are respectively located on both sides of the rear end of the chassis body. The first track is fitted onto the first drive wheel and the first driven wheel, and the second track is fitted onto the second drive wheel and the second driven wheel; the first guide wheel assembly is located on one side of the chassis body and on the same side as the first drive wheel, the first guide wheel assembly is located within the inner ring space of the first track and the bottom end of the first guide wheel assembly is in contact with the inner wall of the inner ring of the first track; the second guide wheel assembly is located on one side of the chassis body and on the same side as the second drive wheel, the second guide wheel assembly is located within the inner ring space of the second track and the bottom end of the second guide wheel assembly is in contact with the inner wall of the inner ring of the second track.
3. The tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot of claim 1, wherein, The photovoltaic panel brush body includes a brush body cover structure, a brush body drive motor, a synchronous wheel, a brush body drive rod, a cleaning brush body, and a brush body connecting rod; one end of the brush body connecting rod is connected to the front end of the upper structure of the chassis, and the other end of the brush body connecting rod is connected to the brush body cover structure; the brush body drive motor is located on one side of the brush body cover structure; one end of the brush body drive rod is rotatably connected to one side of the brush body cover structure, and the other end of the brush body drive rod is connected to the drive shaft of the brush body drive motor through the synchronous wheel; the cleaning brush body is sleeved on the brush body drive rod.
4. The tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot of claim 3, wherein, The photovoltaic panel brush body also includes an electric push rod. The bottom end of the electric push rod is connected to the chassis body, and the top end of the electric push rod is connected to the brush body connecting rod. The electric push rod is used to drive the brush body connecting rod to move the cleaning brush body longitudinally to move away from or towards the photovoltaic panel.
5. The tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot according to any of claims 1-4, characterized in that, An inertial navigation module is also installed inside the chassis body, and an altitude ranging sensor is installed at the bottom of the chassis body. Both the inertial navigation module and the altitude ranging sensor are connected to the main controller. 6.A control method of a crawler-type photovoltaic panel cleaning robot, applied to a crawler-type photovoltaic panel cleaning robot cleaning system, characterized in that, The tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot cleaning system includes the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot as described in any one of claims 1-5, and further includes a server and a user terminal; the method includes: If the main controller in the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot detects a power-on cleaning command, it acquires differential dataset and positioning data transmitted by low-orbit satellites through the antenna module, and acquires point cloud dataset of photovoltaic panels in the area to be cleaned through radar, and sends it to the server. The server constructs a map of the area to be cleaned corresponding to the area of the photovoltaic panel to be cleaned based on the differential dataset, the positioning data, and the point cloud dataset, and sends it to the user terminal. If the user terminal detects a cleaning task instruction for the map data of the area to be cleaned, it obtains the corresponding cleaning task data and sends it to the main controller through the server. The main controller, driven by the tracked drive module, drives the photovoltaic panel brush to clean the photovoltaic panels in the area to be cleaned, based on the map data of the area to be cleaned and the cleaning task data, until the photovoltaic panel cleaning task is completed.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein, The step of constructing a map data of the area to be cleaned corresponding to the area of the photovoltaic panel to be cleaned based on the differential dataset, the positioning data, and the point cloud dataset includes: Based on the positioning data, translation vectors and rotation vectors are obtained and corresponding homogeneous transformation matrices are formed. For each point cloud data in the point cloud dataset, the first coordinate of the point cloud data in the radar coordinate system is transformed into the second coordinate of the point cloud data in the global map coordinate system according to the homogeneous transformation matrix. The point cloud normal vector is determined for the second coordinate of each point cloud data in the point cloud dataset, and the point cloud data is filtered according to the preset point cloud filtering conditions. Point cloud data that meet the point cloud filtering conditions are selected to form a photovoltaic panel area, and point cloud data that do not meet the point cloud filtering conditions are selected to form a non-photovoltaic panel area. The photovoltaic panel area and the non-photovoltaic panel area are projected onto a two-dimensional raster coordinate system to obtain the map data of the area to be cleaned; wherein, the map data of the area to be cleaned is in raster map data format.
8. The method of claim 6, wherein, The step of acquiring the corresponding cleaning task data and sending it to the main controller via the server includes: The selected cleaning mode and the corresponding area to be cleaned are obtained for the map data of the area to be cleaned, and the cleaning task data is formed and sent to the main controller through the server.
9. The method of claim 6, wherein, The step involves using the map data of the area to be cleaned and the cleaning task data, driven by a tracked drive module, to move the photovoltaic panel brush body to clean the photovoltaic panels in the area to be cleaned until the photovoltaic panel cleaning task is completed. This includes: If the selected cleaning mode in the cleaning task data is determined to be the full coverage cleaning mode, then a first cleaning planning path is obtained according to the map data of the area to be cleaned. The tracked drive module is then controlled to drive the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot to move and drive the photovoltaic panel brush to clean the photovoltaic panels in the area to be cleaned, until the robot travels from the starting point to the end point of the first cleaning planning path to complete the photovoltaic panel cleaning task.
10. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that, The step involves using the map data of the area to be cleaned and the cleaning task data, driven by a tracked drive module, to move the photovoltaic panel brush body to clean the photovoltaic panels in the area to be cleaned until the photovoltaic panel cleaning task is completed. This includes: If the selected cleaning mode in the cleaning task data is determined to be the edge cleaning mode, then a second cleaning planning path is obtained according to the map data of the area to be cleaned. The tracked drive module is then controlled to drive the tracked photovoltaic panel cleaning robot to move and drive the photovoltaic panel brush to clean the photovoltaic panels in the area to be cleaned, until the robot travels from the starting point to the end point of the second cleaning planning path to complete the photovoltaic panel cleaning task.