Charging cabinet and charging system

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a charging cabinet and a charging system. The charging cabinet comprises a controller, a plurality of battery storage units and a plurality of battery charging units; wherein the plurality of battery storage units and the plurality of battery charging units are in communication connection with the controller; the controller is used to control the running state of at least one battery storage unit and the on-off state of the charging function of at least one battery charging unit. By directly connecting the plurality of battery storage units with the controller in communication, it is not necessary to separately set a respective controller for each battery storage unit, and the plurality of battery storage units use the same controller to control the running state, which simplifies the hardware architecture of the charging cabinet and also reduces the problem of more failure points caused by complex architecture.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This disclosure relates to the field of power electronics technology, and more specifically, to a charging cabinet and a charging system. Background Technology

[0002] To provide convenient and safe charging and battery swapping services for vehicle batteries, charging facilities, such as charging cabinets, are typically installed on both sides of streets or in public places like parking lots. These charging cabinets can provide charging and battery swapping services for the battery packs of electric vehicles.

[0003] The charging cabinets provided in related technologies have complex architectures and high costs. Utility Model Content

[0004] The purpose of this disclosure is to provide a charging cabinet and a charging system.

[0005] To achieve the above objectives, this disclosure provides a charging cabinet, including: a controller, multiple battery storage units, and multiple battery charging units; wherein, the multiple battery storage units and the multiple battery charging units are all communicatively connected to the controller;

[0006] The controller is used to send a first control command to at least one of a plurality of battery storage units, the first control command being used to control the operating state of the at least one battery storage unit;

[0007] The controller is also configured to send a second control command to at least one of the plurality of battery charging units, the second control command being configured to control the on / off state of the charging function of the at least one battery charging unit.

[0008] Optionally, the charging cabinet may also include a fire safety device that is communicatively connected to the controller;

[0009] The controller is also used to send a third control command to the fire safety device, the third control command being used to control the fire safety status of the charging cabinet.

[0010] Optionally, each of the battery charging units communicates with the controller via Controller Area Network (CAN).

[0011] Optionally, each of the battery charging units includes a charging control device and at least one battery; for each of the battery charging units, the charging control device performs charging control on the at least one battery.

[0012] Optionally, the charging control device communicates with each of the batteries via CAN.

[0013] Optionally, the controller includes a communication module;

[0014] The controller sends the operating data of the charging cabinet to the server through the communication module and receives remote control commands sent by the server.

[0015] Optionally, the charging cabinet further includes an industrial control computer that is communicatively connected to the controller, and the controller interacts with the target object through the industrial control computer;

[0016] The target object includes a server;

[0017] The controller is used to transmit the operation data of the charging cabinet to the industrial control computer;

[0018] The industrial control computer is used to send the operating data to the server and send the remote control commands sent by the server to the controller.

[0019] Optionally, the target object may also include the user;

[0020] The industrial control computer is also used to receive user operation instructions and send the user operation instructions to the controller.

[0021] Optionally, the charging cabinet also includes a switch, one end of which is connected to the controller and the other end of which is connected to the industrial control computer.

[0022] To achieve the above objectives, this disclosure provides a charging system, comprising:

[0023] The server and the charging cabinet described in the first aspect of this disclosure.

[0024] The charging cabinet, through the above technical solution, includes a controller, multiple battery storage units, and multiple battery charging units. All battery storage units and battery charging units are communicatively connected to the controller. The controller sends a first control command to at least one of the battery storage units and a second control command to at least one of the battery charging units. The first control command controls the operating state of the at least one battery storage unit, and the second control command controls the on / off state of the charging function of the at least one battery charging unit. By directly connecting multiple battery storage units to the controller, it eliminates the need for a separate controller for each battery storage unit. Multiple battery storage units in the charging cabinet can use the same controller to control their operating state, thus simplifying the hardware architecture of the charging cabinet and reducing the number of failure points caused by a complex architecture.

[0025] Other features and advantages of this disclosure will be described in detail in the following detailed description section. Attached Figure Description

[0026] The accompanying drawings are provided to further illustrate the present disclosure and form part of the specification. They are used together with the following detailed description to explain the present disclosure, but do not constitute a limitation thereof. In the drawings:

[0027] Figure 1 This is a structural block diagram of a charging cabinet according to an exemplary embodiment.

[0028] Figure 2 It is based on Figure 1 The illustrated embodiment shows a structural block diagram of another charging cabinet.

[0029] Figure 3 It is based on Figure 1 The illustrated embodiment shows a structural block diagram of another charging cabinet.

[0030] Figure 4 It is based on Figure 3 The embodiment shown illustrates a schematic diagram of a battery swapping cabinet.

[0031] Figure 5 It is based on Figure 1 The illustrated embodiment shows a structural block diagram of another charging cabinet.

[0032] Figure 6 It is based on Figure 5 The illustrated embodiment shows a structural block diagram of another charging cabinet.

[0033] Figure 7 It is based on Figure 6 The embodiment shown illustrates a schematic diagram of a battery swapping cabinet.

[0034] Figure 8 This is a structural block diagram of a charging system according to an exemplary embodiment. Detailed Implementation

[0035] The specific embodiments of this disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are for illustration and explanation only and are not intended to limit this disclosure.

[0036] It should be noted that all actions involving the acquisition of signals, information, or data in this disclosure are carried out in compliance with the relevant data protection laws and policies of the country where the location is situated, and with authorization from the owner of the relevant device.

[0037] This disclosure is primarily applied to the architectural design of charging cabinets, which can also be referred to as battery swapping cabinets.

[0038] In one related technology, a multi-layered system architecture for a single-vehicle battery swapping cabinet includes an industrial control computer, a main control board, a compartment control board / fire protection board, a charger, and batteries. The compartment control board typically comprises multiple boards; for example, each battery storage compartment is equipped with its own control board, allowing each compartment to be controlled by a corresponding control board to manage its operational status. The fire protection board is a dedicated controller for managing the fire safety status of the battery swapping cabinet. This architecture is complex, resulting in high production and maintenance costs, and the numerous layers increase the potential for failure.

[0039] The network architecture for charging cabinets provided in related technologies usually adopts RS485 communication, which has weak anti-interference ability and multiple nodes (such as the main control board, charger, battery and other nodes) cannot send and receive messages at the same time. This is especially true for system integration products such as battery swapping cabinets that involve multiple controllers and multiple nodes, thus affecting the signal transmission efficiency.

[0040] In addition, in the architecture of the charging device provided in the relevant technology, the main control board usually controls the charging function of the entire cabinet. However, if the main control board fails, the charging function of the entire battery swapping cabinet will fail.

[0041] To address the aforementioned problems, this disclosure provides a charging cabinet and a charging system. The specific embodiments of this disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0042] Figure 1 This is a structural block diagram of a charging cabinet according to an exemplary embodiment, such as... Figure 1 As shown, the charging cabinet 100 includes: a controller 101, multiple battery storage units 102, and multiple battery charging units 103; wherein, the multiple battery storage units 102 and the multiple battery charging units 103 are all communicatively connected to the controller 101.

[0043] The charging cabinet 100 refers to a device that can provide charging or battery swapping for vehicle batteries. For example, the charging cabinet 100 may include a battery swapping cabinet, a shared charging cabinet, etc.

[0044] The controller 101 can be a main control board (or a "cabinet control board"). The multiple battery storage units 102 can, for example, include multiple compartments on a battery swapping cabinet, each of which can be used to store batteries, including power batteries for electric bicycles or electric vehicles. When a user needs to charge or replace the battery in their vehicle, they can remove the battery from the vehicle and place it into one of the multiple battery storage units 102 for charging. Furthermore, the user can also remove fully charged batteries from other battery storage units 102 and install them into the vehicle to replace the battery.

[0045] In this disclosure, the controller 101 can be used to send a first control command to at least one of a plurality of battery storage units 102, the first control command being used to control the operating state of the at least one battery storage unit 102.

[0046] The operating status may include, for example, the cabinet door open / closed status, the temperature inside the compartment, the occupancy status, and the lighting status. The occupancy status indicates whether there are batteries stored in the corresponding battery storage unit 102.

[0047] The following description uses the example of a charging cabinet 100 being a battery swapping cabinet to illustrate the control process of the controller 101 over each battery storage unit 102. Since the charging cabinet 100 is a battery swapping cabinet, the multiple battery storage units 102 are the multiple battery storage slots on the battery swapping cabinet, and the controller is the main control board on the battery swapping cabinet.

[0048] In one business scenario, the main control board can control the opening and closing of the cabinet door for each battery storage compartment. For example, in response to a user's open command for a target battery storage compartment (which is at least one of multiple battery storage compartments), the main control board can send a first control command to that target battery storage compartment. This first control command controls the opening of the cabinet door of the target battery storage compartment. The user can trigger the open command by pressing a corresponding button on the battery swapping cabinet's touchscreen, or by scanning a preset identification code (such as a QR code, barcode, etc.) on the door of the target battery storage compartment.

[0049] In another business scenario, the lighting status of each battery storage compartment can be controlled via the main control board. For example, for each battery storage compartment, the compartment can detect ambient brightness data using a brightness sensor, and then send the detected ambient brightness data to the main control board. Based on the ambient brightness data, the main control board makes a decision and sends a first control command to the battery storage compartment. This first control command can control the lighting device within the battery storage compartment to turn on or off, or adjust the brightness of the lighting device, etc.

[0050] In another business scenario, the battery occupancy status of each battery storage slot can be monitored through the main control board. This battery occupancy status indicates whether a battery is stored in the corresponding slot.

[0051] In this disclosure, the controller 101 can also be used to send a second control command to at least one of the plurality of battery charging units 103, the second control command being used to control the on / off state of the charging function of the at least one battery charging unit 103.

[0052] The second control command may include a charge-allowing command or a charge-stopping command.

[0053] For example, taking a battery swapping cabinet as an example, the controller 101 is the main control board, which can communicate with each battery charging unit 103 of the battery swapping cabinet. If the main control board does not receive a user-triggered or cloud-based (i.e., server) stop charging command, it can send a default charging permission command to each battery charging unit 103. The specific charging control within each battery charging unit 103 can be controlled by its respective charging control device. When the main control board receives a user-triggered or cloud-based stop charging command, it can send the stop charging command to at least one battery charging unit 103.

[0054] By employing the aforementioned charging cabinet, multiple battery storage units are directly connected to the controller, eliminating the need for a separate controller for each unit. All battery storage units in the cabinet can be controlled by a single controller, simplifying the cabinet's architecture and reducing potential failure points caused by complex designs. Furthermore, the controller only controls the on / off state of the charging function of at least one battery charging unit, without controlling the specific charging process of each individual unit. This reduces the risk of the entire cabinet failing to charge batteries should the main controller fail.

[0055] It should be noted that the controller 101 of this disclosure can also be used to control the following functions of the charging cabinet: the controller 101 can receive detection results from various sensors on the charging cabinet, such as smoke detection results, water immersion detection results, water flow detection results, liquid level detection results, air conditioning alarm detection, battery power detection, etc., and accordingly, can issue different control commands, such as air conditioning control commands, alarm control commands, indicator light control commands, solenoid valve control commands, and fan control commands. In addition, the controller 101 can also receive fire water temperature detection results, cabinet internal temperature detection results, and charger temperature detection results for the charging cabinet 100, and issue corresponding control commands after making decisions based on the detection results.

[0056] Figure 2 It is based on Figure 1 The illustrated embodiment shows another structural block diagram of a charging cabinet, as follows: Figure 2 As shown, the charging cabinet 100 also includes a fire safety device 104 that is communicatively connected to the controller 101.

[0057] Thus, the controller 101 is also used to send a third control command to the fire safety device 104, which can be used to control the fire safety status of the charging cabinet 100.

[0058] The fire safety device 104 may include, for example, a water tank, a solenoid valve connected to the water tank, and a water pump connected to the solenoid valve.

[0059] For example, if a fire is detected in the charging cabinet 100 or the temperature of the battery storage unit 102 is too high, the controller 101 can send the third control command to the fire safety device 104 so as to control the water in the water tank to enter the water pump based on the third control command, and control the solenoid valve to open so that the water pump can spray the water to the designated location to achieve the purpose of fire prevention and fire extinguishing, thereby controlling the fire safety status of the charging cabinet 100.

[0060] It should be noted that in the battery swapping cabinet architecture of related technologies, a dedicated fire controller (such as a fire-fighting board) is usually set up to control the fire safety devices in order to control the fire safety status of the battery swapping cabinet. This disclosure eliminates the fire controller and integrates the fire control function into the controller 101 by directly communicating the fire safety device 104 with the controller 101, further simplifying the architecture of the charging cabinet 100.

[0061] Figure 3 It is based on Figure 1 The illustrated embodiment shows another structural block diagram of a charging cabinet, as follows: Figure 3 As shown, each battery charging unit 103 includes a charging control device 1031 and at least one battery 1032.

[0062] For each battery charging unit 103, the charging control device 1031 performs charging control on at least one battery 1032.

[0063] The charging control device 1031 may be a charger, for example, and the at least one battery 1032 is the battery stored in the battery storage unit 102.

[0064] In this disclosure, each battery charging unit 103 can be considered as an independent charging control system. For each battery charging unit 103, the charging control device 1031 in that battery charging unit 103 can control the charging process of at least one battery 1032 within that battery charging unit 103. The controller 101 may not control the battery charging process within each battery charging unit 103, thereby avoiding the problem that the entire charging cabinet will be unable to charge the batteries due to a failure of the controller 101.

[0065] In addition, during the normal charging process of the charging cabinet 100 for the battery 1032, the controller 101 sends a charging permission command to each charging control device 1031 by default. When the controller 101 receives a stop charging command triggered by the user or sent by the cloud (i.e., the server), it can send the stop charging command to each charging control device 1031.

[0066] For example, Figure 4 It is based on Figure 3 The illustrated embodiment presents a schematic diagram of a battery swapping cabinet, assuming it is a four-row, three-column cabinet containing 12 battery storage compartments. Figure 4 As shown, the battery swapping cabinet includes a main control board and four battery compartments, each corresponding to one row of the cabinet. Each battery compartment can be considered a battery charging unit 103, as shown below. Figure 4 As shown, each battery compartment includes a charger and three battery packs. These three battery packs can be stored in three slots in the same row. The charger is one type of the charging control device 1031. Thus, each battery compartment forms a separate charging system, with the charger handling the charging control function. During the charging process, each battery pack in each battery compartment can interact with the charger, sending its status data (such as battery level and temperature) to the charger. When the charger determines that charging is permitted, it sends a charging control command to the corresponding battery pack. This command includes a control instruction to close a relay, as well as parameters such as charging voltage and charging current, thereby achieving charging control for each battery pack within its own battery compartment without requiring the controller 101 to control the charging of each battery compartment.

[0067] like Figure 4 As shown, the main control board can also communicate with each battery compartment. In this disclosure, if the main control board does not receive a user-triggered or cloud-based (i.e., server-sent) stop charging command, it can send a default charging permission command to each battery compartment. The specific charging control within each battery compartment can be controlled by its respective charger. When the main control board receives a user-triggered or cloud-based stop charging command, it can send the stop charging command to the charger in each battery compartment.

[0068] It should be noted that the charger in the battery swapping cabinet in the relevant technology does not have a charging control function. Instead, it is controlled by the warehouse control board. The warehouse control board detects the battery status data, makes a charging decision, and sends the control command to the charger to charge the battery.

[0069] In one implementation of this disclosure, each battery charging unit 103 communicates with the controller 101 via CAN (Controller Area Network). Furthermore, for each battery charging unit 103, the charging control device 1031 within that battery charging unit 103 also communicates with each battery 1032 via CAN.

[0070] For example, such as Figure 4 As shown, for each of the four battery compartments on the battery swapping cabinet, the battery compartment communicates with the main control board via CAN, and each battery pack in the battery compartment also communicates with the charger via CAN.

[0071] This disclosure uses CAN communication for the local charging control of the charging cabinet. Compared with RS485 communication, it can improve anti-interference capability, and the controller, charging control device and battery can send and receive messages simultaneously, improving signal transmission efficiency.

[0072] It should be noted that the charging cabinet in this disclosure can interact with the server to upload the local operating data of the charging cabinet to the cloud. The charging cabinet can also receive control commands issued by the server to realize intelligent control of the charging cabinet by the cloud.

[0073] In one implementation of this disclosure, the charging cabinet 100 can communicate directly with the server via a controller 101. The controller 101 includes a communication module, allowing it to communicate with the server. This communication module can be, for example, a 4G communication module or a 5G communication module.

[0074] In other words, the controller 101 can send the operating data of the charging cabinet 100 to the server through the communication module, and receive remote control commands sent by the server to realize intelligent control of the charging cabinet from the cloud.

[0075] The operational data may include, for example, electricity meter data, air conditioner operating status data, charger status data, battery thermal runaway detection data, charger input and output current, solenoid valve switch status, smoke detector data, lighting detection data, and parameters set on the industrial control computer's operating panel. The remote control commands may include, for example, commands to open the cabinet door, stop charging, turn the air conditioner on or off, and cut off power to the entire cabinet.

[0076] Figure 5 It is based on Figure 1 The illustrated embodiment shows another structural block diagram of a charging cabinet, as follows: Figure 5As shown, the charging cabinet 100 also includes an industrial control computer 105 that is communicatively connected to the controller 101. Thus, another implementation of this disclosure is that the controller 101 can interact with the target object through the industrial control computer 105, and the target object may include a user and / or a server.

[0077] For example, the controller 101 can be used to transmit the operating data of the charging cabinet 100 to the industrial computer 105, which in turn sends the operating data to the server and sends the remote control commands sent by the server to the controller 101.

[0078] In addition, the industrial computer 105 can be equipped with a touch screen, so that users can input user operation commands for the charging cabinet through the touch screen. In this way, the industrial computer 105 can also be used to receive the user operation commands and send them to the controller 101.

[0079] It should be noted that, in order to manage the charging cabinet's operating status data and interact with users, this disclosure can also configure an operating system (such as Android or Linux) for the controller 101, thereby eliminating the need for the industrial control computer 105 in the charging cabinet's architecture, which can further simplify the hardware architecture of the charging cabinet 100.

[0080] Considering the limited number of network ports on the controller, this disclosure can use a switch to realize data communication between the controller 101 and the industrial computer 105.

[0081] Figure 6 It is based on Figure 5 The illustrated embodiment shows another structural block diagram of a charging cabinet, as follows: Figure 6 As shown, the charging cabinet 100 also includes a switch 106, one end of which is connected to the controller 101 and the other end to the industrial computer 105. Thus, in another implementation of this disclosure, the controller 101 and the industrial computer 105 can communicate through the switch 106.

[0082] For example, Figure 7 It is based on Figure 6 The illustrated embodiment presents a schematic diagram of the architecture of a battery swapping cabinet. Figure 7 The four battery compartments shown in the image are... Figure 4 The same applies, so I won't repeat it here. For example... Figure 7As shown, the battery swapping cabinet also includes a main control board (i.e., one type of controller 101), an industrial computer, and a switch. The battery swapping cabinet can interact with the cloud via the industrial computer, which in turn communicates with the main control board through the switch. The cloud and the industrial computer communicate wirelessly via 4G, while the industrial computer and the main control board communicate via Ethernet (e.g., 100M Ethernet). The industrial computer is also equipped with a touchscreen, allowing for the transmission of MIPI (Mobile Industry Processor Interface) data between the industrial computer and the touchscreen.

[0083] It should be noted that this disclosure can also eliminate the design of the switch 106 in the charging cabinet hardware architecture by integrating multiple network ports on the controller 101, which simplifies the architecture and optimizes the resource utilization of the controller.

[0084] It should also be noted that the charging cabinet 100 in this disclosure may further include other existing hardware components found in existing charging cabinets, such as air conditioners, electricity meters, lighting devices, and operating status detection devices (generally smoke detection sensors, temperature detection sensors, etc.), which will not be elaborated upon in this disclosure.

[0085] Figure 8 This is a structural block diagram of a charging system according to an exemplary embodiment, such as... Figure 8 As shown, the system includes a server 200 and the charging cabinet 100 mentioned above. Thus, the server 200 and the charging cabinet 100 can interact.

[0086] For example, the charging cabinet 100 can upload its operating status data to the server 200 via the controller 101. This operating status data may include, for example, electricity meter data, air conditioner operating status data, charger reported data, battery thermal runaway detection data, charger input and output current, solenoid valve switch status, smoke detector detection data, lighting detection data, and parameters set on the industrial control computer's operating screen. The server 200 can send remote control commands to the charging cabinet 100. These remote control commands may include, for example, commands to open the cabinet door, stop charging, turn on the air conditioner, or cut off power to the entire cabinet. These remote control commands can be transmitted to the controller 101 via the industrial control computer 105 or directly sent to the controller 101 for execution within the charging cabinet 100.

[0087] The preferred embodiments of this disclosure have been described in detail above with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, this disclosure is not limited to the specific details of the above embodiments. Within the scope of the technical concept of this disclosure, various simple modifications can be made to the technical solutions of this disclosure, and these simple modifications all fall within the protection scope of this disclosure.

[0088] It should also be noted that the various specific technical features described in the above specific embodiments can be combined in any suitable manner without contradiction. In order to avoid unnecessary repetition, this disclosure will not describe the various possible combinations separately.

[0089] Furthermore, various different embodiments of this disclosure can be combined in any way, as long as they do not violate the spirit of this disclosure, they should also be regarded as the content disclosed in this disclosure.

Claims

1. A charging cabinet, characterized in that, include: The system includes a controller, multiple battery storage units, and multiple battery charging units; wherein the multiple battery storage units and the multiple battery charging units are all communicatively connected to the controller. The controller is used to send a first control command to at least one of a plurality of battery storage units, the first control command being used to control the operating state of the at least one battery storage unit; The controller is also configured to send a second control command to at least one of the plurality of battery charging units, the second control command being configured to control the on / off state of the charging function of the at least one battery charging unit.

2. The charging cabinet according to claim 1, characterized in that, The charging cabinet also includes a fire safety device that is communicatively connected to the controller; The controller is also used to send a third control command to the fire safety device, the third control command being used to control the fire safety status of the charging cabinet.

3. The charging cabinet according to claim 1, characterized in that, Each of the battery charging units communicates with the controller via Controller Area Network (CAN).

4. The charging cabinet according to claim 1, characterized in that, Each of the battery charging units includes a charging control device and at least one battery; For each of the battery charging units, the charging control device performs charging control on the at least one battery.

5. The charging cabinet according to claim 4, characterized in that, The charging control device communicates with each of the batteries via CAN.

6. The charging cabinet according to claim 1, characterized in that, The controller includes a communication module; The controller sends the operating data of the charging cabinet to the server through the communication module and receives remote control commands sent by the server.

7. The charging cabinet according to claim 1, characterized in that, The charging cabinet also includes an industrial control computer that is communicatively connected to the controller, and the controller interacts with the target object through the industrial control computer; The target object includes a server; The controller is used to transmit the operation data of the charging cabinet to the industrial control computer; The industrial control computer is used to send the operating data to the server and send the remote control commands sent by the server to the controller.

8. The charging cabinet according to claim 7, characterized in that, The target object also includes users; The industrial control computer is also used to receive user operation instructions and send the user operation instructions to the controller.

9. The charging cabinet according to claim 7, characterized in that, The charging cabinet also includes a switch, one end of which is connected to the controller and the other end of which is connected to the industrial control computer.

10. A charging system, characterized in that, include: The server and the charging cabinet according to any one of claims 1-9.

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