A direct rail air mobile charging robot system

Abstract

A linear-rail aerial mobile charging robot system includes a track, a suspended charging robot, a drag chain cable, electronic tags, charging QR codes, and a call response system. The suspended charging robot comprises a walking module, a charging pile body, a cable retraction unit, a charging gun cable, and an electronic tag reader. The walking module drives the suspended charging robot to move along the track. Electronic tags and charging QR codes are deployed at corresponding track positions above each charging station. When a user scans the charging QR code for a charging station, the system automatically allocates and schedules the suspended charging robot to move to that station to provide charging services. This utility model relates to the field of new energy vehicle charging, employing a flat design and an extremely simple structure and system architecture to achieve aerial mobile charging in a very low-cost and simple manner, changing the process from vehicle-to-charging-pile to charging-pile-to-vehicle, improving charging resource utilization efficiency and user charging experience.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This utility model relates to the field of new energy vehicle charging, specifically to a linear rail aerial mobile charging robot system. Background Technology

[0002] The current problems facing the new energy electric vehicle charging and charging pile industry mainly include: (1) When car owners look for charging piles, they often have to spend a lot of time looking for charging points, finding available charging piles, and queuing, which leads to serious charging anxiety. (2) Parking spaces suitable for building commercial charging piles are generally located in good locations, and the site costs are high, resulting in high overall costs for station-type commercial charging piles. (3) Building a large number of charging piles will result in high construction costs and low utilization rates, which wastes resources and increases the distribution pressure on the power grid. (4) The problem of charging pile parking spaces being occupied by fuel vehicles cannot be solved, resulting in either wasting parking space resources or wasting charging pile resources. Therefore, it is necessary to develop an intensive electric vehicle charging solution. This charging solution does not require building charging piles for each parking space, and car owners do not need to specifically look for charging points. As long as the car is parked in the service coverage area where this intensive electric vehicle charging solution is deployed, convenient and fast charging can be achieved.

[0003] In their previously filed Chinese patent applications, "A Suspended Mobile Charging Pile System with Four-Wheel Independent Drive and Steering" (application number: 2023201748902) and "A Suspended Track Four-Wheel Independent Steering and Travel System" (application number: 2023214703187), the inventors proposed a variable-track aerial mobile charging solution. This solution provides mobile charging services for electric vehicles parked in any parking space below the intersecting track, decoupling the relationship between parking spaces and charging piles, transforming the process from "cars looking for piles" to "pile looking for cars," completely solving the problem of gasoline vehicles occupying charging spaces, and improving the efficiency of charging resource utilization and the user charging experience. However, due to the adoption of intersecting track in-situ four-way active track changing technology and automatic power extraction technology, the overall technical complexity is high, resulting in a significantly higher hardware cost per unit compared to traditional charging piles. Although the overall operating efficiency, payback period, and comprehensive cost-effectiveness are superior to traditional charging piles, the higher hardware cost per unit still raises the investment threshold. The inventors discovered that by eliminating the track-changing system and replacing it with a straight track that doesn't require track changing, and by optimizing the power extraction method of the suspended charging station, the overall hardware cost of the mobile charging solution can be significantly reduced. However, due to the inability to change tracks, congestion and operational efficiency issues will become more prominent. Therefore, to achieve high overall efficiency for the straight-track aerial mobile charging solution, it is essential to achieve extreme system simplicity and cost advantages. The solution provided by this invention is precisely a straight-track aerial mobile charging solution with extremely optimized cost and an extremely simple system. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The purpose of this invention is to provide a linear-rail aerial mobile charging robot system. It adopts a flat design and an extremely simple structure and system architecture to achieve aerial mobile charging in a very low-cost and very simple way. It decouples the binding relationship between parking spaces and charging piles, changing the process from car-to-pile to pile-to-car, thereby improving the efficiency of charging resource utilization and the user charging experience.

[0005] To achieve the above-mentioned objectives, the corresponding technical solution is as follows:

[0006] A linear-rail aerial mobile charging robot system includes a track, suspended charging robots, a drag chain cable, an input power supply, electronic tags, charging QR codes, a control unit, a communication unit, and a call response system. The track is suspended in the air. Several suspended charging robots are installed, all suspended on the track. Each suspended charging robot includes a walking module, a charging pile body, a cable retraction and extension unit, a charging gun cable, and an electronic tag reader. The walking module drives the suspended charging robot to move along the track. One end of the drag chain cable is connected to the input power supply, and the other end is connected to the suspended charging robot. Each charging station has a corresponding track position above it. The system is equipped with electronic tags and charging QR codes, each corresponding to a specific charging station. When the suspended charging robot moves to a charging station, the electronic tag reader can read the information from the tag. When a user scans the charging QR code at a charging station, the call response system dispatches the suspended charging robot to that station to provide charging service. The cable retraction unit is used to retract and extend the charging cable, the control unit is used to control the suspended charging robot, and the communication unit is used for information transmission and interactive communication within the system.

[0007] The drag chain cable powers the suspended charging robot. The advantage of using a drag chain cable as the power supply method is that it eliminates the need for power extraction via a sliding contact line or fixed-point power extraction mechanism, resulting in a simple, stable, reliable, and low-cost structure. The electronic tag and its reader are used to position the suspended charging robot on the track. Compared to the QR code and magnetic nail positioning navigation commonly used in the AGV field, the cost of using an electronic tag reader with electronic tags is much lower, and it is less prone to code loss. Although the positioning accuracy is relatively lower, in the application scenario of this invention, the positioning accuracy does not affect user operation because the suspended charging robot is powered by the drag chain cable. Positioning it slightly forward or backward will not affect the user's actual use.

[0008] In addition, the call response system, which adopts a QR code calling design, has the advantages of low cost, simple operation, and high reliability, and is very simple and easy to use.

[0009] Preferably, within the length limitation of the drag chain cable, all charging stations reachable by a single suspended charging robot are bound to that robot. When a user scans any of the charging QR codes at these charging stations, the call response system assigns the charging call request to the suspended charging robot and issues a control command to move it to the charging station to provide charging service. The advantage of this configuration, where all charging stations reachable by the suspended charging robot are bound to it, is that when the call response system receives a user's scanned call request, it can directly determine which suspended charging robot will respond to the call and directly control that robot to respond via the communication unit. This eliminates the need for additional scheduling management hardware and software, resulting in a very simple, efficient, stable, and reliable overall architecture. Such additional scheduling management hardware typically includes a field central controller, which is costly and requires an additional central control communication module. This invention, however, eliminates the need for additional scheduling management hardware, thus significantly reducing costs.

[0010] The travel distance between the beginning and end of all charging stations that a single suspended charging robot needs to cover is called the required coverage distance. Preferably, the connection point between the drag chain cable and the input power supply is located in the middle of the required coverage distance. The advantage of this setting is that, while achieving full coverage of charging stations within the same distance range, the length of the drag chain cable can be minimized. This is because, with this setup, starting from the connection point between the drag chain cable and the input power supply, the suspended charging robot can move to the left or right, and the maximum distance it moves to the left or right is approximately the length of the drag chain cable. Therefore, only about half the length of the drag chain cable is needed to cover the charging stations on both sides, meaning the length of the drag chain cable can be minimized, significantly reducing the amount of drag chain cable used and greatly saving deployment costs.

[0011] Preferably, the cable take-up and unwinding unit is a winding-type cable take-up and unwinding mechanism. Preferably, a first preferred embodiment of the winding form of the winding-type cable take-up and unwinding mechanism is a spiral cable, and the winding-type cable take-up and unwinding mechanism includes a spiral cable reel. The track is a hollow track, and the hollow track includes a track groove. The walking module is located within the hollow track, and the charging pile body is connected to the walking module via a hanging connector. Preferably, a portion of the spiral cable reel extends upwards beyond the track groove and is located within the hollow track. The advantage of this arrangement is that a portion of the spiral cable reel's height can be hidden within the hollow track, thereby reducing the vertical space occupied by the suspended charging robot, which is very important for underground parking lots with low clearance. In addition, this arrangement can also reduce the shell height of the suspended charging robot, making the suspended charging robot appear flatter and more aesthetically pleasing.

[0012] Preferably, in a second preferred embodiment, the winding form of the winding take-up and unwinding mechanism is a spiral wire, and the winding take-up and unwinding mechanism includes a spiral winding drum.

[0013] Preferably, the communication unit is a 4G communication module. Because 4G communication modules are widely used in various industries and are used in large quantities, they have significant reliability and cost advantages compared to other communication modules.

[0014] The beneficial effects of this utility model are:

[0015] (1) This utility model adopts a flat design and a very simple structure and system architecture to realize aerial mobile charging in a very low cost and a very simple way, debinding the binding relationship between parking spaces and charging piles, changing from car looking for piles to pile looking for car, improving the utilization efficiency of charging resources and user charging experience.

[0016] (2) The advantage of this utility model using drag chain cable as the power supply method is that it does not require power to be taken through sliding contact line or fixed point power taking mechanism, so the structure is simple, stable and reliable and low cost;

[0017] (3) Compared with the QR code positioning and navigation and magnetic nail positioning and navigation commonly used in the AGV field, this utility model uses electronic tags as the positioning method, which is much cheaper and less likely to lose the code. Although the positioning accuracy is relatively lower, the positioning accuracy does not affect the user's use in the application scenario of this utility model, because the suspended charging robot is powered by drag chain cable. The position of the robot being stopped a little forward or a little backward will not affect the user's actual use.

[0018] (4) The call response system of this utility model adopts the design of scanning code to call, which also has the advantages of low cost, simple operation and high reliability, and is very simple and easy to use;

[0019] (5) In this utility model, all charging stations that the suspended charging robot can reach are bound to the suspended charging robot. The advantage of this setting is that it does not require additional scheduling management hardware facilities and scheduling software. The overall architecture is very simple, efficient and stable, and the cost is very low.

[0020] (6) In this utility model, the connection position between the drag chain cable and the input power supply is located in the middle of the required coverage stroke. Only half the length of the drag chain cable is needed to cover the charging stations on the left and right sides. Therefore, the length of the drag chain cable can be minimized, greatly reducing the amount of drag chain cable used and significantly saving deployment costs.

[0021] (7) In a preferred embodiment of this utility model, a portion of the height of the vortex wire reel is hidden within the hollow track, thereby reducing the vertical space occupied by the suspended charging robot, which is very important for underground parking lots with low clearance. In addition, this arrangement can also reduce the shell height of the suspended charging robot, making the suspended charging robot look flatter and more aesthetically pleasing.

[0022] The aforementioned beneficial effects have all been verified during actual implementation in the product development process. It should also be noted that the beneficial effects of this utility model are not limited to the above description, and can be understood in conjunction with specific technical solutions and preferred embodiments. Furthermore, descriptions of the technical effects and beneficial effects of a specific technical solution or preferred embodiment are interspersed throughout the invention content and subsequent embodiments of this utility model. Attached Figure Description

[0023] Figure 1 This is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of a linear track-type aerial mobile charging robot system according to the present invention. The diagram shows the suspended charging robot after it has been pulled out of the track.

[0024] Figure 2 This is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of the suspended charging robot suspended in the track.

[0025] Figure 3 This is a bottom-view schematic diagram of a linear rail-type aerial mobile charging robot system according to this utility model.

[0026] Figure 4 This is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of the suspended charging robot.

[0027] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the suspended charging robot in its rightmost position, limited by the length of the drag chain cable.

[0028] Figure 6This is a schematic diagram of the suspended charging robot in its leftmost position, limited by the length of the drag chain cable. Detailed Implementation

[0029] The present invention will be further described in detail below with reference to the embodiments, implementation methods, and accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the described embodiments or implementation methods are merely some, not all, of the present invention, and the accompanying drawings are merely schematic diagrams for ease of explanation, and not a complete limitation on the implementation methods of the present invention. All other embodiments or implementation methods obtained by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments or implementation methods of the present invention without creative effort should fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

[0030] The following description of the embodiments or implementations of this utility model is merely illustrative and is in no way intended to limit the utility model or its application or use.

[0031] like Figure 1-6 As shown, a linear overhead mobile charging robot system includes a track 1, suspended charging robots, a drag chain cable 4, an input power supply, an electronic tag 8, a charging QR code, a control unit, a communication unit, and a call response system. The track 1 is suspended in the air. Several suspended charging robots are installed, all suspended on the track 1. Each suspended charging robot includes a walking module, a charging pile body 2, a cable retraction and extension unit, a charging gun cable, and an electronic tag reader 10. The charging gun cable includes a charging gun 3. The walking module drives the suspended charging robots to move along the track 1. One end of the drag chain cable 4 is connected to the input power supply, and the other end is connected to the suspended charging robot. The end connected to the input power supply is called the drag chain inlet 401, which is connected to the suspended charging robot. The end connected to the robot is called the cable delivery end 402. Each charging station has an electronic tag 8 and a charging QR code deployed at a corresponding track position above it. Each electronic tag 8 and each charging QR code corresponds one-to-one with a charging station. When the suspended charging robot moves to a charging station, the electronic tag reader 10 can read the information from the electronic tag 8. When a user scans the charging QR code at a charging station, the call response system allocates and schedules the suspended charging robot to move to that charging station to provide charging service. The cable retraction unit is used to retract and extend the charging cable, the control unit is used to control the suspended charging robot, and the communication unit is used to realize information transmission and interactive communication within the system. Preferably, the call response system is deployed in the cloud.

[0032] Preferably, the walking module includes a drive motor, drive wheels 5, and a mounting frame 6. Preferably, both the drive motor and the drive wheels 5 are mounted on the mounting frame 6.

[0033] like Figure 1 , Figure 2 , Figure 5 , Figure 6 As shown, the drag chain cable 4 powers the suspended charging robot. The advantage of using the drag chain cable 4 as the power supply method is that it eliminates the need for power extraction via a sliding contact line or fixed-point power extraction mechanism, resulting in a simple, stable, reliable, and low-cost structure. The electronic tag 8 and the electronic tag reader 10 are used to position the suspended charging robot on the track 1. Compared to the commonly used QR code positioning and magnetic nail positioning navigation in the AGV field, the cost of the electronic tag reader 10 paired with the electronic tag 8 is much lower, and it is less prone to code loss. Although the positioning accuracy is relatively lower, in the application scenario of this invention, the positioning accuracy does not affect the user's experience because the suspended charging robot is powered by the drag chain cable 4. Whether the robot stops slightly forward or backward will not affect the user's actual use.

[0034] Preferably, within the length limitation of the drag chain cable 4, all charging stations reachable by a certain suspended charging robot are bound to that suspended charging robot. When a user scans any charging QR code at these charging stations, the call response system assigns the charging call request to the suspended charging robot and issues a control command to move it to the charging station to provide charging service. The advantage of this setting, where all charging stations reachable by the suspended charging robot are bound to it, is that when the call response system receives a user's scan call request, it can directly determine which suspended charging robot will respond to the call and directly control that suspended charging robot to respond through the communication unit. No additional scheduling management hardware and software are required, resulting in a very simple, efficient, stable, and reliable overall architecture. The additional scheduling management hardware typically includes a field central controller, which has high hardware costs and requires an additional central control communication module. This invention, however, does not require additional scheduling management hardware, thus resulting in very low costs.

[0035] The travel distance between the beginning and end of all charging stations that a single suspended charging robot needs to cover is called the demand coverage travel distance. Preferably, the connection point between the drag chain cable 4 and the input power supply is located in the middle of the demand coverage travel distance, that is, in... Figure 5 , Figure 6In this configuration, the cable chain inlet 401 is located at the midpoint of the required coverage distance. The advantage of this arrangement is that, while achieving full coverage of charging stations within the same distance range, the length of the cable chain cable 4 can be minimized. This is because, with this configuration, starting from the connection point between the cable chain cable 4 and the input power source—that is, the cable chain inlet 401—the suspended charging robot can move to either the left or the right, and the maximum distance it can move to the left or right is approximately the length of the cable chain cable 4. Figure 5 , Figure 6 As shown. Therefore, only about half the length of the drag chain cable 4 is needed to cover the charging stations on both sides, which means that the length of the drag chain cable 4 can be minimized, greatly reducing the amount of drag chain cable 4 used and significantly saving deployment costs.

[0036] Preferably, the take-up and unwind unit is a winding-type take-up and unwind mechanism. Preferably, as follows... Figure 4 As shown, the first preferred embodiment of the winding form of the winding take-up and unwinding mechanism is a spiral wire, and the winding take-up and unwinding mechanism includes a spiral wire reel 9. Preferably, the track 1 is a hollow track, the hollow track includes a track groove 103, the walking module is located in the first track cavity 101 of the track 1, and the charging pile body 2 is connected to the walking module through a hanging connector 7. Preferably, the drag chain cable 4 is located in the second track cavity 102 of the track 1. Preferably, a portion of the spiral wire reel 9 extends upward beyond the track groove 103 and is located within the hollow track. The advantage of this arrangement is that a portion of the spiral wire reel 9 can be hidden within the hollow track, thereby reducing the vertical space occupied by the suspended charging robot, which is very important for underground parking lots with low clearance. In addition, this arrangement can also reduce the shell height of the suspended charging robot, making the suspended charging robot look flatter and more aesthetically pleasing.

[0037] Preferably, in a second preferred embodiment, the winding form of the winding take-up and unwinding mechanism is a spiral wire, and the winding take-up and unwinding mechanism includes a spiral winding drum.

[0038] Preferably, the communication unit is a 4G communication module. Because 4G communication modules are widely used in various industries and are used in large quantities, they have significant reliability and cost advantages compared to other communication modules.

[0039] Preferably, the control unit should have at least the capability of data analysis, processing, and control. It can be a general-purpose chip, such as a central processing unit (CPU) or a microprocessor (MCU), or a dedicated processing and control chip, or a circuit board module with the aforementioned chips as the main control chip. The control unit typically carries programs or software that implement the corresponding functions. The control unit can be a single integrated control processor or composed of multiple control processors. Preferably, the communication unit, call response system, walking module, cable take-up and release unit, and electronic tag reader 10 are all connected to the control unit directly or indirectly.

[0040] Preferably, when there are more than one suspended charging robot on the same track, the movable range of each suspended charging robot is set to not overlap with other suspended charging robots, that is, segmented coverage. Each suspended charging robot is only responsible for the charging station within a certain segment of the track, and all charging stations within that segment are bound to that suspended charging robot. The operation and scheduling of the suspended charging robots are managed through a call response system. The call response system also stores the relationship data of which charging stations each suspended charging robot is bound to. The suspended charging robots communicate with the call response system through a 4G mobile communication network. Each charging station is equipped with an electronic tag 8 and a charging QR code, and the binding relationship is also stored in the call response system.

[0041] Preferably, the user's QR code charging process includes the following steps:

[0042] S1: The user scans the charging QR code at a charging station using a mobile terminal, and the mobile terminal sends the scan charging request to the call response system through the 4G mobile communication network.

[0043] S2: After receiving the QR code charging request, the call response system determines the charging station bound to the QR code based on the charging QR code scanned by the user. This station is called the target charging station. The system then determines the suspended charging robot bound to the target charging station.

[0044] S3: The call response system sends a control command to the suspended charging robot determined in step S2 through the mobile communication network, ordering it to move to the charging station where the user scans the code;

[0045] S4: The control unit of the suspended charging robot determines the direction of movement from its current position to the target charging station based on the received control command, and then controls the suspended charging robot to move in that direction.

[0046] S5: As the suspended charging robot moves toward the target charging station, its electronic tag reader 10 reads each electronic tag it passes in real time. When it reads the electronic tag of the target charging station, the suspended charging robot stops and lowers the charging gun 3 through the cable reeling unit.

[0047] S6: After the user inserts the charging gun 3 into the vehicle's charging port, he / she can send a start charging command to the call response system through the mobile terminal. The call response system then sends a start charging command to the control unit of the suspended charging robot to start charging.

[0048] S7: After the user finishes charging and pulls out the charging gun 3, the control unit controls the cable retraction unit to automatically retract the charging gun 3.

Claims

1. A direct rail air mobile charging robot system, characterized by, Includes a track, suspended charging robot, drag chain cable, input power supply, electronic tag, charging QR code, control unit, communication unit, and call response system. The track is laid out in a suspended manner, and several suspended charging robots are set up, all of which are suspended on the track. The suspended charging robot includes a walking module, a charging pile body, a cable retraction and extension unit, a charging gun cable, and an electronic tag reader. The walking module is used to drive the suspended charging robot to move along the track. One end of the drag chain cable is connected to the input power supply, and the other end is connected to the suspended charging robot. Each charging station is equipped with an electronic tag and a charging QR code at the corresponding track position above it. The electronic tag and the charging QR code are one-to-one correspondences. When the suspended charging robot moves to a charging station, the electronic tag reader can read the information of the electronic tag. When a user scans the charging QR code on a charging station, the call response system allocates and dispatches the suspended charging robot to move to the charging station to provide charging service in response to the charging call request. The cable retraction unit is used to retract and extend the charging gun cable, the control unit is used to control the suspended charging robot, and the communication unit is used to realize information transmission and interactive communication of the system.

2. The direct rail air mobile charging robot system of claim 1, wherein, Under the length limitation of the drag chain cable, all charging stations that a certain suspended charging robot can reach are bound to the suspended charging robot. When a user scans any of the charging QR codes on these charging stations, the call response system assigns the charging call request to the suspended charging robot and issues a control command to it to move to the charging station to provide charging services.

3. The direct rail air mobile charging robot system of claim 1, wherein, The travel distance between the beginning and end of all charging stations that a single suspended charging robot needs to cover is called the demand coverage travel distance, and the connection position of the drag chain cable and the input power supply is located in the middle of the demand coverage travel distance.

4. The direct rail air mobile charging robot system of claim 1, wherein, The take-up and unwinding unit is a winding take-up and unwinding mechanism.

5. The direct rail air mobile charging robot system of claim 4, wherein, The winding form of the winding mechanism is a spiral wire, and the winding mechanism includes a spiral wire reel.

6. The direct rail air mobile charging robot system of claim 4, wherein, The winding form of the winding mechanism is a spiral, and the winding mechanism includes a spiral winding drum.

7. The direct rail air mobile charging robot system of claim 5, wherein, The track is a hollow track, which includes a track groove. The walking module is located inside the hollow track, and the charging pile body is connected to the walking module through a hanging connector.

8. The direct rail air mobile charging robot system of claim 7, wherein, A portion of the spiral wire reel extends upwards beyond the track groove and is located within the hollow track.

9. The direct rail air mobile charging robot system of claim 1, wherein, The communication unit is a 4G communication module.

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