Solar panel control device

Abstract

To provide a solar panel control device which enables a solar panel to be deployed and folded safely.SOLUTION: A solar panel control device includes: a solar panel which may be deformed to a folded state and a deployed state; a drive mechanism which deforms the solar panel from the folded state to the deployed state and from the deployed state to the folded state; an acquisition unit which acquires a moving status of a vehicle mounted with the solar panel; and a drive control unit which controls the drive mechanism based on the moving status acquired by the acquisition unit.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a solar panel control device.

Background Art

[0002] A technique for adjusting the orientation of a solar panel used in space according to the direction of sunlight is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] With the progress of space technology, recently, for example, the development of a mobile vehicle that moves on the lunar surface has been promoted. Even in such a vehicle, it has been considered to be equipped with a solar panel in terms of ensuring power. However, in order to ensure sufficient power, a solar panel of a considerable size is required, and when moving the vehicle, it is assumed that it is folded, and when generating power, the vehicle is stopped and deployed. Considering that space exploration is carried out with a lot of vehicle movement, it is assumed that it is necessary to deform the solar panel between the folded state and the deployed state quite frequently, but more careful synchronization adjustment is required for vehicle movement and solar panel deformation work.

[0005] The present invention has been made to solve such problems, and provides a solar panel control device that can safely perform the deployment and folding of a solar panel.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] In a specific embodiment of the present invention, a solar panel control device includes a solar panel that can be deformed between a folded state and a deployed state, a drive mechanism that deforms the solar panel from the folded state to the deployed state and from the deployed state to the folded state, an acquisition unit that acquires the moving status of a vehicle on which the solar panel is mounted, and a drive control unit that controls the drive mechanism based on the moving status acquired by the acquisition unit.

Advantages of the Invention

[0007] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a solar panel control device that can safely deploy and fold a solar panel.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0008]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Embodiments for Carrying Out the Invention

[0009] Hereinafter, the present invention will be described through embodiments of the invention, but the invention according to the claims is not limited to the following embodiments. Also, not all of the configurations described in the embodiments are necessarily essential as means for solving the problems. In each figure, those denoted by the same reference numerals have the same or similar configurations, and when there are a plurality of the same or similar configurations, some may be denoted by reference numerals and others may be omitted.

[0010] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the appearance of a vehicle 10 equipped with a solar panel control device 100. The vehicle 10 is, for example, a vehicle used for lunar exploration and is a so-called rover. The vehicle 10 moves on the lunar surface by rotationally driving the wheels 12.

[0011] Vehicle 10 is equipped with the solar panel control device 100 according to this embodiment. As shown in the figure, among the solar panel control device 100, the solar panel 110 can be observed as the appearance. Specifically, one solar panel 110 is provided on each of both side surfaces of the vehicle 10.

[0012] FIG. 1(A) shows a folded state in which the solar panel 110 is folded and accommodated along the side of the vehicle. The solar panel 110 is allowed to be deformed into the folded state when the vehicle 10 is stopped.

[0013] FIG. 1(B) shows a deployed state in which the solar panel 110 is deployed and adjusted to a direction in which sunlight can be efficiently received. The solar panel control device 100 deforms the solar panel 110 into the deployed state when the vehicle 10 is stopped, receives sunlight, and stores the generated electric power in, for example, a storage battery.

[0014] The solar panel control device 100 rotates the swivel bar 111 that supports the solar panel 110 with respect to the vehicle 10 from the state of being accommodated along the side of the vehicle 10 in the folded state, and protrudes the solar panel 110 from the side of the vehicle 10. Further, the elevation angle or the depression angle is adjusted to be in the deployed state so that the solar panel 110 can receive sunlight from a more orthogonal direction. When deforming from the deployed state to the folded state, the reverse order of the above is followed.

[0015] The folded state and the deployed state of the solar panel 110 are not limited to the above cases. The folded state only needs not to interfere with the movement of the vehicle 10 or cause damage to the solar panel 110, and the deployed state only needs to be a state in which the solar panel 110 can appropriately receive sunlight. Therefore, various deformation mechanisms from the folded state to the deployed state and from the deployed state to the folded state can be adopted. The solar panel 110 may be configured to be folded like origami, for example.

[0016] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the hardware configuration of the solar panel control device 100 including related hardware configurations. The solar panel control device 100 mainly includes a solar panel 110, a control unit 120, and a drive mechanism 130. The solar panel 110 is a power generation device that receives sunlight and generates electricity. The control unit 120 controls the charging of a battery (not shown) and the power supply to devices mounted on the vehicle 10. The control unit 120 is a processor (CPU: Central Processing Unit) that performs the control of the solar panel control device 100 and the execution processing of programs. The control unit 120 may include an arithmetic processing chip such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) and a processing circuit that processes various electrical signals. The control unit 120 executes a control program and performs various processes related to the solar panel 110. The drive mechanism 130 includes an actuator and mechanical elements that deform the solar panel 110 from a folded state to a deployed state and from a deployed state to a folded state.

[0017] The control unit 120 also serves as a functional arithmetic unit that executes various operations according to the processes instructed by the control program. The control unit 120 can function as a communication unit 121, an acquisition unit 122, and a drive control unit 123. The communication unit 121 exchanges control commands and data with the host computer 200 via a communication interface (not shown). The host computer 200 may be a computer mounted on the vehicle 10, or may be a computer installed at a base station outside the vehicle 10 or on the earth.

[0018] The acquisition unit 122 acquires the movement status of the vehicle 10 from the movement control unit 13. The movement control unit 13 is a control device similar to, for example, an ECU (electronic control unit), and transmits at least the movement status of "moving" and "stopped" to the acquisition unit 122 according to the control state of the wheels 12. When the acquisition unit 122 acquires the movement status from the movement control unit 13, it transmits the acquisition result to the drive control unit 123. The drive control unit 123 transmits a control signal to the drive mechanism 130 to deform the solar panel 110 from the folded state to the deployed state and from the deployed state to the folded state.

[0019] Figure 3 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the solar panel control device 100. The illustrated flowchart starts from the point when monitoring for deployment abnormalities of the solar panel 110 is started and represents the period until one processing operation is completed.

[0020] In step S101, the communication unit 121 checks whether it has received a deformation request signal for requesting deformation of the solar panel 110 from the upper computer 200. If the deformation request signal has not been received, it returns to step S101 to continue monitoring. If the deformation request signal has been received, it proceeds to step S102.

[0021] When proceeding to step S102, the acquisition unit 122 acquires the movement status of the vehicle 10 from the movement control unit 13 and checks whether the status is "moving". If it is moving, it proceeds to step S103; if it is stopped, it proceeds to step S110.

[0022] When proceeding to step S103, subsequently, the communication unit 121 checks whether the deformation request signal received in step S101 is a deployment request signal or a folding request signal, and transmits the result to the drive control unit 123. Then, if the deformation request signal is a deployment request signal, it proceeds to step S105; if it is a folding request signal, it proceeds to step S104.

[0023] If it proceeds to step S104, the drive control unit 123 executes a fail-safe process. In this case, although the vehicle is in motion, it is considered that a signal requesting to fold the solar panel 110 has been received. Therefore, it is estimated that the vehicle 10 started moving with the solar panel 110 deployed, or that a communication or program error has occurred. Accordingly, in the fail-safe process in this case, a control signal for stopping the movement of the vehicle 10 may be transmitted to the movement control unit 13. When the fail-safe process is executed, the crew or the ground station checks for abnormalities and takes recovery measures.

[0024] When proceeding from step S103 to step S105, since the vehicle 10 is in motion, the drive control unit 123 temporarily suspends the deployment operation of deploying the solar panel 110 from the folded state to the deployed state. In the subsequent step S106, the acquisition unit 122 acquires the movement status from the movement control unit 13 again and checks whether the status is stopped. If it is in motion, it returns to step S105 and suspends the deployment operation until it stops. When it is confirmed that it has stopped, it proceeds to step S107.

[0025] In step S107, the drive control unit 123 transmits a control signal to the drive mechanism 130 to execute the deployment operation. During the deployment operation, in step S108, the acquisition unit 122 acquires the movement status from the movement control unit 13 and checks whether the movement has started. If it is confirmed that the movement has started during the deployment operation, it is considered that some problem has occurred in the deployment operation, and it proceeds to step S104, and the drive control unit 123 executes a fail-safe process. In the fail-safe process in this case, a process of interrupting the deployment operation and stopping the drive of the drive mechanism 130 and transmitting a control signal for stopping the movement of the vehicle 10 to the movement control unit 13 is considered.

[0026] In step S108, if it can be confirmed that the vehicle 10 has stopped, the process proceeds to step S109, and the drive control unit 123 determines whether the deployment operation has been completed. If the deployment operation has not been completed, the process returns to step S107 to continue the deployment operation. If the deployment operation has been completed, the series of processes ends.

[0027] When proceeding from step S102 to step S110, subsequently, the communication unit 121 confirms whether the deformation request signal received in step S101 is a deployment request signal or a folding request signal, and transmits the result to the drive control unit 123. When the deformation request signal is a deployment request signal, the process proceeds to step S107 to start the deployment operation. When it is a folding request signal, the process proceeds to step S111.

[0028] In step S111, the drive control unit 123 transmits a control signal to the drive mechanism 130 to execute a folding operation for folding the solar panel 110 from the deployed state to the folded state. During the folding operation, in step S112, the acquisition unit 122 acquires the movement status from the movement control unit 13 and confirms whether the movement has started. If it is confirmed that the movement has started during the folding operation, it is considered that some problem has occurred in the folding operation, and the process proceeds to step S104, where the drive control unit 123 executes a fail-safe process. The fail-safe process in this case may be a process of interrupting the folding operation, stopping the drive of the drive mechanism 130, and transmitting a control signal to the movement control unit 13 to stop the movement of the vehicle 10.

[0029] In step S113, if it can be confirmed that the vehicle 10 has stopped, the process proceeds to step S113, and the drive control unit 123 determines whether the folding operation has been completed. If the folding operation has not been completed, the process returns to step S111 to continue the folding operation. If the folding operation has been completed, the series of processes ends.

[0030] According to the present embodiment described above, the movement status of the vehicle 10 is adopted as the criterion for the drive control unit 123 to execute the fail-safe process. However, various other criteria for executing the fail-safe process can also be adopted. For example, the solar panel 110 is equipped with an obstacle detection sensor such as an ultrasonic sensor, and whether an obstacle is detected in the displacement direction of the solar panel 110 during the deployment operation or the folding operation may also be used as the criterion for executing the fail-safe process. The fail-safe process in such a case may not only simply stop the operation of the solar panel 110, but also, for example, deploy the solar panel 110 to the second target position while avoiding the obstacle.

Description of Reference Numerals

[0031] 10…Vehicle, 11…Main body, 12…Wheel, 13…Movement control unit, 100…Solar panel control device, 110…Solar panel, 120…Control unit, 121…Communication unit, 122…Acquisition unit, 123…Drive control unit, 130…Drive mechanism, 200…Upper computer

Claims

Claim 1 A solar panel that can be deformed between a folded state and a deployed state, a drive mechanism for deforming the solar panel from the folded state to the deployed state and from the deployed state to the folded state, an acquisition unit that acquires the moving status of a vehicle on which the solar panel is mounted, and a drive control unit that controls the drive mechanism based on the moving status acquired by the acquisition unit A solar panel control device comprising the above components.

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