Electric cargo handling equipment charging system

Abstract

To provide an electric cargo handling machine charging system in a container terminal, which prevents waiting for electric cargo handling machines to be charged.SOLUTION: The electric cargo handling charging system in a container terminal having at least one charging facility and a plurality of electric cargo handling machines is configured to execute at least the following steps: an acquisition step of acquiring a cargo handling plan information and power consumption information per unit travel distance of the plurality of electric cargo handling machines; a calculation step of calculating a predicted time of arrival at the charging facility and a predicted charging time for the plurality of electric cargo handling machines on the basis of the cargo handling plan information and the power consumption information per unit travel distance of the plurality of electric cargo handling machines; a selection step of selecting charging facilities to be used by the plurality of electric loading equipment; and an instruction step of instructing, to the plurality of electric cargo handling machines, the predicted time of arrival at the charging facility, the predicted charging time, and the charging machines to be used calculated in the calculation step.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a charging system for electric cargo handling equipment. [Background technology]

[0002] As efforts to curb greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions into the atmosphere gain momentum to prevent global warming, the Carbon Neutral Port (CNP) initiative has been launched in Japan, and efforts to reduce GHG emissions in port areas are being promoted. Container terminals located in port areas are being asked to reduce the use of fossil fuels such as diesel fuel used in the loading and unloading equipment used to load and unload containers.

[0003] Among major cargo handling equipment, container cranes are being increasingly electrified, but diesel engines that run on diesel fuel are still used for the tractor heads that transport containers. Therefore, development of electric tractor heads is underway to decarbonize tractor heads.

[0004] When electric tractor heads are introduced into a container terminal, it is necessary to install charging equipment to charge the electric tractor heads. However, due to the cost of the charging equipment and the issue of securing installation space, it is desirable to install only the minimum number of such equipment necessary. However, if the charging times of multiple electric tractor heads overlap, charging waits will occur, which could result in a decrease in loading and unloading efficiency.

[0005] Patent Document 1 discloses a charging system for an unmanned forklift. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0006] [Patent Document 1] Patent Publication No. 2021-160905 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0007] However, at container terminals, loading and unloading operations from docked ships must be completed within a specified time, and there is a concern that regenerating the schedule every time the battery level falls below a specified level could result in delays to loading and unloading operations. Therefore, it is desirable to schedule operations that take into account charging opportunities while making use of limited charging facilities.

[0008] In view of the above circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide a charging system for electric cargo handling equipment at a container terminal that prevents electric cargo handling equipment from having to wait for charging. [Means for solving the problem]

[0009] A first aspect of the present invention is a charging system in a container terminal having at least one charging facility and a plurality of electrically-powered cargo handling devices, configured to perform at least the following steps: In the acquisition step, cargo handling plan information and power consumption information per unit travel distance of the plurality of electrically-powered cargo handling devices are acquired; In the calculation step, a predicted time of arrival at a charging facility and a predicted charging time for the plurality of electrically-powered loading devices are calculated based on the loading plan information and information on power consumption per unit travel distance of the plurality of electrically-powered loading devices; In the selection step, Based on the cargo handling plan information, the estimated time of arrival at the charging facility, and the estimated charging time, a charging waiting time at the charging facility is minimized. selecting charging equipment to be used by the plurality of electric cargo handling devices; In the instructing step, the charging system instructs the plurality of electrically-driven cargo handling devices of the estimated time of arrival at the charging facility, the estimated charging time, and the charging facility to be used, which are calculated in the calculating step.

[0010] A second aspect of the present invention is a method for charging electric cargo handling equipment in a container terminal having at least one charging facility and a plurality of electric cargo handling equipment, comprising: configured to perform at least the following steps: In the acquisition step, cargo handling plan information and power consumption information per unit travel distance of the plurality of electrically-powered cargo handling devices are acquired; In the calculation step, a predicted time of arrival at a charging facility and a predicted charging time for the plurality of electrically-powered loading devices are calculated based on the loading plan information and information on power consumption per unit travel distance of the plurality of electrically-powered loading devices; In the selection step, Based on the cargo handling plan information, the estimated time of arrival at the charging facility, and the estimated charging time, a charging waiting time at the charging facility is minimized. selecting charging equipment to be used by the plurality of electric cargo handling devices; In the instructing step, the predicted charging facility arrival time, the predicted charging time, and the charging facility to be used calculated in the calculating step are instructed to the plurality of electrically-driven cargo handling devices. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0011] [Figure 1] Overall view of Container Terminal 1 [Figure 2] Detailed diagram of electric cargo handling equipment charging system 2 [Figure 3] Flowchart according to the first embodiment [Figure 4] Flowchart diagram according to another embodiment DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0012] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Various features shown in the preferred embodiments described below can be combined with each other.

[0013] First Embodiment 1 shows an overall view of a container terminal 1. The container terminal 1 mainly includes a gantry crane 3, a portal crane 4, an electric tractor head 5, a container 6, and a charging facility 7.

[0014] The gantry crane 3 is a device for loading and unloading containers 6 transported by a ship 10 (not shown) onto land, or containers 6 stored in the container terminal 1 onto the ship 10.

[0015] The gantry crane 4 is a device that is primarily used to store containers 6 at designated locations within the container terminal 1, or to load stored containers 6 onto a chassis 51 (not shown) that is towed by an electric tractor head 5.

[0016] The electric tractor head 5 is a vehicle that tows a chassis 51 on which a container 6 (described later) is loaded, and is equipped with a storage battery 52 (not shown), and is driven by operating a motor using electricity stored in the storage battery 52 as an energy source. Although six electric tractor heads 5 are shown in Fig. 1 at the container terminal 1, the number can be adjusted to suit the scale of the container terminal.

[0017] Containers 6 are metal containers used for transporting cargo, and are mainly 20-foot or 40-foot in size. At the container terminal 1, the containers 6 are stored in designated storage areas separated by whether they are export containers, import containers, or export destinations.

[0018] The charging equipment 7 is primarily intended to charge the storage batteries 52 mounted on the electric tractor heads 5, but can also be used to charge other port electric cargo handling equipment such as forklifts, top lifters, and straddle carriers. The charging equipment 7 employs a conductive system using a connector, as is commonly used in electric vehicles, but is not limited to this. In Figure 1, the container terminal 1 has three charging equipment 7, but this can be optimized to suit the size of the container terminal.

[0019] An example of one loading and unloading operation performed at the container terminal 1 is shown below. When a ship 10 loaded with a container 6 arrives at the quay, a gantry crane 3 unloads the container 6 from the ship 10 onto land. The unloaded container 6 is then loaded onto a chassis 51 towed by an electric tractor head 5 waiting below the gantry crane 3. After the container 6 has been loaded, the electric tractor head 5 transports the container 6 to a designated storage area. The container 6 is then stored in the storage area by a gantry crane 4 located in the storage area. Note that the above-described operation is merely an example, and there are also other patterns, such as the reverse process or transporting a container 6 from one storage area to another.

[0020] FIG. 2 shows a detailed diagram of the electric cargo handling equipment charging system 2. The electric cargo handling equipment charging system 2 mainly comprises an electric tractor head 5, charging equipment 7, a server 8, and a cargo handling management system 9, which are connected via a network. Note that the network here is not limited to a private network, but may also be a public network or a virtual network. While FIG. 2 shows a charging system for only electric tractor heads, the target port electric cargo handling equipment is not limited to this, and the system may also be used for other port electric cargo handling equipment present in container terminals, such as forklifts, top lifters, and straddle carriers.

[0021] The electric tractor head 5 and the charging facility 7 are connected to a communication unit 102 in a server 8 (described later) via a network, and are configured to be able to transfer data between them and the server 8.

[0022] The server 8 has a communication unit 102, a recording unit 103, a control unit 104, and a calculation unit 105, and these components are electrically connected via a communication bus 101 inside the server 8. Note that the server 8 can utilize a locally existing server device, but may also be a cloud server.

[0023] The communication unit 102 may employ wired communication means such as USB, IEEE1394, Thunderbolt, wired LAN network communication, etc., as well as wireless LAN network communication, mobile communication such as 5G, LTE, 3G, Bluetooth (registered trademark) communication, etc., but is not limited to these. The server 8 transmits and receives, via the communication unit 102 and the network, loading and unloading plan information, information on the amount of electricity consumed per unit traveling distance of the electric tractor head 5 (hereinafter referred to as "electricity cost information"), the estimated time of arrival at the charging facility, and information on the estimated charging time, with the electric tractor head 5 and the charging facility 7. Details will be described later.

[0024] The recording unit 103 records information received from the electric tractor head 5 and charging facility 7, as well as values ​​calculated by the calculation unit 105, which will be described later in detail. This may be implemented, for example, as a storage device such as a solid state drive (SSD) that records various programs related to the server 8 executed by the control unit 104, which will be described later, or as a memory such as a random access memory (RAM) that records temporarily required information related to program calculations (arguments, arrays, etc.). Alternatively, it may be implemented as a combination of these.

[0025] The control unit 104 processes and controls the overall operations related to the server 8. The control unit 104 is, for example, a central processing unit (CPU) not shown. The control unit 104 reads out a predetermined program recorded in the recording unit 103 to transmit and receive information related to the mileage and the charge amount, and to calculate the amount of power consumed for one loading and unloading operation. In other words, the information processing by the software recorded in the recording unit 103 is specifically realized by the control unit 104, which is an example of hardware, and can be executed as a functional unit not shown included in the control unit 104. These will be described in detail later. The control unit 104 is not limited to being a single unit, and may be implemented with multiple control units 104 for each function, or a combination thereof.

[0026] The calculation unit 105 calculates the time when the electric tractor head 5 will arrive at the charging facility 7 based on the cargo handling plan information recorded in the recording unit 103, and also calculates the expected charging time from the travel distance calculated based on the cargo handling plan information and the amount of power consumed calculated based on the electricity cost information, and records the results in the recording unit 103.

[0027] 3 is a flowchart showing the flow of information processing executed by the electric cargo handling equipment charging system 2. Each flow of this flowchart will be explained below.

[0028] The server 8 records the cargo handling plan information of the container terminal 1 and the electricity cost information of the electric tractor head 5 to be charged received by the communication unit 102 in the recording unit 103 (S101), and the electric tractor head 5 to be charged carries out cargo handling operations in accordance with the acquired cargo handling plan (S102).

[0029] The calculation unit 105 of the server 8 calculates the estimated time at which the electric tractor head 5 to be charged will arrive at the charging facility 7 of the container terminal 1 after the loading and unloading operation is completed from the above-mentioned cargo handling plan information, and also calculates the estimated charging time from the travel distance estimated from the above-mentioned electricity cost information and cargo handling plan information and the known specifications of the charging facility 7 (S103). At this time, the calculation unit 105 calculates the estimated arrival time and estimated charging time for each of the multiple charging facilities 7 owned by the container terminal 1 when the electric tractor head 5 arrives at the charging facility 7.

[0030] Then, from the estimated arrival time and estimated charging time at each charging facility 7 calculated in step S103, the server 8 selects the charging facility 7 that will minimize the charging wait time for the electric tractor head 5 to be charged and that will have the shortest estimated charging time (S104). In other words, since the occupancy period of each charging facility 7 can be determined from the estimated arrival time and estimated charging time calculated for the electric tractor head 5 that departs earlier than the electric tractor head 5 in question, the charging wait time at each charging facility 7 can be calculated from the estimated arrival time of the electric tractor head 5 in question. Furthermore, if there are two or more charging facilities 7 with the same charging wait time, the one with the shortest estimated charging time is selected.

[0031] The server 8 instructs the electric tractor head 5 to be charged which charging facility 7 to use, selected in S104 (S105). Then, the electric tractor head 5 to be charged moves to the instructed charging facility 7 (S106) and charges the onboard storage battery 52 (S107).

[0032] This makes it possible to carry out efficient cargo handling operations at the container terminal without having to wait for multiple electric tractor heads 5 to charge.

[0033] <Other embodiments> 4 is a flowchart according to another embodiment of the present invention. The difference from the first embodiment is that the server 8 receives the position information of the electric tractor head 5 via the communication unit 103 (S201), and from this position information, it is possible to recognize the error in the position of the electric tractor head 5 relative to the original loading and unloading plan, and when estimating the expected time of arrival of the electric tractor head 5 at the charging facility 7, the distance corresponding to this error is corrected by the time required to travel (S204). This makes it possible to calculate the expected arrival time with high accuracy.

[0034] The electric tractor head 5 is equipped with a receiver, and location information is acquired by receiving, for example, a GPS (Global Positioning System) signal, but other positioning methods such as the GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) may also be used.

[0035] In another embodiment of the present invention, multiple electric tractor heads 5 may have an automatic transport function. By automatically controlling the operation from loading and unloading to transportation to the charging facility 7, it is possible to prevent disruptions to the charging plan due to differences in driver skill.

[0036] The above-described embodiments are merely examples and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. Various other embodiments are possible, and various omissions, substitutions, and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. Such embodiments and modifications are intended to be included within the scope and spirit of the invention, as well as within the scope of the claims and their equivalents. [Explanation of symbols]

[0037] 1. Container Terminal 2. Electric cargo handling equipment charging system 3 Gantry Crane 4 Gantry crane 5 Electric Tractor Head 6 Containers 7 Charging equipment 10 Servers 11 Cargo handling management system 101 Communication Bus 102 Communications Department 103 Recording Section 104 Control Unit 105 Arithmetic section

Claims

1. In a charging system for electric cargo handling equipment at a container terminal having at least one charging facility and a plurality of electric cargo handling equipment, configured to perform at least the following steps: In the acquisition step, cargo handling plan information and power consumption information per unit travel distance of the plurality of electrically-powered cargo handling devices are acquired; In the calculation step, a predicted time of arrival at a charging facility and a predicted charging time for the plurality of electrically-powered loading devices are calculated based on the loading plan information and information on power consumption per unit travel distance of the plurality of electrically-powered loading devices; In the selection step, a charging facility to be used by the plurality of electric loading devices is selected based on the cargo handling plan information, the estimated time of arrival at the charging facility, and the estimated charging time so as to minimize a charging wait time at the charging facility; In the instructing step, the charging system instructs the plurality of electrically-driven cargo handling devices of the estimated time of arrival at the charging facility, the estimated charging time, and the charging facility to be used, which are calculated in the calculating step.

2. 2. The charging system according to claim 1, Further comprising a correction step, In the acquiring step, position information of the plurality of electric cargo handling devices is further acquired, In the correcting step, the estimated time of arrival at the charging facility calculated in the calculating step is corrected based on the position information.

3. 3. The charging system according to claim 1, It also has a charging step. In the charging step, the charging facility charges the plurality of electrically-powered cargo handling devices in accordance with the instruction in the instruction step.

4. 4. The charging system according to claim 3, the plurality of electric cargo handling devices have an automatic transport function, In the charging step, the plurality of electric cargo handling devices are automatically guided to the charging facility. Charging system.

5. A method for charging electric cargo handling equipment at a container terminal having at least one charging facility and a plurality of electric cargo handling equipment, comprising: configured to perform at least the following steps: In the acquisition step, cargo handling plan information and power consumption information per unit travel distance of the plurality of electrically-powered cargo handling devices are acquired; In the calculation step, a predicted time of arrival at a charging facility and a predicted charging time for the plurality of electrically-powered loading devices are calculated based on the loading plan information and information on power consumption per unit travel distance of the plurality of electrically-powered loading devices; In the selection step, a charging facility to be used by the plurality of electric loading devices is selected based on the cargo handling plan information, the estimated time of arrival at the charging facility, and the estimated charging time so as to minimize a charging wait time at the charging facility; In the instructing step, the predicted time of arrival at the charging facility, the predicted charging time, and the charging facility to be used, which are calculated in the calculating step, are instructed to the plurality of electrically-powered cargo handling devices.

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