Dynamic Battery Allocation for Fleet Vehicles
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Solution Overview
Problem
The challenge in the battery-powered industrial vehicle sector is accurately monitoring the state-of-charge and performance degradation of batteries to optimize their use and extend their lifespan, while also detecting operating conditions that require maintenance or repairs, such as wear in battery cables and potential power losses due to leakage.
Innovation Solution
A system that allocates batteries to industrial vehicles based on their actual power delivery capability, using a battery sensor module to measure parameters like capacity, state of charge, and internal resistance, and a fleet management system to assign batteries according to the intensity of vehicle use, ensuring efficient battery utilization and prolonging battery life.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If batteries are continuously cycled through recharging and use, then the fleet can maintain operational vehicles, but battery life is reduced and replacement frequency increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system changes the parameter of battery allocation from static (all batteries equal treatment) to dynamic (batteries assigned based on their specific state-of-health and capacity parameters). Batteries with higher remaining capacity are assigned to high-intensity vehicles, while batteries with lower capacity are assigned to low-intensity vehicles, optimizing both fleet availability and battery lifespan.
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies local quality by treating each battery individually based on its specific condition rather than uniformly. Each battery receives a work rating assignment tailored to its particular state-of-health, capacity, and performance characteristics, ensuring that each battery operates within its optimal performance envelope.
2Measurement precision
If operational data is gathered over days or weeks to detect performance degradation, then accurate battery life assessment is achieved, but real-time battery status monitoring is delayed
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary action by continuously monitoring battery parameters (voltage, current, temperature, state-of-charge) in real-time and using these data to calculate state-of-health and predict remaining useful life. This allows the system to assess battery status immediately rather than waiting for degradation trends to emerge over days or weeks.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback by continuously measuring battery performance parameters, comparing them against reference values and degradation models, and using this feedback to update battery status assessments in real-time. This closed-loop approach enables both immediate status detection and accurate long-term life prediction.
3Device complexity
If batteries are allocated without considering their actual power delivery capability, then allocation simplicity is maintained, but battery performance and vehicle productivity are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies self-service by having batteries effectively 'self-report' their capacity and state-of-health through built-in sensors and monitoring circuits. The battery management system automatically measures voltage, current, and temperature, calculates state-of-charge and state-of-health, and provides this information to the allocation system without requiring manual intervention or complex external testing equipment.
Data Source
AI summary
A plurality of rechargeable and removable batteries are allocated to a plurality of industrial vehicles based on the power delivery capability of each battery and the intensity level at which each vehicle is operated. One of a plurality of ratings is assigned to each industrial vehicle, wherein a rating denotes an operating intensity level. The actual capacity of each battery is measured. A given battery is installed on a particular industrial vehicle in response to the relationship between the rating assigned to that industrial vehicle and the actual capacity of the given battery. Batteries with greater actual capacity are installed on industrial vehicles that are used more intensively. When a battery ages and its actual capacity diminishes, that battery is installed on less intensively used industrial vehicles.