Guidance System for eVTOL Charging Interface Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Electrically powered urban air mobility (UAM) vehicles, such as eVTOLs, face challenges in navigating to charging stations due to limited time for charging between missions and the difficulty in remembering charging point locations and alignment cues, necessitating an onboard system for providing location details and guidance.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that determine whether a vehicle requires charging based on its battery state, identify a suitable charging station from multiple options, and provide guidance information to align the vehicle's charging interface with the station's interface, using processors to analyze data and display navigation cues.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the vehicle operator manually remembers charging point locations and alignment cues, then no additional guidance system is needed, but the operator workload increases and charging efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The vehicle's onboard system automatically determines its own charging needs by monitoring battery state of charge, selects appropriate charging stations, and generates guidance information without requiring manual operator intervention for these cognitive tasks
Solution Approach 2:
The guidance system acts as an intermediary between the vehicle operator and charging stations, providing processed information about optimal charging locations and alignment cues to reduce the operator's mental burden
2Adaptability or versatility
If the vehicle travels to multiple charging stations with various interfaces, then charging coverage is improved, but the complexity of selecting the correct charging station increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses feedback from the vehicle's battery state of charge and operational data to automatically determine when charging is needed and selects charging stations based on compatibility with the vehicle's charging interface
Solution Approach 2:
The guidance information is prepared in advance, including pre-determined alignment cues and navigation data to the selected charging station, so the operator receives ready-to-use information without needing to process multiple station options
3Productivity
If the vehicle has limited time for charging between missions, then operational productivity is maintained, but the time available for precise alignment with charging interfaces is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides alignment cues and navigation guidance in advance before the vehicle arrives at the charging station, allowing the operator to prepare for precise alignment without consuming valuable charging time
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces manual trial-and-error alignment procedures with automated guidance information that provides precise directional and positional cues for charging interface alignment
Data Source
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AI summary
Disclosed are methods, systems, and non-transitory computer-readable medium for determining guidance information for a vehicle. For instance, the method may include: determining whether the vehicle requires a charging event at least based on a state of charge of a battery system of the vehicle; determining a charging location of a charging station from a plurality of charging stations based on data associated with the vehicle and/or data associated with each of the plurality of charging stations; determining a current location of the vehicle; determining information to guide the vehicle from the current location to the determined charging location and align a charging interface of the vehicle to a charging interface of the charging location; and causing display of the determined information.