Mobile Battery Unit for Flexible Robot Charging
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Solution Overview
Problem
Mobile robots spend a significant amount of time traveling to fixed location recharging stations, reducing their productivity and efficiency, as well as increasing operational costs and environmental impact.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a dynamic mobile robot charging system where a mobile battery unit or autonomous mobile battery charger can be moved within the work area to recharge robots, eliminating the need for robots to travel to a fixed charging station, and allowing for simultaneous recharging of multiple robots.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If a fixed location recharging station is used, then the charging infrastructure is simple and stable, but the mobile robots spend significant time traveling to and from the charging station
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of moving the mobile robot to a fixed charging station, the patent inverts the approach by bringing the charging station (mobile battery unit) to the mobile robot's work location. This eliminates the robot's travel time to charging while distributing the charging infrastructure across multiple mobile units rather than one fixed location.
Solution Approach 2:
The charging system transitions from a static fixed location station to dynamic mobile battery units that can move autonomously or be transported to where robots need charging. This dynamic capability allows the charging infrastructure to adapt to robot locations and optimize charging efficiency.
2Productivity
If mobile battery units are deployed to eliminate travel time, then robot productivity increases, but the charging system becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The charging system is segmented into multiple independent mobile battery units rather than one centralized station. Each unit can operate autonomously to charge multiple robots, distributing the complexity across manageable modules while collectively improving robot productivity through simultaneous charging operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The mobile battery units are designed as multi-functional devices that can serve multiple robots simultaneously, adapt to different charging needs, and potentially perform other auxiliary functions. This universality justifies the increased complexity by providing versatile solutions that improve overall system productivity.
3Loss of energy
If robots travel to a centralized charging station, then the charging infrastructure is simple to manage, but energy consumption increases due to travel
Solution Approach 1:
The mobile battery units act as intermediary charging devices between the centralized power source and the mobile robots. They can be charged at a central station when needed and then deployed to charge multiple robots at their work locations, reducing the total energy robots would otherwise consume traveling to a fixed station.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution enhances the efficiency and productivity of mobile robots by reducing non-value-added travel time, lowering energy consumption, and reducing the number of robots required, while also facilitating flexible and scalable operations and cost-effective upgrades in battery technology.
Implementation Method 1
The mobile battery unit includes one or more onboard batteries, and a plurality of electrical connections in electrical communication with the one or more onboard batteries. The plurality of electrical connections are configured to releasably couple with corresponding electrical connections of the one or more mobile robots such that energy from the one or more onboard batteries is transferred to the one or more mobile robots.
Data Source
AI summary
Flexible mobile robot charging systems described herein can be automatically moved to the work areas of energy-depleted mobile robots to provide onboard battery recharging without requiring the mobile robots to spend time traveling to a fixed location battery recharging station located away from the work area or in a suboptimal location within the robotic work area. Accordingly, the efficiency and utilization of the mobile robots can be enhanced by eliminating non-value-added travel time of the mobile robots and the time and cost of setting up the battery recharging stations can be reduced using the mobile robot charging systems and methods.