Parallel Cell UAV Battery Segmentation for Crash Prevention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) face safety risks due to limited payload capacity and potential crashes caused by battery failures, as they typically carry only one battery, which can lead to power loss and loss of control during flight.
Innovation Solution
A battery management system with two cell units connected in parallel, each with a control circuit that can disconnect electrical connections upon failure, ensuring safe termination of discharging or charging and maintaining power to critical systems even if one cell unit fails, thereby preventing crashes without reducing payload capacity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multiple batteries are carried as backup to prevent crashes, then safety is improved, but payload capacity is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The battery system is segmented into multiple independent cell units (first cell unit and second cell unit) connected in parallel, each with its own control circuit. This segmentation allows the battery to maintain functionality even when one cell unit fails, improving safety without requiring multiple separate battery packs that would consume payload capacity.
Solution Approach 2:
The control circuits are configured to detect failures in advance and disconnect failed cell units before they can cause harmful effects. This beforehand cushioning prevents a single cell failure from compromising the entire battery system, providing safety redundancy within the same battery footprint rather than requiring additional backup batteries.
2Weight of moving object
If one battery is carried to maintain payload capacity, then payload capacity is preserved, but safety is reduced due to potential crashes from battery failure
Solution Approach 1:
The single battery is divided into multiple independent cell units with individual control circuits, enabling the system to tolerate failures while maintaining payload capacity. This internal segmentation provides safety redundancy without requiring additional battery packs.
Solution Approach 2:
The control circuits monitor parameters such as voltage and current of each cell unit and automatically disconnect failed units by changing the electrical connection state. This parameter-based control allows the single battery to provide both payload efficiency and failure tolerance.
3Reliability
If a protection circuit board disconnects electrical connection upon failure, then battery safety is improved, but power to critical systems is lost causing crashes
Solution Approach 1:
The battery system is segmented into independent cell units, each with its own control circuit. When a failure is detected in one cell unit, only that specific unit is disconnected while other cell units continue to supply power to critical systems. This segmented approach maintains both battery safety and power availability.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of disconnecting the entire battery upon detecting a failure in one cell unit, the system applies partial action by disconnecting only the failed cell unit. This allows the remaining functional cell units to continue providing power to critical systems, preventing crashes while still ensuring battery safety.
Data Source
AI summary
A method is provided for managing an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The UAV includes a first cell unit and a second cell unit connected in parallel. The method includes: detecting, by a first control circuit, whether a failure occurs in the first cell unit; detecting, by a second control circuit, whether a failure occurs in the second cell unit; establishing a communication between the first control circuit and the second control circuit; and in response to detecting a signal indicating that a failure occurs in the first cell or the second cell from the first control circuit or the second control circuit, reducing an output power of a propulsion device of the UAV.