Robotic Vehicle Battery Swapping for Continuous Container Handling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Robotic container-handling vehicles in automated storage and retrieval systems face downtime due to the need to recharge on-board batteries, which either requires additional vehicles or reduces operational efficiency.
Innovation Solution
The robotic vehicles are modified to use a gripping device to swap batteries from a stack for recharging, allowing continuous operation without visiting a charging station.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the robotic vehicle uses an on-board rechargeable battery to provide power for operation, then the vehicle can operate autonomously, but the vehicle must stop to recharge when the battery is discharged, causing downtime and reducing productivity
Solution Approach 1:
The power system is segmented into multiple removable battery units rather than a single large battery. Each battery unit can be independently replaced, allowing the vehicle to swap batteries quickly without lengthy recharging cycles, thus maintaining autonomous operation while minimizing downtime and maximizing productivity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the operational parameter from single-battery operation to multi-battery operation. By having multiple battery units available, the vehicle can switch between them, effectively extending its operational duration without interruption and eliminating the productivity loss associated with recharging.
2Productivity
If additional robotic container-handling vehicles are deployed to compensate for recharging downtime, then continuous container handling can be maintained, but the system complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of adding more complete vehicles to ensure continuous operation, the system segments the power supply into multiple battery units that can be rapidly exchanged. This allows a single vehicle to maintain continuous productivity through battery swapping, avoiding the need to deploy additional vehicles and thereby reducing system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The recharging function is extracted from the vehicle's operational cycle by providing external battery units that are already charged. The vehicle takes out the discharged battery and replaces it with a charged one, separating the power replenishment process from the vehicle's movement and operation, thus maintaining continuous productivity without additional vehicles.
3Use of energy by moving object
If the vehicle visits a charging station to recharge the battery, then the battery can be recharged, but the vehicle is unavailable during recharging and operational efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
Battery units are pre-charged before being installed in the vehicle. Instead of charging the battery while the vehicle is in operation (which causes downtime), the charging action is performed in advance on spare battery units, so that when a battery needs replacement, a fully charged unit is already available, eliminating downtime and maintaining continuous operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system ensures continuous useful action by maintaining a supply of pre-charged battery units. The vehicle can continuously swap batteries without interruption to its container handling operations, keeping the useful action of container handling continuous while the charging action occurs separately in the background on replacement batteries.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3A~3B
AI summary
A robotic vehicle (502) for use in an automated storage and retrieval system. The robotic vehicle comprises a body, a gripping device (508) and an electrical energy storage device (550). The gripping device (508) is arranged to be lowered from and raised to the body and to engage and disengage a container (112). The electrical energy storage device is arranged to at least partly power the robotic vehicle (502). At least one of the electrical energy storage device and the gripping device is further arranged to releasably engage the other device. The gripping device (508) is arranged to raise the electrical energy storage device (550), when engaged therewith, into electrical communication with the body to at least partly power the vehicle (502).