Electric power supply system for a vehicle fleet

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10938196-B2
Application number	US-201816135731-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 19, 2018
Priority date	Sep 29, 2017
Publication date	Mar 2, 2021
Grant date	Mar 2, 2021

Abstract

An electric power supply system for a vehicle fleet includes a first base station configured to be attached to a first fleet vehicle and a second base station configured to be attached to a second fleet vehicle. A carrier rope spans between the first and second base stations. The carrier rope is variable in length. A cable is operably run in loops on the carrier rope such that the cable has a fixed length. The cable is operably run via holding elements positioned along the carrier rope.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An electric power supply system for a vehicle fleet, comprising:
a first base station configured to be attached to a first fleet vehicle;
a second base station configured to be attached to a second fleet vehicle;
a carrier rope spanning between the first and second base stations, the carrier rope being variable in length, and the first base station comprising a winding drum that is operably driven by a motor for altering the length of the carrier rope;
a cable being operably run in loops on the carrier rope, the cable comprising a fixed length, and the cable is-operably run via holding elements positioned along the carrier rope;
a rotary position transducer configured to acquire a drum rotation of the winding drum operably driven by the motor;
a control unit configured to extrapolate from the number of acquired drum rotations a current distance between the two base stations; and
an autonomous vehicle control system configured to coordinate the relative movement between the first and second fleet vehicles;
wherein the current distance between the two base stations is compared with a maximum length of the carrier rope, and if the current distance equals the maximum length of the carrier rope then the autonomous vehicle control system initiates a correcting intervention.

2. The electric power supply system of claim 1 , wherein the cable comprises an electric power cable or a data transmission cable.

3. The electric power supply system of claim 1 , wherein the holding elements comprise sliding or rolling guides to which a respective loop end of the cable is fixedly attached.

4. The electric power supply system of claim 1 , further comprising a separable connection means for coupling and decoupling the carrier rope and the cable, the separable connection being disposed on the second base station.

5. The electric power supply system of claim 4 , further comprising a switching transducer arrangement configured to identify a coupling state of the carrier rope and cable, the switching transducer arrangement being assigned to the connection means.

6. The electric power supply system of claim 4 , wherein the first base station comprises a dummy connection element for storing, during transport, a coupling plug disposed on the cable.

7. The electric power supply system as claimed in claim 6 , further comprising a switching transducer assigned to the dummy connection element for identifying a coupling plug attached thereto.

8. The electric power supply system of claim 1 , wherein the carrier rope comprises a multiplicity of metal wires or high-strength plastic fibers.

9. The electric power supply system of claim 1 , further comprising a drag chain attached to at least one of the two base stations, the carrier rope being fastened to a free drag chain end via a winding drum or a separable connection means.

10. The electric power supply system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a sensor device configured to acquire a spatial course of the carrier rope relative to the first or second base station;
a control unit configured to extrapolate from the acquired spatial course of the carrier rope the spatial orientation of the fleet vehicles in relation to each other.

11. The electric power supply system of claim 1 , wherein the holding elements are disposable on the first base station after decoupling the cable.

12. The electric power supply system of claim 11 , wherein the holding elements are stowed on the first base station via a return device assigned to the first base station.

13. The electric power supply system of claim 1 , wherein the correcting intervention comprises automatically stopping the first and second fleet vehicles.

14. The electric power supply system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a signal generator which triggers an operator alarm when the current distance equals the maximum length of the carrier rope.

15. A vehicle fleet, comprising:
a first fleet vehicle and a second fleet vehicle;
an electric power supply system equipped on each of the first and second fleet vehicles, the electric power supply system comprising a first and a second base station;
the first base station configured to be attached to a first fleet vehicle;
the second base station configured to be attached to a second fleet vehicle;
a carrier rope spanning between the first and second base stations, the carrier rope being variable in length, and the first base station comprising a winding drum that is operably driven by a motor for altering the length of the carrier rope;
a cable being operably run in loops on the carrier rope, the cable comprising a fixed length, and the cable operably run via holding elements positioned along the carrier rope;
a rotary position transducer configured to acquire a drum rotation of the winding drum operably driven by the motor;
a control unit configured to extrapolate from the number of acquired drum rotations a current distance between the two base stations; and
an autonomous vehicle control system configured to coordinate the relative movement between the first and second fleet vehicles;
wherein the current distance between the two base stations is compared with a maximum length of the carrier rope, and if the current distance equals the maximum length of the carrier rope then the autonomous vehicle control system initiates a correcting intervention.

16. The vehicle fleet of claim 15 , wherein the holding elements comprise sliding or rolling guides to which a respective loop end of the cable is fixedly attached.

17. The vehicle fleet of claim 15 , further comprising a separable connection means for coupling and decoupling the carrier rope and the cable, the separable connection being disposed on the second base station.

18. The vehicle fleet of claim 15 , wherein the correcting intervention comprises automatically stopping the first and second fleet vehicles.

19. The vehicle fleet of claim 15 , further comprising:
a signal generator which trigger an operator alarm when the current distance equals the maximum length of the carrier rope.

Assignees

• Deere & Co

Inventors

• Kegel Volker
• Tarasinski Nicolai
• Daubermann Julian
• Pfaffmann Simon

Classifications

• B60L9/00 Primary

  Electric propulsion with power supply external to the vehicle (electric propulsion for monorail vehicles, suspension vehicles or rack railways B60L13/00; in combination with batteries or fuel cells within the vehicle B60L50/53) · CPC title

• H02G11/003

  using gravity-loaded or spring-loaded loop · CPC title

• B60L2200/40

  Working vehicles · CPC title

• H02G11/02 Primary

  using take-up reel or drum · CPC title

• H02G3/0456

  Ladders or other supports · CPC title