Charging notification arrangement in underground mining vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10946767-B2
Application number	US-201716309915-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 16, 2017
Priority date	Jun 17, 2016
Publication date	Mar 16, 2021
Grant date	Mar 16, 2021

Abstract

An underground mining vehicle includes an electric motor for driving the vehicle, a rechargeable battery for supplying electric energy to the electric motor and a charging system for recharging the rechargeable battery. A control unit is configured to control an operation of the charging system for controlling the recharging of the battery. The control unit is configured to have a number of selectable recharging modes (FRM, SLRM, SERM) and to control the recharging of the battery according to the selected recharging mode (FRM, SLRM, SERM). The vehicle also has a transmitter controlled by the control unit for sending a status notification about an automatic change from a recharging mode to another recharging mode to an operator remote terminal device of an operator of the vehicle.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An underground mining vehicle comprising:
an electric motor for driving the vehicle;
a rechargeable battery for supplying electric energy to the electric motor;
a charging system including a charging circuit and a charging connection connected to the charging system for supplying electric energy to the charging system from an electric power source external to the vehicle for recharging the rechargeable battery;
a battery cooling system including at least one cooling circuit having a cooling agent for cooling the battery;
a measuring element for measuring cooling agent temperature in the at least one cooling circuit;
a control unit configured to control an operation of the charging system for controlling the recharging of the battery, the control unit being configured to have a number of different, selectable recharging modes, wherein each selectable recharging mode has unique recharging parameters that affect at least one of a recharging voltage, a recharging current, a recharging power and a duration of the recharging, and to control the recharging of the battery according to the selected recharging mode, wherein the control unit is configured to perform an automatic change from one selectable recharging mode to another selectable recharging mode in response to the cooling agent temperature in the at least one cooling circuit exceeding an overheating limit; and
a transmitter controlled by the control unit at least for sending a status notification about an automatic change from one selectable recharging mode to another selectable recharging mode to an operator remote terminal device of an operator of the underground mining vehicle.

2. The underground mining vehicle as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the battery cooling system includes a first cooling circuit with cooling agent for receiving excessive heat from the battery and a second cooling circuit with cooling agent for receiving excessive heat from the cooling agent in the first cooling circuit, the measuring element for measuring cooling agent temperature being arranged in at least one of the first and second cooling circuit.

3. The underground mining vehicle as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising a cooling agent supply connection connected to the battery cooling system for connecting the battery cooling system to a cooling agent source external to the vehicle, wherein the measuring element for measuring cooling agent temperature is arranged in the cooling agent supply connection for measuring cooling agent temperature of the cooling agent flowing between the battery cooling system and the cooling agent source external to the vehicle.

4. The underground mining vehicle as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the recharging mode includes recharging parameters affecting on at least one of a recharging voltage, a recharging current, a recharging power and a duration of the recharging, and that the control unit is configured to control the recharging of the battery according to the recharging parameters of the selected recharging mode.

5. The underground mining vehicle as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to include at least a fast recharging mode, a slow recharging mode and a service recharging mode.

6. The underground mining vehicle as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the at least one cooling circuit of the battery cooling system has at least one detector element for detecting a cooling agent flow in the at least one cooling circuit of the battery cooling system.

7. The underground mining vehicle as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the control unit is configured to change the operation of the recharging from the fast recharging mode to the slow recharging mode in response to the detector element indicating a failure in the flow of the cooling agent in the at least one cooling circuit of the cooling system.

8. The underground mining vehicle as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the operator remote terminal device is a status indicator light mountable on a canopy of the underground mining vehicle.

9. The underground mining vehicle as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the operator remote terminal device is a mobile smart device.

10. An arrangement comprising an underground mining vehicle as claimed in claim 1 ; and
an operator remote terminal device of an operator of the underground mining vehicle, wherein the operator remote terminal device of the operator of the underground mining vehicle is configurable to be connected to the control unit of the underground mining vehicle and includes a receiver for receiving at least a status notification about the recharging operation of the battery and an information element for indicating the status notification of the recharging of the battery, the information element being configured to indicate at least the recharging mode selected for the recharging of the battery.

11. The arrangement as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the operator remote terminal device includes at least two information elements for indicating at least two pieces of status notification of the recharging of the battery, one of the information elements being configured to indicate a failure happening during the recharging and the other of the information elements being configured to indicate a reason for the failure.

12. A method for a battery operated underground mining vehicle comprising:
charging a rechargeable battery using a charging system having a charging circuit and a charging connection connected to the charging system to which charging connection electric energy is supplied from an electric power source external to the vehicle for recharging the battery;
cooling the rechargeable battery using a cooling system including at least one cooling circuit with a cooling agent;
measuring a cooling agent temperature in the at least one cooling circuit;
comparing the measured cooling agent temperature to an overheating limit set for the cooling agent temperature;
controlling by a control unit an operation of the charging system for controlling the recharging of the battery according to a selected recharging mode of a number of different, selectable recharged modes configured into the control unit, wherein each selectable recharging mode has unique recharging parameters that affect at least one of a recharging voltage, a recharging current, a recharging power and a duration of the recharging;
performing an automatic change from one selectable recharging mode to another selectable recharging mode in response to the cooling agent temperature exceeding the overheating limit; and
sending, as controlled by a control unit, a status notification to an operator remote terminal device of an operator of the underground mining vehicle in response to an automatic change from one selectable recharging mode to another selectable recharging mode.

13. The method as claimed in claim 12 , further comprising supplying the cooling agent to the at least one cooling circuit of the cooling system from a cooling agent source external to the vehicle for cooling the battery, monitoring the cooling agent flow in the at least one cooling circuit of the cooling system, and performing an automatic change from a recharging mode to another recharging mode in response to an indication of a failure in the flow of the cooling agent in the at least one cooling circuit of the cooling system.

Assignees

• Sandvik Mining & Construction Oy

Inventors

• Kouvo Mikko
• Vare Ville
• Kitula Mikko
• Hongisto Jorma
• Huhtamaa Sami
• Eerola Severi
• Haikio Sami
• Joutsela Matti

Classifications

• Y02T10/70

  Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries · CPC title

• B60L2200/40

  Working vehicles · CPC title

• B60L58/26 Primary

  by cooling · CPC title

• B60L58/25 Primary

  by controlling the electric load · CPC title

• B60L3/0046

  relating to electric energy storage systems, e.g. batteries or capacitors · CPC title