Electronic control system for electric refuse vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11021078-B2
Application number	US-202017007879-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 31, 2020
Priority date	May 3, 2019
Publication date	Jun 1, 2021
Grant date	Jun 1, 2021

Abstract

A refuse vehicle including a chassis, a body assembly coupled to the chassis, the body assembly defining a refuse compartment, an electric energy system configured to store power and supply power to the refuse vehicle, and a power control system configured to measure one or more electrical attributes of the refuse vehicle and determine a power profile for the refuse vehicle, the power profile describing a length of time the refuse vehicle can continue to operate based on a remaining power of the electrical energy system, and wherein the power control system controls operation of a lift assembly of the refuse vehicle based on the power profile.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A refuse vehicle, comprising: a chassis;
a body assembly coupled to the chassis, the body assembly defining a refuse compartment;
an electric energy system configured to store power and supply power to the refuse vehicle; and
a power control system configured to measure one or more electrical attributes of the refuse vehicle and determine a power profile for the refuse vehicle, the power profile describing a length of time the refuse vehicle can continue to operate based on a remaining power of the electrical energy system; and wherein the power control system terminates operation of a lift assembly of the refuse vehicle based on the power profile.

2. The refuse vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the power control system determines an amount of power required to return the refuse vehicle to a charging location and performs an operation using the remaining power and the amount of power required to return the refuse vehicle to the charging location to determine a result and alerts a user based on the result.

3. The refuse vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the power control system is further configured to determine a weight of contents associated with the refuse compartment based on electrical attributes associated with the lift assembly.

4. The refuse vehicle of claim 1 , wherein determining the power profile includes:
moving a receptacle from a first position to a second position;
measuring a first electrical parameter associated with the first movement;
emptying the receptacle;
moving the receptacle from the second position to the first position; and
measuring a second electrical parameter associated with the second movement.

5. The refuse vehicle of claim 4 , wherein determining the power profile further includes calculating a weight associated with the receptacle based on the first and second electrical parameters.

6. The refuse vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the power profile describes a distance that the refuse vehicle can traverse based on the remaining power of the electrical energy system.

7. The refuse vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the power control system is configured to disable the lift assembly based on the power profile.

8. A power control system for a refuse vehicle, comprising:
a processing circuit including a processor and memory, the memory having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the processor, cause the processing circuit to:
measure one or more first electrical parameters associated with an operation of the refuse vehicle;
measure one or more second electrical parameters associated with an energy storage system associated with the refuse vehicle;
generate an operational parameter associated with an amount of power required to perform the operation based on the one or more first electrical parameters and the one or more second electrical parameters;
determine a power profile for the refuse vehicle, wherein the power profile describes a length of time the refuse vehicle can continue to operate based on the operational parameter; and
transmit a control signal to the refuse vehicle based on the power profile, wherein the control signal causes termination of operation of a lift assembly of the refuse vehicle.

9. The power control system of claim 8 , wherein the power control system is further configured to:
measure an amount of remaining power associated with the energy storage system;
determine an amount of power required to return the refuse vehicle to a charging location;
perform an operation using the remaining power and the amount of power required to return the refuse vehicle to the charging location;
determine, based on the operation, a result; and
alert a user based on the result.

10. The power control system of claim 9 , wherein the power profile describes a distance that the refuse vehicle can traverse based on the amount of remaining power associated with the energy storage system.

11. The power control system of claim 8 , wherein the power control system is further configured to determine a weight of contents associated with a refuse compartment of the refuse vehicle based on the one or more first electrical parameters.

12. The power control system of claim 8 , wherein measuring the one or more first electrical parameters associated with the operation of the refuse vehicle includes:
moving a receptacle from a first position to a second position;
measuring a first electrical parameter associated with the first movement;
emptying the receptacle;
moving the receptacle from the first position to the second position; and
measuring a second electrical parameter associated with the second movement.

13. The power control system of claim 12 , wherein generating the operational parameter includes calculating a weight associated with the receptacle based on the first and second electrical parameters.

14. The power control system of claim 13 , wherein the power control system is configured to disable a lift assembly of the refuse vehicle based on the power profile.

15. The power control system of claim 8 , wherein the power control system is further configured to monitor a power consumption of the refuse vehicle and cause the energy storage system to store an amount of energy required to unload the refuse vehicle.

16. The power control system of claim 8 , wherein the power control system is further configured to transmit the power profile to an external fleet management system.

17. A method of determining a power profile for a refuse vehicle, comprising:
moving a receptacle from a first position to a second position;
measuring a first electrical parameter associated with the first movement;
emptying the receptacle;
moving the receptacle from the second position to the first position;
measuring a second electrical parameter associated with the second movement;
measuring an amount of remaining power associated with an energy storage system of the refuse vehicle;
generating a power profile describing an amount of time the refuse vehicle can continue to operate based on the amount of remaining power and the first and second electrical parameters; and
terminating operation of a lift assembly of the refuse vehicle based on the power profile.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the power profile further describes a distance that the refuse vehicle can traverse based on the amount of remaining power.

19. The method of claim 17 , wherein the method includes controlling an operation of the refuse vehicle based on the power profile.

20. The method of claim 17 , wherein the power profile is further generated based on one or more physical parameters associated with the refuse vehicle.

Assignees

• Oshkosh Corp

Inventors

• Rocholl Joshua D
• Wente Derek A
• Kellander John T
• Clifton Cody D
• Hoover Vincent
• Klein Zachary L
• Weckwerth Clinton T
• Wachter Skylar A

Classifications

• B60L2260/54

  Energy consumption estimation · CPC title

• B65F2003/0216

  the discharging means comprising a device for determining the volume of the content of refuse receptacles · CPC title

• B60D1/00

  Traction couplings; Hitches; Draw-gear; Towing devices (fifth-wheel traction couplings B62D53/08) · CPC title

• B65F2003/022

  the discharging means comprising a device for determining the weight of the content of refuse receptacles · CPC title

• B60L1/003

  to auxiliary motors, e.g. for pumps, compressors · CPC title