Mobile charging station and method for charging an electric transportation vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11220190-B2
Application number	US-201816762329-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 5, 2018
Priority date	Nov 10, 2017
Publication date	Jan 11, 2022
Grant date	Jan 11, 2022

Abstract

A mobile charging station for the electric charging of electric transportation vehicles having at least one battery unit, at least one charging interface for charging the battery unit, at least one second interface for charging an electric transportation vehicle from the battery unit, a method or mechanism for automated navigation of the mobile charging station and a method or mechanism for receiving a charging request. A method for charging an electric transportation vehicle.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A mobile charging station for electrically charging electric transportation vehicles, the mobile charging station comprising:
at least one battery unit;
at least one first charging interface for charging the at least one battery unit without removing the at least one battery unit from the mobile charging station;
at least one second interface for charging an electric transportation vehicle from the battery unit;
means for automatically navigating the mobile charging station;
means for receiving a charging request; and
a mobile robot platform and a passive platform which are mechanically coupled to one another via a coupler, wherein the mobile robot platform has at least one electrical drive supplied by a further battery unit, wherein the battery unit for charging an electric transportation vehicle is arranged on the passive platform, and wherein a robot arm, the at least one first charging interface, and the at least one second charging interface are arranged on the mobile robot platform,
wherein the mobile robot platform is configured to navigate the passive platform to the electric transportation vehicle, to automatically connect the second interface to the charging interface of the electric transportation vehicle, to decouple the coupler so as to decouple the passive platform from the mobile robot platform, and to navigate a further passive platform to a further electric transportation vehicle in response to the electric transportation vehicle being charged by the passive platform.

2. The mobile charging station of claim 1 , wherein the robot arm is configured to automatically connect the at least one first charging interface to a stationary charging station configured to charge the at least one battery unit and to and/or automatically connect the second interface to a charging interface of an electric transportation vehicle.

3. The mobile charging station of claim 1 , wherein the at least one battery unit is releasably arranged on the mobile robot platform, and wherein the mobile robot platform has a further battery unit used to supply an electrical drive.

4. The mobile charging station of claim 1 , further comprising a cooling device assigned to the battery unit.

5. The mobile charging station of claim 1 , wherein the mobile robot platform is further configured to drag a parked passive platform to the stationary charging station, and wherein the robot arm is configured to automatically connect the first charging interface to the stationary charging station configured to charge at least one further battery unit arranged on the parked passive platform.

6. A method for charging an electric transportation vehicle by a mobile charging station, the method comprising:
receiving a charging request; and
automatically navigating the mobile charging station to an electric transportation vehicle with the charging request, wherein the mobile station is not connected to a stationary charging station during navigation and a subsequent charging process,
wherein the mobile charging station includes at least one battery unit, at least one first charging interface for charging the at least one battery unit without removing the at least one battery unit from the mobile charging station, and at least one second interface for charging the electric transportation vehicle from the at least one battery unit,
wherein the mobile charging station includes a mobile robot platform and a passive platform which are mechanically coupled to one another, wherein the mobile robot platform has at least one electrical drive supplied by a further battery unit, wherein the battery unit for charging an electric transportation vehicle is arranged on the passive platform, and wherein a robot arm, at least one first charging interface, and the at least one second charging interface are arranged on the mobile robot platform, and
wherein the mobile robot platform is configured to navigate the passive platform to the electric transportation vehicle, to automatically connect the second interface to the charging interface of the electric transportation vehicle, to decouple the coupler so as to decouple the passive platform from the mobile robot platform, and to navigate a further passive platform to a further electric transportation vehicle in response to the electric transportation vehicle being charged by the passive platform.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the robot arm is configured to automatically connect the at least one first charging interface to a stationary charging station configured to charge the at least one battery unit and to automatically connect the second interface to a charging interface of an electric transportation vehicle.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein wherein the at least one battery unit is releasably arranged on the mobile robot platform and includes a further battery unit used to supply an electrical drive.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein the mobile robot platform is further configured to drag a parked passive platform to the stationary charging station, and wherein the robot arm is configured to automatically connect the first charging interface to the stationary charging station configured to charge at least one further battery unit arranged on the parked passive platform.

Assignees

• Volkswagen Ag
• Kuka Ag

Inventors

• Schütz Daniel
• Herold Stephan
• Settele Norbert

Classifications

• B60L53/57 Primary

  Charging stations without connection to power networks · CPC title

• Y02T90/16

  Information or communication technologies improving the operation of electric vehicles · CPC title

• B60L53/14

  Conductive energy transfer · CPC title

• Y02T10/7072

  Electromobility specific charging systems or methods for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors · CPC title

• B60L53/305

  Communication interfaces · CPC title