Method for controlling electric hand truck and apparatus therefor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11571973-B2
Application number	US-202016791625-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 14, 2020
Priority date	Aug 14, 2017
Publication date	Feb 7, 2023
Grant date	Feb 7, 2023

Abstract

A method for controlling an electric hand truck includes determining whether user manipulation is present due to a user input on the electric hand truck; and, if there is no user manipulation, then braking an electric motor that drives the wheels of the electric moving vehicle in a softlock manner in which, instead of power being applied to the electric motor, electrodes of the electric motor are short-circuited.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of controlling an electric moving vehicle, the method comprising:
determining whether a user manipulation of the electric moving vehicle is present based on a presence or an absence of a user input on the electric moving vehicle; and
applying a softlock method of shorting electrodes of an electric motor that drives at least one wheel of the electric moving vehicle without applying power to the electric motor when the user manipulation is absent, and
applying a hardlock method of forcefully braking the electric moving vehicle by constructing a feedback loop to apply power to the electric motor, responsive to a movement of the electric moving vehicle in a state in which the softlock method has been applied.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the softlock method includes a short brake phenomenon in which a constant force is applied to the electric motor with a counter electromotive force generated by shorting the electrodes of the electric motor.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the braking further comprises:
determining whether the electric moving vehicle is positioned on a flat surface or on a slope based on a gradient of the electric moving vehicle, when the user manipulation is absent;
applying the softlock method to the electric motor when the electric moving vehicle is positioned on the flat surface; and
applying the hardlock method to the electric motor when the electric moving vehicle is positioned on the slope.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hardlock method controls a driving speed of the electric motor to become zero.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user manipulation is determined to be present by measuring a magnitude of a force that is applied to the electric moving vehicle by a user.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the electric moving vehicle is configured as a moving device in a structure which enables a person to be aboard.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a program for controlling an electric moving vehicle, the program, when executed by a processor, performing the control method comprising:
determining whether a user manipulation of the electric moving vehicle is present based on a presence or an absence of a user input on the electric moving vehicle; and
applying a softlock method of shorting electrodes of an electric motor that drives at least one wheel of the electric moving vehicle without applying power to the electric motor when the user manipulation is absent, and
applying a hardlock method of forcefully braking the electric moving vehicle by constructing a feedback loop to apply power to the electric motor, responsive to a movement of the electric moving vehicle in a state in which the softlock method has been applied.

8. A safety control apparatus of an electric moving vehicle, comprising:
a manipulation detector configured to detect whether a user manipulation of the electric moving vehicle is present based on a presence or an absence of a user input on the electric moving vehicle; and
a controller configured to apply a softlock method of shorting electrodes of an electric motor that drives at least one wheel of the electric moving vehicle without applying power to the electric motor when the user manipulation is absent, and apply a hardlock method of forcefully braking the electric moving vehicle by constructing a feedback loop to apply power to the electric motor, responsive to a movement of the electric moving vehicle in a state in which the softlock method has been applied.

9. The safety control apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the softlock method includes a short brake phenomenon in which a constant force of brake is applied to the electric motor with a counter electromotive force generated by shorting the electrodes of the electric motor.

10. The safety control apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the electric moving vehicle is configured as a moving device in a structure which enables a person to be aboard.

11. The safety control apparatus of claim 8 , further comprising:
a slope detector configured to detect whether the electric moving vehicle is positioned on a flat surface or on a slope based on a gradient of the electric moving vehicle, when the user manipulation is absent,
wherein the controller is configured to apply the softlock method to the electric motor when the electric moving vehicle is positioned on the flat surface, and to apply the hardlock to method the electric motor when the electric moving vehicle is positioned on the slope.

12. The safety control apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the hardlock method controls a driving speed of the electric motor to become zero.

13. The safety control apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the hardlock method controls a driving speed of the electric motor to become zero.

14. The safety control apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the manipulation detector is configured to determine whether the user manipulation is present by measuring a magnitude of a force that is applied to the electric moving vehicle.

15. A method of controlling an electric moving vehicle, the method comprising:
determining whether a user manipulation of the electric moving vehicle is present based on a presence or an absence of a user input on the electric moving vehicle; and
braking an electric motor that drives at least one wheel of the electric moving vehicle using a softlock method of shorting electrodes of the electric motor without applying power to the electric motor when the user manipulation is absent,
wherein the braking further comprises,
determining whether the electric moving vehicle is positioned on a flat surface or on a slope based on a gradient of the electric moving vehicle, when the user manipulation is absent;
applying the softlock method to the electric motor when the electric moving vehicle is positioned on the flat surface; and
applying a hardlock method of forcefully braking the electric motor by applying power required to brake the electric motor when the electric moving vehicle is positioned on the slope, and
wherein the hardlock method controls a driving speed of the electric motor to become zero by constructing a feedback loop.

Assignees

• Naver Labs Corp

Inventors

• Chung Jinwon
• Yu Donghun
• Seo Joonho
• Seok Sangok

Classifications

• B62B5/0053

  Arrangements of batteries · CPC title

• B60L2240/642

  Slope of road · CPC title

• B60L2200/30

  Trolleys · CPC title

• H02P3/18

  for stopping or slowing an AC motor · CPC title

• Y02T10/72

  Electric energy management in electromobility · CPC title