Battery management for machine service operations

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12038769-B2
Application number	US-202117537365-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 29, 2021
Priority date	Nov 29, 2021
Publication date	Jul 16, 2024
Grant date	Jul 16, 2024

Abstract

A system can plan a route for a machine, such as an electric vehicle or other mobile machine, from a current location of the machine to a maintenance station where a service operation is to be performed on the machine. The service operation can be associated with a target state of charge (SoC) for a battery of the machine. The system can plan the route such that an expected energy consumption level, associated with traversal of the route by the machine, causes the SoC of the battery to satisfy the target SoC when the machine arrives at the maintenance station. The system can also dynamically adjust the route, charges of the battery, and/or machine operations performed along the route, during travel to cause the SoC of the battery to satisfy the target SoC when the machine arrives at the maintenance station.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
identifying, by one or more processors, a service operation to be performed on a work machine at a maintenance station of a worksite, wherein the work machine is configured to perform work operations at the worksite;
determining, by the one or more processors, a target state of charge (SoC) associated with the service operation to be performed on the work machine, based on predefined information identifying different service operations and target SoCs that correspond to the different service operations;
determining, by the one or more processors, a current SoC of a battery of the work machine;
generating, by the one or more processors, and based at least in part on terrain information associated with the worksite, a path for a route between a current location of the work machine and the maintenance station that is predicted to cause an SoC of the battery to satisfy the target SoC upon arrival of the work machine at the maintenance station, by:
determining an expected energy consumption level associated with traversal of the route by the work machine;
determining an expected destination SoC of the battery associated with the traversal of the route by the work machine, based on the current SoC of the battery and the expected energy consumption level; and
determining that the expected destination SoC satisfies the target SoC associated with the service operation to be performed on the work machine; and

dispatching, by the one or more processors, the work machine to traverse the route.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the target SoC is at least a minimum target SoC level associated with travel of the work machine from the maintenance station to a charging station.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the target SoC is an SoC level associated with operations to perform the service operation at the maintenance station.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein:
generating the path of the route further comprises determining machine operations for the work machine to perform during the traversal of the route, the machine operations including at least one of:
one or more particular work operations, or
activation of one or more parasitic systems of the work machine, and

performance of the machine operations increases the expected energy consumption level associated with the traversal of the route by the work machine.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising adjusting, by the one or more processors, the path of the route to cause the work machine to increase the SoC of the battery prior to traversal of a remaining portion of the route by connecting to an external power source.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 , further comprising:
determining, by the one or more processors, a target starting SoC associated with the route; and
instructing, by the one or more processors, the work machine to travel to the external power source and charge the battery to the target starting SoC before traversing the remaining portion of the route.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , further comprising:
determining, by the one or more processors, an updated expected energy consumption level based on adjustments to the path of the route;
determining, by the one or more processors, an updated expected destination SoC, based on the target starting SoC and the updated expected energy consumption level; and
determining that the updated expected destination SoC satisfies the target SoC.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein determining the expected energy consumption level comprises:
determining, by the one or more processors, a plurality of expected energy consumption levels that correspond with a plurality of segments of the route; and
determining, by the one or more processors, a total of the plurality of expected energy consumption levels.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of expected energy consumption levels includes at least one of:
positive energy consumption levels associated with powering propulsion of the work machine through a first subset of the plurality of segments, or negative energy consumption levels associated with energy captured by a regenerative braking system of the work machine through a second subset of the plurality of segments.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, by the one or more processors after the work machine has initiated travel along the route, an updated current SoC of the battery;
determining, by the one or more processors, an updated expected energy consumption level associated with traversal of remaining portions of the route by the work machine;
determining, by the one or more processors, an updated expected destination SoC of the battery associated with the traversal of the route by the work machine, based on the updated current SoC of the battery and the updated expected energy consumption level;
determining, by the one or more processors, that the updated expected destination SoC does not satisfy the target SoC; and
adjusting, by the one or more processors, the path of the route to cause the updated expected destination SoC to satisfy the target SoC.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein adjusting the path of the route comprises at least one of:
adjusting one or more segments of the route associated with the remaining portions of the route,
adding a detour to an external power source to charge the battery to an SoC level predicted to cause the updated expected destination SoC to satisfy the target SoC, or
activating one or more parasitic systems of the work machine during traversal of the remaining portions of the route.

12. A computing system, comprising:
one or more processors; and
memory storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
identifying a service operation to be performed on a work machine at a maintenance station of a worksite, wherein the work machine is configured to perform work operations at the worksite;
determining a target state of charge (SoC) associated with the service operation to be performed on the work machine, based on predefined information identifying different service operations and target SoCs that correspond to the different service operations;
determining a current SoC of a battery of the work machine;
generating, based at least in part on terrain information associated with the worksite, a path for a route between a current location of the work machine and the maintenance station that is predicted to cause an SoC of the battery to satisfy the target SoC upon arrival of the work machine at the maintenance station, by:
determining an expected energy consumption level associated with traversal of the route by the work machine;
determining an expected destination SoC of the battery associated with the traversal of the route by the work machine, based on the current SoC of the battery and the expected energy consumption level; and
determining that the expected destination SoC satisfies the target SoC associated with the service operation to be performed on the work machine; and

dispatching the work machine to traverse the route.

13. The computing system of claim 12 , wherein determining the expected energy consumption level comprises:
determining a plurality of expected energy consumption levels that correspond with a plurality of segments of the route; and
determining

Assignees

• Caterpillar Global Mining Equipment Llc

Inventors

• Lane Cameron Thomas

Classifications

• G05D1/644

  Optimisation of travel parameters, e.g. of energy consumption, journey time or distance · CPC title

• G01C21/343

  Calculating itineraries (travelling salesman problem G06Q10/04; optimisation of routes G06Q10/047) · CPC title

• G01C21/3469

  Fuel consumption; Energy use; Emission aspects · CPC title

• B60L58/12 Primary

  responding to state of charge [SoC] · CPC title

• B60L2240/62

  Vehicle position · CPC title