Fluid supply system of docking station for moving device and method for controlling same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12161276-B2
Application number	US-202217861635-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 11, 2022
Priority date	Aug 11, 2021
Publication date	Dec 10, 2024
Grant date	Dec 10, 2024

Abstract

A fluid supply system of a docking station for a moving apparatus includes a moving apparatus including a first storage tank configured to receive a fluid therein, a docking station into which the moving apparatus is selectively docked, the docking station including a second storage tank configured to receive the fluid therein and a pump configured to discharge a fluid received in the second storage tank, and a processor electrically connected to the pump and configured to determine, when the moving apparatus is docked to the docking station, whether the moving apparatus has been successfully docked, and to control the pump to operate with an operation load, when the processor concludes that the moving apparatus has been successfully docked into the docking station so that the fluid is supplied from the second storage tank to the first storage tank.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A fluid supply system of a docking station for a moving apparatus, the fluid supply system comprising:
the moving apparatus including a first storage tank configured to receive a fluid therein;
the docking station into which the moving apparatus is selectively docked, the docking station including a second storage tank configured to receive the fluid therein and a pump configured to discharge the fluid received in the second storage tank; and
a processor electrically connected to the pump and configured to determine whether the moving apparatus is successfully docked to the docking station, and configured to control the pump to operate with an operation load when the processor concludes that the moving apparatus has been successfully docked into the docking station so that the fluid is supplied from the second storage tank to the first storage tank,
wherein the processor is configured to control the pump to operate with a test operation load lower than the operation load to determine whether the moving apparatus has been successfully docked into the docking station,
wherein when a difference between an amount of the fluid discharged from the second storage tank and an amount of the fluid introduced into the first storage tank is smaller than a predetermined amount, the processor is configured to conclude that the moving apparatus has been successfully docked into the docking station, and to control the pump to operate with the operation load, and
wherein when the difference between the amount of the fluid discharged from the second storage tank and the amount of the fluid introduced into the first storage tank is greater than the predetermined amount, the processor is configured to determine that the moving apparatus has not been successfully docked into the docking station and to transfer a signal to the moving apparatus to reattempt a docking thereof.

2. The fluid supply system of claim 1 , wherein while the pump operates with the operation load, the processor is configured to check a docking state of the moving apparatus, based on a flow rate of the first storage tank and a flow rate of the second storage tank.

3. A fluid supply system of a docking station for a moving apparatus, the fluid supply system comprising:
the moving apparatus including a first storage tank configured to receive a fluid therein;
the docking station into which the moving apparatus is selectively docked, the docking station including a second storage tank configured to receive the fluid therein and a pump configured to discharge the fluid received in the second storage tank; and
a processor electrically connected to the pump and configured to determine whether the moving apparatus is successfully docked to the docking station, and configured to control the pump to operate with an operation load when the processor concludes that the moving apparatus has been successfully docked into the docking station so that the fluid is supplied from the second storage tank to the first storage tank;
wherein while the pump operates with the operation load, the processor is configured to check a docking state of the moving apparatus, based on a flow rate of the first storage tank and a flow rate of the second storage tank,
wherein the moving apparatus includes a first detector electrically connected to the processor and configured to detect an amount of the fluid received in the first storage tank and to periodically transfer a signal of the detected amount of the fluid received in the first storage tank to the processor,
wherein the docking station includes a second detector electrically connected to the processor and configured to detect an amount of the fluid received in the second storage tank and to periodically transfer a signal of the detected amount of the fluid received in the second storage tank to the processor, and
wherein the processor is configured to periodically determine the flow rate of the first storage tank and the flow rate of the second storage tank, according to the signals received from the first detector and the second detector.

4. The fluid supply system of claim 3 , wherein the processor is configured to determine that the docking state of the moving apparatus is an abnormal state when [equation 1] below is satisfied, and to stop the operation of the pump when the abnormal state persists for a predetermined time period or longer than the predetermined time period, or when a configured number of times is exceeded,

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wherein A 0 is an initial amount of a fluid received in the first storage tank,
A n is a value of an n-th signal received from the first detector,
B 0 is an initial amount of a fluid received in the second storage tank,
B n is a value of an n-th signal received from the second detector, and
δ is a reference value.

5. The fluid supply system of claim 1 , wherein when the amount of the fluid received in the first storage tank is equal to or greater than a first threshold value, or when an amount of the fluid received in the second storage tank is equal to or smaller than a s

Assignees

• Hyundai Motor Co Ltd
• Kia Corp

Inventors

• Jang Seong Won

Classifications

• A47L11/4002

  Installations of electric equipment · CPC title

• A47L2201/026

  Refilling cleaning liquid containers · CPC title

• A47L11/4025

  Means for emptying · CPC title

• A47L11/4016

  specially adapted for collecting fluids · CPC title

• A47L2201/024

  Emptying dust or waste liquid containers · CPC title