Charging station of moving robot and moving robot system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2021107363-A1
Application number	US-202017036339-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 29, 2020
Priority date	Oct 10, 2019
Publication date	Apr 15, 2021
Grant date	—

Abstract

A charging station of a moving robot includes connection terminals provided on two surfaces so as to allow a boundary wire, that defines a boundary of a travel area of the moving robot, to be connected thereto. The charging station has a charging unit to charge the moving robot and a docking base to dock the moving robot during charging. The charging unit includes the connection terminals.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A charging station of a moving robot, comprising:
a charging unit configured to charge the moving robot; a docking base configured to dock the moving robot during charging; and a connection portion to which a first end and a second end of a boundary wire are connected such that a current is configured to be induced in the boundary wire, wherein the boundary wire defines a boundary of a travel area of the moving robot, wherein the connection portion comprises:
a first terminal provided at a first surface of the docking base and configured to allow the first end of the boundary wire to be connected thereto; and
a second terminal provided at a second surface of the docking base and configured to allow the second end of the boundary wire to be connected thereto.

2 . The charging station of claim 1 , wherein a direction of the first surface and a direction of the second surface are different.

3 . The charging station of claim 2 , wherein the first surface is any one of a front surface and a left surface of the docking base.

4 . The charging station of claim 3 , wherein the second surface is a right surface of the docking base when the first surface is the front surface of the docking base.

5 . The charging station of claim 3 , wherein the second surface is any one of the front surface and a right surface of the docking base when the first surface is the left surface of the docking base.

6 . The charging station of claim 1 , wherein the first terminal corresponds to a negative pole (−) and the second terminal corresponds to a positive pole (+).

7 . The charging station of claim 6 , wherein the first terminal and the second terminal are respectively provided at the first surface and the second surface, and wherein the first and second surfaces are adjacent to a front part of the docking base.

8 . The charging station of claim 1 , wherein the connection portion further comprises:
a first wire that connects the first terminal and the charging unit; and a second wire that connects the second terminal and the charging unit.

9 . The charging station of claim 8 , wherein the first wire and the second wire are embedded in the docking base without being overlapped on the same plane.

10 . The charging station of claim 9 , wherein the first wire is embedded along an edge of the docking base, from a left surface of the charging unit to the first terminal.

11 . The charging station of claim 10 , wherein the first wire comprises:
a first wire portion extending in a first direction; and a second wire portion extending in a second direction intersecting the first direction.

12 . The charging station of claim 9 , wherein the second wire is embedded along a central part and an edge of the docking base, from a front surface of the charging unit to the second terminal.

13 . The charging station of claim 12 , wherein the second wire comprises:
a third wire portion extending in a second direction; and a fourth wire portion extending in a third direction intersecting the second direction.

14 . A moving robot system, comprising:
a boundary wire installed along a boundary of a travel area of a moving robot; a charging station to which a first end and a second end of the boundary wire are connected such that a current is configured to be induced in the boundary wire; and the moving robot configured to travel in the travel area based on a result of sensing the current while traveling; wherein the first end and the second end of the boundary wire extend in different directions from the charging station.

15 . The system of claim 14 , wherein the charging station comprises:
a charging unit configured to charge the moving robot; a docking base configured to dock the moving robot during charging; and a connection portion to which the first end and the second end of the boundary wire are connected, wherein the connection portion includes:
a first terminal provided at a first surface of the docking base so as to allow the first end of the boundary wire to be connected thereto;
a first wire that connects to the first terminal and the charging unit;
a second terminal provided at a second surface of the docking base so as to allow the second end of the boundary wire to be connected thereto; and
a second wire that connects to the second terminal and the charging unit.

16 . The system of claim 15 , wherein the moving robot is configured to move to the charging unit along a path of the second wire for docking at the charging station.

17 . The system of claim 14 , wherein after the first end and the second end of the boundary wire are connected to the charging station, the moving robot is configured to travel from the first terminal to the second terminal along the boundary wire based on sensing current in the boundary wire, so as to generate map information based on a traveling result.

18 . The system of claim 17 , wherein the moving robot is configured to detect a connection state between the boundary wire and the charging station based on at least one of sensing current in the boundary wire, and recognizing a traveling direction while traveling from the first terminal to the second terminal along the boundary wire.

19 . The system of claim 18 , wherein the moving robot is configured to detect a problem in the connection state when at least one of sensing current in the boundary wire, and recognizing the traveling direction does not satisfy a preset state reference.

20 . The system of claim 19 , wherein when the connection state problem is detected, the moving robot is configured to output a notification regarding the connection state problem.

Assignees

• Lg Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Han Jinwoo
• Cho Ilsoo

Classifications

• Y02T90/14

  Plug-in electric vehicles · CPC title

• Y02T90/12

  Electric charging stations · CPC title

• Y02T10/7072

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

• Y02T10/70

  Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries · CPC title

• G05D2111/36

  generated or reflected by cables or wires carrying current, e.g. boundary wires or leaky feeder cables · CPC title