Battery charging management system of automated guided vehicle and battery charging management method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9428075-B2
Application number	US-201314418283-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 31, 2013
Priority date	Aug 2, 2012
Publication date	Aug 30, 2016
Grant date	Aug 30, 2016

Abstract

Disclosed is a battery charging management system of an automated guided vehicle that travels in an unpiloted manner by using a mounted battery as a driving source, the mounted battery being charged in a charging station, wherein a battery charging controller that monitors a remaining capacity of the mounted battery is mounted on the automated guided vehicle, the battery charging controller starts a charging operation for the mounted battery in the charging station when the remaining capacity of the battery is lower than a predetermined value, and a charging route of the vehicle is cut off when a charging amount of the mounted battery reaches a predetermined capacity during the charging operation.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A battery charging management system that manages charging operations of automated guided vehicles including a first type of automated guided vehicle that travels in an unpiloted manner by using a first type of mounted battery as a driving source and charges the first type of mounted battery using an automatic battery charger provided in a charging station and a second type of automated guided vehicle that travels in an unpiloted manner by using a second type of mounted battery as a driving source having a full charge voltage lower than a full charge voltage of the first type of mounted battery and charges the second type of mounted battery using the automatic battery charger,
wherein the first type of automated guided vehicle is not provided with a controller for controlling a voltage of the first type of mounted battery during charging operations,
the first type of mounted battery is charged while the voltage of the first type of mounted battery is controlled by a first battery charging controller provided in the automatic battery charger,
the second type of automated guided vehicle is provided with a second battery charging controller that controls a voltage of the second type of mounted battery,
the second battery charging controller performs a charging operation using the automatic battery charger for the second type of mounted battery in the charging station when the voltage of the second type of mounted battery is lower than a predetermined voltage lower than the full charge voltage of the second type of mounted battery, and
a charging route of the vehicle is cut off when the voltage of the second type of mounted battery during the charging operation reaches a voltage lower than the full charge voltage of the first type of mounted battery and higher than the predetermined voltage.

2. The battery charging management system of the automated guided vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein the second battery charging controller switches a power receiving control switch provided in the charging route of the vehicle to a turn-off state when the voltage of the second type of mounted battery during the charging operation reaches a voltage lower than the full charge voltage of the first type of mounted battery and higher than the predetermined voltage.

3. The battery charging management system of the automated guided vehicle according to claim 2 , wherein the second battery charging controller switches the power receiving control switch from the turn-off state to a turn-on state when the voltage of the second type of mounted battery is lower than the predetermined voltage.

4. The battery charging management system of the automated guided vehicle according to claim 3 , wherein the second battery charging controller switches the power receiving control switch from the turn-off state to the turn-on state when the voltage of the second type of mounted battery is lower than the predetermined voltage before the second type of automated guided vehicle stops in the charging station.

5. The battery charging management system of the automated guided vehicle according to claim 2 , wherein the charging station is configured to transmit/receive a signal to/from the automated guided vehicles using a communication unit, and in the charging station, the second battery charging controller opens or closes the power receiving control switch provided in the charging route of the vehicle in response to a command from the charging station.

6. The battery charging management system of the automated guided vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein the second type of mounted battery is a lithium ion battery.

7. A battery charging management method that manages charging operations of automated guided vehicles including a first type of automated guided vehicle that travels in an unpiloted manner by using a first type of mounted battery as a driving source and charges the first type of mounted battery using an automatic battery charger provided in a charging station and a second type of automated guided vehicle that travels in an unpiloted manner by using a second type of mounted battery as a driving source having a full charge voltage lower than a full charge voltage of the first type of mounted battery and charges the second type of mounted battery using the automatic battery charger,
wherein the first type of automated guided vehicle is not provided with a controller for controlling a voltage of the first type of mounted battery during charging operations,
the first type of mounted battery is charged while the voltage of the first type of mounted battery is controlled by a first battery charging controller provided in the automatic battery charger,
when the second type of mounted battery of the second type of automated guided vehicle is charged, a second battery charging controller provided in the second type of automated guided vehicle controls a voltage of the second type of mounted battery,
a charging operation using the automatic battery charger is performed for the second type of mounted battery in the charging station when the voltage of the second type of mounted battery is lower than a predetermined voltage lower than the full charge voltage of the second type of mounted battery, and
a charging route of the vehicle is cut off when the voltage of the second type of mounted battery during the charging operation reaches a voltage lower than the full charge voltage of the first type of mounted battery and higher than the predetermined voltage.

Assignees

• Nissan Motor

Inventors

• Fukui Toshihito
• Hirayama Mitsuru

Classifications

• H02J2105/37

  exchanging power with electric vehicles [EV] or with hybrid electric vehicles [HEV] · CPC title

• H02J2105/30

  the load networks being external to vehicles, i.e. exchanging power with vehicles · CPC title

• H02J7/485

  with provisions for charging different types of batteries · CPC title

• H02J7/50

  acting upon multiple batteries simultaneously or sequentially · CPC title

• H02J7/933 Primary

  the cycle being controlled or terminated in response to electric parameters · CPC title