CZ34948U1 - Position monitoring equipment - Google Patents

Description

Position monitoring equipment

Field of technology

The technical solution relates to a position monitoring device comprising positioning means connected to a control unit, the control unit comprising a data output to which a data transmission unit is connected and a power input to which a power collection unit is connected, the unit for energy collection comprises an input circuit to which a solar cell is connected and an input-output circuit to which an energy storage unit is connected, wherein the positioning means, a control unit with a power input and a data output, a data transmission unit, a unit for collecting energy with an input circuit and an input-output circuit, and the energy storage unit are arranged in a housing.

Prior art

To monitor the position of objects, position tracking devices are used, so-called trackers, which are located on the monitored object and which use a battery to power the position tracking device. The monitored objects are, for example, large-scale products and expensive returnable packaging or carrier materials (containers, cable reels).

The disadvantage of these solutions is the need to replace the batteries or recharge the batteries. There are solutions where the battery is charged by a solar panel. However, if the position monitor is placed in a low light area, the battery will be completely discharged and the functionality of the device will be lost. Battery life is limited, so even rechargeable batteries need to be replaced after a while. A further reduction in battery life occurs when using low temperature temperature monitoring devices.

The essence of the technical solution

The aim of the technical solution is to eliminate the above-mentioned disadvantages in powering the position tracking device by means of batteries, so that the battery does not have to be replaced by a large number of devices, moreover located in different places. Another goal is to design a position tracking device with low power consumption, portable, small size, robust, and resistant to low outdoor temperatures without affecting the life of the device.

This object is achieved by a position monitoring device comprising positioning means connected to a control unit, the control unit comprising a data output to which a data transmission unit is connected and a power input to which a power collection unit is connected, the unit for energy collection comprises an input circuit to which a solar cell is connected and an input-output circuit to which an energy storage unit is connected, wherein the positioning means, a control unit with a power input and a data output, a data transmission unit, a unit for collecting energy with input circuit and input and output circuit, and the energy storage unit are arranged in a housing, the essence of which consists in that the housing has a flat shape with a height of up to 20 mm, the dimensions of the housing in other directions are up to 130 mm and on the surface The housing contains a solar cell.

The advantage of the position monitoring device is the replacement of the replaceable batteries by an energy storage unit, which accumulates the energy obtained from the solar cell, while achieving small housing dimensions with the solar cell located on the surface of the housing. Due to the low consumption of the position monitoring device, the capacity of the energy storage unit is sufficient to supply the position monitoring device even for a longer time without recharging from the solar cell and to achieve small dimensions

-1 CZ 34948 UI cases. The low light intensity is sufficient for energy collection and the device thus works even indoors with artificial lighting.

According to a preferred embodiment of the position tracking device, the means for determining the position is a GPS sensor connected to the data input of the control unit. It is a reliable sensor of small size and low power consumption. The GPS sensor provides a very precise determination of the location of the sensor, using GPS coordinates.

According to a preferred embodiment of the position monitoring device, the positioning means and the data transmission unit are integrated into one component, which is a modem. The modem provides a reliable way to transmit data with small, low-power devices. If a positioning device is integrated in the modem, there is no need to use a separate position sensor, which reduces the production costs of the device.

According to a preferred embodiment of the position monitoring device, the energy storage unit comprises at least two supercapacitors. By replacing the batteries known from the prior art with supercapacitors, it has been achieved that the position monitoring device does not include components that use electrochemical processes for their function, and therefore the device is resistant to low outdoor temperatures. Supercapacitors also allow an order of magnitude higher number of charging cycles than batteries.

According to a preferred embodiment of the position monitoring device, the housing is made of rubber or resin for potting electronics, the housing having a flat circular shape from 10 mm to 20 mm high and from 100 to 130 mm in diameter. Said housing material makes the housing sufficiently robust and resistant to even less gentle handling. The circular shape of the housing is advantageous for forming recesses on the subjects to be monitored into which the housing fits and does not protrude therefrom. This increases the durability of the installation of the device for any manipulation with the monitored object. The achieved dimensions of the housing fully meet the requirements for small dimensions of the device.

Explanation of drawings

The position monitoring device will be described in more detail on the basis of examples of specific embodiments, schematically shown in the attached figures, where in:

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of an arrangement of a position monitoring device according to one embodiment;

Fig. 2 is an external view of a position monitoring device installed in a housing;

Fig. 3 shows the location of the position monitoring device on a wooden cable spool; and Fig. 4 shows the location of the position monitoring device on the metal cable reel.

Examples of technical solution

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of a position monitoring device. The device contains a control unit 1, which is an Atmega type microcontroller. Connected to the control unit 1 is a positioning means 5, which is a Neo Ublox type GPS sensor. The GPS sensor is an active sensor for very accurate positioning of the sensor. The GPS sensor provides data on the location of the sensor using GPS coordinates at its output. The GPS sensor is connected to data input 2 marked on the microcontroller as Rx, Tx. Further connected to the control unit 1 is a data transmission unit 6, which is a UPWan Sigfox modem. Specifically, the modem is connected to the data output 3 marked on the microcontroller as Rxl, Txl. Power input 4 of the control unit] is on

-2 EN 34948 UI of the microcontroller marked as Raw, GND and a unit 7 for collecting energy is connected to it. The energy collecting unit 7 provides power to the control unit J and the positioning means 5 connected to it and to the data transmission unit 6.

In this embodiment, the energy collecting unit 7 is realized by an integrated circuit of the AEM10941 type. The energy collecting unit 7 collects energy from a solar cell 10 of the polycrystalline solar panel type, which is connected to the input circuit 8 of the energy collecting unit 7, specifically to the SRC terminals of the AEM 10941 integrated circuit. 0.6W. The energy collecting unit 7 stores the energy collected from the solar cell 10 in the energy storage unit 11, which is a supercapacitor. The supercapacitor is a small capacitor with an extremely large capacity. In this embodiment, 2 pieces of supercapacitors are used, each with a capacity of 1 F. The supercapacitors are connected to the input-output circuit 9 of the power collection unit 7, namely to the terminals plus BAL and minus the integrated circuit AEM 10941.

In addition to the solar cell 10, the components of the position monitoring device are arranged in a housing 12 and a solar cell 10 is arranged on the surface of the housing, as shown in Fig. 2. In this embodiment, the housing 12 is made of RF electronics potting resin and has a flat circular shape. . The height of the housing 12 is 15 mm and the diameter of the housing 12 is 113 mm. The solar panel 10 is adhered to the surface of the housing 12 with a resin when it is encapsulated in resin.

The control unit 1 receives the data from the positioning means 5, processes them into the JSON format and transmits them to the data transmission unit 6, whose operation it also controls. The data transfer unit 6 transmits the data to a remote peripheral device. In this embodiment, the data transfer to the peripheral device is wireless and the peripheral device is Sigfox cloud. Subsequently, the data is forwarded via Sigfox Callback to the application on the mobile phone. In other embodiments, the application may be installed, for example, on a personal computer, or it may be an application that does not have a visible interface with the user, but which performs follow-up activities based on received data, e.g. writing data, controlling other devices, etc.

Using a peripheral device, it is possible to monitor the following parameters of the position sensing device: movement, manipulation of the device. It is also possible to set some parameters of the position sensing device using a peripheral device: the frequency interval of the data transmission.

The energy collecting unit 7 stores the energy collected from the solar cell 10 in the energy storage unit 11 and supplies power to the position sensing device. If the solar cell 10 generates energy, ie. if the position sensing device is located in a space with sufficient light intensity to generate energy by the solar cell 10. this energy serves both to supply the position sensing device and to charge the energy storage unit 11. If the position sensing device is not located in a room with sufficient light intensity to generate energy by the solar cell 10., the position sensing device is powered from the energy stored in the energy storage unit 11. The energy collecting unit 7 collects energy on the one hand for a long time in order to supply the position monitoring device on the other hand with the collected energy only for short periods of time, when data for detecting the position of the device are read and sent.

Low energy intensity is sufficient for energy collection, so the device also functions indoors with artificial lighting. In this embodiment, the fully charged energy storage unit 11 provides power and operation of the position monitoring device for 24 hours without further recharging, i. when placing the device in complete darkness. When using supercapacitors of larger capacity, it is possible to extend the operation of the device in complete darkness for several days.

Fig. 3 shows the location of the position monitoring device on a wooden cable reel. A circular hole with a diameter of 117 mm and a depth of 16 mm is milled in the side wall of the spool using a knotter. The position monitoring device is inserted into the hole so that the solar cell 10 is oriented away from the coil to sense ambient light. The housing 12 is glued in the hole and additionally fastened

-3 CZ 34948 UI with two wood screws through two mounting holes arranged in the housing 12. The surface of the housing 12, on which the solar cell 10 is located, coincides with the surface of the side wall of the coil and thus the position monitoring device cannot be torn off from the coil, e.g. careless handling of the coil.

In another embodiment, the position monitoring device can be attached to a metal surface by a pair of neodymium ultra strong magnets embedded in a housing 12. The attachment to the surface of a metal cable spool is shown in Fig. 4. The magnets in this embodiment have a total magnetic force of 20. up to 40 kg.

In another embodiment, the energy source may be, for example, a piezo generator instead of a solar cell 10, which generates energy based on the kinetic energy acting on the piezo material. However, the use of a piezoelectric generator presupposes that the monitored device and the motion sensing device located thereon are in frequent motion, so that the energy storage unit 11 can be recharged and not completely discharged. When a piezo generator is used, it is located inside the housing 12. In another embodiment, both the solar cell 10 and the piezo generator can be connected to the energy collecting unit 7 at the same time. In another embodiment, an LPWan LoRA or LPWlan NBIoT modem can be used as the data transmission unit 6.

In another embodiment, the position monitoring device can be operated with the positioning means 5 and the data transmission unit 6 integrated into one component, which is a LPWan Sigfox modem. The positioning means 5 in this case is a passive position sensor. The passive position sensor does not provide its position data, as is the case with an active GPS sensor. In the case of a passive position sensor, the location of the sensor is calculated from Sigfox network data, which can calculate the approximate position of the sensor according to the location of Sigfox network transmitters that received non-location data transmitted from the passive sensor, namely from data transfer unit 6 which is a modem. LPWan Sigfox. The accuracy of positioning with a passive position sensor is units of kilometers to hundreds of meters, which is significantly less than with an active GPS sensor. However, the accuracy of the passive position sensor is sufficient in many applications, and in this configuration the manufacturing costs of the device are saved because no active GPS sensor is installed.

Claims (5)

CLAIMS FOR PROTECTION A position monitoring device, comprising positioning means (5) connected to a control unit (1), wherein the control unit (1) comprises a data output (3) to which a data transmission unit (6) is connected, and a power supply an input (4) to which the energy collecting unit (7) is connected, the energy collecting unit (7) comprising an input circuit (8) to which the solar cell (10) is connected and an input-output circuit (9), to which an energy storage unit (11) is connected, wherein the positioning means (5), a control unit (1) with a power input (4) and a data output (3), a data transmission unit (6), a unit (6) 7) for collecting energy with an input circuit (8) and an input-output circuit (9), and an energy storage unit (11) are arranged in a housing (12), characterized in that the housing (12) has a flat shape with a height of up to 20 mm, the dimensions of the housing (12) in other directions are up to 130 mm and a solar cell (10) is placed on the surface of the housing (12). Position tracking device according to claim 1, characterized in that the means (5) for determining the position is a GPS sensor connected to the data input (2) of the control unit (1). Position monitoring device according to claim 1, characterized in that the positioning means (5) and the data transmission unit (6) are integrated into one component, which is a modem. Position monitoring device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the energy storage unit (11) comprises at least two supercapacitors. Position monitoring device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the housing (12) is made of rubber or resin for potting RF electronics, the housing (12) having a flat circular shape 10 mm to 20 mm high and o diameter from 100 to 130 mm.