JP2002067838A - Battery replacing device of vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a battery replacing device of a vehicle a capable of being embodied in a small construction and lessening the requisite floor area. SOLUTION: A battery 3a is mounted on a vehicle 2 removably, and this battery replacing device 1 is to replace the battery 3a on the vehicle 2 with another battery 3b, and the arrangement includes a rack 4 to store a plurality of batteries 3b and charge them and a hoist crane 5 movable in two perpendicularly intersecting directions right over the batteries 3b, wherein the rack 4 is furnished with shelves 7 for batteries 3b in stages, and each shelf 7 is provided with an opening 9 through which a wire rope 10 dangling from the hoist crane 5 is set in and out from the part confronting the batteries 3b on the shelf 7. The openings 9 provided in the shelves 7 over and under are aligned with each other, and the hoist crane 5 is made movable from the opening edge of the opening 9 to the outside.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle battery exchange device suitable for an unmanned forklift powered by a battery.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an unmanned forklift powered by a battery, it is necessary to replace a spent battery with a charged battery. Therefore, in the prior art, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 146506 discloses a vehicle battery replacement facility.

As shown in FIG. 1 of the publication, the vehicle battery replacement equipment includes a battery shelf 9 for storing a plurality of batteries 2, and a vehicle stop portion beside the battery shelf 9. A delivery device 13 for delivering the battery 2 to and from the forklift 3 stopped at 11 is provided. Further, each battery storage section 10 of the battery shelf 9 is provided with a shelf-side charging connector 21 that contacts the battery-side charging connector 19 of the battery 2.

After the battery 2 is removed from the forklift 3 stopped at the vehicle stop location 11 by the delivery device 13, the delivery device 13 is moved to the empty battery storage section 10 of the battery shelf 9, 2 is stored. Thereafter, the charged battery 2 in the battery shelf 9 is taken out by the transfer device 13 and mounted on the forklift 3.

[0005]

However, the conventional vehicle battery replacement equipment requires a transfer device in addition to the battery shelf for storing the battery.
In addition, since the transfer device requires a space having substantially the same area as the battery shelf, it has been difficult to apply it to a small-scale system.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, and to provide a battery exchange device which can be miniaturized and can have a small required floor area, thereby being applicable to a small-scale system. It is to be.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a battery replacement device for a vehicle in which a battery having a battery removably mounted thereon is replaced with another battery.
A rack for storing a plurality of the batteries, and a hoist crane that is movable in two directions substantially orthogonal to each other immediately above all the stored batteries, and the rack has a mounting shelf for mounting the batteries. Are provided in multiple stages, and the placing shelf is provided with an opening for taking in and out the wire rope hung from the hoist crane to a portion of the placing shelf facing the battery. The hoist crane is movable to a position outside an opening edge of the opening, and the hoist crane can be moved to a position outside the opening edge of the opening. it can.

[0008] According to this battery exchange device, since it can be composed of a rack for storing batteries and a hoist crane that moves directly above the rack, the size can be reduced. Also, wire ropes can be inserted and removed from one side of the opening of the rack mounting shelf, so that the number of mounting shelves can be increased, and batteries can be easily inserted and removed from the lower mounting shelf. The batteries are stored and all of these batteries can be easily replaced.

[0009]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a battery exchange device according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a battery replacement device according to the present invention,
2 is a view taken in the direction of the arrow A in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line BB in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a view for explaining the battery replacement sequence of the battery replacement device according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, a battery exchange apparatus 1 of the present invention is for exchanging a battery 3a mounted on, for example, an unmanned forklift 2 (FIG. 3) with another charged battery 3b. And a rack 4 for storing and charging a plurality of batteries 3b, and a hoist crane 5 movable directly in two directions substantially orthogonal to each other directly above all the batteries 3b stored in the rack 4. . The hoist crane 5 is operated by a pendant switch (not shown).

Pins 6 for lifting are provided on both sides of the batteries 3a and 3b. Also, rack 4
Has multiple stages of mounting shelves 7 for mounting the batteries 3b. In the present embodiment, two mounting shelves 7 are provided. Each mounting shelf 7 is provided with two battery mounting portions 8.

Each battery mounting portion 8 has an opening 9 extending from one side of the mounting shelf 7 to a portion facing the battery 3b.
Is provided. The openings 9, 9 of the upper and lower mounting shelves 7, 7 are aligned with each other. by this,
The wire ropes 10 hung from the hoist crane 5 can be put in and out of the openings 9, 9 of all the upper and lower mounting shelves 7, 7. A charger 11 is arranged at the bottom of the rack 4. Each of the mounting shelves 7, 7 is provided with a shelf-side charging connector 12 (FIG. 3) that can contact a charging connector (not shown) of the battery 3b. These shelf side charging connectors 12
Is connected to the charger 11.

The hoist crane 5 is mounted on a rail 13 provided above the mounting shelf 7. This rail
13 has a pair of first rails 14 and 14 provided at both ends of the rack 4 in parallel with each other, and a second rail 15 movable along these first rails 14 and 14.

The first rails 14, 14, as shown in FIG.
It is formed longer than the width of the mounting shelf 7, and one end thereof is
Protrudes to one side. The hoist crane 5
It is movably attached to the rail 15. Thus, the hoist crane 5 can be moved in two orthogonal directions X (FIG. 1) and Y right above each battery mounting portion 8 of the mounting shelf 7, and one side from the mounting shelf 7. It can be moved to the position where it protrudes.

As shown in FIG. 1, a lifting jig 16 for lifting the batteries 3a and 3b is attached to the tip of the wire rope 10 of the hoist crane 5. At both ends of the lifting jig 16, locking portions 16a, 16a capable of locking to the pins 6, 6 of the batteries 3a, 3b are provided. These locking portions 16a, 16a are normally retracted upward and fall down when the batteries 3a, 3b are hoisted to lock the pins 6, 6 of the batteries 3a, 3b. . As shown in FIG. 3, a stop position 17 of the forklift 1 and a temporary battery storage location 18 are provided on one side of the rack 4, that is, on the side where the hoist crane 5 protrudes from the mounting shelf 7 and moves. ing.

When replacing the battery 3a of the forklift 1, the forklift 1 is first stopped at the stop position 17. Next, the charged battery 3b stored in the rack 4 is lifted by the hoist crane 5, and
Temporarily. Next, the used battery 3a mounted on the forklift 1 at the stop position 17 is lifted by the hoist crane 5, stored in the empty battery mounting portion 8 of the mounting shelf 7 of the rack 4, and charged. Subsequently, the battery 3b at the temporary storage location 18 is mounted on the forklift 1. This completes the battery replacement operation.

Next, an example of a replacement order of the plurality of batteries 3b stored in the rack 4 will be described with reference to FIG. It should be noted that the number with a circle in FIG. 4 indicates the charged battery 3b, and the number with a triangle indicates the used battery 3a. At the start, the batteries 3b are stored and charged on the upper left side of the rack 4 and on the lower left and right sides as shown in FIG. Next, as shown in FIG. 3B, the charged battery 3b stored on the lower right side is replaced with a used battery 3a mounted on the forklift 1.

Next, the battery 3b on the left side of the stage is replaced.
At this time, the upper used battery 3a is stored on the upper right side as shown in FIG. Next, as shown in FIG. 3D, the lower left battery 3b is replaced. At this stage, all the stored batteries 3b are replaced with used batteries 3a, and as shown in FIG.
The battery is charged. Thereafter, the replacement operation is performed in the same procedure as described with reference to FIGS.

As described above, the battery exchange device 1 of the present invention
Comprises a rack 4 for storing and charging the battery 3b, and a hoist crane 5 movable in two directions X and Y perpendicular to the rack 4 and the battery 3b in the rack 4 and the forklift 1 Since the used battery 3a is replaced with the used battery 3a, a special transfer device is not required unlike the related art. Therefore, the size can be reduced, and the floor area required for installation can be reduced. In addition, the configuration can be simplified and the charger
Since 11 is at the bottom of the rack 4, maintenance is also facilitated.

An opening 9 through which a wire rope 10 of the hoist crane 5 can be inserted and removed from one side of the mounting shelf 7 of the mounting shelf 7 of the rack 4 to a portion facing the battery 3b is provided. Therefore, the mounting shelf 7 can be multi-tiered, whereby a large number of batteries 3b can be stored. Further, since the work is performed by the conventionally used hoist crane 5, the work can be performed without feeling uncomfortable.

[0021]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since it can be composed of a rack that stores batteries and a hoist crane that moves in two directions directly above the rack, the size can be reduced, and the required floor area can be reduced. Also applicable to In addition, since the wire rope can be put in and taken out of the opening of the rack mounting shelf from one side, batteries can be taken in and out of the lower mounting shelf, so that a large number of storage shelves can be used to store a large number of batteries. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a battery replacement device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view taken in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line BB of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a battery replacement order of the battery replacement device according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Battery exchange apparatus 2 Unmanned forklift 3a Used battery 3b Charged battery 4 Rack 5 Hoist crane 7 Mounting shelf 9 Opening 10 Wire rope

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A battery replacement device for a vehicle for replacing a battery of a vehicle on which a battery is removably mounted with another battery, wherein a rack for storing a plurality of the batteries and charging the stored battery; At right angles to all the stored batteries
A hoist crane movable in two directions, the rack is provided with a plurality of mounting shelves for mounting the battery, and the mounting shelves include wire ropes hung from the hoist crane, An opening for taking in and out of a portion of the storage shelf facing the battery is provided. The openings provided in the upper and lower storage shelves are aligned with each other. The hoist crane is located outside an opening edge of the opening. A battery exchange device for a vehicle, which is movable up to