JPH07193909A - Charging circuit for automatically guided vehicle with battery - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a potential difference between terminals not connected with a charger when an automatically guided vehicle is being charged. CONSTITUTION:Two sets of terminals 4a, 5a and 4b, 5b are exposed to the outer face of an automatically guided vehicle. When a set of terminals 4a, 5a are connected with a charger 10 for a battery 7, for example, a controller 9 controls a switch 6 through optical communication units 3, 3 to be turned to the terminal 4a side and disconnected from the terminal 4b thus preventing a potential difference from appearing between the other set of terminals 4b, 5b due to the output from the charger 10.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a charging circuit for an automated guided vehicle equipped with a battery, and in particular, secures safety when two or more battery charging terminals are exposed at different positions on the outer surface of the automated guided vehicle. Regarding the charging circuit that can.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 7 is a side view showing an example of an automated guided vehicle equipped with a battery. This automatic guided vehicle is a mobile robot that passes the cassette C by a robot arm 1 and is self-propelled, and a charging coupler 2 for charging a battery is provided on the lower front portion of the outer surface. Charge coupler 2
The terminals 4a and 5a are exposed. The charging coupler 2 is also provided on the lower rear portion in the same manner, and can be charged from any convenient direction depending on the positional relationship with a charging device (not shown) fixed to the ground. .

[0003]

The charging coupler 2 as described above is disconnected from the battery in order to avoid an accident such as an electric shock to an operator, except when the charging coupler 2 is connected to the coupler on the charging device side. There is. For this purpose, an optical communication device 3 is provided below the charging coupler 2 so as to communicate with the charging device to open and close the switch. But,
During charging, both the front charging coupler 2 and the rear charging coupler 2 are energized with the charging device, and the terminals of the charging coupler 2 not connected to the charging device are exposed. There was a possibility of electric shock.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a charging circuit for a battery-equipped automatic guided vehicle capable of preventing an electric shock accident at a terminal which is not connected during charging.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a battery-mounted automatic guided vehicle in which two or more sets of battery charging terminals are exposed at different positions on the outer surface of the automatic guided vehicle. When the charging terminal of the battery is connected to the battery, the battery mounting type is equipped with a switching means for disconnecting the charging terminal of the one set and the charging terminal of the other set so as to be disconnected. Configured the charging circuit for the automated guided vehicle.

[0006]

Since the present invention has the above-mentioned structure, it has the following effects.

In the charging circuit of the battery-equipped automatic guided vehicle according to the present invention, even if two or more sets of battery charging terminals are exposed on the outer surface of the automatic guided vehicle, only one set of charging terminals serves as the battery. Since one set of charging terminals and the other set of charging terminals are disconnected from each other, one set connected to the battery is connected to the terminal on the charging device side to perform charging. There is no potential difference between the charging terminals of the pair.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The embodiments shown in the drawings will be described below.

FIG. 1 is a circuit block diagram showing a main configuration of an embodiment of a charging device for a battery-mounted automatic guided vehicle according to the present invention.

In the figure, the two charging couplers 2 are
A pair of terminals 4a, 5a, 4b, 5b are provided respectively. The terminals 4a and 4b are respectively connected to the switch 6, and the battery 7 can be charged via the switch 6. The battery 7 supplies electric power to a load 8 such as a traveling drive device of an automated guided vehicle. The controller 9 communicates with the charger 10 via the optical communication devices 3 and 3, and controls the operation of the switch 6. The diode 12 is for commutation.

The charging power of the charger 10 is supplied to the terminals 4a and 5a.
Battery 7 from both the group of terminals and the group of terminals 4b and 5b.
In order to supply the power to the battery 7, the switch 6 can be switched to either the state in which the battery 7 is connected to the terminal 4a, the state in which both terminals are not connected, or the state in which it is connected to the terminal 4b.

2 to 6 are a front view, a right side view, a left side view, and a plan view showing the concrete construction of the embodiment of FIG. 1, respectively.
FIG. 5 is a VI-VI view of FIG. 4.

The charging circuit is housed in a battery case 12 together with the battery 7, and the battery case 12 is mounted on the mobile robot shown in FIG. The battery case 12 is made of bakelite, which is an insulating resin. A part of the side surface of the battery case 12 is covered with a bakelite cover 13 from the left side to the front side and the right side of the battery case 12. Copper plate 14,
Part of 15 and 16 is exposed. The exposed portions are the terminals 4a, 5 exposed on the side surface of the mobile robot shown in FIG.
It becomes a, 4b, 5b.

Inside the battery case 12, terminals 17 and 1 are respectively in contact with the copper plates 14, 15 and 16, respectively.
8 and 19 are protruding. The cable 20 connected to the terminal 18 is connected to the circuit breaker 21, and the circuit breaker 21 is connected to the switchboard 23 by the cable 22.

Cables 24 and 25 connected to terminals 17 and 19 are connected to the other terminals of switch 26, respectively. As shown in FIG. 1, the switch 26 is of a type that can be opened when the other is closed and both can be opened. The output terminal of the switch 26 is connected to the switchboard 23 by a cable 27. The switchboard 23 is provided with diodes and other electric devices, and is further connected to the battery 7. An output terminal 29 is provided above the switchboard 23 to supply power to the drive motor and the like of the mobile robot.

In the present embodiment, the copper plate 14 and the copper plate 16 are separated and insulated from each other, and the terminals 17 and 19 in contact with the respective plates are connected to the switch 26, and only one of them is connected. Thus, the controller (not shown) controls the switch 26.

Therefore, even if the terminals 4a, 5a, 4b, and 5b are exposed on the outer surface of the mobile robot, since one set and the other set are insulated during charging, the other set has a charger. There is no potential difference due to the power supply of 10, so that it is possible to prevent an accident in which the worker apologizes and shakes the terminal to receive an electric shock.

The embodiment of the present invention has been described above.
It is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments and can be appropriately modified within the scope of the gist of the present invention.

For example, in the illustrated embodiment, only the case where two sets of terminals are exposed on the outer surface of the mobile robot has been described, but the present invention can be applied to the case where there are three or more sets of terminals.

[0020]

As described above, in the charging circuit of the battery-equipped unmanned guided vehicle according to the present invention, there is no potential difference between terminals other than the terminals connected to the charging device.
It is possible to prevent an accident such as an operator accidentally swinging to a terminal, receiving an electric shock, or short-circuiting the power of the charging device between the terminals.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a circuit block diagram showing a main configuration of an embodiment of a charging device for a battery-mounted automatic guided vehicle according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing a specific configuration of the embodiment shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a right side view of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a left side view of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of FIG.

6 is a VI-VI view of FIG. 2.

FIG. 7 is a side view showing a mobile robot to which the embodiment of FIG. 2 is applied.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Charge Coupler 3 Optical Communication Device 4a, 4b, 5a, 5b Terminal 6 Switch 7 Battery 9 Controller 10 Charger

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A battery-mounted automatic guided vehicle in which two or more sets of battery charging terminals are exposed at different positions on the outer surface of the automatic guided vehicle, when one set of charging terminals and a battery are connected to each other. A charging circuit for a battery-equipped automatic guided vehicle, comprising switching means for disconnecting the one set of charging terminals from the other sets of charging terminals.