JPH08239099A - Battery judgment device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To check the battery which has reached the end of its life, in its early stages by measuring the voltage value of the battery, before the required time passes until the phenomena of the voltage just after connection of a normal battery to load quickly dropping roughly converges, in case that a power on switch is turned on. CONSTITUTION: When having turned on the main switch 16 of the body of a wireless control type of unmanned helicopter used in the case of spraying chemicals to fields or the like cases, the voltage value of a battery 11 is measured with the judging circuit 2 of CPU 18. Moreover, the passage time from the main switch ON operation is clocked with a timer circuit 23, and until this passage time reaches the set time, it is made to stand by, and when this time condition is fulfilled, this sends a judge start signal to a judging circuit 22. And this judging circuit 22 judges whether the voltage value of the battery 11 is at abnormal battery judgment voltage or under or not, and in case that the judgment result is YES, it judges that the battery 1 has reached the end of its life, and lights a warning lamp 12 to inform a user of that fact.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a battery judging device for judging a battery that has reached the end of its life.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, a radio-controlled unmanned helicopter is used to spray a drug on a field.
This type of unmanned helicopter flies with the engine as the power source, and the operator drives the servo motor mounted on the aircraft by operating the operating elements of the transmitter, and the azimuth, inclination angle and altitude of the aircraft can be remotely controlled. It had a control structure.

Further, in this conventional unmanned helicopter, various sensors mounted on the airframe are used to detect the current direction of the airframe.
It was also equipped with an automatic attitude control device that detects the tilt angle and altitude, and automatically controls the flight condition so that the target flight condition is obtained. Electrical components such as the servo motor, various sensors, automatic control device, and receiver were supplied from a battery mounted on the fuselage together with them.

[0004]

However, the battery was a problem in this type of unmanned helicopter. That is,
Although the required voltage was obtained when the voltage was measured with the battery alone, there were cases where the required voltage could not be obtained when this battery was mounted on the aircraft and actually used. This is because the battery has reached the end of its life.

The present invention has been made in order to solve such a problem, and even if a battery which has reached the end of its life is mistakenly used or the battery used has reached the end of its life,
The purpose is to detect this when the power is turned on so that the user can recognize it.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The battery determination device according to the present invention is substantially free from the phenomenon that the voltage immediately after connecting a normal battery to a load drops rapidly after the power-on switch is turned on. Before the time required for convergence has elapsed, measure the battery voltage value and drive the alarm device when this voltage value is less than or equal to the voltage value at approximately the midpoint of the total usable time in a normal battery. It is configured to do.

[0007]

[Function] Since a battery that has reached the end of its life has a greater amount of voltage drop immediately after connecting to a load than a normal battery,
When the battery being used has reached the end of its life, this can be determined by driving the warning device when the power is turned on.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. In the present embodiment, an example in which the battery determination device according to the present invention is applied to an unmanned helicopter will be described. FIG. 1 is a side view of an unmanned helicopter equipped with a battery determination device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a battery abnormality determination device according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a graph showing a time-dependent change in battery voltage. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation when determining whether or not the battery is normal, and FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the operation when issuing a warning based on the battery charge amount.

In these figures, 1 is a radio-controlled unmanned helicopter according to this embodiment, 2 is a main rotor, 3 is a tail rotor, 4 is an engine for rotationally driving the main rotor 2 and the tail rotor 3. In addition,
Although not shown, the machine body 1 includes a collective servo motor that adjusts the rotor blade angle of the main rotor 2 and tilts the axis of the main rotor 2, and a ladder servo motor that adjusts the rotor blade angle of the tail rotor 3. Sensors for detecting the posture of No. 1 are mounted.

Reference numeral 5 denotes a drug spraying device, which is a drug spraying device 5.
Is composed of a pair of left and right booms 6 projecting laterally from the lower left and right sides of the body 1 and a medicine tank 7 mounted on the rear side of the boom 6 and the like, and is supplied from the medicine tank 7. The structure is such that the medicine is sprayed from the plurality of nozzles 6 a of the boom 6.

Reference numeral 8 is a receiver for receiving radio waves transmitted from a transmitter 9, 10 is a controller for controlling the posture of the machine body 1, the medicine spraying device 6 and a battery abnormality judging device described later, and 11 is for the machine body 1. A battery that supplies power to each of the mounted electrical components. The battery 11 is arranged on the right side of the body of the engine 4.

Reference numeral 12 is a first warning device according to the present invention.
This first warning lamp 12 has a structure in which lighting is controlled by the battery abnormality determination device of the controller 10, and is arranged on the upper surface of the front part of the body 1 so that it can be confirmed before takeoff. are doing. 13 is a second warning lamp, 14 is a third warning lamp, and the second warning lamp 13 is the first warning lamp.
The warning lamp 12 is arranged adjacent to the lateral direction of the machine body, and the third warning lamp 14 is arranged at a substantially lower center of the machine body in the front-rear direction so that it can be surely confirmed even during flight. Lighting of these second and third warning lamps 13 and 14 is also controlled by the battery abnormality determination device.

The receiver 8 is structured so as to receive the pilot command signal transmitted from the transmitter 9 and output it to the controller 10, and at the same time, transmit the control signal from the controller 10 to various machine body controlling servomotors. The controller 10 includes a flight control device (not shown) that is connected to the receiver 8 and controls flight of the airframe 1, and a battery abnormality determination device 15 (FIG. 2) according to the present invention.

The flight control device of the controller 10 is
Flight control of the flight attitude, flight direction, flight speed, flight altitude, etc. of the machine body 1 is performed according to the pilot command signal sent from the transmitter 9. When performing flight control, the target attitude angle, azimuth, and altitude are calculated based on the pilot command signal sent from the transmitter 9, and the actual flight state detected by the various sensors of the airframe 1 is the target flight. This is performed by controlling each servomotor for the attitude control so that the state becomes a state.

As shown in FIG. 2, the battery abnormality determination device 15 of the controller 10 is connected to a main switch 16 as a power-on switch provided in the machine body 1, and an A / D converter 17 is connected to this main switch 16. Connected to the CPU 18 and the first to third warning lamps 12
Lamp drivers 19 to 21 for lighting up to 14 lamps. The load 22 connected to the main switch 16 in FIG. 2 is all the electrical components mounted on the machine body 1 and fed from the battery 11.

The CPU 18 is composed of a judgment circuit 22 for carrying out a judgment process which will be described later, and a timer circuit 23 for starting time counting when the main switch 15 is turned on. In the judgment circuit 22, the main switch 16 is turned on.
The voltage value (V) of the battery 11 when a predetermined time (t1) has elapsed from the time when the state is reached is measured, and the measured voltage value (V) is the predetermined abnormal battery determination voltage (V
a) A lamp lighting signal is sent to the lamp driver 19 in the following cases. The lamp drivers 19 to 21 have a structure for lighting the first to third warning lamps 12 to 14 connected to each when a lamp lighting signal is input. Therefore, at this time, the lamp lighting signal is sent to the lamp driver 19, so that the first warning lamp 12 is lit.

The set time (t1) is set to be shorter than the time required for the voltage drop phenomenon occurring immediately after the normal battery is connected to the load to be substantially converged.
Here, the voltage drop phenomenon will be described. When the battery is connected to the load, its voltage changes as shown in FIG. In FIG. 3, the voltage change of a normal battery is shown by a thick line, and the voltage change of an abnormal battery that has reached the end of its life is shown by a wavy line. In the figure, the voltage change until the normal battery voltage becomes 0 is shown in a state where the time is shortened by omitting a part of the way.

The voltage drop phenomenon referred to here is the battery 1
1 is connected to the load 22, that is, the time when the main switch 16 is turned on [time (ts) in FIG. 3], the voltage rapidly decreases as indicated by symbol A in FIG. 3, and then gradually decreases. A phenomenon in which the amount decreases and converges to a substantially constant value. The set time (t1) is set to be shorter than the time (t2) at which the above-described voltage drop phenomenon substantially converges.

Further, the abnormal battery determination voltage (Va)
Is set to a voltage value approximately at the midpoint of the total usable time of the normal battery. This total usable time is shown in Fig. 3.
Is the total elapsed time from the time (ts) when the main switch 16 is turned on to the time (tc) when the voltage value of the battery 11 reaches (Vc). In this embodiment, the abnormal battery determination voltage (Va) is set to a voltage value at a time (ta) which is an intermediate point of the total usable time.

That is, for an abnormal battery that has reached the end of its life, the main switch 16 is turned off as shown by the broken line in FIG.
The voltage at the time (t1) after the N operation is (Va)
Since it is lower (Vt), the determination circuit 22 determines that the battery is abnormal.

The decision circuit 22 determines the time (t
In addition to comparing the voltage value at 1) with the abnormal battery determination voltage (Va), the battery 1 is always turned on after the main switch is turned on.
When the voltage of 1 is detected and becomes lower than the caution voltage (Vb) or the replacement voltage (Vc), the lamp drivers 20, 21
It is configured to send a lamp lighting signal to. The caution voltage (Vb) is a voltage value when the time to replace the battery is approaching, and it is an abbreviation from the time (ta) which is an intermediate point of the total usable time to the time (te) when the voltage value becomes 0. The voltage value is set at an intermediate point [indicated by time (tb) in FIG. 3]. Further, the replacement voltage (Vc) is a voltage value when it is required to replace the battery as soon as possible, and the voltage value that has maintained a substantially constant value after the occurrence of the voltage drop phenomenon tends to zero. Is set to a voltage value immediately before [the time (tc) in FIG. 3].

The battery voltage is equal to the caution voltage (Vb
) Is reached, the second warning lamp 13 is turned on, and when the exchange voltage (Vc) is reached, the third warning lamp 14 is turned on.

Next, the operation of the battery abnormality judging device 15 will be described with reference to the flow charts shown in FIGS. When the main switch 16 of the machine body 1 is turned on, the battery abnormality determination device 15 first performs the operation shown in FIG.
It is determined whether the battery 11 is normal or has reached the end of its life as shown in the flowchart of FIG.

When the main switch 6 of the machine body 1 is turned on in step S1 of FIG. 4, the determination circuit 2 of the CPU 18
2 measures the voltage value (V) of the battery 11 in step S2. It should be noted that this voltage measurement operation is repeatedly performed at regular intervals thereafter. Next, the timer circuit 23 starts measuring the elapsed time (t) from the time when the main switch is turned on in step S3, and this elapsed time (t) reaches the set time (t1) as shown in step S4. When the time condition is satisfied, a determination start signal is sent to the determination circuit 22.

The determination circuit 22 which has received the determination start signal determines in step S6 whether or not the voltage value (V) of the battery 11 is less than or equal to the abnormal battery determination voltage (Va). Since the battery that has reached the end of life has a larger amount of voltage drop immediately after being connected to the load than the normal battery, if the result of this determination is YES, it is determined that the battery 11 has reached the end of life due to an abnormal voltage value. be able to.

If YES in step S6, that is, if it is determined that the battery 11 has reached the end of its life, the determination circuit 22 sends a lamp lighting signal to the lamp driver 19 as a first warning in step S7. As a result, the first warning lamp 12 located on the upper surface of the front part of the machine body 1 is turned on. Thereafter, in step S8, the timer circuit 23 sets the elapsed time (t) to 0, and the abnormal battery determination control ends.

It should be noted that the first warning lamp 12 is configured to continue to be illuminated unless the main switch 16 is turned off or the battery 11 is replaced, and the determination circuit 22 is configured to continuously transmit a lamp illumination signal. ing. If the decision result in the step S6 is NO, that is, if the battery 11 is determined to be normal, the process proceeds to a step S8 without issuing a warning.

Therefore, when the battery 11 is abnormal, the first warning lamp 12 is turned on so that the operator can recognize this.

Battery abnormality determination device 15 shown in this embodiment
After the control including steps S1 to S8 described above is completed, as shown in FIG. 5, the control for issuing a warning is performed according to the charge amount of the battery. In FIG. 5, step P0 indicates the abnormal battery determination control including steps S1 to S8 shown in FIG.

After it is determined that the battery 11 is normal, the determination circuit 22 determines the battery 1 at step P1 in FIG.
The voltage value (V) of 1 is read, and it is determined in step P2 whether or not the voltage value (V) is less than or equal to the caution voltage (Vb). When this determination result is NO, that is, when the charge amount is sufficient, the process returns to step P1. If the determination result is YES, that is, if it is determined that the charge amount is less than or equal to the set value, the determination circuit 22 is determined in step P3.
Sends a lamp lighting signal to the lamp driver 20. As a result, the second warning lamp 13 on the upper surface of the front part of the machine body 1 is turned on as a second warning, and the operator can recognize that the battery charge amount has dropped to a predetermined value or less.

After issuing the second warning in this way, the determination circuit 22 determines in step P4 whether the voltage value (V) of the battery 11 is equal to or lower than the replacement voltage (Vc).
When the result of this determination is NO, that is, when the voltage value (V) of the battery 11 is lower than the caution voltage (Vb) and higher than the replacement voltage (Vc), the process returns to step P1. If the determination result is YES, that is, if it is determined that the battery 11 should be replaced as soon as possible, the determination circuit 22 determines in step P5 that the lamp driver 2 is to be replaced.
The sending of the lamp lighting signal to 0 is canceled to release the second warning, and the lamp lighting signal is sent to the lamp driver 21 in step P6. As a result, the second warning lamp 13 is turned off, and instead, the third warning lamp 14 arranged at the lower portion of the machine is turned on as a third warning, so that the operator recognizes that the battery replacement time has come. You can At this time, since the third warning lamp 14 is provided in the lower portion of the body, the operator can surely see it even during flight. Although the third warning is issued after the second warning is released in this embodiment, the second warning is not always necessary.
The warning does not have to be canceled.

Therefore, in addition to being able to quickly detect the battery that has reached the end of its life, the battery abnormality determination device 15 of the present embodiment, when the battery charge reaches a predetermined amount and when the battery replacement time is reached. Since a warning is issued when the flight is performed, it is possible to fly while always grasping the charge amount of the battery.

In the above embodiment, the present invention is applied to an unmanned helicopter for chemical spraying. However, the present invention is applied to any unmanned helicopter in which electric components are fed by a battery. can do. Also,
Even if it is not an unmanned helicopter, it can be applied to automobiles, motorcycles, and other battery-powered electronic devices.

[0034]

As described above, in the battery determination device according to the present invention, there is a phenomenon that the voltage rapidly decreases immediately after the normal battery is connected to the load after the power-on switch is turned on. The voltage value of the battery is measured before the time required to substantially converge and the warning device is activated when this voltage value is less than or equal to the voltage value at the approximate middle point of the total usable time of the normal battery. Since the battery has reached the end of its life, the amount of voltage drop immediately after connecting it to the load is larger than that of a normal battery.Therefore, when the battery in use has reached the end of life, a warning device is issued when the power is turned on. This can be determined by driving the.

Therefore, the user can recognize that the battery is abnormal after the power is turned on.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of an unmanned helicopter equipped with a battery determination device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a battery abnormality determination device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a graph showing changes over time in battery voltage.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining an operation when determining whether or not a battery is normal.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining an operation when issuing a warning based on a battery charge amount.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Airframe, 11 ... Battery, 12 ... 1st warning lamp, 15 ... Battery abnormality determination device, 16 ... Main switch, 18 ... CPU, 22 ... Determination circuit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A battery abnormality determination device is connected to a power-on switch interposed between a battery and an electrical component, and this battery abnormality determination device operates normally after the power-on switch is turned on. The voltage value of the battery is measured before the time required for the phenomenon of the voltage to drop rapidly immediately after connecting the battery to the load to subside substantially, and this voltage value indicates the total usable time of a normal battery. A battery determination device characterized in that a warning device is driven when the voltage value is equal to or lower than a voltage value at a substantially intermediate time point.