TW202012210A - Electric trolley, system and method for driving and controlling electric trolley - Google Patents

Abstract

A driving and controlling system includes: a first obtaining module configured to obtain a first pressure value detected by a pressure sensing element before a motor is activated; a determining module configured to determine whether the first pressure value is greater than a first predetermined value; a controlling module configured to activate the motor when the first pressure value is greater than the first predetermined value; a second obtaining module configured to obtain a second pressure value detected by the pressure sensing element after the motor is activated; wherein the determining module is further configured to determine whether the second pressure value is greater than a second predetermined value, and the controlling module is further configured to control the motor to accelerate in response to the second pressure value being greater than the second predetermined value. A driving and controlling method and an electric trolley are also provided.

Description

Electric cart and its drive control system and method

The invention relates to an electric cart and its drive control system and method.

At present, most of the control methods of electric carts use push rods or remote controllers. Such methods require users to be familiar with the operation interface and operation methods, and even need to change the user's operation habits to properly control the vehicle, increase the threshold for the operator to use, the operation is not convenient.

In view of this, it is necessary to provide an electric cart and its drive control system and method, which uses power to assist the user to give back the force applied to the cart, and the operation is simple and labor-saving.

An embodiment of the present invention provides a driving control method, which is applied to an electric cart. The electric cart is provided with a pressure sensing element and at least one motor. The motor is used to drive the electric cart to move. The driving control method includes the following steps: acquiring a first pressure value sensed by the pressure sensing element before the motor is started; determining whether the first pressure value is greater than a first threshold; when the first pressure value is greater than At the first threshold, start the motor to drive the electric cart to move; obtain a second pressure value sensed by the pressure sensing element after the motor is started; determine whether the second pressure value Greater than a second threshold; and when the second pressure value is greater than the second threshold, controlling the motor to accelerate.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a drive control system, including a plurality of computer program instructions for being loaded and executed by an electric cart to control the electric cart to perform the following steps: acquiring the pressure sensing element to the motor The first pressure value sensed before starting; judging whether the first pressure value is greater than the first threshold; when the first pressure value is greater than the first threshold, starting the motor to drive the electric cart Moving; acquiring a second pressure value sensed by the pressure sensing element after the motor is started; determining whether the second pressure value is greater than a second threshold; and when the second pressure value is greater than the second At a threshold, the motor is controlled to accelerate.

An embodiment of the present invention also provides an electric cart including: a pressure sensing element; a motor for driving the electric cart to move; a motor controller for controlling the rotation of the motor; a memory for storing multiple A computer program instruction; and a processor for loading the computer program instruction to perform the following steps: acquiring the first pressure value sensed by the pressure sensing element before the motor is started; determining the first Whether the pressure value is greater than the first threshold; when the first pressure value is greater than the first threshold, the motor is started to drive the electric cart to move; the pressure sensing element is sensed after the motor is started The measured second pressure value; judging whether the second pressure value is greater than a second threshold; and when the second pressure value is greater than the second threshold, controlling the motor to accelerate.

Compared with the conventional technology, the above electric cart and its drive control system and method sense the pushing force and pulling force of the electric cart by the pressure sensor, and control the speed of the motor according to the magnitude of the pushing force or pulling force, It is simple and labor-saving to achieve the purpose of operating the cart.

Please refer to FIGS. 1-2. In one embodiment, an electric cart 100 includes a body 10, a handle 20, at least one wheel 30, at least one pressure sensing element 40, at least one motor 50 (FIG. 2), at least one motor The controller 60 (FIG. 2), the processor 70 (FIG. 2) and the memory 80 (FIG. 2). The handle 20 is fixedly connected to the body 10, and the pressure sensing element 40 can be disposed in the handle 20 for sensing the force exerted by the user on the electric cart 100. The user can push and pull the handle 20 to operate the electric cart 100 to move. The number of the motors 50 can be set according to actual use requirements, and is not limited herein. For example, the number of the motors 50 is equal to the number of the wheels 30, and each motor 50 is used to drive each wheel 30 correspondingly. The number of the motor controllers 60 is preferably equal to the number of the motors 50, and each motor controller 60 is used to correspondingly control each motor 50. In other embodiments of the present invention, a plurality of wheels 30 may also share a motor 50, and a plurality of motors 50 may also share a motor controller 60; or a motor may be provided only on the front wheel (the rear wheel is not provided with a motor). The car 100 is only driven by the front wheels; it is also possible to provide the motor only on the rear wheels (the front wheels are not provided with motors), and the electric cart 100 is only driven through the rear wheels.

In FIG. 1, the electric cart 100 is exemplified by taking four wheels 30 as an example. The electric cart 100 may be a nursing cart used in a medical environment. In other embodiments of the present invention, the electric cart 100 may also be a cart used in other scenes.

In FIG. 2, the motor 50 and the motor controller 60 are exemplified by four examples. The four motors 50 are used to drive four wheels 30 respectively, and the four motor controllers 60 are used to control four motors 50 respectively. A motor controller 60 can control the operation of each motor 50 by receiving and outputting control commands from the processor 70.

In one embodiment, the electric cart 100 further includes a display unit (not shown), through which the current speed of the electric cart 100 can be displayed.

In one embodiment, the processor 70 may be a chip with a signal processing function such as a single-chip computer, a microprocessor, or the like. The memory 80 may be a read-only memory or a random memory. The pressure sensing element 40 may be a strain-type pressure sensor (as shown in FIG. 3). The pressure sensing element 40 has a first force direction and a second force direction. The first force direction may be It is defined as a thrust direction for sensing the pushing force of the user on the handle 20, and the second force direction can be defined as a pulling direction for sensing the user's pulling force on the handle 20. The pressure sensing element 40 can convert the sensed pressure value into a kilogram value.

Please refer to FIG. 4, the electric cart 100 further runs a drive control system 101. The drive control system 101 includes at least a first acquisition module 110, a judgment module 120, a second acquisition module 130, and a control module 140. In this embodiment, the above-mentioned modules are programmable software instructions stored in the memory 80 and can be called and executed by the processor 70. It can be understood that, in other embodiments, the above-mentioned modules may also be program instructions or firmware solidified in the processor 70.

The first obtaining module 110 is used to obtain the first pressure value sensed by the pressure sensing element 40 before the motor 50 is not started.

In one embodiment, the processor 70 can communicate with the pressure sensing element 40. When the user needs to push the electric cart 100 in a stationary state, the user can apply a pushing force or a pulling force to the handle 20, the pressure sensing element 40 can sense a first pressure value, and then the first acquisition The module 110 can obtain the first pressure value sensed by the pressure sensing element 40.

The judgment module 120 is used to judge whether the first pressure value is greater than or equal to a first threshold.

In an embodiment, the first threshold may be set according to actual usage scenarios, and the size of the first threshold is not specifically limited.

The control module 140 is used to activate the motor 50 to drive the electric cart 100 to move when the first pressure value is greater than or equal to the first threshold.

In one embodiment, when the first pressure value is greater than or equal to the first threshold, the control module 140 activates the motor 50. When the first pressure value is less than the first threshold, the The control module 140 does not start the motor 50, so that the electric cart 100 can be prevented from starting when it is accidentally touched (at rest), and the safety of the electric cart 100 is improved.

In one embodiment, the control module 140 can start the motor 50 by outputting a start control signal to the motor controller 60.

The second obtaining module 130 is used to obtain the second pressure value sensed by the pressure sensing element 40 after the motor 50 is started.

In one embodiment, after the motor 50 is started, the pressure sensing element 40 continues to sense the current pulling or pushing force applied to the handle 20, and then the second acquiring module 130 can acquire the pressure sensing The second pressure value sensed by the element 40.

The judgment module 120 is further used to judge whether the second pressure value is greater than or equal to a second threshold.

In an embodiment, the second threshold may be set according to actual usage scenarios, and the size of the second threshold is not specifically limited.

The control module 140 is used to control the motor 50 to accelerate when the second pressure value is greater than or equal to the second threshold.

In one embodiment, the control module 140 can control the motor 50 to accelerate to a maximum speed limit and stop accelerating the motor 50 to prevent the user from pushing the electric cart 100 normally due to excessive speed. The maximum speed limit value can be set with reference to the walking speed of the person, for example, the maximum speed limit value is set to 4 km/h.

In an embodiment, the determination module 120 is further used to determine whether the second pressure value is less than the second threshold value and greater than or equal to a third threshold value. When the second pressure value is less than the second threshold value and greater than or equal to the third threshold value, the control module 140 controls the motor 50 to decelerate. Wherein the second threshold is greater than the third threshold.

In one embodiment, the control module 140 can control the motor 50 to decelerate to a minimum speed limit and then stop decelerating the motor 50 to avoid decelerating to zero and causing the electric cart 100 to stop moving. The minimum speed limit value can be set with reference to the walking speed of the person, for example, the minimum speed limit value is set to 1 km/h.

In one embodiment, the determination module 120 is further used to determine whether the second pressure value is less than the third threshold. When the second pressure value is less than the third threshold, the control module 140 controls the motor 50 to stop running.

In one embodiment, after the motor 50 stops running, the judgment module 120 needs to re-judge whether the pressure value sensed by the pressure sensing element 40 is greater than the first threshold, the control module 140 according to The judgment result of the judgment module 120 determines whether to start the motor 50 again. That is, after the motor 50 stops operating, the user needs to reapply a pulling force or a pushing force greater than or equal to the first threshold to the handle to start the motor 50 again.

In one embodiment, the first threshold may be set equal to the second threshold. In other embodiments of the present invention, the first threshold may not be equal to the second threshold. The pressure or tensile force sensed by the strain-type pressure sensor is in kilograms. The first threshold and the second threshold may be set to 2 kilograms, the second threshold is greater than the third threshold, the first The three thresholds can be set to 1 kg. When the user needs to push the electric cart 100 in a stationary state, the user can apply a pushing force or pulling force to the handle 20 with a first pressure value. When the first pressure value is greater than or equal to 2 kg, the control module 140 The motor 50 is started. After the motor 50 is started, the user can continue to apply a second pressure value to the handle 20 to push or pull, when the second pressure value is greater than or equal to 2 kg, the control module 140 controls the motor 50 to accelerate ; When the second pressure value is greater than 1 kg and less than or equal to 2 kg, the control module 140 controls the motor 50 to decelerate; when the second pressure value is less than 1 kg, the control module 140 controls the motor 50 stopped running. When the motor 50 stops running, when the user applies a pushing force or a pulling force greater than or equal to 2 kg to the handle 20 again, the control module 140 can control the motor 50 to start again.

In one embodiment, after the motor 50 is started, the second acquiring module 130 is used to acquire the third pressure value sensed by the pressure sensing element 40 at the first time node t1, the second The obtaining module 130 is further used to obtain the fourth pressure value sensed by the pressure sensing element 40 at the second time node t2, and the determining module 120 is further used to determine the third pressure value and the fourth pressure Whether the difference between the values is greater than or equal to a fourth threshold, the control module 140 is also used when the difference between the third pressure value and the fourth pressure value is greater than or equal to the fourth threshold, The motor 50 is controlled to stop running.

In an embodiment, the fourth threshold may be set according to actual usage scenarios, and the size of the fourth threshold is not specifically limited. The first time node t1 and the second time node t2 are adjacent time points, for example, the first time node t1 and the second time node t2 are separated by 2s. Assuming that the fourth threshold value is 1 kg, after the motor 50 is started, the second acquiring module 130 acquires the tensile force or the thrust force sensed by the pressure sensing element 40 at the first time node t1 is 2.8 kg. The tensile or thrust force sensed at the time node t2 is 1.5 kg, and the judgment module 120 judges that the difference between the third pressure value and the fourth pressure value (2.8-1.5=1.3 kg) is greater than the fourth Threshold (1 kg), and then the control module 140 controls the motor 50 to stop running.

5 is a flowchart of a drive control method in an embodiment of the invention. This method can be used in the electric cart 100 shown in FIG. 1.

In step S500, the first obtaining module 110 obtains the first pressure value sensed by the pressure sensing element 40 before the motor 50 is not started.

In step S502, the judgment module 120 judges whether the first pressure value is greater than or equal to a first threshold.

Step S504, when the first pressure value is greater than or equal to the first threshold, the control module 140 starts the motor 50.

Step S506, when the first pressure value is less than the first threshold, the motor 50 is not started.

In step S508, the second obtaining module 130 obtains the second pressure value sensed by the pressure sensing element 40 after the motor 50 is started.

In step S510, the judgment module 120 judges whether the second pressure value is greater than or equal to a second threshold.

Step S512, when the second pressure value is greater than or equal to the second threshold, the control module 140 controls the motor 50 to accelerate.

In step S514, the determination module 120 determines whether the second pressure value is less than the second threshold value and greater than or equal to a third threshold value.

Step S516, when the second pressure value is less than the second threshold value and greater than or equal to the third threshold value, the control module 140 controls the motor 50 to decelerate.

Step S518, when the second pressure value is less than the third threshold, the control module 140 controls the motor 50 to stop running.

The above electric cart and its drive control system and method sense the pushing force and pulling force of the electric cart by the pressure sensor, and control the speed of the motor according to the magnitude of the pushing force or pulling force to achieve the purpose of operating the cart Simple and effortless.

In summary, the present invention meets the requirements of the invention patent, and the patent application is filed in accordance with the law. However, the above are only the preferred embodiments of the present invention, and the scope of the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments. Any equivalent modifications or changes made by those familiar with the art of this case in accordance with the spirit of the present invention are It should be covered by the following patent applications.

10: Ontology 20: handle 30: Wheel 40: Pressure sensing element 50: motor 60: Motor controller 70: processor 80: memory 100: electric cart 101: Drive control system 110: The first acquisition module 120: judgment module 130: Second acquisition module 140: control module

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an electric cart according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a diagram of a motor drive architecture according to an embodiment of the invention.

3 is a schematic structural diagram of a pressure sensing device according to an embodiment of the invention.

4 is a functional module diagram of a drive control system according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of steps of a drive control method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

101: Drive control system

110: The first acquisition module

120: judgment module

130: Second acquisition module

140: control module

Claims (10)

A drive control method is applied to an electric cart. The electric cart is provided with at least one pressure sensing element and at least one motor. The motor is used to drive the electric cart to move. The method includes the following steps : Obtain the first pressure value sensed by the pressure sensing element before the motor is started; determine whether the first pressure value is greater than or equal to a first threshold; when the first pressure value is greater than or equal to the At the first threshold, start the motor; obtain a second pressure value sensed by the pressure sensing element after the motor is started; determine whether the second pressure value is greater than or equal to the second threshold; and when When the second pressure value is greater than or equal to the second threshold, the motor is controlled to accelerate. The method as described in item 1 of the patent application scope further includes: determining whether the second pressure value is less than the second threshold value and greater than or equal to a third threshold value; and when the second pressure value is less than the second When the threshold is greater than or equal to the third threshold, the motor is controlled to decelerate; wherein the second threshold is greater than the third threshold. The method as described in item 2 of the patent application scope further includes: judging whether the second pressure value is less than the third threshold; and when the second pressure value is less than the third threshold, controlling the motor Stop running. The method according to item 1 or item 2 of the patent application scope, further comprising: acquiring a third pressure value sensed by the pressure sensing element at a first time node after the motor is started; acquiring the pressure A fourth pressure value sensed by the sensing element at a second time node after the motor is started; judging whether the difference between the third pressure value and the fourth pressure value is greater than or equal to a fourth threshold; And when the difference between the third pressure value and the fourth pressure value is greater than or equal to the fourth threshold value, the motor is controlled to stop running. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the first threshold is equal to the second threshold. The method as described in item 2 of the patent application range, wherein the motor has a minimum speed limit value, and the motor can be decelerated to be greater than or equal to the minimum speed limit value. The method as described in item 1 of the patent application range, wherein the motor has a maximum speed limit value, and the motor can be accelerated to less than or equal to the maximum speed limit value. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the pressure value sensed by the pressure sensing element is a pushing force or a pulling force. A drive control system includes a plurality of program instructions for being loaded and executed by an electric cart to control the electric cart to execute the drive control method according to any one of the request items 1 to 8. An electric cart includes: a pressure sensing element; a motor for driving the electric cart to move; a motor controller for controlling the rotation of the motor; a memory for storing multiple program instructions; and a processor , For loading the program instructions to execute the drive control method described in any one of the request items 1 to 8.

Images