WO2022108223A1

WO2022108223A1 - Charging system for unmanned vehicle

Info

Publication number: WO2022108223A1
Application number: PCT/KR2021/016338
Authority: WO
Inventors: 박재영
Original assignee: 주식회사 하백소프트
Priority date: 2020-11-19
Filing date: 2021-11-10
Publication date: 2022-05-27
Also published as: KR102565618B1; KR20220068787A

Abstract

The present invention relates to a charging system, for an unmanned vehicle, for solving the problems of positioning error and short circuit due to foreign materials when the unmanned vehicle is docked on a charging station and is being charged. The charging system for an unmanned vehicle according to the present invention comprises: a charging station comprising first support parts and lower terminal parts and supplying a power source to the vehicle, the first support parts formed a predetermined distance away from each other, and the lower terminal parts respectively disposed on the first support parts, protruding so as to be rounded upward and supplying the power source; and a docking unit provided on the vehicle, receiving the power source from the charging station, and comprising second support parts, which are provided below the vehicle, elastic parts, which are respectively disposed between the second support parts and the vehicle to provide elasticity to the second support parts, and upper terminal parts which are respectively disposed on the bottom part of the second support parts, are depressively formed so as to correspond to the lower terminal parts, and come into contact with the lower terminal parts to receive the power source.

Description

Unmanned vehicle charging system

The present invention relates to a charging system, and more particularly, to a charging system for an unmanned mobile body for solving a problem of a position error and an electric leakage caused by foreign substances in the process of charging the unmanned mobile body by docking it at a charging station.

An unmanned vehicle is a vehicle that can perform a mission by judging the situation by itself, and typical examples include drones and autonomous vehicles.

Recently, in response to the rapid increase in demand for unmanned vehicles, common technology for unmanned vehicles that can be commonly applied to various types of unmanned vehicles, next-generation unmanned vehicle source technology that can respond to industrial changes in the future unmanned aerial vehicles, and small unmanned aerial vehicles to improve performance of small unmanned aerial vehicles The development of low-altitude unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) traffic management monitoring technology that monitors and manages low-altitude unmanned aerial vehicle traffic is being actively developed.

In order to charge such an unmanned moving object, a non-contact power supply method is widely used, but it takes a long time. As a result, a method for efficiently supplying the contact power supply is required.

Here, the unmanned moving object recognizes its location through GPS or IMU, etc. However, when the contact power supply method is used, there is a problem in that malfunctions due to position errors and leakage and sparks occur due to foreign substances during the contact process.

Meanwhile, Korean Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-2017-0083856 discloses the contents of “vertical take-off and landing drone and docking station”.

The disclosed rule take-off and landing drone and docking station are vertical take-off and landing drones that take off and land at a docking station including a first guide area for inducing landing and a second guide area for distinguishing the polarity of a charging power source. A pair of built-in batteries are disposed symmetrically around the induction rod and the induction rod corresponding to the first guide area, and are connected to the power supply unit supplying power to the induction rod through the built-in battery and each built-in battery and skid on the charging pads of two polarities disposed at the boundary of the second guide region, and include a charging terminal for transferring the charging power of the charging pad to the built-in battery.

Although the disclosed charging system discloses content for overcoming the position error to some extent through the first guide region for inducing landing and the second guide region for separating the polarity of the charging power, it is still a malfunction and contact process due to the position error. There was a problem in that electric leakage and sparks were generated by foreign substances in the

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a charging system for an unmanned moving object for solving a position error and an electric leakage problem due to foreign substances in the process of charging the unmanned moving object by docking it at a charging station.

The charging system for an unmanned moving object according to the present invention includes a first support part formed to be spaced apart from each other by a predetermined interval, a lower terminal part disposed on the upper part of the first support part and convexly protruding upward, a charging station for supplying power to the mobile body; A second support part provided in the movable body to receive power from the charging station, a second support part provided under the movable body, an elastic part disposed between the second support part and the movable body to provide an elastic force to the second support part; 2 It is characterized in that it includes a docking part disposed under the support part and formed to be concave to correspond to the lower terminal part and including an upper terminal part in contact with the lower terminal part.

In the charging system of the unmanned moving object according to the present invention, the lower terminal part is a first coupling part convexly formed to protrude upward from the first support part, and a first terminal part disposed at the center of the first coupling part to supply power. , formed at the edge of the first coupling part, absorbing shock during the docking process with the docking part, and characterized in that it comprises a damper for preventing the inflow of foreign substances into the first terminal part.

In the charging system of the unmanned moving body according to the present invention, the upper terminal part is provided under the second support part, is formed concavely to correspond to the first coupling part, and is a second coupling part coupled to the first coupling part. , a second terminal part disposed in the center of the second coupling part to be supplied with power in contact with the first terminal part, provided in the second coupling part, before being coupled to the lower terminal part, air (air) into the first coupling part ) is characterized in that it includes a spraying unit for removing foreign substances by spraying.

In the charging system for an unmanned moving object according to the present invention, the first terminal part and the second terminal part are characterized in that they are magnetic.

The charging system for an unmanned moving object according to the present invention can minimize the occurrence of electric leakage by overcoming a position error and preventing foreign substances from accumulating by forming the lower terminal part of the charging station to be convex and the upper terminal part of the docking part to be concave. .

In addition, the charging system of the unmanned moving object according to the present invention can minimize the occurrence of electric leakage by spraying air to the lower terminal portion of the charging station before docking, thereby removing foreign substances from the lower terminal portion.

In addition, the charging system of the unmanned moving object according to the present invention can prevent the inflow of foreign substances by providing a damper in the lower terminal part, reduce the contact impact between the docking part and the charging station, and increase the bonding force.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a charging system for an unmanned moving object according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a perspective view illustrating a charging system for an unmanned moving object according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a side cross-sectional view illustrating a charging system for an unmanned moving object according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 to 7 are diagrams for explaining a docking process of the charging system of an unmanned moving object according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Prior to the detailed description of the present invention, the terms or words used in the present specification and claims described below should not be construed as being limited to their ordinary or dictionary meanings, and the inventors should develop their own inventions in the best way. It should be interpreted as meaning and concept consistent with the technical idea of the present invention based on the principle that it can be appropriately defined as a concept of a term for explanation. Therefore, the embodiments described in the present specification and the configurations shown in the drawings are only the most preferred embodiments of the present invention, and do not represent all the technical spirit of the present invention, so various equivalents that can be substituted for them at the time of the present application It should be understood that there may be water and variations.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In this case, it should be noted that in the accompanying drawings, the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals as much as possible. In addition, detailed descriptions of well-known functions and configurations that may obscure the gist of the present invention will be omitted. For the same reason, some components are exaggerated, omitted, or schematically illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and the size of each component does not fully reflect the actual size.

1 is a block diagram showing a charging system for an unmanned moving object according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a charging system for an unmanned moving object according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is an embodiment of the present invention It is a cross-sectional side view showing a charging system for an unmanned moving object according to the present invention, and FIGS. 4 to 7 are views for explaining a docking process of the charging system for an unmanned moving object according to an embodiment of the present invention.

1 to 7 , a charging system 300 according to an embodiment of the present invention is configured to include an unmanned moving object 100 and a charging station 200 .

The unmanned moving object 100 is a moving object capable of performing a task by determining the situation by itself, and may include a drone, a car, a ship, and the like. In the following description, it is assumed that the unmanned moving object 100 is a drone. Meanwhile, in the following description, using a drone as an example, the charging station 200 is provided in the lower part, but the charging station 200 and the unmanned mobile body 100 are reversed, or a part of the charging station 200 and the unmanned mobile body Some components of (100) may be formed in an inverted form.

The unmanned moving object 100 may include a sensing unit 110 , a battery 120 , a docking unit 130 , and a control unit 140 .

The sensing unit 110 may sense a position with the charging station 200 by using the force of an electromagnetic field without physical contact. That is, the sensing unit 110 may sense that the docking unit 130 approaches the charging station 200 by a predetermined distance. Various types of proximity sensors such as a magnetic proximity sensor, an optical proximity sensor, an ultrasonic proximity sensor, an inductive proximity sensor, a capacitive proximity sensor, and an eddy current proximity sensor may be applied to the sensing unit 110 .

The battery 120 supplies power for driving the unmanned mobile body 100, and receives power from the charging station 200 through the docking unit 130 to charge the power or discharge the charged power to the unmanned mobile body ( 100) can be driven. The battery 120 includes a nickel-cadmium battery, a lead storage battery, a nickel metal hydride battery (NiMH), a lithium ion battery, and a lithium iron phosphate battery (lithium- ion phosphate battery), lithium polymer battery, etc., but is not limited thereto, and various types of batteries may be used.

The docking unit 130 may be coupled to the charging station 200 and serve to receive power from the charging station 200 .

The docking part 130 may include a second support part 131 , an elastic part 132 , an upper terminal part 133 , and a connection part 134 .

The second support part 131 is coupled to the body portion of the unmanned moving object through the connection part 134 , and may support the upper terminal part 133 . The second support 131 may preferably be provided at the bottom of the unmanned moving body in the form of a bar, and a space is provided so that the (+) terminal and the (-) terminal of the upper terminal part 133 can be sufficiently spaced apart. Thus, the leakage current can be minimized. Meanwhile, the second support part 131 may be formed of a flexible material. For example, the second support 131 may be formed of a material including silicone, urethane, rubber, or the like. Through this, the second support 131 may be prevented from being damaged in the process of making contact with the first support 210 , and may serve to increase the contact force with the first support 210 .

The elastic part 132 may be disposed between the second support part 131 and the unmanned moving object to provide an elastic force to the second support part 131 . That is, the elastic part 132 may provide an elastic force from the unmanned moving object toward the charging station 200 to support the upper terminal part 133 to be more firmly attached to the charging station 200 .

In addition, the elastic part 132 may have a passage through which air moves therein. Through this, the elastic unit 132 may serve to inject air from the body of the unmanned moving object 100 to the injection unit through the passage.

In addition, the elastic part 132 may serve to move the power received from the charging station 200 to the battery 120 .

The upper terminal part 133 may include a second coupling part 133a, a second terminal part 133b, and a spraying part (not shown).

The second coupling part 133a is provided under the second support part 131 and is concavely formed in a shape corresponding to the first coupling part 221 of the lower terminal part 220 to be described later, and thus the first coupling part 221 . ) can be combined with The second coupling part 133a may be formed of a magnetic material having a different polarity from that of the first coupling part 221 , and may be attached to the first coupling part 221 through magnetism. Through this, the second coupling part 133a may be coupled to each other at an accurate position even if there is a gap due to a position error with the first coupling part 221 .

The second terminal part 133b may be disposed in the center of the second coupling part 133a and may be in contact with the first terminal part 222 of the lower terminal part 220 to be described later to receive power from the first terminal part 222 .

The spraying unit may be provided in the second coupling part 133a to spray air into the first coupling part 221 before being coupled to the lower terminal part 220 to remove foreign substances. For example, after rain, rainwater may flow into the upper portion of the first coupling part 221 , which may lead to an electric leakage problem. Accordingly, the docking unit 130 according to the embodiment of the present invention includes a spraying unit to remove foreign substances on the upper portion of the first coupling unit 221 through air before docking and then remove it, thereby preventing the leakage problem in advance. have. Although not shown, the injection part may be configured to penetrate the second coupling part 133a or to penetrate the second terminal part 133b.

The connection part 134 connects the body of the unmanned moving body and the second coupling part 133a to each other. The connecting portion 134 may include an elevating device to lower the second coupling portion 133a in the direction of the first coupling portion 221 or lift the lowered first coupling portion 221 . Preferably, the connection part 134 may be provided under the unmanned moving body to connect the second coupling part 133a.

The controller 140 controls the overall operation of the unmanned moving object. Specific details of the control unit 140 will be described later after the structure of the charging station 200 is described.

The charging station 200 may serve to supply power to an unmanned moving object.

The charging station 200 includes a first support part 210 and a lower terminal part 220 .

The first support parts 210 may be provided as a pair and formed to be spaced apart from each other by a predetermined interval. That is, the first support part 210 may be provided as a pair to arrange the (+) terminal and the (-) terminal of the lower terminal part 220, so that the (+) terminal and the (-) terminal can be sufficiently spaced apart. Leakage current can be minimized by providing space.

The lower terminal unit 220 may be disposed on the upper portion of the first support unit 210 , and may convexly protrude upward to supply power to the docking unit 130 .

The lower terminal part 220 may include a first coupling part 221 , a first terminal part 222 , and a damper 223 .

The first coupling part 221 may be formed to protrude upward from the first support part 210 , and may be coupled to the above-described second coupling part 133a. Since the first coupling part 221 is formed to protrude upwardly, it is possible to minimize the phenomenon of water pooling. Also, the first coupling part 221 may be formed of a magnetic material having a different polarity from that of the second coupling part 133a, and may be attached to the second coupling part 133a through magnetism. Through this, the first coupling part 221 may be coupled to each other at an accurate position even if there is a gap due to a position error with the second coupling part 133a. For example, the first coupling part 221 may be formed in a hemispherical shape.

Meanwhile, the first coupling part 221 may not be formed of a magnetic material, but may be formed of a metal in contact with the magnetic material. Accordingly, the first coupling part 221 may contact the second coupling part 133a formed of a magnetic material. Through this, it is possible to overcome the position error and prevent foreign substances from being attached to the second coupling part 133a by magnetism.

The first terminal part 222 may be disposed at the center of the first coupling part 221 to supply power to the docking part 130 through the above-described second terminal part 133b. Here, the first terminal portion 222 may be positioned at the center of the uppermost portion of the convexly formed first coupling portion 221 to prevent short circuit.

The damper 233 is formed on the edge of the first coupling part 221 , absorbs an impact during the docking process with the docking part 130 , and may prevent the inflow of foreign substances into the first terminal part 212 . Here, the damper 233 is formed of an elastic material such as rubber or silicone, and is elastically deformed during docking, thereby increasing the bonding force between the second coupling part 133a and the first coupling part 221 .

Hereinafter, a process of docking the docking unit 130 and the charging station 200 will be described.

First, as shown in FIG. 4 , the control unit 140 establishes a vertical position with the charging station 200 through GPS or IMU, and then connects the second support unit 131 through the connection unit 134 to the charging station 200 . direction can be lowered. In this case, when it is recognized through the sensing unit 110 that it approaches the charging station 200 by a predetermined distance, the controller 140 may stop the lowering operation.

Next, as shown in FIG. 5 , when the second support part 131 is close to the charging station 200 by a certain distance, the control unit 140 stops the descending operation and blows air through the injection unit to the first coupling unit 221 . ), it is possible to remove foreign substances on the first coupling part 221 and the first terminal part 222 .

Next, as shown in FIG. 6 , the control unit 140 may lower the second support unit 131 in the direction of the charging station 200 through the connection unit 134 .

And, as shown in FIG. 7 , the controller 140 may receive power from the charging station 200 when the docking unit 130 and the charging station 200 are in close contact with each other.

As described above, in the charging system 300 of the unmanned moving object according to the embodiment of the present invention, the lower terminal part 220 of the charging station 200 is convex, and the upper terminal part 133a of the docking part 130 is concave. By doing so, it is possible to overcome the position error and prevent the accumulation of foreign substances to minimize the occurrence of electric leakage.

In addition, the charging system 300 of the unmanned moving object according to the embodiment of the present invention injects air into the lower terminal part 220 of the charging station 200 before docking, thereby removing foreign substances from the lower terminal part 220 to minimize the occurrence of electric leakage. can do.

In addition, the charging system 300 of the unmanned moving object according to the embodiment of the present invention includes a damper 223 on the lower terminal part 220 to prevent the inflow of foreign substances, and the docking part 130 and the charging station 200 . It can reduce the impact between the liver and increase the bonding force.

Although the present invention has been described above using several preferred embodiments, these examples are illustrative and not restrictive. As such, those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains will understand that various changes and modifications can be made in accordance with the doctrine of equivalents without departing from the spirit of the present invention and the scope of rights set forth in the appended claims.

[Explanation of code]

100: unmanned moving object 110: sensing unit

120: battery 130: docking unit

131: second support part 132: elastic part

133: receiving terminal portion 133a: second coupling portion

133b: second terminal part 134: connection part

140: control unit 200: charging station

210: first support 220: supply terminal unit

221: first coupling part 222: first terminal part

223: damper 300: charging system

Claims

a charging station for supplying power to a moving object, including a first support part spaced apart from each other and a lower terminal part disposed on the first support part and convexly protruding upward;

A second support part provided in the movable body to receive power from the charging station, a second support part provided under the movable body, an elastic part disposed between the second support part and the movable body to provide an elastic force to the second support part; 2 a docking part disposed under the support part and formed concavely to correspond to the lower terminal part and including an upper terminal part in contact with the lower terminal part;

Charging system of an unmanned mobile body, characterized in that it comprises a.
According to claim 1,

The lower terminal part,

a first coupling part convexly protruding upward from the first support part;

a first terminal unit disposed in the center of the first coupling unit to supply power;

a damper formed on an edge of the first coupling part, absorbing an impact during a docking process with the docking part, and preventing foreign substances from flowing into the first terminal part;

Charging system of an unmanned mobile body, characterized in that it comprises a.
3. The method of claim 2,

The upper terminal part,

a second coupling part provided under the second support part and concavely formed to correspond to the first coupling part and coupled to the first coupling part;

a second terminal part disposed in the center of the second coupling part and receiving power in contact with the first terminal part;

a spraying part provided in the second coupling part to spray air into the first coupling part before being coupled to the lower terminal part to remove foreign substances;

Charging system of an unmanned mobile body, characterized in that it comprises a.
4. The method of claim 3,

At least one of the first terminal part and the second terminal part is a magnetic material.