WO2023015411A1 - Système de gestion de batterie pour outil électrique autonome - Google Patents

Système de gestion de batterie pour outil électrique autonome Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2023015411A1
WO2023015411A1 PCT/CN2021/111519 CN2021111519W WO2023015411A1 WO 2023015411 A1 WO2023015411 A1 WO 2023015411A1 CN 2021111519 W CN2021111519 W CN 2021111519W WO 2023015411 A1 WO2023015411 A1 WO 2023015411A1
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WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
charging
error condition
battery
power tool
autonomous power
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/CN2021/111519
Other languages
English (en)
Inventor
Hengsheng Liu
Original Assignee
Techtronic Cordless Gp
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Techtronic Cordless Gp filed Critical Techtronic Cordless Gp
Priority to CN202180101008.5A priority Critical patent/CN117795807A/zh
Priority to PCT/CN2021/111519 priority patent/WO2023015411A1/fr
Priority to AU2021460294A priority patent/AU2021460294A1/en
Publication of WO2023015411A1 publication Critical patent/WO2023015411A1/fr

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    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H02—GENERATION; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER
    • H02J—CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS OR SYSTEMS FOR SUPPLYING OR DISTRIBUTING ELECTRIC POWER; SYSTEMS FOR STORING ELECTRIC ENERGY
    • H02J7/00—Circuit arrangements for charging or depolarising batteries or for supplying loads from batteries
    • H02J7/0029—Circuit arrangements for charging or depolarising batteries or for supplying loads from batteries with safety or protection devices or circuits
    • H02J7/0031—Circuit arrangements for charging or depolarising batteries or for supplying loads from batteries with safety or protection devices or circuits using battery or load disconnect circuits
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B25—HAND TOOLS; PORTABLE POWER-DRIVEN TOOLS; MANIPULATORS
    • B25F—COMBINATION OR MULTI-PURPOSE TOOLS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; DETAILS OR COMPONENTS OF PORTABLE POWER-DRIVEN TOOLS NOT PARTICULARLY RELATED TO THE OPERATIONS PERFORMED AND NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • B25F5/00—Details or components of portable power-driven tools not particularly related to the operations performed and not otherwise provided for
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H02—GENERATION; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER
    • H02J—CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS OR SYSTEMS FOR SUPPLYING OR DISTRIBUTING ELECTRIC POWER; SYSTEMS FOR STORING ELECTRIC ENERGY
    • H02J2207/00—Indexing scheme relating to details of circuit arrangements for charging or depolarising batteries or for supplying loads from batteries
    • H02J2207/10—Control circuit supply, e.g. means for supplying power to the control circuit

Definitions

  • the present invention relates generally to autonomous power tools, and more particularly, to a battery management system for an autonomous power tool.
  • Autonomous power tools e.g., robotic lawn mowers
  • these autonomous power tools may be designed to work according to user configuration or according to predefined schedules.
  • These autonomous power tools may also be designed to self-charge.
  • autonomous power tools may be designed to detect a low-battery condition and to proceed to a charging dock for charging. This self-charging process may occur several times during an operating schedule.
  • the reason for the self-charging failure may be overcome or fixed by the autonomous power tool, such that the scheduled work may not be interrupted.
  • a robotic lawn mower working under the sun may experience a condition where its battery may overheat. In this case, it is preferable not to charge the battery until the battery cools down.
  • some current implementations of robotic lawn mowers may not be configured to respond to a battery overheat condition. These implementations may be configured to provide a charge to the battery as long as there is a load connected to the charging adapter.
  • these implementations merely cut the charging line to the battery, in which case there is no power being provided to the autonomous power tool at all.
  • the autonomous power tool may not be able to recover from the overheat condition (e.g., the MCU may not be able to resume the charging once the self-charging error is corrected) .
  • an autonomous power tool may be configured for self-charging, where the autonomous power tool may dock with a charging station to receive a charging current for its battery.
  • the autonomous power tool may be configured to detect a charging error condition.
  • the charging error condition may be a condition that prevents a charging current from being delivered to the battery of the autonomous power tool.
  • the charging error condition may be a condition under which continuing to charge the battery may not be advisable or preferable (e.g., may be a condition under which continuing to charge the battery may cause equipment damage or may be dangerous (e.g., a battery overheat condition, etc. ) ) .
  • the autonomous power tool may be configured to suspend, pause, or stop the charging current from being delivered to the battery of the autonomous power tool in response to detecting the charging error condition.
  • the autonomous power tool may be configured for charging by including (e.g., in the circuitry of the autonomous power tool) a charging line that may include circuitry for delivering the charging current (e.g., charging current provided by the charging station) to the battery of the autonomous power tool.
  • the circuitry of the charging line may include a charging line switch (e.g., a circuit including a diode, a transistor, and/or any other circuit or electronic component configured to provide switching functionality) configured to disengage or to disable the charging line thereby preventing the charging current from being delivered to the battery of the autonomous power tool.
  • the autonomous power tool may stop or pause the charging process in response to the detection of the charging error condition.
  • the autonomous power tool may also include (e.g., in the circuitry of the autonomous power tool) a bypass line configured to bypass the charging line.
  • the bypass line may include circuitry for delivering power to a control unit (MCU) of the autonomous power tool, while bypassing the charging line.
  • MCU control unit
  • the MCU may receive power from the charging station, whether the charging line is disabled (e.g., in response to an charging error condition) or not.
  • the MCU of the autonomous power tool may operate to control the functionality of the autonomous power tool.
  • a battery voltage sampling circuit may be positioned within the charging line, such that the battery voltage sampling circuit may measure the voltage of the battery of the autonomous power tool more accurately.
  • the battery voltage sampling circuit may be positioned after the charging line switch and between the battery and an isolating circuit of the charging line.
  • the isolating circuit of the charging line may be a circuit configured to isolate the charging line from the bypass line (e.g., a circuit that may include a diode, a switch, a transistor, etc. ) .
  • the bypass line may also include an isolating circuit.
  • the battery voltage sampling circuit may measure the voltage of the battery more accurately, without interference from the voltage at the adapter (e.g., the adapter connecting to the charging station) .
  • the autonomous power tool may be configured to resume the charging process upon a determination that the charging error condition has been corrected.
  • the charging error condition may be a recoverable error condition (e.g., a battery over-temperature, or under-temperature condition) , in which case, the autonomous power tool may resume the self-charging process upon the recoverable error condition being corrected (e.g., once the battery temperature returns to an acceptable operating temperature) .
  • the charging process may be terminated and the autonomous power tool may be returned to autonomous operations.
  • the autonomous power tool may be configured to generate an alert in response to the charging error condition being detected.
  • the alert may include an indication of whether the charging error condition is a recoverable error condition (e.g., an over temperature or under temperature condition of the battery) or a defective error condition (e.g., an error that is not recoverable by the autonomous power tool and that may need direct intervention by the user to be corrected) .
  • the autonomous power tool may include a visual indication of the charging error condition within the autonomous power tool itself (e.g., a visual indication such as a color-coded light or display, or an audio signal) , and/or may send the charging error condition to an application running on a user device (e.g., computer, mobile device, tablet, etc.
  • the autonomous power tool may send the alert, and/or may pause the charging process until the charging error condition is determined to be corrected.
  • the charging error condition is a defective error condition (e.g., a non-recoverable error condition)
  • the autonomous power tool may send the alert, but may not attempt to resume the charging process, until direct intervention by the user.
  • FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary system configured with capabilities and functionality for managing a battery charging process for an autonomous power tool in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure
  • FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a battery charging management system for an autonomous power tool in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure
  • FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of circuitry implementing a battery charging management system for an autonomous power tool in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.
  • FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram illustrating an example flow executed to implement management of a battery charging process for an autonomous power tool in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.
  • an autonomous power tool may be configured to detect a charging error condition, to pause the charging process in response to detecting the charging error condition, and to resume the charging process when the charging error condition is determined to be corrected.
  • the autonomous power tool may not resume the charging process without direct intervention by a user.
  • a charging error condition alert may be generated and sent to the user (e.g., via a visual, audio, and/or remote signal (e.g., a remote signal sent to an application running on a user device) ) .
  • FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary system 100 configured with capabilities and functionality for managing a battery charging process for an autonomous power tool in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.
  • system 100 includes charging station 150, autonomous power tool 110, and user device 180, and these components may be configured to include various components for providing various aspects of the functionality described herein.
  • Autonomous power tool 110 may be any outdoor or indoor tool used for personal or commercial purposes which may operate autonomously or with minimal user intervention.
  • Examples of autonomous power tool 110 may include, but are not limited to, any type of grass cutting device or lawn mower capable of autonomous operations, snow throwers, pressure washers, vacuum cleaners, electric or gas blowers, landscaping tools, multi-function outdoor equipments, portable generators, pumps, soil care devices, watering devices, fertilizers, soil investigating tools, fans, air filters, portable heaters, etc.
  • autonomous power tool 110 is illustrated as an autonomous lawn mower.
  • the autonomous lawn mower illustrated in FIG. 1 may include a frame supporting the operating components of the autonomous lawn mower.
  • These operating components may include, without limitation, at least one motor configured and arranged to drive the blades of the autonomous lawn mower to cut the grass of a lawn.
  • the at least one motor may also be used to drive traction components (e.g., wheels, treads, belts, etc. ) of the autonomous lawn mower to move the autonomous lawn mower over the lawn being mowed.
  • the operating components of the autonomous lawn mower may include a battery for providing power to the autonomous lawn mower, control circuitry for managing and controlling the operations of the autonomous lawn mower, memory for storing program code instructions and/or configuration information, a communication interface for receiving and transmitting information from remote devices (e.g., transmitting alerts and/or receiving configuration information) , a location system (e.g., global positioning system (GPS) ) , etc.
  • GPS global positioning system
  • autonomous power tool 110 may be configured to operate autonomously according to user configuration or according to a work schedule. For example, autonomous power tool 110 may be configured to operate during particular times to perform operations. During operations, autonomous power tool 110 may need to charge its battery one or more times. As such, autonomous power tool 110 may be configured to perform a self-charging process (also referred to as a charging process herein) . In some aspects, autonomous power tool 110 may be configured to coordinate with other autonomous power tools to perform autonomous operations.
  • a self-charging process also referred to as a charging process herein
  • autonomous power tool 110 may be configured to coordinate with other autonomous power tools to perform autonomous operations.
  • multiple autonomous power tools may coordinate to perform autonomous operations, and when an error condition arises, or when autonomous power tool 110 may need to recharge, autonomous power tool 110 may communicate with one or more of the autonomous power tools so that at least one of the one or more autonomous power tools may take over for autonomous power tool 110 until the error condition is resolved and/or until charging is completed.
  • User device 180 may be implemented as a mobile device, a smartphone, a tablet computing device, a personal computing device, a laptop computing device, a desktop computing device, a computer system of a vehicle, a personal digital assistant (PDA) , a smart watch, another type of wired and/or wireless computing device, or any part thereof.
  • User device 180 may be configured to provide input/output functionality to allow users of autonomous power tool 110 to provide inputs to autonomous power tool 110 (e.g., inputs including configuration and/or programming for operations of autonomous power tool 110, such as work schedules, acceptable operating levels (e.g., voltage, temperature, etc. ) , or other information related to the programming or operations of autonomous power tool 110) , and to receive outputs from autonomous power tool 110 (e.g., outputs including alerts, warnings, metrics, etc. ) .
  • inputs including configuration and/or programming for operations of autonomous power tool 110, such as work schedules, acceptable operating levels (e.g., voltage, temperature, etc. ) ,
  • charging station 150 may be configured to interface with autonomous power tool 110 to provide a charging current for charging the battery of autonomous power tool 110 during the self-charging process.
  • charging station 150 and autonomous power tool 110 may operate cooperatively to provide self-charging functionality to autonomous power tool 110.
  • autonomous power tool 110 may be configured to, upon detecting a low-battery condition (e.g., upon detecting that the power level of the battery of autonomous power tool 110 is running low during mid operation) , or upon termination of a work-schedule (e.g., upon completing the autonomous power tool operation) , navigate to charging station 150 and to “dock” with charging station 150.
  • autonomous power tool 110 may include sensors (e.g., sound navigation and ranging (SONAR) , light detection and ranging (LIDAR) , radio detection and ranging (RADAR) , proximity sensors, etc. ) configured to detect boundaries of a work area for autonomous power tool 110 and/or detect obstacles in the path of travel of autonomous power tool 110 during autonomous operations or during navigation to/from charging station 150.
  • the docking operation may include connecting or causing to be connected an adapter of autonomous power tool 110 to an adapter of charging station 150, through which a charging current may flow from charging station 150 to autonomous power tool 110.
  • a charging process may be initiated whereupon a charging current may flow from charging station 150 and may be directed to the battery of autonomous power tool 110.
  • the charging process may be completed when the power level of the battery of autonomous power tool 110 returns to an acceptable operating level.
  • a battery voltage sampling circuit of autonomous power tool 110 may measure the voltage level of the battery of autonomous power tool 110.
  • the measured level of the battery may be used by a control unit (MCU) of autonomous power tool 110 to determine when the charging process is to be terminated (e.g., upon a determination, based on the measured power level of the battery, that the level of the battery has returned to acceptable operating levels) .
  • the charging process may be terminated by disabling a charging line that is configured to deliver the charging current to the battery.
  • An exemplary configuration of a charging line in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure is described in more detail below with respect to FIG. 2.
  • autonomous power tool 110 may be configured to manage the charging process such that the charging process is managed during normal operations and when problems occur.
  • autonomous power tool 110 may be configured to detect charging error conditions and to respond accordingly.
  • autonomous power tool 110 may, in response to detecting a charging error condition, generate an alert indicating a charging error condition and/or may pause, or cause to be interrupted, the charging process.
  • the charging error condition may be a recoverable error condition.
  • autonomous power tool 110 may be configured to pause the charging process until the error condition is determined to be corrected.
  • autonomous power tool 110 may resume the charging process until the battery returns to acceptable operating levels, or until another charging error condition occurs.
  • error conditions may include battery errors (e.g., hardware and/or firmware errors) , errors in the charging circuitry of the autonomous power tool, errors in the charging circuitry of the charging station, etc.
  • the MCU may determine the root cause and may generate an indication of the cause of the charging error condition.
  • the MCU may not be able to determine the root cause of a charging error condition, in which case the MCU generate an indication indicating a generic charging error condition.
  • the charging error conditions may include bumps, lifts, out of boundary conditions, docking failures, blade life failures, etc.
  • a recoverable error condition may include conditions that may be corrected without direct user intervention.
  • the battery of autonomous power tool 110 may overheat (e.g., in hot weather conditions or when autonomous power tool 110 operates outside in direct sun, or in hot environments) or may experience under-temperature conditions (e.g., when autonomous power tool 110 operates in cold weather or cold environments) . Under these conditions, it is not advisable nor desirable to continue charging the battery, as this may cause damage to the battery, or damage to the equipment, or may even be dangerous. However, these types of conditions may be corrected, as with time the battery may return to acceptable operating temperatures.
  • Recoverable error conditions may include battery undervoltage conditions.
  • the battery voltage may be detected to be under a threshold percentage of total battery capacity (e.g., may be detected to be 17.5%under total capacity, such as under 33V for a 40V battery) .
  • autonomous power tool 110 may determine that this condition may be corrected by first charging the battery with a relatively small current, and then increasing the charging current to a larger charging current once the battery voltage is charged to be above the threshold percentage of total battery capacity.
  • recoverable error conditions may include a high humidity condition.
  • autonomous power tool 110 may operate in a high humidity or wet environment (e.g., may encounter rain or traverse a water surface, such as a small puddle) .
  • autonomous power tool 110 may include a humidity sensor that may detect a humidity level. If the humidity level is detected to be a threshold humidity level, the condition may be determined to be a recoverable error condition, in which case the charging process may be suspended until the humidity level returns to an acceptable level (e.g., a humidity level below the threshold humidity level) .
  • a humidity sensor that may detect a humidity level. If the humidity level is detected to be a threshold humidity level, the condition may be determined to be a recoverable error condition, in which case the charging process may be suspended until the humidity level returns to an acceptable level (e.g., a humidity level below the threshold humidity level) .
  • autonomous power tool 110 may pause the charging process until the error condition is determined to be corrected (e.g., when the temperature of the battery is determined to return to acceptable operating temperatures) .
  • autonomous power tool 110 may also generate an alert indicating that a charging error condition has occurred.
  • the error condition alert may include an indication that the error condition is recoverable, and may include a visual signal, or an audio signal on autonomous power tool 110.
  • the indication may include a remote signal transmitted to an application running on a user device to be presented to a user. The indication may indicate to the user that no user intervention is necessary as the charging error condition is recoverable.
  • the indication may also include metrics on the condition (e.g., current temperatures of the battery when the condition is a temperature related condition) and/or an estimate of when and/or how the charging error condition may be corrected. It is noted that autonomous power tool 110 may also be configured to not transmit, or to forego transmitting, the notification when the error condition is determined to be recoverable.
  • the battery may report an error condition (e.g., any of the error conditions described herein or combinations thereof) to the MCU of autonomous power tool 110.
  • the MCU may determine that all errors conditions reported by the battery are non-recoverable errors.
  • the error condition report by the battery may include an indication that the error condition is a recoverable error condition, in which case the charging process may be suspended and the MCU may periodically query the battery to determine if the error condition has persisted or has been corrected or has disappeared. If the error condition is determined to be corrected, or has disappeared, the charging process may be resumed.
  • the charging error condition may be a defective error condition.
  • the charging error condition may be a condition that may not be corrected without at least direct user intervention.
  • These types of charging error conditions may not be recoverable by autonomous power tool 110.
  • autonomous power tool 110 e.g., using the MCU
  • autonomous power tool 110 may determine that the battery is defective and may need to be replaced (e.g., if the charge level of the battery has not increased or is not increasing at an expected rate) .
  • Autonomous power tool 110 may determine that this is a defective error condition.
  • defective error conditions may include a condition in which the battery remains in charging status over a threshold time.
  • the battery may calculate a time required (e.g., a time remaining) to fully charge the battery based on an existing charge level. If the battery remains in charging status for a time longer than the time required to fully charge (plus a buffer time in some aspects) , the battery may report an error, and/or the MCU may determine a defective error condition.
  • Defective error conditions may include a condition in which the charging current to the battery during the charging process is under a threshold current value, a condition in which the battery may discharge, rather than charge, during the charging process, such as when the battery voltage is dropping instead of rising during the charging process, and/or a condition in which an over current, an over voltage, or a short circuit (e.g., as detected by an analog front-end (AFE) or by the battery) is detected.
  • AFE analog front-end
  • autonomous power tool 110 may not correct a defective error condition without user intervention, autonomous power tool 110 may not operate to resume the charging process until an indication that the user has intervened and that the defective error condition no longer exists.
  • autonomous power tool 110 may terminate the charging process when a defective error condition is detected, regardless of whether the battery level has reached an acceptable level for continued operations.
  • autonomous power tool 110 may also generate an alert indicating that a defective error condition has occurred.
  • the error condition alert may include an indication that the error condition is non-recoverable, and may include a visual signal, or an audio signal on autonomous power tool 110.
  • the indication may include a remote signal transmitted to an application running on a user device to be presented to a user. The indication may indicate to the user that user intervention is necessary to correct the charging error condition and/or that charging may not resume until the user intervenes to correct the error condition.
  • autonomous power tool 110 may be configured to maintain power to the MCU of autonomous power tool 110 while autonomous power tool 110 is docked to charging station 150 and/or while the charging process is paused.
  • autonomous power tool 110 may be configured to disable a charging line (e.g., the circuitry delivering the charging current to the battery of autonomous power tool 110) while allowing power to be delivered to the MCU while the charging line is disabled (e.g., while the charging process is paused or when the charging process is terminated due to a defective error, in which case autonomous power tool 110 may not return to normal operations but may remain docked to charging station 150) .
  • a charging line e.g., the circuitry delivering the charging current to the battery of autonomous power tool 110
  • the charging line e.g., the charging process is paused or when the charging process is terminated due to a defective error, in which case autonomous power tool 110 may not return to normal operations but may remain docked to charging station 150.
  • this functionality may allow autonomous power tool 110 to maintain control of the charging process (e.g., through the MCU) while the charging current is not being delivered to the battery. In this manner, autonomous power tool 110 may determine when the charging error condition is corrected, and to resume the charging process in response. Were power removed from the MCU when the charging line is disabled (as it is the case in some current implementations of autonomous power tools) , autonomous power tool 110 may not be able to recover from the charging error condition, as the MCU may not be able to determine when the error condition has been corrected or to resume the charging (e.g., by enabling the charging line) .
  • maintaining a power input to the MCU may enable the MCU to maintain the ability to communicate with external devices, such as user device 180, to provide notifications regarding the status of autonomous power tool 110 despite the charging process being interrupted and/or despite the battery being depleted.
  • FIG. 2 shows a block diagram illustrating an example of a battery charging management system 200 for an autonomous power tool in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.
  • the functional blocks, and components thereof, of system 200 of embodiments of the present invention may be implemented using processors, electronics devices, hardware devices, electronics components, logical circuits, memories, software codes, firmware codes, etc., or any combination thereof.
  • one or more functional blocks, or some portion thereof may be implemented as discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or combinations thereof configured to provide logic for performing the functions described herein.
  • one or more of the functional blocks, or some portion thereof may comprise code segments operable upon a processor to provide logic for performing the functions described herein.
  • battery charging management system 200 may include circuitry that allows an autonomous power tool (e.g., autonomous power tool 110 discussed with respect to FIG. 1) to provide the battery charging management features described herein.
  • Battery charging management system 200 may be implemented in autonomous power tool 110 and may include several components configured to provide the features described herein.
  • autonomous power tool 110 may be configured to include adapter 210, battery 250, battery voltage sampling circuit 230, and MCU 240.
  • battery charging management system 200 may include charging line 262 and bypass line 260.
  • MCU 240 may comprise a processor, a microprocessor, a controller, a microcontroller, a plurality of microprocessors, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) , an application-specific standard product (ASSP) , or any combination thereof, and may be configured to execute instructions to perform operations in accordance with the disclosure herein.
  • implementations of MCU 240 may comprise code segments (e.g., software, firmware, and/or hardware logic) executable in hardware, such as a processor, to perform the tasks and functions described herein.
  • MCU 240 may be implemented as a combination of hardware and software.
  • MCU 240 may be configured to control operations of autonomous power tool 110, including the self-charging process. For example, in aspects, MCU 240 may be configured to cause autonomous power tool 110 to dock to a charging station to initiate self-charging operations. In some aspects, MCU 240 may cause autonomous power tool 110 to dock to a charging station to initiate self-charging operations in response to a determination of a low-battery condition.
  • MCU 240 may determine that the charge of battery 250 has dropped below a predetermined threshold (e.g., has dropped below any value below 30%or has dropped below a percentage value of a power requirement estimated to be sufficient for returning to the charging station from a current location of autonomous power tool 110) , and/or that the temperature of battery 250 has reached a threshold temperature indicating that autonomous power tool 110 is to return to the charging station to return the battery temperature to acceptable operating conditions.
  • MCU 240 may cause autonomous power tool 110 to dock to a charging station to initiate self-charging operations in response to a determination that autonomous operations have been completed by autonomous power tool 110.
  • MCU 240 may determine that a work schedule or operations of autonomous power tool 110 have been completed. In these cases, MCU 240 may cause autonomous power tool 110 to dock to the charging station to initiate self-charging operations.
  • MCU 240 may be configured to determine the power level of battery 250 (e.g., using battery voltage sampling circuit 230) to determine the low-battery condition and/or to determine when the battery has been charged to acceptable operating levels. In the latter case, MCU 240 may terminate the self-charging process (and may return autonomous power tool 110 to autonomous operations when appropriate, such as when autonomous operations have not been completed) . In some aspects, MCU 240 may be configured to determine that a charging error condition has occurred. For example, various sensors (e.g., temperature sensors, voltage sensors, location sensors, etc. ) may provide information that may be used to determine that a charging error condition has occurred. In some aspects, battery 250 may report the charging error condition to MCU 240.
  • various sensors e.g., temperature sensors, voltage sensors, location sensors, etc.
  • battery 250 may report the charging error condition to MCU 240.
  • MCU 240 may pause and/or may terminate the charging process (e.g., using charging line switch 212) . For example, when MCU 240 determines that a charging error condition has occurred, MCU 240 may pause the charging process (e.g., using charging line switch 212) until the error has been corrected.
  • MCU 240 may suspend autonomous operations while autonomous power tool 110 is not docked to the charging station (e.g., while autonomous power tool 110 is in the field performing autonomous operations) in response to a detected condition of autonomous power tool 110. For example, MCU may detect an overheat condition, in which case, MCU 240 may suspend the autonomous operations until the temperature returns to an acceptable operating level (e.g., without returning to the docking station for charging) .
  • MCU 240 may generate an alert that a charging error condition has occurred.
  • the alert may be sent to a user device (e.g., to an application running on the user device) , such as user device 180 described above with reference to FIG. 1.
  • the alert may include an indication of whether the charging error condition is a recoverable error (e.g., an over temperature or under temperature condition of the battery) or a defective error (e.g., an error that is not recoverable by autonomous power tool 110 and that may need direct intervention by the user to be corrected) .
  • the alert may include a visual indication of the charging error condition provided by autonomous power tool 110 itself (e.g., a visual indication such as a color-coded light or display, or an audio signal) .
  • MCU 240 may send the charging error condition alert to an application running on the user device.
  • MCU 240 may send the alert, and/or may pause the charging process until the charging error condition is determined to be corrected.
  • MCU 240 may not send the alert when the charging error condition is determined to be a recoverable condition.
  • the autonomous power tool may send the alert, but may not attempt to resume the charging process, until direct intervention by the user to correct the charging error condition has occurred.
  • adapter 210 may be configured to connect or interface with an adapter of a charging station (e.g., charging station described with respect to FIG. 1) , and to receive a charging current from the charging station during the self-charging process (as described above) .
  • the charging current received from the charging station is to be delivered to battery 250 during the charging process.
  • charging line 262 may be configured to deliver the charging current received by adapter 210 to battery 250.
  • charging line 262 may include charging line switch 212 and isolation circuitry 222. Isolation circuit 222 may be configured to isolate charging line 262 from bypass line 260.
  • switch 212 may include any component and/or circuit configured to provide switching functionality (e.g., a circuit including a diode switch, a transistor switch, and/or any other circuit or electronic component configured to provide switching functionality) .
  • Switch 212 may be configured to selectively enable and/or disable charging line 262. For example, switch 212 may be turned on to enable charging line 262, thereby allowing the charging current to flow from adapter 210 to battery 250. However, switch 212 may be turned off to disable charging line 262, thereby preventing the charging current from flowing from adapter 210 to battery 250.
  • switch 212 may be communicatively coupled to MCU 240. MCU 240 may issue commands to turn switch 212 on or off, in order to enable or disable charging line 262.
  • switch 212 may be configured to allow MCU 240 to selectively enable and/or disable charging line 262 and to prevent or allow a charging current to flow from adapter 210 to battery 250. In this manner, MCU 240 may initiate, pause, terminate, and/or resume the self-charging process.
  • system 200 may include bypass line 260.
  • Bypass line 260 may be configured to deliver power from adapter 210 to MCU 240, regardless of whether charging line 262 is enabled or disabled. In this manner, bypass line 260 is configured to ensure that power is provided to MCU 240 even when battery 250 is not being charged, and/or even when battery 250 is depleted. By ensuring that power is provided to MCU 240 while autonomous power tool 110 is connected to a charging station regardless of whether battery 250 is being charged or is depleted, system 200 ensures that MCU 240 is powered up to manage the self-charging process of autonomous power tool 110.
  • bypass line 260 may include isolation circuitry 220 configured to isolate bypass line 260 from charging line 262.
  • system 200 may include battery voltage sampling circuit 230.
  • Battery voltage sampling circuit 230 may be configured to measure a voltage level of battery 250. The battery voltage level measured by battery voltage sampling circuit 230 may be reported to MCU 240.
  • battery voltage sampling circuit 230 may be positioned between battery 250 and charging line isolation circuitry 222. By positioning battery voltage sampling circuit 230 between battery 250 and charging line isolation circuitry 222, system 200 ensures that there is no interference from bypass line 260 when measuring the voltage level of battery 250. If battery voltage sampling circuit 230 were not positioned between battery 250 and charging line isolation circuitry 222, there may be possible interference from bypass line 260 and battery voltage sampling circuit 230 may measure the voltage at adapter 210 instead of battery 250. As such, the innovative design of system 200 ensures that the voltage level measured by battery voltage sampling circuit 230 is more accurate.
  • FIG. 3 a schematic diagram illustrating an example of circuitry implementing a battery charging management system for an autonomous power tool in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure is shown.
  • FIG. 3 illustrates an example implementation for the various components described with respect to FIG. 2.
  • the various blocks representing the various components of system 200 may be implemented using the circuitry illustrated in FIG. 3.
  • adapter 210 may be implemented using Adapter 1 as illustrated in FIG. 3.
  • Switch 212 may be implemented using at least D1 and Q1, which operate to enable and/or disable charging line 262 (e.g., cooperatively with MCU 240) .
  • D15 and D17 may implement isolation circuitry 220 and 222, respectively.
  • Battery voltage sampling circuit 230 may be implemented by the battery voltage detection circuitry illustrated in FIG. 3.
  • an MCU_VSense signal may be sent to the MCU from this circuitry representing the measured voltage level of the battery (implementing battery 250) .
  • FIG. 4 shows an exemplary flow diagram of operations of a system configured for managing a battery charging process for an autonomous power tool in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.
  • the functions illustrated in the example blocks shown in FIG. 4 may be performed by system 100 and/or system 200 of FIGS. 1 and 2, according to embodiments herein.
  • an autonomous power tool detects a charging error condition during a charging process.
  • the autonomous tool may detect a low-battery level condition, or may determine that autonomous operations have been completed (e.g., a work scheduled may be completed by the autonomous power tool) , and may determine to navigate to a docking station.
  • the autonomous power tool may then initiate a self-charging process to charge the battery.
  • the autonomous power tool may detect that a charging error condition during the self-charging process.
  • the autonomous power tool may determine whether the charging error condition is one of a recoverable charging error condition or a defective charging error condition.
  • the autonomous power tool may determine that the charging error condition is a recoverable charging error condition that may be resolved without user intervention (e.g., the charging error condition may be a battery over-temperature condition or a battery under-temperature condition) , or may determine that the charging error condition is a defective charging error condition that is unrecoverable without user intervention.
  • the charging error condition is a recoverable charging error condition that may be resolved without user intervention (e.g., the charging error condition may be a battery over-temperature condition or a battery under-temperature condition) , or may determine that the charging error condition is a defective charging error condition that is unrecoverable without user intervention.
  • suspending the charging process may include halting, pausing, or otherwise stopping the charging process.
  • suspending the charging process may include, at block 406, disabling a charging line configured to deliver a charging current to a battery of the autonomous power tool to prevent the charging current from being delivered to the battery.
  • Disabling the charging line may include turning off a charging line switch that is disposed within the charging line. Turning off the charging line switch may prevent the charging current from flowing to the battery via the charging line.
  • suspending the charging process may also include, at block 408, maintaining a power input to an MCU of the autonomous power tool via a bypass line.
  • the bypass line may be configured to bypass the charging line.
  • the bypass line may include circuitry for delivering the power to the MCU, while bypassing the charging line.
  • the MCU may receive power from the charging station, whether the charging line is disabled (e.g., in response to an charging error condition) or not. As such, even the battery of the autonomous power tool may be completely depleted, the MCU of the autonomous power tool may operate to control the functionality of the autonomous power tool.
  • the autonomous power tool may generate an alert to notify a user that the error condition has occurred.
  • the alert may include one or more of a visual indication on the autonomous power tool that the error condition has occurred, an audio indication from the autonomous power tool that the error condition has occurred, or an indication transmitted to a user device (e.g., to an application running on the user device) indicating that the error condition has occurred.
  • the alert may include an indication of whether the charging error condition is a recoverable error condition (e.g., an over temperature or under temperature condition of the battery) or a defective error condition (e.g., an error that is not recoverable by the autonomous power tool and that may need direct intervention by the user to be corrected) .
  • the autonomous power tool may send the alert, but may not attempt to resume the charging process, until direct intervention by the user is determined.
  • the charging line may include a charging line isolation circuit that is configured to isolate the charging line from the bypass line.
  • the autonomous power tool may be configured to measure a voltage of the battery using a battery voltage sampling circuit.
  • the battery voltage sampling circuit may be disposed within the charging line between the battery and the charging line isolation circuit, and may provide the measured voltage to the MCU. In these aspects, by positioning the battery voltage sampling circuit between the battery and the isolating circuit of the charging line, the battery voltage sampling circuit may measure the voltage of the battery more accurately, without interference from the voltage at the adapter (e.g., the adapter connecting to the charging station) .
  • the MCU may determine, based on the measured voltage, whether the battery has been fully charged or not. If the battery is determined to not be fully charged, the MCU may determine whether the charging error condition has been corrected and, in response to a determination that the charging error condition has been corrected, resume the charging process until the battery is fully charged.
  • resuming the charging process may include enabling the charging line to allow the charging current to be delivered to the battery. For example, the charging line switch may be turned on to allow the charging current to flow to the battery via the charging line.
  • the MCU may terminate the charging process. In aspects, terminating the charging process may include disabling the charging line to prevent the charging current from being delivered to the battery, and/or causing the autonomous power tool to return to autonomous operations.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Power Engineering (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Secondary Cells (AREA)
  • Charge And Discharge Circuits For Batteries Or The Like (AREA)

Abstract

La présente divulgation concerne des systèmes, des procédés et des dispositifs pour gérer un processus de charge de batterie pour un outil électrique autonome. Selon certains aspects, un outil électrique autonome détecte un état d'erreur de charge pendant un processus de charge, et suspend le processus de charge en réponse à la détection de l'état d'erreur de charge. La suspension du processus de charge comprend la désactivation d'une ligne de charge configurée pour délivrer un courant de charge à une batterie de l'outil électrique autonome pour empêcher le courant de charge d'être délivré à la batterie, et le maintien d'une entrée de puissance, à l'aide d'une ligne de dérivation, à une unité de commande (MCU) configurée pour commander le processus de charge. Le processus de charge est repris lorsque la condition d'erreur de charge est déterminée comme étant corrigée, et continue jusqu'à ce que la batterie soit complètement chargée. Selon certains aspects, une alerte peut être envoyée à un utilisateur (par exemple, un signal visuel, audio et/ou à distance (par exemple, à une application s'exécutant sur un dispositif utilisateur)).
PCT/CN2021/111519 2021-08-09 2021-08-09 Système de gestion de batterie pour outil électrique autonome WO2023015411A1 (fr)

Priority Applications (3)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CN202180101008.5A CN117795807A (zh) 2021-08-09 2021-08-09 用于自主电动工具的电池管理系统
PCT/CN2021/111519 WO2023015411A1 (fr) 2021-08-09 2021-08-09 Système de gestion de batterie pour outil électrique autonome
AU2021460294A AU2021460294A1 (en) 2021-08-09 2021-08-09 Battery management system for autonomous power tool

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PCT/CN2021/111519 WO2023015411A1 (fr) 2021-08-09 2021-08-09 Système de gestion de batterie pour outil électrique autonome

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Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20050077878A1 (en) * 2003-10-14 2005-04-14 Dave Carrier Protection methods, protection circuits and protective devices for secondary batteries, a power tool, charger and battery pack adapted to provide protection against fault conditions in the battery pack
US20100090652A1 (en) * 2008-10-10 2010-04-15 Takashi Takeda Battery Pack Having Protection Circuit for Secondary Battery

Patent Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20050077878A1 (en) * 2003-10-14 2005-04-14 Dave Carrier Protection methods, protection circuits and protective devices for secondary batteries, a power tool, charger and battery pack adapted to provide protection against fault conditions in the battery pack
US20100090652A1 (en) * 2008-10-10 2010-04-15 Takashi Takeda Battery Pack Having Protection Circuit for Secondary Battery

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