WO2023109548A1 - Charging station - Google Patents

Abstract

A charging station for charging a robot. The robot performs communication pairing with the charging station in advance. The charging station comprises a body, a charging device, a control device and an alignment device. The charging device is arranged on the body and is connected to a robot. The control device is in communication connection with the robot, is electrically connected to the charging device and is provided with a detection unit. The control device enables the charging device to charge the robot after the detection unit detects the robot. The alignment device is connected to the body and is used for aligning the robot with the charging station. Therefore, the robot is charged, while the position offset of the robot or an accidental electric shock during charging is avoided.

Description

a charging station

This application claims priority to US Patent Application 63/289,642 filed 12/15/2021. This application cites the aforementioned US Patent Application in its entirety.

technical field

The invention relates to a charging station, in particular to a charging station applied to a robot.

Background technique

Cleaning the environment by cleaning robots is one of the common cleaning methods at present. At present, most cleaning robots are driven by internal batteries. In terms of charging, although most of the current cleaning robots have the function of returning to the robot charging station by themselves, the specific details of the combination are different.

For the charging station, in order to make the charging function work normally, the requirements include protecting the charging terminal between the charging station and the robot, preventing people from accidentally touching the charging terminal and getting an electric shock, and ensuring that the robot and the charging station are combined at the correct position or angle.

Contents of the invention

The invention provides a charging station, which is used for charging a robot, can avoid electric shock, and at the same time ensures that the robot and the charging station can be combined at the correct position.

In order to achieve the above advantages, an embodiment of the present invention provides a charging station suitable for charging a robot. The robot has been pre-communicated with the charging station. The charging station includes: a main body, a charging device, a control device and an alignment device. The charging device is arranged on the body and is suitable for connecting with the robot. The control device communicates with the robot and is electrically connected with the charging device and has a detection unit. The control device is adapted to enable the charging device to charge the robot after the detection unit detects the robot. The aligning device is connected to the body and is suitable for aligning the robot with the charging station.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the alignment device has a first alignment unit and a second alignment unit, the robot conducts preliminary position guidance through the first alignment unit, and then performs precise positioning through the second alignment unit. location guidance.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the first alignment unit is an alignment pattern for the robot to identify the position of the charging station, and the alignment pattern is arranged on the body.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the second aligning unit includes a guide rod extending away from the main body, the guide rod is adapted to guide the robot by contacting the robot when the robot is connected to the charging station s position.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the second alignment unit includes an optical radar.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the charging station is suitable for connecting the robot along the combining direction, and the charging station further includes a guard, which is suitable for when the second aligning unit and the robot are combined along the combining direction, Actuated by the influence of the third-party device, the third-party device is suitable for being connected to the second alignment unit, and the protection member and the second alignment unit jointly form an alignment and protection device.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the second alignment unit is a storage channel, which is located on one side of the charging device, and enters into the body along a direction parallel to the direction of assembly, and forms a An opening; the protective member is movably connected to the receiving channel, and is suitable for switching between a closed position covering the opening and the charging device at the same time, and an open position entering the receiving channel without covering the charging device, and when the protective member is in the open position , part of the Containment Channel Containment Robot.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the charging station further includes a driving device and a protective member, the protective member is adapted to movably cover the conductive joint of the charging device, so that the robot cannot touch the conductive joint, and the driving device is connected to the main body and The protective part is suitable for driving the protective part to move to expose the conductive joint after the control device detects the robot.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the control device is adapted to be controlled by firmware, and after the robot is detected, the charging device is switched from a standby state of being unable to supply power to a power supply state capable of supplying power to the robot .

Based on the above description, the charging station of the present invention, because the power supply of the charging device is controlled by the control device, can prevent personnel from getting an electric shock even if they accidentally touch the charging device directly, and also use the alignment device to perform the alignment between the robot and the charging station. Alignment can avoid misalignment problems.

In order to make the above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention more comprehensible, the following specific embodiments are described in detail in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Description of drawings

FIG. 1 is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of a charging station according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a schematic block diagram between the charging station and the robot in the embodiment shown in Fig. 1 .

FIG. 3 is a schematic flowchart of the control device of the charging station in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 controlling the charging device.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a charging station according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 5 is a schematic block diagram between the charging station and the robot in the embodiment shown in Fig. 4 .

FIG. 6 is a schematic flowchart of the control device of the charging station in the embodiment shown in FIG. 4 controlling the charging device.

FIG. 7A is a schematic diagram of a charging station with a protective member in a closed position according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7B is a schematic diagram of the action of the protective member in the embodiment shown in FIG. 7A .

FIG. 7C is a schematic diagram of the protective member in the open position in the embodiment shown in FIG. 7A .

Detailed ways

In the following texts, the terms used in the description of the embodiments according to the present invention, such as: "up", "down", etc. indicate the orientation or the description of the positional relationship is based on the orientation shown in the drawings used or positional relationship, the terms are only used to describe the present invention conveniently, not to limit the present invention, that is, not to indicate or imply that the mentioned components must have a specific orientation or be configured in a specific orientation. In addition, terms such as "first" and "second" mentioned in this specification or claims are only used to name components (elements) or to distinguish different embodiments or ranges, and are not used to limit the number of components. upper or lower limit.

FIG. 1 is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of a charging station according to an embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 2 is a schematic block diagram between the charging station and the robot in the embodiment shown in Fig. 1 . FIG. 3 is a schematic flowchart of the control device of the charging station in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 controlling the charging device. Please refer to FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, the charging station 1 of this embodiment is suitable for charging the robot 2, and the robot 2 has been paired with the charging station 1 in advance. The charging station 1 includes a main body 11 , a charging device 12 , a control device 13 and an alignment device 14 . The charging device 12 is disposed on the body 11 , and the charging device 12 has a conductive connector 121 suitable for connecting with the robot 2 . The control device 13 is arranged on the main body 11, the control device 13 includes a detection unit 131 for detecting the robot 2, the control device 13 is electrically connected with the charging device 12, and is suitable for enabling the charging device 12 to Charge robot 2. The aligning device 14 is arranged on the main body 11 and is suitable for aligning the robot 2 with the charging station 1 .

In this embodiment, the body 11 can be, for example, an object connected to an external power source (not shown), but the shape is not limited. The aligning device 14 may, for example, include a first aligning unit 141 and a second aligning unit 142 , and the structure of the second aligning unit 142 is different from that of the first aligning unit 141 . The first aligning unit 141 is suitable for providing preliminary position guidance for the robot 2 , so that the robot 2 can recognize or sense the position of the charging station 1 from a certain distance. The first alignment unit 141 is, for example, an alignment pattern provided on the surface of the main body 11 . As shown in FIG. 1 , the alignment pattern can be, for example, a floral pattern (such as a QR code) or a stripe (such as a barcode).

The second aligning unit 142 is suitable for providing accurate position guidance for the robot 2 , so that the charging connector of the robot 2 can be accurately aligned with the charging device 12 on the charging station 1 . As shown in FIG. 1 , the second aligning unit 142 is, for example, a guide rod 142 a that is disposed on the body 11 and protrudes from the surface of the body 11 and presents a block shape. The guide rod 142 a can taper and extend in a direction away from the body 11 And a guiding slope is formed. The robot 2 may be provided with a groove, for example, and the size and contour of the groove may correspond to the protruding block of the guiding slope of the guiding rod 142a or correspond to the size or contour of the guiding rod 142a. The conductive joint 121 of the charging device 12 may be located at the front center of the guide rod 142a, for example.

In addition, since the number and shape of the second aligning units 142 are not limited, in this embodiment, the main body 11 may further be provided with, for example, a guide rod 142a' whose shape is different from that of the guide rod 142a. As shown in FIG. 1 , the guide rod 142a' is, for example, a rod disposed on the body 11 and protruding from the surface of the body 11 . In other unillustrated embodiments, the second aligning unit 142 disposed on the body 11 may also be a sliding groove or other known aligning structures through contact between components. In addition, the second alignment unit 142 can also perform alignment without contact between the charging station 1 and the robot 2 , for example, an alignment device such as an optical radar connected to the internal host of the robot 2 or the control device 13 .

Continuing the foregoing description, please refer to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 . In this embodiment, the control device 13 is adapted to control whether the conductive contact 121 of the charging device 12 is activated or not. In this way, when the robot 2 is combined with the charging station 1, the charging station 1 first uses the conductive connector 121 of the charging device 12 as a connection to communicate with the robot 2, and confirms whether the connected robot 2 is connected through the communication connection. Robot 2 matched with charging station 1. Also, the type of the detection unit 131 in the control device 13 is not limited. The detection unit 131 can be performed by contacting the robot 2 with the charging device 12 after the robot 2 is assembled with the charging device 12 as described above. The detection unit for signal communication can also be a detection unit that can communicate without contact between the robot 2 and the charging device 12 , such as a known data reading device. The data reading device can be, for example, a barcode reading device for reading the stripe pattern on the robot 2 , or an RFID antenna for reading the electronic tag on the robot 2 .

In this embodiment, when the control device 13 confirms that the robot 2 connected to the charging station 1 is a paired robot 2, it will control the charging device 12 to switch from a standby state that cannot supply power to a power supply that can supply power to the robot 2. state. In this way, even if a person or object touches the conductive contact 121 of the charging device 12 by mistake, the charging device 12 will still remain in the standby state and will not come into contact with the charging device 12 because the contact object cannot communicate with the control device 13 and go through the aforementioned pairing steps. A circuit is formed between objects or objects in contact, thereby avoiding dangers such as electric shock.

Fig. 4 is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of a charging station according to another embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 5 is a schematic block diagram between the charging station and the robot in the embodiment shown in Fig. 4 . FIG. 6 is a schematic flowchart of the control device of the charging station in the embodiment shown in FIG. 4 controlling the charging device. In this embodiment, the hardware design of the main body 11, the charging device 12' and the aligning device can refer to the foregoing embodiments, so no further description is given. As shown in Fig. 4 and Fig. 5 , the charging station 1' of this embodiment further includes a driving device 16 and a protective member 15. The control device 13' in this embodiment is different from the control device 13 in the embodiment shown in FIGS. The position of the guard 15 is controlled by controlling the driving device 16 to determine whether the charging device 12 ′ can be combined with the robot 2 . In other words, in this embodiment, the control device 13' determines whether the charging device 12 can assemble the robot 2 by controlling hardware, and the details are as follows.

As shown in Fig. 4 and Fig. 5, in this embodiment, the protective member 15 is, for example, a cover plate 151 installed on the main body 11, and the cover plate 151 is driven by the driving device 16 to deflect on the main body 11 so as to cover and charge the battery. The position of the conductive joint 121 (not shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 , please refer to FIG. 1 ) of the device 12 is switched between the position where the conductive joint 121 is not covered. The driving device 16 is, for example, a servo motor installed on the main body 11 and connected to the control device 13', and is suitable for driving the protection member 15 (such as the cover plate 151) to move.

Please refer to FIGS. 4 to 6. In this embodiment, when the control device 13' has not sensed that the robot 2 is approaching the charging station 1' (or a signal indicating that the robot 2 is about to connect to the charging station 1'), The protective member 15 covers the conductive connector 121 (not shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, please refer to FIG. 1) to prevent other people or objects from touching the conductive connector 121; when the control device 13' senses that the robot 2 is approaching (or indicates that the robot 2 signal to be connected to the charging station 1'), the control device 13' controls the drive device 16 to drive the guard 15 to swing relative to the body 11, so that the cover plate 151 swings from the position covering the conductive joint 121 to not covering the conductive joint 121, so that the robot 2 can touch the conductive joint 121 for charging after approaching the charging station 1'.

FIG. 7A is a schematic diagram of a charging station with a protective member in a closed position according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7B is a schematic diagram of the action of the protective member in the embodiment shown in FIG. 7A . FIG. 7C is a schematic diagram of the protective member in the open position in the embodiment shown in FIG. 7A . Please refer to FIG. 7A to FIG. 7C , in this embodiment, the aligning device 14 can be further integrated with the guard 15 , and the details are as follows.

In this embodiment, the robot 2 (marked in FIG. 2 or FIG. 5 ) has a push rod 21 as the third-party device 20 , and a magnet 21 a is provided at one end of the push rod 21 . The charging station 1" includes a storage channel 142b as the second alignment unit device 142. The storage channel 142b is, for example, set on the main body 11' and located on one side of the charging device 12 (for example, in FIG. 7A, it is located at the conductive joint 121). The storage channel 142b extends into the main body 11' along the direction of the combination direction when the charging station 1" is combined with the robot 2, and an opening 142c is formed on the main body 11'. And as shown in FIG. 7A, in this embodiment, the receiving channel 142b has, for example, at one end close to the opening 142c, a receiving portion 143 suitable for deflecting the guard 15, the receiving portion 143e has a main opening 143a and a secondary opening 143b ). The opening direction of the main opening 143 a extends along the opening direction of the opening 142 c , and the opening direction of the secondary opening 143 b extends toward the charging device 12 . The guard 15 is movably connected to the receiving passage 142b, and is suitable for switching between a closed position P1 capable of covering the main opening 143a and the charging device 12 at the same time, and an open position P2 entering the receiving passage 142b without covering the charging device 12 .

In this embodiment, the protective member 15' has a cover plate 151, a first pushing portion 152, a limiting portion 153 and a second pushing portion 154. The cover plate 151 is adapted to cover the cover plate 151 of the conductive joint 121 . The first pushing portion 152 is located at an edge of one side of the cover plate 151 and protrudes from the surface of the cover plate 151 . The limiting portion 153 is located between the first pushing portion 152 and the cover plate 151 . The second pushing portion 154 is located between the limiting portion 153 and the cover plate 151 . The first pushing portion 152 is provided with a magnet 152a toward the direction protruding from the side surface of the main body 11'. As shown in FIG. 7A , when the protection member 15' is at the closed position P1, the first pushing portion 152 of the protection member 15 closes the main opening 143a, and makes the magnet 152a located in the extending direction of the main opening 143a. The cover plate 151 of the protective element 15' extends out of the receiving channel 142b through the secondary opening 143b, and then covers the conductive joint 121. The second pushing portion 154 pushes against a wall on one side of the opening 142c, and the limiting portion 153 pushes against a wall between the main opening 143a and the secondary opening 143b.

Through the above structure, please refer to Figure 7B and Figure 7C, when the robot 2 (please refer to Figure 2 or Figure 5) is connected to the charging station 1", the push rod 21 enters the receiving channel 142b from the main opening 143a and pushes against it. The first pushing part 152. As shown in Figure 7B, since the second pushing part 154 of the protecting part 15 is pushed against by the side wall surface of the opening 142c, the protecting part 15 will deflect along with the movement of the push rod 21, and Move to the inside of the storage channel 142b, and keep the protective member 15 away from the position that can cover the conductive joint 121. Finally, as shown in Figure 7C, the push rod 21 enters the storage channel 142b from the main opening 143a, and is attracted by the magnet 21a and the magnet 152a Drive the protective part 15 into the storage channel 142b together, and expose the conductive joint 121, so that the robot 2 can touch the conductive joint 121 for charging. Finally, when the robot 2 leaves the charging station 1", the protective part 15 will be received by the push rod 21 The attraction between the upper magnet 21a and the magnet 152a on the first pushing part 152 enables the cover plate 151 of the protective member 15 to leave the storage channel 142b along the original path and cover the conductive joint 121 again, so as to prevent other people or objects from contact with the conductive joint 121 .

It can be seen from the above description and FIG. 7C that when the protective member 15 is moved to the open position P2 by the push rod 21, the storage channel 142b as the second alignment unit 142 can accommodate the push rod of the third-party device 20 on the robot 2. 21, make the robot 2 and the charging station 1” align. In other words, in this embodiment, the protective member 15 and the alignment device 14 are integrated to become a kind of charging station 1” and the robot 2. The alignment and protection structure.

In addition, the types of the second alignment unit 142 and the third-party device 20 (accommodating channel 142b, push rod 21) are just examples. In other embodiments, two objects can be aligned according to known knowledge, and During the alignment process, the components of the mechanism that drives the guard 15 to perform linkage as the second alignment unit 142 and the third-party device 20 can be selected according to requirements. For example: in one embodiment, the second alignment unit 142 is set as a guide rod, and the guide rod is provided with a magnetic switch (as a third-party device 20) in a circuit that enables the guard 15 to move, and the robot 2 A groove is provided, and a magnet is arranged in the groove. After the magnetic switch is suitable for the combination of the groove and the guide rod, it will be affected by the magnet so as to allow the circuit that can move the protective part 15 to operate, and so on.

It can be seen from the above description that the charging station of the present invention controls the power supply of the charging device through the control device, so that personnel will not get an electric shock even if they accidentally touch the charging device directly, and the alignment device is also used to carry out communication between the robot and the charging station. The alignment can avoid the misalignment problem.

The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and does not limit the present invention in any form. Although the present invention has been disclosed as above with preferred embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention. Anyone familiar with this field Those skilled in the art, without departing from the scope of the technical solution of the present invention, may use the method and technical content disclosed above to make some changes or modify equivalent embodiments with equivalent changes, but if they do not depart from the content of the technical solution of the present invention, Any simple modifications, equivalent changes and modifications made to the above embodiments according to the technical essence of the present invention still fall within the scope of the technical solutions of the present invention.

Claims (9)

1. A charging station is characterized in that it is suitable for charging a robot, and the robot has been pre-communicated with the charging station, and the charging station includes:

   a body;

   a charging device, arranged on the body, suitable for connecting with the robot;

   A control device is connected to the robot by communication and electrically connected to the charging device and has a detection unit. charging; and

   A pair of aligning device, connected with the body, is suitable for aligning the robot with the charging station.
2. The charging station according to claim 1, wherein the aligning device has a first aligning unit and a second aligning unit, the robot conducts preliminary position guidance through the first aligning unit, and then passes The second alignment unit conducts precise position guidance.
3. The charging station according to claim 2, wherein the first alignment unit is a alignment pattern for the robot to identify the position of the charging station, and the alignment pattern is disposed on the body.
4. The charging station according to claim 2, wherein the second aligning unit comprises a guide rod extending in a direction away from the main body, and the guide rod is suitable for connecting the robot with the charging station , to guide the robot's position by touching it.
5. The charging station as claimed in claim 2, wherein the second aligning unit comprises an optical radar.
6. The charging station according to claim 2, wherein the charging station is suitable for connecting the robot along a combined direction, and the charging station further comprises a guard, and the guard is adapted to be placed on the second alignment unit When combined with the robot along the combination direction, it is affected by a third-party device and is adapted to be connected to the second alignment unit, and the guard and the second alignment unit together form a pair bits and guards.
7. The charging station according to claim 6, wherein the second aligning unit is a storage channel, the storage channel is located on one side of the charging device, and enters the main body along a direction parallel to the combination direction and form an opening on the body; the protective member can be movably connected to the receiving channel, and is suitable for simultaneously covering the opening and a closed position of the charging device and entering the receiving channel without covering the charging device and when the guard is in the open position, the accommodating passage accommodates a part of the robot at the same time.
8. The charging station according to claim 1, wherein the charging station further comprises a driving device and a protective member, the protective member is adapted to movably cover a conductive joint of the charging device, so that the robot cannot touch To the conductive joint, the driving device is connected to the main body and the protective part, and is suitable for driving the protective part to move to expose the conductive joint after the control device detects the robot.
9. The charging station according to claim 1, wherein the control device is adapted to be controlled by firmware, and after the robot is detected, the charging device is switched from a standby state incapable of supplying power to a state capable of charging the robot. A power supply state of the power supply.

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