Mobile charging apparatus and charging system
AssigneeOMRON Corporation
InventorMayumi Ozaki
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A charge support vehicle according to one or more embodiments may be capable of charging a battery of a travel robot without interrupting traveling, and a charging system. A charge support vehicle according to one or more embodiments may track a cleaning robot based on positional information of the cleaning robot, and may be docked to the cleaning robot in a state of traveling, thereby charging a battery of the cleaning robot while traveling.
Claims14
A mobile charging apparatus configured to travel autonomously, and charge a battery of an electrically-powered travel object, the mobile charging apparatus comprising
- a vehicle body equipped with a power-feeding battery, wherein
- in response to a battery feed request to feed the battery of the electrically-powered travel object that is traveling being received, the mobile charging apparatus is configured to:
- start traveling from a predetermined standby position while searching for the electrically-powered travel object;
- approach, in response to the electrically-powered travel object being found, the electrically-powered travel object according to a feeding position in which power feeding is possible from the power-feeding battery to the battery of the electrically-powered travel object, and keep the vehicle body in the feeding position;
- and
- feed power from the power-feeding battery to the battery of the electrically-powered travel object in the feeding position while the electrically-powered travel object travels.
A charging system in which a battery of an electrically-powered travel object is charged from a mobile charging apparatus equipped with a power-feeding battery, the mobile charging apparatus being configured to travel autonomously, wherein
- the electrically-powered travel object comprises a request transmission unit configured to transmit a battery feed request in response to a residual amount of the battery of the electrically-powered travel object being less than a predetermined threshold, and
- the mobile charging apparatus comprises:
- a first control unit configured to track the electrically-powered travel object based on position specifying information for specifying a position of the electrically-powered travel object;
- a distance detection unit configured to detect a distance between the electrically-powered travel object and the mobile charging apparatus by outputting measurement light forward;
- a second control unit configured to, in response to the mobile charging apparatus being located in a feeding position in which power feeding is possible from the power-feeding battery to the battery of the electrically-powered travel object based on a result of the detection by the distance detection unit, keep the mobile charging apparatus in the feeding position;
- and
- a third control unit configured to start feeding power from the power-feeding battery to the battery of the electrically-powered travel object in the feeding position while the electrically-powered travel object travels.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.