Transport system and method
AssigneeVard Electro AS
InventorChristian Søvik
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A transport system (10) comprising a seagoing vessel (14) with a battery room (18) for at least one swappable battery pack (19) for providing power for at least propulsion of the vessel (14), at least two battery packs (19), of which at least one battery pack is arranged on the vessel (14) when the vessel is in operation, a charging station (23) for charging the battery packs (19), which charging station (23) is located outside the vessel (14), such that the vessel (14) can be positioned close to the charging station (23) for transfer of one or more battery packs (19) between the vessel (14) and the charging station (23), and a transfer device (31) for transferring the battery packs (19) back and forth between the vessel (14) and the charging station (23) when the vessel is positioned close to the charging station (23).
Claims24
A transport system comprising:
- a seagoing vessel comprising a battery room for at least one swappable battery pack for providing power to at least one electric motor for propulsion of the vessel;
- at least two battery packs, of which at least one battery pack is arranged on the vessel when the vessel is in operation;
- a charging station for charging the battery packs, which charging station is located outside the vessel, but such that the vessel can be positioned relative to the charging station for transfer of one or more of the battery packs between the vessel and the charging station;
- and
- a transfer device for transfer of the battery packs back and forth between the vessel and the charging station when the vessel is positioned by the charging station,
- wherein the charging station comprises at least one charging bay for securely holding at least one of the battery packs in the charging bay, wherein the at least one charging bay is provided with an electric contact element that is electrically connected to a power supply for charging the battery pack that is placed in the charging bay,
- wherein the battery room comprises at least one battery bay for securely holding at least one of the battery packs in the battery room, wherein the at least one battery bay is provided with an electric contact element that is electrically connected to the at least one electric motor,
- wherein the transfer device comprises a movable lifting arm movably mounted to the transfer device configured to move the at least one battery pack from a position over the at least one charging bay to a position over the at least one battery bay, and from the position over the at least one battery bay to the position over the at least one charging bay.
A method for near-continuous operation of an electrically powered vessel, comprising:
- providing a seagoing vessel comprising a battery room with space for at least one swappable battery pack, wherein the battery room comprises at least one battery bay for securely holding the at least one battery pack;
- positioning the vessel close to a charging station for charging battery packs, the charging station having space for at least one battery pack, wherein the charging station comprises at least one charging bay for securely holding the at least one battery pack;
- positioning a transfer device between the vessel's battery room and the charging station;
- transferring the depleted or partly depleted battery pack from the vessel's battery room to the charging station by moving a lifting arm such that the lifting arm moves the depleted or partly depleted batter pack from a position over the at least one battery bay to a position over the at least one charging bay;
- and
- transferring a charged battery pack from the charging station to the battery room for operation of the vessel by moving the lifting arm such that the lifting arm moves the charged batter pack from the position over the at least one charging bay to the position over the at least one battery bay.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.