JPH0564301A - Charge/discharge history managing unit for mobile car - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] To manage the charge / discharge history (for example, the number of charge / discharge) of the battery mounted on a mobile vehicle relatively easily using existing equipment. [Composition] A charging / discharging history management device for a battery mounted on a moving vehicle as a power source for powering the same, wherein a discharged battery which is mounted on the moving vehicle and which needs to be charged is replaced with a charged battery. A battery exchange facility is installed on the ground side to charge the vehicle and store it as a charged battery. The moving vehicle and the battery exchanging facility are provided with communication means for exchanging battery charging / discharging history information with each other. The processing means of the battery replacement equipment is, when installing a charged battery in a moving vehicle,
The charge / discharge history information of the charged battery is written to the storage means of the moving vehicle via the communication means, and when the discharged battery is removed from the moving vehicle, the charge / discharge history information of the discharged battery is read out for management and update processing. I do.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a battery charge / discharge history management device mounted on a mobile vehicle as a power source for its power.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A mobile vehicle such as an automated guided vehicle used for an automated guided facility in a manufacturing line in a factory is generally equipped with a battery such as a lead storage battery as a power source for its power. When the onboard battery discharges and becomes in a state that requires charging, it is replaced with a charged battery at the battery exchange station, and the discharged battery is charged and stored for the next use.

The above battery replacement must be carried out before the onboard battery is completely discharged, but it is usually replaced at regular intervals (for example, every 1 to 3 hours). In addition, a plurality of moving vehicles share a plurality of batteries, and the battery charged in the battery exchange facility is sequentially replaced with a discharged battery of the moving vehicle that needs battery replacement.

Generally, the number of times of charging / discharging a secondary battery (lead storage battery or the like) has a life (for example, about 500 to 1,000 times). The use exceeding the number of times of charge and discharge may cause troubles such as stopping of the moving vehicle during traveling, and therefore must be avoided.

[0005]

However, it is not easy to control the number of times of charge and discharge for each battery in a usage mode in which a plurality of moving vehicles share a plurality of batteries as described above. For example, in a battery exchange facility, the number of times each battery is charged and discharged is stored, and in order to automatically perform the process of incrementing the number of times each battery is charged, it is necessary to identify each battery by a bar code or the like. There is. It is conceivable to provide each battery with a storage means for storing the number of times of charging / discharging, but it is not practical in view of the inability to use a general-purpose battery and the cost.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to easily manage the number of times of charging / discharging of a battery mounted on a mobile vehicle using existing equipment. There is something to do.

[0007]

The charging / discharging history management device for a mobile vehicle battery according to the present invention is characterized in that a discharged battery mounted on a mobile vehicle that requires charging is replaced with a charged battery. A battery exchange facility for charging a discharged battery and storing it as a charged battery is provided on the ground side, and a communication means for exchanging battery charge / discharge history information between the moving vehicle and the battery exchange facility is provided respectively. The mobile vehicle is provided with storage means for storing the battery charge / discharge history information, and the battery exchange facility is provided with processing means for managing and updating the battery charge / discharge history information.

[0008]

According to the above characteristic structure, the charge / discharge count, which is the battery charge / discharge history information of each battery, is stored in the storage means provided in the mobile vehicle while the battery is mounted in the mobile vehicle. When the battery is removed from the moving vehicle by the battery exchanging facility, it is transmitted from the moving vehicle to the battery exchanging facility by communication means, and is managed and updated by the processing means of the battery exchanging facility. Specifically, for example, it is processed as follows.

That is, when the discharged battery is charged, the number of times of charging / discharging, which is an example of charging / discharging history information, is incremented, and the number of life setting times (for example, 500 to 1,000 times).
Compared to. The battery, which has reached the set number of lives, is moved to a disposal area or other processing is performed. A battery that has not reached the set number of lives is stored after being charged until it is mounted on a mobile vehicle again. Then, when the battery is mounted on the moving vehicle, the number of times of charging / discharging is transmitted from the battery exchange facility to the moving vehicle by the communication means and stored in the storage means of the moving vehicle.

As described above, the number of times of charging and discharging of each battery goes back and forth between the storage means of the mobile vehicle and the processing means of the battery exchange facility, accompanied by the battery, and the processing means updates and manages. The above-mentioned communication means and storage means need not be newly provided for this battery charge / discharge history management. The moving vehicle and the battery exchange facility are provided with a communication means for transmitting a battery exchange instruction and exchange completion information, and the moving vehicle is provided with a storage means for storing a destination address and the like. This is because it is sufficient to use it also for battery charge / discharge history management as described above.

[0011]

Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to easily manage the number of times the battery is charged and discharged by utilizing the storage means and communication means provided in the mobile vehicle, and the communication means and processing means on the battery exchange facility side. Now you can do it.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The unmanned transportation facility of the present embodiment is for automatically transporting luggage such as semiconductor wafers in a clean room, and as shown in FIG. 2, a guide rail B is provided on the moving route of the moving vehicle A. .. The moving vehicle A is magnetically levitated as described later, and moves along the guide rail B by the propulsive force of the linear motor. In addition, a plurality of stations ST are provided along the guide rails B to stop the moving vehicle A and load and unload luggage.

As shown in FIG. 3, on the upper part of the guide rail B, a levitation magnetic body 2 attracted by the levitation coil 1 of the moving vehicle A is continuously provided along the lower surface of the horizontal flange portion. ing. In addition, a primary coil 3 and a magnetic plate 4 that form a linear motor are provided on the bottom portion with a gap.

The moving vehicle A controls the exciting power of the levitation coil 1 on the basis of the detection value of a gap sensor (not shown) which detects the distance between the levitation coil 1 and the levitation magnetic body 2 to levitate. To do. The attraction force between the levitation coil 1 and the levitation magnetic body 2 serves to regulate the lateral direction of the moving vehicle A to an appropriate position. In addition, the secondary conductor 5 of the mobile vehicle A is connected to the primary coil 3
The moving vehicle A is given a propulsive force via the secondary conductor 5 by the induction magnetic field generated by the excitation of the primary coil 3.

The primary coil 3 and the magnetic plate 4 are
In order to reduce the equipment cost, it is provided at regular intervals along the guide rail B, and the moving vehicle A inertially travels between them. However, the primary side coil 3 and the magnetic plate 4 are always provided at the installation location of each station ST to perform deceleration when stopping the moving vehicle A and acceleration when starting the vehicle.
Further, a stop coil 7 for holding the moving vehicle A at a stop position by attracting the stopping magnetic body 6 of the moving vehicle A is provided at the installation location of each station ST.

As described above, the moving vehicle A has the primary coil 3,
The ground primary type linear motor configured by the magnetic plate 4 and the secondary conductor 5 allows the vehicle to move and run under the power and control of the ground side, and the stopped state is also maintained from the ground side. However, the power for exciting the levitation coil 1 and the power for the control circuit 8 thereof are supplied from the battery 9 mounted on the moving vehicle A. Further, the moving vehicle A is provided with an ID card 10 as a storage means having a built-in wireless (infrared) type communication means (SR), and this power supply is also a battery 9
Supplied from On the other hand, each station ST has the above I
A wireless communication device 11 for writing and reading destination information, cargo information, and the like to the D card 10 is provided.

In the battery 9 mounted on the moving vehicle A,
A secondary battery (for example, a lead storage battery) is used. Then, before the battery 9 is completely discharged (when the traveling time reaches a predetermined time), the battery 9 is removed and charged at the battery exchange station ST0. The mobile vehicle A is equipped with another charged battery 9 that is prepared in advance. These operations are automatically performed by the battery exchange equipment C provided in the battery exchange station ST0.

The battery exchange facility C is a device for exchanging the discharged battery 9a of the moving vehicle A with the charged battery 9b prepared on the battery exchange table, and a plurality of cells for charging and storing the discharged battery 9a. Equipped with a charging and storage shelf. Further, a device for taking out the charged battery 9a from each cell and transporting it to the battery exchange table, and conversely, a device for transporting the discharged battery 9a from the battery exchange table to the cell, and a processing means 12 for controlling the respective devices are provided. ..
The moving vehicle A has a structure in which the battery 9 can be loaded and unloaded from the luggage loading section on the upper surface.

Battery replacement is carried out in the following procedure. As shown in FIG. 1, when the moving vehicle A approaches the battery exchange station ST0, the stored information of the ID card 10 of the moving vehicle A is transmitted via the wireless communication device 11 as the communication means (SR) provided in the station ST0. It is read by the processing means 12. The read information includes elapsed time information. This elapsed time information is initialized when the battery is replaced, and is updated (counted up) in 1-minute units by a signal from a real-time clock 8a as a timekeeping means provided in the control circuit 8 of the moving vehicle A. It Therefore, the elapsed time information indicates the elapsed time for managing the battery replacement time.

If the elapsed time information read from the ID card 10 has not reached the predetermined time (for example, 1 hour), the processing means 12 allows the mobile vehicle A to pass through, but if the predetermined time has passed, the mobile vehicle A is passed. Stop it in place and move to the battery replacement work. That is, the discharged battery 9a of the moving vehicle A is removed, and the charged battery 9b prepared on the battery exchange table is mounted. When the battery replacement is completed, the moving vehicle A is started.

After that, the discharged battery 9a on the battery exchange table is conveyed to the empty cell of the charging / storage shelf and set. Then, of the plurality of charged batteries 9b stored in each cell, the one that has been charged first is taken out, conveyed to the battery exchange table, and prepared for the next battery exchange. The empty state and the charging completed state of each cell are centrally managed by the processing means 12.

The battery exchange station ST0
In stations ST other than the above, the processing means performs the following processing regarding the management of the battery replacement time. That is, I
If the elapsed time information read from the D card 10 has not reached the predetermined time, it is ignored, but if it has reached the predetermined time, the address of the battery exchange station ST0 is given as the destination address after the end of the current carrying work.

As described above, a plurality of batteries are shared by a plurality of mobile vehicles, but the number of times of charging / discharging each battery is managed as follows. The life of the battery (secondary battery) depends on the number of times of charging and discharging (for example, 500 to
This is because the use exceeds the number of times of charging and discharging, which causes a trouble such as the moving vehicle stopping during traveling.

The stored information of the ID card 10 of the moving vehicle A includes the number of times of charging / discharging of the installed battery (charge / discharge history information). That is, when the charged battery 9b is mounted by exchanging the battery, the number of times the battery 9b is charged and discharged is changed from the processing means 12 to the wireless communication device 1.
It is written in the ID card 10 via 1. When the discharged battery 9a is removed, the charge / discharge count of the battery 9a is read from the ID card 10 to the processing means 12 via the wireless communication device 11.

As described above, the information on the number of times of charging / discharging associated with the battery goes back and forth between the ID card 10 of the mobile vehicle A and the processing means 12 of the battery exchange facility C.
When the battery exchange facility C is charged,
The processing means 12 increments the number of times the battery is charged and discharged by one. The result is the number of life settings (for example,
(500 to 1,000 times), and a process of moving the battery, which has reached the set number of lives, to the disposal area is performed. In this way, the processing means 12 also manages and updates the charging / discharging frequency of each battery.

Another embodiment will be described below. In the above embodiment, the mobile vehicle has one communication means and one storage means.
Although the ID card which is a unit is mounted, the number of times the battery is charged and discharged can be managed in the same manner as in the embodiment when the communication device and the storage medium are mounted as separate units.

The charging / discharging history information of the battery to be managed is not limited to the number of times of charging / discharging, but may be cumulative usage time. It should be noted that reference numerals are added to the claims for convenience of comparison with the drawings, but the present invention is not limited to the configurations of the accompanying drawings by the entry.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a charge / discharge history management device for a mobile battery according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a part of the transportation facility.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a moving vehicle and a guide rail.

FIG. 4 is a side view showing a moving vehicle and a guide rail.

[Explanation of symbols]

 A moving vehicle C battery exchange facility SR communication means 9a discharged battery 9b charged battery 10 storage means 12 processing means

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A charging / discharging history management device for a battery mounted on a moving vehicle as a power source for its power, wherein the discharged battery (9) mounted on the moving vehicle (A) requires charging.
Replace a) with a charged battery (9b) and
Battery replacement facility (C) for charging the discharged battery (9a) and storing it as a charged battery (9b)
Are provided on the ground side, and communication means (SR) for exchanging battery charging / discharging history information between the moving vehicle (A) and the battery exchanging facility (C) are provided respectively for the moving vehicle (A). A storage means (10) for storing the battery charging / discharging history information is provided in the computer, and a processing means (12) for managing and updating the battery charging / discharging history information is provided in the battery replacement facility (C). Car battery charge / discharge history management device.