CN111401618A - Battery replacement method, controller, and computer-readable storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

The present application provides a battery replacement method, a controller, and a computer-readable storage medium, wherein the battery replacement method includes: an automatic transport trolley whose battery is to be replaced drives to a first waiting area, and the first waiting area is staggered from the entrance of the battery swap station Set; determine whether there is an available parking space in the second waiting area. When there is an available parking space in the second waiting area, the automatic transport trolley to be replaced will travel from the first waiting area to the second waiting area, where the second waiting area is connected to the battery swap station. The entrance is relatively set; it is judged whether there is an available power exchange station at the power exchange station. When there is an available station at the power exchange station, the automatic transport trolley to be replaced will drive from the second waiting area to the power exchange station to replace the battery in the power exchange station. The present application can improve the utilization rate of the power exchange station and the power exchange efficiency of the AGV.

Description

Battery replacement method, controller, and computer-readable storage medium

technical field

The present application relates to the technical field of automatic transportation, and in particular, to a battery replacement method, a controller and a computer-readable storage medium of an automatic transportation trolley.

Background technique

Automatic transport trolleys (also known as AGVs) are more and more widely used in docks, ports and other occasions to help the automation and unmanned transformation process of docks and ports. The AGV car is equipped with a battery pack, which can provide the AGV with a certain cruising range and cruising time. When the power in the battery pack is about to run out, the AGV needs to drive to the swap station to replace the new battery pack.

In the prior art, there is no unified planning for the power exchange path and power exchange sequence of AGVs. Some AGVs take a long time to travel from the waiting area to the power exchange station, which will increase the idle time of the power exchange station and reduce power exchange. efficiency.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Some embodiments of the present application provide a battery replacement method for an automatic transport trolley, a controller for the automatic transport trolley, and a computer-readable storage medium. The following describes the present application from various aspects, and the embodiments and beneficial effects of the following aspects can refer to each other.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a battery replacement method for an automatic transport trolley, including: the automatic transport trolley whose battery is to be replaced travels to a first waiting area, where the first waiting area and the entrance of the swap station are set at a wrong position; Whether there is an available parking space in the second waiting area, when there is an available parking space in the second waiting area, the automatic transport trolley to be replaced will travel from the first waiting area to the second waiting area, where the second waiting area is opposite to the entrance of the swap station. ; Determine whether there is an available power exchange station at the power exchange station. When there is an available station at the power exchange station, the automatic transport trolley for the battery to be replaced will drive from the second waiting area to the power exchange station to replace the battery in the power exchange station.

In some embodiments, the automatic transport trolley whose battery is to be replaced travels to the first waiting area, including: when the automatic transport trolley travels to a set distance from the first waiting area, judging whether there is an available parking space in the second waiting area, and when the first waiting area has an available parking space. When there are available parking spaces in the second waiting area, the automatic transport trolley whose battery is to be replaced will travel from its current location to the second waiting area.

In some embodiments, the automatic transport trolley whose battery is to be replaced travels from the first waiting area to the second waiting area, including: when the automatic transport trolley travels to a set distance from the second waiting area, judging whether there is an available replacement at the power exchange station Electric station, when there is an available station at the battery swap station, the automatic transport trolley to be replaced will drive from the current location to the battery swap station.

In some embodiments, the first waiting area is provided with a plurality of parking spaces for parking a plurality of automatic transport trolleys with batteries to be replaced, wherein the automatic transportation trolleys to be replaced with batteries travel from the first waiting area to the second waiting area, Including: a plurality of automatic transport trolleys whose batteries are to be replaced drive to the second waiting area in sequence according to the sequence of driving to the first waiting area.

In some embodiments, determining whether there is an available parking space in the second waiting area includes: acquiring status information of the second waiting area at a set time interval to determine whether there is an available parking space in the second waiting area.

In some embodiments, the second waiting area is an automatic transport trolley lane set directly opposite the entrance of the swap station, and the automatic transport trolley lane is provided with a plurality of parking spaces along its extending direction.

In some embodiments, an inner lane is provided between the outlet of the swap station and the entrance of the swap station, and the inner lane is parallel to the lane of the automatic transport trolley.

In some embodiments, the power exchange station has a plurality of power exchange stations spaced along the extending direction of the inner lane.

According to the battery replacement method provided by the embodiment of the present application, the travel path of the AGV to be replaced is the first waiting area, the second waiting area, and the changing station in sequence, and the second waiting area is equivalent to a "buffer area", from which , the AGV to be swapped can enter the swap station in the least amount of time. In this way, as long as there is an available station in the swap station, the AGV to be swapped can be filled into the available station in the shortest time, which can minimize the idle time of the swap station in the swap station and provide the use of the swap station. rate, shortening the overall time for battery replacement.

In a second aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a controller for an automatic transport trolley, comprising: a memory for storing instructions executed by one or more processors of the controller; When the computer executes the instructions in the memory, the battery replacement method described in any one of the implementation manners of the first aspect of the present application can be executed.

In a third aspect, the embodiments of the present application provide a computer-readable storage medium for storing computer programs or instructions, and when the computer programs or instructions are run on an electronic device, the electronic device can execute the first step of the present application. In one aspect, the battery replacement method described in any one of the embodiments.

Description of drawings

FIG. 1 shows a layout diagram of a wharf area provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2 shows a layout diagram of a power exchange area provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of a method for replacing a battery provided by an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 4a shows another arrangement diagram of a power exchange area provided by an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 4b shows a layout diagram of a power exchange station provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 shows a block diagram of a system on chip (SoC) provided by an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed ways

The embodiments of the present application are described below by specific specific examples, and those skilled in the art can easily understand other advantages and effects of the present application from the contents disclosed in this specification. Although the description of this application will be presented in conjunction with the preferred embodiment, this does not mean that the features of the invention are limited to this embodiment. On the contrary, the purpose of introducing the invention in conjunction with the embodiments is to cover other options or modifications that may be extended based on the claims of the present application. The following description will contain numerous specific details in order to provide an in-depth understanding of the present application. This application may also be practiced without these details. Furthermore, some specific details will be omitted from the description in order to avoid obscuring or obscuring the gist of the present application.

In order to make it easier for those skilled in the art to understand, the following describes the technical solution of the present application by taking the working scene of AGV in the wharf as an example, but it can be understood that the embodiment of the present application can be applied to other scenarios besides wharf, mining area, etc.

Referring to Figure 1, in this scenario, a working area and a power exchange area are provided on the wharf, wherein the working area is provided with a quay crane (ie, a quay crane container crane for ship loading and/or unloading), and a quay crane is provided below the quay crane. There are AGV lanes for AGVs to drive. During the unloading process, the AGV trolley can be used to evacuate the containers unloaded from the quay crane to the container yard; during the loading process, the AGV trolley can be used to transport the containers from the container yard to the underside of the quay crane, and the quay crane will then transport the containers installed on the ship.

There is an AGV exchange station in the power exchange area, and there is a power exchange station in the power exchange station. The AGV (hereinafter referred to as the AGV to be replaced) whose battery is to be replaced can replace the battery in the power exchange station. The power exchange station may be a robot automatic power exchange station, or a manually-attended station, etc., which is not limited in this application, as long as the power exchange can be achieved. There is an AGV lane between the work area and the power exchange area, and the AGV to be power exchanged can drive along the AGV lane to the power exchange station.

FIG. 2 shows an arrangement of the power exchange area. There is a power station on one side of the AGV lane, and an AGV parking lot on the other side of the AGV lane. There are multiple parking spaces on the AGV parking lot (respectively shown as PB01 to PB11 in the figure). Among them, there are multiple parking spaces in the AGV parking lot. It includes the parking space PB06 that is directly opposite the entrance of the swap station and the parking spaces that are staggered from the entrance of the swap station (other parking spaces except PB06). When there is no available swapping potential in the AGV swapping station (eg, when all swapping potentials in the AGV swapping station are in a busy state), the AGV to be swapped is parked in the AGV parking lot waiting for swapping.

FIG. 2 shows the travel path of the AGV in the prior art when it goes to the AGV swap station for power swap. There are AGV 01 and AGV 02 waiting to be replaced in the AGV parking lot. For AGV 01, the travel path from parking space PB06 to the entrance of the swap station is a straight line L1, and the travel time is T1; for AGV 02, the travel path from parking space PB09 to the entrance of the swap station is a polyline L2, and the travel time is T2. It can be seen that the travel path L2 of the AGV 02 has two more turns than the travel path L1 of the AGV 01. Therefore, the travel time T2 of the AGV 02 is greater than the travel time T1 of the AGV 01. Optionally, after the power exchange is completed, the AGV can drive out from the entrance of the power exchange station to the AGV lane, and then drive along the AGV lane to the work area.

In other words, in the prior art, the travel time of AGVs from the waiting area to the power exchange station varies. When there are available power exchange stations in the power exchange station, it takes a long time for the AGVs in some parking spaces to travel to the power exchange station. In the power exchange station, this increases the idle time of the power exchange station and reduces the power exchange efficiency.

For this reason, with reference to FIG. 3 , an embodiment of the present application provides a method for replacing a battery with an AGV. The following describes the method for replacing a battery provided by this embodiment in the arrangement of the working area shown in FIG. 2 , but it should be noted that, Embodiments of the present application are not limited to this arrangement. Swapping methods include:

S10 : The AGV to be swapped drives to the first waiting area 100 , and the first waiting area 100 and the entrance of the swapping station are set staggered. For example, the first waiting area 100 may be other parking spaces other than PB06 in FIG. 2 .

S20: Determine whether there is an available parking space in the second waiting area 200, wherein the second waiting area 200 is set opposite to the entrance of the swap station (for example, the second waiting area 200 may be the PB06 parking space in FIG. 2). When there are available parking spaces in the second waiting area 200, the AGV whose battery is to be replaced travels from the first waiting area 100 to the second waiting area 200. It can be understood that the AGV can travel along a straight path from the second waiting area 200 to the AGV exchange station. Entrance.

In some optional implementation manners, the AGV to be replaced enters the second waiting area 200 in sequence according to the sequence of entering the first waiting area 100 .

In some optional implementation manners, the power exchange control system acquires the status information of the second waiting area 200 at a set time interval to determine whether there is an available parking space in the second waiting area. The set time interval can be 5s, 30s, 1 minute, etc.

S30: Determine whether there is an available power swap station in the swap station. When there is an available station at the swap station, the AGV to be swapped travels from the second waiting area 200 to the swap station to replace the battery in the swap station. The number of stations in an AGV swap station can be one or more. Each station can be an automatic station (for example, powered by a robot) or a manually-attended station.

In other words, in the embodiment of the present application, the second waiting area 200 is equivalent to a "buffer zone", from which the AGV to be swapped can enter the swap station in the least amount of time. In this way, as long as there is an available station in the swap station, the AGV to be swapped can be filled into the available station in the shortest time, which can minimize the idle time of the swap station in the swap station and provide the use of the swap station. rate, shortening the overall time for battery replacement.

In some optional implementations, step S10 further includes:

S101: The automatic transport trolley travels to a set distance of 100 from the first waiting area;

S102 : Determine whether there is an available parking space in the second waiting area 200 , and when there is an available parking space in the second waiting area 200 , the AGV to be swapped drives from the current position to the second waiting area 200 .

Sometimes, there are few AGVs to be replaced, and at this time, the second waiting area 200 may be free. In this embodiment, when the AGV to be replaced is about to enter the first waiting area 100, it obtains the status information of the second waiting area 200. If there is a free parking space in the second waiting area 200, the AGV can omit the parking space in the first waiting area 100. In the parking step, the vehicle is directly driven to the second waiting area 200, so that the power exchange efficiency can be further improved. In some optional implementations, the set distance is 3-10m.

In some optional implementations, step S20 further includes:

S201: When the AGV to be swapped travels to a set distance from the second waiting area 200, determine whether there is an available power swap station at the swap station, and when there is an available station at the swap station, the AGV to be swapped travels from the current position to the swap station middle. In this way, the AGV to be swapped can save the parking step in the second waiting area 200 and directly run to the swapping station, thereby further improving the power swapping efficiency. In some optional implementations, the set distance is 2-8m.

Figure 4a shows another arrangement of the power exchange area. The swapping station is set in the extension area of the AGV lane, and the swapping station has an AGV entrance and an AGV exit, wherein the AGV entrance is set on the side of the swapping station facing the working area, and the AGV outlet is set on the side of the swapping station facing away from the working area. There is an AGV parking lot on one side of the AGV lane, and the AGV parking lot has multiple parking spaces for parking AGVs (PB01 to PB05 in the figure). In this arrangement, the AGV parking lot is the first waiting area 100, and the AGV lane directly opposite the AGV entrance of the swap station is the second waiting area 200. It can be seen that the second waiting area 200 can park multiple AGVs in sequence.

During the battery swap process, the AGV to be swapped drives from the work area to the battery swap area, first to the first waiting area 100, and then to the second waiting area 200 when there is a free parking space in the second waiting area 200 to wait to enter the swap area power station. When an available power exchange station appears in the power exchange station, the AGV to be power exchanged enters the power exchange station from the second waiting area 200 to perform power exchange.

Referring to Fig. 4b, the power exchange station is provided with an internal lane, and the number of internal lanes may be one or more, and the extension direction of the internal lane is parallel to the AGV lane outside the power exchange station. In the example given in Figure 4b, there are two inner lanes in the swap station. After the AGV passes through the entrance, it can enter the inner lane by oblique driving. Further, there are multiple power exchange stations along each inner lane (in Figure 4b, there are 3 power exchange jobs along each inner lane), so that multiple AGVs can be power exchanged at the same time, and the power exchange efficiency can be further improved. . After the battery swap is completed, drive out from the AGV exit of the swap station, turn around along the U-shaped path, and return to the working area.

Referring now to FIG. 5 , shown is a block diagram of a SoC (System on Chip, system on chip) 500 according to an embodiment of the present application. In Figure 5, similar components have the same reference numerals. Also, the dotted box is an optional feature of more advanced SoCs. In FIG. 5 , SoC 50 includes: interconnect unit 550 coupled to processor 510 ; system proxy unit 580 ; bus controller unit 590 ; integrated memory controller unit 540 ; , which may include integrated graphics logic, image processors, audio processors, and video processors; static random access memory (SRAM) unit 530 ; direct memory access (DMA) unit 560 . In one embodiment, coprocessor 520 includes a special purpose processor such as, for example, a network or communications processor, a compression engine, GPGPU (General-purpose computing on graphics processing units), high throughput MIC processing processor, or embedded processor, etc.

Static Random-Access Memory (SRAM) unit 530 may include one or more tangible, non-transitory computer-readable media for storing data and/or instructions. The computer-readable storage medium stores instructions, in particular temporary and permanent copies of the instructions.

The SoC shown in Figure 5 can be set in the AGV to be replaced. When the SoC is set in the AGV to be replaced, an instruction is stored in the static random access memory (SRAM) unit 530, and the instruction may include: when executed by at least one of the processors, causing the AGV to be replaced to implement the implementation of the present application Provides instructions for steps (for example, steps S10 to S30, S101, S102, S201, and S202) in the power exchange method.

Each method implementation of the present application can be implemented by means of software, magnetic components, firmware, and the like.

Program code may be applied to input instructions to perform the functions described herein and to generate output information. The output information can be applied to one or more output devices in a known manner. For the purposes of this application, a processing system includes any system having a processor such as, for example, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), a microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or a microprocessor.

The program code may be implemented in a high-level procedural language or an object-oriented programming language to communicate with the processing system. The program code may also be implemented in assembly or machine language, if desired. In fact, the mechanisms described herein are not limited to the scope of any particular programming language. In either case, the language may be a compiled language or an interpreted language.

One or more aspects of at least one embodiment may be implemented by representative instructions stored on a computer-readable storage medium, the instructions representing various logic in a processor, the instructions, when read by a machine, cause the machine to make Logic that implements the techniques described herein. These representations, referred to as "IP cores," may be stored on tangible computer-readable storage media and provided to multiple customers or production facilities for loading into the manufacturing machines that actually manufacture the logic or processors.

In some cases, an instruction converter may be used to convert instructions from a source instruction set to a target instruction set. For example, an instruction translator may transform (eg, using static binary transforms, dynamic binary transforms including dynamic compilation), warp, emulate, or otherwise convert an instruction into one or more other instructions to be processed by the core. Instruction translators can be implemented in software, hardware, firmware, or a combination thereof. The instruction translator may be on-processor, off-processor, or partially on-processor and partially off-processor.

To sum up, the above-mentioned embodiments provided in the present application are only illustrative to illustrate the principles and effects of the present application, but are not intended to limit the present application. Anyone skilled in the art can make modifications or changes to the above embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application. Therefore, all equivalent modifications or changes made by those with ordinary knowledge in the technical field without departing from the spirit and technical idea disclosed in this application should still be covered by the claims of this application.

Claims (10)

1. A battery replacing method for an automatic transport cart, comprising:

the automatic transport trolley with the battery to be replaced runs to a first waiting area, and the first waiting area and the inlet of the battery replacement station are arranged in a staggered mode;

judging whether an available parking space exists in a second waiting area, and when the available parking space exists in the second waiting area, driving the automatic transport trolley with the battery to be replaced to the second waiting area from the first waiting area, wherein the second waiting area is opposite to the battery replacement station inlet;

and judging whether the battery replacing station has an available battery replacing station, and when the battery replacing station has the available station, driving the automatic transport trolley of the battery to be replaced into the battery replacing station from the second waiting area so as to replace the battery in the battery replacing station.

2. The battery replacement method according to claim 1, wherein the automated transport vehicle of the battery to be replaced travels to a first waiting area, comprising:

and when the automatic transport trolley runs to a set distance away from the first waiting area, judging whether the second waiting area has an available parking space, and when the second waiting area has an available parking space, the automatic transport trolley with the battery to be replaced runs to the second waiting area from the current position.

3. The battery replacement method according to claim 2, wherein the automated transport vehicle of the battery to be replaced travels from the first waiting area to the second waiting area, and comprises:

when the automatic transport trolley runs to a set distance away from the second waiting area, whether an available battery replacing station exists in the battery replacing station is judged, and when the available station exists in the battery replacing station, the automatic transport trolley with the battery to be replaced runs into the battery replacing station from the current position.

4. The battery replacement method according to claim 1, wherein the first waiting area is provided with a plurality of parking spaces for parking a plurality of automatic transporting vehicles for replacing batteries, wherein the automatic transporting vehicles for replacing batteries travel from the first waiting area to the second waiting area, and comprises:

and sequentially driving the automatic transport trolleys with the batteries to be replaced to the second waiting area according to the sequence of driving to the first waiting area.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining whether there is an available space in the second waiting area comprises:

and acquiring the state information of the second waiting area at a set time interval to judge whether the second waiting area has an available parking space.

6. The battery replacement method according to claim 1, wherein the second waiting area is an automatic transportation vehicle lane disposed opposite to the battery replacement station entrance, and the automatic transportation vehicle lane is provided with a plurality of parking spaces along an extending direction thereof.

7. The battery replacement method according to claim 6, wherein an internal lane is arranged between an outlet of the battery replacement station and an inlet of the battery replacement station, and the internal lane is parallel to the automatic transport vehicle lane.

8. The battery replacement method according to claim 7, wherein the battery replacement station includes a plurality of battery replacement stations arranged at intervals in an extending direction of the internal lane.

9. A controller for an automated transport cart, comprising:

a memory to store instructions for execution by one or more processors of the controller;

a processor, which when executing the instructions in the memory, is capable of performing the battery replacement method of any of claims 1-8.

10. A computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program or instructions for causing an electronic device to perform the battery replacement method according to any one of claims 1 to 8 when the computer program or instructions are run on the electronic device.

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