阅读说明：本技术 一种接触式无人机自主充电系统 (Contact unmanned aerial vehicle autonomous charging system ) 是由 赵凯 伏潇斌 逯彦刚 许晓平 吴玉生 于 2019-10-18 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明提供了一种接触式无人机自主充电系统,包括地面充电站和机载充电分系统。其中,地面充电站包括充电控制器和充电板,机载充电分系统包括充电接触端和机载电池组。充电板上分布有若干充电片,无人机通过充电接触端与充电板上的部分充电片接触充电,充电片的供电通断和正负极由充电控制器控制,可变换,无人机与充电板无需对准,接触面积大,可同时为多个不同型号的无人机充电,通用性强。充电片形状、排列、分布无特殊要求,实施方便。充电时只对充电板上与无人机接触的端口进行供电,安全性强。(The invention provides a contact type unmanned aerial vehicle autonomous charging system which comprises a ground charging station and an airborne charging subsystem. The ground charging station comprises a charging controller and a charging plate, and the airborne charging subsystem comprises a charging contact end and an airborne battery pack. The unmanned aerial vehicle charging device is characterized in that the charging plate is provided with a plurality of charging sheets, the unmanned aerial vehicle is charged by contacting with partial charging sheets on the charging plate through the charging contact end, the power supply on-off and the positive and negative electrodes of the charging sheets are controlled by the charging controller and can be changed, the unmanned aerial vehicle and the charging plate do not need to be aligned, the contact area is large, the unmanned aerial vehicle charging device can charge a plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles of different models at the same. The shape, arrangement and distribution of the charging sheet have no special requirements, and the implementation is convenient. When charging, only the port that contacts with unmanned aerial vehicle on to the charging panel supplies power, and the security is strong.)

1. The utility model provides a contact unmanned aerial vehicle autonomous charging system, includes ground charging station and machine carries charging branch system, its characterized in that: the ground charging station comprises a charging controller and a charging plate, and the airborne charging subsystem comprises a charging contact end and an airborne battery pack. The unmanned aerial vehicle charging device comprises a charging plate, a charging controller, an insulating isolation plate and a plurality of charging sheets, wherein the charging plate is provided with a plurality of charging sheets as power supply ports, each charging sheet is independently connected with the charging controller, the charging controller controls the power supply on-off and positive and negative polarities of the charging sheet, the charging sheets are insulated and separated through the insulating isolation plate, and the maximum size of the appearance of each charging sheet is smaller than the difference between the minimum distance of the positive and negative ports in all charging contact ends of the unmanned aerial vehicle and the width of; the charging controller comprises a detection circuit, the number of the charging pieces in contact with the charging contact end of the unmanned aerial vehicle and the required power supply polarity are determined by measuring the current and the flow direction of the detection resistor of the detection circuit, and the detection resistor is sequentially connected with the two charging pieces during detection until all the charging pieces are traversed; when the unmanned aerial vehicle is positioned on the charging plate, the charging contact end is in contact with part of charging sheets on the charging plate, when the airborne battery pack supplies power to the charging contact end according to the charging polarity, the detection circuit can detect and determine the number of the charging sheets in contact and the required power supply polarity, and when the charging controller supplies power to the corresponding charging sheets according to the charging polarity, the airborne battery pack can be charged through the charging contact end.

2. The contact unmanned aerial vehicle autonomous charging system of claim 1, characterized in that: the ground charging station also comprises a storage battery and a power converter, wherein the storage battery is connected with the power converter, the power converter is connected with an external power supply, and if the external power supply normally supplies power, the power converter converts the power of the external power supply, charges the storage battery and supplies power to other equipment of the ground charging station; if the external power supply can not normally supply power, the storage battery is used as the power supply, and the power converter performs power conversion on the power supply to supply power for other equipment of the ground charging station.

3. The contact unmanned aerial vehicle autonomous charging system of claim 1, characterized in that: the airborne charging subsystem further comprises a battery charging and discharging manager, an airborne power supply manager and a flight control computer, wherein the battery charging and discharging manager is used for controlling charging and discharging of the airborne battery pack and sending charging and discharging information to the airborne power supply manager, the airborne power supply manager is used for switching charging and discharging of the airborne battery pack, the flight control computer is used for storing the number of the unmanned aerial vehicle and basic information of the airborne battery pack, and the unmanned aerial vehicle charging process is controlled through the airborne power supply manager according to program setting; the basic information of the onboard battery pack comprises battery charging voltage, charging power and battery capacity.

4. The contact unmanned aerial vehicle autonomous charging system of claim 1, characterized in that: the charging panel further comprises a supporting frame, the supporting frame and all charging sheets are insulated and isolated by the insulating isolation plate, grooves are designed on the insulating isolation plate according to the sizes of the charging sheets, and holes are punched in each groove to be used for installing the charging sheets and wiring.

5. The contact unmanned aerial vehicle autonomous charging system of claim 1, characterized in that: the charging contact ends are arranged on the unmanned aerial vehicle body and the ground contact part through rubber buffer bodies, and each charging contact end is provided with a point-shaped, linear or planar protrusion and is used for being in contact with a charging plate.

6. The contact unmanned aerial vehicle autonomous charging system of claim 1, characterized in that: the unified serial number of all charging pieces on the charging panel, charge controller storage has all charging piece serial numbers and positional information on the charging panel, unmanned aerial vehicle serial number and the place size that charges that corresponds thereof, machine carries group battery essential information, and the shared place information of unmanned aerial vehicle that is charging, utilize whether unmanned aerial vehicle serial number and its machine carries group battery essential information distinguishable to be unmanned aerial vehicle in the system, confirm that unmanned aerial vehicle charges required power information, utilize charging piece serial number and positional information, combine the charging piece serial number with the contact terminal contact that charges of unmanned aerial vehicle that detects, can confirm the actual landing position of unmanned aerial vehicle, through each charging unmanned aerial vehicle charging place dimensional information and the actual landing position of each unmanned aerial vehicle, confirm that charging piece occupies the condition on the charging panel, and to its record, thereby for the unmanned aerial vehicle distribution charging panel.

7. The contact unmanned aerial vehicle autonomous charging system of claim 1, characterized in that: the ground charging station further comprises a ground charging data terminal, the airborne charging subsystem further comprises an airborne charging data terminal, the ground charging data terminal and the airborne charging data terminal adopt a pair of most power transmission stations to carry out wireless communication, and the ground charging station can be communicated with a plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles simultaneously.

8. The contact unmanned aerial vehicle autonomous charging system of claim 1, characterized in that: when the system works, the flow is as follows:

step 1, receiving charging:

the unmanned aerial vehicle sends an unmanned aerial vehicle number, airborne battery pack basic information and a charging request to a ground charging station, after the ground charging station receives the information, the unmanned aerial vehicle number and the airborne battery pack basic information are checked and self-checked, after the ground charging station works normally and enough places are available for parking the unmanned aerial vehicle, specific charging positions are distributed according to occupation conditions of a place required by the unmanned aerial vehicle and a charging board place, and the unmanned aerial vehicle sends a charging request and landing point position information; after receiving the information, the unmanned aerial vehicle lands in the distributed charging area; if the number of the unmanned aerial vehicle and the basic information of the corresponding airborne battery pack of the unmanned aerial vehicle are not inquired in the charging controller, or no charging site is needed, or the external power supply of the ground charging station cannot supply power normally, or the port of the power converter is insufficient, or other faults occur in the ground charging station, the ground charging station sends charging refusing information to the unmanned aerial vehicle;

step 2, detecting a charging plate:

after the unmanned aerial vehicle falls, the flight control computer sends an instruction to the airborne power supply manager, so that the airborne power supply manager adds the voltage of the airborne battery pack to a charging contact end of the unmanned aerial vehicle according to the charging polarity, the airborne charging data terminal sends a charging plate detection request to a ground charging station, after the ground charging station receives the information, the charging controller performs charging plate detection on a charging plate area distributed for the unmanned aerial vehicle, determines the number and the corresponding positive and negative electrodes of a charging plate on the charging plate in contact with the charging contact end of the unmanned aerial vehicle, and analyzes the actual occupied area of the unmanned aerial vehicle according to the size information, the number and the position information of the charging plate of the unmanned aerial vehicle; after the detection is finished, the ground charging station sends charging plate detection finishing information, the airborne charging data terminal receives the information and sends the information to the flight control computer, and the flight control computer sends an instruction to the airborne power manager after receiving the information, stops supplying power to the charging contact end of the unmanned aerial vehicle and sends a charging instruction to the ground charging station; if the charging sheet which is in contact with the charging contact end of the unmanned aerial vehicle is not detected in the charging plate area distributed by the unmanned aerial vehicle, detecting the charging sheet which is not supplied with power by the whole charging plate;

step 3, charging and starting:

the ground charging station receives the charging instruction, and the charging controller sends charging voltage and an output port to the power converter; the power converter converts the power supply as required and outputs the power supply from the designated port; after detecting the port voltage, the charging controller sends charging preparation completion information to the unmanned aerial vehicle through the ground charging data terminal; after the unmanned aerial vehicle receives the charging preparation completion information, the flight control computer sends an instruction to the onboard power manager to connect the charging end of the battery charging and discharging manager and the charging contact end of the unmanned aerial vehicle; then, sending charging preparation completion information to the airborne charging data terminal; after the ground charging station receives the charging preparation completion information, the charging controller supplies power to a charging sheet in contact with the charging contact end of the unmanned aerial vehicle according to the corresponding polarity, and sends power supply starting information to the unmanned aerial vehicle; after the unmanned aerial vehicle receives the power supply starting information, the flight control computer sends a charging power supply instruction to the airborne power supply manager, the airborne power supply manager converts the power supply of the unmanned aerial vehicle, and the power supply of the airborne battery pack is switched to the power supply of the charging power supply;

step 4, charging monitoring:

in the charging process of the unmanned aerial vehicle, a battery charging manager carries out charging management on an airborne battery pack, the unmanned aerial vehicle sends airborne battery pack state information to a ground charging station, the ground charging station detects self power supply and the state of the airborne battery pack, and if the unmanned aerial vehicle or the ground charging station detects abnormality, a charging circuit is disconnected; if the ground charging station detects that the external power supply cannot normally supply power, when the storage battery is used as the power supply, the ground charging station continues to charge the unmanned aerial vehicle in the charging state;

and 5, closing charging:

after the airborne battery pack is fully charged, the battery charging manager sends charging completion information to the airborne power supply manager, the airborne power supply manager sends the information to the flight control computer, the flight control computer sends an airborne battery pack power supply and charging disconnection instruction to the airborne power supply manager after receiving the information, and the airborne power supply manager switches the power supply of the unmanned aerial vehicle from the charging power supply to the airborne battery pack power supply and disconnects the battery charging and discharging manager and the charging port; then, the flight control computer sends charging completion information to the ground charging station through the airborne data terminal, and after the ground charging station receives the charging completion information, the charging controller stops supplying power to the charging panel and sends power supply stopping information to the unmanned aerial vehicle; the unmanned aerial vehicle needs to stop charging for other reasons, and can also send the instruction of stopping charging to ground charging station to stop charging.

Technical Field

The invention belongs to the technical field of unmanned aerial vehicles, and particularly relates to a contact type unmanned aerial vehicle autonomous charging system.

Background

With the development of unmanned aerial vehicle technology, unmanned aerial vehicles have been widely used in civil and military fields. Wherein, the unmanned aerial vehicle who regards as main power with the battery has obtained a large amount of uses, but this kind of electric unmanned aerial vehicle all needs manual operation to recharge after flying at every turn, can't realize real unmanned ization. Therefore, there is an urgent need for an autonomous charging system for such an unmanned aerial vehicle to ensure that it meets the requirements of future unmanned and intelligent development.

At present, unmanned aerial vehicle is from the mode of charging including contact charging and wireless charging, and wireless charging need not to connect, but needs ground supply end and unmanned aerial vehicle charging end to aim at, and charge efficiency is lower, and the charging speed is slower. The contact type charging mainly adopts two charging interface modes of a plug interface or a point-surface contact interface. The adoption plug and pull interface that charges needs accurate alignment, and it is big to realize the degree of difficulty, and makes the fault probability increase to plug repeatedly. The contact surface contact charging interface has simple mode and is easy to realize.

The existing point-surface contact charging interface mode mainly comprises a contact and charging panel contact charging mode, a power supply port electrode on the charging panel is fixed, and the universality is poor in order to ensure that charging contacts on an unmanned aerial vehicle can respectively contact with the positive electrode and the negative electrode of the charging panel, and the electrode shape and the positive electrode arrangement form on the charging panel, the contact distribution form on the unmanned aerial vehicle corresponding to the charging contacts, the distance and the like need to be designed. Meanwhile, the number of charging contacts of the unmanned aerial vehicle is limited, the whole contact surface is small, all positive and negative electrodes of a charging plate are in a power supply state in the charging process, and certain potential safety hazards exist.

In addition, the unmanned aerial vehicle size of different models to and airborne battery group charging voltage, charging power, battery capacity are different, and most autonomic charging mode does not consider simultaneously to charge for the unmanned aerial vehicle of a plurality of different models.

Disclosure of Invention

In order to overcome the defects of the prior art, the invention provides a contact type unmanned aerial vehicle autonomous charging system. Each charging contact end of the unmanned aerial vehicle is provided with a large number of point-shaped, linear or planar bulges, so that the contact area of the unmanned aerial vehicle and a ground charging plate is greatly increased; the position of a power supply port of the ground charging plate, which is in contact with the unmanned aerial vehicle, and the polarity of power supply required by the power supply port can be detected, the power supply positive and negative electrodes of each charging port on the charging plate can be changed, and the unmanned aerial vehicle and the charging plate do not need to be aligned; the unmanned aerial vehicles of different models can be charged at the same time, and the universality is strong; when charging, only the port that contacts with unmanned aerial vehicle on to the charging panel supplies power, and the security is strong.

The utility model provides a contact unmanned aerial vehicle autonomous charging system, includes ground charging station and machine carries charging branch system, its characterized in that: the ground charging station comprises a charging controller and a charging plate, and the airborne charging subsystem comprises a charging contact end and an airborne battery pack. The unmanned aerial vehicle charging device comprises a charging plate, a charging controller, an insulating isolation plate and a plurality of charging sheets, wherein the charging plate is provided with a plurality of charging sheets as power supply ports, each charging sheet is independently connected with the charging controller, the charging controller controls the power supply on-off and positive and negative polarities of the charging sheet, the charging sheets are insulated and separated through the insulating isolation plate, and the maximum size of the appearance of each charging sheet is smaller than the difference between the minimum distance of the positive and negative ports in all charging contact ends of the unmanned aerial vehicle and the width of; the charging controller comprises a detection circuit, the number of the charging pieces in contact with the charging contact end of the unmanned aerial vehicle and the required power supply polarity are determined by measuring the current and the flow direction of the detection resistor of the detection circuit, and the detection resistor is sequentially connected with the two charging pieces during detection until all the charging pieces are traversed; when the unmanned aerial vehicle is positioned on the charging plate, the charging contact end is in contact with part of charging sheets on the charging plate, when the airborne battery pack supplies power to the charging contact end according to the charging polarity, the detection circuit can detect and determine the number of the charging sheets in contact and the required power supply polarity, and when the charging controller supplies power to the corresponding charging sheets according to the charging polarity, the airborne battery pack can be charged through the charging contact end.

The ground charging station also comprises a storage battery and a power converter, wherein the storage battery is connected with the power converter, the power converter is connected with an external power supply, and if the external power supply normally supplies power, the power converter converts the power of the external power supply, charges the storage battery and supplies power to other equipment of the ground charging station; if the external power supply can not normally supply power, the storage battery is used as the power supply, and the power converter performs power conversion on the power supply to supply power for other equipment of the ground charging station.

The onboard charging subsystem further comprises a battery charging and discharging manager, an onboard power supply manager and a flight control computer, wherein the battery charging and discharging manager is used for controlling charging and discharging of the onboard battery pack and sending charging and discharging information to the onboard power supply manager, the onboard power supply manager is used for switching charging and discharging of the onboard battery pack, the flight control computer is used for storing the number of the unmanned aerial vehicle and basic information of the onboard battery pack, and the unmanned aerial vehicle charging process is controlled through the onboard power supply manager according to program setting; the basic information of the onboard battery pack comprises battery charging voltage, charging power and battery capacity.

The charging panel further comprises a supporting frame, the supporting frame and all charging sheets are insulated and isolated by the insulating isolation plate, grooves are designed on the insulating isolation plate according to the sizes of the charging sheets, and holes are punched in each groove to be used for installing the charging sheets and wiring.

The charging contact ends are arranged on the unmanned aerial vehicle body and the ground contact part through rubber buffer bodies, and each charging contact end is provided with a point-shaped, linear or planar protrusion for contacting with a charging plate.

The charging panel on the unified serial number of all charging pieces, charge controller storage has all charging piece serial numbers and positional information on the charging panel, unmanned aerial vehicle serial number and the place size that charges that corresponds thereof, machine carries group battery essential information, and the shared place information of unmanned aerial vehicle that is charging, utilize unmanned aerial vehicle serial number and its machine to carry the distinguishable unmanned aerial vehicle that is in the system of group battery essential information, confirm unmanned aerial vehicle required power information that charges, utilize charging piece serial number and positional information, combine the charging piece serial number with the contact terminal contact of unmanned aerial vehicle that charges that detects, can confirm the actual landing position of unmanned aerial vehicle, through the actual landing position of each unmanned aerial vehicle charging place size information and each unmanned aerial vehicle that charges, confirm the charging piece occupation condition on the charging panel, and to its record, thereby the distribution charging panel place for the unmanned.

The ground charging station further comprises a ground charging data terminal, the airborne charging subsystem further comprises an airborne charging data terminal, the ground charging data terminal and the airborne charging data terminal adopt a pair of most of electricity transmission platforms to carry out wireless communication, and the ground charging station can be communicated with a plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles simultaneously.

As above a contact unmanned aerial vehicle is charging system independently, its characterized in that: when the system works, the flow is as follows:

step 1, receiving charging:

the unmanned aerial vehicle sends an unmanned aerial vehicle number, airborne battery pack basic information and a charging request to a ground charging station, after the ground charging station receives the information, the unmanned aerial vehicle number and the airborne battery pack basic information are checked and self-checked, after the ground charging station works normally and enough places are available for parking the unmanned aerial vehicle, specific charging positions are distributed according to occupation conditions of a place required by the unmanned aerial vehicle and a charging board place, and the unmanned aerial vehicle sends a charging request and landing point position information; after receiving the information, the unmanned aerial vehicle lands in the distributed charging area; if the number of the unmanned aerial vehicle and the basic information of the corresponding airborne battery pack of the unmanned aerial vehicle are not inquired in the charging controller, or no charging site is needed, or the external power supply of the ground charging station cannot supply power normally, or the port of the power converter is insufficient, or other faults occur in the ground charging station, the ground charging station sends charging refusing information to the unmanned aerial vehicle;

step 2, detecting a charging plate:

after the unmanned aerial vehicle falls, the flight control computer sends an instruction to the airborne power supply manager, so that the airborne power supply manager adds the voltage of the airborne battery pack to a charging contact end of the unmanned aerial vehicle according to the charging polarity, the airborne charging data terminal sends a charging plate detection request to a ground charging station, after the ground charging station receives the information, the charging controller performs charging plate detection on a charging plate area distributed for the unmanned aerial vehicle, determines the number and the corresponding positive and negative electrodes of a charging plate on the charging plate in contact with the charging contact end of the unmanned aerial vehicle, and analyzes the actual occupied area of the unmanned aerial vehicle according to the size information, the number and the position information of the charging plate of the unmanned aerial vehicle; after the detection is finished, the ground charging station sends charging plate detection finishing information, the airborne charging data terminal receives the information and sends the information to the flight control computer, and the flight control computer sends an instruction to the airborne power manager after receiving the information, stops supplying power to the charging contact end of the unmanned aerial vehicle and sends a charging instruction to the ground charging station; if the charging sheet which is in contact with the charging contact end of the unmanned aerial vehicle is not detected in the charging plate area distributed by the unmanned aerial vehicle, detecting the charging sheet which is not supplied with power by the whole charging plate;

step 3, charging and starting:

the ground charging station receives the charging instruction, and the charging controller sends charging voltage and an output port to the power converter; the power converter converts the power supply as required and outputs the power supply from the designated port; after detecting the port voltage, the charging controller sends charging preparation completion information to the unmanned aerial vehicle through the ground charging data terminal; after the unmanned aerial vehicle receives the charging preparation completion information, the flight control computer sends an instruction to the onboard power manager to connect the charging end of the battery charging and discharging manager and the charging contact end of the unmanned aerial vehicle; then, sending charging preparation completion information to the airborne charging data terminal; after the ground charging station receives the charging preparation completion information, the charging controller supplies power to a charging sheet in contact with the charging contact end of the unmanned aerial vehicle according to the corresponding polarity, and sends power supply starting information to the unmanned aerial vehicle; after the unmanned aerial vehicle receives the power supply starting information, the flight control computer sends a charging power supply instruction to the airborne power supply manager, the airborne power supply manager converts the power supply of the unmanned aerial vehicle, and the power supply of the airborne battery pack is switched to the power supply of the charging power supply;

step 4, charging monitoring:

in the charging process of the unmanned aerial vehicle, a battery charging manager carries out charging management on an airborne battery pack, the unmanned aerial vehicle sends airborne battery pack state information to a ground charging station, the ground charging station detects self power supply and the state of the airborne battery pack, and if the unmanned aerial vehicle or the ground charging station detects abnormality, a charging circuit is disconnected; if the ground charging station detects that the external power supply cannot normally supply power, when the storage battery is used as the power supply, the ground charging station continues to charge the unmanned aerial vehicle in the charging state;

and 5, closing charging:

after the airborne battery pack is fully charged, the battery charging manager sends charging completion information to the airborne power supply manager, the airborne power supply manager sends the information to the flight control computer, the flight control computer sends an airborne battery pack power supply and charging disconnection instruction to the airborne power supply manager after receiving the information, and the airborne power supply manager switches the power supply of the unmanned aerial vehicle from the charging power supply to the airborne battery pack power supply and disconnects the battery charging and discharging manager and the charging port; then, the flight control computer sends charging completion information to the ground charging station through the airborne data terminal, and after the ground charging station receives the charging completion information, the charging controller stops supplying power to the charging panel and sends power supply stopping information to the unmanned aerial vehicle; the unmanned aerial vehicle needs to stop charging for other reasons, and can also send the instruction of stopping charging to ground charging station to stop charging.

The invention has the beneficial effects that: (1) the unmanned aerial vehicle does not need to be aligned with the charging plate in contact, so that the unmanned aerial vehicle is easy to realize and reliable to use; (2) the charging plate has no special requirements on the shape, arrangement and distribution of the charging sheets, so the implementation is convenient; (3) the contact area between the charging contact end of the unmanned aerial vehicle and the charging plate is large, and meanwhile, the charging contact end is arranged on the rubber buffer body, so that the unmanned aerial vehicle can be fully contacted, and the contact connection resistance is low; (4) the ground charging station can automatically distribute a charging field, accommodate and simultaneously charge various unmanned aerial vehicles, has a wide application range and is suitable for the clustered unmanned aerial vehicles; (5) the ground charging station can perform self-checking and allocate the field according to the occupation condition of the charging panel field, so that whether the unmanned aerial vehicle which provides the charging request can be charged or not can be judged; (6) the charging controller can detect the number of the charging sheet contacted with the charging contact end of the unmanned aerial vehicle and store the position information of the charging sheet with all numbers, so the landing position of the unmanned aerial vehicle can be detected, and the abnormal condition can be judged; (7) because only the charging sheet which is in contact with the unmanned aerial vehicle on the charging plate is powered during charging, the unmanned aerial vehicle and the ground charging station simultaneously monitor the charging state, and the safety is high; (8) because unmanned aerial vehicle has the data link that is used for charging communication specially with ground charging station, does not influence unmanned aerial vehicle task communication itself.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic view of an autonomous charging system for a contact-type unmanned aerial vehicle according to the present invention;

fig. 2 is a schematic view of a small quad-rotor drone according to an embodiment of the invention;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a large quad-rotor drone according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a charging plate according to the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a single charging pad at a charging pad;

fig. 6 is a top view and an isometric view of a left charging contact end of a small quad-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle;

fig. 7 is a top view and an isometric view of a charging contact end of a quad-rotor drone;

fig. 8 is a schematic view of a small quad-rotor drone in contact with a charging pad.

In the figure, 1-charging sheet; 2-insulating separator plate; 3-a support frame; 4-charging pad wire; 5-charging a contact port 1 on the left side of the small quad-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle; 6-charging the left side of the small quad-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle to contact the port 2; 7-a left charging contact port 3 of the small quad-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle; 8-small four-rotor unmanned plane rubber buffer body; 9-small quad-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle left foot rest; 10-a charging contact end of the big quad-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle; 11-a large quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle rubber buffer body; 12-big quad-rotor unmanned plane foot rests; 13-a charging contact port 1 at the right side of the small quad-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle; 14-a charging contact port 2 at the right side of the small quad-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle; 15-little four rotor unmanned aerial vehicle right side contact port 3 that charges.

Detailed Description

The present invention will be further described with reference to the following drawings and examples, which include, but are not limited to, the following examples.

As shown in fig. 1, the invention provides an autonomous charging system for a contact-type unmanned aerial vehicle, and in this embodiment, two types of quad-rotor unmanned aerial vehicles, namely a large quad-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle and a small quad-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle, are specifically used as charging objects, which are respectively shown in fig. 2 and fig. 3. Fig. 2 is little four rotor unmanned aerial vehicle, and fig. 3 is big four rotor unmanned aerial vehicle, and two kinds of four rotor unmanned aerial vehicle relevant information are as follows: (1) the small four-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle is 0.35m long and 0.35m wide, the contact part of a foot rest and the ground is two rods, the minimum distance between the two rods is 0.3m, the charging voltage is 17.4V, the rated charging power is 160W, and the battery capacity is 5870 mAh; (2) the large four-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle is 0.65m in length and 0.65m in width, the contact part of the foot rest and the ground is four supporting surfaces, the minimum distance between the four supporting surfaces is 0.5m, the charging voltage is 26.3V, the rated charging power is 180W, and the battery capacity is 5700 mAh.

The embodiment of the invention comprises a ground charging station and an airborne charging subsystem. Ground charging station is including filling electric pile and charging panel. Fill electric pile and include battery, power converter, charge controller ground charging data terminal. The charging plate comprises a supporting frame, an insulating isolation plate and a charging sheet. The airborne charging subsystem comprises a charging contact end, an airborne battery pack, a battery charging and discharging manager, an airborne power manager, a flight control computer and an airborne charging data terminal. The charging controller of the ground charging station comprises a charging panel detection circuit, and the detection element is a resistor. The ground charging data terminal and the airborne charging data terminal adopt a one-to-many wireless data transmission station with a control distance of 2km, and the ground charging station can simultaneously communicate with 15 unmanned aerial vehicles.

The equipment connection mode of the invention is as follows: the airborne charging subsystem and the ground charging station carry out wireless communication through a data link, and after the unmanned aerial vehicle descends to the charging plate, the airborne charging subsystem charging contact end is in contact connection with the charging sheet on the charging plate of the ground charging station. In the ground charging station, a storage battery and an external power supply are respectively connected with a power converter, the power converter is connected with a charging controller and a ground charging data terminal, the charging controller is connected with a charging panel and the ground charging data terminal, and each charging sheet on the charging panel is independently connected with the charging controller. In the airborne charging subsystem, the positive pole of each charging contact end of the unmanned aerial vehicle is converged into a line, and the negative pole of each charging contact end is converged into a line which is respectively connected with the positive pole and the negative pole of the charging port of the airborne power manager. The airborne battery pack is connected with the battery charge and discharge manager, the battery charge and discharge manager is connected with the airborne power manager, the airborne power manager is connected with the flight control computer, and the flight control computer is connected with the airborne charging data terminal.

In the ground charging station, the storage battery adopts a lithium ion battery pack, and a charging and discharging manager is integrated in the storage battery pack. The power input end of the power converter is provided with an external direct-current power input interface and is connected with an external direct-current power supply. If the external power supply normally supplies power, the power converter converts the direct current into the direct current, a storage battery charging power supply, an onboard battery pack charging power supply, a charging controller working power supply and a ground charging data terminal working power supply are output, and the external power supply charges the storage battery; if the external power supply can not supply power normally, the storage battery is used as the power supply, the power converter converts the direct current into the direct current, and the onboard battery pack charging power supply, the charging controller working power supply and the ground charging data terminal working power supply are output. The onboard battery pack charging power supply of the power converter has 2 output ends, the adjustable range is 12V-30V, and the output ends are connected to the charging controller. The charging controller can be communicated with the power converter and the ground charging data terminal and is used for distributing a charging field for the unmanned aerial vehicle, detecting a charging plate and supplying power to a charging piece needing power supply according to a charging process. The unified serial number of all charging pieces on the charging panel, charge controller storage has all charging piece serial numbers and positional information on the charging panel, unmanned aerial vehicle serial number and the place size that charges that corresponds thereof, machine carries group battery essential information, and the shared place information of unmanned aerial vehicle that is charging, utilize whether unmanned aerial vehicle serial number and its machine carries group battery essential information distinguishable to be unmanned aerial vehicle in the system, confirm that unmanned aerial vehicle charges required power information, utilize charging piece serial number and positional information, combine the charging piece serial number with the contact terminal contact that charges of unmanned aerial vehicle that detects, can confirm the actual landing position of unmanned aerial vehicle, through each charging unmanned aerial vehicle charging place dimensional information and the actual landing position of each unmanned aerial vehicle, confirm that charging piece occupies the condition on the charging panel, and to its record, thereby for the unmanned aerial vehicle distribution charging panel. The on-board battery pack basic information includes battery charging voltage, charging power, and battery capacity. The ground charging data terminal and the airborne charging data terminal are in wireless communication.

Because the positive and negative polarities of the power supply to each charging sheet on the charging plate can be changed by the charging controller, in order to ensure normal charging, the unmanned aerial vehicle charging contact terminal is ensured to be not completely positioned on the insulating isolation medium, and ports with different charging polarities are not contacted with the same charging sheet. Therefore, the difference between the minimum distance of the positive and negative electrode ports in all charging contact ends of the unmanned aerial vehicle and the width of the insulating medium between the charging sheets is used as the reference distance, as long as the maximum size of the shape of each charging sheet is smaller than the reference distance, and the minimum size of the port of each charging contact end is larger than the width of the insulating medium between the charging sheets, and no special requirements are made on the number, shape and distribution of the charging sheets. Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a charging plate according to an embodiment of the present invention, and fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a cross section of a charging plate where a single charging pad is located according to an embodiment of the present invention. The insulating isolation plate 2 is installed on the support frame 3, and the charging sheet 1 is installed on the insulating isolation plate 2. The insulation isolation plate 2 of the charging plate is provided with grooves according to the size of the charging sheet, the grooves are used for installing the charging sheet 1, and holes are punched in each groove to expose the lower part of the charging sheet and connect with a charging sheet wire 4. The insulating isolation plate 2 insulates and isolates the support frame 3 and all the charging sheets 1 from each other. On insulating division board 2, the insulating medium width between charging piece 1 is 5mm, and then the charging piece maximum dimension that two kinds of unmanned aerial vehicle required is 295 mm. The charging pieces are designed into a 200mm multiplied by 200mm square, 20 rows and 20 columns, the number of the charging pieces is 400, and the charging pieces are numbered from left to right row by 1-400. Every little four rotors distribute 4 the shared region of 4X 4 charging pieces (contain charging pieces and insulating medium between them), every big four rotors distribute the shared region of 6X 6 charging pieces (contain charging pieces and insulating medium between them), and the charging panel can park 10 little four rotor unmanned aerial vehicles of frame simultaneously, perhaps 6 big four rotor unmanned aerial vehicles of frame.

In the machine carries the branch system that charges, little four rotor unmanned aerial vehicle is different with big four rotor unmanned aerial vehicle foot rests, and the contact jaw that charges is different, and other constitutions adopt the same scheme. The onboard battery pack adopts a lithium ion battery pack. The battery charge and discharge manager is used for controlling the charge and discharge of the onboard battery pack and sending charge and discharge information to the onboard power manager. The airborne power manager is used for switching a power supply of the unmanned aerial vehicle, supplying power to the charging plate detection resistor and controlling the connection and disconnection of the battery charging and discharging manager and the charging contact end of the unmanned aerial vehicle. The flight control computer stores the unmanned aerial vehicle serial number and the basic information of the airborne battery pack, sends an unmanned aerial vehicle charging process instruction to the airborne power manager, sends the unmanned aerial vehicle charging process instruction and the state information to the airborne data terminal, and receives the ground charging station charging process instruction and the state information of the airborne charging data terminal, so that the unmanned aerial vehicle charging process control is carried out. The airborne data terminal is used for carrying out wireless communication with the ground charging data terminal; the charging contact terminal is used for contacting with a charging sheet on the charging plate.

Fig. 6 is a top view and an isometric view of a left charging contact end of a small quad-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle, and fig. 7 is a top view and an isometric view of a charging contact end of a large quad-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle. The small quad-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle is provided with two foot rests, each foot rest (the left side is 9) is provided with three charging contact ends (the left sides are 5, 6 and 7), the three foot rests are connected to one line, the left side is an anode port, the right side is a cathode port, and the anode and the cathode of the charging port of the onboard power manager are respectively connected. The contact end that charges is for the design has the copper sheet of linear arch, installs on rubber buffer 8, and rubber buffer installs on unmanned aerial vehicle foot rest (left side is 9). Every foot rest 12 of big four rotor unmanned aerial vehicle installs 1 contact terminal 10 that charges, and two contact terminals that charge on the left side are connected to a line, and two contact terminals that charge on the right are connected to a line, and the left side is the positive pole port, and the right side is the negative pole port, connects the airborne power manager respectively and charges the positive negative grade of port. The contact end that charges is for the design has punctiform prominent copper sheet, installs on rubber buffer 11, and rubber buffer 11 installs on unmanned aerial vehicle foot rest 12.

Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of the contact between the small quad-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle and the charging plate, the left charging contact (5, 6, 7) and the right charging contact (13, 14, 15) contact the charging plate on the charging plate, and the design ensures that the left and right charging contacts do not fall on the same charging plate, and each charging contact does not fall on the insulating medium between the charging plates. Each charging contact terminal can be contacted with a plurality of charging plates at the same time, and the same charging plate can be contacted with a plurality of charging contact terminals on the same side. Big four rotor unmanned aerial vehicle and charging panel contact condition are similar to this. Because this system detects the polarity of the unmanned aerial vehicle contact terminal that charges with the piece contact of charging earlier, recharges. Therefore, the charging contact end and the charging sheet are in various contact conditions, so that the charging of the unmanned aerial vehicle is not influenced, and the unmanned aerial vehicle is not required to be aligned with the charging plate in contact.

The method for detecting the charging panel by the charging controller to determine the serial number of the charging sheet required to supply power and the power supply polarity of the charging sheet comprises the following steps: after the unmanned aerial vehicle descends to the charging panel, the airborne power manager of the unmanned aerial vehicle adds the voltage of the airborne battery pack to the charging contact end according to the charging polarity. The detection circuit of the charging controller combines all the charging pieces pairwise according to the serial numbers of the charging pieces and is sequentially connected to the two ends of the detection resistor, and the current value and the flow direction on the detection resistor are detected. If there is the electric current, then two that detect charge the piece and charge the end contact with unmanned aerial vehicle to through the electric current flow direction, confirm the detection resistance both ends electric polarity, that is to say that the required power supply electric polarity of piece that charges. And finally, summarizing the detection results of all the charging pieces combined pairwise to obtain the serial number of the charging pieces needing to be supplied with power and the corresponding power supply polarity.

The charging process of the embodiment of the invention comprises five steps of receiving charging, detecting a charging panel, starting charging, monitoring charging and closing charging, and specifically comprises the following steps:

(1) receive charging

When the unmanned aerial vehicle needs to be charged, the unmanned aerial vehicle flies to a ground charging station. And when the distance between the unmanned aerial vehicle and the ground charging data terminal is less than 2km, the unmanned aerial vehicle enters a wireless communication airspace capable of communicating with a ground charging station, and sends the unmanned aerial vehicle number, the basic information of the airborne battery pack and the charging request. After the ground charging station receives the information, the number of the unmanned aerial vehicle and the basic information of the airborne battery pack are checked, self-checking is carried out, the fact that the ground charging station works normally is determined, and the unmanned aerial vehicle can be parked in a sufficient place. And then distributing specific charging positions according to the occupation conditions of the field required by the unmanned aerial vehicle and the charging panel field, and sending information of 'receiving a charging request and landing point position' to the unmanned aerial vehicle. And the landing point position of the unmanned aerial vehicle takes the position coordinate center point of the charging sheet in the distributed area. After receiving the information of 'receiving the charging request and the landing point position', the unmanned aerial vehicle lands on the distributed charging panel area. If the serial number of the unmanned aerial vehicle and the basic information of the corresponding airborne battery pack are not inquired in the charging controller, or no charging site is needed, or the external power supply of the ground charging station cannot normally supply power, or the port of the power converter is insufficient, or other faults occur in the ground charging station, the ground charging station sends 'charging refusal' information to the unmanned aerial vehicle, and the unmanned aerial vehicle can go to other ground charging stations.

(2) And detecting a charging plate.

After the unmanned aerial vehicle falls, the flight control computer sends an instruction to the airborne power supply manager, so that the airborne power supply manager adds the voltage of the airborne battery pack to a charging contact end of the unmanned aerial vehicle according to the charging polarity, the airborne charging data terminal sends a charging plate detection request to a ground charging station, after the ground charging station receives the information, the charging controller performs charging plate detection on a charging plate area distributed for the unmanned aerial vehicle, determines the number and the corresponding positive and negative electrodes of a charging plate on the charging plate in contact with the charging contact end of the unmanned aerial vehicle, and analyzes and records the actual occupied area of the unmanned aerial vehicle according to the size information, the number and the position information of the charging plate of the unmanned aerial vehicle; after the detection is finished, the ground charging station sends charging plate detection finishing information, the airborne charging data terminal receives the information and sends the information to the flight control computer, and the flight control computer sends an instruction to the airborne power manager after receiving the information, stops supplying power to the charging contact end of the unmanned aerial vehicle and sends a charging instruction to the ground charging station. And if the charging sheet which is in contact with the charging contact end of the unmanned aerial vehicle is not detected in the charging plate area distributed by the unmanned aerial vehicle, detecting the charging sheet which is not supplied with power to the whole charging plate.

(3) Start of charging

And the ground charging station receives the charging command, and the charging controller sends charging voltage to the power converter and the output port. The power converter converts the power supply as required and outputs the power supply from the designated port. After detecting the voltage of the port, the charging controller sends charging preparation completion information to the unmanned aerial vehicle through the ground charging data terminal, and if the power converter has the port meeting the charging voltage requirement and can provide required power, the charging controller directly adopts the port. After the unmanned aerial vehicle receives the charging preparation completion information, the flight control computer sends an instruction to the onboard power manager to connect the charging end of the battery charging and discharging manager and the charging contact end of the unmanned aerial vehicle, and then sends the charging preparation completion information to the onboard charging data terminal. After the ground charging station receives the charging preparation completion information, the charging controller supplies power to the charging sheet in contact with the charging contact end of the unmanned aerial vehicle according to the corresponding polarity, and sends charging start information to the unmanned aerial vehicle. After the unmanned aerial vehicle receives the information of 'charging start', the flight control computer sends a 'charging power supply' instruction to the airborne power manager, the airborne power manager converts the power supply of the unmanned aerial vehicle, and the power supply of the airborne battery pack is switched to the power supply of the charging power supply.

(4) And (5) charging monitoring. In the unmanned aerial vehicle charging process, the battery charging manager carries out charging management on the airborne battery pack. The unmanned aerial vehicle sends the state information of the airborne battery pack to the ground charging station, the ground charging station detects the self power supply and the state of the airborne battery pack, and if the unmanned aerial vehicle or the ground charging station detects that the battery state is abnormal, the charging circuit is disconnected; if the ground charging station detects that the external power supply can not normally supply power, when the storage battery is used as the power supply, the ground charging station continues to charge the unmanned aerial vehicle in the charging state.

(5) The charging is turned off. After the airborne battery pack is fully charged, the battery charging manager sends charging completion information to the airborne power manager, the airborne power manager sends the information to the flight control computer, the flight control computer receives the information and sends an airborne battery pack power supply and disconnection charging connection instruction to the airborne power manager, and the airborne power manager switches the power supply of the unmanned aerial vehicle from the charging power supply to the airborne battery pack power supply and disconnects the battery charging and discharging manager and the charging contact end of the unmanned aerial vehicle. And then, the flight control computer sends charging completion information to the ground charging station through the airborne data terminal, and after the ground charging station receives the charging completion information, the charging controller stops supplying power to the charging panel and sends power supply stopping information to the unmanned aerial vehicle. The unmanned aerial vehicle needs to stop charging for other reasons, and can also send the instruction of stopping charging to ground charging station to stop charging.

The above embodiments of the present invention are only examples of the application of the present invention to two kinds of drones, and should not be considered as limiting the claims of the present invention. The application example itself is modified, for example as follows:

(1) the corresponding modification of the type and number of the unmanned aerial vehicles and the type of the corresponding airborne batteries.

(2) Modifying the shape, size and distribution of the charging sheet on the charging plate;

(3) the onboard battery and the battery charge and discharge manager are integrated into a component;

(4) the detection of the charging plate is carried out by measuring the voltage at two ends of a diode or a capacitor;

(5) the number, the shape and the planar shape of the upper protrusions of the unmanned aerial vehicle charging contact terminals are changed.

Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, split, recombination, etc. within the spirit and principle of the present invention should fall into the protection scope of the claims of the present invention.