SYSTEM AND METHOD OF MANAGING VEHICLES DEPLOYED IN A WORKSITE

• US 20130054080A1
• Filed: 08/31/2011
• Published: 02/28/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Caterpillar Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Caterpillar Incorporated
• Inventors: Jacobson, Evan E.
• Granted Patent: US 8,983,657 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/29.3
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/80 Exchanging energy storage elements, e.g. removable batteries
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/12 responding to state of charge [SoC]
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/23 by means of a password
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/70 Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/7072 Electromobility specific charging systems or methods for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/12 Electric charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/14 Plug-in electric vehicles

Abstract

A system and a method of managing one or more vehicles deployed in a worksite are provided. The system includes a battery management module which may receive, via a data network, battery health information and/or location co-ordinates from at least one vehicle. The battery management module is configured to issue a battery changing command, via the data network, to a battery-changing device based at least on the battery health information and the location co-ordinates of the vehicles. The battery-changing device may be configured to change at least one battery on the at least one vehicle with charged batteries based on the issued command. The battery-changing device is configured to return each of the changed battery to a central station to recharge the changed battery.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, via a data network, battery health information from at least one vehicle deployed in a worksite;

issuing a battery change command, via the data network, to at least one battery-changing device, based at least in part on the battery health information;

changing a battery, by the battery-changing device, on the at least one vehicle based at least in part on the issued command; and

returning the changed battery to a central station for performing at least one operation on the changed battery.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the battery health information includes at least one of a state-of-charge of the battery, voltage of the battery, resistance, temperature, current, and electric quantity data of the battery associated with the at least one vehicle.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one vehicle is at least one of excavator, mining truck, off-highway truck, and construction machine.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one battery-changing device is an autonomous vehicle.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the changing of the battery by the battery-changing device includes replacing a depleted/discharged battery with a charged battery.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining an optimized route plan to the battery-changing device based on one or more parameters.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the parameters include a weighted urgency determination of replacing a battery on the at least one vehicle, and relative location co-ordinates of each of the at least one vehicles.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving location co-ordinates from the one or more vehicles.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the performing of the at least one operation on the changed battery includes at least one of charging the exchanged battery, detecting an abnormality in the changed battery, and rectifying the abnormality in the changed battery.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the data network includes at least one of a wide area network, a local area network, Ethernet, Internet, Intranet, a cellular network, and a satellite network.

13. The method of claim 6, wherein the parameters include a weighted urgency determination of replacing a battery on the at least one vehicle, and relative location co-ordinates of each of the at least one vehicles.

11. A system of managing one or more vehicles deployed in a worksite, comprising:

a battery management module comprising;

a receiving module configured to receive, via a data network, battery health information from at least one vehicle; and

an analysis module configured to issue a battery change command, via the data network, based at least in part on the battery health information;

a battery-changing device configured to change at least one battery on the at least one vehicle, based on the issued command; and

a central station configured to;

receive each changed battery from the battery-changing device; and

perform at least one operation on each changed battery.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the analysis module is configured to determine a route for the battery-changing device based on one or more parameters.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the at least one of vehicles communicate location co-ordinates to the battery management module.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the battery health information includes at least one of a state-of-charge of the battery, voltage of the battery, resistance, temperature, current, and electric quantity data of the battery.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the at least one of the vehicle includes at least one of excavator, mining truck, off-highway truck, and construction machine.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the at least one battery-changing device is an autonomous vehicle.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the central station is configured to charge the changed battery, detect an abnormality in the changed battery, and/or rectify the abnormality in the changed battery.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein the battery-changing device is configured to carry plurality of charged batteries.

20. A computer based system for managing of one or more vehicles deployed in a worksite comprising:

a communication interface communicating with a memory;

the memory configured to communicate with a processor for managing batteries of the one or more vehicles; and

the processor, in response to executing a computer program, performs operations comprising;

receiving, via a data network, battery health information from the at least one vehicle deployed in a worksite;

issuing a battery change command, via the data network, to a battery-changing device, based at least in part on the battery health information;

changing at least one battery, by the battery-changing device, on the at least one vehicle based at least in part on the issued command; and

returning each changed battery to a central station for performing at least one operation on the changed battery.