AUTOMATIC BATTERY CHARGING SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATICALLY GUIDED VEHICLE

• Main Author: HOSOBUCHI EIJI
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 21.02.1992
• Subjects: CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS OR SYSTEMS FOR SUPPLYING OR DISTRIBUTINGELECTRIC POWER; CONTROLLING; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER; ELECTRIC EQUIPMENT OR PROPULSION OF ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLEDVEHICLES; ELECTRICITY; ELECTRODYNAMIC BRAKE SYSTEMS FOR VEHICLES, IN GENERAL; GENERATION; MAGNETIC SUSPENSION OR LEVITATION FOR VEHICLES; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHYSICS; REGULATING; SYSTEMS FOR CONTROLLING OR REGULATING NON-ELECTRIC VARIABLES; SYSTEMS FOR STORING ELECTRIC ENERGY; TRANSPORTING; VEHICLES IN GENERAL

PURPOSE:To reduce facility cost by an arrangement wherein a charger receives a signal from an automatically guided vehicle upon arrival to one of a plurality of charging points and then the charger brings a power supply coupler to that charging point and connect the power supply coupler with a power receiving coupler on the automatically guided vehicle. CONSTITUTION:Optical communication units 31a, 31b are arranged at a plurality of charging points 3a, 3b... An automatically guided vehicle l is mounting a battery 11 and guided automatically by a command fed from a central controller 2 and further provided with a coupler 12 for charging the battery 11. When the battery l on the automatically guided vehicle l requires charging, the vehicle l travels toward a closest charging point, e.g. charging point 3a, and the optical communication unit 31a provides a signal to the charger 5 when the vehicle l arrives the charging point 3a. Upon receiving the signal, a controller 52 for the charger 5 drives a power supply coupler 4 to the charging point 3a where the power supply coupler 3a is connected with a power receiving coupler 12 on the vehicle l and then the battery 11 is charged from a charging power supply 51 through a cable 7.