VEHICLES

Technical field of the invention

The present invention relates to the charging of energy storage devices using deep contact tips.

In particular, the invention relates to the charging apparatus and the transmission of electrical power to the charging apparatus for mobile energy consumption devices such as unmanned aerial and ground vehicles to be able to be charged with electricity.

State of the Art

Today, with the widespread use of unmanned technologies, unmanned aerial vehicles have gained great importance. These tools/devices need to be charged in order to work. However, there are problems in these unmanned aerial vehicles aligning and reaching the charging unit.

In the state of the art, there are systems that prevent misalignment after the UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) contacts the landing station. Among these systems, in the system that provides mechanical displacement of the transmitting coil in order to align the transmitter coil in the landing station with the built-in coil in the UAV, the laser scanning system must first determine where the UAV is located in the charging station before the alignment. After the detection of the laser scanning system, the arms that are perpendicular to each other in the charging station first bring the UAV to the right angle (orientation/alignment), and then power flows over the charging contacts on the same arms. Requirement of laser system for detection, and mechanical mobile arms reduce system reliability.

In the state of the art, there are applications that do not require high accuracy landing. By placing electrodes on each corner of the landing gear, these applications transfer power through the charging circuit on the UAV by contacting the electrode with the platform, without requiring human intervention. However, since the electrodes have to modulate different polarities depending on the change of the landing point, the UAV also has a polarity modulator circuit on it which increases the weight of the UAV. In addition, in these systems, the planar distribution of the contacts causes the UAV to be driven away over the platform by side winds in stormy and windy weather conditions and in heavy rain conditions, causes short-circuiting of the contacts because of the fact that the charging contacts are located on the same plane.

The invention in the application no "W02009082181 A3" in the state of the art has many convex surfaces and many concave surfaces on the fixed module in the electrical connection system between a fixed module and a mobile module. Concave surfaces are electrically connected to each other, while convex surfaces are electrically connected to each other. These connections increase the complexity and the disconnection of the connections for various reasons may result in the failure of electrical conductivity. The fragmented structure of the surface has the potential to complicate production. In addition, the mobile module must have extra parts in order to perform its functions. This increases the complexity and the weight of the mobile module.

The invention in the application no "WO2015107199A1 " in the state of the art is related to electrically charging the energy storage devices of a mobile consumer. In the invention, all transmit/charge contacts are superficially-planarly distributed. The planar distribution of the contacts causes the UAV to be driven away over the platform by side winds in stormy and windy weather conditions and in heavy rain conditions, causes short-circuiting of the contacts because of the fact that the charging contacts are located on the same plane.

The invention in the application no "TR201910289" in the state of the art is related to a system that can charge military and commercial UAVs wirelessly and quickly, and offers solutions for energy harvesting and use of inert energy.

In the studies conducted in the state of the art, the transmitter/charge contacts are distributed mostly superficially-planarly. In addition, parts that will put an extra load on the UAV are used. For this reason, there is a need for a system that prevents the UAV from being driven away in side winds and eliminates the danger of short circuits by having terminals placed in depth and contact surfaces angled to the ground. As a result, due to the negativities described above and the inadequacy of the existing solutions on the subject, it was necessary to make a development in the relevant technical field. The Aim of the Invention

The present invention relates to the charging of energy storage devices using deep contact tips.

The most important purpose of the invention is to enable the charging apparatus of the UAV to enter this depth by using the depth dimension. In this way, it prevents the UAV from being driven away in side winds, and by means of the terminals being placed in depth, the short-circuit danger is eliminated since precipitation firstly contacts the equipotential terminals in case of heavy precipitation.

Another aim of the invention is to ensure that the contact surfaces are angled to the ground. By this way, it prevents foreign substances such as residue, rust, sand and particles that can increase contact resistance from adhering to it.

Another aim of the invention is to provide a safe use that can fulfil its function both indoors and outdoors under harsh weather conditions.

The structural and characteristic features of the invention and all its advantages will be understood more clearly by means of the figures given below and the detailed description written with reference to these figures. For this reason, the evaluation should be made by taking these figures and detailed description into consideration.

Description of drawings

Figure - 1 ; The block layered representation of the landing platform that is the subject of the invention. Figure - 2; The drawing that gives the image of the contact element on the UAV that is the subject of the invention.

Figure - 3; The drawing that gives a single and multiple representation of the conductive grid on the landing platform that is the subject of the invention. Figure - 4; A possible connection diagram of all systems that are the subject of the invention.

Figure - 5; The drawing showing the position of the contact element that is subject of the invention in the conductive grid.

Figure - 6; The drawing showing the position of the conductor plate of the contact element that is the subject of the invention.

Figure - 7; The drawing showing the possible shapes of the submersible socket terminal that is the subject of the invention.

Figure - 8; The drawing showing the possible cross-sections of the conductive grid and insulating grid on the landing platform that is the subject of the invention.

Figure - 9; The drawing that gives the relative size of the conductor grid cavity part and the submersible socket end for the possible top view of the conductive part of the conductor grid that is the subject of the invention and the necessary movement of the submersible socket end.

Figure - 10; The drawings showing the possible developments from right to left in order to increase the area in which the conductive plate on the landing platform that is the subject of the invention is in contact with the submersible socket tip and thus to reduce the contact resistance.

Figure - 11 ; The drawing showing the representative contact points of the submersible socket end on the conductive plate.

Figure - 12; The representative connection diagram of all systems that are the subject of the invention, in the case where the cell voltages of the battery on the UAV are given to the platform separately via the contact kit.

Figure - 13; The representative connection diagram of all systems that are subject of the invention, in the case where more than one UAV land on the landing platform at the same time. Figure - 14; An alternative drawing of the conductor plate that is the subject of the invention with a wavy shape.

Figure - 15; The drawing that gives the appearance of the contact element, connector and landing gear on the UAV that is the subject of the invention. Reference numbers

100. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

110. Submersible socket

111. Submersible socket body

112. Submersible socket terminal 120. Plane socket

130. Battery 140. Landing gear 150. Fastener

160. Battery charging circuit 170. Electrical charge

200. Landing platform 210. Floor block 220. Conductive plate 230. Insulating grid 240. Conductive grid

300. External block 301. Power block

302. Measurement block

303. Control block

Description of the Invention

The present invention relates to the charging of energy storage devices using deep contact tips.

The charging system of energy storage devices using deep contact tips that is the subject of the invention comprises submersible socket (110), plane socket (120), battery (130), landing gear (140), battery charging circuit (160), unmanned aerial vehicle (100) containing electric charge (170) and power block (301 ), and landing platform (200) with floor block (210), conductive plate (220), insulating grid (230), and conductive grid (240), having an external block (300) containing power block (301 ), metering block (302), and control block (303).

The unmanned aerial vehicle (100) has a submersible socket (110) and a plane socket (120) on it, taking the voltage from the landing platform (200) by contact and charging the battery with any known cable. The unmanned aerial vehicle (100) is connected to the landing platform (200) over a contact surface, by means of the contact element, the battery-balancing charging circuit and the battery, respectively. The unmanned aerial vehicle (100) is also connected to the battery balancing charging circuit. The unmanned aerial vehicle (100) comprises the contact element comprising the submersible socket (110) and the plane socket (120).

The landing gear (140) is the part the extends from the unmanned aerial vehicle (100) to the landing platform. The fastener (150) ensures that the contact element (100) is connected and fixed to the landing gear (140).

The battery (130) is placed on the unmanned aerial vehicle (100) and enables the energy to be stored. The battery (130), although depending on the battery type, is formed by connecting cells, each with a nominal voltage output of 4.2 V, in series and/or parallel to one another. In the case that the voltage of each cell is supplied to separate outputs, said voltage outputs are connected to different conductor grid (240) and from there to different external block (300) inputs over different lines.

The battery charging circuit (160) is located on the unmanned aerial vehicle (100) and is used to charge the LiPo/Lion batteries. Batteries (130) consist of a certain number of cells connected in parallel and in series. During the consumption of the energy stored in the battery (130), the same amount of energy is not drawn from all cells or even if the same energy is drawn, the energy storage capacities differ from one another. At the end of a certain consumption period, different voltages are measured at the output of the cells. At the end of the charging process, the output of each cell should be brought to the same voltage value. Therefore, the battery charging circuit (160) with balancing feature enables the cells to be charged separately.

The electrical charge (170) are the components on the UAV that consume electrical power to perform the main and subordinate tasks of the unmanned aerial vehicle (100). The main task of the UAV is to fly in the air and perform the necessary manoeuvres. These tasks are performed by the electric motors on the UAV and the ESC (speed controller) circuits that control the currents to these electric motors. The secondary duty of the UAV is to record images, etc. while the UAV is in the air. Image recording is carried out with the help of various cameras. However, many other sub-tasks may exist.

The submersible socket (110) is a receiving contact mounted as an extension to the unmanned aerial vehicle (100). The submersible socket (110) ensures that preferably the negative (or neutral) polarity of the voltage is taken by contacting the conductive plate (220), regardless of the position and orientation (parallel angular movement) of the unmanned aerial vehicle (100) on the landing platform (200). The submersible socket (110) has the ability to move laterally, longitudinally and perpendicular to the plane socket (120). The submersible socket (110) realizes these features without requiring any extra parts by dint of its flexible cable structure and gravity. The submersible socket (110) consists of the submersible socket body (11 1 ) and the submersible socket terminal (112).

The submersible socket body (111 ) is flexible and electrically conductive. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, an electrically insulating material is used in the outer cover of the submersible socket body (111 ). The submersible socket terminal (112) is the conductive end of the submersible socket (110). The submersible socket terminal (112) has a blunt or pointed structure at the point facing the conductive plate (220), making it possible for the diver socket (110) to peel off from the conductive grid (240) and reach the conductive plate (220) (transition from the state in Figure 5 to the state in Figure 6) in every situation (in every position- orientation of the UAV).

The plane socket (120) is a receiving contact mounted on the unmanned aerial vehicle (100). The submersible socket (120) ensures that preferably the positive (or phase) polarity of the voltage is taken by contacting the conductive plate (240), regardless of the position and orientation of the unmanned aerial vehicle (100) on the landing platform (200). The contact element comprising the submersible socket (110) and the plane socket (120) is lighter and simpler than systems in the prior art. Therefore, the potential for failure is low and it is easy to manufacture.

As seen in Figure 2, there is a plane socket body that provides the voltage from the plane socket (120) to the battery (130). The voltage at the plane socket end is transferred to the balancing battery charge circuit or directly to the battery via the plane socket body.

The landing platform (200) ensures that the unmanned aerial vehicle (100) lands on it and the required voltage is obtained from the landing platform (200). Within the landing platform (200), there are floor block (210), conductive plate (220), insulating grid (230), and conductive grid (240).

The floor block (210) provides insulation of the conductive plate (220) from the floor, but may include an external block (300) within it. The insulating grid (230) and the floor block (210), which are the insulating components of the landing platform (200), do not prevent the conductive components from performing their functions, but provide insulation of the conductive components from one another and from the floor.

The external block (300) ensures that the conductive grid (240) and the conductive plate (220) can be connected on it. The external block (300) includes the power block (301 ), the measurement block (302) and the control block (303). The external block (300) includes the power block (301 ) that provides the necessary electrical voltage and power to the conductive plate (220) and the conductive grid (240) within the landing platform (200). The power block (301 ) enables different voltage levels to be connected to a large number of conductor grid (240) pieces insulated from one another, according to the need. The external block (300) includes a measurement block (302) that enables the power supplied from the power block (301) to be measured. The external block (300) comprises the control block (303) that senses, when the UAV (100) lands on the landing platform, the battery voltage transmitted to the conductive plate (220) and to the conductive grid (240) by means of contact (200) and enables switching the corresponding voltage to the conductive plate (220) and to the conductive grid (240) by the power block (301 ). Thus, the battery (130) balancing charging function is transferred to the control block (303) within the external block (300). In this way, the need for any battery (130) balancing charging circuit on the UAV (100) is eliminated. By this way, it is aimed to reduce the on-board weight of the UAV (100).

The conductive plate (220) provides the transmission of the voltage obtained from the power block (301 ). The conductor plate (220) has a perforated structure that creates linear and spatial contact in order to reduce the high resistance caused by the single point contact of the submersible socket terminal (112) and to increase the number of contact points. The conductive plate (220) may be made of a solid conductive material, or it may be made of a flexible material that can take the shape of a submersible socket terminal. Here, the flexible material can be a flexible and malleable material such as sponge covered with aluminium foil. Solid conductive material, on the other hand, can be in the form of aluminium, copper, iron and sheet. The aim here is to create a contact zone with minimum contact resistance to the direct current flow from the conductive plate (220) to the contact element and likewise from the submersible socket terminal (112) to the conductive plate (220). In Figure 14, the conductive plate (220) may also have a waveform rather than a plane. There are holes at the bottom of this form to prevent rain-water accumulation.

Figure 10 shows the changes made in the conductive plate (220) in order to reduce the relatively high resistance caused by the single point contact of the submersible socket terminal (112) and to increase the number of contact points and the drawings showing that point contact gave way to linear and spatial contact are given in Figure 11. While ensuring the isolation of the conductive plate (220) and the conductive grid (240)from each other, the insulating grid (230) has a grid structure that allows the submersible socket (110) to pass through itself and contact the conductive plate (220).

The conductive grid (240) includes one conductor grid or more than one conductor grids insulated from one another as in Figure 3, and provides electrically the same or different magnitude of positive voltage polarity. Different voltage levels can be connected from the power block inside the external block to a large number of insulated conductor grid segments, as needed. The conductive grid (240) may be a single piece or a plurality of pieces electrically isolated from one another. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the conductive grid (240) is connected to the external block (300) over a different line.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the negative voltage polarity of the power block (301 ) is connected to the conductive plate (220). In case of having an AC-DC converter on the unmanned aerial vehicle (100), AC voltage can also be supplied to the UAV (100) by the landing platform. In this case, preferably neutral polarity can be connected to the conductive plate from the power block terminal and phase polarity can be connected to the conductive grid.

In Figure 5, as the unmanned aerial vehicle (100) is seated on the landing platform (200), the submersible socket terminal (112) moves from its state in figure 5 to its state in figure 6 and contacts the conductive plate (220). In order to achieve this movement, first of all, eluding must occur. For this, the parts of the submersible socket terminal (112) and the conductive grid (240) conductive sections facing each other must accord. The geometry of the submersible socket terminal (112) shown in Figure 7 and Figure 8 can be pointed, blunt or round, etc., as well as the conductive part of the conductive grid (240) can be pointed, blunt or round, etc., in the same way. Figure 9 shows that after eluding, the minimum width of the conductive grid (240) gap must be greater than the maximum width of the submersible socket terminal (112) so that the submersible socket terminal (112) can reach the conductive plate (220). Likewise, as can be seen in Figure 9, all geometric shapes can be used for the conductive part of the conductive grid (240) which fulfils this requirement. The process begins with the unmanned aerial vehicle (100) landing on the landing platform (200). First of all, in one possibility, the submersible socket terminal (112) contacts the conductive grid (240). The other possibility is that it does not touch the conductive grid (240) at all. If it contacts the conductive grid (240), it eludes and contacts the conductive plate (220). Then, the plane socket (120) contacts the conductive grid (240) and the UAV (100) is thus seated on the landing platform (200). Since the plane socket (120) and the submersible socket (110) are connected to the UAV (100) battery directly or via a circuit, they carry voltage. This voltage value is measured over the platform by the measurement block (302) inside the external block (300) that is connected to the platform, as the UAV (100) seats on the landing platform (200). After the measurement, the control block switches the required voltage value from the power block (301 ) to the platform according to this measurement. Over the switched voltage value, current starts to flow to the battery of the UAV (100) and the battery starts to charge (Figure 4).

In the case where more than one UAV (100) land on the landing platform (200) at the same time, UAV (100) battery (130) voltage values will naturally be different from each other and these differences will be measured by the measurement block (302) in the external block (300) over different lines isolated from one another and over different inputs of the external block (300), and the necessary voltage values will be switched to each UAV battery (130) via the control block (303).

In the operation system of the invention, as the unmanned aerial vehicle (100) descends to the landing platform (200), first of all, the submersible socket (110) contacts the conductive plate (220). Even if the submersible socket (110) makes its first contact with the conductive grid (220) on the landing platform (200), with the weight of the unmanned aerial vehicle (100) and due to its flexible/bendable structure, it will elude and tread on the conductive plate (220) on the landing platform (200) floor. In order for the submersible socket (110) to contact the conductive plate (220) perpendicularly, to increase its contact surface and not to slide in the axis parallel to the plane during the contact period, the conductive plate (220) can be in the form of a flat plate, as seen in Figure 4, or it can be in the form of waves, saw teeth, etc. Flowever, in case of excessive precipitation in the case of outdoor use, the folds of the conductive plate (220) close to the floor block (210) may be perforated so that excess precipitation does not accumulate on the conductive plate (220) and flows into the floor block (210). After the submersible socket (110) contacts the conductive plate (220), the plane socket (120) will contact the conductive grid (220) on the landing platform (200). However, the insulating grid (230) between the conductive plate (220) and the conductive grid (240) prevents the accumulation of water in cases of excessive precipitation by means of its pores. As a result of preventing water accumulation, the danger of short circuit between the conductive plate (220) and the conductive grid (240) is eliminated.