PowerToTheRobots.com 
ROBOTIC POWER SYSTEMS
Energy and Power Management for Robots
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Abstract Contents 1. Introduction. 2. Robots where Energy and Power is Critical 3. Classification of Tasks in the Robot 4. Battery Management 5. Charging Techniques 6. Robot Energy and Power Management. 7. Conclusion
The robot is a machine which carries out a
complex series of actions automatically. These machines can exist in the real
world or virtual world. Those in virtual world are usually know as bots and
it is the machines in the real world that is focused upon here. The robot in
the real world today consists of hardware systems of mechanical, electronic and electrical technologies, as well as,
software systems of communication protocols, control algorithms, processing, decision
making, machine learning and artificial intelligence. Autonomous vehicles are
those machines which are especially designed to move and perform an action. Robots
and autonomous vehicles can be fully autonomous, semi-autonomous or require
live direct human input. Robotic and autonomous vehicle power systems of
interest here are the electrical power systems which move energy or
information within the robot or vehicle. It electrically powers the different
systems within the robot or vehicle to carry out its actions. That electrical
power may be transformed into moving mechanisms, hydraulics, pneumatics or other means to do work. The careful design and implementation of robotic
power systems are important to ensure:- a) Sufficient
Power and Energy Capability to Complete the Mission. b) Reliability
and Robustness of Components (eg battery) for the
Mission Season.
TBA
The robot or autonomous vehicle will need to be
supplied with electrical power to its various systems to perform the various
tasks within a mission. Table 1 illustrates examples of tasks which are
arranged into classes of systems. Each system would be able to consume power from
a minimum amount to its maximum power rating, Psystemrate.
In the table, this is show as a function of the robot power supply unit. The
robot consists of many of these systems which will draw power from one or
many (distributed) battery packs. Table
1: System Power Consumption __________________________________________________________ Task
Power Consumer Example System Power Rating Class __________________________________________________________ Mechanical
Propulsion Red ┐ Mechanical
Manipulation Red │
≥ 40% power │ capability of PSU High
Power Telecoms Transmitter Red │ High
Power Sensor Transmitter Red │ High
Power Processing Red ┘ Heating
/ Cooling Amber ┐
≥ 20% power Low
Power Telecoms Amber │
capability of PSU Low
Power Sensing Amber ┘ Control
and Management Yellow ┐
≥ 10% power Low
Power Processing Yellow ┘
capability of PSU Systems
in Sleep Mode Green ┐ < 10% power ┘ capability of PSU __________________________________________________________ Optimising the power system within a robot consists
of at least two stages. The first stage is in the design and implementation
of the system in the robot. That is, addressing for example: (a) how the
systems are connected to the power supply of one or many battery packs, (b)
whether the power supply is distributed throughout the robot, (c) the nature
of the cabling, and (d) the nature the controlling of the system. The second
stage is the power management operation during the mission of the robot. That
is, addressing for example: (a) managing the power flow and energy stored in
the battery pack(s), (b) managing which system is consuming power and level
of that consumption, (c) linking this to the objective of the mission, and (d)
linking this to the series of missions. Figure 1 illustrates in a 2 dimensional manner, the possibilities of a robot power
systems, which can be of a single energy storage to a distributed energy
storage, with and without a power management system.
Figure 1: Battery Hardware Configuration
and Power Management Systems |
