Patent Publication Number: US-2022239129-A1

Title: Hybrid battery management system for unmanned aerial vehicles

Description:
PRIORITY 
     The present application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) of U.S. Provisional App. No. 63/141781 (filed Jan. 26, 2021), which is incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     Power loads of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) differ based on activity (such as flight phase). Climbing to altitude or intermittent use of high-power payloads puts a heavy load on a power supply, while cruising or loitering puts a substantially less load on the power supply. Lithium Polymer (LiPo) batteries can handle high load applications but are less optimized for low load activities while lithium ion (Li-Ion) batteries handle low, consistent loads well but perform poorly at high power. 
     SUMMARY 
     In one aspect, embodiments of the inventive concepts disclosed herein are directed to a system and method for monitoring power loads in a UAV and switching power sources based on a load profile in real time. 
     In a further aspect, the system monitors flight phases or issued commands to proactively switch power sources in anticipation of an eminent change in the load profile. 
     It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and should not restrict the scope of the claims. The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate exemplary embodiments of the inventive concepts disclosed herein and together with the general description, serve to explain the principles. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The numerous advantages of the embodiments of the inventive concepts disclosed herein may be better understood by those skilled in the art by reference to the accompanying figures in which: 
         FIG. 1  shows a block diagram of a system according to an exemplary embodiment; and 
         FIG. 2  shows a flowchart of a method according to an exemplary embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Before explaining at least one embodiment of the inventive concepts disclosed herein in detail, it is to be understood that the inventive concepts are not limited in their application to the details of construction and the arrangement of the components or steps or methodologies set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. In the following detailed description of embodiments of the instant inventive concepts, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a more thorough understanding of the inventive concepts. However, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the instant disclosure that the inventive concepts disclosed herein may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known features may not be described in detail to avoid unnecessarily complicating the instant disclosure. The inventive concepts disclosed herein are capable of other embodiments or of being practiced or carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. 
     As used herein a letter following a reference numeral is intended to reference an embodiment of the feature or element that may be similar, but not necessarily identical, to a previously described element or feature bearing the same reference numeral (e.g.,  1 ,  1   a,    1   b ). Such shorthand notations are used for purposes of convenience only, and should not be construed to limit the inventive concepts disclosed herein in any way unless expressly stated to the contrary. 
     Further, unless expressly stated to the contrary, “or” refers to an inclusive or and not to an exclusive or. For example, a condition A or B is satisfied by anyone of the following: A is true (or present) and B is false (or not present), A is false (or not present) and B is true (or present), and both A and B are true (or present). 
     In addition, use of the “a” or “an” are employed to describe elements and components of embodiments of the instant inventive concepts. This is done merely for convenience and to give a general sense of the inventive concepts, and “a” and “an” are intended to include one or at least one and the singular also includes the plural unless it is obvious that it is meant otherwise. 
     Finally, as used herein any reference to “one embodiment,” or “some embodiments” means that a particular element, feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the inventive concepts disclosed herein. The appearances of the phrase “in some embodiments” in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, and embodiments of the inventive concepts disclosed may include one or more of the features expressly described or inherently present herein, or any combination of sub-combination of two or more such features, along with any other features which may not necessarily be expressly described or inherently present in the instant disclosure. 
     Broadly, embodiments of the inventive concepts disclosed herein are directed to a system and method for monitoring power loads in a UAV and switching power sources based on a load profile in real time. The system may monitor flight phases (take off, landing, cruise, etc.) or issued commands to proactively switch power sources in anticipation of an eminent change in the load profile. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , a block diagram of a system according to an exemplary embodiment is shown. The system includes a hybrid battery power management system  100  having a processor and at least one switch. The hybrid battery power management system  100  is configured to monitor a power load from one or more variable load systems  102  such as motors, sensors, radios, etc. The hybrid battery power management system  100  may store a set of load profiles corresponding to various power draw scenarios of the variable load systems  102 . 
     The hybrid battery power management system  100  is connected to two or more power sources  104 ,  106 . In at least one embodiment, the power sources  104 ,  106  may comprise a LiPo battery  104  and a Li-Ion battery  106 . Each of the set of load profiles may be associated with one of the power sources  104 ,  106  where the associated power source  104 ,  106  is adapted to be relatively more efficient with respect to the specific load profile. For example, when the UAV is climbing for an extended period, the variable load systems  102  may draw a lot of power in a relatively short period of time; such task is well suited for LiPo batteries  104 . In such conditions, the hybrid battery power management system  100  would switch to powering the variable load systems  102  from the LiPo batteries  104 . Alternatively, when the UAV enters a low power state like cruising at altitude or loitering, the hybrid battery power management system  100  would switch to the Li-Ion batteries  106 . 
     In at least one embodiment, the hybrid battery power management system  100  may perform housekeeping activities to optimize load between the power sources  104 ,  106  to extend endurance and improve overall power source health and life. 
     In at least one embodiment, the hybrid battery power management system  100  may continuously record power usage, the current status of each variable load system  102 , and control signals received from external systems. The hybrid battery power management system associates the recorded values with each other into a new load profile which may be defined by instantaneous values, values averaged over time, or derivative values (rate of change of said values over time). The new profile may then be associated with a power source  104 ,  106  best suited to such load profile. 
     Referring to  FIG. 2 , a flowchart of a method according to an exemplary embodiment is shown. A processor continuously monitors  200  load characteristics of various on-board electronic components and compares the load characteristics to a stored set of load characteristic profiles. Each load characteristic profile is associated with a preferred power source adapted for more efficient use under those load characteristics. The processor identifies  202  the load characteristic profile based on the comparison and switches  204  between power sources to the preferred power source as defined by the corresponding load characteristic profile. 
     In at least one embodiment, the processor may also receive control signals or corresponding data from one or more flight control systems. Based on those control signals, the processor may identify an eminent power load change and switch to the preferred power source of for the corresponding near future load characteristic profile. In at least one embodiment, such identification may be accomplished by a trained neural network of other artificial intelligence based on a data set of control signals and subsequent load characteristics. For example, certain control signals may be associated with an extended climb period in the near future; the processor may then switch the power supply to LiPo batteries to avoid power interruption during the extended climb period. 
     It is believed that the inventive concepts disclosed herein and many of their attendant advantages will be understood by the foregoing description of embodiments of the inventive concepts disclosed, and it will be apparent that various changes may be made in the form, construction, and arrangement of the components thereof without departing from the broad scope of the inventive concepts disclosed herein or without sacrificing all of their material advantages; and individual features from various embodiments may be combined to arrive at other embodiments. The form herein before described being merely an explanatory embodiment thereof, it is the intention of the following claims to encompass and include such changes. Furthermore, any of the features disclosed in relation to any of the individual embodiments may be incorporated into any other embodiment.