DESC:FIELD OF INVENTION
[0001] The present disclosure relates to the field of unmanned aerial vehicles and, more particularly relates to a battery management system for an unmanned aerial vehicle.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] UAVs can be used for performing surveillance, reconnaissance, and exploration tasks for military and civilian applications. Such aerial vehicles may carry a payload configured to perform a specific function. Rechargeable batteries are extensively being used in transportation, military, aerospace, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and portable applications. Generally, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) or drones are powered by re-chargeable power sources such as Lead acid batteries, Lithium ion batteries, etc.
[0003] However, in case a payload is to be carried and delivered by a UAV at extended distances, it requires a battery that is not bulky, is not heavy, can provide sufficient power back up for UAV to reach a pre-set destination, unload the payload at the pre-set destination and return back to the point of take-off, securely. Unfortunately, sometimes it becomes tough to control the UAV or drone in case battery charge depletes quickly or during the flight time of said UAVs.
[0004] Due to a rapid depletion of charge of the battery, auto-piloting of the UAV also becomes difficult due to lack of data related to temperature, humidity and speed of the UAV during flight. Therefore, in order to overcome the problem of addressing depletion of charge of the battery during the flight and managing a secure landing of the UAV, retrieval of data related to temperature, humidity and speed of the UAV is of utmost importance. Some of existing patent publications relating to detection of depletion of the battery of the UAV during flight and management of flight of the UAV have been described below.
[0005] One of the technical documents dealing with similar problem as discussed above is European (EP) patent publication number 2664539. The patent publication describes a method that comprises the following steps: (a) detecting that an energy storage device on board the UAV is depleted below a threshold level; (b) operating the UAV so as to land at a base station; and (c) at least initiating operation of the base station to cause a replacement mechanism thereof to remove the energy storage device on board the UAV from the UAV and to replace this with another energy storage device.
[0006] However, the EP patent application does not describe anything about retrieving data from a temperature sensor, a humidity sensor and a wind speed sensor, in order to manage auto-pilot of the UAV.
[0007] A Korean patent publication 20130122715 describes a vehicle for charging and containing vertical unmanned take-off and landing aircraft and a method thereof. A moving type charging and containing transport vehicle capable of containing and charging a plurality of aircrafts comprises a movable container accommodating the aircrafts, a landing part opening or closing outer sides of the container, a landing place making a plurality of aircraft lands, a data monitoring part monitoring state data by containing and charging the aircraft, and a communication switching part communicating with the aircraft.
[0008] However, the KR patent application describes an on-ground vehicle for charging the depleted battery of the UAV and does not mention anything about retrieving data from a temperature sensor, a humidity sensor and a wind speed sensor, during the flight, in order to manage auto-pilot of the UAV.
[0009] Therefore, there exists a need for a battery management system (BMS) that amicably addresses above disclosed deficiencies of the prior art.
OBJECTIVES OF THE INVENTION
[0010] An object of the present disclosure is to provide a battery management system (BMS) for accurately detecting depletion of a charge of a battery of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) at an extended distance.
[0011] It is another object of the present disclosure to provide a control unit in electronic communication with the BMS and a GPS module of the UAV.
[0012] It is another object of the present disclosure to provide the control unit to switch to a low battery cut-off mode, upon breach of the pre-set charge limit of the battery.
[0013] It is another object of the present disclosure to provide the control unit that automatically limits a flight distance of the UAV or create a flight plan by reducing a low battery cut-off limit of the low battery cut-off mode to prevent progress of the UAV beyond a pre-set distance.
[0014] These and other objectives and advantages of the present disclosure will become more apparent when reference is made to the following description.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0015] In accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, a battery management system (BMS) for managing power back up of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) comprises a sensor module of the BMS configured to retrieve a real-time value of various parameters of the UAV; a control module configured to retrieve the real-time value from the sensor module fixed to the UAV, where the control module is capable of manipulating retrieved data during flight of the UAV; a control unit of the UAV configured to retrieve data from the control module and a global positioning system (GPS) module of a battery to forecast arrival of a pre-set low-battery cut-off limit of the battery and a remaining distance for the UAV to go out of range from a pilot remotely monitoring progress of the UAV; and a transceiver configured with the control unit for transmitting an alert notification to the pilot over a hand held device and receiving a command from the hand held device. Characterized in that the control unit upon receipt of the command automatically reduces load on the battery and re-routes the UAV to land at an original take off location.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0016] Having thus described the invention in general terms, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, and wherein:
[0017] FIG.1 illustrates a UAV in remote connection with a hand held device of a pilot, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0018] FIG.2 illustrates a battery management system for managing power back up of the UAV, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0019] FIG.3 illustrates a method for managing power back up of the UAV, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0020] It should be noted that the accompanying figures are intended to present illustrations of exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. These figures are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. It should also be noted that accompanying figures are not necessarily drawn to scale.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0021] It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory of the disclosure and are not intended to be restrictive thereof.
[0022] Reference in this specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present technology. The appearance of the phrase “in one embodiment” in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, nor are separate or alternative embodiments mutually exclusive of other embodiments. Moreover, various features are described which may be exhibited by some embodiments and not by others. Similarly, various requirements are described which may be requirements for some embodiments but no other embodiments.
[0023] Moreover, although the following description contains many specifics for the purposes of illustration, anyone skilled in the art will appreciate that many variations and/or alterations to said details are within the scope of the present technology. Similarly, although many of the features of the present technology are described in terms of each other, or in conjunction with each other, one skilled in the art will appreciate that many of these features can be provided independently of other features. Accordingly, this description of the present technology is set forth without any loss of generality to, and without imposing limitations upon, the present technology.
[0024] The terms "comprises", "comprising", or any other variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process or method that comprises a list of steps does not include only those steps but may include other steps not expressly listed or inherent to such process or method. Similarly, one or more devices or sub-systems or elements or structures proceeded by "comprises.. a" does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of other devices or other sub-systems or other elements or other structures or additional devices or additional sub-systems or additional elements or additional structures.
[0025] Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs. The method, system, and examples provided herein are illustrative only and not intended to be limiting.
[0026] The terms “a” and “an” herein do not denote a limitation of quantity, but rather denote the presence of at least one of the referenced items. Further, the term sterile barrier and sterile adapter denotes the same meaning and may be used interchangeably throughout the description.
[0027] The present disclosure relates to a battery management system (BMS) for managing power back up of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) comprising a sensor module (130) of the BMS (110); a control module (120) of the BMS; a control unit (140) of the UAV (100); a global positioning system (GPS) module (170) of a battery (160); a transceiver (150) configured with the control unit (140); and a hand held device (180) of a pilot. The hand held device (180) can be a multimedia device like a smartphone, a tablet, a laptop, kiosk or the like.
[0028] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the sensor module (130) of the BMS (110) is configured to retrieve a real-time value of various parameters of the UAV (100). In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the sensor module (130) includes voltage sensor, current sensor, temperature sensor, humidity sensor and wind speed sensor. The various parameters sensed by the different sensors includes sensing the sensor module (130) includes voltage, current, temperature and humidity of the battery (160), and wind speed around the UAV (100). The BMS (110) has an additional functionality of manipulating all the retrieved parameters from the sensor module, while UAV (100) is still in the air.
[0029] The BMS (110) accurately detects depletion of a charge of the battery (160) at an extended distance. The control module (120) of the BMS performs different calculations for obtaining a real-time or current value of all parameters, and subsequently compares the current value with a pre-set value, for accurately the depletion of the charge of the battery of the UAV.
[0030] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the control module (120) configured to retrieve the real-time value from the sensor module (130) is fixed to the UAV (100) and is capable of manipulating retrieved data during flight of the UAV (100).
[0031] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the control unit (140) of the UAV (100) configured to retrieve data from the control module (120) and a global positioning system (GPS) module (170) of the battery (160) to forecast arrival of a pre-set low-battery cut-off limit of the battery (160) and a remaining distance for the UAV to go out of range from a pilot remotely monitoring progress of the UAV (100). The transceiver (150) is configured with the control unit (140) for transmitting an alert notification to the pilot over a hand held device (180) and receiving a command from the hand held device (180). The transceiver (150) utilizes wireless communication protocols to transmit the pre-set low-battery cut-off limit and a distance for the UAV (100) to go out of range from the hand held device (180) of the pilot.
[0032] In a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure, the control unit (140) upon receipt of the command automatically reduces load on the battery (160) and re-routes the UAV to land at an original take off location.
[0033] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, wherein the control unit (140) activates a low battery cut-off mode to reduce the low battery cut-off limit and automatically lowering the battery function to increase a timing of the low battery cut off mode and enable the UAV to reach back to the original take off location.
[0034] The control unit (140) manages operations of the UAV (100). The control tracks the flight path of the UAV (100) using the GPS module (170). The control unit (140) accurately detects arrival of a pre-set cut-off limit of the battery or a pre-set limit for depletion of the charge of the battery (160) and to check whether the UAV (100) is going out of range from the pilot.
[0035] In an embodiment, the reduction in the low battery cut-off limit, automatically lowers a battery function to increase a timing of the low battery cut off mode to enable the UAV to reach back to its original take off location.
[0036] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the battery function, discussed above, is based on at least one battery reserve command at low voltage cut off mode. The battery reserve command ensures that the UAV operates at predefined low voltages to perform any function including operating a camera attached to the UAV. Operating at predefined low voltages the battery of the UAV doesn't go too deep in a discharge mode and can always be held at a healthy voltage level. In an embodiment, the battery (160) is selected from any one of a lithium ion or a lithium iron phosphate battery.
[0037] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, a method (200) of managing power back up of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is disclosed. The method comprises the first step (202) of sensing by a sensor module (150) a real-time values of various parameters of the UAV (100). The method comprises second step (204) of retrieving the real-time values from the sensor module (150) by a control module (120) of the BMS (110).
[0038] The method (200) includes third step (206) of retrieving data from the control module (110) and a global positioning system (GPS) module (170) fixed to a battery (160) powering the UAV (100) to forecast arrival of a pre-set low-battery cut-off limit of the battery (160) and a remaining distance for the UAV to go out of range from a pilot remotely monitoring progress of the UAV (100). The fourth step (208) of the method includes transmitting a notification to the pilot over a hand held device (180) and receiving a command from the hand held device (180) by a transceiver (150) configured with the control unit (140).
[0039] In the fifth step (210) of the method, the control unit (140) upon receipt of the command automatically reduces load on the battery (160) and re-routes the UAV to land at an original take off location.
[0040] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the transceiver (150) further transmits state of charge (SoC) and State of Health (SoH) of the battery to the hand held device (180) of the pilot.
[0041] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the control unit (140) of the UAV (100) can include an artificial intelligence (AI) functionality. The AI functionality enables the control unit to accurately read the location of the UAV and low battery conditions of the battery, such that before reaching the low battery cut-off limit, the UAV can be brought back to the original position.
[0041] Numerous modifications and adaptations of the system of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and thus it is intended by the appended claims to cover all such modifications and adaptations which fall within the true spirit and scope of this invention.
Advantages:
[0042] The of the present disclosure has various advantages including but not limited to –
1. It will be easy to bring back a UAV to its original take off location in case of rapid depletion of charge of the battery.
2. Returning of the UAV to its original take off location in case of rapid depletion of the charge of the battery, is cost-effective due to avoidance of damage or loss of the UAV.
Industrial Applicability:
[0043] The method of the present disclosure has wide application in field of information gathering, delivery of payloads etc.
[0044] The foregoing descriptions of specific embodiments of the present technology have been presented for purposes of illustration and description. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the present technology to the precise forms disclosed, and obviously many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the present technology and its practical application, to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the present technology and various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It is understood that various omissions and substitutions of equivalents are contemplated as circumstance may suggest or render expedient, but such are intended to cover the application or implementation without departing from the spirit or scope of the claims of the present technology.

List of reference numerals:

S. No. Items Reference Numeral
1 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) 100
2 Battery Management System (BMS) 110
3 Control module of BMS 120
4 Sensor module of BMS 130
5 Control Unit of UAV 140
6 Transceiver 150
7 Battery 160
8 Global Positioning System (GPS) 170
9 Hand Held Device 180 ,CLAIMS:WE CLAIM:

1. A battery management system (BMS) for managing power back up of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) comprising:
a sensor module (130) of the BMS (110) configured to retrieve a real-time value of various parameters of the UAV (100);
a control module (120) configured to retrieve the real-time value from the sensor module (130) fixed to the UAV (100), wherein the control module (120) is capable of manipulating retrieved data during flight of the UAV (100);
a control unit (140) of the UAV (100) configured to retrieve data from the control module (120) and a global positioning system (GPS) module (170) of a battery (160) to forecast arrival of a pre-set low-battery cut-off limit of the battery (160) and a remaining distance for the UAV to go out of range from a pilot remotely monitoring progress of the UAV (100);
a transceiver (150) configured with the control unit (140) for transmitting an alert notification to the pilot over a hand held device (180) and receiving a command from the hand held device (180), characterized in that the control unit (140) upon receipt of the command automatically reduces load on the battery (160) and re-routes the UAV to land at an original take off location.
2. The battery management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the load on the battery (160) is reduced on the battery (160) by reducing battery cut-off limit.
3. The battery management system as claimed in claim 1 and 2, wherein the control unit (140) activates a low battery cut-off mode to reduce the low battery cut-off limit and automatically lowering the battery function to increase a timing of the low battery cut off mode and enable the UAV to reach back to the original take off location.
4. The battery management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sensor module (130) includes voltage sensor, current sensor, temperature sensor, humidity sensor and wind speed sensor.
5. The battery management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the transceiver (150) utilizes wireless communication protocols to transmit the pre-set low-battery cut-off limit and a distance for the UAV (100) to go out of range from the hand held device (180) of the pilot.
6. The battery management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the battery (160) is selected from any one of a lithium ion or a lithium iron phosphate battery.
7. A method (200) of managing power back up of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), comprising the steps of:
sensing by a sensor module (150) a real-time values of various parameters of the UAV (100);
retrieving the real-time values from the sensor module (150) by a control module (120) of the BMS (110);
retrieving data from the control module (110) and a global positioning system (GPS) module (170) fixed to a battery (160) powering the UAV (100) to forecast arrival of a pre-set low-battery cut-off limit of the battery (160) and a remaining distance for the UAV to go out of range from a pilot remotely monitoring progress of the UAV (100);
transmitting a notification to the pilot over a hand held device (180) and receiving a command from the hand held device (180) by a transceiver (150) configured with the control unit (140), characterized in that the control unit (140) upon receipt of the command automatically reduces load on the battery (160) and re-routes the UAV to land at an original take off location.
8. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein sensing the various parameters by sensor module (130) includes sensing voltage, current, temperature and humidity of the battery (160), and wind speed around the UAV (100).
9. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the transceiver (150) further transmits state of charge (SoC) and State of Health (SoH) of the battery.