CHARGING ELECTRIFIED PRODUCTS WHILE MOVING BETWEEN JOB SITES

Abstract

A vehicle can include a plurality of tractive elements, a bed, an electrical power source including a battery assembly, one or more wireless charging devices electrically coupled with the electrical power source, and a controller communicably coupled with the electrical power source. The one or more wireless charging devices can be configured to wirelessly provide power to one or more rechargeable batteries of one or more lift devices positioned on the bed via an inductive coil. The controller can be configured to determine battery information regarding a state of charge of the battery assembly and a state of charge of the one or more rechargeable batteries of the one or more lift devices. The controller can be configured to initiate, based on the determined battery information, a charging operation to charge the one or more rechargeable batteries of the one or more lift devices via the inductive coil of the one or more wireless charging devices.

Description

Claims

1. A delivery vehicle, comprising: a plurality of tractive elements;a bed;an electrical power source comprising a battery assembly;one or more wireless charging devices electrically coupled with the electrical power source and configured to wirelessly provide power to one or more rechargeable batteries of one or more lift devices positioned on the bed via an inductive coil; anda controller communicably coupled with the electrical power source and configured to: determine battery information regarding a state of charge of the battery assembly and a state of charge of the one or more rechargeable batteries of the one or more lift devices; andinitiate, based on the determined battery information, a charging operation to charge the one or more rechargeable batteries of the one or more lift devices via the inductive coil of the one or more wireless charging devices.

2. The delivery vehicle of claim 1, wherein the coordinated charging operation comprises charging the one or more rechargeable batteries of the one or more lift devices while the delivery vehicle is in transit to a job site.

3. The delivery vehicle of claim 1, wherein the determined battery information includes a first state of charge of a first rechargeable battery of a first lift device and a second state of charge of a second rechargeable battery of a second lift device.

4. The delivery vehicle of claim 3, wherein the charging operation comprises a first charging operation to charge the first rechargeable battery at a first time and initiating a second charging operation to charge the second rechargeable battery at a later time.

5. The delivery vehicle of claim 4, wherein the first charging operation and the second charging operation occur at least partially simultaneously.

6. The delivery vehicle of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to: receive data regarding a thermal parameter of the battery assembly; andmodify, based on the received data, a rate of the charging operation to charge the one or more rechargeable batteries of the one or more lift devices.

7. The delivery vehicle of claim 6, wherein the electrical power source further comprises a thermal element configured to provide thermal energy to the battery assembly, the controller is further configured to: cause, based on the received data, the thermal element to provide thermal energy to the battery assembly to maintain a state of charge of the battery assembly.

8. The delivery vehicle of claim 1, wherein the one or more rechargeable batteries of the one or more lift devices comprises a thermal element configured to provide thermal energy to the one or more rechargeable batteries, the controller is further configured to: receive second data regarding a thermal parameter of the one or more rechargeable batteries; andcause, based on the received second data, the thermal element to provide thermal energy to the one or more rechargeable batteries to maintain a state of charge of the battery assembly.

9. The delivery vehicle of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to: receiving, from a remote dispatcher, delivery information associated with the one or more lift devices,wherein the charging operation is based on the received delivery information associated with the one or more lift devices.

10. The delivery vehicle of claim 1, wherein the one or more wireless charging devices are integrated in the bed.

11. The delivery vehicle of claim 1, wherein the one or more wireless charging devices are moveable atop the bed.

12. A method of charging an electrified lift device during transportation, the method comprising: determining, by a controller of a delivery vehicle, battery information regarding one or more rechargeable batteries of one or more lift devices positioned on a bed of the delivery vehicle, wherein the delivery vehicle includes a plurality of tractive elements and is configured to transport the one or more lift devices to a destination;initiating, based on the determined battery information, a charging operation to charge the one or more rechargeable batteries of the one or more lift devices while the delivery vehicle is transporting the one or more lift devices to the destination,wherein the delivery vehicle further comprises an electrical power source, the electrical power source configured to provide electrical power to charge the one or more rechargeable batteries of the one or more lift devices during the charging operation.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising: determining, by the controller of the delivery vehicle, delivery information for the one or more lift devices,wherein charging the one or more rechargeable batteries of the one or more lift devices is further based on the delivery information.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the electrical power source comprises a plurality of rechargeable batteries.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the plurality of rechargeable batteries is coupled to the bed of the delivery vehicle.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the electrical power source is electrically coupled with a wireless charging device having an induction coil, the induction coil configured to generate an electromagnetic field above the wireless charging device when powered by the electrical power source.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the one or more lift devices further comprises an antenna coil that is communicably coupled to at least one of the one or more rechargeable batteries, wherein recharging the one or more rechargeable batteries occurs wirelessly via the wireless charging device, wherein the antenna coil is energized by the electromagnetic field.

18. A controller for a delivery vehicle, comprising: a communication interface;a processing circuit communicably coupled with the communication interface, the processing circuit comprising one or more processors and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform operations, comprising: determine, by a charging operation circuit, battery information regarding a state of charge of a battery assembly of the delivery vehicle and a state of charge of one or more rechargeable batteries of one or more lift devices positioned on a bed of the delivery vehicle; andinitiate, by the charging operation circuit and based on the determined battery information, a charging operation to wirelessly charge the one or more rechargeable batteries of the one or more lift devices via an inductive coil of one or more wireless charging devices.

19. The controller of claim 18, wherein the operations further comprise: determine, via a battery conditioning circuit, data regarding a thermal parameter of the battery assembly; andmodify, based on the data regarding the thermal parameter of the battery assembly, a rate of the charging operation to charge the one or more rechargeable batteries of the one or more lift devices.

20. The controller of claim 18, wherein the operations further comprise: receive, from a remote dispatcher via the communication interface, delivery information associated with the one or more lift devices,wherein the charging operation is based on the received delivery information associated with the one or more lift devices.