Smart Host Microcontroller for Optimal Battery Charging in a Solar-Powered Robotic Vehicle

This paper focuses on the design and construction of an optimization charging system for Li-Po batteries by means of tracked solar panels. Thus, the implementation of a complete energy management system applied to a robotic exploration vehicle is put forward. The proposed system was tested on the VA...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE/ASME transactions on mechatronics 2013-06, Vol.18 (3), p.1039-1049
Main Authors: de J Mateo Sanguino, T., González Ramos, Justo E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Batteries
Battery
Charging
Design engineering
Electric batteries
Energy management
Li-Po battery
mechatronic system
Microcontrollers
Mobile communication
photovoltaic (PV)
robotic vehicle
Robotic vehicles
Robotics
Robots
Sensors
Servomotors
Solar power generation
solar tracker
Vehicles
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Summary:This paper focuses on the design and construction of an optimization charging system for Li-Po batteries by means of tracked solar panels. Thus, the implementation of a complete energy management system applied to a robotic exploration vehicle is put forward. The proposed system was tested on the VANTER robotic platform-an autonomous unmanned exploration vehicle specialized in recognition. The interest of this robotic system lies in the design concept, based on a smart host microcontroller. On this basis, our proposal makes a twofold significant contribution. On the one hand, it presents the construction of a solar tracking mechanism aimed at increasing the rover's power regardless of its mobility. On the other hand, it proposes an alternative design of power system performance based on a pack of two batteries. The aim is completing the process of charging a battery independently while the other battery provides all the energy consumed by the robotic vehicle.
ISSN:1083-4435
1941-014X
DOI:10.1109/TMECH.2012.2195499