SBIR Phase I: Automated Guided Vehicle Wireless Charging Network

小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是将工厂和物流中心的自动导引车(AGV)和类似机器人系统的正常运行时间提高到近100%，以进一步提高生产率并降低管理成本。当这些系统需要在组装、生产或交付路线上充电时，它们目前会出现停机。这项拟议的技术开发了一种分布式无线充电网络，可以对AGV和类似的机器人系统进行动态或在使用中充电。这项小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目将进一步开发可在宽反射阻抗范围内工作的高本征质量天线的开关放大器，以及开发处理动态功率范围的接收系统。该项目还将建立第一个由无线充电发射器和节点组成的分布式网络，这些节点作为一个单一功能单元进行集体编程和监测，以维持AGV的电池容量。这一第一阶段项目的预期技术成果是为测试赛道上的AGV开发一个具有多个发射器和节点的分布式无线充电网络，以便在赛道上每绕一圈时以相同的电池容量开始和结束，验证该系统在市场上的技术可行性。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to increase the uptime of automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and similar robotic systems to nearly one hundred percent at factories and fulfillment centers to further improve productivity and reduce overhead costs. These systems currently experience downtime when they need to be recharged off the assembly, production, or delivery route. The proposed technology develops a distributed wireless charging network that can charge AGVs and similar robotic systems dynamically or while they are in use.This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will further the development of switching amplifiers to operate over wide reflected impedance ranges with high intrinsic quality antennas, and the developmet of receiver systems that handle dynamic power ranges. The project will also establish the first distributed network of wireless charging transmitters and nodes programmed and monitored collectively as a single functional unit to maintain the battery capacity of an AGV. The anticipated technical results of this Phase I project are to develop a distributed wireless charging network with multiple transmitters and nodes for AGVs along a test track such that it starts and ends with the same battery capacity after every full lap around the track, verifying the technical viability of the system in the marketplace.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.