CN221291318U - Thermal management system and robot - Google Patents

Abstract

The application relates to a thermal management system and a robot. The thermal management system and the robot provided by the application solve the problems of large noise and overlarge power consumption of the robot in the heat exchange process.

Description

Thermal management system and robot

Technical Field

The application relates to the technical field of robot thermal management, in particular to a thermal management system and a robot.

Background

With the advancement of technology, various sensors have been developed, and therefore, a prerequisite is created for the large-scale application of robots. It will be appreciated that the robot is required to perform various complex actions, and is typically provided with a plurality of joints and corresponding drive motors, independent of the power supply and the drive of the motors. Moreover, the robot needs enough energy to permanently complete the complex movement with high difficulty, so that the power density of a battery on the robot is increased, and meanwhile, the power density of an IGBT module (insulated gate bipolar transistor) associated with a driving motor is also increased continuously, so that the heat exchange between the battery and the IGBT module is particularly critical. At present, heat exchange of a robot mainly depends on compressor refrigeration, but frequent starting of the compressor can generate larger noise, and excessive power consumption of the robot can be caused, so that the continuous voyage of the robot is not facilitated.

Disclosure of utility model

Based on this, it is necessary to provide a thermal management system and a robot to solve the problems of large noise and excessive power consumption of the robot in the heat exchange process.

The heat management system provided by the application comprises a liquid gas tank, a control valve, a heat exchange chamber, an exhaust valve, a driving pump and a heat pipe heat exchanger, wherein the heat pipe heat exchanger can be communicated with the heat exchange chamber through the driving pump to form a heat exchange loop for circulating and flowing working media, the liquid gas tank can be communicated with the heat exchange chamber through the control valve, and the heat exchange chamber can be communicated with an external space through the exhaust valve.

In one embodiment, the thermal management system further comprises a control module and a temperature sensor, the control module is respectively and electrically connected with the control valve and the temperature sensor, the temperature sensor is arranged on the heat exchange loop, and when the temperature sensor detects that the temperature of the working medium in the heat exchange loop is greater than or equal to the preset temperature, the control module can drive the control valve and the exhaust valve to be opened, so that liquid gas in the liquid gas tank can enter the heat exchange chamber through the control valve, and gasified gas can enter an external space through the exhaust valve.

In one embodiment, the number of the heat exchange chambers is multiple, the control valve comprises a main valve and a plurality of branch valves, the main valve is arranged at the liquid outlet end of the liquid gas tank, and each branch valve is respectively arranged at the liquid inlet end of the corresponding heat exchange chamber, so that the liquid gas tank is communicated with the corresponding heat exchange chamber through the main valve and the branch valves in sequence.

In one embodiment, the thermal management system further comprises a gas-liquid separator, and the heat exchange chamber is capable of communicating with the vent valve through the gas-liquid separator.

In one embodiment, the thermal management system further comprises a bypass line through which the drive pump can communicate with the heat exchange chamber, and the bypass line is provided with a second shut-off valve.

In one embodiment, the liquid gas tank is disposed at a height greater than the height of the heat exchange chamber.

In one of the embodiments, the liquid gas tank is a liquid nitrogen tank, a liquid oxygen tank, a liquid carbon dioxide tank, or a liquid air tank.

In one embodiment, the battery or the IGBT module is partially or completely immersed in the working medium of the heat pipe exchanger; or the battery or the IGBT module and the heat pipe heat exchanger exchange heat in a contact mode.

In one embodiment, the evaporation section of the heat pipe heat exchanger is provided with a guide cover, one end of the guide cover is immersed in the working medium, and the other end of the guide cover extends out of the liquid level of the working medium.

The application also provides a robot comprising the thermal management system according to any one of the embodiments above.

Compared with the prior art, the thermal management system and the robot provided by the application have the advantages that the working medium with higher temperature enters the heat exchange chamber through the driving of the driving pump, then the control valve releases the liquid gas in the liquid gas tank into the heat exchange chamber, the liquid gas is absorbed into the gaseous gas in the heat exchange chamber, so that the temperature of the working medium is reduced, and the gas can be discharged into an external space through the exhaust valve. Therefore, no operation noise of the compressor exists, the operation noise of the thermal management system is greatly reduced, and the power of the liquid gas tank for releasing the liquid gas is derived from the compression energy of the liquid gas without the need of additionally providing energy by the thermal management system, so that the system power consumption of the thermal management system is greatly reduced.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments or the conventional techniques of the present application, the drawings required for the descriptions of the embodiments or the conventional techniques will be briefly described below, and it is apparent that the drawings in the following descriptions are only some embodiments of the present application, and other drawings may be obtained according to the drawings without inventive effort for those skilled in the art.

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a robot according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2 is a side view of a robot according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a partial structure of a thermal management system according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a part of a thermal management system according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a thermal management system according to an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 6 is an assembly schematic diagram of a heat pipe exchanger and an IGBT module according to an embodiment of the application;

FIG. 7 is a system control diagram of a thermal management system according to an embodiment of the present application.

Reference numerals: 100. a liquid gas tank; 200. a control valve; 210. a main valve; 220. a valve dividing; 300. a heat exchange chamber; 310. a first chamber; 320. a second chamber; 330. a third chamber; 400. an exhaust valve; 500. driving a pump; 600. a heat pipe heat exchanger; 610. a guide cover; 620. a jacket; 710. a first loop; 720. a second loop; 730. a third loop; 740. a first stop valve; 810. a bypass line; 820. a second shut-off valve; 900. a control module; 1000. a robot; 1100. a battery; 1200. and an IGBT module.

Detailed Description

In the description of the present application, it should be understood that the terms "center", "longitudinal", "lateral", "length", "width", "thickness", "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", "clockwise", "counterclockwise", "axial", "radial", "circumferential", etc. indicate orientations or positional relationships based on the orientations or positional relationships shown in the drawings are merely for convenience in describing the present application and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element being referred to must have a specific orientation, be configured and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore should not be construed as limiting the present application.

Furthermore, the terms "first," "second," and the like, are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying a relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defining "a first" or "a second" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one such feature. In the description of the present application, the meaning of "plurality" means at least two, for example, two, three, etc., unless specifically defined otherwise.

In the present application, unless explicitly specified and limited otherwise, the terms "mounted," "connected," "secured," and the like are to be construed broadly, and may be, for example, fixedly connected, detachably connected, or integrally formed; can be mechanically or electrically connected; either directly or indirectly, through intermediaries, or both, may be in communication with each other or in interaction with each other, unless expressly defined otherwise. The specific meaning of the above terms in the present application can be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art according to the specific circumstances.

In the present application, unless expressly stated or limited otherwise, a first feature "up" or "down" a second feature may be the first and second features in direct contact, or the first and second features in indirect contact via an intervening medium. Moreover, a first feature being "above," "over" and "on" a second feature may be a first feature being directly above or obliquely above the second feature, or simply indicating that the first feature is level higher than the second feature. The first feature being "under", "below" and "beneath" the second feature may be the first feature being directly under or obliquely below the second feature, or simply indicating that the first feature is less level than the second feature.

It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being "fixed" or "disposed" on another element, it can be directly on the other element or intervening elements may also be present. When an element is referred to as being "connected" to another element, it can be directly connected to the other element or intervening elements may also be present. The terms "vertical," "horizontal," "upper," "lower," "left," "right," and the like are used herein for illustrative purposes only and are not meant to be the only embodiment.

Unless defined otherwise, 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 application belongs. The terminology used herein in the description of the application is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the application. The term "and/or" as used herein includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

With the advancement of technology, various sensors have been developed, and therefore, a prerequisite is created for the large-scale application of robots. It will be appreciated that the robot is required to perform various complex actions, and is typically provided with a plurality of joints and corresponding drive motors, independent of the power supply and the drive of the motors. Moreover, the robot needs enough energy to permanently complete the complex movement with high difficulty, so that the power density of a battery on the robot is increased, and meanwhile, the power density of an IGBT module (insulated gate bipolar transistor) associated with a driving motor is also increased continuously, so that the heat exchange between the battery and the IGBT module is particularly critical. At present, heat exchange of a robot mainly depends on compressor refrigeration, but frequent starting of the compressor can generate larger noise, and excessive power consumption of the robot can be caused, so that the continuous voyage of the robot is not facilitated.

Referring to fig. 1-7, in order to solve the problems of large noise and excessive power consumption of a robot 1000 in a heat exchange process, the application provides a thermal management system, which comprises a liquid gas tank 100, a control valve 200, a heat exchange chamber 300, an exhaust valve 400, a driving pump 500 and a heat pipe heat exchanger 600, wherein the heat pipe heat exchanger 600 is communicated with the heat exchange chamber 300 through the driving pump 500 to form a heat exchange loop for circulating working medium, and the heat exchange loop is used for exchanging heat of a battery 1100 or an IGBT module 1200. The liquid gas tank 100 communicates with the heat exchange chamber 300 through the control valve 200, and the heat exchange chamber 300 communicates with an external space (typically, an atmospheric environment) through the exhaust valve 400.

It should be noted that, as shown in fig. 6, a jacket 620 is disposed in the condensing section of the heat pipe heat exchanger 600, the jacket 620 and the heat exchange chamber 300 are communicated to form a heat exchange circuit, and the working medium in the heat exchange circuit may be water or a special refrigerant. In order to improve the heat radiation effect of the battery 1100 or the IGBT module 1200, as shown in fig. 5 and 6, the battery 1100 or the IGBT module 1200 is partially or entirely immersed in the working fluid of the heat pipe exchanger 600. But is not limited thereto, in other embodiments, the battery 1100 or IGBT module 1200 may also contact the heat pipe heat exchanger 600 for heat exchange.

Specifically, the evaporation section of the battery 1100 and the heat pipe heat exchanger 600 performs contact heat exchange, and the contact surface adopts a cold copper spraying process or a soldering process.

Further, it should be noted that, the battery 1100 and the IGBT module 1200 are disposed at a deeper position in the robot 1000, the condensation section of the heat pipe heat exchanger 600 corresponding to the battery 1100 and the IGBT module 1200 is disposed at a position of the robot 1000 close to the body surface, and the heat exchange circuit is also disposed at a position of the robot 1000 close to the body surface.

It should be noted that the liquid gas tank 100 needs to be replaced periodically.

So set up, the higher working medium of temperature gets into heat transfer chamber 300 through the drive of drive pump 500, afterwards, control valve 200 releases the liquid gas in the liquid gas pitcher 100 into heat transfer chamber 300, and liquid gas absorbs heat gasification in heat transfer chamber 300 is gaseous gas to make the reduction of the temperature of working medium, and, gas can be discharged into the external space through discharge valve 400. In this way, there is no operation noise of the compressor, the operation noise of the thermal management system is greatly reduced, and the power of the liquid gas tank 100 for releasing the liquid gas is derived from the compression energy of the liquid gas itself, without the thermal management system providing energy additionally, so the system power consumption of the thermal management system is greatly reduced.

Specifically, the battery 1100 controls the temperature to be in the range of 20 to 30 ℃ through the heat pipe exchanger 600, and the IGBT module 1200 controls the temperature to be below 130 ℃ through the heat pipe exchanger 600.

In other embodiments, the heat exchange circuit may also utilize a heat pump instead of the heat pipe heat exchanger 600.

In one embodiment, as shown in fig. 6, the evaporation section of the heat pipe heat exchanger 600 is provided with a guide cover 610, one end of the guide cover 610 is immersed in the working medium, and the other end extends out of the working medium liquid surface.

Thus, the flow guiding effect of the working medium in the heat pipe heat exchanger 600 is improved.

In one embodiment, as shown in fig. 1 and 3-5, the liquid gas tank 100 is disposed at a greater height than the heat exchange chamber 300.

In this manner, liquid gas is facilitated to enter heat exchange chamber 300 by gravity.

Specifically, the liquid gas tank 100 is mounted (including but not limited to, detachably fastened, screwed, etc.) on the back of the robot 1000 or is externally hung on the body surface of the robot 1000, and the heat exchange chamber 300 is mounted on the lower middle portion of the chest and the abdominal cavity of the robot 1000.

In one embodiment, the liquid gas tank 100 includes, but is not limited to, a liquid nitrogen tank, a liquid oxygen tank, a liquid carbon dioxide tank, a liquid air tank, and the like.

The liquid gas has the advantages of strong availability, low price, safety protection and no pollution, and can be directly discharged into the atmosphere.

Further, in one embodiment, the volume of the liquid gas tank 100 ranges between 500ml and 1500 ml.

In an embodiment, as shown in fig. 3-5, the thermal management system further includes a first stop valve 740, where the first stop valve 740 is disposed in the heat exchange circuit, so as to control on/off of the heat exchange circuit.

In an embodiment, as shown in fig. 7, the thermal management system further includes a control module 900 and a temperature sensor (not shown), where the control module 900 is electrically connected to the control valve 200 and the temperature sensor, respectively, the temperature sensor is disposed in the heat exchange circuit, and when the temperature sensor detects that the temperature of the working medium in the heat exchange circuit is greater than or equal to a preset temperature, the control module 900 can drive the control valve 200 and the exhaust valve 400 to open, so that the liquid gas in the liquid gas tank 100 can enter the heat exchange chamber 300 through the control valve 200, and the gasified gas can enter the external space through the exhaust valve 400.

It should be noted that, the control module 900 may also control other components, such as the driving pump 500 and the stop valve.

Specifically, the liquid gas tank 100 senses the temperature of the working medium through a temperature sensor arranged in the heat exchange loop, when the temperature of the working medium is higher than 10 ℃, the control module 900 instructs to open the control valve 200, and liquid gas is injected into the heat exchange chamber 300 to reduce the temperature of the working medium, so that the temperature of the working medium is controlled to be between 5 ℃ and 10 ℃.

In an embodiment, as shown in fig. 7, the number of heat exchange chambers 300 is multiple, the control valve 200 includes a main valve 210 and a plurality of sub-valves 220, the main valve 210 is disposed at a liquid outlet end of the liquid gas tank 100, and each sub-valve 220 is disposed at a liquid inlet end of the corresponding heat exchange chamber 300, so that the liquid gas tank 100 is sequentially communicated with the corresponding heat exchange chamber 300 through the main valve 210 and the corresponding sub-valve 220.

In this manner, the control module 900 is advantageously capable of controlling the on-off of each heat exchange chamber 300 individually, or controlling the on-off of all heat exchange chambers 300 in general.

In one embodiment, the thermal management system further includes a gas-liquid separator (not shown) through which the heat exchange chamber 300 communicates with the vent valve 400.

In this way, the gas in the heat exchange chamber 300 is discharged, and the liquid gas in the heat exchange chamber 300 is reserved, so that the waste of the liquid gas is avoided.

In an embodiment, as shown in fig. 1 and fig. 3-5, the heat exchange circuit includes a first circuit 710, a second circuit 720 and a third circuit 730, which are arranged in parallel, the first circuit 710 is used for exchanging heat with the IGBT module 1200 of the upper body of the robot 1000, the second circuit 720 is used for exchanging heat with the battery 1100, and the third circuit 730 is used for exchanging heat with the IGBT module 1200 of the lower body of the robot 1000. The heat exchange chamber 300 includes a first chamber 310, a second chamber 320, and a third chamber 330, the first chamber 310 is provided at the head of the robot 1000, the second chamber 320 is provided at the chest of the robot 1000, the third chamber 330 is provided at the abdominal cavity of the robot 1000, the first circuit 710 can communicate with the first chamber 310, the second circuit 720 can communicate with the second chamber 320, and the third circuit 730 can communicate with the third chamber 330.

Specifically, the first circuit 710 and the second circuit 720 each include a plurality of parallel branches.

The arrangement is beneficial to reasonably distributing each heat exchange loop of the heat management system around the whole body of the robot 1000, thereby greatly improving the heat exchange effect of the whole body of the robot 1000.

In one embodiment, as shown in fig. 3-5, the thermal management system further includes a bypass line 810, the drive pump 500 is capable of communicating with the heat exchange chamber 300 through the bypass line 810, and the bypass line 810 is provided with a second shut-off valve 820.

Thus, when the robot 1000 does not need heat exchange, the working medium can be circulated through the bypass pipeline 810, so that the working medium is prevented from stagnating in the thermal management system.

The application also provides a robot 1000, the robot 1000 comprising a thermal management system according to any of the embodiments above.

The technical features of the above-described embodiments may be arbitrarily combined, and all possible combinations of the technical features in the above-described embodiments are not described for brevity of description, however, as long as there is no contradiction between the combinations of the technical features, they should be considered as the scope of the description.

The above examples illustrate only a few embodiments of the application, which are described in detail and are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the claims. It should be noted that it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that several variations and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the application, which are all within the scope of the application. Accordingly, the scope of the application should be determined from the following claims.

Claims (10)

1. The utility model provides a heat management system, its characterized in that includes liquid gas pitcher (100), control valve (200), heat transfer room (300), discharge valve (400), driving pump (500) and heat pipe heat exchanger (600), heat pipe heat exchanger (600) can pass through driving pump (500) intercommunication heat transfer room (300) to form working medium circulation flow's heat exchange circuit, liquid gas pitcher (100) can pass through control valve (200) intercommunication heat transfer room (300), just heat transfer room (300) can pass through discharge valve (400) intercommunication outer space.

2. The thermal management system according to claim 1, further comprising a control module (900) and a temperature sensor, wherein the control module (900) is electrically connected with the control valve (200) and the temperature sensor respectively, the temperature sensor is arranged in the heat exchange loop, and when the temperature sensor detects that the temperature of the working medium in the heat exchange loop is greater than or equal to a preset temperature, the control module (900) can drive the control valve (200) and the exhaust valve (400) to open, so that the liquid gas in the liquid gas tank (100) can enter the heat exchange chamber (300) through the control valve (200), and the gasified gas can enter an external space through the exhaust valve (400).

3. The thermal management system according to claim 2, wherein the number of heat exchange chambers (300) is plural, the control valve (200) includes a main valve (210) and plural sub-valves (220), the main valve (210) is disposed at a liquid outlet end of the liquid gas tank (100), and each sub-valve (220) is disposed at a liquid inlet end of the corresponding heat exchange chamber (300) respectively, so that the liquid gas tank (100) is sequentially communicated with the corresponding heat exchange chamber (300) through the main valve (210) and the sub-valves (220).

4. The thermal management system of claim 1, further comprising a gas-liquid separator through which the heat exchange chamber (300) can communicate with the vent valve (400).

5. The thermal management system according to claim 1, further comprising a bypass line (810), wherein the drive pump (500) is capable of communicating with the heat exchange chamber (300) through the bypass line (810), and wherein the bypass line (810) is provided with a second shut-off valve (820).

6. The thermal management system according to claim 1, wherein the liquid gas tank (100) is arranged at a height that is greater than the height of the heat exchange chamber (300).

7. The thermal management system according to claim 1, wherein the liquid gas tank (100) is a liquid nitrogen tank, a liquid oxygen tank, a liquid carbon dioxide tank or a liquid air tank.

8. The thermal management system of claim 1, wherein a battery (1100) or an IGBT module (1200) is partially or fully submerged in the working fluid of the heat pipe exchanger (600);

Or a battery (1100) or an IGBT module (1200) and the heat pipe heat exchanger (600) are in contact heat exchange.

9. The thermal management system of claim 1, wherein the evaporator section of the heat pipe heat exchanger (600) is provided with a guide shell (610), one end of the guide shell (610) is immersed in the working medium, and the other end extends out of the working medium liquid level.

10. A robot (1000) comprising a thermal management system according to any of claims 1-9.