Conceptual Development of a Battery Swap Management System: A Systematic Approach to Developing a Semi-Automated Battery Swap Solution for Electric Construction Machinery

Abstract

In order for the construction equipment industry to meet the CO2 emissions requirements imposed by external regulations and internal sustainability goals, it is moving towards electric machinery. In order for this to be possible, quickly replenishing the energy levels in the electric machines is necessary. Volvo Group aims to have a net zero fleet by the year 2050, which implies that a large percentage of their fleet must become fully electric. This means selling supporting systems that allow the electric machines to operate in the same time frame as current internal combustion engine (ICE) powered machines. The range of the electric machines is limited compared to ICE powered which means additional solutions are needed. Charging large batteries either takes a long time or requires a large amount of energy very quickly, one way to solve this issue is to swap out the batteries inside the machines. In order to keep the machines as efficient as possible on a construction site the battery swap needs to be performed quickly while ensuring operator safety. The purpose of this master thesis is to develop a concept of a semi-automated battery swap management system that can be used with electric machines designed to have their batteries quickly removed and installed. The thesis will dive deep into what requirements exist on such system in terms of size, capacity, functionality, and mobility. There is also high emphasis on which type of functions are needed in order to make a battery swap management system function. The components needed and how they interact with each other will be a central part of the development of this system. A concept generation and evaluation will be performed using the product development process from Ulrich & Eppinger. Using methods such as brainstorming, morphological matrix, elimination matrix, Kesselring and Pugh matrix, concepts will be screened and evaluated in order to find the best fit for the project. The design of the final concept will be conducted using computer aided design software which also gives the possibility of verifying the mechanical structure using finite element method software. The final design is a model of a semi-automated battery swap system with the possibility of quickly swapping out batteries for several machines. The battery swap management system is based on a container base plate which means it can be transported using normal truck trailers with ISO container attachment joints. The battery swap management system has been designed to quickly remove and install batteries into machines in order to minimize the time the machine is not operating. This will give Volvo Construction Equipment the possibility of selling electric machines in combination with the battery swap management system and still fulfill the needs of their customers.