Evaluation of a power management system for heterogeneous modules in self-reconfigurable multi-module systems

This paper presents a novel homogeneous power management system for heterogeneous self-reconfigurable multi-module systems consisting of active power suppliers, diverse power consumers and hybrids. To optimize functionality of each module, a concept separating functionality from power supply is proposed and applied in immobile payload items which can be combined with mobile modules in varying configurations autonomously. By allowing consumers and power sources to connect to common power bus, the concept enhances flexibility, reusability and performance of modular robotic systems. The power management system based on the concept is implemented and evaluated. The experimental results show that power is efficiently transferred in power bus among individual modules, consumer modules without battery packs can be kept alive during switching, and the power management system can protect individual modules from hardware faults reliably.