Patent Application
20180062129
This application claims the benefit of Chinese Patent Application No. 201610791996.1 filed Aug. 31, 2016, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The present application relates to installation and swap of electric vehicle battery, particularly to a battery pack lock mechanism and a battery pack with such a lock mechanism.
As a country relatively short of petroleum, China has to import a great deal of crude oil and product oil. An increasing number of vehicles in use bring about great pressure on domestic fuel oil supply. Widely promoting electric vehicles will not only bring benefit to national security of petroleum and energy resources but also make us rely less on import of vehicle oil. Therefore, development of electric vehicles is an important strategic choice guaranteeing sustainable growth of vehicle industry.
A beneficial supplement to battery recharging is to replace drained batteries in electric vehicles. Vehicles are rapidly supplied with new energy by replacing drained batteries, as a result of which replenishing electric vehicles with energy is as convenient as refueling fuel vehicles with fossil fuel, the only difference is that fuel tanks will be replaced as well each time. Exchanging batteries of electric vehicles makes it possible to realize ‘Peak Load Shifting’ of power grid and to help in boosting equipment using efficiency and reducing maximum load of power grid as well. Furthermore, with convenient maintenance and longer lifespan of battery, replacing batteries is worthy of being popularized in such specific fields as public transit, car rental and logistics.
Many electric vehicles designed to be powered by replacing batteries locate their power batteries at their chassis, separating batteries from drivers and passengers. Accordingly, larger available space, safer driving environment, lower gravity center of the vehicle and enhanced vehicle operating performance can be ensured. Thus, the technology of installing and replacing batteries located on chassis is the trend in development of electric vehicles with swappable batteries.
Power battery is the only power source of an electric-only vehicle, which is usually swapped by automation equipments due to its heavy weight as well as backbreaking manual labor and risk of hand operation. The battery pack needs to be locked after installation. The more firmly it is installed, the safer it will be. Since it is necessary to unlock the battery pack when exchanging the battery, it will be better to more simply and quicker to install and detach it. Accordingly, the on-board security and reliability as well as the convenient exchanging of the battery pack depend on the performance of lock mechanism.
Existing swappable battery packs are flexibly fastened onto vehicles by locking devices and are more or less vibrated with respect to the vehicles during driving. If things continue in this way, many serious problems, such as local deformation of battery packs, deformation of suspension points on vehicle bodies, local wear of the locking devices as well as arc discharge and burning arc of electric connector, may be resulted in, severely endangering safe driving. Previously described problems can't be resolved by any existing swappable battery packs. Accordingly, there is a need for battery pack lock mechanism which is not only safe, reliable and easy to replace, but also able to prevent loosing of the battery pack during long period of vehicle body vibration.
To resolve the above described problems in the prior art, i.e., the battery pack is unable to be safely and reliably installed, to be conveniently swapped and to be well protected during long period of vehicle body vibration, the present application provides a battery pack lock mechanism. The lock mechanism comprises a housing fastened to the battery pack, a fastener extending through the housing, a flange partly received in the housing, compressing element received in the housing and anti-loose member provided between the housing and the flange, wherein the flange is configured to extend through the wall of the housing and rotatable in relation to the housing, the fastener is configured to extend through the flange and able to slide in axial direction of the flange but unable to rotate relative to the flange, wherein the fastener is capable of connecting the housing and the battery pack to body of an electric vehicle, wherein in non-operating state of the fastener, the compressing element can press the flange against inner wall of the housing, and at the same time the anti-loose member prevents the flange and the housing from rotating relative to one another.
In an optimized embodiment of the above described battery pack lock mechanism, the housing includes an upper housing and a lower housing connected together, between which a central cavity is formed, the central cavity receives the fastener and part of the flange, wherein in non-operating state of the fastener, one end of the compressing element presses the flange, which is therefore made in pressing contact with the inner wall of the lower housing, another end of the compressing element presses against the inner wall of the upper housing.
In an optimized embodiment of the above described battery pack lock mechanism, the anti-loose member includes spike-like protrusions provided on the flange and the hemp stopper provided on the inner wall of the lower housing; or the anti-loose member includes a hemp stopper provided on the flange and spike-like protrusions provided on the inner wall of the lower housing.
In an optimized embodiment of the above described battery pack lock mechanism, the fastener is a thread bolt which includes a first end, a second end and a shoulder between them, the first end of the fastener extends through a first through-hole of the upper housing, the second end of the bolt extends through a second through-hole of the lower housing, the first end is provided with threads so as to be threadingly connected to a nut in the vehicle body, the shoulder is situated within the central cavity and rests against the flange in non-operating state of the fastener.
In an optimized embodiment of the above described battery pack lock mechanism, the flange includes a transverse annular portion and a vertical annular portion integrally formed together, the transverse portion is provided at its center with a third through-hole of noncircular cross section, which is in communication with center through-hole of the vertical annular portion, the vertical annular portion extends through the second hole of the lower housing.
In an optimized embodiment of the above described battery pack lock mechanism, the second end of the fastener inserted through the third through-hole and the center hole of the vertical annular portion has a noncircular cross section matching the third through-hole, so that the fastener and the flange can't rotate with respect to one another.
In an optimized embodiment of the above described battery pack lock mechanism, the side walls of the upper and lower housings are provided with connecting holes, the amount and location of which are the same as one another, the upper and lower housings are connected together by bolts or rivets inserted through these connecting holes.
In an optimized embodiment of the above described battery pack lock mechanism, the end face of the second end of the fastener is provided with a noncircular groove used for detaching and fitting.
In an optimized embodiment of the above described battery pack lock mechanism, the compressing element is spring.
In another aspect, the present application provides a battery pack comprising the battery pack lock mechanism as set forth in any one of preceding solutions.
It is noted that, the above mentioned ‘non-operating state of the fastener’ means the fastener not being screwed firm or loosed by a detaching and fixing tool. In contrary, due to special structure of the present application, it also means the flange being pushed up by a detaching and fixing tool, besides the fastener being screwed firm or loose.
It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that thanks to the previously noted combinational structure of spike-like protrusions and hemp stopper, the lock mechanism of the present application is not only able to safely and reliably install as well as quickly and conveniently replace the battery pack, but also able to realize circumferential fastening of the battery pack connecting component, so as to effectively prevent loosing of the battery pack during long period of vehicle body vibration.
The preferred embodiments of the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying figures. As will be understood by those skilled in the art, these embodiments are simply used for interpreting the technical principle of the present application and are not intended to limit its protection scope in any way. For example, although each member in the figures is drawn to scale, this proportional relation is merely exemplary in nature and can be modified as desired to accommodate specific applications by those skilled in the art.
It should be noted that in the description of the present application, the usage of such directional and positional terms as ‘central’, ‘upper’, ‘lower, ‘left’, ‘right’, ‘vertical’, ‘horizontal’, ‘inner’ and ‘outer’, is based on the directional and positional relations shown in the drawings, and used to facilitate the description itself and does not express or imply the necessary specific positions or specific operational and structural positions of the devices or elements of the disclosure. Therefore, the usage is not to be understood as limitation on the present application. Additionally, terms ‘first’, ‘second’ and ‘third’ are merely provided for the purposes of description rather than expressing or implying their relative importance.
Moreover, it should also be noted that, in the description of the present application, unless otherwise specified and defined, the terms of ‘install’ and ‘connect’, should be construed in their broad meaning, which can be understood as permanent or detachable or integrally connecting, mechanically or electrically connecting, direct connecting or indirect connecting via a third part, or even connecting between the inner parts of two elements. Those skilled in the art could interpret the specific meanings of the above mentioned terms based on the context.
Referring next to
In a preferred embodiment, the housing 31 includes an upper housing 311 and a lower housing 312, side portions of which are riveted together by one or more rivets 313, a central cavity formed between the two housings receives the spring 34 and part of the transverse annular portion of the flange 33. One end of the spring 34 presses the flange 33, which in turn pressingly contacts the inner wall of the lower housing 312, another end of the spring 34 pressingly contact the inner wall of the upper housing 311. In the present application, ‘pressing contact or pressingly contact’ means the two involved components are in contact with one another and apply pressing forces to one another.
In a preferred embodiment, the thread bolt 32 includes a first end, a second end and a shoulder between them. The bolt 32 extends through the central cavity. Specifically, the first end of the bolt 32 extends through a through-hole of the upper housing 311 and part of it extends out of the upper housing 311, and the vertical annular portion of the flange 33 and the second end of the bolt 32 received in it extend through a through-hole of the lower housing 312 and part of them extend out of the lower housing 312. The first (upper) end of the bolt 32 is provided with threads so as to be threadingly connected to the nut 11 of the vehicle body 1, the second (lower) end of the bolt 32 is configured to have noncircular cross section and insert into the respective matching noncircular hole of the vertical annular portion of the flange, so that the bolt 32 and the flange 33 cannot rotate in relation to each other but can slide in axial direction of the bolt 32. In a preferred embodiment, the second end of the bolt 32 is provided with a noncircular groove used for detaching and fitting, such as a hexagon groove. A tool 4 used for detaching and fitting has a projection matching the noncircular groove, the projection is inserted into the groove and makes the bolt 32 rotate, so that as its rotation, the bolt 32 can be threaded into or out of the nut 11. The shoulder of the bolt 32 is situated within the central cavity and rests against the transverse portion of the flange 33. In the present application, the dimensions (in the direction perpendicular to the bolt 32) of at least one part of the ‘shoulder’ are greater than those of the first and second ends of the bolt 32 and those of the through-hole of the upper housing 311 extended by the first end of the bolt 32 and the through-hole of the transverse annular portion of the flange 33 extended through by the second end of the bolt 32, as a result of which the axial movement of the bolt 32 is limited to a certain extent.
Preferably, the upper housing 311 of the housing 31 is connected to the battery pack 2, and the lower housing 312 is in pressing contact with the transverse annular portion of the flange 33. The upper housing 311 includes a top wall and a side wall, and the lower housing 312 includes a bottom wall and a side wall. As mentioned above, the top wall of the upper housing 311 is provided with an upper through-hole and the bottom wall of the lower housing 312 is provided with a lower through-hole. The first end of the bolt 32 extends through the upper through-hole on the upper housing, and the vertical annular portion of the flange 33 and the second end of the bolt 32 received in the vertical annular portion extend through the lower through-hole, and the vertical annular portion of the flange 33 is able to rotate in the lower through-hole. Both the side walls of the upper and lower housings 311 and 312 are provided with connecting holes, the amount and location of the two groups of holes are the same as one another. The upper and lower housings 311 and 312 are connected together by plugging bolts or rivets 313 through these connecting holes.
With continued reference to
With continued reference to
Also provided by the present application is a battery pack which is locked by at least one lock mechanism 3 according to the present application. The battery pack includes a through-hole for the bolt 32 to extend through.
The technical solutions of the invention have been described with reference to the preferred embodiments shown in the accompanying figures. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, however, these specific embodiments are not intended to limit protection scope of the invention. Without departing from the principle of the invention, various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for related technical features, the varied or substituted technical solutions will fall within protection scope of the invention.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 201610791996.1 | Aug 2016 | CN | national |
