The invention relates to an apparatus for conductive charging, in particular of electric vehicles at a base station, according to the features of the preamble of patent claim 1.
WO 2016/119001 A1 has already disclosed a plug connection for connecting in particular electrical lines for the purposes of conductive charging, comprising at least one female connecting element and one male connecting element, wherein the female connecting element receives the male connecting element in positively locking fashion and wherein the two connecting elements, in the case of positively locking contact, are releasably connectable in non-positively locking fashion, and wherein a connecting region of the male connecting element is designed to taper coaxially and comprises at least one displaceable contact body that, in a first position, is arranged within and, in a second position, is arranged so as to project out of, the male connecting element. With the apparatus described in this international patent application, conductive charging, in particular of electric vehicles, is possible at a base station. One connecting element is arranged on the autonomously driving vehicle, whereas the other connecting element is arranged in a fixed position but so as to be movable there within certain limits. If the vehicle moves with its connecting element in the direction of the static connecting element, these two connecting elements are placed in operative connection with one another in that, for electrical contacting, the respective contact bodies of the two connecting elements are placed in connection with one another such that the charging current can then flow.
In the case of this prior art, however, the contact elements (contact bodies) of the male connecting element are arranged movably in this male connecting element. In a first position, they are arranged entirely within the male connecting element, such that these contact bodies are protected against touching and contamination. Only when the two connecting elements have been brought together does the contact body, which was previously situated within the connecting element, move out of the male connecting element, such that these contact bodies can be placed in contact with the respective contact bodies of the female connecting element.
The invention provides an improved apparatus for conductive charging. Conductive charging is to be understood to mean that the electrical contacts of a base station, at which charging energy is made available, are placed in operative connection with electrical contacts of an autonomously driving vehicle such that they touch one another for the purposes of charging. This conductive charging has the advantage over likewise known inductive charging, which takes place contactlessly, of significantly greater energy transmission, such that autonomous vehicles are much more quickly charged and ready for operation again.
For the apparatus for conductive charging as a whole, a vehicle part is provided that is arranged on the vehicle, in particular on the electric vehicle. Independently, and at an arbitrary other location, a robot part is provided that can be actuated by the vehicle for the purposes of charging. The robot part is therefore in a fixed position but is movable within certain limits at the location where charging is to take place. The purpose of this is that the vehicle with its vehicle part does not have to perform actuation whilst overlapping the robot part 100 percent, but rather the robot part locates the vehicle part when the vehicle has been parked for the purposes of charging.
Proceeding from this, the invention is based on the object of improving the contacts both on the vehicle part and on the robot part of the apparatus for conductive charging.
This object is achieved by the features of patent claim 1.
It is provided according to the invention that the at least one contact of the robot part has a base from which a cylindrical sleeve and a contact tab extend, and the at least one contact of the vehicle part has a base from which at least one contact spring and one contact tab extend. By means of the base of the contact of the robot part, a stiffness of said contact is attained, which is additionally increased by the cylindrical sleeve that projects from the base. The cylindrical sleeve in turn forms a sufficiently large contact surface for the at least one contact, preferably for the multiple contacts of the robot part. This provides robust contact and a high level of operational reliability. This is additionally further increased in that the at least one contact of the vehicle part has the base from which at least one contact spring, again preferably multiple contact springs, extend(s). This eliminates the disadvantage of the prior art, in which the contacts of the male and of the female connecting element abut against one another fully areally in encircling fashion. This gives rise to high friction, which makes both the contacting and the mutual centering more difficult. As a result of the abutment or connecting of the at least one contact spring of the contact of the one part with as large a contact surface as possible, which is formed by the cylindrical sleeve, the contacting is improved, in particular by way of a punctiform or small sectional contact surface, and furthermore, the friction during the bringing-together of robot part and vehicle part is minimized.
In addition, it is self-evident that each contact has at least one contact tab, preferably exactly one contact tab that can connect the respective contact via downstream lines, possibly with the interposition of plug connections, to a controller and/or an energy source for the purposes of charging and/or the like.
In a refinement of the invention, it is provided that the cylindrical sleeve has at least one recess, preferably multiple recesses arranged around the circumference of the cylindrical sleeve. The at least one recess or the multiple recesses arranged around the circumference of the cylindrical sleeve have the advantage, in this way, that the stiffness of the cylindrical sleeve is locally reduced somewhat in order to allow play compensation when the contact of the robot part is brought together with the respective contact of the vehicle part. It is self-evident here that the contact, in particular a contact spring, of the vehicle part is guided not into the region of a respective recess but into a region of the cylindrical sleeve adjacent to a respective recess, and abuts there for the purposes of contacting.
In a refinement of the invention, it is provided that the base of the contact is formed by multiple base sections arranged around the circumference, wherein a contact spring projects perpendicularly between in each case two base sections. A geometrical embodiment of this contact is thus provided that can highly effectively be produced in automated fashion and in high part quantities and thus with reduced costs in a known stamping-bending process or a known stamping-rolling process or a combination of these two processes.
In a refinement of the invention, it is provided that the contact spring has an angled portion at its free end. On the one hand, the connection of the contact spring to the base of this contact creates a certain flexibility in order to compensate for tolerances and, above all, to facilitate the centering during the bringing-together of vehicle part and robot part. This facilitation of the centering and also the increase of the contact force is further improved by virtue of the contact spring having an angled portion at its free end. This advantageous facilitation is achieved in particular if the angled end of the intrinsically free end of the contact spring is situated with a spacing, in particular a plane-parallel spacing, to the base section of the contact spring. Thus, a spring force is attained not only by the contact spring projecting, preferably perpendicularly, from the base but also by means of the angled portion of the end section of the contact spring at its free end.
The contact elements of the robot part are recessed in a housing and thus so as to be protected against external touching or contamination, but are accessible to the contact elements of the vehicle part. The contact elements of the vehicle part must likewise be protected against touching or contamination. For this purpose, according to the invention, the contact elements of the vehicle part are covered by an engagement guard such that the contact elements of the vehicle part are not accessible for as long as no charging is being performed and for as long as the vehicle part has not been placed in operative connection with the robot part. Only when the robot part is moved in the direction of the vehicle part is this engagement guard moved relative to the housing of the vehicle part by the robot part such that the contact elements of the vehicle part, which are nonmovably mounted in the housing of the vehicle part, are exposed and can engage into the corresponding free spaces in the robot part in order to touch and thus make contact with the contact elements, situated there, of the robot part. For this purpose, the engagement guard is supported on the housing of the vehicle part via springs. This configuration has the significant advantage that the engagement guard, as a mechanical component, is moved relative to the housing of the vehicle part, whereas the contact elements of the vehicle part are nonmovably mounted in said vehicle part, because, in practice, a movable mechanical component (without electrical function) can be much more effectively implemented than an electrically conductive component that, in the case of the prior art, not only serves for the electrical contacting but must simultaneously also be moved. As a result, the invention realizes a much simpler and more reliable construction of the apparatus for conductive charging. The contacts are likewise nonmovably mounted in the housing of the robot part. For example, the contacts in the robot part and in the vehicle part are overmolded with a plastics material in regions for the purposes of being fixed in the respective housing, wherein, after the overmolding process, a partial region of the contacts remains free for the purposes of the contacting or connection of supply lines.
An embodiment of the apparatus according to the invention and a method for operating this apparatus will be described below and discussed with reference to
A conductor ring 5 is illustrated for example in
An exemplary configuration of the engagement guard 12 of areal form with the corresponding cutouts for the contacts 11 (spring contacts) is illustrated in
It is furthermore evident and illustrated that the engagement guard 12 has a base 13 with a central opening 14. Provided around the central opening 14 is a region that runs obliquely with respect to the base 13 and in which multiple recesses 15 are arranged in encircling and also sloping fashion. The corresponding conductor springs 11 of the vehicle part 2 are passed through these recesses 15 and exposed when charging is to be performed, or are arranged under these recesses 15 when charging is not to be performed, such that the overall effect of the engagement guard 12 is that the conductor springs 11 are covered in the latter case. In addition, the engagement guard 12 also has, in encircling fashion, a plurality of recesses 16 through which further elements can be passed, for example in order to bring the vehicle part 2 and robot part 3 to one another in the correct position. In order to be able to install the engagement guard 12 in the correct position, it is furthermore possible for a coding lug 17 (or possibly further elements or also more than one coding lug) to be provided.
An exemplary configuration of a contact 11 (conductor spring) of the vehicle part 2 is illustrated in
In the illustration on the left in
The required overlap of the robot part 3 with the vehicle part 2 is illustrated, after having been achieved, in the middle illustration of
In order that the vehicle part 2 and the robot part 3 can be brought together in a defined position relative to one another, the housing 4 of the robot part 3 has a dome 21 that is passed through the central opening 14 of the engagement guard 12. Here, the dome 21 of the robot part 3 is guided by a corresponding counterpart element on the vehicle part 2, which is designed and suitable for entering into connection with the dome 21 and in so doing guiding the robot part 3 during the movement toward the vehicle part 2.
In the middle illustration of
It is self-evident that, after completion of the charging process, the two parts 2, 3 are separated from one another again in the reverse procedure, wherein the contacts 11 that are static in the housing 10 of the vehicle part 2 are again covered by the engagement guard 12 after the robot part 3 has been removed from the vehicle part 2.
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Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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10 2018 127 173.5 | Oct 2018 | DE | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/EP2019/079828 | 10/31/2019 | WO | 00 |