Patent Application
20230083352
The present invention relates to swappable battery packs and an associated battery port for electric vehicles.
Electric vehicles continue gaining traction as a means of transportation. Light electric vehicles (LEV) specifically, are gaining traction in the United States after enjoying years of popularity in Europe. Part of the appeal is the ease of ride. Most people can ride them, from the most seasoned rider to someone who has not ridden since childhood. LEV have the potential to expand riding to new audiences and keep people riding throughout their lives.
As cities continue to expand the need for accessible and affordable transportation expands as well. LEV have been growing in popularity to fill this need. However, these vehicles need to be recharged regularly which puts infrastructure constraints and risks that a person's ride may end prematurely if the battery on the vehicle dies mid use. There is a need for a battery configuration that is easily accessible for removing and replacing so a user can always have access to a full battery.
At least one aspect of the present disclosure aims to overcome the deficiencies of conventional battery packs. At least one aspect of the present disclosure overcomes the deficiencies of conventional battery packs by having a multi-faceted securing means for ensuring proper connection of the battery pack in the battery connection port. Another aspect of the present disclosure overcomes the deficiencies in conventional electric vehicle battery configurations by having an easily accessible battery pack that can be easily handled and removed when the battery is depleted, then replaced with a charged battery when needed.
The following description and the annexed drawings set forth certain illustrative embodiments of the invention. These embodiments are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of the invention may be employed. Other objects, advantages, and novel features according to aspects of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the drawings.
The annexed drawings, which are not necessarily to scale, show various aspects of the invention.
The principles and aspects of the present disclosure have application to light electric vehicles (LEV), and thus will be described below chiefly in this context. It is understood, however, that the principles and aspects of the present disclosure may be applicable to other electric vehicle applications as well as for any other application that requires electric energy where a removable battery module would be beneficial. Battery pack and battery module may be used interchangeably throughout the present disclosure.
In one exemplary embodiment, the base 14 may be a stand-alone charging port as depicted in
The battery module 12 may be configured as a rectangular tower with four longitudinal faces 50 and four chamfered longitudinal edges 52. The battery module 12 further includes a top surface or face 54 and a bottom surface or face 56. The top surface may have a handle 60 installed or formed thereon. The handle 62 may be configured along the top surface 54 of the battery module 12. The handle 62 may be secured directly to the face of the top surface 54 or to one of the longitudinal faces 50. The handle 62 may be secured to the battery module 12 by fasteners 64 or by other securing means such as welding or a slot and pin configuration. The handle 62 provides a handhold for a user to easily hold the battery module 12 for removal and installation of the battery as well as for transportation of the battery module 12.
The battery module 12 may be comprised of a metal casing such as aluminum or other lightweight metal. The battery module 12 may also be comprised of a lightweight and durable polymer.
The weight, size, and form factor of the module 10 is designed with ergonomics in mind to be “human-sized.” That is, the module 10 may be designed to be pluggable/unpluggable and transportable by a single person: of such size, shape, and weight that a single person may carry it relatively comfortably and without injury.
Regarding weight, the module may be designed to comply with maximum lifting weight regulations or guidelines such as, for example, the Revised National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Lifting Equation (2021), guidelines for evaluating two-handed manual lifting tasks. Such guidelines define a Recommended Weight Limit (RWL) as the weight of the load that nearly all healthy people (typically workers) can lift over a substantial period of time (e.g., eight hours) without an increased risk of developing lower back pain.
Regarding size and form factor, the module 10 may be designed to have a generally “suit case” rectangular form factor with the handle 22 installed or built thereupon at one end of the module 10. The dimensions of the module 10 may be height in the range of 12 inches to 24 inches, width in the range of 6 inches to 12 inches, and depth in the range of 4 inches to 8 inches. In one embodiment, the module 10 may be 16 inches tall, 9.5 inches wide, and 5.5 inches deep. In some embodiments, the battery module 10 is designed with height in a range shorter than 12 inches or taller than 24 inches, width in a range narrower than 6 inches or wider than 12 inches, and depth in a range shallower than 4 inches or deeper than 8 inches.
The bottom face 56 may include a module connector 58 disposed adjacent the bottom of the battery module 12 but recessed from the bottom of the battery module and at least partially shrouded by chamfered edges 22 to protect the module connector when the battery module 12 is, for example, being transported. The chamfered edges 22 are disposed around a perimeter of the bottom face 56. The chamfered edges 22 reduce a perimeter of the bottom face 56 as the chamfered edges extend downwards towards at an extreme end of the bottom face 56. The chamfer of the edges 22 correspond to the chamfer of the sidewalls 32 of the base 14.
The battery module connector 58 may include one or more alignment pin receivers 24 and one or more module contacts 26, which may correspond to power transfer contacts and data transfer contacts which are configured as conductive metal contact points for the transfer of electric current or signals. The one or more alignment pin receivers 24 and the one or more module contacts 26 correspond to alignment pins 36 and one or more base contacts 38 of the base connector 33.
The battery base 14 includes a battery module seat 28, sidewalls 32 that extend for the battery module seat 28 and which are chamfered, and the connector 33. Walls of the connector 33 may also be chamfered as to invite the matching battery module connector 58 into smooth and reliable connection. The battery module 12 rests on the battery module seat 28 when installed. The alignment pins 36 extends upwards from the battery module seat 28. The alignment pins 36 correspond to the alignment pin receivers 24 in the battery module 12. The battery module seat 14 includes one or more contact pin receivers 38. The contact pin receivers 38 correspond to the contact pins 26.
In one embodiment, instead of one or more alignment pin receivers 24, the battery module connector 58 includes one or more alignment pins and, instead of one or more alignment pins, the base connector 33 includes one or more alignment pin receivers.
In the embodiment of
The guide slots 20, alignment pins 36, and chamfered edges 22, 32 serve as a multi-faceted means of securement to ensure that the battery module 12 is secure in the vehicle battery receiver or base 14.
The alignment pin receivers 24 may be configured as recesses in the bottom surface 56. The recesses may include a locking mechanism such as a spring biased pin to secure the one or more alignment pins 36 in the one or more alignment pin receivers.
The battery module 12 may include one or more battery cells electrically organized to enable delivery of targeted range of voltage and current for a duration of time against expected load scenarios. The number and capacity of the battery cells may vary depending on the application. The battery cells may be, for example, lithium-ion rechargeable cell, but may be other types of rechargeable cells.
In the embodiment of
In one embodiment, the battery configuration 10 further includes a safety switch 40 which is engaged only when the battery module 12 is fully seated into the battery base 14 or when the battery module connector 58 is fully connected to the base connector 33.
In an exemplary embodiment, the safety switch 40 may be a mechanical switch that engages and secures the battery module 12 in the battery base 14. The mechanical switch 40 may be a spring biased pin engagement feature that secures the battery module 12 in place until the user releases the pin. Other mechanical means of securing the battery module 12 in the battery base 14 may be suitable. In another exemplary embodiment, the safety switch 40 may be an electrical switch. When the battery module 12 is fully connected to the battery base 14 an electrical signal may be sent to the vehicle's control interface which activates a signal notifying the operator that the battery module 12 is fully seated into the battery base 14.
In an exemplary embodiment as shown in
The battery module 10 may include the one or more battery cells 13 electrically organized to enable delivery of targeted range of voltage and current for a duration of time against expected load scenarios. The number and capacity of the battery cells may result in various capacity levels for the battery module 10. The battery cells 12 may be, for example, lithium-ion rechargeable cells, but may be other types of rechargeable cells.
The battery module 10 may include one or more module processors 15 operably connected to the one or more battery cells 13 to obtain performance information from the one or more battery cells 13. The processor 14 may be operably connected to the battery cells 13 via the battery management system (BMS) 17. The BMS 17 may perform oversight of the battery cells 13 including, for example, monitoring parameters (e.g., voltage, current, temperature, etc.), providing battery protection (e.g., overcurrent, short circuit, over-temperature, etc.), preventing operation outside a battery cell's ratings, estimating a battery cell's operational state, continually optimizing battery performance, reporting operational status to the processor 15, etc. The processor 15 is operably connected to the BMS 16 to obtain the performance information of the battery cells 13.
The battery module 10 may also include a wireless transceiver 19 operably connected to the processor 15 to remotely transmit data including the performance information from the battery cells 13. The wireless transceiver 19 may include a transmitter, a receiver, or both and, thus, it may exclusively transmit information, exclusively receive information, or it may transmit and receive information. The wireless transceiver 19 may be a broadband cellular network (e.g., 3G, 4G, 5G, etc.) transceiver or a transceiver employing other local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN) technologies. The wireless transceiver 19 may, for example, communicate in a network using Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, satellite communication, etc.
The battery module 10 may include a power port 25 for connecting the battery module 10 to a base 14 of a powered device such as the vehicle 2. The powered device may also correspond to any other battery powered device such as a home appliance, etc. The power port 25 may also serve as a recharge port for the battery module 10.
The battery module 10 may also include a data port 27 to connect the battery module 10 to a data buss of the powered device. For example, if the powered device is a vehicle, the data port 27 may be connected to a CAN bus (ISO 11898 Standard) of the vehicle. Similarly, the data port 27 may be connected to other communications systems such as, for example, wired standard (RS485, etc.) as well as wireless standard (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, ZigBee, WiMax, etc.) communications systems. Thus, the data port 27 may be wired port, a wireless port, or combinations thereof.
The connector 58 plugs into the connector 3 of the base 14. The connector 58 may incorporate the power port 25 and data port 27. The base 14 may be a stand-alone charging/power distribution port connected to a building's power distribution system. The base 14 may also be a vehicle battery dock or receiver for the vehicle 2.
The battery module 10 may also include a global position system (GPS) 29 receiver operably connected to the processor 15 to communicate to the processor 15 a geographical location of the battery module 10. In some embodiments, the battery module 10 may employ techniques (e.g., Bluetooth communication with GPS-equipped mobile phone, Wi-Fi Positioning System (WPS), etc.) instead of or in addition to the to the GPS 29 to obtain the geographical location of the battery module 10.
In one embodiment, the base 14 or a device (e.g., vehicle 2, appliance, etc.) may include a processor 31 that communicates with the processor 15 via the data port 27. In one embodiment, the processor 15 questions the processor 31 for a certain code or other authenticating credentials for the battery module 10, as well as any other identifying information (e.g., model number, power level, date of manufacture, serial number, etc.) This way, the powered device 2 may make certain the battery being plugged in to provide power is safe and genuine.
In one embodiment, the battery module 10 may be required to sign in via a certain code or other authenticating credentials wirelessly via the wireless transceiver 19. The base 14 may be configured to not accept power from the battery module 10 until authorized by a remote server or a mobile phone. The wireless transceiver 19 may establish wireless communication with the remote server or mobile phone for the processor 15 to communicate the certain code or other authenticating credentials to the remote server or mobile phone.
In certain embodiments, battery module 10 authentication as described above may be initiated automatically upon connection of the connectors 58 to 33 or upon wireless proximity detection of the battery module 10 to the base 14.
The following includes definitions of selected terms employed herein. The definitions include various examples or forms of components that fall within the scope of a term and that may be used for implementation. The examples are not intended to be limiting. Both singular and plural forms of terms may be within the definitions.
An “operable connection,” or a connection by which entities are “operably connected,” is one in which signals, physical communications, or logical communications may be sent or received. Typically, an operable connection includes a physical interface, an electrical interface, or a data interface, but it is to be noted that an operable connection may include differing combinations of these or other types of connections sufficient to allow operable control. For example, two entities can be operably connected by being able to communicate signals to each other directly or through one or more intermediate entities like a processor, operating system, a logic, software, or other entity. Logical or physical communication channels can be used to create an operable connection.
To the extent that the term “includes” or “including” is employed in the detailed description or the claims, it is intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term “comprising” as that term is interpreted when employed as a transitional word in a claim. Furthermore, to the extent that the term “or” is employed in the detailed description or claims (e.g., A or B) it is intended to mean “A or B or both.” When the applicants intend to indicate “only A or B but not both” then the term “only A or B but not both” will be employed. Thus, use of the term “or” herein is the inclusive, and not the exclusive use. See, Bryan A. Garner, A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage 624 (2d. Ed. 1995).
While example systems, methods, and so on, have been illustrated by describing examples, and while the examples have been described in considerable detail, it is not the intention of the applicants to restrict or in any way limit scope to such detail. It is, of course, not possible to describe every conceivable combination of components or methodologies for purposes of describing the systems, methods, and so on, described herein. Additional advantages and modifications will readily appear to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the invention is not limited to the specific details, the representative apparatus, and illustrative examples shown and described. Thus, this application is intended to embrace alterations, modifications, and variations that fall within the scope of the appended claims. Furthermore, the preceding description is not meant to limit the scope of the invention. Rather, the scope of the invention is to be determined by the appended claims and their equivalents.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/242,819, filed on Sep. 10, 2021, and titled “BATTERY SYSTEM AND BATTERY POWERED VEHICLE,” the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63242819 | Sep 2021 | US |
