CN211648309U

CN211648309U - Power module for an electric drive

Info

Publication number: CN211648309U
Application number: CN201921805450.2U
Authority: CN
Inventors: 迈克·苏伦; 赫罗恩·斯洛曼
Original assignee: FEV Europe GmbH
Current assignee: FEV Europe GmbH
Priority date: 2018-10-25
Filing date: 2019-10-25
Publication date: 2020-10-09
Anticipated expiration: 2029-10-25
Also published as: DE102019128283A1; DE102018126681A1

Abstract

The subject matter of the invention is a power module for an electric drive, in particular for a range extender of an electric vehicle, comprising a power unit with an internal combustion engine and a generator; furthermore, the power module comprises at least one tank for receiving a fuel or a working fluid for operating the power unit, wherein the power unit and the tank are connected to one another by means of a fastening means and the power unit is at least partially surrounded by the tank.

Description

Power module for an electric drive

Technical Field

The utility model relates to a range extender that is used for power module, especially is used for electric vehicle of electric drive device, power module includes the power unit, the power unit has internal-combustion engine and generator, the power module is still including being used for holding at least one box that is used for operating the fuel or the working fluid of power unit.

Background

Power modules for electric drives are used nowadays, in particular, in electrically driven motor vehicles in which they are used as Range extenders. The background for this application is the relatively small range of today's electric vehicles due to limited battery capacity, which is an impediment to large-scale commercial use of electric vehicles. Such a power module comprises a power unit which is formed by an internal combustion engine and a generator driven by the internal combustion engine, which generator is optionally used to charge a battery of the electric vehicle or preferably directly to supply voltage to the electric drive. Another integral component of the power module is a tank for accommodating fuel and/or working fluid, for example coolant or lubricant. Here, the fuel tank is generally a large volume body that occupies a significant fraction of the spatial dimensions of the power module. In order to prevent noise emissions and waste heat from the surroundings and passenger space, which are generated by the internal combustion engine during operation of the power unit, a housing is usually provided for shielding at the power module.

CN 107448290 a, for example, discloses a range extender for an electric drive comprising a tank for fuel and lubricating liquid. An air-cooled internal combustion engine is surrounded by a housing for acoustic isolation, disposed outside the case. The fuel and the lubricant are conveyed through an opening provided in the housing.

EP 2393688B 1 discloses a generator set with a fuel tank, which is provided in particular for use as a range extender for electrically operating a vehicle. The internal combustion engine and the generator of the generator set are arranged in a cooling space with a cylindrical cross section through which air flows, and the fuel tank is separated from the cooling space. Furthermore, for sound insulation purposes, there is a surrounding outer casing.

A disadvantage of the power modules for electric drives according to the prior art is their relatively large spatial size, which makes integration of the modules, in particular into small vehicles, difficult. The necessity of using separate housings for suppressing acoustic emissions and waste heat causes said disadvantageously large space dimensions and is furthermore an undesirable weight factor and cost factor.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

The object of the present invention is therefore to provide a power module for an electric drive, by means of which the above-mentioned disadvantages of the prior art are overcome and by which an improved solution for reducing the spatial dimensions of the power module is proposed. Furthermore, the degree of suppression in terms of noise emission and waste heat should be improved. The object is achieved according to a power module comprising a power unit (2) having an internal combustion engine (21) and a generator (22), furthermore comprising at least one tank (3) for accommodating a fuel or a working liquid for operating the power unit (2), characterized in that the power unit (2) and the tank (3) are connected to each other by means of a fixing means (4) and the power unit (2) is at least partially surrounded by the tank (3). Advantageous refinements are specified below.

The utility model discloses a following technical teaching: the power unit and the case are connected to each other by a fixing mechanism and the power unit is at least partially surrounded by the case.

The basic idea of the invention is to arrange the power unit and the box more compactly in a common module construction, in which common module construction the box surrounds the power unit in a sack-like manner and thus causes a significant reduction in the spatial dimension and mounting dimension of the entire power module. A further reduction of the spatial dimensions of the power module is achieved by: in the case according to the invention of a housing arranged around the power unit, the additional housing can be partially or completely dispensed with, since the housing itself is according to the invention for shielding the noise and waste heat of the internal combustion engine.

In an advantageous embodiment of the power module according to the invention, the outer side of the wall section of the housing facing the power cells is adapted to the profile variation of the power cells. In this way, the gap remaining between the power unit and the housing can be minimized, whereby on the one hand the spatial dimensions of the power module are reduced and on the other hand an effective shielding effect is produced by the housing. That is to say, the housing is advantageously shaped such that it forms a housing surrounding the power unit at least in sections and assumes the function of noise and thermal insulation.

In order to further improve the insulation properties, the volume of the tank is advantageously at least partially filled with a foam material, which acts as a porous medium to insulate not only noise but also waste heat.

Here, it is advantageous to use an open-cell foam material, i.e. a foam material with an open porosity, which is suitable for containing a fluid. The use of such open-celled or open-celled foams brings about the following further advantages: avoiding disturbing cracking noise caused by liquid freely shaking in the volume of the box body.

Alternatively or additionally, the insulation of noise and waste heat can also be achieved by an insulation layer applied to the inner side of the wall section of the tank facing the power cell.

The insulation layer advantageously also comprises an open-cell foam material suitable for containing fluids, so that the reduction in effective tank contents with the use of the insulation layer is reduced.

In order to further increase the noise insulation, the outer side of the wall section of the housing facing the power unit advantageously has a surface texture with an acoustic diffuser. The acoustic diffuser ensures dispersion of the incident sound waves and prevents oriented reflections or undesired resonances.

A particularly effective insulation of the waste heat of the power unit is preferably achieved by: the outer side of the wall section of the tank facing the power cells has a thermal protection layer. Such a thermal protection layer is for example an oxide ceramic applied by means of thermal spraying.

The tank according to the invention is advantageously manufactured by means of injection moulding. Suitable materials are, for example, thermosets. It can furthermore be advantageous to produce the tank by means of a multicomponent injection molding process in order to impart to the wall sections of the tank facing the power cells a layer structure or sandwich structure which is formed by the actual tank walls and the inner and/or outer insulation and/or protective layers.

Drawings

Further measures for improving the invention are shown in detail below together with the description of preferred embodiments of the invention on the basis of the sole figure. The figures show:

fig. 1 shows a schematic cross-sectional view of an embodiment of a power module according to the invention.

Detailed Description

Fig. 1 shows a cross-sectional view of a power module 1 according to the invention, which comprises a power unit 2, a housing 3 and a fixing mechanism 4.

The power unit 2 comprises an internal combustion engine 21, which is schematically represented in fig. 1 by a cylinder housing 211 and a crankshaft housing 212 arranged thereon, and a generator 22 connected to the crankshaft housing 212.

The operation of the power unit 2 is as follows: the chemical energy that is to be incorporated in the fuel is converted into mechanical energy by means of the combustion engine 21 and, in the further result, into electrical energy by means of the generator 22. The supply voltage thus provided is used in an electric vehicle to charge a battery or preferably directly to operate an electric motor.

The tank 3 serves as a fuel reserve for operating the power unit 2. In the present embodiment, the tank 3 is substantially completely filled with the foam material 33, wherein the foam material 33 has an open porosity which allows the liquid fuel to enter. The foam 33 serves on the one hand to insulate noise and waste heat generated by the power unit 2 during operation of the power module 1 and to prevent undesirable operating noise generated by fuel that freely rocks in the interior of the tank 3.

In the selection of the foam 33 or the porosity, a sufficiently large holding capacity for the liquid fuel is produced and a suitable rate is ensured during filling of the tank with fuel and emptying of the tank of fuel. For filling, the tank 3 is provided with a tank connection 31, which is closed by a tank cover 32.

In order to improve the noise emission and the waste heat suppression properties, an additional insulation layer 34 is installed at the inner side 3b of the wall section of the tank 3 facing the power unit 2, said insulation layer preferably having a higher specific insulation degree than the foam material 33.

The fastening means 4 extends, for example, between the power unit 2 and a wall section of the housing 3 facing the power unit 2. The fastening means 4 are preferably designed to be detachable, in order to be able to carry out possible maintenance or replacement measures. In a further advantageous embodiment, a damping mechanism against mechanical vibrations is integrated into the fastening mechanism 4 in order to achieve a vibration-related decoupling of the power unit 2 and the housing 3.

The outer side 3a of the wall of the housing 3 facing the power unit 2 has a contour which is similar to the contour change 2a of the power unit 2 formed by the topography of the cylinder housing 211, the crankshaft housing 212 and the generator 22. The housing-like sheathing of the power cells 2 in the vicinity of the contour by the housing thus provides the desired minimization of the spatial or installation dimensions of the entire power module 1 and leads to an extremely effective isolation of noise and waste heat by the housing 3. Preferably, the spacing along the housing-like section between the power unit 2 and the outer side 3a of the box 3 amounts to 1cm to 5 cm.

The invention is not limited in its embodiments to the preferred embodiments described above. Rather, a large number of variants are conceivable which can be used with the illustrated solution even in embodiments of essentially another type. All the features and/or advantages known from the present text, together with details of construction or spatial arrangement, can be seen as essential to the invention, both individually and in various combinations.

List of reference numerals

1 Power module

2 power unit

2a profile variation of power cells

21 internal combustion engine

211 cylinder housing

212 crankshaft housing

22 electric generator

3 case body

3a outside of the case

3b inner side of the case

31 box body connecting pipe

32 case cover

33 foam material

34 barrier layer

4 fixing mechanism

Claims

1. A power module (1) comprising a power unit (2) with an internal combustion engine (21) and a generator (22), furthermore comprising at least one tank (3) for containing fuel or working fluid for operating the power unit (2),

characterized in that the power unit (2) and the box (3) are connected to each other by means of a fixing mechanism (4), and the power unit (2) is at least partially surrounded by the box (3).

2. The power module (1) according to claim 1,

characterized in that the power module (1) is a range extender for an electric vehicle.

3. The power module (1) according to claim 1 or 2,

it is characterized in that the preparation method is characterized in that,

the outer side (3a) of the wall section of the housing (3) facing the power unit (2) is adapted to the profile change (2a) of the power unit (2).

4. The power module (1) according to claim 1 or 2,

it is characterized in that the preparation method is characterized in that,

the housing (3) forms a housing for the power unit (2) at least in sections.

5. The power module (1) according to claim 1 or 2,

it is characterized in that the preparation method is characterized in that,

the volume of the tank (3) is at least partially filled with a foam material (33).

6. The power module (1) of claim 5,

it is characterized in that the preparation method is characterized in that,

the foam material (33) has an open porosity and is designed to contain the fuel or the working fluid.

7. The power module (1) according to claim 1 or 2,

it is characterized in that the preparation method is characterized in that,

the inner side (3b) of the wall section of the housing (3) facing the power unit (2) has a barrier layer (34).

8. The power module (1) according to claim 7,

the insulating layer (34) comprises an open-cell foam material and is designed to contain the fuel or the operating liquid.

9. The power module (1) according to claim 1 or 2,

the outer side (3a) of the wall section of the housing (3) facing the power unit (2) has a surface texture with an acoustic diffuser.

10. The power module (1) according to claim 1 or 2,

the outer side (3a) of the wall section of the housing (3) facing the power cell (2) has a thermal protection layer.

11. The power module (1) according to claim 1 or 2,

the tank (3) is produced by means of injection molding and/or has walls with a layer structure.