DE102020216079A1 - Charging cable arrangement on an electric vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a charging cable arrangement (1) on an electric vehicle (3), in which a charging cable (5) can be stowed in a cable holder (7) which is located laterally in a front area of the vehicle (3) between an electrical unit (9) and the body of the vehicle (3) and at least partially surrounds the electrical unit (9), the cable holder (7) having a bowl-shaped cross-section, being padded and open at the top, and being on the inside of a bonnet of the vehicle (3 ) a damping element (11) made of a damping material that corresponds to the shape of the cable holder (7) is arranged so that the damping element (11) of the bonnet is guided to the open side of the cable holder (7) when the bonnet is closed and that in the cable holder (7 ) touches the charging cable (5).

Description

The invention relates to a charging cable arrangement on an electric vehicle and to a vehicle with such a charging cable arrangement.

A large number of different possibilities are known from the prior art for accommodating a charging cable in a vehicle or for providing a device for winding up the charging cable in the vehicle.

the DE 10 2010 048 371 A1 relates to a device for connecting a vehicle operated with electricity to a socket of a low-voltage alternating current network, with a charging cable which has a plug that fits the socket, the charging cable being designed as a spiral cable and in a tubular shape connected at least indirectly to the vehicle Receiving element is arranged, wherein the charging cable at its end opposite the plug is at least indirectly connected to the vehicle.

the DE 10 2017 208 599 A1 also relates to a motor vehicle with a traction battery and a connection device, by means of which the traction battery can be connected to an external energy source for charging, the connection device comprising an electrical charging cable and a rotatably mounted cable reel for receiving the charging cable, the charging cable being in a longitudinal member designed as a hollow profile of the motor vehicle is guided.

the DE 10 2010 048 386 A1 relates to a device for connecting a vehicle operated with electricity to a socket of a low-voltage alternating current network, with a charging cable which has a plug that fits the socket, the plug and at least part of the charging cable being arranged in an exterior mirror of the vehicle, and that the charging cable is at least indirectly connected to the vehicle.

the DE 10 2012 023 332 A1 relates to a charging cable stowage device for a motor vehicle, the charging cable stowage device having, in the region of a first end of the installation space encompassed by the charging cable stowage device, at least a first deflection roller which can be rotated about an axis and around which the charging cable is guided in a curve or a loop, whereby a first end of the charging cable projects out of the installation space in the area of the first end or in the area of a second end, essentially opposite the first end, of the installation space encompassed by the charging cable stowage device and is connected to a coupling device, with a second end of the charging cable protrudes in the region of the second end of the installation space for a connection to an on-board electrical energy store from the installation space, and the deflection roller is movably mounted within the installation space encompassed by the charging cable stowage device, with a tensile force at the first end of the charging cable or the associated connected to the coupling device, the charging cable can be led out with a predetermined length outside of the charging cable stowage device and the length of the charging cable that has been led out can be fed back into the charging cable stowage device by means of a return device.

the DE 10 2011 121 303 A1 relates to a motor vehicle comprising an energy store which can be charged via a charging cable which is permanently installed on the vehicle and has a connector plug which can be pulled out of its storage position from the vehicle in order to connect it to an external power source, with the charging cable coming from a cable store in which it is stored from the fixed Installation point along an essentially straight route to a deflection point, then deflected at least once by an angle between 90°-180° and along another essentially straight route to the connector plug, can be pulled out of its storage position against a restoring force.

the DE 10 2017 203 327 A1 relates to a charging cable arrangement for a motor vehicle, comprising a charging cable and a cable store which accommodates the charging cable and from which and into which the charging cable can be brought, the charging cable being able to be firmly connected to an associated third-party object with the end on the storage side, the cable store having a receiving space in which the charging cable can be introduced in a meandering manner via a motorized cable conveyor device.

the DE 10 2017 202 864 A1 relates to a vehicle comprising: a battery; a charging unit having a charging cable and a charging gun at one end of the charging cable and configured to supply power to the battery from an external power supply; and a cable groove provided in a vehicle body and capable of accommodating the charge cable, wherein when the charge cable is accommodated in the cable groove, the charge gun is disposed on an outside of a transmission path through which an impact load is transmitted to the battery upon collision with an external object.

the DE 10 2013 206 761 B4 relates to a cable store for an electric charging cable of a battery of a hybrid or battery electric vehicle with a rotatable drum on which The charging cable can be wound up on the peripheral surface, the drum being rotatably mounted on a non-rotatable shaft, the shaft having an external thread and the drum having an internal thread engaging with the external thread, the drum having axial ends on which a drum end disk is arranged in each case , the diameter of which is greater than the diameter of the drum, the drum end disks being mounted so as to be axially displaceable and non-rotatable relative to the shaft, the drum end disks being rotatably connected to the respective axial ends of the drum.

the DE 20 2017 003 940 U1 finally relates to a connecting and charging cable with a housing, the connecting and charging cable having end connections, the connecting and charging cable being arranged circumferentially and detachably inside the housing at the outer edge and in the remaining central space of the housing adapter for the connecting and charging cable are arranged on or plugged into recordings located here.

The object of the invention is to arrange a charging cable for an electric vehicle in the vehicle in such a way that, if possible, it does not interact with the items of luggage in the trunk or become soiled there, or contribute to noise development while the vehicle is in motion.

The invention results from the features of the independent claims. Advantageous developments and refinements are the subject matter of the dependent claims.

A first aspect of the invention relates to a charging cable arrangement on an electric vehicle, with a charging cable for charging a battery of the vehicle being able to be placed in a cable receptacle of the charging cable arrangement, with the cable receptacle being arranged laterally in a front area of the vehicle between an electrical unit and the body of the vehicle and at least partially surrounds the electrical unit, the cable holder having a bowl-shaped cross section and being open at the top, so that the charging cable can be removed upwards from a concave side of the cable holder, the concave side of the cable holder being padded with a damping material, and wherein a damping element made of a damping material and corresponding to the shape of the cable holder is arranged on the inside of a bonnet of the vehicle, so that the damping element of the bonnet moves toward the open side of the cable holder g. when the bonnet is closed is guided and touches the vehicle's charging cable that is stored in the cable holder.

The electric vehicle has at least one battery or one electric capacitor, with the stored electric energy of which an electric drive of the vehicle is operated. It does not matter whether the electric vehicle is driven purely electrically or whether it is a hybrid vehicle, which means, for example, also has a combustion engine to drive the vehicle. The electrical unit is therefore preferably an electric motor that is used to drive the vehicle. Alternatively, the electrical unit is preferably a control unit of an electrical drive.

The charging cable is used to charge the battery. This charging cable is to be taken out of the vehicle manually by a driver of the vehicle in order to establish an electrical connection between an electrical charging station and the vehicle. According to the invention, the charging cable is placed in the cable holder, which extends at least partially in a ring around the electrical unit. In a first alternative, the cable receptacle can extend completely around the entire circumference of the electrical unit in a preferably horizontal plane, or in a second alternative it can only be arranged around part of the circumference of the electrical unit. Depending on the application of the alternative, the cable holder has a corresponding shape to which the shape of the damping element is to be matched.

In all cases, however, the cable holder is designed in the shape of a bowl, for example the cross-section has the shape of a 'U' or a 'V'. The shell-shaped design has the advantageous effect that the charging cable can be easily inserted into the cable holder from above by a user and can be removed from it. The hollow side of the cup-shaped cable receptacle is called the "concave" side of the cable receptacle in the foregoing and in the following.

In this concave side, the cable holder is padded with a dampening material. This has the advantageous effect that, while the vehicle is being driven, the cable does not hit the wall of the cable receptacle and thus generate noise. From the top side, the charging cable is also kept padded by the damping material of the damping element while the vehicle is driving with the hood of the vehicle closed, so that the charging cable in the cable holder is surrounded in all directions by a respective damping material while the vehicle is driving.

The damping element is designed in particular as an elongate arrangement of damping material and is arranged on the inside of the hood; the damping element therefore protrudes in particular from the inside of the bonnet and thus fits into the open upper side of the cable holder when the bonnet is closed, so that the charging cable located there is also held by damping material from the upper open side of the cable holder.

It is therefore an advantageous effect of the invention that the charging cable is completely surrounded by damping material during transport, ie while the vehicle is moving, and thus does not form a source of noise in the event of vibrations while driving. In addition, accommodating the charging cable is advantageous in that a trunk at the rear of the vehicle can remain free of the charging cable and does not come into contact with objects being loaded, i.e. it is soiled by dirty objects in it or objects get caught in the charging cable.

According to an advantageous embodiment, the cable holder towards the front of the vehicle is rounded off with a radius around a vertical axis or tapers to a point. The rounding or the pointed shape of the cable holder is therefore in particular in a horizontal plane. Advantageously, this shape of the cable holder improves the spring and damping properties of the cable holder when the vehicle collides with a pedestrian.

According to a further advantageous embodiment, the damping material in the concave side of the cable holder and the damping material of the damping element of the bonnet are arranged overall in such a way that when the bonnet is closed, the charging cable stored in the cable holder is secured against movement by the damping elements while the vehicle is driving materials is held. Due to the fact that damping materials press against the rolled-up cable in the cable tray from above and below and from both sides, this is secured against movements, in particular vibrations. This advantageously prevents noise from the cable when it hits the side walls of the cable holder and when cable strands hit one another.

According to a further advantageous embodiment, at least one holder for at least one end of the charging cable is arranged on the cable holder. The holder for at least one end of the charging cable provides improved support for the charging cable within the cable holder, so that noise can be prevented. It is particularly important to fix the end of the charging cable, as there are typically plugs or other connecting elements there that have a greater mass than the rest of the cable in sections of comparable length, so when swinging they hit the wall of the cable storage more forcefully and therefore generate noise more easily .

According to a further advantageous embodiment, the holder is designed to hold at least one plug of the charging cable. Fixing a plug in the cable holder not only reduces the generation of noise, as described above, but also simplifies the insertion of the charging cable, since the plug has to be placed in a fixed place.

According to a further advantageous embodiment, the cable holder surrounds the electrical unit over the entire circumference of the electrical unit in a horizontal plane. According to this embodiment, the cable holder is arranged in a ring around the electric unit, that is to say the cable holder extends around the full circumference of the electric unit. This advantageously makes it easier to roll up the charging cable, particularly when the charging cable is very long.

According to a further advantageous embodiment, the cable holder surrounds the electrical unit only partially in a U-shape in a horizontal plane. In contrast to the previous embodiment, the U-shaped design of the cable holder allows the user to handle the charging cable when inserting the charging cable into the cable holder, in particular in a horizontal plane, without having to bend completely around the electrical unit. Preferably, the U-shaped configuration of the cable receptacle is arranged in the engine compartment so that the lower horizontal leg of the 'U' runs along a front of the vehicle, so that the user only has to stretch the arms and upper body minimally to get into this U-shaped Cable holder to store the charging cable in several developments.

According to a further advantageous embodiment, the respective damping material is made of foamed EVA plastic. The abbreviation EVA stands for ethylene vinyl acetate. This plastic, especially in a foamed version, is particularly resistant to wear and tear and aging and has very good damping properties. Those skilled in the art will be able to find and use plastics with similar properties.

A further aspect of the invention relates to a vehicle with a charging cable arrangement as described above and below.

Advantages and preferred developments of the proposed vehicle result from an analogous and analogous transfer of the statements made above in connection with the proposed charging cable arrangement.

Further advantages, features and details result from the following description, in which at least one exemplary embodiment is described in detail-if appropriate with reference to the drawing. Identical, similar and/or functionally identical parts are provided with the same reference symbols.

• 1: Eine Ladekabelanordnung gemäß einem Ausführungsbeispiel der Erfindung.
• 2: Zwei alternative Ausführungen von Kabelaufnahmen an der Ladekabelanordnung.

Show it:

• 1 : A charging cable assembly according to an embodiment of the invention.
• 2 : Two alternative designs of cable receptacles on the charging cable assembly.

The representations in the figures are schematic and not to scale.

1 shows a charging cable assembly 1 on an electric vehicle 3. Details of 1 are in two alternative versions in the 2 shown. Therefore, the explanations from the following regarding 1 also for them 2 are used and the 2 for a better understanding of 1 to be viewed as. An electric unit 9, namely an electric motor, is accommodated in a front volume below the hood of the vehicle 3. A lithium-ion battery (not shown) is located in the floor area and in the rear of the vehicle 3 and can be charged electrically at a charging station using a charging cable 5 . The charging cable 5 can be placed in a cable receptacle 7 of the charging cable arrangement 1. This cable holder 7 is arranged laterally in a front area of the vehicle 3 between the electrical unit 9 and the body of the vehicle 3 at the level of the upper side of the electrical unit 9 , but protrudes only slightly above the level of the electrical unit 9 . The cable holder surrounds the electrical unit 9 at least partially—the first possibility of complete framing is explained in more detail 2 (A) described, 2 B) shows another possibility of a U-shaped cable holder 7. In any case, the cable holder 7 has a bowl-shaped cross-section and is open at the top, so that the charging cable 5 can be removed upwards from a concave side of the cable holder 7, with the concave Side of the cable holder 7 is padded with a dampening material. On the inside of the hood of the vehicle 3, which in 1 shown open, a damping element 11 made of a damping material that corresponds to the shape of the cable holder 7 is arranged so that the damping element 11 of the engine hood is guided to the open side of the cable holder 7 when the hood is closed and the charging cable 5 of the vehicle 3 stored in the cable holder 7 touched and springily clamped. The damping material in the concave side of the cable holder 7 and the damping material of the damping element 11 of the bonnet are made of foamed EVA plastic and are designed in such a way that when the bonnet is closed, the charging cable 5 stored in the cable holder 7 can be pushed against movement is secured by the cushioning materials. For ideal support, a holder 13 for one end of the charging cable 5 is also arranged in the concave side of the cable holder 7 . This bracket 13 is used to hold the plug 15 of the charging cable 5.

2 shows in the partial images (A) and (B) two alternative versions of the cable holder 7. A cable holder 7, which is guided completely around a circumference of the electrical unit 9, is 1 and in 2 (A) shown. Accordingly, the damping element 11 on the inside of the engine hood is also closed in the form of a ring. A U-shaped configuration of the cable holder 7, with the “horizontal” leg of the “U” running along the front of the vehicle 3, is in 2 B) shown. Correspondingly, the damping element 11 on the inside of the engine hood would also be modeled on an open curve and would also be U-shaped.

Although the invention has been illustrated and explained in more detail by means of preferred exemplary embodiments, the invention is not restricted by the disclosed examples and other variations can be derived therefrom by a person skilled in the art without departing from the protective scope of the invention. It is therefore clear that a large number of possible variations exist. It is also understood that the embodiments given by way of example are really only examples and should not be construed as limiting in any way the scope, applications or configuration of the invention. Rather, the preceding description and the description of the figures enable the person skilled in the art to concretely implement the exemplary embodiments, with the person skilled in the art being aware of the disclosed inventive concept making various changes, for example with regard to the function or the arrangement of individual ones, in an exemplary embodiment tion form of said elements, without leaving the scope of protection, which is defined by the claims and their legal equivalents, such as further explanations in the description.

Reference List

1

charging cable arrangement

3

vehicle

5

charging cable

7

cable intake

9

electrical aggregate

11

damping element

13

bracket

15

plug

QUOTES INCLUDED IN DESCRIPTION

This list of documents cited by the applicant was generated automatically and is included solely for the better information of the reader. The list is not part of the German patent or utility model application. The DPMA assumes no liability for any errors or omissions.

Patent Literature Cited

• DE 102010048371 A1 [0003]
• DE 102017208599 A1 [0004]
• DE 102010048386 A1 [0005]
• DE 102012023332 A1 [0006]
• DE 102011121303 A1 [0007]
• DE 102017203327 A1 [0008]
• DE 102017202864 A1 [0009]
• DE 102013206761 B4 [0010]
• DE 202017003940 U1 [0011]

Claims (9)

Charging cable arrangement (1) on an electric vehicle (3), wherein a charging cable (5) for charging a battery of the vehicle (3) can be placed in a cable holder (7) of the charging cable arrangement (1), the cable holder (7) being in a front area of the vehicle (3) is arranged laterally between an electrical unit (9) and the body of the vehicle (3) and at least partially surrounds the electrical unit (9), the cable holder (7) having a bowl-shaped cross section and being open at the top, so that the charging cable (5) can be taken out upwards from a concave side of the cable holder (7), the concave side of the cable holder (7) being padded with a cushioning material, and on the inside of a hood of the vehicle (3) one of the shape of the cable holder (7) corresponding damping element (11) is arranged made of a damping material, so that the damping element (11) of the hood when closing the hood to geöf fneten side of the cable holder (7) and touches the charging cable (5) of the vehicle (3) stored in the cable holder (7). Charging cable arrangement (1) according to claim 1 , The cable receptacle (7) towards the front of the vehicle (3) being rounded off with a radius around a vertical axis or tapering to a point. Charging cable arrangement (1) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the damping material in the concave side of the cable holder (7) and the damping material of the damping element (11) of the bonnet are arranged such that when the bonnet is closed the cable holder (7) Stored charging cable (5) while driving the vehicle (3) secured against movement is held by the damping materials. Charging cable arrangement (1) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein at least one holder (13) for at least one end of the charging cable (5) is arranged on the cable holder (7). Charging cable arrangement (1) according to claim 4 , wherein the holder (13) for receiving at least one plug (15) of the charging cable (5) is designed. Charging cable arrangement (1) according to one of Claims 1 until 5 , The cable holder (7) surrounding the electrical unit (9) over a full circumference of the electrical unit (9) in a horizontal plane. Charging cable arrangement (1) according to one of Claims 1 until 5 , The cable holder (7) surrounding the electrical unit (9) only partially in a U-shape in a horizontal plane. Charging cable arrangement (1) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the respective damping material is made of foamed EVA plastic. Vehicle (3) with a charging cable arrangement (1) according to one of the preceding claims.

Images