JP2001135346A - Battery for vehicles and power circuit for vehicles - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To effectively charge a battery that is connected to an engine starter. SOLUTION: A 36 V high-voltage battery 10 and a 12 V low-voltage battery 12 are provided. The high-voltage battery 10 drives a motor/generator (M/G) 14, while the low-voltage battery 12 drives a load 18 such as an engine starter. A center terminal for taking out 12 V, a switch, and a connector are provided to the high-voltage battery 10. The connector is connected with the low-voltage battery 12. When voltage of the low-voltage battery 12 decreases and charging is needed, the center terminal and the connector are connected with each other by operating the switch of the high-voltage battery 10, thus, the low-voltage battery 12 is charged by the high-voltage battery 10.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle battery and a vehicle power supply circuit, and more particularly, to charging of a low voltage battery by a high voltage battery.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known a technique of charging a battery for starting an engine starter or an ignition when the voltage of the battery falls below a predetermined voltage when the engine is started.

For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 6-33854 discloses a system in which a main battery and a spare battery are provided. 2. Description of the Related Art An automobile storage battery device that supplies current from a battery to a main battery and charges the battery is disclosed.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned prior art, a spare battery, which is usually hardly used, must always be provided to prepare for charging the main battery.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the related art, and has as its object to provide an apparatus that can efficiently charge a predetermined battery.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, a vehicle battery according to the present invention includes an intermediate terminal for extracting a voltage lower than a rated voltage, a connector connected to the low-voltage battery, and the intermediate terminal. And a switch for switching the connection between the connectors. When it becomes necessary to charge the low-voltage battery, the required voltage can be supplied to the low-voltage battery simply by switching the switch and connecting the intermediate terminal and the connector.

The present invention also provides a vehicle power supply circuit in which a high-voltage battery is connected to a high-voltage load and a low-voltage battery is connected to an engine starter. The high-voltage battery,
It has an intermediate terminal for extracting a voltage lower than the rated voltage, a connector connected to the low-voltage battery, and a switch for switching connection between the intermediate terminal and the connector. Also in the present invention, when it becomes necessary to charge the low-voltage battery, the high-voltage battery and the low-voltage battery are connected in advance through the connector, so that only the switch is switched to connect the intermediate terminal of the high-voltage battery to the connector. Thus, the necessary voltage can be supplied from the high-voltage battery to the low-voltage battery and charged.

It is preferable that the vehicle battery or the vehicle power supply circuit further includes a protective cover for covering the intermediate terminal and the switch. Here, the switch has a first terminal connected to the intermediate terminal, and a second terminal connected to the connector and facing the first terminal, and an insulating protrusion is formed on the protective cover. ,
In a state in which the protective cover is mounted, the insulating protrusion intervenes between the first terminal and the second terminal to disconnect the first terminal and the second terminal, and in a state in which the protective cover is removed, It is preferable that the first terminal and the second terminal are connected. Since a high-voltage battery having an intermediate terminal and a switch functions as a high-voltage battery in a normal state,
It is preferable to keep the intermediate terminals and switches in an insulated state, but this is easily achieved by covering the intermediate terminals and switches with a protective cover. By providing an insulating protrusion on the protective cover and automatically connecting the intermediate terminal and the connector when the protective cover is detached, the operation of charging the low-voltage battery using the high-voltage battery can be made more efficient and easier. It is planned.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a vehicle power supply circuit according to the present embodiment. A high-voltage battery 10 and a low-voltage battery 12 are provided as onboard batteries. The high voltage battery 10 has a rated voltage of 36V, and the low voltage battery 12 has a rated voltage of 12V. A motor / generator (M / G) 14 and other high-voltage loads 16 are connected to the high-voltage battery 10, and a low-voltage load 18 such as an engine starter is connected to the low-voltage battery 12. Hereinafter, the load 18 will be described as the engine starter 18.

The high-voltage battery 10 is provided with a connector for extracting a voltage of 12 V lower than 36 V, in addition to a terminal for outputting a rated voltage of 36 V. This connector is connected to the low-voltage battery 12. The high-voltage battery 10 is also provided with an intermediate terminal for taking out 12 V and a switch for connecting the intermediate terminal and the connector, as described later. By operating the switch, the intermediate terminal and the connector are connected to each other. The intermediate terminal of the battery 10 is connected to the low-voltage battery 12 to
From 0, current is supplied to the low-voltage battery 12, and the low-voltage battery 12 is charged.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the high-voltage battery 10. The high-voltage battery 10 has a rated voltage of 3
In addition to two terminals (plus terminal and minus terminal) 10x and 10y for taking out 6V, intermediate terminals 10a and 1y
0b is provided. The high-voltage battery 10 includes a plurality of cells connected in series, and 12 V is applied between the intermediate terminal 10a and the minus terminal 10x.
24V is taken out from b to the minus terminal 10x. A switch 10c whose one end is rotatably supported by the intermediate terminal 10a is connected to the intermediate terminal 10a for taking out 12V.
Is provided, and a connector 10d connected to the low-voltage battery 12 is provided near the intermediate terminal 10a. By rotating the switch 10c from the solid line position to the dashed line position in the figure, the intermediate terminal 10a and the connector 10d are rotated.
Is connected.

Therefore, in the normal state, that is, when the voltage required for driving the engine starter 18 is present in the low-voltage battery 12, the switch 10c is held at the solid line position in the figure, and the two terminals 10x and 10y of the high-voltage battery 10 The M / G 14 and the like are driven by extracting the rated voltage of 36 V. However, when the voltage of the low-voltage battery 12 decreases and the engine starter 18 cannot be driven, the switch 10 c
Is switched to the position indicated by the alternate long and short dash line in the figure, and the intermediate terminal 10a for taking out 12 V of the high voltage battery 10 and the low voltage battery 12
And the low-voltage battery 12 is charged by the high-voltage battery 10.

As described above, the high-voltage battery 1 of the present embodiment
0 indicates that the load is driven at 36 V in the normal state, but when the low-voltage battery 12 needs to be charged, the low-voltage battery 12 can be charged by outputting 12 V in addition to 36 V. It is no longer necessary to provide a dedicated spare battery for charging the low-voltage battery 12.

Further, even when 12 V is output from the high voltage battery 10, there is no need to connect using a special cable, and only the switch 10c needs to be switched, so that the low voltage battery 12 can be charged by a simple operation. it can.

It is theoretically possible to eliminate the switch 10c and to always output 36V and 12V from the high voltage battery 10. However, depending on the load conditions of 36V and 12V, the capacity and life of the high voltage battery 10 may be reduced. Since imbalance occurs, it would be preferable to have a configuration in which only 36 V is normally output and 12 V can be output by switching the switch 10 c only when the low-voltage battery 12 needs to be charged. Therefore, in the normal state, the intermediate terminal 10
It is preferable to provide protection means for keeping the switch a and the switch 10c insulated.

FIG. 3 shows the intermediate terminal 10a and the switch 1
A configuration in which a protective cover 10e for protecting Oc is provided on the upper surface of the high-voltage battery 10 is shown. Normal state,
That is, when the high-voltage battery 10 is used for 36V, the protective cover 10e is attached, the intermediate terminal 10a and the switch 10c are used in a covered state, and the battery voltage of the low-voltage battery 12 needs to be reduced to charge. In this case, the protective cover 10e is detached and attached, and the switch 10c
Is manually switched to the intermediate terminal 10a of the high voltage battery 10.
And the low-voltage battery 12 are connected.

On the other hand, FIG. 4 shows still another configuration of the present embodiment. 4, (a) is a plan view of the high-voltage battery 10, and (b) and (c) are main parts of an aa cross section in (a). The intermediate terminal 10a as in FIG.
And a connector 10d. In this configuration, a first terminal 10f connected to the intermediate terminal 10a and a second terminal 10g connected to the connector 10d are arranged to face each other, and The lower surface is provided with an insulating protrusion protruding toward the gap between the first terminal 10f and the second terminal 10g. The first terminal 10f and the second terminal
The terminals 10g are bent at opposite ends, and when no member is interposed between the bent portion of the first terminal 10f and the bent portion of the second terminal 10g, they come into contact with each other due to their elasticity. Thereby, the intermediate terminal 10a and the connector 10d are connected.

When the protective cover 10e is mounted on the high-voltage battery 10, as shown in FIG. 2B, the insulating protruding portion of the protective cover 10e is formed between the bent portion of the first terminal 10f and the bent portion of the second terminal 10g. The first terminal 10f and the second terminal 10g are disconnected from each other by the interposition of the insulating protrusion, and the intermediate terminal 10a and the connector 10d are insulated. That is, only the rated voltage of 36 V is extracted from the high-voltage battery 10.

On the other hand, the protective cover 10e is connected to the high-voltage battery 1
0, the bent portion of the first terminal 10f and the bent portion of the second terminal 10g are connected to each other, as shown in (c), whereby the intermediate terminal 10a and the connector 10d are connected.
Is connected, and the high-voltage battery 10
In addition to 6V, 12V is taken out, and the low-voltage battery 12 is charged by the 12V.

Therefore, in this configuration, when it becomes necessary to charge the low-voltage battery 12,
0 protective cover 10e only by attaching and detaching it.
2 can be charged, and work efficiency can be further improved.

Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, in this embodiment, the high-voltage battery 1 is normally operated.
In order to output only 36 V from 0, the low-voltage battery 1
When the charging of Step 2 is completed and the state returns to the normal state, it is preferable to return the switch 10c to the initial position promptly or to attach the protective cover 10e. To do this,
When the intermediate terminal 10a of the high-voltage battery 10 is connected to the connector 10d and 12 V is output from the high-voltage battery 10, it is also preferable to notify the occupant of the vehicle of that by lighting a lamp near the driver's seat or the like. It is.

In the present embodiment, the switch 10c is configured as a mechanical switch. However, the switch 10c may be configured as an electronic switch such as a relay or a transistor so that the switch is electrically and automatically switched.

[0024]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The low-voltage battery can be efficiently charged using the high-voltage battery.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a power supply circuit according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the high-voltage battery in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the high-voltage battery in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a high-voltage battery according to another embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 high voltage battery, 10a intermediate terminal, 10c switch, 10d connector, 10e protective cover, 12
Low voltage battery.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) H02J 7/00 302 H02J 7/00 302C

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A vehicle battery comprising: an intermediate terminal for extracting a voltage lower than a rated voltage; a connector connected to a low-voltage battery; and a switch for switching a connection between the intermediate terminal and the connector. A battery for a vehicle, comprising: 2. A vehicle power supply circuit in which a high voltage load is connected to a high voltage battery and an engine starter is connected to a low voltage battery, wherein the high voltage battery has an intermediate terminal for extracting a voltage lower than a rated voltage; A power supply circuit for a vehicle, comprising: a connector connected to a low-voltage battery; and a switch for switching connection between the intermediate terminal and the connector. 3. The vehicle battery or the vehicle power supply circuit according to claim 1, further comprising a protective cover that covers the intermediate terminal and the switch. 4. The switch has a first terminal connected to the intermediate terminal, and a second terminal connected to the connector and facing the first terminal, wherein the protective cover has an insulating protrusion. When the protective cover is mounted, the insulating protrusion intervenes between the first terminal and the second terminal, disconnects the first terminal and the second terminal, and detaches the protective cover. The vehicle battery or the vehicle power supply circuit according to claim 3, wherein the first terminal and the second terminal are connected in a state.