JP2910504B2 - Electric vehicle charging connector - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a connector for charging an electric vehicle in which safety measures are taken.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, an electric vehicle equipped with a battery has attracted attention due to social demands such as environment and energy, and some electric vehicles have already been put into practical use. In these electric vehicles, charging the battery is indispensable, so the battery and the charger must be easily connected. In view of the above, conventionally, both are generally connected by a connector, and the following configuration is considered as an example.

[0003] A female connector having, for example, a guide tube portion is fixed to the vehicle body side, a flexible cable is led out from the charger side, and a male connector is provided at the tip thereof. The distal end of the male connector has a shape that can be inserted into the guide tube portion of the female connector, and the terminal group of both connectors is made electrically conductive by being inserted here. Since it is dangerous if the connection between the two connectors is easily disconnected by an external force, a lock mechanism is provided to hold the connectors in the connected state. To this end, for example, a spiral groove is formed in the guide tube portion of the female connector on the vehicle body side,
On the other hand, a configuration has been considered in which a sleeve is rotatably provided at the tip of the male connector on the charger side, and an engagement pin for engaging with the spiral groove is provided on the sleeve.

[0004]

However, charging an electric vehicle requires a relatively long time as compared with gasoline refueling of a gasoline-powered vehicle, so that a worker cannot always monitor during charging. In particular, if the charging is performed at a vehicle owner's home, etc., instead of at a street corner charging station, rapid charging with a large current is difficult to perform. It is conceivable to charge the battery for a long time.
In such a case, it is necessary to connect the charger-side connector to the vehicle-side connector to start charging and leave the vehicle unattended for a long time in that state.

However, in this type of conventional connector, no safety measures have been taken into consideration for a lock mechanism for holding the connector in a connected state. For this reason, for example, it is conceivable that an unauthorized intruder into the parking lot operates to release the lock mechanism of the charger-side connector to remove the connector.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to prevent the inadvertent disconnection of a vehicle-side connector even if it is left in a connected state. An object of the present invention is to provide an electric vehicle charging connector.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electric vehicle in which an electric vehicle is detachably connected to a vehicle-side connector provided on a vehicle body for charging the electric vehicle. A connector body electrically connected to the vehicle-side connector, a lock mechanism capable of holding the connector body in a connected state to the vehicle-side connector and releasing the held state, a locking device, and locking of the locking device A lock release prevention mechanism for preventing the release operation of the lock mechanism in the state, and the locking device is characterized in that locking and unlocking are performed by an ignition key for a vehicle.

[0008]

[0009]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the connector body is connected to the vehicle-side connector and held in that state by the lock mechanism.
When the locking device is locked, the release operation of the lock mechanism is prevented by the lock release prevention mechanism. Therefore, as long as the lock device is in the locked state, the connector main body cannot be detached from the vehicle-side connector. Moreover, the locking device of the connector can be locked and unlocked by the ignition key for the vehicle.

[0010]

[0011]

As described above, according to the electric vehicle charging connector of the first aspect of the present invention, the locking device is locked so that it is accidentally detached from the vehicle connector. Can be reliably prevented.
In addition, since the locking device for the connector can be locked and unlocked with the ignition key for the vehicle, a dedicated key is not required, and only the administrator of the vehicle can disconnect the connector, which is reasonable. It is.

[0012]

【Example】

<First Embodiment> Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 shows a vehicle-side connector 10 attached to the body of an electric vehicle (not shown), and the right-hand side shows a charger-side connector 20 to which the present invention is applied. The vehicle-side connector 10 is connected to a battery circuit of the electric vehicle, and the charger-side connector 20 is provided at an end of a charging cable 20a drawn from a charger (not shown).
By connecting both connectors 10 and 20, the battery of the electric vehicle can be charged.

As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle-side connector 10 has a guide flange 11 integrally formed with a rectangular flange 12, and a pair of female terminals 13 forming a cylindrical shape in the guide barrel 11. Is provided. The guide cylinder 11 is open at the front end, and has two spiral grooves 14 formed on the outer peripheral surface thereof.

On the other hand, the charger side connector 20 has a cylindrical connector body 22 at the tip of a grip portion 21 having a substantially rectangular frame shape.
Are provided so as to form a so-called gun type as a whole, and a charging cable 20 a is drawn out from a lower portion of the grip portion 21. The connector body 22 is shown in FIG.
As shown in detail in FIG. 1, a pair of male terminals 2 is provided near an opening end of a cylindrical inner case 23 via an insulating body 24.
The male terminal 25 of the charger-side connector 20 is inserted into the female terminal 13 of the vehicle-side connector 10 by inserting the inner case 23 into the guide tube portion 11 of the vehicle-side connector 10, thereby providing electrical connection. Is to be connected to.

On the outer periphery of the inner case 23 of the connector body 22, a cylindrical sleeve 26 formed shorter than the inner case 23 is not movable in the axial direction with respect to the inner case 23, and rotation is freely allowed. It is attached in the state where it was set. The sleeve 26 has an enlarged diameter at its distal end, and is located outside the guide tube 11 when the connector body 22 is inserted into the vehicle-side connector 10. As shown in FIG. 2, an engagement pin 27 protrudes inward from an inner peripheral portion of the distal end of the sleeve 26, and can be engaged with the spiral groove 14 of the guide cylinder 11. The engagement pin 27 and the spiral groove 14 cooperate with each other to form a lock mechanism.
When the is rotated, the engagement pin 27 moves along the spiral groove 14 to move the sleeve 26 and thus the entire charger-side connector 20 in the axial direction. In a state in which the sleeve 26 is fully rotated and the engagement pin 27 is moved to near the end of the spiral groove 14, the connector main body 22 can be maintained in a state of being completely connected to the vehicle-side connector 10, and from that state, the sleeve can be maintained. When the lock 26 is rotated in the reverse direction, the lock is released and the engagement pin 27 can be pulled out from the open end of the spiral groove 14. In order to easily perform the rotation operation of the sleeve 26, an operation handle 29 is protruded from the sleeve 26 so as to extend in the radial direction.

In the grip portion 21 of the charger-side connector 20, a lock device 30 is provided near the connector body 22.
Is built-in. The lock device 30 is a well-known cylinder type that can be locked and unlocked with an ignition key 31 of an electric vehicle in which the charger-side connector 20 is used. As shown in FIG.
Are located on the side surface of the grip portion 21. When the lock device 30 is in the unlocked state, the arm 30b is at the position shown by the solid line in FIG. 2, and when it is locked by the ignition key 31, the arm 30b is in the position shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. Is rotated until.

A locking rod 32 is provided between the locking device 30 and the locking mechanism so as to be movable in the lateral direction while being held by a guide portion 33 provided in the grip portion 21. The tip of the locking rod 32 is the sleeve 2
6 corresponds to the locking notch 34 formed at the rear end,
The proximal end is in contact with the arm 30b of the lock device 30. The locking notch 34 is formed at a position corresponding to the locking rod 32 when the sleeve 26 is rotated in the locking direction to lock the locking mechanism. These mechanisms function as a lock release prevention mechanism 35 that prevents the rotation of the sleeve 26 and, consequently, the release operation of the lock mechanism when the locking rod 32 enters the locking notch 34. The locking rod 32 is provided with a flange 32a, and a spring 36 provided between the flange 32a and the guide 33 is provided.
Accordingly, the locking rod 32 is constantly urged rightward in the figure.

Now, charging of the battery of the electric vehicle using the charger-side connector 20 of the present embodiment is performed as follows. First, the grip portion 21 of the charger-side connector 20 is gripped with one hand, and the tip of the connector body 22 is directed to the guide tube portion 11 of the vehicle-side connector 10. Next, the sleeve 26
The operator grips the operation handle 29 with the other hand and rotates the sleeve 26 clockwise while lightly pushing the entire connector forward. Then, the engagement pin 27 of the sleeve 26 enters the spiral groove 14 and moves along the spiral groove 14, and the connector body 2
2 moves forward and is inserted into the guide tube portion 11 of the vehicle-side connector 10, and finally the male and female terminals 13 and 25 are electrically connected, and a lock state is established by the lock mechanism. In this state, even if an external force acts on the charger-side connector 20, the connector main body 22 is
Never get out of the way.

To prevent the charger-side connector 20 from being detached from the vehicle-side connector 10 after the charging is started in this way, insert the ignition key 31 of the vehicle into the key insertion hole 30a of the lock device 30, and May be rotated in the locking direction and removed. Then, the lock device 30 is in the locked state and the arm 30b is rotated to the position shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 2, so that the locking rod 32 of the lock release prevention mechanism 35 is pushed by the arm 30b and the spring 36 Moves to the left against the resilience of the sleeve 26, and its tip enters the notch 34 of the sleeve 26. As a result, the sleeve 26 becomes unrotatable, so that the lock mechanism cannot be released, so that the charger-side connector 20 cannot be removed from the vehicle-side connector 10.

As described above, in this embodiment, charging is started by connecting the charger side connector 20 to the vehicle side connector 10, and
If the lock device 30 is in the locked state, the charger-side connector 20 cannot be removed unless the lock device is unlocked. Therefore, if charging is started and locked, even if the user leaves the place and remains unattended, it is possible to reliably prevent, for example, an intruder from unplugging the charger-side connector 20 without permission. It is safe to do.

<Second Embodiment> Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 50 denotes a vehicle-side connector fixed to a body of an electric vehicle, and a connector housing 51 formed in a cylindrical shape.
A plurality of terminals (not shown) connected to a battery are incorporated in the inside. Also, this housing 5
A flip-up lid 52 is attached to the opening 1 so as to be openable and closable. Further, a pair of projections 53 protrude from the outer surface of the housing 51 (only one side is shown in FIG. 3), which will be described later. Play a role in helping.

The charger-side connector 60 is formed in a so-called gun shape for facilitating the connection operation.
Is provided. A plurality of terminals respectively corresponding to each terminal (not shown) of the vehicle-side connector 50 are incorporated in the connector main body 62.
A front cover 61a is attached to the body 61 so as to cover the connector main body 62, and a flip-up lid 63 similar to the vehicle-side connector 50 is also attached here. Further, the front cover 61a has a fixed gap around the connector main body 62, into which the tip of the vehicle-side connector 50 can be fitted. Further, a bulging portion 64 having a substantially C-shaped cross section is formed on both left and right sides of the front cover 61a along the length direction and communicating with the inside, and the front ends of the stays 65 for retracting advance and retreat, respectively. Is inserted as possible.

On the other hand, a grip 66 is provided at the rear of the body 61.
A lever 67 for gripping operation is arranged together with the grip 66 on the front side. Lever 67 is body 6
1 is pivotally mounted by a support pin 68 pivotally supported at a rear portion thereof, and a torsion spring (not shown) is wound around the support pin 68 so that the lever 67 is returned in a direction to return the lever 67 to a predetermined opening state. I'm going.

A cam groove 69 having a heart shape as shown in FIG. 3 is formed in the bottom plate portion of the grip 66, while a cam groove 69 can be fitted into the cam groove 69 at a corresponding position on the back surface of the lever 67 and always. Is provided with a lock pin (not shown) urged downward, and when the lever 67 is squeezed from the return position, the lock pin is inclined toward one end of the cam groove 69 having a heart shape near the end thereof. The lever 67 is locked in the gripping position by dropping into a hole provided at a connection portion on the head side of both the curved portions of the cam groove 69 when reaching the end when riding on the bottom surface. Then, when the lever 67 is pulled again from that state, the lock pin comes out along the bottom surface of the other curved portion of the cam groove 69, and the lever 67 can return to the original position by the torsion spring. .

As shown in FIG. 6, both stays 65
Are respectively inserted into the bulging portions 64, windows 70 which can be engaged with the projections 53 of the vehicle-side connector 50 are respectively opened on the front end side, and slits 7 are provided on the rear end side.
1 is opened, and the shaft of a headed pin 72 protruding from the main body side is fitted therein. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, a notch 73 is formed in the middle of the stay 65, and an engaging projection 74 formed on the lever 67 is fitted therein. Lever 6 as shown
When the engaging convex portion 74 is angularly displaced by the gripping operation of 7, both stays 65 can be moved backward (moved in the direction of the arrow in the figure). A trapezoidal approaching projection 75 is formed in the stay 65 behind the window 70 by cutting and raising, and this is formed by a window 76 formed in the front cover 61a.
You can enter inside. Therefore, stay 65
Is moved backward by the gripping operation of the lever 67, the approaching projection 75 is pushed by the opening edge of the window 76, and the stay 65 is moved.
Is displaced toward the connector body 62 (in a direction away from the inner surface of the front cover 61a) (see FIG. 6). Although not shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, a back cover 61b is attached to the rear half of the upper surface of the body 61 so as to be continuous with the front cover 61a (see FIG. 3).

A cylinder-type lock device 77 similar to that of the first embodiment is attached to substantially the center of the upper surface of the body 61 of the charger-side connector 60. The lock device 77 has a well-known configuration that can be locked and unlocked with an ignition key (not shown) of an electric vehicle in which the charger-side connector 60 is used.
The key insertion hole 77a is located on the upper surface of the body 61 as shown in FIG. When the lock device 77 is in the unlocked state, the arm 77b is at the position shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG.
When the ignition key is locked, the arm 77b is rotated to the position shown by the solid line in FIG.

An upper portion of the body 61 is provided with a locking rod 78 movably in a direction perpendicular to the stay 65 and held by a guide portion 79. This locking rod 78
Corresponds to a locking hole 80 formed in an intermediate portion of the stay 65, and a base end thereof is in contact with the arm 77b of the lock device 77. The locking hole 80 is formed at a position corresponding to the locking rod 78 when the lever 67 is squeezed and the stay 65 is fully pulled rearward. In these mechanisms, the distal end of the locking rod 78 is connected to the locking hole 8 of the stay 65.
By entering the position “0”, the stay 65 functions as a lock release preventing mechanism for preventing the movement of the stay 65 and, hence, the lock release operation of the connector main body 62. The locking rod 78 is provided with a flange 76a, and the spring 81 provided between the flange 76a and the guide 79 constantly urges the locking rod 78 toward the stay 65.

Next, the operation and effect of the present embodiment configured as described above will be specifically described. First, the double flip lid 52,
After removing 63, the grip 66 of the charger side connector 60
Is gripped without pulling the lever 67, the connector main body 62 is fitted to the housing 51 of the vehicle-side connector 50, and the connector body 62 is pushed in as it is. Subsequently, when the lever 67 is squeezed, both stays 65 are retracted from the position shown in FIG. 4 to the position shown in FIG. Therefore, the stay 65 is displaced toward the connector main body 62 (in a direction away from the inner surface of the front cover 61a) (see FIG. 6), and the window 70 and the projection 53 of the vehicle-side connector 50 are engaged. State. Further, when the lever 67 is further squeezed and operated, both stays 65 are retracted, whereby a pulling force acts on the vehicle-side connector 50.
As a reaction force, the charger-side connector 60 is pushed into the vehicle-side connector 50 side, and finally the two connectors 5
0, 60 becomes a completely fitted state. In this state, the lever 67 is held at the grip position by the cam groove 69 in the manner described above, and the connector body 62 is connected to the vehicle-side connector 5.
Locked to connection state to 0.

In order to prevent the charger-side connector 60 from being detached from the vehicle-side connector 50 after charging is started in this way, insert the ignition key of the vehicle into the key insertion hole 77a of the lock device 77, and insert the ignition key. It may be rotated in the locking direction and removed. Then, the locking device 77 is in the locked state and the arm 77b is rotated to the position shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 6, so that the locking rod 78 functioning as a part of the lock release preventing mechanism is moved to the arm 77b. , And advance against the resilience of the spring 81, and its tip enters the engaging hole 80 of the stay 65. As a result, the stay 65 becomes immovable, so that the lock release operation cannot be performed. As a result, the charger connector 60 is connected to the vehicle connector 50.
Can not be removed from the

As described above, also in this embodiment, if the charger side connector 60 is connected to the vehicle side connector 50 to start charging and the lock device 77 is kept in the locked state, the charger side connector 60 is kept unless unlocked. 60 cannot be removed, and the same effects as in the first embodiment can be obtained.

<Third Embodiment> FIGS. 7 and 8 show a third embodiment of the present invention. This is an example in which an electronic lock device for locking and unlocking by inputting a so-called password is used as a lock device, and other configurations are basically the same as those of the first embodiment. Therefore, the same portions are denoted by the same reference numerals, description thereof will be omitted, and different portions will be described. That is, the charger-side connector 20 has a key input portion 90 on the upper surface of the grip portion 21.
Is provided, and includes a number input section of “0” to “9” and a lock / unlock input section. As shown in FIG. 8, an electronic lock circuit 91 that operates based on a signal from a key input unit 90 and a solenoid 93 that operates according to a drive signal from the electronic lock circuit 91 are provided in the grip unit 21. I have. The rod (not shown) of the solenoid 93 is equivalent to the locking rod 32 of the first embodiment, and advances when receiving a locking signal from the electronic lock circuit 91 to move into the locking notch 34 of the sleeve 26. And thus functions as a lock release prevention mechanism for preventing the rotation of the sleeve 26. Further, when the solenoid 93 receives an unlocking signal from the electronic lock circuit 91, the rod thereof retreats to allow the sleeve 26 to rotate freely.

The electronic lock circuit 91 has a function of outputting a lock signal and an unlock signal to a solenoid 93 via a drive circuit 92, a password storage memory 94 for storing a password for unlocking, a key input. A buffer 95 for temporarily storing the number input from the unit 90 and the password storage memory 9
4 has a well-known configuration including a CPU 96 that performs an operation of comparing data stored in the buffer 4 with data in a buffer 95. C
The PU 96 outputs a locking signal to the solenoid 93 when a locking operation is performed in the key input unit 90, and a password is input in the key input unit 90. At that time, the data in the buffer 95 and the memory for storing the password are stored. An unlock signal is output to the drive circuit 92 on condition that the data stored in the memory 94 matches.

Now, in order to charge the battery of the electric vehicle using the charger-side connector 20 of this embodiment, the connector body 22 is first connected to the vehicle-side connector 10 in the same manner as in the first embodiment, and 26 is turned to a locked state in which the connected state is maintained. Thereafter, a desired number of, for example, four digits is input in the key input unit 90 to operate the key for locking. Then, the password input from the key input unit 90 is temporarily stored in the buffer 95, and then stored in the buffer 95.
The PU 96 writes the password into the password storage memory 94, and the CPU 96 outputs a lock signal to the drive circuit 92. As a result, the solenoid 93 operates, and the rod enters the locking notch 34 of the sleeve 26 to enter a locked state in which the rotation of the sleeve 26 is prevented. In this state, since the sleeve 26 cannot be rotated, the charger-side connector 20 cannot be removed from the vehicle-side connector 10.
It is safe because it can be reliably prevented that 0 is removed.

Thereafter, when the charging is completed and the charger-side connector 20 is to be disconnected, the unlocking operation is performed by inputting the same password entered at the time of locking into the key input section 90 of the charger-side connector 20. Should be performed. Then, the number is written into the buffer 95, and whether or not this is the same as the number stored in the password storage memory 94 is determined by the CPU.
96. If they are the same, CP
Since an unlocking signal is output from U96 to the solenoid 93 via the drive circuit 92, the rod of the solenoid 93 is retracted and the sleeve 26 is unlocked so that the sleeve 26 can freely rotate.
The charger-side connector 20 can be detached from the vehicle-side connector 10. At this time, when a person who does not know the personal identification number inputs a number from the key input unit 90, the number does not match the number stored in the personal identification number storage memory 94. Not given and not unlocked.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, if charging is started and locked by the electric lock device, even if the user leaves the place and is left unattended, the charger-side connector 2 can be used without permission.
0 can be reliably prevented from being removed.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above and shown in the drawings. For example, a solenoid is used as a lock mechanism for locking the charger connector to the vehicle connector. It can also be applied to a lock mechanism or a lock mechanism that locks the battery connector on the charger by rotating the entire connector on the charger side. When necessary, various lock mechanisms prevent lock release from being released. What is necessary is just to provide a mechanism in connection with a lock device.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged sectional view of the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a side view showing a second embodiment with a cover partially removed;

FIG. 5 is a side view showing a state different from FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a partial cross-sectional view of the second embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a third embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Vehicle side connector 20 ... Charger side connector 22 ... Connector main body 27 ... Engagement pin 30 ... Locking device 30a ... Key insertion hole 31 ... Ignition key 35 ... Lock release prevention mechanism 90 ... Key input part 91 ... Electronic lock circuit 94 … Password storage memory 95… Buffer

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] An electric vehicle, which is detachably connected to a vehicle-side connector provided on a vehicle body for charging an electric vehicle, comprising: a connector main body electrically connected to the vehicle-side connector; A lock mechanism that can be held in a connected state to the vehicle-side connector and that can release the held state; a lock device; and a lock release prevention mechanism that prevents a release operation of the lock mechanism in a locked state of the lock device. An electric vehicle charging connector, wherein the locking device is configured to be locked and unlocked by an ignition key for a vehicle.