JP3378782B2 - Battery box device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle battery box device having an electric motor for traveling a vehicle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a hybrid electric vehicle in which an engine and an electric motor are combined has been known in order to improve exhaust emission.

Such a hybrid electric vehicle is equipped with a generator driven by an engine and a battery for storing the generated electric power, and uses these as a power source to drive an electric motor via an inverter to drive the vehicle.

[0004]

In such a vehicle, a battery box for accommodating a large number of batteries,
A battery chamber is provided for storing the battery box so that it can be taken in and out, and in order to control the current from the battery to the electric motor, there is provided a high-voltage box for accommodating high-electric components (fuses, contactors, shunt resistors, etc.). Incidentally, as a conventional example, a power supply circuit using a battery is disclosed in JP-A-9-188144 and JP-A-9-951.
No. 45 publication.

By the way, it is desirable to arrange the heavy electric box as close to the battery as possible in order to avoid performance deterioration due to increase in power source impedance depending on the wiring length. However, if the arrangement is not devised, it interferes with taking in and out of the battery box. It can happen. Further, since the high-voltage component is wired in series with a large number of batteries, there is a problem that the wiring (harness) is thick and it is difficult to arrange a narrow gap.

The present invention aims to solve such problems.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a battery box for accommodating a large number of batteries, a vehicle-driving electric motor driven by these batteries as a power source, and a battery chamber for storing the battery box in a retractable manner are provided. In a vehicle including, a high-voltage box is attached to the lower end of the battery box, and a leg-shaped bracket is provided on the lower surface of the battery box to support the high-voltage box at a height that does not interfere with the floor of the battery chamber. On the other hand, the battery box and the high voltage box are provided with wiring holes for continuously opening them.

In the second invention, the wiring hole in the first invention is formed as an elongated hole into which at least two thick wirings can be inserted.

[0009]

In the first aspect of the invention, the battery box is put in and taken out of the battery chamber by using a forklift or the like. However, since the high-voltage box is located at the lower end of the battery box, it does not get in and out of the battery box. I won't. Further, since the lower surface of the battery box and the leg-shaped bracket are protected, the possibility that the high-voltage box interferes with the battery chamber side when the battery box is taken in and out and is damaged is reduced. High-power parts such as contactors are covered by the box, so it is possible to avoid short-circuits caused by people or things touching them. Further, it is possible to wire from the inside of the battery box to the strong electric box on the lower surface without pulling out the wiring to the outside of the battery box, and it is possible to easily handle thick wiring for strong electric power without difficulty.

In the second aspect of the invention, since the high-voltage parts are wired in series with a large number of batteries, the high-voltage box is wired as follows.
Since only two holes are required for the plus side and the minus side, it is sufficient to provide at least one hole for wiring by using a long hole into which at least two wires can be inserted.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows a power room installed in the rear part of a vehicle such as a bus.
A generator 3 driven by the engine 2, a battery 4 that stores electric power generated by the generator 3, electric motors 5 and 6 for traveling that are driven by the generator 3 and the battery 4 as a power source through an inverter 7. Will be housed.

The power chamber 1 has an upper surface, left and right side surfaces, and a rear surface, each of which has a vehicle body panel (roof panel, side panel,
It is surrounded by a back panel), and the front is separated by a partition with the passenger compartment. The rear body panel is provided with an opening / closing door for inspection and maintenance for partially opening the power chamber 1 to the outside.

Inside the power chamber 1, the engine 2 is horizontally mounted on the lower side of the power chamber 1 on the left side (vehicle left side) in the drawing, and the generator 3 is connected to the engine 2. 9 is an air cleaner. The electric motors 5 and 6 are mounted on the lower stage of the power chamber 1 on the right side of the drawing (on the right side of the vehicle), and the driving force thereof is transmitted to the drive shaft via the reduction gear 10 and further to the drive wheels from the differential device.

The inverter 7 is housed in the middle inverter room 11 on the right side of the power room 1 (right side of the vehicle), and the battery 4
Are stored in the battery chamber 12 above the inverter chamber 11. Between the inverter chamber 11 and the generator 3 and the electric motors 5 and 6, an air compressor 13, an air conditioner unit 14,
A radiator unit, accessories, etc. are arranged.

A heat shield plate 15 is provided between the engine 2 and the generator 3.
Is installed. The heat shield plate 15 is formed so as to partition the generator 3 from the engine room 16 between the front surface and the rear surface of the power room 1, and the inverter room 11 with respect to the engine room 16.
The battery compartment 12 is also extended to the upper portion (uppermost stage) of the power compartment 1 so as to be partitioned.

Regarding the battery 4, a battery box 20 is provided, and a large number of batteries 4 are housed inside the battery box 20. 2 to 5, the battery box 20 is composed of a box frame-shaped frame 21 (frame) and a cover 22 thereof, and a large number of batteries are accommodated in two upper and lower stages through the frame.

A frame bracket 23 for fixing to the vehicle body side is provided on the lower surface of the frame 21 at the center and left and right thereof, and a forklift pawl guide 24 is provided between them. An output side connector box 25a (strong electric box) is attached to one of both ends of the lower surface of the frame, and a charging side connector box 25b is attached to the other side.

A groove-type guide rail 24 that is received by the frame bracket 23 of the battery box 20 is attached to the floor of the battery chamber 12 to guide the forward and backward movements of the battery box 20 as it is taken in and out. There is. A lock mechanism (not shown) for fixing the battery box 20 to the battery chamber 12 is provided between the frame bracket 23 and the guide rail 24.

The frame 21 is an independent assembly 2
1a, 21b is connected to the front and back. Each of the constructs 21a and 21b includes four pillar members 26 having upper and lower two-stage support surfaces 26a and 26b, and a pair of left and right lateral beam members 27 connecting the front and rear pillar members 26 on the respective support surfaces 26a and 26b.
And a pair of front and rear vertical beam members 28 that also connect the left and right column members 26 (see FIG. 5).

These beam members 27 and 28 are four pillar members 26.
On the same support surface 26a, 26b of the
2) A rectangular frame 2 in which the batteries 4 can be installed in a row in the vertical direction.
9 (battery installation surface) is formed in two upper and lower stages (see FIGS. 2 and 3). Spacers 30 for positioning the battery 4 are arranged on the pair of front and rear vertical beam members 28 in each stage.

The batteries 4 are divided into two groups to the left and right for convenience of wiring, and the left one is the battery terminal 4a.
To the left, and the right one is battery terminal 4
They are installed between the spacers 30 in a state of being laid sideways so that a faces rightward. In each group, the battery 4 has a rectangular frame 2 through a pair of front and rear retainers 31 and bolts 33 that fasten these to the nuts of the spacer 30.
9 (see FIG. 2).

At the center of the rectangular frame 29, the space between the batteries 4 is widened in the space 30a, and a reinforcing member 34 is added to the lower side. The reinforcing member 34 is composed of a pair of channel members 35 having flanges 35a and brackets 35b connected to both ends of the channel members 35. One of the flanges 35a of the channel member 35 is connected to the lower surfaces of the front and rear vertical beam members 28 on the upper side. , Channel material 35 bracket 35
By connecting b to the inner surfaces of the front and rear vertical beam members 28 on the lower stage side, the central portion of the lower stage can be assembled so as to extend in the front-rear direction (see FIGS. 2 and 5).

The frame 21 has such independent two building bodies 21a and 21b in the front-rear direction and the vertical beam member 2 above and below each other.
They are connected back to back at 8 (see FIGS. 3 and 4). The cover 22 is formed of a plate attached to each surface (except the lower surface) of the frame 21. The plate is provided with a large number of small holes in order to ensure air permeability in the battery box 20. The small hole is formed in such a size that small foreign matter including a human finger does not enter, and prevents foreign matter from touching the battery terminal 4a.

In this case, the connector boxes 25a and 25b are joined to the lateral beam member 27 on the lower surface of the frame 21 to form a long accommodating portion in the loading / unloading direction (front-back direction) of the battery box 20. A charging connector (having approximately the same number of terminals as the number of batteries) is attached to the rear surface of the charging side box 25a, and an output connector 41 (having two terminals of a positive side and a negative side) is attached to the rear surface of the output side box 25b. (See Figure 3).

The high-voltage box 25b on the output side includes high-voltage parts (shunt resistor 42, contactor 43, fuse 4).
4) is stored. The frame bracket 23 for fixing the battery box to the vehicle body has a leg portion on the lower surface of the battery box 20 for supporting the connector box 25a, 25b at a height that does not interfere with the floor surface of the battery chamber 12. The upper and lower horizontal beam members 27 and the connector boxes 25a and 25b are provided with wiring holes 46.

FIG. 6 shows the wiring state of the battery box 20. The batteries 4 arranged in two stages above and below are entirely wired in series as indicated by thick lines, and the fuse 44 and the contactor 43 are provided on the plus side thereof. Similarly, one terminal of the output connector 41 is wired to the negative side through the shunt resistor 42 and the contactor 43, and the other terminal of the output connector 41 is wired. In addition, the charging connector 40 has a shunt resistance 43 of each battery 4 and the high voltage box 25b as a thin wire.
Is wired in parallel with.

The wires on the charging connector 40 side are bundled into a plurality of wires and are routed from the connector box 25a to the battery 4 side through a plurality of holes 46. Since the wiring on the output connector 41 side only needs to be two on the plus side and the minus side, the shunt resistor 43 and the charging connector 40 are provided for the wiring hole 46.
By forming a long hole into which two thick wires can be inserted, in addition to the wires connecting the two, it is sufficient to provide one of them (see FIG. 6).

With such a configuration, the battery box 20 can be inserted into and removed from the battery chamber 12 by using a forklift or the like.
Since b is located at the lower end of the battery box 20,
It does not get in and out of the battery box 20. Further, since the lower surface of the battery box 20 and the leg-shaped frame bracket 23 protect the battery box 20, the tabs of the forklift may hit the connector boxes 25a and 25b, and the box 25a and 25b may be removed from the battery box when the battery box is taken in and out. It is unlikely that it will interfere with the chamber 12 side and cause damage.

Since the heavy electric parts such as the contactor 43 are covered with the box 25b, it is possible to avoid a short circuit caused by a person or an object touching them. Further, it is possible to wire from the inside of the battery box 20 to the high voltage box 25b on the lower surface without pulling the harness out of the battery box 20. In that case, the cross beam member 2 of the frame 21
Since the wiring is carried out through the elongated hole of 7, the wiring length between the battery 4 and the high-voltage box 25b is suppressed to the minimum, and it is possible to easily handle a thick harness without difficulty.

Since the connector boxes 25a and 25b form a housing portion which is long in the front-rear direction, even in the connector box 25b on the output side, a sufficient storage capacity for the components arranged in series can be ensured while the battery box 20 of the battery box 20 is accommodated. It is possible to effectively prevent the boxes 25a and 25b from interfering with the battery chamber 12 side when the boxes are taken in and out.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a layout configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view of a battery box of the same.

FIG. 3 is a transverse sectional view of the battery box of the same.

FIG. 4 is a plan sectional view of the same battery box.

FIG. 5 is a partially exploded perspective view of the frame.

FIG. 6 is a wiring diagram of a battery box.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 power room 2 engine 3 generator 4 battery 4a Battery terminal 5,6 electric motor 12 Battery compartment 20 battery box 21 frames 21a, 21b construct 22 cover 23 frame bracket 24 Claw guide for forklift 25a, 25b connector box 26 Pillar members 26a, 26b support surface 27 Horizontal beam members 28 Vertical beam members 29 rectangular frame 30 spacers 31 retainer 33 volts 34 Reinforcement member 40 charging connector 41 Output connector 42 Shunt resistance 43 Contactor 44 Hughes

Continuation of the front page (56) Reference JP-A-5-69870 (JP, A) JP-A-4-133260 (JP, A) JP-A-9-188144 (JP, A) JP-A-56-154764 (JP , A) Actual Kaihei 3-78632 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B60K 1/04 B60L 11/18 H01M 2/10

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A vehicle comprising: a battery box for storing a large number of batteries; a vehicle-driving electric motor driven by these batteries as a power source; and a battery chamber for storing the battery box so that the battery box can be taken in and out. Attach a high-voltage box to the end of the lower surface, and install a leg-shaped bracket on the lower surface of the battery box to support it at a height where the high-voltage box does not interfere with the floor of the battery compartment. A battery box device characterized in that a hole for wiring which is continuously opened is provided. 2. The wiring hole is an elongated hole into which at least two thick wirings can be inserted.
The battery box device according to 1.