JP5477953B2 - Automobile charging cable outlet plug - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an outlet plug of an automotive charging cable suitable for use as a charging cable for a plug-in hybrid vehicle or an electric vehicle (hereinafter referred to as a charging vehicle).

  Charging the charging vehicle is performed by connecting the charging stand and the charging vehicle with a charging cable. There are two types of charging cables: a type that is provided integrally with a charging stand (hereinafter referred to as a stand-integrated cable), and a type that can be carried on a charging vehicle (hereinafter referred to as an in-vehicle cable).

  All of the charging cables have the common feature of having a connector for connection with the charging vehicle at one end. On the other hand, the other end of the cable is pulled into the charging stand with a stand-integrated cable and cannot be removed by the user. There is an outlet plug to be plugged into. In addition to a charging stand, a normal outdoor outlet installed outside a general household may be used as this power source.

  Some outlet taps of a charging stand incorporate a protective device that interrupts energization when an outlet plug is accidentally pulled out during charging (Patent Document 1). However, such a protective device is usually not incorporated in an outdoor outlet installed outside a general household. In addition, since the internal structure of the outlet tap cannot be visually recognized from the outside, the user of the charging cable cannot confirm the existence of the protective device even when charging from a power source other than a general household.

  For this reason, when charging from an outlet tap that does not have a built-in protective device, if you accidentally pull out the outlet plug during charging, an arc will jump between the outlet tap and the outlet plug, and your hand holding the outlet plug There was a possibility of burns.

JP 2005-294080 A

  Therefore, the object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, and even if the outlet plug of the charging cable is accidentally pulled out from the outlet tap on the power supply side while charging the charging vehicle, the vehicle does not cause the occurrence of an arc outside. It is to provide an outlet plug for the charging cable.

The outlet plug of the charging cable for automobiles of the present invention made to solve the above problems is arranged at one end of the charging cable for automobiles, and is inserted into the outlet tap on the power source side when charging the rechargeable automobile. In the outlet plug body, the tip is always urged outwardly by the elastic means from the outlet connection surface and protrudes toward the inside of the outlet connection surface against the elastic force when the outlet is inserted. a bar, at the time of outlet withdrawal incorporate contact switching mechanism to open the contacts in conjunction with the outward movement of the outlet connection surface of the trip bar, said contact opening and closing mechanism, the movement in the inward direction of the outlet connection surface of the trip bar Rotating body that rotates and throws in contacts, and from the outlet connection surface of the trip bar to the outside In conjunction with the movement, it is characterized in that the link mechanism comprising a trigger lever to open the contacts.

Note that the contact opening / closing mechanism is preferably provided with an abnormality interrupting device that opens a contact by moving a trigger lever in response to a signal from a leakage detecting device that detects an electrical abnormality provided in the outlet plug body. The contact opening / closing mechanism is preferably a link mechanism that closes the contact in conjunction with the movement of the trip bar toward the inside of the outlet connection surface when the outlet is inserted. In addition, the link mechanism engages and supports a rotating body that rotates by an inward movement of the trip bar outlet connection surface, a latch member that is connected to the rotating body via a link pin, and one end of the latch member. It is preferably composed of a trigger lever and a cross bar that is driven by a latch member that rotates with the engaging portion of the trigger lever as a fulcrum and presses the movable contact toward the fixed contact. In addition, the link mechanism has a trip function that releases the engagement between the latch member and the trigger lever in conjunction with the movement of the trip bar from the outlet connection surface to the outside and rotates the rotating body with elastic force to open the contact. It is preferable that Furthermore, it is preferable that the trip bar presses and rotates the trigger lever when moving from the outlet connection surface to release the engagement between the latch member and the trigger lever.

The outlet plug of the charging cable for an automobile of the present invention is normally protruded from the outlet connecting surface to the outlet plug body by being elastically biased to the outside by the elastic means inside the outlet plug body. A trip bar that is pushed inwardly of the surface is provided, and the rotating body rotates by the movement of the trip bar toward the inner side of the outlet connection surface to insert the contact. Further, when the outlet is pulled out , the trigger lever has a function of opening the contact in conjunction with the outward movement of the trip bar from the outlet connection surface. For this reason, if the outlet plug is accidentally pulled out from the outlet tap on the power supply side while the charging vehicle is being charged, the contact is immediately opened, and the energization is cut off before the outlet plug is completely pulled out from the outlet tap. For this reason, the danger that an arc will fly between the outlet tap and the outlet plug can be prevented.

It is an external appearance perspective view which shows embodiment of this invention. It is internal structure explanatory drawing of the state which pulled out the outlet socket. It is internal structure explanatory drawing of the state which plugged in the outlet. It is internal structure explanatory drawing just before pulling out an outlet socket. It is explanatory drawing of the principal part which shows a part of flame | frame. It is a figure explaining the stable state of a link mechanism. It is internal structure explanatory drawing of the state which plugged in the outlet. It is explanatory drawing of an abnormal interruption | blocking apparatus.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention are shown below.
FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of an outlet plug according to an embodiment. Reference numeral 1 denotes an outlet plug body provided at the tip of a charging cable 2, and 3 is an outlet connection surface thereof. A pair of energizing plugs 4, 4 and a single grounding plug 5 are fixedly projecting from the outlet connection surface 3, and a tip 7 of the trip bar 6 projects. As will be described later, this trip bar 6 is always springed outward by a spring 8, and the tip 7 protrudes from the outlet connection surface 3 as shown in FIG. The distal end portion 7 is pushed toward the inner side of the outlet connection surface of the outlet plug body 1 against the elastic force of the spring 8. In addition, 9 is an energization indicator lamp provided near the surface of the outlet plug body 1, and 10 is a test button for confirming whether or not the function of interrupting the circuit when a leakage is detected operates normally.

  Next, the structure of the contact opening / closing mechanism including the link mechanism housed in the outlet plug of the embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 2 to 4, in order to make the internal structure easy to understand, the frame inside the outlet plug body 1 and supporting each member is omitted, and the frame 42 is partially shown only in FIG. 5. In the following description, the top, bottom, left and right in the drawings are simply referred to as “up”, “down”, “left”, and “right”.

  An insulating plate 11 is provided on the back surface of the outlet connection surface 3, and a fixed contact 13 having a fixed contact 12 is fixed at a lower position. The base of the fixed contact 13 is a current plug 4. 4. A movable contact 16 having a movable contact 15 is provided at the upper position. The base of the movable contact 16 is connected to the electric wire 38. Although not shown in the figure because it overlaps the paper surface in the vertical direction, these fixed contact 12, fixed contact 13, electric wire 38, movable contact 15, and movable contact 16 are all provided in pairs for two poles. ing. Thus, since the fixed contact 12 and the movable contact 15 are interposed between the pair of power plugs 4 and 4 and the electric wire 38, the movable contact 15 is in contact with the fixed contact 12 as shown in FIG. It is possible to energize only at.

  The trip bar 6 is a narrow plate-like body extending from the outlet connection surface 3 toward the inner side of the outlet plug body 1 and is always springed outward by the spring 8 as described above. Only protrude from the outlet connection surface 3. The rear end 17 of the trip bar 6 is bent downward in an L shape. A protrusion 18 is formed on the lower surface near the rear end 17.

  A link mechanism as a contact opening / closing mechanism is provided below the trip bar 6. The link mechanism includes at least a rotating body 21, a link pin 23, a latch member 25, a cross bar 33, and a trigger lever 30 described below. A rotating body 21 is provided at a position below the rear end portion 17 of the trip bar 6 and is rotatable about a shaft 20 fixed to a frame (not shown). The rotating body 21 has an inverted L-shape, and a protrusion 22 that is pushed by the rear end portion 17 when the trip bar 6 is pushed inward of the outlet connection surface protrudes from the upper end portion thereof. A spring (not shown) is provided around the shaft 20 and always urges the rotating body 21 counterclockwise. Therefore, the rotating body 21 is at the basic position shown in FIG. A substantially U-shaped link pin 23 is rotatably provided at the tip of the rotating body 21.

  Reference numeral 25 denotes a latch member having a central portion coupled to the link pin 23. The latch member 25 includes an upper piece 26 extending upward and a lower piece 27 extending downward. Further, the connecting portion A of the latch member 25 with the link pin 23 is supported by a long hole 28 formed in the frame 42 so as to be movable only in the left-right direction.

  A trigger lever 30 is provided above the latch member 25 and the rotating body 21 so as to be substantially parallel to the trip bar 6. The trigger lever 30 is rotatable about a shaft 31 fixed to the frame 42, and is always urged counterclockwise by a spring (not shown). The front end of the trigger lever 30 protrudes downward in an edge shape, and serves as an engagement portion 32 with the upper piece 26 of the latch member 25. 2, the engaging portion 32 of the trigger lever 30 is not engaged with the upper piece 26 of the latch member 25, but is engaged in FIGS. 3 and 4.

  The lower part 27 of the latch member 25 is bent at the lower part and is adjacent to the cross bar 33. The cross bar 33 is always in contact with the movable contact 16, and when the lower piece 27 of the latch member 25 pushes the cross bar 33 toward the front end side (left side), the movable contact 16 is pushed as shown in FIG. This has a function of bringing the movable contact 15 into contact therewith.

Next, with reference to FIG. 7, the structure of the abnormality interrupting device that opens the contact by the abnormality detecting device housed in the outlet plug of the embodiment will be described.
FIG. 7 shows the internal structure of FIGS. 2 to 4 from the opposite side. The outlet plug main body 1 incorporates an abnormality detection device that detects electrical abnormalities such as overcurrent and electric leakage. The abnormality detection device of the embodiment is a leakage detection device 39 (ZCT), and penetrates the electric wire 38 drawn into the outlet plug body 1 from the cable 2. When a leakage is detected by the leakage detection device 39 and the determination circuit 41 determines that the leakage is greater than or equal to a predetermined value, the plunger 40 that excites the solenoid 40 that is an abnormal interruption device and holds the solenoid 40 slidably. 19 is aspirated. Further, as shown in FIG. 8, the upper end of the plunger 19 is engaged with an engagement portion 31a formed in a bifurcated shape at the rear end portion of the trigger lever 30, and when the plunger 19 is sucked, the trigger lever 30 Is configured to rotate counterclockwise in FIG.

The operation of this outlet plug will be described below.
First, when the outlet plug is not inserted into the outlet tap, each member is in the state shown in FIG. 2, and the movable contact 15 is separated from the fixed contact 12 by the elasticity of the movable contact 16. When the outlet plug is inserted into the outlet tap from this state, the trip bar 6 in which the tip 7 is normally urged outwardly from the outlet connecting surface 3 by the spring 8 which is an elastic means is elastic as shown in FIG. The contact is closed in conjunction with the movement of the trip bar 6 inwardly against the inside of the outlet connection surface. The specific movement is as follows.

  First, the rear end portion 17 of the trip bar 6 rides on and pushes down the upper surface of the protrusion 22 of the rotating body 21 and rotates clockwise against an elastic force by a spring (not shown) acting on the rotating body 21. By this rotation, the tip of the rotating body 21 moves while rotating obliquely upward, and the pivoting portion B of the link pin 23 also moves while rotating obliquely upward. Accordingly, the connecting portion A of the link pin 23 moves to the left side along the long hole 28 formed in the frame 42, so that the latch member 25 moves to the left side by being pushed by the connecting portion A of the link pin 23. The upper piece 26 of the member 25 engages with the engaging portion 32 of the trigger lever 30. When the rotating body 21 further rotates slightly from this state, the latch member 25 rotates clockwise with the engaging portion 32 and the engaging point of the trigger lever 30 as a fulcrum, and the lower piece 27 moves the cross bar 33 to the left. The movable contact 15 is pressed against the fixed contact 12 by pressing the movable contact 16 in the direction. Thereby, the contact is turned on, and the energizing plug 4 and the electric wire 38 are brought into conduction.

  In the middle of the state from FIG. 2 to FIG. 3, the rotating body 21 of the link pin 23 and the straight line L passing through the connecting portion A of the link pin 23 with the latch member 25 and the shaft 20 of the rotating body 21 The pivot part B moves to the upper side. The elastic force acting on the rotating body 21 is urged counterclockwise (arrow y direction), and when the pivoting portion B is below the straight line L, the rotating body 21 is brought into the state shown in FIG. The latch 25 is engaged with the trigger lever 25 and the cross bar 33 is pressed rightward (x direction) by the elastic force of the movable contact 16 itself. If the intersection with a certain straight line L is exceeded, the stable side is entered, and the state of FIG. 3 is maintained unless the position of the connecting portion A moves. For this reason, when the outlet plug is inserted into the outlet tap, the contact is kept stable and charging proceeds. The stable state of this link mechanism is shown in FIG.

  However, when the outlet plug is to be pulled out from the state of FIG. 3, the trip bar 6 moves forward as shown in FIG. 4 in a state where the power plugs 4, 4 are still inserted into the outlet tap. As a result, the protrusion 18 of the trip bar 6 comes into contact with the upward bent portion 35 of the trigger lever 30 and rotates the trigger lever 30 clockwise against the elastic force of the spring. When the outlet plug is further pulled out from this state and the trip bar 6 advances in the left direction, the engaging portion 32 of the trigger lever 30 moves upward, so that the engagement with the upper piece 26 of the latch member 25 is released.

  At that moment, the latch member 25 that has lost its upper support rotates counterclockwise by the elastic force applied from the link pin 23, and the connecting portion A of the link pin 23 moves to the left. Therefore, the stable state of FIG. 6 that has been maintained until then collapses, and the rotating body 21 rapidly rotates to the state of FIG. 2 by the elastic force, and at the same time, the pressing of the cross bar 33 by the lower piece 27 of the latch member 25 is released. Therefore, the lower part of the movable contact 16 rotates to the right, the movable contact 15 trips away from the fixed contact 12, and the contact is turned off.

  In this way, when the outlet plug is pulled out, the contact is opened in conjunction with the outward movement of the trip bar 6 from the outlet connection surface while the power plugs 4 and 4 are still plugged into the outlet tap. Since it is formed between the movable contact 15 and the fixed contact 12, it is possible to prevent the risk of an arc flying outside the outlet plug. Since the arc formed between the movable contact 15 and the fixed contact 12 is the same as the arc generated during normal breaker operation, the arc can be easily extinguished and there is no problem. In order to ensure that this function is exhibited reliably, the protruding length of the power plugs 4, 4 from the outlet connection surface 3 is sufficiently longer than the protruding length of the tip 7 of the trip bar 6.

On the other hand, when a leakage occurs between the outlet tap and the charging vehicle, the leakage detection device 39 detects the leakage, and the determination circuit 41 determines that the leakage is equal to or greater than a predetermined value and operates the link mechanism. In the trip state.
That is, when an output signal is output from the determination circuit 41, the solenoid 40 is excited to attract the plunger 19 downward. At this time, the trigger lever 30 engaged with the upper end of the plunger 19 rotates counterclockwise in FIG. Accordingly, the latch member 25 and the trigger lever 30 are disengaged from the engaging portion 32, and the link mechanism is operated in the same manner as when the outlet plug is pulled out to be in a trip state.

As described above, the outlet plug of the present invention has no risk of generating an external arc even if it is accidentally pulled out from the outlet tap during charging, and the outlet plug is inserted into the outlet tap. It is possible to charge the battery with the contact point turned on.
Also, when an electrical abnormality such as leakage occurs, the link mechanism can be operated in the same way as when the outlet is pulled out, and the same link mechanism can be used when the circuit is interrupted due to a different cause. There are advantages. For this reason, even when a safety device is not incorporated on the power supply side, charging can be performed with peace of mind.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Outlet plug body 2 Charging cable 3 Outlet connection surface 4 Current plug 5 Ground plug 6 Trip bar 7 Tip 8 Spring 9 Power indicator 10 Test button 11 Plate 12 Fixed contact 13 Fixed contact 15 Movable contact 16 Movable contact 17 Rear End 18 Protrusion 20 Shaft 21 Rotating body 22 Protrusion 23 Link pin 25 Latch member 26 Upper piece 27 Lower piece 28 Long hole 30 Trigger lever 31 Shaft 32 Engaging portion 33 Crossbar 35 Upper bent portion 38 Electric wire 39 Electric leakage detection device (ZCT) )
40 Solenoid 41 Judgment circuit 42 Frame

Claims (5)

An outlet plug that is placed at one end of a charging cable for an automobile and plugged into an outlet tap on the power supply side when charging a rechargeable automobile. Is provided with a trip bar that is pushed outwards against the elastic force when plugged into the outlet, and in conjunction with the movement of the trip bar from the outlet connection surface to the outside when the outlet is pulled out. Incorporates a contact opening / closing mechanism that opens the contact, and the contact opening / closing mechanism rotates by the movement of the trip bar outlet connection surface toward the inner side, and the rotating body that inputs the contact and the trip bar movement from the outlet connection surface to the outer side in conjunction with, characterized in that it is a link mechanism comprising a trigger lever to open the contacts self Car charging outlet plug of the cable. 2. The contact opening / closing mechanism includes an abnormality interrupting device that opens a contact by moving a trigger lever in response to a signal from an electric leakage detection device that detects an electrical abnormality provided in an outlet plug body. The outlet plug of the charging cable for automobiles described in 1. The link mechanism includes a rotating body that rotates by an inward movement of the outlet connection surface of the trip bar, a latch member that is connected to the rotating body via a link pin, and a trigger that engages and supports one end of the latch member. 2. A crossbar driven by a lever and a latch member that rotates with an engaging portion of the trigger lever as a fulcrum, and presses the movable contact toward the fixed contact . The outlet plug of the charging cable for automobiles. The link mechanism is provided with a trip function that releases the engagement between the latch member and the trigger lever in conjunction with the movement of the trip bar from the outlet connection surface to the outside, and rotates the rotating body by elastic force to open the contact. The outlet plug of a charging cable for an automobile according to claim 3, wherein 5. The automobile according to claim 3, wherein the trip bar presses and rotates the trigger lever when moved outward from the outlet connection surface to release the engagement between the latch member and the trigger lever. Charging cable outlet plug.

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