JP5999355B2 - Power supply plug device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a power supply plug device that can be plugged into and connected to a power receiving port provided in an electric vehicle or the like.

  The electric vehicle is equipped with a power receiving port portion connected to an in-vehicle battery unit on the side surface (or the front surface, etc.) of the vehicle body so that charging can be performed from an external charging device such as a quick charger. By inserting the power supply plug device at the power supply cable end of the quick charger into the power receiving port, the charging power from the quick charger is supplied to the battery unit of the electric vehicle through the power supply plug device. ing.

The power plug device used for such charging can be plugged into the power receiving port by the user, the device plugged into the power receiving port cannot be removed, and the charged device can be quickly removed from the charging port. Desired.
For this reason, most of the power supply plug devices are capable of being engaged with and disengaged from the power receiving terminal portion and the power receiving port portion that can be plugged into the power receiving port portion at the tip of the cylindrical plug body as disclosed in Patent Document 1. A structure in which an engagement claw portion (engagement portion) is provided and a handle for handling the plug body and a trigger portion for releasing the engagement portion are provided on the rear side surface of the plug body is used.

  Accordingly, when the power supply plug device grips the handle and inserts the power supply terminal portion at the distal end portion into the power reception port portion, the power supply terminal portion and the power reception port portion are connected. At this time, the engaging claw portion engages (locks) with the power receiving port portion, and the connected power feeding terminal portion does not come out of the power receiving port portion. When the charging is finished, the power feeding terminal portion can be pulled out from the power receiving port portion by grasping the handle, releasing the engagement with the power receiving port portion by pulling the trigger portion, and applying a pulling force to the plug body.

JP 2012-128972 A

  However, the power supply plug device grips the handle on the rear side surface of the plug main body, and inserts the power supply terminal portion at the tip of the plug main body into the power receiving port portion of the electric vehicle. A force toward the diametrical direction of the plug body is likely to be applied, and the influence of this force may cause the position of the power supply terminal portion at the tip to move or the power supply terminal portion to be inserted while being inclined. For this reason, it may not be easily inserted into the power receiving port. Even when the power supply terminal portion is pulled out, it may not easily come out. In addition, when the power feeding terminal portion is removed from the power receiving port portion, a lateral force is applied to the rear end of the plug body even from the operation of pulling the trigger portion, so that the power feeding terminal portion is further difficult to come off.

In particular, the power receiving portion of the electric vehicle is required to be connected in a crouching posture in which it is placed at a position that is about the middle position of the vehicle body, specifically the waist position of the user. From the trigger, it is easy to apply a force that causes the plug body tip to shake and the plug body to tilt.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a power supply plug device having a simple structure and capable of smoothly attaching / detaching a power supply terminal end.

The invention according to claim 1 is a cylindrical plug main body extending along one direction, a power supply terminal portion formed on one end surface of the plug main body and pluggable into a power receiving port portion of a power receiving device, and a power supply terminal portion An engaging portion capable of engaging and disengaging the power receiving port portion, a pair of extending portions extending in one direction from the other end surface of the plug body, and an end portion on one side of the pair of extending portions. A handle having a connecting portion and a pair of extending portions are arranged to be connected between the other end face of the plug body and the connecting portion and are slid in one direction to engage the engaging portion. The pair of extending portions are arranged in the diametric direction across the axis of the plug body at the edge of the outer peripheral surface of the other end of the plug body .

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the power supply cable connected to the power supply terminal portion is led out from the outer peripheral surface between the one end surface and the other end surface of the plug body.
In the invention according to claim 3, the power feeding cable is led out from a position where it can be determined that the power feeding terminal portion is inserted into the power receiving port portion.

According to the present invention, when inserting the feeding terminal portion of the distal end of the plug body to the power receiving opening, the force applied from the handle becomes only transmitted to the feeding terminal portion of the tip along the axis of the plug body, Since the tip of the plug body is less likely to be shaken and the occurrence of tilting at the same portion is suppressed, the power feeding terminal portion can be easily inserted into the power receiving port portion. Further, when pulling out the power supply terminal portion, the pulling force transmitted from the gripping portion is transmitted only in the axial direction (one direction) of the plug body. In addition, when pulling out, the force applied by the operation of the trigger unit that is performed together with the gripping of the gripping part is only transmitted in the axial direction of the plug body, so that the power supply terminal section does not shake or tilt Comes out of the power receiving port.

Therefore, only with a simple structure in which the handle and the trigger portion are arranged in series at the rear end of the plug body, the feeding terminal portion can be easily inserted and removed, and the feeding terminal portion can be attached and detached smoothly.
According to the invention of claim 2, when inserting the feeding terminal portion at the tip, not only the handle is gripped with one hand, but the remaining one hand is attached to the plug body portion between the feeding cable and the rear end of the plug body, When you insert it into the power receiving port of the power receiving device, you can insert the attached hand with the power supply cable while guarding against interference with the power receiving device, so you can safely and easily insert the power supply terminal into the power receiving port. Can do.

  According to the invention of claim 3, it is determined whether or not the power supply terminal portion is properly inserted into the power receiving port portion from the position of the power supply cable when the power supply terminal portion at the tip of the plug body is inserted into the power receiving port portion. It is possible to prevent insufficient connection of the power supply terminal portion.

The perspective view which shows the electric power plug apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention with the electric vehicle to which the apparatus is connected. (A) is a front view of a power supply plug device, (b) is a side view of the power supply plug device. The front view for demonstrating the attachment or detachment operation | work of an electric power plug apparatus.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described based on an embodiment shown in FIGS.
FIG. 1 shows a rear side surface of an electric vehicle (vehicle), and FIG. 2 shows each part of a charging gun device (power supply plug device) that can be detachably connected to the rear side.
That is, reference numeral 1 in FIG. 1 denotes the body of an electric vehicle. A concave charging port 5 that is opened and closed by a lid 5 a is provided at a rear side surface of the vehicle body 1, for example, at a side surface above the rear wheel 3. A power receiving device 7 is installed at the bottom of the charging port 5. The power receiving device 7 has a cylindrical charging port portion 9 (corresponding to the power receiving port portion of the present application) in which a plurality of pin-shaped power receiving terminal portions (not shown) are housed. The tip of the charging port 9 protrudes from the bottom of the charging port 5 into the charging port 5. The power receiving terminal portion of the charging port portion 9 is connected to a battery unit (not shown) mounted on the vehicle body 1 via the relay cable 6, and charging power input from the power receiving terminal portion is supplied to the battery unit. It has a structure that can be supplied.

An external charging device such as a quick charger (not shown) is connected to the charging port 9 of the electric vehicle. Specifically, a charging gun device 11 (corresponding to the power supply plug device of the present application) of the quick charger is connected.
The charging gun device 11 is formed in a structure having a straight shape as shown in FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (b).

  Specifically, the charging gun apparatus 11 has a cylindrical shape that extends linearly along one direction, for example, a cylindrical gun body 13 (corresponding to the plug body of the present application). A power supply terminal portion 15 is provided on the distal end surface (one end surface) of the gun body 13. The feeding terminal portion 15 is formed by providing a cylindrical insertion member 17 that can be inserted into the charging port portion 9 with a hole-shaped feeding terminal portion 16 that can be plugged into each power receiving terminal of the charging port portion 9. Is done.

An engaging portion, for example, an engaging claw 19 protrudes from the outer peripheral portion of the insertion member 17 so as to protrude and retract. The engaging claw 19 is a component that is detachably engaged with a receiving portion 21 (partially shown in FIG. 1) formed on the inner surface of the charging port portion 9, and the power supply terminal portion 15 is a predetermined charging port. When inserted into the portion 9, it engages with the receiving portion 21 of the charging port portion 9 so as not to come out (lock).
The power feeding terminal portion 15 is a power feeding cable 23 that is led out from the lower outer peripheral surface of the body portion that forms the lower portion of the gun body 13, specifically, the front end surface (one end surface) and the rear end surface (other end surface) of the gun main body 13. And connected. Region X (FIG. 2) in which the user's hand is attached to the outer peripheral surface portion of the trunk portion between the feeding cable 23 and the rear end of the gun body 13 using the feeding cable 23 led out from the middle of the trunk portion. Is forming. Incidentally, the power feeding cable 23 is a cable extending from a quick charger (not shown). Therefore, when the power feeding terminal portion 15 is connected to the charging port portion 9, charging power from the quick charger is supplied to the battery unit mounted on the vehicle body 1 through the power feeding terminal portion 15 and the charging port portion 9.

  A point derived from the body of the power supply cable 23 is a point where it can be determined that the power supply terminal unit 15 is inserted into the charging port 9, for example, the power supply terminal unit 15 as shown in FIG. 3 (left side) is charged. When properly inserted into the mouth portion 9, the point closest to the vehicle body 1 is set, and the feeding terminal portion 15 is properly inserted into the charging port portion 9 in accordance with the position of the feeding cable 23 (by visual observation). It is structured so that it can be determined whether or not it has been. Incidentally, α in FIG. 2 indicates a region on the distal end side of the gun body 13 inserted into the vehicle body 1 when the power supply terminal portion 15 is inserted into the charging port portion 9, and β is a power supply cable derived from the vicinity of the region α. 23 positions are shown.

  A handle 27 for handling the gun body 13 and a release trigger 29 (corresponding to the trigger portion of the present application) for releasing the engagement of the engagement claw 19 are assembled in series at the rear end of the gun body 13. Yes. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2A and 2B, the handle 27 has a pair of leg portions 33 (extension portions of the present application) provided to extend rearward (one direction) from the rear end of the gun body 13. And a bar-shaped gripping portion 31 (corresponding to the connecting portion of the present application: a portion gripped by the user) extending in the vertical direction that connects the extended ends (one end portion) of the pair of leg portions 33. The C-shaped part that has it is used. The base end portion of the leg portion 33 is attached to the outer peripheral surface of the rear end of the gun body 13 across the axis a of the gun body 13, here the edge. Thus, the bar-shaped gripping portion 31 connected to the leg portion 33 is arranged in a diametrical direction (here, the vertical direction in the vertical direction) across the axis a of the gun body 13 at a point away from the rear end surface of the gun body 13. I am letting. An operating force (force along the axial direction of the gun body 13) required for attaching and detaching the power supply terminal portion 15 can be input from the grip portion 31 facing the rear end surface of the gun body 13.

  As the release trigger 29, for example, a bar-shaped release trigger member 29a is used as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2A, 2B. The release trigger member 29 a is disposed between the grip portion 31 of the handle 27 and the rear end surface of the gun body 13. Specifically, the release trigger member 29a is disposed between the leg portions 33 (in the diameter direction of the gun body 13) straddling the axis a of the gun body 13. The release trigger member 29a is disposed along the grip portion 31 at a position where the release trigger member 29a can be gripped together with the grip portion 31, so that the release trigger member 29a can be pulled together by a hand gripping the grip portion 31. .

  More specifically, both end portions of the release trigger member 29a are slidably disposed along the inner surface of the leg portion 33, for example. Thus, the release trigger member 29a is connected to the pair of leg portions 33, and can be displaced in the axial direction between the gun body 13 and the grip portion 31 with the leg portions 33 as guides. The release trigger member 29a includes a hook-shaped member that serves as a relay mechanism for the engaging claw 19, for example, a hook-shaped operating member that protrudes from the engaging claw 19 through the trunk of the gun main body 13 from the rear end surface of the gun main body 13. When the release trigger member 29a connected to the leg portion 33 is pulled with the finger that is connected to the grip portion 31 and is slid to the rear end side (one direction), the power supply terminal The engaging claw 19 protruding from the outer peripheral surface of the portion 15 is retracted (engagement release). Incidentally, the operation member 35 has a return spring 37 (FIG. 2) that returns the engaging claw 19 to a protruding state.

With such a structure, a handle 27 and a release trigger 29 are assembled in series with the rear end of the tubular gun body 13 so that the entire charging gun device 11 extends linearly in the axial direction, that is, a straight shape. I have to.
Next, with reference to FIG. 3, an operation for attaching and detaching the charging gun device 11 of the quick charging device to the charging port portion 9 of the electric vehicle will be described.

  When connecting the charging gun device 11 to the charging port 9, first, as shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 3, the user grips the grip portion 31 with one hand and feeds the remaining one hand to the gun body 13. Attached to the body after the cable 23 is a heavy gun body 13. Then, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the power supply terminal portion 15 at the tip of the gun body 13 is inserted into the charging port portion 9 in the charging port 5 of the electric vehicle.

At this time, in order to properly insert the power feeding terminal portion 15 into the charging port portion 9, the position of the power feeding terminal portion 15 at the tip is aligned with the charging port portion 9, and the gun body 13 is advanced straight to the charging port portion 9 as it is. .
For this purpose, the gun body 13 is required to suppress the operating force acting from the direction intersecting the axis a, which causes the displacement and inclination of the power supply terminal portion 15.

Therefore, the grip portion 31 that performs the insertion work of the gun body 13 is disposed at the rear end of the gun body 13. Then, when the gun body 13 is inserted into the charging port portion 9, the force applied from the grip portion 31 to the gun body 13 is only transmitted to the power supply terminal portion 15 at the tip along the axis a of the cylindrical gun body 13. Become.
Thereby, the front-end | tip part of the gun main body 13 is hard to generate | occur | produce, and generation | occurrence | production of the inclination in the same part is also suppressed. Therefore, the power feeding terminal portion 15 can be easily inserted into the power receiving port portion 9. The power supply terminal portion 15 properly inserted is fixed (locked) by the engagement between the engagement claw 19 and the receiving portion 21, and the process proceeds to the charging process by the quick charger.

  When charging is completed and the power feeding terminal portion 15 is pulled out from the charging port portion 9, as in the case of insertion as shown in FIG. Add your hands. Next, after pulling the release trigger 29 with the gripped fingers to release the engagement with the charging port 9 by the engaging claw 19, the gun body 13 is held in the charging port while holding the release trigger 29 together. Pull out from 9.

  At this time, the pulling force transmitted from the grip portion 31 to the gun body 13 is transmitted only along the axial direction of the gun body 13 as in the case of insertion. Moreover, since the force applied by the operation of the release trigger 19 performed together with the gripping of the gripping portion 31 is also transmitted only in the axial direction of the gun body 13, the operation of pulling out the gun body 13 while pulling the release trigger 29 is performed. However, the power supply terminal portion 15 comes out of the charging port portion 9 without being shaken or tilted.

Therefore, a simple structure in which the grip portion 31 and the release trigger 29 are arranged in series at the rear end of the gun body 13 facilitates the insertion / removal operation of the power supply terminal portion 15 at the front end. It can be done smoothly.
In addition, the feeding cable 23 is led out from the middle of the body of the gun body 13 and the hand is attached to the outer peripheral surface portion of the gun body 13 on the rear side of the feeding cable 23 and thereafter, the attached hand is attached to the body 1 side by the feeding cable 23. Insertion work can be performed while guarding against interference, and the power supply terminal portion 15 can be inserted safely and easily. In addition, since the power supply cable 23 is derived from a position where it can be determined that the power supply terminal portion 15 has been properly inserted, the power supply terminal portion 15 can receive power properly from the position of the power supply cable 23 visually observed by the user. It can be determined whether or not it has been inserted into the mouth portion 9, and insufficient connection of the power supply terminal portion 15 can be prevented in advance.

  In particular, when the charging port 9 is provided in the middle of the vehicle body 1 such as an electric vehicle, the gun body 13 is liable to bend or tilted when the gun body 13 is attached or detached. Although the attaching / detaching operation is difficult, when the handle 27 and the gripping portion 31 are arranged in series at the rear end of the gun body 13 as described above, the inserting / extracting operation of the power supply terminal portion 15 becomes smooth as described above. . In particular, the arrangement of the handle 27 and the grip portion 31 is effective for an electric vehicle.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, in one embodiment, the C-shaped handle 27 or the I-shaped release trigger 29 is used. However, other shapes may be used. In one embodiment, an example of a quick charger has been described. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and may be applied to a charging gun of another external charging device.

7 Power receiving device 9 Charging port (power receiving port)
11 Charging gun device (power supply plug device)
13 Gun body (tubular plug body)
15 Power supply terminal part 19 Engagement claw (engagement part)
23 Power supply cable 27 Handle 29 Release trigger (trigger part)
31 Gripping part (connecting part)
33 A pair of legs (a pair of extended parts)

Claims (3)

A cylindrical plug body extending along one direction;
A power supply terminal portion that is formed on one end surface of the plug body and can be plugged into a power receiving port portion of a power receiving device; and
An engaging part capable of engaging and disengaging the power feeding terminal part and the power receiving port part;
A handle having a pair of extending portions extending in the one direction from the other end surface of the plug main body and a connecting portion connecting end portions on one direction side of the pair of extending portions;
A trigger portion that is disposed so as to connect the pair of extending portions between the other end surface and the connecting portion and that is slid in the one direction to release the engagement of the engaging portion; Prepared ,
The pair of extending portions is an edge portion of the outer peripheral surface of the other end of the plug body, and is arranged in a diametrical direction across the axis of the plug body .   2. The power supply plug device according to claim 1, wherein a power supply cable connected to the power supply terminal portion is led out from an outer peripheral surface between the one end surface and the other end surface of the plug body.   The power feeding plug device according to claim 2, wherein the power feeding cable is led out from a position where it can be determined that the power feeding terminal portion is inserted into the power receiving port portion.

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