KR20220067464A - Compact power relay assembly with high reliability - Google Patents

Abstract

A power relay assembly according to some embodiments of the present invention comprises: a substrate which includes a printed circuit board; two or more power control elements which are selected from at least one relay, a current sensor, and a resistor electrically connected to the printed circuit board; a plurality of bus bars which electrically interconnect the power control elements or perform electrical connection to the outside of the power relay assembly; and a housing which accommodates the substrate, the power control elements, and the plurality of bus bars. The plurality of bus bars are disposed on a lower side of the substrate.

Description

COMPACT POWER RELAY ASSEMBLY WITH HIGH RELIABILITY

The present invention relates to a power relay assembly, and more particularly, to a power relay assembly that maximizes reliability and compactness in a high voltage, high current environment.

A power relay assembly, which is mainly mounted on a hybrid vehicle or an electric vehicle, is installed between a high voltage battery and a motor controller and is used as a safety device to maintain safety in the event of a high voltage short circuit.

In recent years, such a power relay assembly is generally modularized to increase mass productivity, and consists of a main relay, a precharge relay, a current sensor, and other components (eg, a fuse, Y-cap, etc.).

On the other hand, in spite of the modularization as described above, the existing power relay assembly requires arrangement and assembly of a plurality of wire wirings and bus bars for electrical connection between components such as relays, and requires a dedicated housing for modularization. The process efficiency is low, it occupies a large volume in the vehicle, and it is difficult to secure high durability and stability in a high voltage and high current environment as well as low electrical reliability in the assembly process.

The present invention has been devised to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a power relay assembly capable of reducing the absolute volume of a PRA box while optimizing the electrical connection between components for power control and increasing durability and reliability but it has a purpose.

The technical problems of the present invention are not limited to the technical problems mentioned above, and other technical problems not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

According to an embodiment of the present invention in order to solve these problems, a substrate including a printed circuit board; two or more power control elements selected from at least one relay, a current sensor, and a resistor electrically connected to the printed circuit board; a plurality of bus bars electrically interconnecting the power control elements or electrically connecting to the outside of the power relay assembly; and a housing accommodating the substrate, the power control elements, and the plurality of bus bars, wherein the plurality of bus bars are disposed on a lower surface of the substrate.

In some embodiments, the substrate further includes an insulating heat-resistant lower plate, the insulating heat-resistant lower plate being made of a ceramic plate, between the printed circuit board and the plurality of bus bars at least a part of the lower side of the printed circuit board It is characterized in that it is arranged to cover. Furthermore, the substrate may further include an insulating heat-resistant top plate, and the insulating heat-resistant top plate may be disposed between the at least one relay and the resistor and the printed circuit board to cover at least a portion of the upper surface of the printed circuit board. .

Meanwhile, the substrate may include a current sensor accommodating hole penetrating all of the insulating heat-resistant upper plate, the printed circuit board, and the insulating heat-resistant lower plate, and the current sensor may be disposed in the current sensor accommodating hole.

The power relay assembly passes through all of the insulating heat-resistant upper plate, the printed circuit board, and the insulating heat-resistant lower plate in a normal line direction of the substrate, and at least one penetration for physically seating at least one of the power control elements on the substrate It may further include a bolt.

In some embodiments, the substrate extends in a first direction (X-axis direction) and a second direction (Y-axis direction), and the plurality of bus bars are formed on an XY plane formed by the first direction and the second direction. a current sensor bus bar in the shape of a flat plate extending upward; and 'B'-shaped relay bus bars including a first region extending on the XY plane and a second region extending in a third direction (Z-axis direction) that is a normal direction to the XY plane. do it with

Specifically, the at least one relay includes a first relay and a second relay, and the relay bus bars have one end electrically connected to the first terminal of the first relay and the other end extending outside the housing. the 1-1 relay bus bar being a 1-2 relay bus bar having one end electrically connected to the second terminal of the first relay and the other end extending to the outside of the housing; a 2-1 relay bus bar having one end electrically connected to the first terminal of the second relay and the other end extending outside the housing; and a 2-2 relay bus bar having one end electrically connected to the second terminal of the second relay and the other end electrically connected to the first terminal of the current sensor.

The current sensor bus bar is characterized in that one end is electrically connected to the second terminal of the current sensor and the other end is extended to the outside of the housing.

In some embodiments, the current sensor accommodating hole has a '+' shape on a plane formed by the substrate, and the first terminal and the second terminal of the current sensor are spaced apart from each other along the second direction do it with

On the other hand, the other end of the 1-1 relay bus bar and the other end of the 1-2 relay bus bar extend outside the housing to face in opposite directions to each other, and The other end and the other end of the current sensor bus bar extend outside the housing to face opposite directions.

According to embodiments of the present invention, there is provided a compact power relay assembly that has high durability and electrical reliability even in a high voltage and high current environment and can also reduce an absolute volume.

In addition, according to embodiments of the present invention, wiring arrangement and assembly for electrical connection between the power control element, the printed circuit board and the bus bar inside the power relay assembly can be unnecessary or minimized, so that the efficiency in the manufacturing process can be increased and assembly The defect rate that may occur in the process can also be minimized.

1 is a perspective view illustrating an external appearance of a power relay assembly according to some embodiments of the present invention.
2 is a perspective view exemplarily illustrating a state in which a housing of a power relay assembly is detached according to some embodiments of the present invention.
3 is an exploded perspective view exemplarily showing a power relay assembly according to some embodiments of the present invention.
4 is a plan view of a power relay assembly according to some embodiments of the present invention.
5 is a bottom view of a power relay assembly according to some embodiments of the present invention.
6 is a side view of a power relay assembly in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Advantages and features of the present invention and methods of achieving them will become apparent with reference to the embodiments described below in detail in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments published below, but may be implemented in various different forms, and only these embodiments make the publication of the present invention complete, and common knowledge in the art to which the present invention pertains It is provided to fully inform those who have the scope of the invention, and the present invention is only defined by the scope of the claims. Like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein may be used with the meaning commonly understood by those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention belongs. In addition, terms defined in a commonly used dictionary are not to be interpreted ideally or excessively unless clearly defined in particular.

In addition, in this specification, the singular form may also include a plural form unless otherwise specified in the phrase. As used herein, “comprises” and/or “comprising” refers to the presence of one or more other components, steps, operations and/or elements mentioned. or addition is not excluded.

1 is a perspective view exemplarily showing an external appearance of a power relay assembly according to some embodiments of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view exemplarily showing a state in which a housing of the power relay assembly is detached, and FIG. 3 is the It is an exploded perspective view exemplarily showing a power relay assembly, FIG. 4 is a plan view of the power relay assembly, FIG. 5 is a bottom view of the power relay assembly, and FIG. 6 is a side view of the power relay assembly.

1 to 6 , the power relay assembly 1 includes a housing 100, a substrate 200, a plurality of power control elements 300, a plurality of bus bars 400, and at least one signal connector ( 500) may be included.

The housing 100 accommodates the substrate 200 , the power control elements 300 , and the plurality of bus bars 400 , and may serve to protect internal components from external impact. The housing 100 may have a structure in which an upper housing 110 covering the substrate 200 from the upper portion and a lower housing 110 covering the substrate 200 from the lower side are combined as shown, but is not limited thereto. Of course.

The substrate 200 may be a substrate in which a plurality of plates are stacked. For example, the substrate 200 may include a printed circuit board 210 , and at least one insulating heat-resistant plate selected from an insulating heat-resistant lower plate 220 and an insulating heat-resistant upper plate 230 .

Preferably, the substrate 200 may include a printed circuit board 210 and an insulating heat-resistant lower plate 220 disposed to cover at least a portion of a lower surface of the printed circuit board 210 . In this case, the insulating heat-resistant lower plate 220 may be disposed between the printed circuit board 210 and the plurality of bus bars 400 , and accordingly, the insulating heat-resistant lower plate 220 includes the circuit portion and the plurality of the printed circuit board 210 . It is possible to block unnecessary electrical connection between the bus bars 400 of the . In particular, in the case of the present invention, the plurality of bus bars 400 extend parallel to the plane (that is, the XY plane) formed by the substrate, and are disposed in surface contact with the lower surface of the substrate 200. Insulating heat-resistant lower plate 220 is not damaged by heat of the printed circuit board 210 and the plurality of bus bars 400 in a high voltage and high current environment, and further serves to cool the printed circuit board 210 and the plurality of bus bars 400. In this regard, the insulating heat-resistant lower plate 220 is preferably made of a ceramic plate.

Furthermore, the substrate 200 may include a printed circuit board 210 , an insulating heat-resistant lower plate 220 , and an insulating heat-resistant upper plate 210 disposed to cover at least a portion of the upper surface of the printed circuit board 210 . At this time, the insulating heat-resistant upper plate 230 may be disposed between the printed circuit board 210 and at least some power control elements (eg, relays 310, 320, 330 and resistor 350), Accordingly, the insulating heat-resistant upper plate 230 may block at least some power control elements 300 from being unnecessarily electrically connected to the circuit part of the printed circuit board 210 .

The plurality of power control elements 300 may include at least one relay electrically connected to the printed circuit board 210 , a current sensor 340 and a resistor 350 , and a printed circuit on the board 200 . At least one signal connector 500 for transmitting an electrical signal from the substrate 210 to the outside or an external electrical signal to the printed circuit board 210 may be provided. Preferably, the first signal connector 510 is disposed on a first side of the substrate 200 and the second signal connector 520 is disposed on a second side opposite to the first side of the substrate 200 . can be More preferably, as shown in FIGS. 2 to 6 , each of the power bus bars 412 and 422 and the inverter bus bars 411 and 421 discharged to the outside of the PRA 1 among the bus bars to be described later includes the first and second It may be disposed on each of the third and fourth sides perpendicular to the first and second sides between the two sides, thereby further maximizing the compactness of the PRA 1 .

Although not shown, of course, the plurality of power control elements 300 may include other components such as a fuse (not shown) as necessary.

The at least one relay may include first to third relays 310 , 320 , and 330 .

In some embodiments, each of the first to third relays 310, 320, 330 is connected to a main relay that automatically cuts off overcurrent and high voltage reversibly or preferentially to the main relay in the initial discharge process It may be a pre-charge relay that drops a supply voltage and current to prevent a sudden supply of high voltage electricity to a motor and an electric field of a vehicle. For example, the first relay 310 may be a (+) main relay, the second relay 320 may be a (-) main relay, and the third relay 330 may be a precharge relay.

The current sensor 340 detects a current on the (+) pole or (-) pole connection circuit and transmits it to a battery management system (BMS), etc. outside the power relay assembly 1, and the resistor 350 ) may be connected to the pre-charge relay and serve to reduce current and voltage.

In some embodiments, the current sensor 340 may be disposed in the current sensor accommodating hole 200H formed in the substrate 200 . The current sensor accommodating hole 200H is formed on the substrate so as to penetrate all of the insulating heat-resistant upper plate 230, the printed circuit board 210, and the insulating heat-resistant lower plate 220, and as shown in the figure, on the plane formed by the substrate 200 It is preferable to have a '+' shape, and the two terminals of the current sensor 340 connected to each of the two bus bars are preferably arranged to be spaced apart from each other along the Y-axis direction.

The plurality of bus bars 400 may be bus bars for electrically connecting the power control elements 300 to each other or for connecting to the outside (inverter, power, etc.) of the power relay assembly 1 .

In some embodiments, the plurality of bus bars 400 are 'L'-shaped relay bus bars including a first region extending in the XY plane and a second region extending in the Z-axis direction, and the XY plane. It may include a flat plate-shaped current sensor bus bar 440 that extends, and the relay bus bars are first relay bus bars 410 connected to the first relay 310 and second relay bus bars connected to the second relay 320 . 2 relay busbars 420 may be included. The third relay 330 , which is a precharge relay, may be mounted on the board 200 to be electrically connected to the printed circuit board 210 of the board 200 without being connected to a bus bar.

Specifically, the first relay bus bars 410 have a 1-1 relay bus bar 411 having one end electrically connected to the first terminal of the first relay 310 and the other end extending to the outside of the housing 100 . ), and a 1-2-th relay bus bar 412 having one end electrically connected to the second terminal of the first relay 310 and the other end extending to the outside of the housing 100 . In addition, the second relay bus bars 420 have one end electrically connected to the first terminal of the second relay 320 and the second relay bus bar 421 having the other end extended to the outside of the housing 100 . and a 2-2 relay bus bar 422 having one end electrically connected to the second terminal of the second relay 320 and the other end electrically connected to the first terminal of the current sensor 340 can One end of the current sensor bus bar 440 may be electrically connected to the second terminal of the current sensor 340 and the other end may extend to the outside of the housing 100 .

At this time, the other end of the 1-1 relay bus bar 411 and the other end of the 1-2 relay bus bar 412 extend outside the housing 100 so as to face opposite directions to each other, and the second -1 The other end of the relay bus bar 421 and the other end of the current sensor bus bar 440 are extended to the outside of the housing 100 so as to face in opposite directions to each other, the 1-1 relay bus bar 411 The other end is a (+) inverter terminal, the other end of the 2-1 relay bus bar 421 is a (-) inverter terminal, and the other end of the 1-2 relay bus bar 412 is (+) The power terminal and the other end of the current sensor bus bar 440 preferably serve as a (-) power terminal, thereby further maximizing the compactness of the power relay assembly 1 and the ease of external connection. .

Meanwhile, the bus bars 400 may be rigid bus bars formed of a copper bar or the like as illustrated, but is not limited thereto. For example, the bus bars 400 may be flexible bus bars formed of laminated copper foil, braided wire, etc., in this case, the first and second relays 310 and 320 and A separate bending process of the bus bar terminal to be coupled may be omitted.

The substrate 200 is provided with a plurality of bolt holes 200BH penetrating all of the insulating heat-resistant upper plate 230 , the printed circuit board 210 and the insulating heat-resistant lower plate 220 , and the plurality of bolt holes 200BH have A plurality of fixing members (eg, through bolts) may be inserted. The plurality of bolt holes 200BH are preferably arranged to overlap in a space without a circuit pattern of the printed circuit board 210, and an insulating heat-resistant upper plate ( 230), the printed circuit board 210 and the insulating heat-resistant lower plate 220 may be physically and securely fastened to each other, and the power control elements 300 and the bus bars 400 are also stably attached to the substrate by the through bolts. can be fixed.

A person of ordinary skill in the art related to this embodiment will understand that it can be implemented in a modified form without departing from the essential characteristics of the above description. Therefore, the disclosed methods are to be considered in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense. The scope of the present invention is indicated in the claims rather than the foregoing description, and all differences within the scope equivalent thereto should be construed as being included in the present invention.

Claims (10)

A power relay assembly comprising:
a substrate including a printed circuit board;
two or more power control elements selected from at least one relay, a current sensor, and a resistor electrically connected to the printed circuit board;
a plurality of bus bars electrically interconnecting the power control elements or electrically connecting to the outside of the power relay assembly; and
a housing accommodating the substrate, the power control elements, and the plurality of bus bars;
The plurality of busbars are disposed on the lower side of the substrate, the power relay assembly.
According to claim 1,
The substrate further comprises an insulating heat-resistant lower plate,
The insulating heat-resistant lower plate is made of a ceramic plate, and is disposed between the printed circuit board and the plurality of bus bars to cover at least a portion of a lower surface of the printed circuit board.
3. The method of claim 2,
The substrate further comprises an insulating heat-resistant top plate,
The insulating heat-resistant upper plate is disposed between the at least one relay and the resistor and the printed circuit board to cover at least a portion of the upper surface of the printed circuit board.
4. The method of claim 3,
The substrate includes a current sensor accommodating hole penetrating all of the insulating heat-resistant upper plate, the printed circuit board, and the insulating heat-resistant lower plate,
The current sensor is a power relay assembly, characterized in that disposed in the current sensor receiving hole.
5. The method of claim 4,
At least one through bolt penetrating all of the insulating heat-resistant upper plate, the printed circuit board, and the insulating heat-resistant lower plate in the normal direction of the substrate and physically seating at least one of the power control elements on the substrate. Characterized in that, the power relay assembly.
5. The method of claim 4,
The substrate extends in a first direction (X-axis direction) and a second direction (Y-axis direction),
The plurality of bus bars may include: a flat plate-shaped current sensor bus bar extending in an XY plane formed by the first direction and the second direction; and 'L'-shaped relay bus bars including a first region extending on the XY plane and a second region extending in a third direction (Z-axis direction) that is a normal direction to the XY plane. , a power relay assembly.
7. The method of claim 6,
The at least one relay comprises a first relay and a second relay,
The relay bus bars are
a 1-1 relay bus bar having one end electrically connected to the first terminal of the first relay and the other end extending outside the housing;
a 1-2 relay bus bar having one end electrically connected to the second terminal of the first relay and the other end extending to the outside of the housing;
a 2-1 relay bus bar having one end electrically connected to the first terminal of the second relay and the other end extending outside the housing; and
a 2-2 relay bus bar having one end electrically connected to the second terminal of the second relay and the other end electrically connected to the first terminal of the current sensor;
A power relay assembly comprising a.
8. The method of claim 7,
The current sensor bus bar, a power relay assembly, characterized in that one end is electrically connected to the second terminal of the current sensor and the other end extends outside the housing.
9. The method of claim 8,
The current sensor accommodating hole has a '+' shape on a plane formed by the substrate,
The first terminal and the second terminal of the current sensor are characterized in that spaced apart from each other in the second direction, a power relay assembly.
9. The method of claim 8,
The other end of the 1-1 relay bus bar and the other end of the 1-2 relay bus bar extend outside the housing so as to face opposite directions to each other,
The other end of the 2-1 relay bus bar and the other end of the current sensor bus bar extend outside the housing so as to face opposite directions to each other.

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