RU2574215C2 - Accumulator charger - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: electricity.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to design of a charger intended preferably for transportation vehicles. With components mounted in it for converting power of the commercial power network into direct-current power the accumulator charger comprises the central frame of C-shape in horizontal cross section, at that components at least generating heat among the power-converting components are mounted at one side limited by C-shaped cross section at its both sides; outer case is connected to the central frame so that the central frame is covered; and fan that supplies cooling air to the area limited by C-shaped cross section of the central frame.

EFFECT: improved cooling performance of the power-converting components.

5 cl, 13 dwg

Description

Technical field

The present invention relates to a battery charger, preferably used to charge a battery packaged in an electric vehicle or hybrid vehicle.

State of the art

It is known that a battery charger consists of an electrical circuit including a power supply system for supplying electric power to a battery of a power source, on the inside of the rear of the chassis display window and / or in the rear of the operator panel (see paragraph 0017 and Fig. 3 and 4 in PTL 1).

List of bibliographic references

Patent documents

PTL 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (Japan) No. H11-266509

Summary of the invention

The inside of the chassis of the battery charger with the prior art circuitry, however, has the problem of poor cooling performance of the heat generating electric devices, since attention is not paid to their ventilation.

A task to be solved by the present invention is to provide a battery charger with excellent cooling performance for power conversion components.

The present invention solves the aforementioned problem by composing the chassis of the battery charger in such a way as to include a central frame made in a C-shape in horizontal section, while the components at least generating heat among the power conversion components are mounted on one the side bounded by the C-shaped cross-section in question, and the outer casing is thus attached to the central frame so as to cover the central frame, and providing a vent an radiator supplying cooling air to a region bounded by a C-shaped cross section.

According to the present invention, since the heat generating components are mounted on one surface of the C-shaped fragment, which is effective for ventilation, and the cooling air is supplied thereto, a battery charger with excellent cooling characteristic for power conversion components can be provided.

Brief Description of the Drawings

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram illustrating a charger system to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the components making up the charger of FIG. 1 and the flow of electrical power in it.

FIG. 3 is a drawing showing a mounting structure of a power conversion device constituting the charger of FIG. 2, to the central frame.

FIG. 4 is a perspective perspective view showing the chassis of a charger according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view in which the chassis of FIG. 4 disclosed and shown.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line VI-VI in FIG. 4.

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view in which the outer casing of FIG. 5 is viewed from its rear side.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view enlarging and showing part VIII in FIG. 5.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view enlarging and showing part IX in FIG. 5.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing a state where radiators are mounted on a central frame in FIG. 5.

FIG. 11A is a perspective view showing a state where the power conversion device is mounted on the center frame of FIG. 5, which is viewed from the front.

FIG. 11B is a perspective view showing a state where a power conversion device is mounted on a central frame in FIG. 5, which is viewed from the rear.

FIG. 12 is a sectional view taken along line XII-XII in FIG. 6.

Description of Preferred Embodiments

General scheme of the charging system 1

A general diagram of a charging system to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied will first be described herein with reference to FIG. 1. The charging system 1 of this example should apply to the case where the battery 6, placed in an electric vehicle or hybrid vehicle, is charging, and is a system in which the power conversion circuit 3 directly converts the three-phase current power supplied from the power source 2 three-phase current, into the power of single-phase current, which the transformer 4 respectively increases or decreases, and after that the rectifier 5 converts the power into DC power, so that charge the battery 6. At the same time, reference 7 represents a smoothing circuit, 11 represents a power chopper for turning on and off a three-phase current power source 2, and 12 represents a charging gun.

In the charging system 1 of the present example, on the corresponding output lines corresponding to the respective phases (R-phase, S-phase, T-phase) to which the three-phase current power is supplied from the three-phase current power source 2, a filter circuit 8 is provided to reduce harmonics in as a measure to counter noise. The filter circuit 8 of the present example consists of three filter reactors 81, respectively connected to the respective phases R, S, T, and six filter capacitors 82L, 82R, connected between the respective phases R, S, T. Filter capacitors 82L, 82R, for example, consist of six filter capacitors.

In the charging system 1 of the present example, the three-phase current power is supplied through the filter circuit 8 to the power conversion circuit 3 and converted to a single-phase current power. The power conversion circuit 3 of the present example consists of six bidirectional switching devices 31 (311-316) arranged in a matrix type structure corresponding to the R phase, S phase, T phase, and is also referred to as a matrix converter. While the reference pointer 31 will be referred to later in this document when one bi-directional switching device is collectively referred to, the reference indicators 311-316 will be referred to when a specific device is selected from six bi-directional switching devices.

Each of the bi-directional switching devices 31 consists of an IGBT module in which the IGBT as a semiconductor switching device is combined and connected in an antiparallel manner with a limiting diode. Meanwhile, the design of each bi-directional switching device 31 is not limited to what is shown in the drawings, and may be any other design where two non-conductive backward IGBTs are connected in an antiparallel manner, for example.

For each bi-directional switching device 31, in order to protect the bi-directional switching device 31 from surges generated in response to the on / off actions of the considered bi-directional switching device 31, a smoothing filter circuit 32 (321-326) is provided on its input side and its output side , in which one smoothing filter capacitor 327 is combined (see the circuit diagram shown in the lower right part in the same drawing) and three diodes. While the reference pointer 321 will be referred to later in this document when one smoothing filter scheme is collectively referred to, the reference indicators 321-326 will be referred to when a specific smoothing filter scheme is selected from among six smoothing filter schemes.

The charging system 1 of the present example consists of a matrix converter control circuit 9 for controlling on / off of the respective bi-directional switching devices 31 of the power conversion circuit 3. The matrix converter control circuit 9 inputs a voltage value supplied from a three-phase current power source 2, a direct current value currently output, and a target current value, on the basis of which controls the corresponding gate signals of the bi-directional switching devices 31 and controls the single-phase current power output into transformer 4 to obtain a constant current power consistent with the target.

The transformer 4 raises or lowers the voltage of the single-phase current power converted by the power conversion circuit 3 to a predetermined value. Rectifier 5 consists of four rectifying diodes 51-54, for example, to convert a voltage-controlled single-phase current power into direct current power. Additionally, the smoothing circuit 7 consists of an inductor 71 and a capacitor 72 to smooth and drive the ripple current contained in the rectified direct current, and thereby bring it into a state close to direct current. The charging gun 12 couples the direct current smoothed by the smoothing circuit 7 to the charging input of a vehicle (not shown) and supplies electric power through it.

By means of the charging system 1 of the present example, which is composed in the manner described above, as shown in FIG. 2, the three-phase current power supplied from the three-phase current power source 2 is supplied through the power chopper 11 and filter reactors 81 to the power conversion circuit 3, and since the matrix converter control circuit 9 controls the power conversion circuit 3, it is converted directly to single-phase current power and additionally it is regulated up or down to the correct voltage by means of a transformer 4 and after that it is converted into direct current power by means of a rectifier 5. Further, the power is constant current smoothed by the smoothing circuit 7 is supplied through the charging element 12 to the secondary battery 6, thereby charging the secondary battery 6. Meanwhile, the charging system 1 as described above is merely an example, and the charging system 1A according to the present invention is not limited to system 1 by design, which is shown in the drawing.

Location of charger components

Next, the placement and design of the charger 1A, including the power chopper 11 through the charging element 12 in FIG. 2 will be described herein with reference to FIG. 3-12. Note that compliance will be shown by attaching identical reference signs to components identical to those shown in FIG. 1 and 2.

The charger 1A of the present example is configured such that a power chopper 11, filter reactors 81, a power conversion circuit 3, a matrix converter control circuit 9, a transformer 4, a rectifier 5, and a smoothing circuit 7 shown in FIG. 2, and a cable 12a is outputted from the chassis 13, at the end of which a charging element 12 is mounted. The components mounted on the chassis 13 will also be referred to as power conversion components.

As for the chassis 13, its lower part 141 is attached to the installation location of the charger 1A in question and consists of a central frame 14 on which the aforementioned power conversion components are mounted, and an external casing 15 mounted on and covering both sides of the central frame 14. Meanwhile, " both sides of the "central frame 14 mean the front and rear parts in the example shown in the drawings, and it is determined that the front part is where the user accesses when the charger 1A is installed, the rear part is its opposite. An integral object of the present invention is the installation of the outer casing 15 so that it compresses the Central frame 14, and, therefore, both sides are not limited to the front and rear, and can be left and right side surfaces.

The central frame 14 includes a base plate 141 constituting a lower portion attached to the mounting location of the charger 1A by any attachment means, such as anchor bolts, and a main portion 142 of the central frame bent in a C-shape in horizontal cross section, and a main a central frame portion 142, as shown in FIG. 5 is attached to the base plate 141. A horizontal cross-sectional state of the main part 142 of the central frame is shown in FIG. 6, the base plate 141 is shown in FIG. 8, and the upper part of the main part 142 of the central frame is shown in FIG. 9.

As shown in FIG. 8, the base plate 141 includes a base plate body 141a attached to the installation site by anchor bolts or the like, and a fastening bracket 141b attached to the base plate body 141a by welding, and the main frame portion 142 of the center frame is attached to mounting bracket 141b by means of bolts or the like The main part 142 of the central frame, thus, stands upright and is firmly attached to the installation site. Meanwhile, as shown in FIG. 9, a tube 143 is provided at the top of the main body 142 of the central frame so as to pierce it, and gripping devices 144 are provided at both ends. Since the central frame 14 with the power conversion components mounted on it, as described later, is a heavy load, suspension devices 144 may be useful in installation work by hanging them on a crane hook when the charger 1A is to be transported to the installation site.

Turning to FIG. 5, the outer casing 15 includes a first outer casing 15a mounted on the front side of the central frame 14, and a second outer casing 15b mounted on the back side of the central frame 14. As shown in the same drawing, the first outer casing 15a of the present example includes a side plate bent in a C-shape including a gradually curved line in cross section, and an upper plate where the side plate and the upper plate are bonded together by welding or the like. Additionally, as shown in FIG. 4, an operator panel 151 is provided on the front side plate for receiving input of work instructions and displaying control states, for example, and an element pocket 152 for accommodating an unused charging element 12.

The second outer casing 15b of the present example is formed into a flat plate, as shown in FIG. 5, and a through hole 153 is opened on it, in which the power conversion circuit 3 and the rectifier 5 are mounted, and a through hole 154 for exposing the radiators mounted on the power conversion circuit 3 and the rectifier 5, out of the chassis. Additionally, the first outer casing 15a and the second outer casing 15b, as shown in FIG. 6 are mounted on the central frame 14 by fastening their connecting parts together with bolts, screws or the like, as shown in FIG. 6.

Meanwhile, although the first outer casing 15a is formed in a C-shape in cross section and the second outer casing 15b is formed as a flat plate, in this example, the outer casing 15 according to the present invention is not limited to such a shape, and therefore both components 15a 15b can be formed in a C-shape in cross section.

The outer casing 15a is mounted on the main part 142 of the Central frame so as to be movable due to the rail structure. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, on both sides of the main part 142 of the Central frame, in its three places that are vertically spaced apart, L-shaped corner plates 145 are attached, while on both inner sides of the first outer casing 15a, similarly in its three places, which arranged vertically spaced apart, L-shaped corner pads 155 are attached. These L-shaped corner pads 145 of the central frame and the L-shaped corner pads 155 of the first outer casing are joined together as shown in FIG. 12. The first outer casing 15a thereby becomes movable back and forth with respect to the main body 142 of the center frame, thereby improving the efficiency when installing or removing the first outer casing 15a.

At the same time, since the tube 143 on which the suspension devices 144 are mounted as described above is provided so as to pass through the first outer casing 15a and the main part 142 of the central frame, the outer casing 15 and the main part 142 of the central frame, thus fastened together both in the vertical direction and in the longitudinal direction. On the other hand, when the tube 143 is detached and the bolts or the like fastening the first outer casing 15a to the second outer casing 15b are disconnected, the first outer casing 15a or the second outer casing 15b is easily detached from the main body 142 of the central frame.

Hereinafter, descriptions will be given regarding power conversion components mounted on the main body 142 of the center frame. FIG. 3 shows a vertical cross-sectional view of an installation structure of power conversion components on a main body 142 of a central frame; 6 likewise shows a mounting structure of power conversion components on a main body 142 of a central frame in a horizontal cross section, and FIG. 11A and FIG. 11B show the installation status of all components.

As shown in FIG. 6 in a horizontal cross section, two spaces A, B lie inside the chassis 13 and are separated by the main part 142 of the central frame. More specifically, they are two spaces from a space A bounded by a C-shaped cross section of the main body 142 of the center frame and a space B from its rear side. In this example, the components that create heat when they are mounted in the main body 142 of the center frame are mounted in a space A limited by a C-shaped cross section. More specifically, since the heat generating components among the power conversion components shown in FIG. 2 are a power conversion circuit 3, a rectifier 5 and a transformer 4, they are mounted on the side of the space A. The fan 16 is at the same time mounted in the through hole 153 opening on the second outer casing 15b shown in FIG. 5 so that, as shown in FIG. 3, to suck in and introduce cooling air into the space.

On the other hand, while the remaining components in FIG. 2 can be mounted in the remaining area in spaces A, B, these components are placed to extend in the direction of passage of electric power as far as possible when they are mounted in the main body 142 of the central frame. More specifically, if the power chopper 11, the filter reactors 81, the power conversion circuit 3, the matrix converter control circuit 9, the transformer 4, the rectifier 5, and the smoothing circuit 7 can be placed in this order, the imbalance between the respective phases arising from the inductances between the lines, and noise will be suppressed, thereby increasing the power conversion efficiency.

Thus, in this example, the elements are arranged in the arrangement shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 11A, 11B. Briefly, a three-phase current power source 2, such as an industrial power supply, is inserted through a base plate 141 of the central frame 14 and connected to a power chopper 11 mounted in the uppermost part of the space A. Cables from the power chopper 11 are inserted through the through holes 146 (see Fig. 5), open on the main part 142 of the Central frame, and are connected to the filter reactors 81 mounted in the uppermost part of the space B.

The cables from the filter reactors 81 are likewise inserted through the through holes 146 open on the central frame 142 and connected to a power conversion circuit 3 located in the next stage for space A. In space B, behind the power conversion circuit 3, a matrix control circuit 9 is mounted the converter, and control cables from the matrix converter control circuit 9 are inserted through the through holes 146 open on the central frame 142 and connected to the power conversion circuit 3.

Typically, the transformer 4 is preferably mounted after the power conversion circuit in space A. Since the transformer 4, however, is heavy in weight and the stability of the charger 1A is assumed to be very good, the transformer 4 is mounted in the lowest part of the space A. Cables from the circuit 3 power conversions, respectively, are connected to the transformer 4 in the lowest part of the space A, and the cables from the transformer 4 are connected to the rectifier 5, mounted after the conversion circuit 3 m in the space A. And the cables from the rectifier 5 are inserted through the through holes 146 open on the central frame 142 and connected to the smoothing circuit 7 mounted in the lowermost part of the space B. Meanwhile, the cable 12a, at the end of which the charging element 12 is mounted, is brought out through the corresponding point of the first outer casing 15a to the outside. FIG. 11A shows the mounting state of the components with the main frame 142 of the center frame viewed from the front, and FIG. 11B shows the same from behind.

FIG. 10 shows a state where radiators 10 mounted with a power conversion circuit 3 and a rectifier 5 are mounted on an edge of a main body 142 of the central frame. On the rear sides of the radiators 10, a power conversion circuit 3 and a rectifier 5 are mounted. Since the radiators 10 are attached to the edge of the main part 142 of the central frame and the radiators 10 with high rigidity become the structure that makes up the main part 142 of the central frame, the rigidity of the main part 142 of the central frame is improved .

The above embodiment provides the following results.

1) In this example, since the chassis 13 of the charger 1A consists of the main part 142 of the central frame, in which the base plate 141 is attached to the installation site in its lower part, the power conversion components are mounted on it and the external housings 15a, 15b are removably connected to of the main frame 142 under consideration in such a way as to cover both sides thereof, when the first outer casing 15a is disconnected from the main frame 142 of the central frame, filter reactors 81, a matrix converter control circuit 9 can be made ground or smoothing circuit 7, any of which is mounted in space B, ready for maintenance or inspection, as shown in FIG. 11A. Additionally, when the second outer casing 15b is detached from the main frame 142 of the central frame, a power chopper 11, a power conversion circuit 3, a rectifier 5 or a transformer 4, any of which is mounted in space A, can be made ready for maintenance or inspection, as shown in FIG. 11B. The charger 1A of this example thus has a better maintenance or inspection capability, improves design freedom with respect to the outer casing 15, and can make the charger 1A itself compact.

2) In this example, since the first outer casing 15 and the main part 142 of the central frame are designed to be movable by engaging the L-shaped corner plates 145, 155, assembly efficiency including positioning the first outer casing 15a relative to the main part 142 of the central frame during detachment and attachment is noticeably improved.

3) In this example, since the main part 142 of the center frame is formed in a C-shape in horizontal cross section and the power conversion components are mounted on both sides thereof, the density of the interconnects is increased, and furthermore, the lengths of the cables connecting the components can be reduced .

4) In this example, since the through holes 146 open in the main body 142 of the center frame and the cables connecting the power conversion components are inserted through them, the cable lengths can be further shortened.

5) In this example, the main part 142 of the central frame is formed in a C-shape in cross section in a space A bounded by a C-shaped cross section, a power conversion circuit 3 is mounted, a transformer 4 and a rectifier 5 generating heat, and cooling air must be supplied into space A by means of fan 16. Although stagnation of heated air can be prevented without any mechanism since space A is limited by a C-shaped cross section, in this example, fan 16 is provided, in zduh, pumped from the uppermost part of the space A, as shown in FIG. 3, flows downward without propagating through the space A bounded by a C-shaped cross-section of the main part 142 of the central frame towards the lower part. It can thus cool the components that create heat. Further, since the radiators 10, in particular, are provided on the power conversion circuit 3 and the rectifier 5 generating significant heat, and the radiators 10 are exposed outside through the through hole 154 of the second outer casing 15b, the cooling efficiency is further improved.

6) In this example, since the power chopper 11, the power conversion circuit 3, the rectifier 5 and the transformer 4 are arranged in this order, the cable lengths between the power conversion components are made as equal as possible, the flows of the respective powers in the theoretical circuit of the charger 1A shown in FIG. 2 and the actual circuit shown in FIG. 3 become substantially equal. As a result, power conversion efficiency can be improved.

Power chopper, filter reactors 81, power conversion circuit 3, matrix converter control circuit 9, transformer 4, rectifier 5 and smoothing circuit 7, which are described above, correspond to the power conversion components in the present invention, L-shaped corner plates 145, 155 correspond to a rail the structure of the present invention, the transformer 4 corresponds to the voltage conversion circuit of the present invention, and the rectifier corresponds to the rectification circuit of the present invention.

List of Reference Items

1 charging system

1A charger

2 three-phase current power source

3 power conversion circuit

31, 311-316 bidirectional switching device

32, 321-326 smoothing filter circuit

327 smoothing filter capacitor

4 transformer

5 straightener

6 battery

7 smoothing circuit

8 filter circuit

81 filter reactor

82L, 82R filter capacitor

9 matrix converter control circuit

10 radiator

11 power chopper

12 charging cell

13 chassis

14 central frame

141 backing plate

142 main part of the central frame

143 handset

144 hanging device

145 L-shaped corner plate

146 through hole

15 outer casing

15a first outer casing

15b second outer casing

151 operator panel

152 pocket for item

153, 154 through hole

155 L-shaped corner pad

16 fan

Claims (5)

1. A battery charger comprising:
a central frame made in a C-shape in horizontal cross section and fixed at the installation site;
power conversion components for converting power from the general power supply network to DC power installed on both sides of the central frame;
an outer casing formed by a first casing covering the power conversion components from the side opposite to the open part of the C-shaped central frame, and a second casing closing the C-shaped central frame from the side of the open part, the outer casing being removably mounted on the central frame; and
a fan supplying cooling air to an area bounded by a C-shaped cross section of a central frame,
wherein the inner part of the outer casing is surrounded by a central frame and a second casing with the formation of one space that is separated from another space formed in the inner part,
wherein components at least generating heat from the power conversion components are installed in said one space of the central frame, and other components from power conversion components are installed in said other space of the central frame, and
in this case, cooling air flows from the fan into the specified one space. 2. The battery charger of claim 1, wherein the power conversion components include a power chopper, a filter circuit, a power conversion circuit, a voltage conversion circuit, a rectifier circuit, a smoothing circuit, and a control circuit for the power conversion circuit, and
heat generating components include a power conversion circuit, a voltage conversion circuit, and a rectifier circuit. 3. The battery charger according to claim 2, wherein the power chopper, the filter circuit, the smoothing circuit, and the control circuit of the power conversion circuit are installed in said other space of the central frame. 4. The battery charger according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the power conversion circuit and the rectifier circuit are provided with a radiator, and
the radiator is mounted so as to protrude outward through a through hole formed in the second casing. 5. The battery charger according to claim 4, in which the radiator is fixed in the hole of the C-shaped cross section of the Central frame.

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