WO2018060151A1

WO2018060151A1 - Charging system for charging an electric vehicle

Info

Publication number: WO2018060151A1
Application number: PCT/EP2017/074271
Authority: WO
Inventors: Andre-Hermann NOBBENHUIS; Holger Seifert
Original assignee: Phoenix Contact E-Mobility Gmbh
Priority date: 2016-09-27
Filing date: 2017-09-26
Publication date: 2018-04-05
Also published as: DE102016118191A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a charging system for charging an electric vehicle (4), said charging system comprising a plug-in connector part (3) for plug-in connection to a mating connector part (40) of the electric vehicle (4) and a charging cable (2) on which the plug-in connector part (3) is arranged and which comprises at least one load line (23) for transmitting an electrical current and at least one fluid line (21, 22) for guiding a gaseous fluid for cooling the charging cable (2) and/or the plug-in connector part (3) arranged on the charging cable (2). A conveyor device (10) is fluidically connected to the at least one fluid line (21, 22), for conveying a gaseous fluid into the at least one fluid line (21, 22). In addition, a recovery device (11) is provided for separating at least one substance from the fluid conveyed by the conveyor device (10) into the at least one fluid line (21, 22), said recovery device being arranged between the conveyor device (10) and the at least one fluid line (21, 22) and fluidically connected to the at least one fluid line (21, 22). A charging system is thereby provided, which allows effective cooling using a gaseous fluid.

Description

Charging system for charging an electric vehicle

The invention relates to a charging system according to the preamble of claim 1.

Such a charging system for charging an electric vehicle includes a connector part for mating with a mating connector part of the electric vehicle and a charging cable to which the connector part is arranged and the at least one load line for transmitting an electric current and at least one fluid line for conducting a gaseous fluid for cooling the Charging cable and / or arranged on the charging cable connector part has. With the at least one fluid line, a conveyor is fluidly connected, which serves for conveying a gaseous fluid into the at least one fluid line, to provide in this way a cooling on the charging cable and / or the connector part.

Charging currents can be transmitted in principle as direct currents or as alternating currents, in particular charging currents in the form of direct current a large current, for example greater than 200 A or even greater than 350 A, and lead to heating of the cable as well as a connected to the cable connector part can. This may require cooling the cable.

A charging cable known from DE 10 2010 007 975 B4 has a cooling line which comprises a supply line and a return line for a coolant and thus allows a coolant flow to and fro in the charging cable. The cooling line of DE 10 2010 007 975 B4 serves, on the one hand, to dissipate heat loss arising at an energy store of a vehicle, but also to cool the cable per se. Existing solutions of charging cables with an integrated cooling line may have the disadvantage that a dissipation of heat to a load line - especially with large charging currents - is only partially possible. As a result, despite a cooling line, (significant) heating of the cable may occur. A solution to counteract such heating on the cable could be to further increase the cross-section of the load line in the cable. However, this has the disadvantage that the cable as a whole is heavier and less flexible, so that the handling of the cable may be impaired for a user. In a charging system for charging an electric vehicle heat is generated not only on the cable to which a charging plug is connected for example to a charging station, but also on the charging plug and in particular within the charging plug, for example, contact elements via which an electrical contact with associated mating contact elements, for example Side of a charging socket on an electric vehicle is made when the charging plug is plugged into the charging socket. Such contact elements, which are made of an electrically conductive metal material, such as a copper material, heat up when a charging current flows through the contact elements, in principle, the contact elements are to be dimensioned in dependence on the charging current to be transmitted so that the contact elements sufficient Have current carrying capacity and heating at the contact elements is limited. In this case, the larger the transfer current to be transferred, the larger the size of a contact element.

A scaling of the contact element size with increasing charging current, however, are limited due to the associated space requirements, the weight and the cost. There is therefore a need to transfer a large charging current with a comparatively small sized contact element.

In a charging system known from WO 2015/1 19791 A1 for charging an electric vehicle, coolant lines are routed within a charging cable, via which heat can also be removed from the region of a connector part connected to the charging cable.

When using a gaseous fluid as the coolant, the cooling is effected by convection by heat is received on the charging cable and / or the connector part, in particular the contact elements of the connector part, by convection. The cooling gas is for this purpose along the charging cable and passed through the connector part, so that the gas can flow through areas of the charging cable and the connector part, in which current flows and in which it can thus come in operation for heating.

In such a cooling is to ensure that the cooling of the electrical insulation of load lines in the charging cable and contact elements in the connector part is not affected. The object of the present invention is to provide a charging system which enables effective cooling using a gaseous fluid.

This object is achieved by an article having the features of claim 1.

Accordingly, the charging system comprises a processing device arranged between the conveyor and the at least one fluid line and connected to the at least one fluid line for separating at least one substance from the fluid conveyed by the conveyor into the at least one fluid line.

By means of the at least one fluid line, a cooling of the charging cable can be provided. In addition, by means of the at least one fluid line, a fluid can also be supplied to the connector part and flow through a portion of the connector part, for example to absorb heat at one or more electrical contact elements of the connector part. For this purpose, the gaseous fluid can flow around a contact element (free), be guided by a line on the contact element or be passed through a channel formed in the contact element.

The processing device serves to remove from the gaseous fluid those substances which could possibly have adverse effects on the operation of the charging system. The treatment device can be, for example, an oil separator or a condensate separator, so that, for example, oil components or moisture components can be removed from the fluid by means of the conditioning device.

By means of the treatment device, it is possible, in particular, to remove substances from the fluid which could possibly have an influence on the electrical insulation of components of the charging cable and / or of the connector part. Contains the fluid, for example, substances that may cause an electrical conductivity under certain circumstances and could affect the dielectric strength between components of the charging cable or the connector part, for example between contact elements of the connector part, these substances can be removed by means of the treatment device from the fluid, so that their Minimized proportion in the fluid and consequently a possible impairment of the dielectric strength is reduced. The processing device is arranged between the conveying device and the at least one fluid line of the charging cable. The conveyor thus promotes the fluid through the treatment device in the fluid line, so that the fluid is treated before it enters the fluid line. The flowing in the fluid line to the connector part fluid is thus processed and thus cleaned so that it has advantageous properties for cooling the charging cable and connected to the charging cable connector part. An oil separator serves to separate oils from the fluid. In contrast, a condensate separator serves to separate moisture components from the fluid. By means of the oil separator, the fluid can thus be cleaned of oil components. By means of the condensate, the water content of the fluid can be minimized. For example, an oil separator may use a filter to separate oil components from the fluid. In contrast, a condensate separator can be formed, for example, by a compressed-air refrigerant dryer which extracts moisture from a fluid, in particular air, compressed by a compressor. This follows the principle that the water absorption capacity of air depends primarily on the temperature. As the air temperature rises, so does the ability to absorb water vapor. When sucked air is compressed by a compressor, the water vapor content in the compressed air increases, which then condenses when the temperature drops and occurs as liquid water. In a compressed air refrigerant dryer, condensate is separated and discharged from compressed air using a heat exchanger such as a plate heat exchanger, a shell and tube heat exchanger or a fin heat exchanger.

The conveyor may be, for example, a compressor device for compressing the fluid. The compressor means delivers the fluid to the connected fluid conduit so that the fluid flows through the fluid conduit along the charging cable towards the connector part. A compressor (also referred to as a compressor) is a fluid energy machine used to compress gases. Such compressors may be configured, for example, as so-called piston compressors or screw compressors. In a specific embodiment, the conveying device is formed by a turbo-compressor which has at least one rotatable impeller arranged on a shaft. The impeller is driven by an (electric) drive and carries a plurality of blades that promote fluid flow by rotating the impeller. Such a turbocompressor is able to produce a comparatively large volume flow. By using such a turbocompressor, it can be achieved that comparatively small amounts of contaminating substances, for example oils, are admixed with the fluid during the compression and the purity of the fluid during delivery by the turbocompressor is thus not impaired or at least only slightly impaired.

It is also conceivable and possible to design the delivery device through a reservoir, from which the fluid can escape under expansion of the fluid. In the reservoir, the fluid is kept under pressure or, for example, in liquid form. By expansion, the fluid is conveyed from the reservoir and flows into the fluid line. The use of such a conveyor in the form of a reservoir can bring the advantage that the fluid in the reservoir can be kept in a particularly pure form and no subsequent compression in a compressor device is required. Contamination of the fluid by compression in a compressor device is thus excluded.

Optionally, however, such a reservoir can also be used in addition to a compressor device. The fluid may thus flow from a reservoir to a compressor device, such as a turbo-compressor, to be further compressed in the compressor device and conveyed to the fluid line. The gaseous fluid may be, for example, nitrogen, carbon dioxide or a noble gas.

The gaseous fluid preferably has a degree of purity above a certain limit. If a treatment device is used, this degree of purity is set, for example, by the treatment device. It may be advantageous, however, that the fluid is already present in a reservoir in a particularly pure form. For example, a fluid in the form of z. As carbon dioxide, nitrogen or a noble gas advantageously with a purity of about 99.9% Vol. (Volume percent) can be used. This is understood to mean that the volume fraction of impurities in the fluid, ie the content of foreign substances in the fluid, is less than 0.1% by volume. is. The fluid is thus in a highly pure form. The object is also achieved by a charging system for charging an electric vehicle having a connector part for plug-in connection with a mating connector part of the electric vehicle and a charging cable to which the connector part is arranged and the at least one load line for transmitting an electric current and at least one fluid line for conducting a gaseous fluid for cooling the charging cable and / or arranged on the charging cable connector part comprises. With the at least one fluid line, a conveying device is flow-connected, which serves for conveying a gaseous fluid into the at least one fluid line. It is provided that the conveyor is formed by a turbocompressor having at least one arranged on a shaft rotatable impeller which is drivable by a drive means and having a plurality of blades for conveying the fluid.

By means of such a turbo compressor, a comparatively large volume flow of a gaseous fluid can be conveyed into the fluid line. By using such a turbocompressor contamination of the pumped fluid during compression can be reduced as much as possible. For example, it can at least largely be avoided that oil components enter the fluid during compression. Contamination of the fluid during compression can thus be at least reduced, for example compared to compression using a conventional reciprocating compressor or screw compressor.

The object is also achieved by a charging system for charging an electric vehicle having a connector part for plug-in connection with a mating connector part of the electric vehicle and a charging cable to which the connector part is arranged and the at least one load line for transmitting an electric current and at least one fluid line to Conducting a gaseous fluid for cooling the charging cable and / or arranged on the charging cable connector part comprises. With the at least one fluid line, a conveying device is flow-connected, which serves for conveying a gaseous fluid into the at least one fluid line. It is provided that the fluid is a gas or gas mixture having a purity of advantageously over 99.9% Vol. is.

The fluid may be, for example, nitrogen.

The fact that the fluid has a special degree of purity and thus only small amounts of contaminating substances, such as oil or Moisture content, which could otherwise lead to a deterioration of the dielectric strength of the charging cable or the connector part, the safety of the charging system can be increased. In particular, it can be ruled out that, by using the gaseous fluid for cooling, a short circuit can occur, for example, in the connector part.

The idea underlying the invention will be explained in more detail with reference to the embodiments illustrated in the figures. Show it:

Figure 1 is a view of a charging station with a cable disposed thereon.

Fig. 2 is a view of a connector part of the cable;

Fig. 3 is a schematic view of a charging system with a on a

Charging cable arranged connector part;

Fig. 4 is a schematic view of a charging system, in which between a

Conveyor and a fluid line of the charging cable processing equipment is arranged;

Fig. 5 is a schematic view of a charging system in which a fluid from a

Conveyor is introduced in the form of a reservoir in a fluid line;

Fig. 6 is a schematic view of a conveyor in the form of a

Turbo compressor;

7A is a schematic front view of a paddle wheel of the

Turbo compressor; and

Fig. 7B is a schematic, perspective view of the paddle wheel.

Fig. 1 shows a charging station 1, which serves for charging an electrically driven vehicle 4, also referred to as an electric vehicle. The charging station 1 is designed to provide a charging current in the form of an alternating current or a direct current and has a cable 2, which has an end 201 with the Charging station 1 and connected to another end 200 with a connector part 3 in the form of a charging plug.

As can be seen from the enlarged view of FIG. 2, the connector part 3 on a housing 30 plug portions 300, 301, with which the connector part 3 can be plugged into engagement with an associated mating connector part 40 in the form of a charging socket on the vehicle 4. In this way, the charging station 1 can be electrically connected to the vehicle 4 in order to transmit charging currents from the charging station 1 to the vehicle 4.

In order to enable a quick charging of the electric vehicle 4, the transmitted charging currents have a large current intensity, e.g. greater than 200 A, possibly even on the order of 350 A or above. Due to such high charging currents, it comes to the lines of the cable 2 to thermal losses that can lead to heating of the cable 2. For example, at the current levels used at a charging station 1, thermal losses in the range of 150 W per meter of the cable 2 or even more may occur, which may be accompanied by considerable heating of the cable 2. A large amount of current could generally be countered by using large line cross-section electrical leads. However, this not only increases the cost of the cable 2, but also affects the handling of the cable 2, because with the cable cross-section and the weight of the cables and thus the cable 2 increases. There is therefore a need for an active cooling of the cable 2, with the excessive heating of the cable 2 can be avoided, without requiring an excessive enlargement of the cable cross-section of the laid in the cable 2 lines is required.

In an exemplary embodiment of a charging system shown in FIG. 3, a charging cable 2 has one or more load lines 23 which serve to conduct an electrical current. The charging cable 2 is connected on the one hand to a charging station 1 and on the other hand to a connector part 3, which can be plugged into an associated mating connector part 40 on the side of an electric vehicle 4, in order to thus establish an electrical connection between the charging station 1 and the electric vehicle 4 for charging Batteries of the electric vehicle 4 produce. The load lines 23 may be, for example, electrical lines that serve to transmit a direct current. It is conceivable and possible, however, that a charging current is transmitted in the form of an alternating current. In the illustrated embodiment, in a cable tube 20 of the charging cable 2 fluid lines 21, 22 are enclosed, which extend in the charging cable 2 and serve to conduct a cooling fluid along the charging cable 2. The fluid lines 21, 22 extend along the entire length of the charging cable 2 from the charging station 1 to the connector part 3, wherein a first fluid line 21 for conducting a fluid from the charging station 1 to the connector part 3 in a first flow direction F1 and a second fluid line 22 for returning the fluid from the connector part 3 to the charging station 1 in a second flow direction F2 is used. The fluid lines 21, 22 are connected to each other and form a circuit which also extends through the connector part 3 and thus provides cooling not only on the charging cable 2, but also in the connector part 3.

During operation, the fluid lines 21, 22 are flowed through by a gaseous fluid, which is fed into the fluid line 21 by a delivery device 10, for example in the form of a compressor device. The fluid lines 21, 22 are, for example, tubular, but thin-walled, for example, so that a fluid flowing through the fluid lines 21, 22 picks up heat convectively on its way along the charging cable 2 and through the connector part 3 and discharges it from the charging cable 2 and the connector part 3 can. It is also conceivable and possible here for the fluid to flow through a space of the housing 30 of the connector part 3 and, for example, to contact or flow around contact elements 302 of the connector part 3. In this way, the fluid can effectively absorb heat from the contact elements 302 and dissipate them from the contact elements 302.

In particular, when a cooling fluid electrically conductive components, such as the contact elements 302 of the connector part 3, flows freely, it must be ensured that the reliability of the charging system is not affected by this cooling. In particular, it must be ensured that the insulation does not impair the insulation between contact elements 302 of the connector part 3 due to the fluid, so that short-circuits on the connector part 3 or on other components of the charging system can not occur. For this reason, in the embodiment according to FIG. 4 between the compressor device 10 and the fluid line 21, a treatment device 1 1 is provided, which can be configured, for example, as an oil separator or as a condensate separator and serves substances from the conveyor 10 into the fluid line 21 segregated pumped fluid. For example, the treatment device 1 1 can serve to separate out oil fractions and / or moisture fractions from the fluid, so that the oil content and / or the moisture content in the fluid is reduced.

In particular, by means of the treatment device 1 1 such substances can be discarded, which otherwise cause electrical conductivity and thus could have an impairment of the insulation between electrically conductive components of the charging system result. The fact that the fluid is conveyed in conditioned form into the fluid line 21 and thus via the fluid lines 21, 22 along the charging cable 2 and through the connector part 3, the safety of the overall system can be increased because in particular reduces the risk of short circuits in the system is. The circuit provided by the fluid lines 21, 22 may be open or closed within the charging station 1. Thus, fluid flowing back via the fluid line 22 can in turn be fed via the conveyor 10 into the fluid line 21, so that a closed circuit is provided. However, it is also conceivable and possible for the fluid to flow out of the fluid line 22 and not be guided back into the fluid line 21.

The fluid lines 21, 22 may be laid as hose lines within the cable tube 20. It is also conceivable and possible, however, that the fluid flows freely within the cable tube 20 and the cable tube 20 thus forms a fluid line itself. In this case, it would also be possible to dispense with a recirculating fluid line 22, if the fluid can freely flow out on the side of the connector part 3.

The compressor device 10 may be, for example, a reciprocating compressor or a screw compressor. In a specific embodiment, the conveyor 10 is formed by a turbocompressor, as shown schematically in Fig. 6 and 7A, 7B. Such a turbocompressor realizes a kinematic reversal of a turbine and has a rotatable impeller 100 driven by an electrical drive device 103 with paddle wheels 102 arranged on a shaft 101. The impeller 100 is used to convey a volume flow through the conveyor 10 towards the fluid line 21 by the impeller 100 is driven by the drive means 103 and thus a gaseous fluid is conveyed in the flow direction F1. Such a turbocompressor may have one or more impellers 100. The impellers 100 may be configured to generate an axial fluid flow or a radial, outward fluid flow (so-called axial or radial compressor). The use of a turbocompressor has the advantage that contamination of the fluid flow can be avoided, for example, by oils. The purity of the fluid flow is thus not or only slightly affected by the compression in the conveyor 10. If such a turbocompressor is used as the conveying device 10, it is fundamentally also possible to dispense with a processing device 11 as shown in FIG. 4. In this case, as shown in Fig. 3, a fluid can be fed directly via the conveyor 10 in the form of the turbo compressor in the fluid line 21.

In an embodiment shown in Fig. 5, the conveyor 10 is formed by a reservoir 12 containing a fluid which can flow from the reservoir 12 into the fluid line 21. The fluid can be present in the reservoir 12, for example in compressed form, and escape by expansion from the reservoir 12 and thus flow into the fluid line 21. It is also conceivable and possible for the fluid in the reservoir 12 to be in liquid form and to be introduced into the fluid line 21 with evaporation.

The fluid held in the reservoir 12 may be, for example, a high purity gas or gas mixture. In particular, the proportion of oil or moisture in the fluid may be low. The fluid may be, for example, nitrogen.

A reservoir 12 of the type shown in Fig. 5 can in principle be used without a separate conveyor in the form of a compressor. However, it is also conceivable and possible to use a reservoir 12 in combination with an additional conveying device, for example a turbo-compressor of the type shown in FIGS. 6 and 7A, 7B.

The idea underlying the invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, but can in principle also be implemented in completely different embodiments.

For example, a treatment device can also be used to separate substances other than oil or moisture from the fluid. It is also conceivable and possible to provide different treatment devices for separating different substances from the fluid.

By way of example, the treatment device can also be a filter device by means of which dirt particles can be separated from the fluid.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

1 charging station

10 conveyor (compressor device)

100 impeller

101 wave

102 blades

103 Electric drive

1 1 conditioning device

12 reservoir

2 charging cables

20 cable hose

200, 201 finish

21, 22 fluid line

23 load line

3 charging plugs

30 housing

300, 301 plug-in section

4 vehicle

40 charging socket

F1, F2 flow direction

Claims

Patent claims

1 . Charging system for charging an electric vehicle (4), with

- a connector part

(3) for plug-in connection with a mating connector part (40) of the electric vehicle

(4),

a charging cable (2) on which the plug connector part (3) is arranged and which has at least one load line (23) for transmitting an electrical current and at least one fluid line (21, 22) for conducting a gaseous fluid for cooling the charging cable (2) and / or that arranged on the charging cable (2).

Connector part (3), and

a conveying device (10) which is flow-connected to the at least one fluid line (21, 22) for conveying a gaseous fluid into the at least one fluid line (21, 22), characterized by a between the conveying device (10) and the at least one fluid line (21, 22 ) arranged processing device (1 1) which is flow-connected to the at least one fluid line (21, 22) for separating at least one substance from the fluid conveyed by the conveying device (10) into the at least one fluid line (21, 22).

Charging system according to claim 1, characterized in that the processing device (1 1) is formed by an oil separator or a condensate separator.

Charging system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the conveying device (10) is designed by a compressor device for compressing the fluid.

Charging system according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the conveying device (10) is formed by a turbo compressor which has at least one rotatable impeller (101) arranged on a shaft (101) and which can be driven by a drive device (103). is and has a plurality of blades (102) for conveying the fluid.

5. Charging system according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the conveying device (10) is formed by a reservoir from which the fluid is conveyed by expansion of the fluid.

6. Charging system according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the fluid is nitrogen, carbon dioxide or a noble gas.

7. Charging system according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the fluid is a gas or gas mixture with a degree of purity greater than 99.9% vol. is.

8. Charging system for charging an electric vehicle (4), with

a connector part (3) for plug-in connection with a mating connector part (40) of the electric vehicle (4),

a charging cable (2) on which the plug connector part (3) is arranged and which has at least one load line (23) for transmitting an electrical current and at least one fluid line (21, 22) for conducting a gaseous fluid for cooling the charging cable (2) and / or the connector part (3) arranged on the charging cable (2), and

a conveying device (10) which is flow-connected to the at least one fluid line (21, 22) for conveying a gaseous fluid into the at least one fluid line (21, 22), characterized in that the conveying device (10) is formed by a turbo compressor which has at least one has a rotatable impeller (101) arranged on a shaft (101), which can be driven by a drive device (103) and has a plurality of blades (102) for conveying the fluid.

9. Charging system for charging an electric vehicle (4), with

a charging cable (2) on which the plug connector part (3) is arranged and which has at least one load line (23) for transmitting an electrical current and at least one fluid line (21, 22) for conducting a gaseous fluid to the Cooling the charging cable (2) and / or the connector part (3) arranged on the charging cable (2), and

a conveying device (10) which is flow-connected to the at least one fluid line (21, 22) for conveying a gaseous fluid into the at least one fluid line (21, 22), characterized in that the fluid is a gas or gas mixture with a degree of purity greater than 99.9% -Vol. is.

10. Charging system according to claim 9, characterized in that the fluid is nitrogen, carbon dioxide or a noble gas.