WO2022074051A1

WO2022074051A1 - Smart electrical connector for exchangeable battery units of an electrically operated vehicle

Info

Publication number: WO2022074051A1
Application number: PCT/EP2021/077545
Authority: WO
Inventors: Timo Hasenöhrl; Christian Lieb
Original assignee: Smart Battery Solutions GmbH
Priority date: 2020-10-06
Filing date: 2021-10-06
Publication date: 2022-04-14
Also published as: DE102020126158A1; EP4226450A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a smart electrical connector designed for contacting at least one battery unit with an electrically operated mobile unit comprising a plug system designed for plugging into a mating connector, wherein the plug system has at least two contacts for the flow of electrical current and at least one contact for data communication with the battery unit; control electronics (1) for controlling the at least one battery unit; wherein the control electronics (1) are designed to request operating data from the at least one battery unit via the contact for data communication, wherein the control electronics (1) are designed to create control commands for the at least one battery unit on the basis of the operating data of the battery unit and to send them to the at least one battery unit.

Description

Intelligent electrical connector for exchangeable battery units of an electrically powered vehicle

The mobile provision of energy using batteries, rechargeable batteries or comparable energy sources is becoming increasingly important. A few years ago, mostly smaller devices by users, such as flashlights, alarm clocks or remote controls were operated with batteries. In order to make this possible, certain standardizations, such as A, AA or AAA, prevailed for these batteries.

The demands on systems that require significantly more energy than conventional small devices, such as electrically powered vehicles (e-cars, e-scooters, ... ), are significantly higher in many respects. On the one hand, the batteries have to be changed much more frequently and, on the other hand, the batteries require specific management, for example to meet the requirements of electrically powered vehicles "e-vehicles". It is therefore common practice to produce individual custom-made products that are specially developed and produced for use in a product design intended for this purpose.

This is illustrated below using a concrete example of an e-scooter. Typically, one or two battery packs are located in the helmet compartment of an e-scooter to power the e-scooter's motor. In order to change a battery unit, a plug on the top of these batteries must first be released, a new battery unit inserted and the plug attached again by the user, which involves a lot of effort. In the case of several battery units, there is also the problem that these can have different voltage levels, so that these battery units have to be “managed” by a circuit breaker specially provided externally for this purpose.

It is therefore the object of the invention to specify techniques, in particular an intelligent electrical connector, which make the operation and/or changing of battery units in electric vehicles more efficient for users and/or for manufacturers. It is particularly the task of the invention to minimize manufacturing costs for the operation of e-vehicles and to shorten the changing time of the battery units.

This problem is solved with the features of the independent claims.

The features of the various aspects of the invention described below or of the various exemplary embodiments can be combined with one another unless this is explicitly ruled out or is technically imperative.

According to a first aspect of the invention, an intelligent electrical connector, also referred to as a smart connector, is specified, the intelligent electrical connector being designed to contact at least one battery unit with an electrically operated mobile unit, in particular with an electrically operated vehicle, the electrical connector The following includes a connector system designed for plugging into a mating connector, the connector system having at least two contacts for the flow of electrical current and at least one contact for data communication with the battery unit. The flow of current is used to operate the electric vehicle, with one contact being implemented as a positive pole and the other contact as a negative pole; control electronics for controlling the at least one

battery unit. The control electronics can be implemented in terms of hardware or by means of a corresponding algorithm in software for the control electronics. It is also possible to update the software via interfaces of the intelligent electrical connector; wherein the control electronics are designed to query operating data of the at least one battery unit via the contact for data communication; wherein the control electronics are set up to create control commands for the at least one battery unit based on the operating data of the battery unit and to send them to the at least one battery unit. On the one hand, this offers the advantage that battery units or accumulators of the e-vehicles can be quickly exchanged by means of the smart connector, since the otherwise complex connection and disconnection of the contacts is no longer necessary. In principle, this can technically be realized in three different ways. The smart connector can be provided on the battery, in which case the mating connector is integrated into the electric vehicle. The smart connector can be integrated into the electric vehicle, in which case the mating connector is integrated into the battery unit. Or the smart connector forms an adapter, i.e. a so-called intermediate plug, which connects the corresponding connections of the electric vehicle and the battery unit. The latter option offers the particular advantage that an existing fleet of vehicles can easily be upgraded with the new technology. The mating connector has the corresponding contacts functionally "in the same place" as the smart connector. The smart connector can be used with a variety of electrically powered mobile units, such as vehicles of any type that can be powered by battery units. But also with robots or charging stations to intelligently control the charging process.

The intelligent electrical connection plug, i.e. the smart connector, makes it possible to easily connect to both the battery unit's "BMS" battery management system and the "energy unit" by simply pulling the battery unit out of the smart connector and the new battery unit is inserted. The following are appropriately provided as standard functions of battery management systems: cell protection, charge control, load management, determination of the state of charge, determination of "cell health" (ageing, residual capacity, internal resistance, etc.), balancing of the cells, history, authentication and identification, communication, temperature monitoring and adjustment of the end-of-charge voltage .

This achieves the advantage that the control electronics of the smart connector can query or receive operating data of the battery unit from the BMS and can subsequently analyze them. Since battery units, such as lithium-ion batteries, are classified as dangerous goods be considered, it is necessary, for example, to be able to switch off the battery units in the event of an overload. The battery units are equipped with internal circuit breakers for this purpose. The circuit breakers thus enable a battery to be switched on and off. The control commands created by the control electronics are designed, for example, to control the internal circuit breaker of the battery unit. This advantageously enables the battery units to be switched off quickly and effectively in the event of an overload, for example, without the need for external power switches for this purpose. The control commands are transmitted to the battery unit via the data communication contact. The smart connector enables a simple adaptation of different applications and e-vehicles with different drive systems, since the battery units are standardized and work independently of the control electronics. By programming the control electronics to the requirements of the specific e-vehicle, a flexible individual technical solution is provided.

In one embodiment, the intelligent electrical connector plug has a first interface for a data connection between the control electronics and an engine control unit of the electrically operated vehicle for the exchange of engine control data, the control electronics being designed to query engine control data by means of the interface to the engine control unit, the control electronics being set up Create control commands for the at least one battery unit based on the operating data of the battery unit and the engine control data and send them to the at least one battery unit. The first interface is preferably designed as a CAN bus system, since this is the most widespread. However, l ² C, Lin bus or UART systems are also possible. The abbreviation CAN means Controller Area Network. With the use of the CAN bus system in the vehicle, electronic assemblies such as control units or intelligent sensors such as e.g. B. the steering angle sensor, networked with each other. The CAN bus system allows data to be exchanged between the control units on a uniform platform. The CAN bus serves as a so-called data highway. In a bus system, all components are connected via short spur lines connected to a common data line. This minimizes the effort involved in cabling, and additional components can easily be connected. However, the data flow must be controlled via an access method (protocol) if all components use a common bus line. Components from different manufacturers should also work together if possible. The Controller Area Network (CAN) connects several equal components (node) with each other via a 2-wire bus plus additional ground wire.

This offers the advantage that the control electronics can simultaneously take into account the requirements of the engine of the electric vehicle, provided by the exchange of engine control data, and the operating data of the batteries for creating the control commands. If, for example, only a very small amount of power is required from the motor in the event of an imminent overload situation of the battery unit, the switching off of the battery unit can possibly be postponed for the time being. The control data can also be such that the control electronics generate control commands in order to switch on further battery units. The smart connector therefore offers intelligent battery monitoring, control and regulation as well as a communication connection. In other words: to control and regulate the physical processes in the cells of a battery unit or a rechargeable battery and its cell packs, circuit breakers, so-called MOSFETS, transistors that can switch power under load, are required, among other things. These protect the battery unit from undervoltage, overvoltage and short circuits. This usually requires a number of external circuit breakers that corresponds to the number of battery units. In the case of the smart connector according to the invention, the circuit breakers are integrated by the control commands in a quasi-software manner, as a result of which manufacturing costs and manufacturing effort are significantly reduced, since the circuit breakers of the BMS implemented in terms of software are used.

The contact for data communication is preferably set up as CAN bus communication. This achieves the advantage that the internal CAN bus system, which is typically already present in the battery units, can be efficiently accessed and, in principle, all components, in particular the circuit breakers, of the battery unit that are connected to the CAN bus system receive control commands be able. In this preferred embodiment, two separate and independent CAN bus systems are provided, namely the contact for data communication and, as already described above, the first interface. This allows standardized batteries to be easily adapted to different applications by simply adapting the control electronics protocol to the engine control unit.

The control commands expediently have signals to switch the battery unit on or off.

This offers the advantage that batteries can be switched off quickly and reliably in the event of an overload, but also that several battery units can be flexibly connected in parallel or, depending on the system architecture, in series. The use of more than one battery pack is described in more detail below.

In the case of more than one battery unit, this can solve the problem that batteries should not be operated in parallel if their respective output voltages differ too much, since in this case undesirable interference currents would flow between the battery units. For example, the control electronics can detect (via BMS information) that the voltage of a first battery is higher than the voltage of a second battery to such an extent that the difference is greater than a predetermined voltage tolerance within which batteries can be operated in parallel.

In this case, the control electronics generate commands to switch on or continue to operate the first battery and to switch off the second battery to operate the electric vehicle. During operation of the electric vehicle, the output voltage of the first battery is therefore steadily lower, so that the second battery can be replaced with a new one Control command is added when the voltages of the two batteries are within the voltage tolerance. For this purpose, the algorithm can take into account the performance requirements of the system, such as prevailing temperatures and/or the age of the individual batteries. Another possibility is that the first battery is operated alone until the difference between the two batteries is again greater than the voltage tolerance and that the first battery is then switched off by the control command and the second battery is switched on.

The user of the electric vehicle can preferably choose via an interface whether he wants to operate several battery units in parallel or, for example, first want to run one of the battery units empty. The latter variant is particularly suitable if the user takes battery units into the house for charging. It is usually more convenient for the user to take a single battery unit that is completely discharged than two battery units that each have a charge level of 50%.

In a preferred embodiment, the intelligent electrical connector is integrated in the electrically operated user vehicle or in the battery unit or is designed as an adapter between the battery unit and the electrically operated user vehicle.

If the smart connector is integrated into the e-vehicle, this offers the advantage that the batteries can be offered in a standardized form and that, for example, a manufacturer can already integrate the special features of his e-vehicle into the smart connector integrated into the e-vehicle during construction, or in its control electronics, can implement. If the smart connector is integrated in the battery unit, the specifications of the electric vehicle can still be transmitted as parameters via the interface to the control electronics, for example. In a similar way, the specifications of the e-vehicle can also be transmitted to the adapter's control electronics. The adapter offers the advantage that an existing vehicle fleet can also be easily technically upgraded so that standardized battery units can be used. Preferably, the smart electrical connector has a second interface for communicating with a second smart electrical connector. Alternatively, the second intelligent electrical connector can also only be designed as a “contacting bridge”—that is, without control electronics. Such an unintelligent one is cheaper to manufacture.

This enables the advantage that several battery units, each with a smart connector, can be operated in parallel in the electric vehicle, and that the control electronics of the respective smart connectors can communicate with one another via the second interface in order to manage the battery units in a coordinated manner. For example, in this way the coordinated switching on and off can be made possible.

According to one exemplary embodiment, the control electronics of the first intelligent electrical connector are designed as a master unit and the control electronics of the second intelligent electrical connector are designed as a slave unit.

The master/slave concept is a form of hierarchical management of access to a common resource, usually in the form of a common data channel, in numerous regulation and control problems. If the first smart connector and the second smart connector were "equal" units, this could lead to interference problems since both smart connectors could, in principle, generate conflicting control commands. The master/slave concept therefore offers the advantage of "conflict-free" operation of several smart connectors. In principle, any number of smart connectors is possible. However, even with more than two Smart Connectors, only one Smart Connector fulfills a master function and the remaining Smart Connectors act as slaves.

The plug-in system is preferably designed such that it can be plugged in to the mating plug in a self-locating manner. This means that the pins of the smart connector, which ultimately form the electrical contact, when plugged in in a kind be guided so that they reliably contact the corresponding contacts of the mating connector. Of course, this also applies vice versa for the pins of the mating connector. This can be achieved, for example, by leaving enough space between the various pins of the smart connector so that they can initially be accommodated by a wider guide opening in the mating connector, which, however, tapers in the direction of the corresponding "mating contact". This provides safe and reliable guidance that ensures easy, self-locating insertion.

According to a second aspect of the invention, an energy supply system for an electrically operated vehicle is specified, the energy supply system comprising at least two intelligent electrical connection plugs integrated into the electrically operated vehicle—smart connectors—as described above; wherein the control electronics of the intelligent electrical connectors communicate with one another through their respective second interface, in particular the first intelligent electrical connector is configured as a master and the second intelligent electrical connector is configured as a slave, with the slave forwarding the operating data of the battery unit assigned to it to the master; at least two battery units for plugging into the intelligent electrical connection plugs, the battery units being designed at least in sections as mating plugs; wherein the control electronics of the first intelligent electrical connector is set up to query operating data of the two battery units and engine control data of the vehicle and based on this to generate individual control commands for the two battery units. This achieves the advantage that e-vehicles, in particular e-cars, e-scooters or e-bicycles, can be conveniently operated with standardized battery units, while at the same time it is possible to quickly change battery units that have run out. For this purpose, the battery units only have to be provided with corresponding mating plugs.

The control electronics of the respective Smart Connectors query the operating data of the battery unit assigned to it from the BMS of the battery unit. The operating data of all battery units come together in the control electronics of the first smart connector and enable this control electronics to function as a kind of cluster manager for the battery units and to control them in a coordinated manner by software by generating individual control commands for the internal circuit breakers of the battery units and sending them to them . In the control electronics of the smart connector, in particular the first smart connector, algorithms can be implemented in terms of hardware or software that determine when a battery unit is to be switched off, can be switched on and/or whether battery units are to be operated in parallel. For example, a manufacturer can specify that two battery units should be operated in parallel if the magnitude of the voltage difference is not greater than 500 mV, preferably 400 mV. In addition, the algorithm can also take into account the cell technologies of the respective battery units and/or the age of the cells when making the decision to connect in parallel. For example, if two battery packs have a significant difference in the age of their cells, the output voltage of the older battery pack may decay much faster than that of the younger battery pack. In this case, it can prove to be advantageous to operate these two battery units in parallel only if the voltage difference is smaller, for example if the voltage difference is less than 100 mV. By programming the control electronics to the requirements of the specific e-vehicle, a flexible, individual technical solution is provided.

The power switches integrated into the battery units are expediently set up to respond to the control commands. This offers the advantage that no external switch must be installed, which significantly reduces manufacturing costs.

According to one exemplary embodiment, the control commands are transmitted via the respective CAN bus systems of the battery units.

This offers the advantage that an already existing internal communication system of the battery units can be used efficiently, which is at the same time able to address all controllable components of the battery unit.

According to one embodiment, the connectors are attached to a road-facing surface of the vehicle. Accordingly, the mating connectors are provided on a surface of the battery units that faces the road in the inserted state. As already explained above, the mating connector can alternatively also be assigned to the vehicle and the smart connector to the battery unit. In this case, the mating connector would be attached to a surface of the vehicle opposite the road, in particular in the helmet compartment of an e-scooter, and the smart connector would be provided on a surface of the battery unit that faces the road when inserted.

This offers the advantage that, due to gravity, the contacts of the smart connector and the mating connector are constantly subjected to force on one another, so that the energy supply system is protected from the connector and mating connector becoming detached from one another, for example in the event of vibrations that can occur during a journey therefore out of touch. The features of this exemplary embodiment thus ensure that the contacts "always find each other".

According to a third aspect of the invention, a method for changing a battery unit in the energy supply system described above is specified, comprising the following steps Pull out one of the battery units and push in the

Mating connector of a replacement battery in the intelligent electric

Electrically powered vehicle connector or

Pulling out one of the battery packs and inserting the smart electrical connector of a replacement battery into mating connectors of the electrified vehicle.

This offers the advantage that standardized battery units for operating an electric vehicle can be exchanged quickly and efficiently.

Preferred exemplary embodiments of the present invention are explained below with reference to the accompanying figure:

1 shows an exploded view of the smart connector according to the invention, which is also referred to as an intelligent electrical connector.

FIG. 2: shows the smart connector from FIG. 1 in a plan view from above.

FIG. 3 shows a mating connector for the smart connector from FIG. 1 .

Fig. 4: shows the smart connector together with the mating connector from Fig. 3.

Fig. 5: a master smart connector and two slave smart connectors.

Fig. 6 shows schematically an energy supply system of an electric vehicle with the smart connector according to the invention.

Numerous features of the present invention are explained in detail below on the basis of preferred embodiments. The present disclosure is not limited to the combinations of features specifically mentioned. Rather, the ones mentioned here Combine features as desired to form embodiments according to the invention, unless this is expressly excluded below.

1 shows an exploded drawing of a smart connector 100, which is also referred to as an intelligent electrical connection plug 100. The smart connector 100 includes the following components, presented in a table for clarity.

In this case, the electronic control system 1 is designed as a cluster manager 1 . This includes the control electronics 1 making both operating information of one or more battery units 210, 220 and engine control data accessible, and the control electronics 1 generating control commands for the one or more battery units 210, 220 based thereon. The alternative designation as cluster manager 1 for the electronic control system 1 is based on the fact that the electronic control system 1 is designed to coordinate several battery units 210, 220—also referred to as “battery clusters”. For this purpose, the control electronics 1 sends the control commands directly into a CAN bus system of the battery units 210, 220 and thereby controls the functional components of the battery units 210, 220 directly. In particular, this enables the internal power switches of the battery units 210, 220 to be controlled by software, so that advantageously no longer external power switches are required to switch the battery units 210, 220 on or off. The Smart Connector 100 combines in a unique way: i) power and signal pins for a power class suitable for electric vehicles, ii) number of pins, iii) a > IP65 safety standard, iv) self-locating structure including tolerance compensation and v) a Control electronics 1 as a cluster manager 1. FIG. 2 shows the smart connector 100 from FIG. 1 in a plan view from above. The smart connector 100 preferably has the following contacts on a top side:

The energy for operating the electric vehicle is transmitted from a battery unit 210 to a negative pole 101 and a positive pole 102 of the smart connector 100 . The battery unit 210 is connected to the smart connector 100 with a mating connector 200 . A "Not Connected" contact 103 is provided as a reserve contact, so that in principle an additional signaling channel can be implemented in the smart connector. A "Chargesense" contact 104 detects whether the battery unit 210 is being charged or whether a charging device is connected to the electric vehicle. The battery unit 210 can be activated by means of a “push button” contact 105 . An "ID pin" contact 106 enables the control electronics acting as a cluster manager to assign which battery unit 210 is assigned to which smart connector 100 if several smart connectors 100 are provided for the simultaneous operation of several battery units 210, 220. In other words, in order to turn a specific battery pack 210, 220 on or off, the cluster manager needs to know where that battery pack 210, 220 "sits". A "bat" pin 107 is a no-load communication channel for signals. A "12V" contact 108 provides a constant output voltage of 12V for operating electrical components of the electric vehicle, such as lights, horns, etc. ready. A “CAN High” contact 109 and a “CAN Low” contact 110 form an interface to a CAN bus of the battery unit 210, 220.

The battery unit 210, 220 has a mating connector 200 designed as a counterpart to the smart connector 100, which is also shown in a plan view in FIG. The mating connector 200 has functionally identical contacts to the smart connector 100 in a quasi-mirrored manner, with the functionally corresponding contacts contacting one another when the mating connector 200 is plugged onto the smart connector 100 in a self-locating manner, as shown in FIG. 4 . The mating connector 200 is in turn provided on the battery unit 210, 220 or an integral part of the battery unit. In Fig. 4 it can be seen that corresponding tolerances and Rejuvenations of components are provided that allow em reliable self-assembly plugging.

5 shows three smart connectors 100. This is the case when the electric vehicle is to be supplied with operating current by means of three battery units 210, 220. In principle, however, the number of smart connectors 100 and the number of battery units 210, 220 assigned to them can be freely selected. In the case of more than one smart connector 100, it has proven to be advantageous to assign the generation of control commands to only one electronic control unit 1. This selected control electronics 1 then acts as a cluster manager 1, as already described above. For this purpose, one of the smart connectors 100a is set up as the master and the other two smart connectors 100c, b are set up as slaves. In order to be able to make coordinated decisions, the master smart connector 100a must in particular gain access to the operating information of the battery units 210, 220 assigned to the slave smart connectors 100b, c and to the motor control data. At the same time, the master smart connector 100a must be enabled to send the generated control commands to the slave smart connectors 100b, c.

The master smart connector 100a is designed as follows: the communication-related connection to a motor controller 250, which provides the motor control data, is implemented by a first interface 230. The communication-related connection 238 to the slave smart connector 100b is implemented by a first slave interface 235 . Here the control electronics 1 of the master smart connector 100a can be made accessible to all the necessary information for generating the control commands. In principle, it is also possible for the master smart connector 100a to communicate simultaneously with a number of slave smart connectors 100b, c via its first slave interface 235, although the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 5 has proven to be “more favorable” in terms of cabling.

The slave smart connector 100b is designed as follows: if the slave smart connector 100b is the only additional smart connector 100, it is sufficient for the slave smart connector 100b with just one master interface 240 to foresee. In the present case, however, as shown in FIG. 5, the slave smart connector 100c is also provided, so that the slave smart connector 100b also has a second slave interface 245 for establishing a communications connection 248 with the slave smart connector 100c having. The slave smart connector 100b receives the operating data of the battery unit assigned to the slave smart connector 100c via the second slave interface 245 . The control electronics 1 of the slave smart connector 100b forwards the operating data received and the operating data of the battery unit assigned to it via the master interface 240 to the master smart connector 100a and thus to the cluster manager 1 .

The slave smart connector 100c is designed as follows: the slave smart connector 100c has a third slave interface 250 to communicate with the slave smart connector 100b. The control commands generated in the master smart connector 100a can therefore be transmitted to both slave smart connectors 100b, c via the communications-related connections 238, 248.

FIG. 6 shows the schematic structure of an energy supply system 300 according to the invention for electric vehicles. The operating information of the battery units 210, 220 and

Engine control data from engine controller 260 are transmitted to control electronics 1 or cluster manager 1 . Based on this information or requirements of the motor controller 260, the cluster manager 1 generates control commands for coordinating the battery units 210, 220 based on an algorithm defined in particular by the manufacturer of the electric vehicle. The smart connector 100 preferably comprises two CAN buses -Interfaces. One CAN bus interface is set up for communication with the internal components of the battery units and the other CAN bus interface is set up for communication with the motor controller 260, the motor controller typically being provided by the manufacturer of the electric vehicle.

The cluster manager 1 of the smart connector 100 monitors the status of the battery units 210, 220 and decides depending on several Parameters - such as voltage, temperature - which battery unit 210, 220 is activated.

If the output voltages of both battery units 210, 220 are at a comparable level and the operating information of the respective battery units 210, 220 does not provide an error message, the cluster manager 1 of the master smart connector 100a generates control commands for the parallel operation/activation of both battery units.

If the voltage levels are too different (the allowed difference can be implemented in the cluster manager 1 by the manufacturer) or if one battery is in failure mode, the cluster manager 1 activates only one battery for serial use. In this case, the engine controller 260 must adapt the requested power to the availability of only one battery unit 210, 220.

In serial mode, the cluster manager 1 activates the battery unit 210, 220 with the highest voltage level when the “application” is in the discharge mode (e.g. normal driving operation of the e-vehicle). If the voltage level of the activated battery corresponds to the voltage level of the inactive battery, the cluster manager 1 also activates the previously inactive battery to switch to parallel mode.

If a charger is connected to the cluster manager 1, the battery unit 210, 220 with the lowest voltage level is activated. If the voltage level of the activated battery unit 210, 220 matches the voltage level of the inactive battery unit 210, 220, the cluster manager 1 also activates the previously inactive battery in order to switch to parallel mode.

If one of the battery units 210, 220 is disabled due to a failure, the cluster manager 1 continues with only one battery.

The smart connector 100 thus offers the following advantage over systems available on the market: the control electronics 1 , which can also be operated as a cluster manager 1 , are integrated into the smart connector 100 . This has the following advantages over the other systems:

- No external circuit breaker is necessary, since the existing circuit breakers in the battery unit are used for parallel switching via communication;

- A redundant system of safety in the battery unit and safety in the cluster manager 1 is formed;

- Two separate CAN bus systems: namely a first CAN bus system (battery units 210, 220 one below the other) and towards the application a second CAN bus system (smart connector 100, motor controller 260). Here, the bus system of the batteries can be left the same everywhere, only the protocol is adapted from the cluster manager 1 to the motor controller 260;

- Self-locating connector system for the required performance characteristics, number of pins and tightness against moisture; easy adaptation to equip applications with different drive systems and to keep the battery systems independent of them. This allows standardization of the battery units;

Reduction of additional circuit breakers.

If there are several slots, the electric vehicle could also work with just one battery unit that is plugged into a slave connector. In this case, the first battery unit does not have to be on the master.

Claims

Patent claims Intelligent electrical connector designed to contact at least one battery unit with an electrically operated mobile unit, in particular a battery unit of an electrically operated vehicle, comprising a connector system designed for plugging into a mating connector, the connector system having at least two contacts (101, 102) for the electrical current flow and at least one contact for data communication (109, 110) with the battery unit; control electronics (1) for controlling the at least one battery unit (210, 220); wherein the electronic control unit (1) is designed to query operating data of the at least one battery unit (210, 220) via the contact for data communication, wherein the electronic control unit (1) is set up to issue control commands for the at least one battery unit (210, 220) based on the operating data to create the battery unit (210, 220) and to send it to the at least one battery unit (210, 220). Intelligent electrical connector according to Claim 1, characterized in that the intelligent electrical connector has a first interface for a data connection between the control electronics (1) and an engine control unit, in particular of the electrically operated vehicle, for the exchange of engine control data, the control electronics (1) for querying of engine control data by means of the interface to the engine control unit, the control electronics (1) being set up to create control commands for the at least one battery unit (210, 220) based on the operating data of the battery unit (210, 220) and the engine control data and to send them to the at least to send a battery unit (210, 220).

3. Intelligent electrical connector according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the contact for data communication is set up as a CAN bus communication.

4. Intelligent electrical connector according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the control commands have signals to switch the battery unit (210, 220) on or off.

5. Intelligent electrical connector according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the intelligent electrical connector is integrated into an electrically operated mobile unit, in particular in the electrically operated user vehicle, or in the battery unit (210, 220) or as an adapter between the Battery unit (210, 220) and the electrically operated mobile unit, in particular the electrically operated user vehicle, is formed.

6. Intelligent electrical connector according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the intelligent electrical connector has a second interface for communication with a second intelligent electrical connector (235, 245, 250).

7. Intelligent electrical connector according to claim 6, characterized in that the control electronics (1) of the intelligent electrical connector as a master unit and the control electronics (1) of the second intelligent electrical connector is designed as a slave unit. Intelligent electrical connection plug according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the plug-in system is designed to be self-locating and pluggable to the mating plug. Energy supply system for an electrically operated mobile unit, in particular an electrically operated vehicle, comprising at least two intelligent electrical connection plugs (100) integrated into the electrically operated unit according to one of Claims 1 to 8; the control electronics (1) of the intelligent electrical connectors (100) communicating with one another through their respective second interface (235, 245, 250), in particular the first intelligent electrical connector (100a) is the master and the second intelligent electrical connector (100b) is the master slave configured; at least two battery units (210, 220) for plugging into the intelligent electrical connection plugs (100), the battery units (210, 220) being designed at least in sections as mating plugs (300); wherein the control electronics (1) of the first intelligent electrical connector (100) is set up to query operating data of the two battery units and engine control data of the mobile unit and based on this to generate individual control commands for the two battery units (210, 220). Energy supply system according to claim 9, characterized in that integrated into the battery units (210, 220). Circuit breakers are set up to respond to the control commands. Energy supply system according to one of Claims 9 to 10, characterized in that the control commands are transmitted via the respective CAN bus system of the battery units (210, 220). Energy supply system according to one of claims 9 to 11, characterized in that the connectors (100) are attached to a road-facing surface of the vehicle. Method for changing a battery unit in an energy supply system according to one of claims 9 to 12, characterized by

Pulling out one of the battery units (210, 220) and inserting the mating connector (300) of a replacement battery (210, 220) into the intelligent electrical connector (100) of the electrically operated mobile unit, in particular the electrically operated vehicle, or

Pulling out one of the battery units (210, 220) and inserting the intelligent electrical connector (100) of a replacement battery (210, 220) into the mating connector (300) of the electrically powered mobile unit.