Liquid cooling cable and charging device

Abstract

The present invention discloses a liquid cooling cable and a charging device, wherein the liquid cooling cable comprises: an insulator, wherein a liquid flow channel for cooling liquid to flow is formed inside, wherein the liquid flow channel extends along the axial direction of the insulator, wherein the insulator forms a partition except for the liquid flow channel; a conductor, which is arranged in the liquid flow channel; and an auxiliary cable, which is embedded in the partition. The present invention provides a liquid cooling cable and a charging device, which solves the technical problem that the current liquid cooling cable is thick and heavy.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of charging cables, and in particular to a liquid-cooled cable and a charging device. Background Art

[0002] In recent years, with the rapid development of new energy technologies, electric vehicles have entered the home and commercial fields in large numbers. Users have higher and higher requirements for battery capacity, driving range, and charging speed, and high-power charging technology has gradually developed. High-power charging piles have high voltage and large current, which will generate a lot of heat during use. Moreover, the greater the power, the easier it is for the cable to heat up, and the heated cable has the risk of causing fire.

[0003] In order to solve the problem of cable temperature rise during charging, new products such as liquid-cooled cables, liquid-cooled charging guns, and liquid-cooled sockets have gradually emerged on the market. That is, channels are formed inside the cables for the circulation of coolant to cool the conductor. However, existing liquid-cooled cables are relatively thick and heavy, and cannot meet the needs of compact products. Summary of the invention

[0004] The main purpose of the present invention is to provide a liquid cooling cable and a charging device, aiming to solve the technical problem that the current liquid cooling cables are thick and heavy.

[0005] To achieve the above object, an embodiment of the present invention provides a liquid cooling cable, the liquid cooling cable comprising:

[0006] An insulator, wherein a liquid flow channel for cooling liquid to flow is formed inside, the liquid flow channel extends along the axial direction of the insulator, and a portion of the insulator except the liquid flow channel forms a spacer;

[0007] A conductor disposed in the liquid flow channel; and

[0008] The auxiliary cable is embedded in the spacer.

[0009] Optionally, in an embodiment of the present invention, the auxiliary cable and the insulator are integrally formed.

[0010] Optionally, in an embodiment of the present invention, the auxiliary cable includes a ground wire and other wire cores, and the ground wire and the other wire cores are independently arranged in the spacing portion.

[0011] Optionally, in an embodiment of the present invention, the liquid flow channel includes a first sub-channel and a second sub-channel that are independently arranged from each other, wherein the first sub-channel and the second sub-channel are respectively correspondingly arranged with at least one conductor.

[0012] Optionally, in one embodiment of the present invention, the first sub-channel and the second sub-channel are symmetrically arranged with respect to a radial center plane of the insulator.

[0013] Optionally, in one embodiment of the present invention, one of the first sub-channel and the second sub-channel is a liquid inlet channel, and the other of the first sub-channel and the second sub-channel is a liquid outlet channel, and the liquid inlet channel and the liquid outlet channel are connected through a connecting device to form a cooling circuit, and the coolant flows in the cooling circuit.

[0014] Optionally, in an embodiment of the present invention, the conductor includes a positive conductor and a negative conductor, one of the first sub-channel and the second sub-channel is provided with the positive conductor, and the other of the first sub-channel and the second sub-channel is provided with the negative conductor.

[0015] Optionally, in an embodiment of the present invention, both the positive conductor and the negative conductor are bare conductors.

[0016] Optionally, in an embodiment of the present invention, the positive conductor and the negative conductor each include at least two sub-wires.

[0017] To achieve the above objective, an embodiment of the present invention provides a charging device, comprising the liquid cooling cable described in any one of the above embodiments.

[0018] Compared with the prior art, in a technical solution proposed by the present invention, the conductor is used to electrically connect with the external charging device to conduct the circuit. After the circuit is conducted, the conductor will generate a large amount of heat when working. For this purpose, an insulator is provided. On the one hand, the structure of the insulator itself is used to define a liquid flow channel, and the conductor is arranged in the liquid flow channel, wherein the liquid flow channel is filled with a coolant, and the coolant can flow in the liquid flow channel. The conductor is arranged in the liquid flow channel, so that when the liquid-cooled cable is in use, the heat on the surface of the conductor can be taken away by the flow of the coolant in the liquid flow channel, thereby timely dissipating the heat of the conductor, so that the temperature of the conductor is within a safe range, avoiding the safety hazard caused by excessively high temperature of the conductor, and improving the heat dissipation effect of the liquid-cooled cable. Moreover, the conductor is directly immersed in the coolant, which can increase the contact area between the conductor and the coolant and improve the heat dissipation effect. In addition, the liquid flow channel is directly formed on the insulator, and the setting of the liquid cooling tube is cancelled, which can effectively reduce the wire diameter and overall weight of the cable. On the other hand, the insulating sheath is eliminated, and the conductor is directly protected by the insulator, which can prevent the conductor from being exposed to the outside and causing accidental damage, thereby extending the service life, and can also prevent accidental electric shock to personnel due to leakage of the conductor. At the same time, the insulator is used to directly withstand the pressure of the coolant, replacing the solution of setting a braided layer for traditional liquid-cooled cables, further reducing the overall weight of the cable. In addition, the auxiliary cable is set on the part of the insulator except the liquid flow channel, which fully utilizes the structural space of the insulator and reduces the overall weight of the liquid-cooled cable. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0019] In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the description of the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on the structures shown in these drawings without paying creative work.

[0020] Figure 1 It is a schematic structural diagram of a liquid cooling cable embodiment of the present invention.

[0021] Description of Figure Numbers:

[0022] Label name Label name 100 Insulator 200 Liquid flow channel 210 First subchannel 220 Second subchannel 300 conductor 400 Auxiliary cable 410 Ground wire 420 Other cores

[0023] The realization of the purpose, functional features and advantages of the present invention will be further explained in conjunction with embodiments and with reference to the accompanying drawings. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0024] The following will be combined with the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention to clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the embodiments of the present invention.

[0025] It should be noted that all directional indications in the embodiments of the present invention (such as up, down, left, right, front, back, etc.) are only used to explain the relative position relationship, movement status, etc. between the components under a certain specific posture (as shown in the accompanying drawings). If the specific posture changes, the directional indication will also change accordingly.

[0026] In addition, in the embodiments of the present invention, descriptions such as "first", "second", etc. are only used for descriptive purposes and cannot be understood as indicating or implying their relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of the indicated technical features. Therefore, the features defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one of the features. In the description of the embodiments of the present invention, the meaning of "plurality" is at least two, such as two, three, etc., unless otherwise clearly and specifically defined.

[0027] In the embodiments of the present invention, unless otherwise clearly specified and limited, the terms "connection", "fixation", etc. should be understood in a broad sense. For example, "fixation" can be a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral connection; it can be a mechanical connection or an electrical connection; it can be a direct connection or an indirect connection through an intermediate medium, it can be the internal connection of two elements or the interaction relationship between two elements, unless otherwise clearly defined. For ordinary technicians in this field, the specific meanings of the above terms in the embodiments of the present invention can be understood according to specific circumstances.

[0028] In addition, the technical solutions between the various embodiments of the present invention may be combined with each other, but this must be based on the fact that they can be implemented by ordinary technicians in the field. When the combination of technical solutions is contradictory or cannot be implemented, it should be deemed that such combination of technical solutions does not exist and is not within the scope of protection required by the embodiments of the present invention.

[0029] During the use of electric vehicles, users have higher and higher requirements for fast charging. In order to achieve fast high-power charging and avoid excessive cable temperature during charging, increasing the cable diameter is a common option. However, increasing the wire diameter will bring higher costs and increase the weight of the cable, resulting in an increase in the volume of supporting products such as charging guns, making the entire charging equipment thicker and heavier. Therefore, the use of small-diameter, lightweight liquid-cooled cables to reduce cable temperature has become a popular solution to high-power charging. However, existing liquid-cooled cables are still relatively thick and heavy, and there is still room for improvement to further meet the needs of product miniaturization.

[0030] In view of this, an embodiment of the present invention provides a liquid cooling cable and a charging device, which utilizes the structure of the insulator itself to define a liquid flow channel, eliminates the arrangement of a liquid cooling tube and an insulating outer sheath, and embeds an auxiliary cable in the insulator, thereby reducing the wire diameter of the liquid cooling cable and the weight of the cable, thereby meeting the design requirements of compact and small products.

[0031] In order to better understand the above technical solution, the above technical solution is described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0032] like Figure 1 As shown, an embodiment of the present invention provides a liquid cooling cable, the liquid cooling cable comprising:

[0033] The insulator 100 has a liquid flow channel 200 formed therein for the flow of cooling liquid. The liquid flow channel 200 extends along the axial direction of the insulator 100. The portion of the insulator 100 excluding the liquid flow channel 200 forms a spacer.

[0034] A conductor 300 disposed in the liquid flow channel 200; and

[0035] The auxiliary cable 400 is embedded in the spacer.

[0036] In the technical solution adopted in this embodiment, the conductor 300 is used to electrically connect with the external charging device to conduct the circuit. After the circuit is conducted, the conductor 300 will generate a large amount of heat when working. For this purpose, an insulator 100 is provided. On the one hand, the liquid flow channel 200 is defined by the structure of the insulator 100 itself, and the conductor 300 is arranged in the liquid flow channel 200, wherein the liquid flow channel 200 is filled with a coolant, and the coolant can flow in the liquid flow channel 200. The conductor 300 is arranged in the liquid flow channel 200, so that when the liquid-cooled cable is in use, the heat on the surface of the conductor 300 can be taken away by the flow of the coolant in the liquid flow channel 200, thereby timely dissipating the heat of the conductor 300, so that the temperature of the conductor 300 is within a safe range, avoiding the safety hazard caused by the excessive temperature of the conductor 300, and improving the heat dissipation effect of the liquid-cooled cable. Moreover, the conductor 300 is directly immersed in the coolant, which can increase the contact area between the conductor 300 and the coolant and improve the heat dissipation effect. In addition, the liquid flow channel 200 is formed directly on the insulator 100, eliminating the setting of the liquid cooling tube, which can effectively reduce the wire diameter and overall weight of the cable. On the other hand, the setting of the insulating outer sheath is eliminated, and the insulator 100 is directly used to protect the conductor 300, which can prevent the conductor 300 from being exposed to the outside and causing accidental damage, thereby extending the service life, and can also prevent the conductor 300 from leaking electricity and causing accidental electric shock to personnel. At the same time, the insulator 100 is used to directly withstand the pressure of the coolant, replacing the solution of the traditional liquid-cooled cable that requires the braided layer to be set, further reducing the overall weight of the cable. In addition, the auxiliary cable 400 is set on the part of the insulator 100 except the liquid flow channel 200, which makes full use of the structural space of the insulator 100 and reduces the overall weight of the liquid-cooled cable.

[0037] Specifically, the liquid cooling cable proposed in this embodiment can be applied to high-power charging equipment, such as a charging gun or a charging stand, and the liquid cooling cable may include an insulator 100, an auxiliary cable 400 and a conductor 300.

[0038] The conductor 300 is the main line of the liquid cooling cable, and its material can be a conductive material, such as metallic copper, which can be electrically connected to an external charging device to conduct the circuit. The conductor 300 can be a single wire, or it can be a bundle of multiple wires. It is preferred that several wire bundles are bundled to form a conductor 300 to ensure that the conductor 300 has a strong current carrying capacity. In order to avoid looseness when multiple wires are bundled, a braided layer can be used to fix them. Generally, the conductor 300 can be provided with two, namely a positive conductor and a negative conductor. The positive conductor is used to connect to the positive pole of the external device, and the negative conductor is used to connect to the negative pole of the external device, so that a conducting circuit is formed between the liquid cooling cable and the external device. It should be pointed out that the positive conductor and the negative conductor can be provided with one or more respectively, and there is no limitation here.

[0039] The auxiliary cable 400 refers to a non-high-power cable. A high-power cable refers to a cable that transmits electrical energy that can maintain the operation of the charging device. The auxiliary cable 400 can be a ground wire 410, a communication cable, a low-power cable, etc., which is not limited here.

[0040] The insulator 100 is used to form a liquid flow channel 200 and realize integration with the auxiliary cable 400. It can be made of insulating material, and can be made of any one of PVC, TPE, TPU and rubber materials. Its shape can be set to be cylindrical, which is convenient for forming a liquid flow channel 200, thereby simplifying the production process, improving production efficiency and reducing production costs. The liquid flow channel 200 is formed in the insulator 100. It can be understood that the liquid flow channel 200 is a cavity extending along the axial direction of the insulator 100. The liquid flow channel 200 is used to fill the coolant. The conductor 300 is arranged in the liquid flow channel 200 and is covered with coolant. In this way, when the liquid-cooled cable is used for charging, the heat generated on the surface of the conductor 300 can be taken away in time by the flow of coolant along the liquid flow channel 200, thereby realizing the cooling of the conductor 300, avoiding the conductor 300 from causing a fire due to excessive temperature rise, and thus ensuring the normal use of the liquid-cooled cable or charging device. Moreover, the conductor 300 is directly immersed in the coolant, which can increase the contact area between the conductor 300 and the coolant, thereby taking away more heat and improving the heat dissipation effect of the conductor 300. The auxiliary cable 400 is embedded in the part of the insulator 100 except the liquid flow channel 200, so as to realize the integration of the auxiliary cable 400 and the insulator 100, and can make full use of the structure of the insulator 100. In this embodiment, the liquid flow channel 200 is defined by the structure of the insulator 100 itself, and the setting of the liquid cooling pipe is cancelled, which can reduce the overall weight of the cable. Moreover, the insulator 100 can directly protect the conductor 300 and withstand the pressure of the coolant, replacing the traditional solution of setting a braided layer for the cable, further reducing the overall weight of the cable. It should be pointed out that the coolant in this embodiment can be an insulating liquid with good thermal conductivity, for example, any one of transformer oil, capacitor oil, cable oil, silicone oil or mineral oil can be used, which is not limited here.

[0041] Furthermore, in one embodiment of the present invention, the auxiliary cable 400 and the insulator 100 are integrally formed.

[0042] In the technical solution adopted in this embodiment, the auxiliary cable 400 and the insulator 100 are integrally formed. Specifically, during the production and processing of the liquid-cooled cable, the auxiliary cable 400 and the insulator 100 are integrally formed on the extrusion die. More specifically, the other cores 420 and the grounding wire 410 in the auxiliary cable 400 can be split into multiple wires, and the multiple other cores 420 and the grounding wire 410 are placed on the extrusion die, and insulating materials are added to the extrusion die. When the extrusion die extrudes the insulator 100, the auxiliary cable 400 is formed along with the extrusion of the insulator 100, so that the auxiliary cable 400 and the insulator 100 become an integrally formed structure, which facilitates the processing and manufacturing of the auxiliary cable 400 and the insulator 100, and improves the processing and assembly efficiency of the liquid-cooled cable. In addition, when the auxiliary cable 400 and the insulator 100 are integrally formed on the extrusion die, the liquid flow channel 200 can also be extruded at the same time, thereby further improving the processing and assembly efficiency of the liquid-cooled cable.

[0043] Further, see Figure 1 In one embodiment of the present invention, the auxiliary cable 400 includes a grounding wire 410 and other wire cores 420, and the grounding wire 410 and other wire cores 420 are independently arranged in the spacing portion.

[0044] In the technical solution adopted in this embodiment, the auxiliary cable 400 includes a grounding wire 410, and the grounding wire 410 may include a plurality of independently arranged sub-wires, and the plurality of sub-wires are independently arranged in the interval. The auxiliary cable 400 may also include other cores 420, and the other cores 420 may be communication cables, low-power cables, etc., and the other cores 420 are independently arranged in the interval. Further, the grounding wire 410 and the other cores 420 may be bare wires. Specifically, the grounding wire 410 and the other cores 420 are independently embedded in the interval, that is, the circumference of the grounding wire 410 and the other cores 420 are insulated and in contact with the interval. In this way, the outermost insulating material layer of the conventional auxiliary cable 400 can be saved, thereby further reducing the wire diameter and reducing the overall weight of the cable.

[0045] Further, see Figure 1 In one embodiment of the present invention, the liquid flow channel 200 includes a first sub-channel 210 and a second sub-channel 220 that are independently arranged from each other, wherein at least one conductor 300 is respectively arranged in correspondence with the first sub-channel 210 and the second sub-channel 220 .

[0046] In the technical solution adopted in this embodiment, the liquid flow channel 200 may include a first sub-channel 210 and a second sub-channel 220. The first sub-channel 210 and the second sub-channel 220 are arranged in parallel. By setting the first sub-channel 210 and the second sub-channel 220, different conductors 300 can be dissipated separately, avoiding local high temperatures of the liquid cooling cable caused by all conductors 300 being dissipated through the same liquid flow channel 200, thereby improving the uniformity of heat dissipation.

[0047] Furthermore, in one embodiment of the present invention, the first sub-channel 210 and the second sub-channel 220 are symmetrically arranged with respect to a radial center plane of the insulator 100 .

[0048] In the technical solution adopted in this embodiment, in order to further improve the uniformity of heat dissipation of the liquid-cooled cable, the first sub-channel 210 and the second sub-channel 220 are symmetrically arranged with respect to the radial center plane of the insulator 100, that is, the first sub-channel 210 and the second sub-channel 220 are the same in size and shape, so that each position inside the liquid-cooled cable can obtain the same cooling effect provided by the coolant, thereby ensuring the uniformity of heat dissipation on the outer surface of the conductor 300 and avoiding local high temperature that affects normal use.

[0049] Furthermore, in one embodiment of the present invention, one of the first sub-channel 210 and the second sub-channel 220 is a liquid inlet channel, and the other of the first sub-channel 210 and the second sub-channel 220 is a liquid outlet channel. The liquid inlet channel and the liquid outlet channel are connected through a connecting device to form a cooling circuit, and the coolant flows in the cooling circuit.

[0050] In the technical solution adopted in this embodiment, one of the first sub-channel 210 and the second sub-channel 220 is a liquid inlet channel, and the other is a liquid outlet channel, which can be connected through a connecting device outside the insulator 100 to form a circulation loop, and the coolant flows in the circulation loop. That is, the cooling system adopts a one-in-one-out method to realize the circulation of the coolant, which can be reused and reduce the cost of use.

[0051] Further, in an embodiment of the present invention, the conductor 300 includes a positive conductor and a negative conductor, one of the first sub-channel 210 and the second sub-channel 220 is provided with the positive conductor, and the other of the first sub-channel 210 and the second sub-channel 220 is provided with the negative conductor.

[0052] In the technical solution adopted in this embodiment, the conductor 300 located in the first sub-channel 210 is a positive conductor, and the conductor 300 located in the second sub-channel 220 is a negative conductor; or the conductor 300 located in the first sub-channel 210 is a negative conductor, and the conductor 300 located in the second sub-channel 220 is a positive conductor. Further, the conductor 300 is a bare conductor. The coolant in the liquid flow channel 200 adopts an insulating coolant, and the conductors 300 can all be set as bare conductors without having to wrap the outermost layer of the conductor 300 with insulating material. Although the conductors 300 are all set as bare conductors, since the positive and negative conductors are respectively located in different liquid flow channels 200, the short circuit between the positive conductor and the negative conductor can be avoided, and the normal use of the liquid cooling cable can be ensured. At the same time, setting the positive conductor and the negative conductor as bare cables can further reduce the diameter of the liquid cooling cable and reduce the overall weight of the liquid cooling cable. It should be pointed out that there can be one positive conductor and one negative conductor respectively, or there can be multiple positive conductors respectively. That is, the positive conductor and the negative conductor can be a bundle of multiple wires; or they can be multiple split wires, that is, the positive conductor and the negative conductor each include at least two sub-wires. When the positive conductor and the negative conductor are multiple split wires, they can better adapt to the shapes of the first sub-channel 210 and the second sub-channel 220, while increasing the contact area between the conductor 300 and the coolant, which is more conducive to the heat dissipation of the conductor 300.

[0053] An embodiment of the present invention further proposes a charging device, which includes the liquid cooling cable as above. Specifically, the specific structure of the liquid cooling cable refers to the above embodiment. Since the charging device adopts all the technical solutions of the above embodiment, it at least has all the beneficial effects brought by the technical solutions of the above embodiment, which will not be repeated here one by one.

[0054] The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and does not limit the patent scope of the embodiment of the present invention. All equivalent structural changes made by using the contents of the description and drawings of the embodiment of the present invention under the inventive concept of the embodiment of the present invention, or directly / indirectly applied in other related technical fields are included in the patent protection scope of the embodiment of the present invention.

Claims

1. A liquid cooling cable, characterized in that: The liquid cooling cable comprises: An insulator, wherein a liquid flow channel for cooling liquid to flow is formed inside, the liquid flow channel extends along the axial direction of the insulator, and a portion of the insulator except the liquid flow channel forms a spacer; A conductor is disposed in the liquid flow channel, wherein the liquid flow channel includes a first sub-channel and a second sub-channel that are independently disposed from each other, wherein the first sub-channel and the second sub-channel are respectively corresponding to at least one conductor; and An auxiliary cable, embedded in the spacer; The auxiliary cable includes a ground wire and other wire cores, and the ground wire and the other wire cores are independently arranged in the spacing portion.

2. The liquid cooling cable according to claim 1, characterized in that: The auxiliary cable is integrally formed with the insulator.

3. The liquid cooling cable according to claim 1, characterized in that: The first sub-channel and the second sub-channel are symmetrically arranged with respect to a radial center plane of the insulator.

4. The liquid cooling cable according to claim 1, characterized in that: One of the first sub-channel and the second sub-channel is a liquid inlet channel, and the other of the first sub-channel and the second sub-channel is a liquid outlet channel. The liquid inlet channel and the liquid outlet channel are connected through a connecting device to form a cooling circuit, and the coolant flows in the cooling circuit.

5. The liquid cooling cable according to claim 4, characterized in that: The conductor includes a positive conductor and a negative conductor, one of the first sub-channel and the second sub-channel is provided with the positive conductor, and the other of the first sub-channel and the second sub-channel is provided with the negative conductor.

6. The liquid cooling cable according to claim 5, characterized in that: The positive conductor and the negative conductor are both bare conductors.

7. The liquid cooling cable according to claim 5, characterized in that: The positive conductor and the negative conductor each include at least two sub-wires.

8. A charging device, characterized in that: Comprising the liquid-cooled cable as described in any one of claims 1-7.

Images