Charging socket and method for piloted charging of an electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle

Abstract

Charging socket (1) for an electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle (2), wherein the charging socket (1) has at least one reflective layer (3). Characterized in that the reflective layer (3) is designed as a reflective film (15), wherein the charging socket (1) has contacts (17) in the form of pin contacts, around which contact protectors (18, 19) are arranged, wherein the contact protectors (18, 19) each project beyond the contacts (17) and receptacles (20) are formed between the contact protector (18, 19) and the contact (17), wherein the reflective film (15) is arranged on the bottom of the receptacle (20).

Description

The invention relates to a charging socket and a method for the pilot-operated charging of an electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle.Due to the thickness and rigidity of charging cables of electric vehicles, it is known to automatically undertake the plugging of a charging plug into a charging socket of the electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle by means of a charging robot. In this case, the charging robot can be permanently assigned a charging cable with charging plug or else the charging robot moves on individual charging stations in an automated manner. It is known that a camera is installed in or on the charging plug, by means of which camera the contour of the charging socket is detected in order to align the charging plug with the charging socket.DE 10 2010 040 797 A1 discloses an electric vehicle having an electric cable for charging a battery of the electric vehicle, wherein a charging plug or a charging socket is attached to an in particular extendable end of the electric cable, wherein a preferably pivotable lighting unit or a flap of a lighting unit is present as a cover for the charging plug and / or the charging socket.US 2013 / 0 265 007 A1 discloses a charging box for an electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle, wherein the charging box has at least one reflective layer. Furthermore, a charging plug is disclosed, wherein at least one camera and at least one light source are arranged in or on the charging plug.US 2019 / 0 001 832 A1 discloses a charging station which has reflective stickers or reflective hemispheres, so that a vehicle can position itself with respect to the charging station.EP 2 023 160 A1 discloses an optoelectric device for protecting one or more hazard sources in an edge region, having at least one light receiver and an evaluation unit which detects objects in image data of the edge region. The evaluation unit can read in visual features such as a code, for example, which is arranged on a reflex film.CN 1 05 990 876 A discloses a method for identifying a charging station by a cleaning robot.A retroreflective sign is known from DE 10 2015 116 715 A1, having a triple mirror structure which comprises a triple mirror having at least three mirror surfaces arranged at right angles to one another for retroreflective purposes, wherein the triple mirror is formed as a depression in a surface of the sign, wherein the sign has metal.The invention is based on the technical problem of creating a charging box for an electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle, by means of which a pilot-operated charging of an electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle is made possible even in poor lighting conditions. Another technical problem is the provision of a method for piloted charging.The solution of the technical problem results from a charging box having the features of claim 1 and a method for the pilot-operated charging of an electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle having the features of claim 3.For this purpose, the charging box for an electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle has at least one reflective layer. This considerably improves the detection of the charging socket even in difficult lighting conditions. The advantage over actively illuminating elements such as LEDs is simple retrofitting and that no energy supply is necessary. The reflection layer can be structured in such a way that it ensures a clear spatial orientation. For this purpose, it has, for example, a structure with three unique points. The risk of the reflective layer being soiled is low, since during driving operation or when the vehicle is shut down, the charging socket is protected from soiling by a covering which is required as a normative or during charging by the charging plug.The reflective layer is formed as a reflective film, which is also referred to as a retroreflective film. A reflective film returns incoming light in the direction of the light source, regardless of the angle of incidence. Reflex foils have a reflecting base in which small glass balls are embedded. The incident light beam is refracted when it enters the glass sphere, reflected from the substrate and refracted again when it exits. In sum, this results in a reflection in the original direction, whereby a large part of the light strikes the light source again. This significantly improves the detection compared to simple reflection layers. In this case, the charging socket has contacts in the form of pin contacts around which the contact contactors are arranged, wherein the contact contactors each project beyond the contacts and receptacles are respectively formed between the contact contactor and the contact, wherein the reflective film is arranged at the base of the receptacle.In one embodiment, the charging socket has at least three reflection layers, which enables a clear position detection (analogous to the three selected points of a layer).The method for the pilot-operated charging of an electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle is carried out in that a charging robot automatically inserts a charging plug into a previously described charging socket of an electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle, wherein a position of at least one reflective film on the charging socket is detected by means of at least one camera in or on the charging plug, wherein the charging robot aligns and inserts the charging plug to the charging socket as a function of the detected reflective film. In this case, the camera can also be arranged on the charging robot, so that when the charging plug is gripped by the charging robot, the camera is on the charging plug.In one embodiment, depending on the lighting conditions, at least one light source in or on the charging plug is automatically switched on.In a further embodiment, the at least one light source in or on the charging plug is automatically switched on when the reflective film is no longer detected.The invention is explained in more detail below with reference to a preferred exemplary embodiment. The figures show: FIG. 1 shows a schematic side view of a charging robot with charging plug in front of a charging socket, FIG. 2 is a top view of a charging socket not according to the claim with three reflecting foils, FIG. 3 is a top view of a charging plug with a camera; and FIG. 4 shows a charging socket according to the claim with three reflecting foils.FIG. 1 schematically shows a side view of a charging socket 1 of an electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle 2, the charging socket 1 having three distributed reflection layers 3 on the upper side 4 of the charging socket 1. Furthermore, a charging column 5 is shown, which has a charging cable 6 with a charging plug 7. The charging plug 7 has contacts, not shown, which correspond to corresponding mating contacts in the charging socket 1. The charging plug 7 has at least one camera 8 and at least one light source 9, wherein preferably a plurality of light sources 9 are present, which are arranged concentrically around the camera 8. Furthermore, a charging robot 10 is schematically shown. The loading robot 10 has, for example, a gripping arm 11. The gripping arm 11 is designed in such a way that it can align the charging plug 7. For this purpose, the gripping arm 11 can move the charging plug 7 for example translationally in all directions and move it rotationally. Before charging, the electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle 2 communicates with the charging robot 10 by radio (e.g. WLAN) and communicates to this or an associated central unit, inter alia, the charging request and the vehicle type. The charging robot 10 then travels to the location where the charging socket 1 is located on the basis of the available data of the vehicle type. The electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle 2 opens a charging flap in an electromotively driven manner, wherein the opening can already take place during the approach phase of the charging robot 10. When the charging robot 10 approaches the charging socket 1 or when the charging robot 10 is located in front of the charging socket 1, the camera 8 detects the position of the three reflection layers 3. From these data, a control unit 12 in the charging robot 10 can then determine the relative position of the charging plug 7 to the charging socket 1 and generate control data for the gripping arm 11 so that the charging plug 7 is aligned with the charging socket 1 in such a way that the contacts of the charging plug 7 are aligned with the mating contacts of the charging socket 1 so that the gripping arm 11 can plug the charging plug 7 into the charging socket 1. Thus, even in the case of unfavourable lighting conditions, the position of the charging socket 1 can be reliably detected by the reflection layers 3.FIG. 2 shows a plan view of a charging socket 1. The charging socket 1 has domes 13 which serve as contact protection for the mating contacts of the charging socket 1. On the upper side 14 of three domes 13 a reflection layer 3 in the form of a reflection film 15 is applied in each case, which can also be applied subsequently very easily to a charging socket 1 by means of a centering mandrel made of non-electrically conductive material. The reflecting films 15 can also have different sizes, patterns and colors.FIG. 3 shows a plan view of a charging plug 7. In addition to the contacts 16, the charging plug 7 has a camera 8 with concentrically arranged light sources 9, which are arranged between the contacts 16. In this case, it can be provided that the light sources 9 are always switched on during an insertion process. Alternatively, it can be provided that the light sources 9 are only switched on if this requires the lighting conditions. In this case, for example, an illumination sensor can be used. Alternatively, the light sources 9 can be simply switched on if the reflection layers 3 or reflection films 15 are no longer unambiguously recognized. Alternatively, camera 8 and light sources 9 may be laterally mounted on the charging connector 7.FIG. 4 shows an alternative embodiment for a charging socket 1. In the example shown, the charging socket 1 has nine contacts 17 in the form of pin contacts, wherein a contact protection 18 is arranged around the two lower contacts 17 and a second contact protection 19 is arranged around the upper contacts 17, each of which protrudes beyond the contacts 1. A receptacle 20 is then formed between each of the contact protection 18, 19 and the contacts 17. In this case, reflection layers 3 or reflection films 15 are arranged in three of the receptacles 20 at their base. Alternatively, the reflective layers 3 or reflective films 15 can also be arranged on the contact protection 18 and / or 19.List of reference characters1 Charging box 2 Hybrid electric or plug-in vehicle 3 Reflective layer 4 Top side 5 Charging column 6 Charging cable 7 Charging plug 8 Camera 9 Light source 10 Charging robot 11 Gripping arm 12 Control unit 13 Dome 14 Top side 15 Reflective film 16 Contact 17 Contact 18 Contact protection 19 Contact protection 20 Receptacle

Claims

Charging box (1) for an electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle (2), wherein the charging box (1) has at least one reflective layer (3), characterized in that the reflective layer (3) is formed as a reflective film (15), wherein the charging box (1) has contacts (17) in the form of pin contacts, around which the contact contactors (18, 19) are arranged, wherein the contact contactors (18, 19) each project beyond the contacts (17) and receptacles (20) each form between the contact contactor (18, 19) and the contact (17), wherein the reflective film (15) is arranged at the base of the receptacle (20).Charging box according to Claim 1, characterized in that the charging box (1) has at least three reflection layers (3).Method for the pilot charging of an electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle (2), wherein a charging robot (10) automatically inserts a charging plug (7) into a charging socket (1) according to claim 1 or 2 of an electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle (2), wherein a position of at least one reflective film (15) on the charging socket (1) is detected by means of at least one camera (8) in or on the charging plug (7), wherein the charging robot (10) aligns and inserts the charging plug (7) with the charging socket (1) as a function of the detected reflective film (15).Method according to Claim 3, characterized in that at least one light source (9) in or on the charging plug (7) is automatically switched on as a function of the lighting conditions.Method according to Claim 3, characterized in that the at least one light source (9) in or on the charging plug (7) is automatically switched on if the reflective film (15) is no longer detected.

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