Vehicle Charging Contact Assembly for Contamination-Resistant Coupling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conductive charging systems for motor vehicles face challenges such as user discomfort due to unwieldy cables, contamination sensitivity of contact elements, and mechanical locking during power failures, which complicate easy and reliable contact establishment and vehicle movement.
Innovation Solution
A motor-adjustable scissor table lifting device positions a cylindrical or truncated cone-shaped contacting unit with vertically arranged contact rings into a receiving device on the vehicle, featuring radially positionable contact bodies controlled by a vehicle-side device for electrical and mechanical connection, and includes elastic elements for mechanical preloading and separation, ensuring protection from environmental influences and easy disengagement during power failures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the contact element is open to allow easy contact establishment, then the ease of operation is improved, but the contact element becomes sensitive to environmental influences and contamination
Solution Approach 1:
The contact element is inserted into a receiving chamber that provides protective enclosure. The contact bodies are radially positionable within the receiving device, allowing them to extend outward for contact establishment and retract inward for protection. This nesting structure enables the contact element to be both accessible for operation and protected from environmental contamination.
2Reliability
If the contact elements remain mechanically connected after power failure to maintain connection reliability, then the reliability is improved, but the vehicle cannot be driven away easily
Solution Approach 1:
The contact bodies are designed to be radially positionable, transitioning between an extended positioning state for reliable electrical contact and a retracted state for easy vehicle movement. The drive mechanism allows dynamic adjustment of the contact bodies' radial position, enabling the system to adapt its mechanical connection state based on operational requirements versus vehicle mobility needs.
3Ease of operation
If a motor-adjustable lifting device is used to position the contacting unit vertically, then the ease of operation is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The charging device is divided into functionally independent modules: a lifting device for vertical positioning of the contacting unit, and a radially positionable contact body mechanism for establishing electrical contact. This segmentation allows each subsystem to be optimized independently, with the lifting device handling vertical alignment and the contact bodies handling radial engagement, thereby managing overall system complexity through functional decomposition.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution enables easy, reliable, and contamination-resistant conductive charging with no special alignment requirements, ensuring safe and efficient energy transfer while allowing vehicle movement even during power failures by mechanically decoupling the charging system.
Implementation Method 1
The contacting unit (200) can advantageously be connected to the lifting device via at least one elastic element, such as one or more springs
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a system for conductively charging a motor vehicle, having a charging apparatus with a lifting device, which is designed as a scissor lift table, can be adjusted by means of a motor and can vertically position an electrical contacting unit, and having a receiving apparatus, arranged on a motor vehicle, for the contacting unit, wherein: the contacting unit is in the shape of a cylinder or a truncated cone and has, running around its lateral surface, a plurality of contact rings; the receiving apparatus has a receiving chamber for the contacting unit; the receiving apparatus has a plurality of radially positionable contact elements around the receiving chamber, which contact elements, in one position, make electrical contact with the contact rings of the contacting unit inserted in the receiving chamber and, at the same time, mechanically fix the contacting unit to the receiving apparatus inside the receiving chamber; the position of the contact elements is controlled by a vehicle-side control apparatus; and the charging apparatus has means with which the charging apparatus can mechanically preload the contacting unit fixed in the receiving apparatus in an axial direction.