Ramp-Shaped Contactless Charging Device for Vehicle Impact Protection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing solutions for protecting high-voltage batteries in motor vehicles during frontal impacts require significant installation space, weight, and additional bracing elements, which are costly and inefficient.
Innovation Solution
A contactless charging device with a ramp-shaped second side is positioned between the drive unit and the high-voltage battery, deflecting the drive unit during an impact to prevent it from striking the battery, thus eliminating the need for additional protective components and saving space and weight.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If additional bracing elements are installed to protect the high-voltage battery during impact, then the protection reliability is improved, but the device complexity and installation space requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The charging device is designed to serve dual purposes: it functions as an inductive charging plate for wireless energy transfer and simultaneously acts as a protective barrier against impact forces from the drive unit. The ramp-shaped second side of the charging device deflects impact forces away from the high-voltage battery, eliminating the need for separate bracing elements while maintaining protection reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines the charging function and protection function into a single integrated component. The charging device structure merges the inductive charging plate with impact protection features, specifically the ramp-shaped configuration, so that one component performs both energy transfer and crash protection tasks that traditionally required separate systems.
2Reliability
If sophisticated bracing elements are installed to protect the high-voltage battery, then the protection reliability is improved, but the vehicle weight increases
Solution Approach 1:
The charging device serves dual purposes as both a wireless charging platform and an impact protection barrier. By making the charging device itself structurally capable of deflecting impact forces through its ramp-shaped design, the patent eliminates the need for additional heavy bracing elements, thereby maintaining protection reliability while avoiding weight increase.
3Area of stationary object
If the drive unit is positioned deeply within the front end to maximize front trunk space, then the installation space for the trunk is improved, but the risk of drive unit impacting the high-voltage battery during frontal impact increases
Solution Approach 1:
The charging device with its ramp-shaped second side acts as an intermediary element positioned between the drive unit and the high-voltage battery. During frontal impact, this intermediary structure deflects the drive unit upward and away from the battery, mediating the impact forces and preventing direct contact between the drive unit and the high-voltage battery, thus enabling deeper drive unit positioning without increasing impact risk.
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 ramp-shaped charging device effectively diverts the drive unit upwards, preventing it from hitting the high-voltage battery, reducing the risk of damage and eliminating the need for sophisticated protective measures, thereby saving installation space, weight, and costs.
Implementation Method 1
By inductively coupling the primary charging device and the secondary charging device, energy can be transferred from the primary charging device to the secondary charging device
Data Source
AI summary
A contactless charging device for arrangement on an underside of a motor vehicle. The charging device has a first side facing away from the motor vehicle in a state in which the charging device is arranged on the underside of the motor vehicle. The charging device has a second side opposite the first side, facing towards the motor vehicle in a state in which the charging device is arranged on the underside of the motor vehicle. The second side is then configured to be ramp-shaped so that a thickness of the charging device increases in a first direction, pointing towards a rear of the motor vehicle in a state in which the charging device is arranged on the underside of the motor vehicle, over a part of a length of the charging device in the first direction.