On-board charger for electric vehicle

Technical field

The present utility model relates to a charger, more specifically to an on-board charger for an electric vehicle.

Background art

An electric vehicle uses a battery as a propulsion system power supply, to provide motive power. When the battery charge level is insufficient, a user needs to use a charger to charge the battery. A charger in the prior art is independent of the electric vehicle. That is to say, the charger is an external component of the electric vehicle, and is portable.

A conventional charger for an electric vehicle generally comprises the following parts: an AC electric wire, having an AC plug, which is inserted into a wall socket to receive electric power from a power grid; a charger circuit, which converts AC power from the power grid to DC power; and a DC electric wire, having a DC plug, which is inserted into a charging port of the electric vehicle to supply DC power to the battery of the electric vehicle.

In general, the charging port of the electric vehicle is disposed inside the electric vehicle, and connected to the battery of the electric vehicle via a DC electric cable. Once charging of the battery is complete, it is necessary to remove the charger from the wall socket and from the charging port of the electric vehicle, then stow it elsewhere or together with the electric vehicle.

A shortcoming of an existing charger is that it has a large volume, and takes up a lot of space when in storage or being carried. Furthermore, the electric wires of the charger are difficult to stow tidily and are easily soiled or damaged, because they are generally placed on the ground, which is often very dusty or wet. In addition, since the electric wires are often intertwined, the user might need to spend rather a long time preparing to carry out a charging operation; as a result, the user’s experience of charging is not good.

Content of the utility model

In view of the above, an object of the present utility model is to provide a compact on-board charger, which can be disposed inside an electric vehicle and facilitates a charging operation for a user.

According to one aspect of the present utility model, an on-board charger for an electric vehicle is provided, comprising: an AC electric wire, with one end thereof being provided with an AC plug such that when the AC plug is inserted into a socket connected to a power grid, AC power is received from the power grid; a charger circuit, the charger circuit being connected to another end of the AC electric wire and converting the AC power received by the AC electric wire to DC power; a DC electric wire, with one end thereof being connected to the charger circuit so as to receive the DC power, and another end of the DC electric wire being directly connected to a battery of the electric vehicle so as to supply the DC power to the battery. The on-board charger further comprises an automatic recovery winder for winding the AC electric wire, such that when charging of the battery is performed, the AC electric wire can be pulled out from the winder to the outside of the electric vehicle, and when charging ends and the AC plug of the AC electric wire is pulled out of the socket, the AC electric wire can be automatically retracted and wound onto the winder.

Due to the fact that the AC electric wire is arranged using the winder which enables automatic retraction of the electric wire, the on-board charger according to the present utility model can compactly stow the AC electric wire even when the AC electric wire used is long, without any problem of electric wires becoming jumbled and intertwined.

Furthermore, due to the fact that the on-board charger according to the present utility model is disposed inside the electric vehicle and can be arranged in a position close to the battery, the DC electric wire of the on board charger of the present utility model can be directly connected to the battery of the electric vehicle. Compared with the prior art, the DC electric wire of the on-board charger of the present utility model can become very short. Moreover, due to this arrangement, there is no longer any need for the charging port disposed inside the electric vehicle in the charger in the prior art, and at the same time, the DC plug of the DC electric wire which is inserted into the charging port in the existing charger is dispensed with.

According to another aspect of the present utility model, an electric vehicle comprising the on-board charger as described above is provided. A space capable of accommodating the on-board charger is provided inside a body of the electric vehicle. Furthermore, an openable cover is provided on the body of the electric vehicle, and when charging is performed, the cover can be opened so that the AC electric wire of the on-board charger can be pulled out from the winder to the outside of the electric vehicle. When charging ends and the AC plug of the AC electric wire is pulled out of the socket, the AC electric wire can be automatically retracted and wound onto the winder, and the user need only put the cover back onto the body of the electric vehicle in order to complete the entire charging operation.

The arrangement described above makes the steps to be taken by the user when charging the battery very simple: the user need only open the cover on the body, and then pull out the AC electric wire plug of the charger and directly insert it into a wall socket. When charging ends, the user need only pull the AC electric wire plug out of the socket and the electric wire will then be automatically retracted and wound onto the winder, and finally the user need only put the cover on. If the explanation given in conjunction with the accompanying drawings is referred to, other objects and effects of the present utility model will become more obvious and easier to understand.

Description of the accompanying drawings

The present utility model is presented and explained more specifically below in conjunction with embodiments and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a conventional charger;

fig. 2 shows a schematic diagram of an on-board charger according to the present utility model;

fig. 3 shows a schematic diagram of a winder used in an on-board charger according to the present utility model; and

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of operation of an on-board charger according to the present utility model.

In the drawings, identical reference labels indicate similar or corresponding features and/or functions.

Particular embodiments

Embodiments of the present utility model are explained in greater detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a conventional electric vehicle charger. As shown in fig. 1 , in the prior art, the charger is placed outside a body of the electric vehicle.

Referring to fig. 1 , it can be seen that an electric vehicle charger in the prior art generally comprises the following parts: an AC electric wire 1, having an AC plug 2, which is inserted into a wall socket to receive electric power from a power grid; a charger circuit 3, which converts AC power from the power grid to DC power; and a DC electric wire 4, having a DC plug 5, which is inserted into a charging port 6 of the electric vehicle to supply DC power to a battery 7 of the electric vehicle.

In general, the charging port 6 of the electric vehicle is disposed inside the electric vehicle, and connected to the battery 7 of the electric vehicle via a DC electric wire/electric cable. Once charging of the battery 7 is complete, it is necessary to remove the charger from the wall socket and from the charging port 6 of the electric vehicle, then stow it elsewhere or together with the electric vehicle.

As stated above, the charger in the prior art has a large volume due to having long electric wires, and takes up a lot of space when in storage or being carried. Furthermore, the electric wires of the charger are difficult to stow tidily, and are easily soiled due to dust and other factors, or are damaged by rubbing against the ground. Moreover, since the electric wires are often intertwined, the user might need to spend rather a long time preparing to carry out a charging operation; as a result, the user’s experience of charging is not good.

In view of the above, the inventors of the present utility model have proposed an on-board charger disposed inside the body of the electric vehicle. Compared with the prior art, the volume thereof is small, and the user’s experience of charging is greatly improved.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic diagram of an on-board charger according to the present utility model.

As shown in fig. 2, the on-board charger of the present utility model is disposed completely inside a body panel of the electric vehicle. Furthermore, a cover 8 is disposed on a body panel of the electric vehicle, and is able to open and close, to facilitate withdrawal of the AC electric wire of the on-board charger therefrom.

Furthermore, compared with the prior art charger shown in fig. 1 , the on-board charger according to the present utility model further comprises an automatic recovery winder 9 for winding the AC electric wire, such that when charging of the battery is performed, the AC electric wire 1 and the plug 2 can be pulled out from the winder 9 to the outside of the electric vehicle, and when charging ends and the AC plug 2 of the AC electric wire 1 is pulled out of the socket, the AC electric wire 1 can be automatically retracted and wound onto the winder 9.

Due to the fact that the AC electric wire 1 is arranged using the winder 9 which enables automatic retraction of the electric wire, the on-board charger according to the present utility model can compactly stow the AC electric wire even when the AC electric wire used is long, without any problem of intertwining.

Furthermore, due to the fact that the on-board charger according to the present utility model is disposed inside the electric vehicle and can be arranged in a position close to the battery 7, the DC electric wire 4 of the on-board charger of the present utility model can be directly connected to the battery of the electric vehicle. Compared with the prior art, the DC electric wire 4 of the on-board charger of the present utility model can become very short. Moreover, due to this arrangement, there is no longer any need for the charging port disposed inside the electric vehicle in the charger in the prior art, and at the same time, the DC plug 5 of the DC electric wire 4 which is inserted into the charging port in the existing charger is dispensed with.

In summary, when the on-board charger according to the present utility model is used, the user has absolutely no need to search for the charger when charging is to be performed, no need to search for a special storage space for the charger, and no need to worry about the problem of stowing the charging wires. Thus, the user’s experience of charging is greatly improved.

Furthermore, since the AC electric wire is long but the DC electric wire is short, in order to transmit an equal quantity of charge, in theory the high-voltage AC electric wire will be thinner than the low-voltage DC electric wire, therefore in a preferred embodiment, this can further reduce the storage space needed by the AC electric wire.

Fig. 3 shows a winder used in an on-board charger according to the present utility model.

As shown in the figure, due to the use of the winder, a long AC electric wire can be stowed compactly, without the problem of electric wires becoming intertwined.

Those skilled in the art will understand that fig. 3 merely shows an example of a specific winder used. In order to implement the technical solution of the present utility model, an automatic recovery winder of any type and model number may be used; this all falls within the scope of protection of the present utility model.

Fig. 4 specifically shows usage scenarios of a charger according to the present utility model.

As shown in fig. 4a, when the electric vehicle battery 7 does not need to be charged, the AC electric wire 1 of the charger is wound on the winder 9. As shown in fig. 4b, when the battery 7 needs to be charged, the AC electric wire 1 and the AC plug 2 are pulled out from the winder 9 and inserted into a wall socket.

As stated above, also disclosed in the present utility model is an electric vehicle comprising the on-board charger described above. This differs from an existing electric vehicle in that: a space capable of accommodating the on-board charger is provided inside a body of the electric vehicle, and an openable cover 8 is provided on the body of the electric vehicle in a position corresponding to the space. When charging is performed, the cover 8 can be opened so that the AC electric wire 1 of the on-board charger can be pulled out from the winder 9 to the outside of the electric vehicle, and when charging ends and the AC plug 2 of the AC electric wire 1 is pulled out of the socket, the AC electric wire 1 is automatically retracted and wound onto the winder 9, and the cover 8 can be put back onto the body of the electric vehicle.

Those skilled in the art will understand that the electric vehicle to which the present utility model relates may include various vehicles using a battery as a propulsion system power supply to provide motive power, including electric bicycles, electric power-assisted vehicles and electric cars, etc.

Furthermore, those skilled in the art will also understand that the cover 8 located on the body, mentioned in the present utility model, may be a cover that is completely detachable from the body, or a cover which when opened is still attached to the body via any connecting mechanism (e.g. a hinge); all these solutions should fall within the scope of the present utility model.

The present utility model may be realized using hardware containing multiple different components. In an apparatus claim enumerating multiple components, some of these components may be realized using the same hardware. If certain apparatuses are described in different claims, this does not mean that combinations of these apparatuses cannot be advantageously used in combination.

It should be noted that the embodiments above illustrate the present utility model in a non-restricting manner, and those skilled in the art should be able to design various alternative embodiments without departing from the scope of the attached claims. In the claims, no bracketed reference labels should be interpreted as restricting the claims. The word“comprise” does not rule out the existence of elements or steps not enumerated in the claims or description. If the word“a” precedes an element, this does not rule out the existence of multiple such elements. In a system claim enumerating multiple units, some of these elements may be implemented by the same type of software and/or hardware. The use of the words“first”, “second” and“third” etc. does not indicate any sequential relationship. These words should be interpreted as designations.