KR-20260063534-A - Outlet connector for electric vehicle battery charger with overheating prevention function

Abstract

The present invention relates to an outlet connector for an electric vehicle charger that is connected to an inlet connector of an electric vehicle to charge the battery of an electric vehicle, and comprises: a thermistor (20) disposed on a power supply line provided inside the outlet connector (10) for the charger; a sensing unit (30) that detects the magnitude of a signal flowing to the thermistor (20); and a control unit (40) that determines whether overheating occurs according to the magnitude of the signal detected by the sensing unit (30), and if the magnitude of the signal detected by the sensing unit (30) exceeds a predetermined threshold, determines that it is overheating and cuts off the power of the power supply line, thereby having an overheat prevention function that prevents accidents caused by overheating by cutting off charging when overheating occurs in the outlet connector of the charger or the inlet connector of the electric vehicle.

Inventors

• 조태석
• 이근택
• 김성진
• 김태원

Assignees

• 채비(주)

Dates

Publication Date

20260507

Application Date

20241030

Claims (7)

1. An outlet connector for an electric vehicle battery charger having an overheat prevention function, characterized by comprising: a thermistor (20) disposed on a power supply line provided inside an outlet connector (10) for a charger; a sensing unit (30) that detects the magnitude of a signal flowing to the thermistor (20); and a control unit (40) that determines whether overheating occurs based on the magnitude of the signal detected by the sensing unit (30), and if the magnitude of the signal detected by the sensing unit (30) exceeds a predetermined threshold, determines that it is overheating and cuts off the power to the power supply line.
2. An outlet connector for an electric vehicle battery charger having an overheating prevention function, wherein, in claim 1, the outlet connector for charging an electric vehicle battery further includes a temperature measuring sensor (60) for measuring the external ambient temperature of the charger (EVSE), and the control unit (40) adjusts the reference value according to the external ambient temperature.
3. An outlet connector for an electric vehicle battery charger having an overheat prevention function, wherein, in claim 1, the control unit (40) is characterized by resupplying power to the power supply line when the signal drops below the reference value after the power to the power supply line is cut off.
4. An outlet connector for an electric vehicle battery charger having an overheat prevention function, characterized in that, in the first paragraph, the outlet connector for charging the electric vehicle battery is further equipped with an inverter-type cooling fan (50), and when overheating is determined according to the measurement value of the sensing unit (30), the control unit (40) drives the cooling fan (50).
5. In claim 4, the cooling fan (50) is provided in a case (60) constituting an outlet connector, and the case (60) is formed in a double layer with inner/outer cases (62)(64). The inner case (62) is sealed and has a device including a thermistor inside, and a heat transfer medium (65) with excellent heat transfer efficiency is provided in a part thereof. An inlet (64a) and a cooling fan (50) are provided on one side of the outer case (64), and an air outlet (not shown) is provided on the other side of the outer case (64). A ventilation passage (66) is formed between the inner case (62) and the outer case (64), and The above ventilation passage (66) is formed by a support member (68) to secure strength while supporting the outer case (64), and the support member (68) is configured at a predetermined interval and arrangement so that outside air introduced by the cooling fan (50) comes into contact with the heat transfer medium (65) and is discharged through the outlet, characterized by an outlet connector for an electric vehicle battery charger having an overheat prevention function.
6. An outlet connector for an electric vehicle battery charger having an overheat prevention function, characterized in that, in claim 1, the overheating status is determined through a pre-learned overheat prediction model.
7. An outlet connector for an electric vehicle battery charger having an overheat prevention function according to claim 1, characterized in that the control unit sends a warning message to a nearby smart terminal using a charger manager, an electric vehicle owner terminal, or a local area network when overheating is detected.

Description

Outlet connector for electric vehicle battery charger with overheating prevention function The present invention relates to an outlet connector for an electric vehicle charger that is connected to an inlet connector of an electric vehicle to charge the battery of an electric vehicle, and more specifically, to an outlet connector for an electric vehicle battery charger having an overheat prevention function that prevents accidents caused by overheating by cutting off charging when overheating occurs at the outlet connector or the inlet connector of the electric vehicle. Recently, as air pollution caused by the depletion and overuse of fossil fuels has emerged as a serious social issue, eco-friendly vehicles are gaining significant prominence as a means of energy conservation and minimizing environmental pollution. These eco-friendly means of transportation are intended to replace conventional internal combustion engine vehicles and include hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, biodiesel vehicles, and electric vehicles. Among these, an electric vehicle is a vehicle that moves using electricity, referring to a vehicle that stores electrical energy in a battery and uses it as fuel. As the aforementioned electric vehicles produce no noise pollution during operation and do not emit air pollutants, automakers worldwide are competing to launch them into the market. They charge the battery by physically interconnecting an external power source to receive electrical energy from the outside, and are classified into slow chargers and fast chargers depending on the charging method. As mentioned above, the fast charger is a charging method that supplies direct current (DC) power directly from the charger to the battery; it charges by directly transferring the charging current received from the charger to the high-voltage battery as DC electricity, without passing it through the vehicle's OBC (On Board Charger). In a slow charger, AC power is supplied by the charger, and the electric vehicle's On-Board Charger (OBC) converts this power into DC power for charging. Since charging is only possible by converting AC power to DC power, the component that performs this role is the OBC. These fast or slow chargers are each connected to an electric vehicle through a connected outlet connector for the charger, and the outlet connector for the charger is configured to supply power to the electric vehicle while also exchanging signals with a Battery Management System (BMS) equipped in the electric vehicle, thereby allowing the charging status to be checked during charging. The above-mentioned outlet connector for the charger is connected to an inlet connector provided in an electric vehicle through multiple terminals. When the outlet connector for the charger is connected, the inlet connector provided in the electric vehicle verifies whether it is a suitable outlet connector for the electric vehicle, and if it is a suitable outlet connector, it initiates charging. As shown in FIG. 1, the outlet connector (100) is made of an insulating material and formed in a tubular shape, and comprises a case (200) having a plurality of connection terminals (312) and a locking latch (313) at the front, a front housing module (300) that supplies power through a cable (4) inserted through the case (200), and a packing (400) that covers the rear of the case (200) to maintain airtightness. Accordingly, the outlet connector is electrically connected to the inlet connector through the connection terminal (312), and the outlet connector (100) and the inlet connector are coupled by the locking latch (313), so that the coupled state is maintained or separated. While these electric vehicle chargers are being actively developed to keep pace with the rapidly growing electric vehicle market in modern society, there are still many challenges to overcome. In other words, when an electric vehicle is repeatedly charged, the outlet connector of the charger and the inlet connector of the electric vehicle are worn or corroded due to friction, and the contact surface of the connection is reduced due to foreign substances, so the charging current required for charging the electric vehicle cannot be satisfied, and the outlet connector of the charger and the inlet connector of the electric vehicle overheat. This may cause the charger or electric vehicle to malfunction or catch fire. Therefore, if overheating occurs at the connection point between the inlet connector and the outlet connector, it is necessary to forcibly stop charging to prevent accidents such as malfunction or fire. However, conventional technology does not have such preventive measures. FIG. 1 is a drawing showing the configuration of a conventional outlet connector for a charger. FIG. 2 is a drawing showing an overheating prevention structure for an outlet connector for an electric vehicle battery charger according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a drawing showing an example of thermistor installation in an e