Positive locking confirmation mechanism for battery contact of electric vehicle

{
  "publication_number": "US9559464B2",
  "country": "US",
  "kind": "B2",
  "title": "Positive locking confirmation mechanism for battery contact of electric vehicle",
  "abstract": "The present invention provides a positive locking confirmation mechanism for a battery contact of an electric vehicle. The positive locking confirmation mechanism uses a terminal bolt with an expansive tail section and judges whether the battery contact is in a positive locking state according to a voltage signal measured by a battery management unit. Before the battery contact is possibly not in the positive locking state, the system notifies the user to check and repair the possibly-loosened contact. Consequently, the problem of losing power or generating electric arc in the battery box will be avoided.",
  "claims": [
    "1. A positive locking confirmation mechanism for a battery contact of an electric vehicle, the positive locking confirmation mechanism comprising: a terminal bolt locked on an electrode, so that a conductor is contacted with the electrode; a sensing bolt locked on the terminal bolt, so that a sensing contact is contacted with the terminal bolt, wherein while the sensing bolt is screwed into the terminal bolt, the terminal bolt is subjected to deformation, wherein a drag force is generated to fix the terminal bolt in response to the deformation of the terminal bolt; and a sensing unit configured for detecting whether the sensing contact and the terminal bolt are in a positive locking state.",
    "2. The positive locking confirmation mechanism for the battery contact of the electric vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the terminal bolt is subjected to deformation through a pin.",
    "3. The positive locking confirmation mechanism for the battery contact of the electric vehicle according to claim 2, wherein the terminal bolt has a taper structure, and the taper structure is contacted with the pin.",
    "4. The positive locking confirmation mechanism for the battery contact of the electric vehicle according to claim 2, wherein the pin has a thread.",
    "5. The positive locking confirmation mechanism for the battery contact of the electric vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the sensing unit judges whether the sensing contact and the terminal bolt are in the positive locking state according to a result of judging whether a voltage signal from the sensing contact is stable.",
    "6. The positive locking confirmation mechanism for the battery contact of the electric vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the sensing bolt is made of an insulation material.",
    "7. The positive locking confirmation mechanism for the battery contact of the electric vehicle according to claim 1, wherein an insulation packing is arranged between the sensing bolt and the sensing contact.",
    "8. The positive locking confirmation mechanism for the battery contact of the electric vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the sensing bolt and the sensing contact are connected with each other through a safety rope.",
    "9. The positive locking confirmation mechanism for the battery contact of the electric vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the sensing unit is a battery protection board.",
    "10. A positive locking confirmation mechanism for a battery contact of an electric vehicle, the positive locking confirmation mechanism comprising: a terminal bolt configured for locking a conductor on an electrode of a battery, wherein a head portion of the terminal bolt has an internal thread, and a tail end of the terminal bolt has an expansive section; a sensing bolt screwed into the internal thread of the terminal bolt so as to lock a sensing contact of a voltage sensor, wherein while the sensing bolt is screwed into the internal thread of the terminal bolt, a pin is pushed by the sensing bolt to prop open the expansive section of the terminal bolt, so that the terminal bolt and the electrode of the battery are in a positive locking state; and a controlling unit configured for receiving a voltage signal from the voltage sensor and judging whether the terminal bolt and the electrode of the battery are in the positive locking state according to a result of judging whether the voltage signal is stable.",
    "11. The positive locking confirmation mechanism for the battery contact of the electric vehicle according to claim 10, wherein when the voltage signal is unstable, the electrode of the battery is not in the positive locking state, and the controlling unit issues a warning signal and an identification code of the electrode to a vehicular controller.",
    "12. The positive locking confirmation mechanism for the battery contact of the electric vehicle according to claim 10, wherein a non-conductive coating is formed on a contact area between the sensing bolt and the sensing contact of the voltage sensor.",
    "13. The positive locking confirmation mechanism for the battery contact of the electric vehicle according to claim 10, wherein the sensing bolt is not electrically conductive.",
    "14. The positive locking confirmation mechanism for the battery contact of the electric vehicle according to claim 10, wherein the sensing bolt and the pin are integrally formed as a one-piece structure.",
    "15. The positive locking confirmation mechanism for the battery contact of the electric vehicle according to claim 10, wherein the voltage sensor further comprises an accelerometer for sensing vibration of the electric vehicle.",
    "16. The positive locking confirmation mechanism for the battery contact of the electric vehicle according to claim 10, wherein the voltage sensor further comprises a gyroscope for sensing motion of the electric vehicle."
  ],
  "description_excerpt": "The present invention relates to a positive locking confirmation mechanism and a positive locking confirmation method for a battery contact of a battery pack in a battery box of an electric vehicle, and more particularly to a device of using a voltage sensor or a current sensor of a battery management unit to sense the locking state and confirming the positive locking state of a great number of battery contacts in a battery box and a technology of warning and indicating the user to check specified contacts before the contact of any battery contact is loosened. The technology of the present invention is applied to the electric vehicles requiring a great number of battery packs (e.g., electric buses or electric trucks).\n\nGenerally, a battery pack of a large electric vehicle comprises several hundreds of batteries. These batteries are connected with each other in parallel or in series. However, if the battery contacts are not securely locked, the batteries of the battery pack are possibly loosened. Especially, when the electric vehicle is driven on a road with a poor condition, the vibration of electric vehicle may accelerate the problem of loosening the battery contacts. If the battery contacts are loosened or poorly contacted during the travelling process of the electric vehicle, the overall power system is possibly shut down or burnt out.\n\nHowever, the conventional electrode connecting method cannot indicate whether the electrodes are certainly locked. If the battery pack is suffered from a poor contact problem, the worker cannot immediately realize the damaged site.",
  "cpc": [
    "H01R 13/641",
    "B60L 50/64",
    "B60L 58/10",
    "B60Y 2200/91",
    "F16B 39/02",
    "H01M 10/48",
    "H01M 2/305",
    "H01M 2/34",
    "H01M 2200/00",
    "H01M 2200/20",
    "H01M 2220/20",
    "H01M 50/20",
    "H01M 50/204",
    "H01M 50/249",
    "H01M 50/296",
    "H01M 50/502",
    "H01M 50/543",
    "H01M 50/572",
    "H01M 50/579",
    "H01R 4/56",
    "Y02E 60/10",
    "Y02T 10/70"
  ],
  "ipc": [
    "B60L 50/64",
    "H01M 50/249",
    "H01M 50/262",
    "H01R 13/64",
    "H01R 13/641",
    "H01R 4/56"
  ],
  "assignees": [
    "Aleees Eco Ark Cayman Co Ltd"
  ],
  "inventors": [
    "Anthony Antao YANG",
    "Gordon Ching Chen"
  ],
  "filing_date": "2013-10-16",
  "publication_date": "2017-01-31",
  "grant_date": "2017-01-31",
  "priority_date": "2013-10-16",
  "application_number": "US-201315029849-A",
  "family_id": "52827545",
  "cited_by_count": 5,
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