ACTUATING APPARATUS FOR TRIGGERING AT LEAST ONE PYROFUSE, AND ENERGY STORAGE DEVICE COMPRISING A PYROFUSE OF THIS KIND

Abstract

The present invention relates to an actuating apparatus for triggering at least one pyrofuse, comprising a supply voltage connection for connection to a supply voltage, at least one triggering output for connecting the at least one pyrofuse and applying a triggering current to the pyrofuse, a signal input for receiving a triggering signal which indicates a state which extends the triggering, and at least one actuating circuit, which can be connected to the supply connection, for providing the triggering current at the triggering outlet in accordance with the received triggering signal, wherein said actuating circuit comprises a field-effect transistor stage for connecting the supply voltage through to the triggering output in accordance with the received triggering signal.

Claims

1. An actuating device for triggering at least one pyrofuse having a supply voltage connection for connection to a supply voltage, at least one triggering output for connecting the at least one pyrofuse and applying a triggering current to the pyrofuse; a signal input for receiving a triggering signal that indicates a state requiring the triggering; and at least one actuating circuit connectable to the supply voltage connection for providing the triggering current to the triggering output in dependence on the received triggering signal, wherein the actuating circuit comprises a field effect transistor stage for switching the supply voltage through to the triggering output in dependence on the received triggering signal.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the field effect transistor stage comprises at least one MOSFET element, wherein the at least one MOSFET element comprises a P-channel MOSFET element.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the actuating circuit comprises at least one voltage stabilizing capacitor for stabilizing the supply voltage switched through.

4. The device of claim 3, wherein the at least one voltage stabilizing capacitor is chargeable from the supply voltage connection via at least one resistor.

5. The device of claim 4, wherein the actuating circuit comprises a plurality of voltage stabilizing capacitors connected in parallel.

6. The device of claim 3, wherein the actuating circuit comprises a plurality of voltage stabilizing capacitors connected in parallel.

7. The device of claim 1, further comprises an evaluation circuit for evaluating the received triggering signal that has a flip-flop stage for converting a brief triggering signal pulse into a permanent triggering signal.

8. The device of claim 7, wherein the flip-flop stage has a flip-flop element, wherein the flip-flop element comprises an RS flip-flop, and wherein the flip-flop element comprises a supply voltage connection for receiving the supply voltage.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein the evaluation circuit comprises two comparison modules for comparing an input signal with a positive threshold value and a negative threshold value, and wherein the two comparison modules are connected to the flip-flop stage at the output side.

10. The device of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of actuating circuits or one actuating circuit having a plurality of actuating channels for triggering a plurality of pyrofuses.

11. The device of claim 10, wherein the plurality of actuating circuits or the plurality of actuating channels of the at least one actuating circuit are in parallel with the signal input and are switchable by a common triggering signal.

12. The device of claim 11, wherein the plurality of activating circuits or the plurality of actuating channels of the at least one actuating circuit are on a common circuit board.

13. The device of claim 10, wherein the plurality of activating circuits or the plurality of actuating channels of the at least one actuating circuit are arranged on a common circuit board.

14. The device of claim 1, further comprising a current and/or voltage sensor for providing the triggering signal.

15. The device of claim 1, further comprising a feedback device for providing a feedback signal to a control apparatus, which feedback signal indicates the triggering of the pyrofuse.

16. The device of claim 15, wherein the feedback device is configured to provide the triggering signal provided by the evaluation circuit to a control connection for connecting the control apparatus.

17. The device of claim 1, further comprising a test stage to check the triggering state and/or the functional state of the at least one pyrofuse.

18. The device of claim 17, wherein the test stage is configured to apply a test current provided by a current source via at least one actuating channel to the at least one pyrofuse, and wherein the device comprises an evaluation device for detecting and/or evaluating a voltage drop and/or a voltage at said actuating channel and/or said pyrofuse.

19. A method for using the device of claim 1 for triggering a pyrofuse that is between a power controller and a storage block of an energy storage device and for disconnecting the storage block from the power controller.

20. An energy storage device comprising: at least one storage block and at least one power controller connected to the storage block for feeding current into the storage block and/or for discharging current form the storage block; at least one pyrofuse between the storage block and the power controller; and an actuating device for triggering the at least one pyrofuse, wherein the actuating device is configured in accordance with claim 1.

21. The device of claim 20, wherein the at least one storage block comprises at least one capacitor store, and wherein the power controller is a bidirectional DC-DC controller for feeding current into the storage block and for discharging current from the storage block.

22. The device of claim 21, further comprising a current and/or voltage sensor for detecting a current and/or a voltage between the power controller and the storage block, wherein a sensor signal of the current and/or voltage sensor is provided to the signal input of the actuating apparatus.

23. The device of claim 20, further comprising a current and/or voltage sensor for detecting a current and/or a voltage between the power controller and the storage block, wherein a sensor signal of the current and/or voltage sensor is provided to the signal input of the actuating apparatus.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0040] The invention will be explained in more detail in the following with reference to a preferred embodiment and to associated drawings. There are shown in the drawings:

[0041] FIG. 1: a schematic representation of an energy storage device having two pyrofuses between its capacitor store and DC-DC controller and having an actuating apparatus for triggering the pyrofuses in accordance with an advantageous embodiment of the invention;

[0042] FIG. 2: a schematic representation of the triggering apparatus for triggering the pyrofuses of FIG. 1 that shows the two trigger circuits each having a field effect transistor for triggering the pyrofuses, the evaluation circuit for evaluating the current sensor signal, and the connection to a higher ranking controller; and

[0043] FIG. 3: a representation similar to a block diagram of the actuating circuits for providing the triggering current for the pyrofuses and of the evaluation circuit comprising a flip-flop stage for providing the triggering signal for the actuating circuit.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0044] As FIG. 1 shows, the pyrofuse and the actuating apparatus for its triggering can be integrated in an energy storage device 1, in particular installed within a housing of the energy storage device 1 not shown separately. Said energy storage device 1 can here comprise at least one storage block 2 that can have at least one storage cell, preferably in the form of a capacity store, for example in the form of a double layer capacitor. A power controller 4 that can, for example, be connected to said capacity store 3 via two connection lines can be connected to the at least one storage block 2, with said power controller 4 advantageously being able to be a DC-DC controller, in particular a bidirectional DC-DC controller.

[0045] The energy storage device 1 can be connected via said power controller 4 to an electric drive device, for example a lifting device, and can supply its electric motor with electrical energy or can store electrical energy produced at the electric motor in crawl operation.

[0046] As FIG. 1 shows, at least one pyrofuse 5 can be provided between the at least one storage block 2 and said power controller 4 with the aid of which pyrofuse 5 the storage block 2 can be disconnected from the power controller 4. Such a pyrofuse 5 can in particular be provided in every connection line between the storage block 2 and the power controller 4 to be able to disconnect every connection strand.

[0047] The pyrofuses 5 can be triggered by an actuating apparatus 6 that can likewise be integrated in the energy storage device 1, in particular accommodated in its housing. As FIG. 1 shows, said actuating apparatus 6 is here connected to the two pyrofuses 5, on the one hand, to supply them with a triggering current and thus to trigger them. On the other hand, the actuating apparatus 6 can comprise a sensor 7 or can be connected to such a sensor 7 to detect a trigger-relevant state. Said sensor 7 can be a current sensor here that measures a current flow between the storage block 2 and the power controller 4. In accordance with FIG. 1, only one sensor 7 can be provided, with alternatively, however, such a sensor being able to be associated with every connection line between the storage block 2 and the power controller 4.

[0048] Said sensor 7 can optionally be supplied with a supply voltage or a supply current by the actuating apparatus 6. The actuating apparatus 6 can have a sensor supply connection for this purpose.

[0049] The actuating apparatus 6 can receive a sensor signal of the sensor 7 via a signal input 8 and can evaluate it, as will still be explained.

[0050] The actuating apparatus 6 can furthermore be connected to a control apparatus 9 that can be configured to control the energy storage device 1. Such a control apparatus 9 can be formed electronically or can comprise electronic control modules, for example in the form of a microprocessor and of a program memory and can produce control signals for the power controller 4 and/or the storage block 2 or, conversely, to receive operating signals or sensor signals from the storage block 2 and/or from the power controller 4. Said control apparatus 9 can therefore be connected to the storage block 2 and/or to the power controller 4 and can cooperate therewith.

[0051] Said actuating apparatus 6 is furthermore connected to the control apparatus 9, which can take place via a control connection 10 of the actuating apparatus 6.

[0052] The actuating apparatus 6 can here be formed on one or more circuit boards that can be accommodated in the housing of the energy store. The control apparatus 9 can be integrated in the energy storage device 1, in particular arranged in its housing.

[0053] As FIGS. 2 and 3 show in more detail, the actuation apparatus 6 advantageously comprises an evaluation circuit 11 with whose aid a sensor signal from the sensor 7 and/or also a control signal from the control apparatus 9 can be evaluated. The evaluation circuit 11 can, for example, comprise two comparator or comparison modules to evaluate the sensor signal of the current sensor 7, and indeed once for a positive short circuit current and once for a negative short circuit current that exceeds a threshold or a specific threshold value. Said threshold of the evaluation circuit can here be fixed to a specific current value.

[0054] The two comparators can be combined to a common trigger signal at the output side, which trigger signal is advantageously provided to a flip-flop stage 12 of the evaluation circuit 11 to turn even only a very brief sensor pulse into a permanent triggering signal as required. Said flip-flop stage 12 can, for example, comprise a flip-flop element, in particular in the form of an RS flip-flop, with the flip-flop stage 12 being able to be supplied with a supply voltage from a supply connection, cf. FIG. 3.

[0055] If there is a triggering signal or if such a triggering signal is provided from a corresponding sensor signal of the sensor 7—or actually from a control signal of the control apparatus 9—by the flip-flop stage 12, the actuating apparatus 6 initiates the triggering of the two pyrofuses 5.

[0056] The actuating apparatus 6 comprises two actuating circuits 13 or two actuating channels, “Channel 1” and “Channel x”, for the two pyrofuses 5 for this purpose, that each have a supply voltage connection 14 to be acted on by a supply voltage, for example, from the control apparatus 9 or from a different component.

[0057] Each of the actuating circuits 13 furthermore comprises a transistor stage 15 for switching the supply voltage via said actuating channels 1 or x through to a respectively provided triggering output 16 to which the respective pyrofuse 5 can be connected and via which the respective pyrofuse 5 can be acted on by the triggering current.

[0058] Said transistor stage 5 here advantageously comprises a so-called MOSFET stage, in particular in the form of a P-channel MOSFET 17, with said field effect transistor stage 15 being switchable by the triggering signal that is provided by the evaluation circuit 11. As FIGS. 2 and 3 show, both or all the actuating circuits 13 can be connected to the evaluation circuit 11 and/or can be switched by the same triggering signal to be able to trigger the pyrofuses 5 by a common triggering signal.

[0059] Said transistor stages 15 here switch, when they receive the triggering signal, the supply voltage applied to the supply voltage connection 14 through to the triggering output 16 to trigger the pyrofuse 5.

[0060] To stabilize the switching of the supply voltage through to the triggering output 16, the actuating circuits 13 can each have at least one voltage stabilizing capacitor 18 that ensures the provision of a sufficient triggering current for the pyrofuse. Each actuating circuit 13 can here advantageously comprise a plurality of such voltage stabilizing capacitors 18 that can advantageously be connected in parallel, cf. FIG. 3.

[0061] In order not to put too much strain on the supply voltage by the voltage stabilizing capacitors 18 on the switching on, said voltage stabilizing capacitors 18 can be charged via one or more resistors, cf. FIG. 3.

[0062] Each of the voltage stabilizing capacitors 18 can have a capacitance of preferably more than 1.5 mF. The supply voltage at the supply connection 14 can amount to 24 volts, for example.

[0063] As FIG. 2 further shows, the actuating device 6 can have a supply module 19 or a supply circuit that can be supplied from the control apparatus 9 and that can correspondingly supply the modules of the actuating apparatus 6 that require a current or a voltage supply. As FIG. 2 shows, the supply module 18 can, for example, supply the sensor 7 and/or the evaluation circuit 11 and/or the evaluation circuits 13 with current or voltage.

[0064] The actuating apparatus 6 can advantageously further be configured to report a triggering of the pyrofuses 5 to the connected control apparatus 9. As FIG. 3 shows, a feedback device 20 can provide the triggering signal that is provided by the evaluation circuit 11 or a signal derived therefrom to a feedback connection 21 and/or to the control connection to signal the triggering of the pyrofuses to the control apparatus 9.

[0065] As the Figures show, a test stage 30 can be provided to check the triggering state and/or the functional state of the at least one pyrofuse 5. A test signal “Pyrotest” can in particular be provided by the connected control apparatus 9 and/or can be transmitted to the control apparatus 6 in response to which test signal the actuating apparatus 6 can apply a test current to the actuating channels or to the pyrofuses 5. Said test current can, for example, be provided by a current source 31, cf. FIG. 3, with the test stage 30 being able to apply the test current successively to the individual channels or gate signals of the pyrofuses 5.

[0066] Said test stage 30 can here comprise an evaluation device 32 that monitors or detects a voltage or a voltage drop at said gate voltage channels. If a voltage drops on the application of the test current due to the internal resistance of the respective pyrofuse element 5, a conclusion can be drawn on a not yet triggered or functioning pyrofuse 5. If, however, no voltage drops, a conclusion can be drawn on an already triggered pyrofuse.

[0067] Said evaluation device 32 can, for example, comprise RS flip-flops to detect said voltage or the respective voltage drop. If all the RS flip-flops show a “high level”, a conclusion can be drawn on pyrofuses 5 being in order. If, however, one or all of the RS flip-flops show a “low level”, a conclusion is drawn that the fuses are no longer in order.

[0068] The feedback device 20 can report a feedback signal “Feedback Pyrotest” to the connected control apparatus 9 in dependence on the evaluation of the evaluation circuit 30, cf. FIGS. 2 and 3.