Cable Drum for Supplying Energy to an Electrically Powered Utility Vehicle

Abstract

A cable drum for supplying energy to an electrically powered utility vehicle, with an axially running winding body which can be set in rotation in order to wind up and unwind an electrical cable, wherein the winding body is formed by a helically wound pipeline with an inlet for the supply of a cooling air stream. To increase the cooling efficiency, the pipeline has a plurality of air outlet openings formed along its wall.

Claims

1. A cable drum for supplying energy to an electrically powered utility vehicle, with an axially running winding body which can be set in rotation in order to wind up and unwind a cable, wherein the winding body is formed by a helically wound pipeline with an inlet for the supply of a cooling air stream, wherein the pipeline has a plurality of air outlet openings formed along its wall.

2. The cable drum as claimed in claim 1, wherein the air outlet openings are directed radially outward in the direction of a cable portion wound onto the winding body.

3. The cable drum as claimed in claim 2, wherein the air outlet openings are oriented alternately along the wall at different angles between 0 and 45 degrees relative to a radial plane spanned by the winding body.

4. The cable drum as claimed in claim 1, wherein the pipeline is made of metal or plastic.

5. The cable drum as claimed in claim 1, wherein a spacing of the individual windings of the pipeline is greater than the outer diameter of the cable.

6. The cable drum as claimed in claim 1, wherein the diameter of the pipeline is greater than the outer diameter of the cable.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of the cable drum according to the invention.

[0017] FIG. 2 is a sectional depiction of the cable drum shown in FIG. 1.

[0018] Before any embodiments are explained in detail, it is to be understood that the disclosure is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangement of components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the following drawings. The disclosure is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or of being carried out in various ways. Further embodiments of the invention may include any combination of features from one or more dependent claims, and such features may be incorporated, collectively or separately, into any independent claim.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0019] FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of the cable drum according to this disclosure for supplying energy to an electrically powered utility vehicle. In particular, the cable drum is part of an arrangement as described in DE 10 2018 212 150 A1 for the case of a utility vehicle configured as a field chopper.

[0020] The cable drum 10 comprises an axially running winding body 12 which can be set in rotation about a rotational axis 16 in order to wind up and unwind an electrical cable 14 shown in FIG. 2. For this, the winding body 12 is connected to an electric motor drive (not shown) of the utility vehicle. Left and right terminating flanges 18, 20 form the axial limit of the winding body 12.

[0021] The cable 14 serves primarily to supply power to the utility vehicle and comprises a plurality of individual cores consisting of copper, which run mutually insulated in a protective outer sheathing 22. In addition, the cable 14 may serve for electrical and/or optical data transmission. In such a case, the cable 14 comprises further cores in the form of corresponding data and/or control lines. Optical data transmission takes place by means of plastic-sheathed waveguides.

[0022] As evident from FIG. 1, the cooling body 12 is formed by a helically wound pipeline 24 with an inlet 26 for the supply of a cooling air stream. The pipeline 24 has a plurality of air outlet openings 30 formed along its wall 28. These allow a forced cooling air feed onto a cable portion 32 wound onto the winding body 12. The air outlet openings 30 are evenly distributed over the entire length of the wound pipeline 24 in the region of the winding body 12. For example, the air outlet openings 30 are formed as round and/or slotted openings.

[0023] The pipeline 24 is connected via a rotary passage 34 to a compressed air source 36 which is part of the utility vehicle. According to an optional refinement, the compressed air also passes through an expansion valve in order to lower its temperature before entry into the pipeline 24.

[0024] The air supply from the compressed air source 36 is here adapted according to the degree of winding of the cable drum 10. Thus the amount of waste heat to be dissipated naturally diminishes with a decreasing number of superposed cable layers. The cable length unwound or that remaining on the winding body 12 may for example be determined by means of a rotary encoder 38 connected to the rotational axis 16. For this, the number of revolutions detected by the rotational encoder 38 and the direction of rotation of the winding body 12 are evaluated. In addition, the electrical power transmitted via the cable 14 is taken into account on the basis of measurement of current intensity by sensors. The amount of air supplied is reduced with a decreasing number of cable layers or diminishing current intensity.

[0025] According to the sectional depiction of FIG. 2, the air outlet openings 30 are directed radially outward in the direction of a cable portion 32 wound onto the winding body 12, so that the cooling air 40 emerging from the air outlet openings 30 hits this directly. Here, the cooling air 40 passes through the region of gaps 42 formed between the cable layers, where it dissipates the accumulated lost heat into the external environment. To ensure as even a cooling as possible, it is furthermore possible for the air outlet openings 30 to be oriented alternately along the wall 28 at different angles between 0 and 45 degrees relative to a radial plane 44 spanned by the winding body 12, in order to achieve a diffuse cooling air stream.

[0026] The pipeline 24 is made of metal and/or plastic. Inter alia, it is conceivable to use a plastic casing pipe to protect the wound cable 14, wherein this has a supportive metal core.

[0027] To ensure an air passage between the cable layers that is as unhindered as possible, in FIG. 2, the spacing of the individual windings of the pipeline 24 is greater than the outer diameter of the cable 14.

[0028] The same effect arises for the case not shown in FIG. 2, where the diameter of the pipeline 24 is greater than the outer diameter of the cable 14. Here, a distance between the windings of the respective cable layer is set which corresponds to the size difference.

[0029] Various features are set forth in the following claims.