HIGH-VOLTAGE BATTERY FOR A MOTOR VEHICLE, AND MOTOR VEHICLE

Abstract

A high-voltage battery for a motor vehicle, the operating voltage of which is greater than 12 V, in particular, greater than 50 V, having two power connections at a high-voltage network power system of the motor vehicle, which can be connected without voltage through first safety contactors provided inside a housing of the high-voltage battery, and storage cells for electrical energy that are connected to the power connections via the first safety contactors. The high-voltage battery additionally has two charging terminals, which are connected to the storage cells by circumventing the first safety contactors by way of charging lines.

Claims

1-11. (canceled)

12. A high-voltage battery for a motor vehicle, the operating voltage of which is greater than 12 V, in particular, greater than 50 V, comprising: two power connections at a high-voltage network power system of the motor vehicle, which can be connected without voltage through first safety contactors provided inside a housing of the high-voltage battery, and storage cells for electrical energy that are connected to the power connections via the first safety contactors, wherein the high-voltage battery additionally has two charging terminals, which are connected to the storage cells by circumventing the first safety contactors by way of charging lines.

13. The high-voltage battery according to claim 12, wherein at least one second safety contactor is provided in the charging lines connecting the charging terminals to the storage cells, directly connecting to the storage cells and outside a common line segment of the charging lines with the power lines connecting the power connections to the storage cells.

14. The high-voltage battery according to claim 13, wherein the at least one second safety contactor is connected by way of a pilot line guided through a d.c. voltage transformer, and a common control device of the high-voltage battery is provided for controlling the operation of the first safety contactors and the at least one second safety contactor.

15. The high-voltage battery according to claim 12, wherein, a d.c. voltage transformer is also provided in the housing of the high-voltage battery for transforming a charging voltage that is applied to the charging terminals and that is, lower than the operating voltage of the high-voltage battery, into a d.c. voltage for charging the storage cells.

16. The high-voltage battery according to claim 15, wherein the high-voltage battery has a control device for controlling the operation of the d.c. voltage transformer.

17. The high-voltage battery according to claim 15, wherein the d.c. voltage transformer operates bidirectionally.

18. The high-voltage battery according to claim 11, wherein a diode and a fuse preventing the flow of electrical energy in the direction of the charging terminals is connected in at least one charging line.

19. The high-voltage battery according to claim 12, wherein a control device controlling the charging of the high-voltage battery via the charging terminals changes the high-voltage battery in the case of opened or disengaged first safety contactors.

Description

[0024] Additional advantages and details of the present invention result from the examples of embodiment described in the following, as well as based on the drawings. Here:

[0025] FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of a high-voltage battery according to the invention;

[0026] FIG. 2 shows a second embodiment of a high-voltage battery according to the invention; and

[0027] FIG. 3 shows a motor vehicle according to the invention.

[0028] FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a first exemplary embodiment of a high-voltage battery 1a according to the invention. This battery comprises a housing 2, which is only outlined here, in which a plurality of storage cells 3 (battery modules/cells) are arranged, three of which are shown here. A storage module control unit 4 is assigned to each of the storage cells. The storage cells 3 are connected in series under one another, and joined by way of power lines 5 with power connections 6, and can be connected by way of the high-voltage battery 1a to a high-voltage power system 7 of the motor vehicle, which is only roughly indicated here; and only the passive discharge resistor 8 of this system 7 is shown for purposes of illustration.

[0029] In order to be able to reliably isolate the high-voltage battery 1a from the high-voltage power system 7, two first safety contactors K1 and K2 are provided in the power lines 5, which require a specific power, for example 5 watts in each case, in order to remain in the closed or engaged state. Although this is not shown in detail here for reasons of presenting an overview, the first safety contactors K1, K2, can be controlled by way of a central control device 9 of the high-voltage battery 1a; a pilot line 18 can be additionally provided, which opens or disengages the contactors K1, K2, for example, always when the high-voltage battery 1a is not connected to the high-voltage power system 7.

[0030] The central control device 9 is designed here as a battery management control unit, which, as indicated by the internal communication line 10, also controls the control units 4 of the storage cells.

[0031] In addition to the power connections 7*, the high-voltage battery 1a, however, also has charging terminals 11. The charging terminals 11 permit a low-voltage energy source, in particular a solar device of the motor vehicle, to be connected for charging the storage cells 3 at the high-voltage battery 1a, which is illustrated by way of the voltage values shown in FIG. 1. Therefore, the energy input via the charging terminals 11 will be guided to the storage cells 3 by means of charging lines 12 by way of several components, which will be explained in more detail in the following, and is done, in fact, by circumventing the first safety contactors K1 and K2. This means that in fact a common line segment of power lines 5 and charging lines 12 is present, but the charging lines 12 first meet in this segment the portions of the power lines 5 joining the first safety contactors K1, K2 to the storage cells 3 connected in series to these lines.

[0032] In order to transform the clearly lower charging voltage, which lies at 12 V here, into a d.c. voltage suitable for charging the storage cells 3, a galvanically isolating d.c. voltage transformer 13 is also presently integrated in the housing 2 of the high-voltage battery 1a, which is therefore incorporated in the charging lines 12.

[0033] As safety measures on the high voltage side of the d.c. voltage transformer 13, there is presently provided a diode D1, a fuse F1, and a second safety contactor K3, which can be closed or engaged with a lower power than the first safety contactors K1, K2. The second safety contactor K3 serves as an additional redundancy for disconnecting the high voltage, in particular with respect to protection from overcharging. The diode D1 serves the purpose of preventing a discharge of the high-voltage battery 1a, thus of storage cells 3, by way of the output circuit of the d.c. voltage transformer 13. However, if a short circuit should occur via the output circuit of the d.c. voltage transformer 13, the fuse F1 would be triggered and thus the flow of current would be terminated.

[0034] The depicted sequence and arrangement of the components F1, D1 and K3 is selected by way of example; the components can be arranged, of course, in any desired sequence between the positive and negative poles of the storage cells 3 connected in series.

[0035] The control logic for controlling the charging process, in particular the charging power, is presently also provided in the control device 9, as is indicated by the corresponding arrow of the internal communication line 10 to the d.c. voltage transformer 13. Further, in addition to the first safety contactors K1, K2, the electronic control unit 9 also controls the second safety contactor K3, whereby, upon recognition of an error, for example, in the case of an overcharging of the high-voltage battery 1a, all safety contactors K1, K2, and K3 can be securely opened or disengaged. It should be noted here that the safety contactors can be designed as relays, but it is also entirely conceivable in future, in particular when adapting to current standards, to provide safety contactors as semiconductor switches.

[0036] In order to be able to communicate with an overriding energy management system, the control device 9 is connected to external electronic control units by way of an external communications interface 17.

[0037] FIG. 2 shows an exemplary embodiment modified in comparison to FIG. 1, which is distinguished from the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 1 in that a d.c. voltage transformer 13 is not integrated into the high-voltage battery 1b there; instead of this, however, by omitting diode D1 and fuse F1, two second safety contactors K3, K4 are provided, which in turn can be controlled by way of the control device 9, but are also coupled via a pilot line 14 to the external d.c. voltage transformer, which is not shown here. Of course, diode D1 and fuse F1 can still be optionally provided. Providing fuse F1 can be significant in the modified exemplary embodiment, if a change is present in the conductor cross section.

[0038] In both examples of embodiment of a high-voltage battery 1a, 1b, it is possible to carry out a charging process by way of an electrical energy source with low voltage, whereby the high-voltage battery 1a, 1b, is isolated from the high-voltage power system 7.

[0039] FIG. 3 finally shows a schematic diagram of a motor vehicle 15 according to the invention. The vehicle presently has a high-voltage battery 1a according to the invention; a high-voltage battery 1b would require an additional external d.c. voltage transformer between the high-voltage battery 1b and the electrical energy source, which is presently designed as a solar device 16 comprising at least one solar cell. However, since the high-voltage battery 1a is used, it is possible without any problem to pass on electrical energy obtained from the solar device 16, which can be designed as a sun roof, to the high-voltage battery 1a by way of the charging terminals 11, so that it can be charged in an extremely energy-efficient manner, since the first safety contactors K1, K2 are circumvented and the discharge resistor 8 does not represent a load. The solar device 16 can be directly connected to the charging terminals 11, but it can also be connected via the low-voltage power system that is not shown in detail here. In the last-named case, with corresponding wiring also elsewhere, other energy sources of the low-voltage power system can also charge the high-voltage battery 1a if needed.