High-current plug connector for a battery management system

Abstract

A flush-mounted plug connector is suitable for use in a battery management system. A plug connector housing has an assembly flange for assembling the plug on a housing wall of a housing, e.g. of the battery management system. A plug contact is integrated into the plug connector housing. The plug contact has a plug-in axis, a plug-in region, and a cable connection region. The cable connection region can be connected to the battery management system via a connection cable which is designed as a high-current cable. The cable connection region is designed as a crimp connection such that the plug contact is a crimp contact which is held in the plug connector housing in a rotatable manner about the plug-in axis at least during the assembly process, and after being assembled, the integrated crimp contact can be disassembled again by means of a disassembly tool.

Claims

1.-13. (canceled)

14. A high-current plug-in connector that is designed as a built-in plug-in connector and is suitable for use in a battery management system, comprising: a plug-in connector housing (1), the plug-in connector housing (1) having a mounting flange (11) for attaching the plug-in connector housing (1) on a plug-in side to a housing wall; and a crimp contact (3) that is inserted into the plug-in connector housing (1) and has a plug-in axis, a plug-in section (31), and a cable connection section (32), wherein the high-current plug-in connector (1) with its cable connection section (32) can be connected to the battery management system via a high-current connection cable, wherein the crimp contact (3) is retained in such a manner as to be able to rotate about its plug-in axis in the plug-in connector housing (1) at least during a mounting procedure, and wherein the crimp contact (3) can be dismantled by a dismantling tool after the crimp contact (3) has been inserted.

15. The high-current plug-in connector as claimed in claim 14, wherein the plug-in connector housing (1) comprises an anti-rotation device (123) for cooperating with an alternative plug-in contact which is designed as a screw contact (2), and wherein the crimp contact (3) does not co-operate with the anti-rotation device (123).

16. The high-current plug-in connector as claimed in claim 15, wherein the anti-rotation device comprises at least one internal straight shaping or at least one connecting piece (123).

17. The high-current plug-in connector as claimed in claim 15, wherein the crimp contact (3) comprises a cylindrical retaining portion (33) without flattenings or indentations between its plug-in section (31) and its cable connection section (2).

18. The high-current plug-in connector as claimed in claim 14, wherein the plug-in connector housing (1) has at least one latching arm (14) for latching onto a latching collar (347) of the crimp contact (1), and wherein the at least one latching arm (14) can be removed by the dismantling tool for dismantling the crimp contact (1) from the latching collar (347).

19. The high-current plug-in connector as claimed in claim 14, further comprising a separate cable connection housing (5), which has a flange (51) for attaching on a cable connection side to the housing wall.

20. The high-current plug-in connector as claimed in claim 19, wherein the cable connection housing (5) comprises a cable gland by which the crimp contact (3) that is mounted in the plug-in connector housing (1) can be fixed in a final position in the plug-in connector housing (1).

21. The high-current plug-in connector as claimed in claim 20, further comprising a rubber clamp (4) for additionally fixing the crimp contact (3) in the plug-in connector housing (1).

22. The high-current plug-in connector as claimed in claim 14, wherein the crimp contact (3) is designed so as to transmit an electric current of more than 300 A.

23. A battery system, comprising: multiple rechargeable batteries and multiple patch cables via which the batteries are connected to one another in an electrically conductive manner in parallel and/or in series; and a battery management system that is equipped with at least one high-current plug-in connector as claimed in claim 14, wherein the batteries are connected via the at least one high-current plug-in connector to the battery management system and in each case at least one of the patch cables.

24. The battery system as claimed in claim 23, wherein the batteries are also equipped with the high-current plug-in connector according to claim 14.

25. A method for mounting the high-current plug-in connector as claimed in claim 20 to a housing wall, comprising: A. suitably customizing the connection cable with regard to its length for a respective application; B. crimping the connection cable onto the crimp contact (3); C. inserting the crimp contact (3) on a cable connection side into the plug-in connector housing (1) and latching therein and screwing the plug-in connector housing (1) the plug-in side at a wall opening to the housing wall; D. screwing the cable connection housing (5) on the cable connection side at the wall opening to the housing wall and in so doing encompassing the connection cable; and E. fixing the connection cable and the crimp contact (3) that is fixedly crimped thereto in their final position by screwing a union nut (6) to the cable connection housing (5).

26. The method as claimed in claim 25, wherein in method step D so as to additionally fix the crimp contact (3) a rubber clamp (4) is arranged between the crimp contact (3) and the plug-in connector housing (1).

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0041] An exemplary embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the drawings and is further explained in the following. In the drawing:

[0042] FIGS. 1a, 1b show a plug-in connector housing having a screw contact;

[0043] FIGS. 2a, 2b show a plug-in connector housing having a crimp contact;

[0044] FIG. 3 shows the plug-in connector housing having the crimp contact and a cable connection housing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0045] The figures include partially simplified, schematic representations. In part, identical reference signs are used for like but possibly not identical elements. Different views of like elements could be scaled differently.

[0046] FIGS. 1a and 1b show a high-current plug-in connector having a plug-in connector housing 1 and a screw contact 2, as corresponds to the prior art of this type of high-current plug-in connectors.

[0047] The plug-in connector housing 1 has a mounting flange 11 and a contact chamber 12 that is substantially a hollow cylindrical shape. Connecting pieces 123 are formed on the inner side in the contact chamber 12. Furthermore, it has latching arms 14 that are formed on the cable connection side and extend in an oblique manner in the plug-in direction into the contact chamber and the ends of which each form a latching edge 147.

[0048] As is particularly apparent in FIG. 1a, the screw contact 2 has at its plug-in side end a plug-in section 21 with a touch guard 28 plugged thereon. It has on the opposite end a connection portion 22 that is designed as a screw connection. In-between, it has 2 adjacent to the plug-in section 21 a retaining portion 23 and a latching portion 24 that adjoins the retaining portion 23 with its latching collar 247. The latching portion 24 runs in a conical manner in the direction of the plug-in section 21. The retaining portion 23 has flattenings, not further illustrated, which actually provide it in the cross section, as is apparent in FIG. 1B, in the present example with a hexagonal cross section. The flattenings cooperate with the connecting pieces 123 of the plug-in connector housing 1 as an anti-rotation device. This prevents the screw contact 2 rotating about a plug-in axis so that it is possible in the installed state to screw it to its screw connection 22.

[0049] In contrast, FIGS. 2a and 2b show an arrangement that is formed from the plug-in connector housing 1 and a crimp contact 3.

[0050] The plug-in section 31 of the crimp contact 3 corresponds substantially to the plug-in section 21 of the screw contact 2.

[0051] Furthermore, this arrangement has the following differences with respect to the aforementioned arrangement:

[0052] The retaining portion 33 is designed in a cylindrical manner so that co-operation with the connecting pieces 123 is prevented and it can rotate about the plug-in axis.

[0053] The latching portion 34 that is arranged downstream of the latching collar 347 is also designed in a cylindrical manner, which renders it possible to insert the dismantling tool, not illustrated in the drawing.

[0054] The crimp contact 3 naturally has on the cable connection side a cable connection section that is designed as a crimp connection 32.

[0055] This arrangement renders it possible to customize the cable, in other words with regard to its length and crimping on site, without having to take into consideration the orientation of the high-current plug-in connector with respect to the connection cable regarding rotation about the plug-in axis. Finally, the crimp contact 3 can be inserted in any desired rotation into the plug-in connector housing 1 during installation of the high-current plug-in connector on a housing wall, in particular of a housing of a battery management system, and/or said crimp contact can be rotated in its inserted state as required. This is particularly important because as a result the high-current plug-in connector can be used without any problems with connection cables which have a cable thickness in the magnitude of for example 20 mm2 up to over 100 mm2, which are at least extremely inflexible with regard to twisting and/or do not allow such twisting at all.

[0056] FIG. 3 shows an arrangement which in comparison to the preceding representation has been augmented by a cable fixing facility in an exploded view in which the components of this arrangement 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 are illustrated lying on the plug-in axis.

[0057] The cable fixing facility has a substantially hollow cylindrical rubber clamp 4 and a cable connection housing 5. This has a flange 51, a sealing element 55 and lamellae 561 which are a component of a clamping facility 56 of a cable gland. Furthermore, the cable gland comprises a union nut 6 by means of which the connection cable can be guided and with its help can be fixed on the cable connection housing 5.

[0058] As the drawing suggests, these components 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 can be directly combined in one embodiment in that the mounting flange 11 of the plug-in connector housing 1 is screwed directly to the flange 51 of this cable connection housing 5. As a result, in this embodiment with these components, a moveable high-current plug-in connector is mounted with a sleeve housing.

[0059] In a further embodiment, the same components can also form a built-in plug. For this purpose, the plug-in connector housing 1 is used as a mounting housing and is screwed on the plug-in sidein other words from outsideat a wall opening to a housing wall of the device housing, in the present case a housing of a battery management system. The crimped contact 3 that is crimped to the connection cable, not illustrated in the drawing, can already be guided through the wall opening and inserted into the mounting housing 1. Alternatively thereto, it can also be inserted on the cable connection side into the mounting housing 1 that is already mounted on the housing wall. The crimp contact 3 is retained so as to be able to rotate about the plug-in axis in the mounting housing 1. The crimp contact is already efficiently fixed in its final position by attaching the rubber clamp 4 and the cable connection housing 5 to the cable connection section 32 and by screwing the cable connection housing 5 to its flange 51 on the cable connection side of the housing wall. The connection cable is finally fixed to the cable connection housing 5 and consequently also the crimp contact 3 is finally fixed in the mounting housing 1 by screwing the union nut 6 onto the clamping facility 56.

[0060] Even if the figures show different aspects or features of the invention in each case in combination, it is apparent to the person skilled in the artunless otherwise statedthat the illustrated and discussed combinations are not the only possibilities. In particular, mutually corresponding units or feature complexes from different exemplary embodiments can be interchanged with one another.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

[0061] 1 Plug-in connector housing/mounting housing [0062] 11 Mounting flange [0063] 12 Contact chamber [0064] 123 Connecting pieces [0065] 14 Latching arm [0066] 147 Latching edge [0067] 2 Screw contact [0068] 21 Plug-in section [0069] 22 Cable connection section (screw connection) [0070] 23 Retaining portion [0071] 24 Latching portion [0072] 247 Latching collar [0073] 28 Touch guard [0074] 3 Crimp contact [0075] 31 Plug-in section [0076] 32 Cable connection section (crimp connection) [0077] 33 Retaining portion [0078] 34 Latching portion [0079] 347 Latching collar [0080] 4 Rubber clamp [0081] 5 Cable connection housing [0082] 51 Flange [0083] 55 Sealing element [0084] 56 Clamping facility [0085] 561 Lamellae [0086] 6 Union nut