HEAVY-CURRENT CABLE AND POWER SUPPLY SYSTEM WITH A HEAVY-CURRENT CABLE

Abstract

A heavy-current cable, in particular a charging cable, has an outer jacket, a number of heavy-current cores which extend in the longitudinal direction, and at least one cooling jacket with at least one hollow chamber extending in the longitudinal direction for conducting a coolant. A power supply system, in particular a charging system for a hybrid or electric vehicle, has such a corresponding heavy-current cable.

Claims

1. A heavy-current cable, comprising: a plurality of heavy-current cores extending in a longitudinal direction, each of said heavy-current cores having a conductor and a core insulation surrounding said conductor; an outer jacket; and at least one cooling jacket having at least one hollow chamber extending in the longitudinal direction for conducting a coolant.

2. The heavy-current cable according to claim 1, wherein said cooling jacket with said hollow chambers is configured as an extruded annular jacket.

3. The heavy-current cable according to claim 1, wherein: said cooling jacket is one of a plurality of cooling jackets; and each of said heavy-current cores has said one of said cooling jackets.

4. The heavy-current cable according to claim 3, wherein each of said cooling jackets has an inner ring, and said cooling jacket forms said core insulation of said heavy-current cores and surrounds said conductor of said heavy-current cores directly as a conductor insulation.

5. The heavy-current cable according to claim 1, wherein the heavy-current cable is configured for currents of greater than 10 A.

6. The heavy-current cable according to claim 1, further comprising a core element disposed centrally and extending in the longitudinal direction, and said plurality of heavy-current cores are disposed around said core element.

7. The heavy-current cable according to claim 1, further comprising a protective conductor being disposed centrally and extending in the longitudinal direction and said plurality of heavy-current cores are disposed around said protective conductor; and wherein said cooling jacket is one of a plurality of cooling jackets having a plurality of hollow chambers, each of said heavy-current cores has one of said cooling jackets with said plurality of hollow chambers which are separate from one another and each extend in the longitudinal direction.

8. The heavy-current cable according to claim 1, further comprising a hose disposed centrally and extending in the longitudinal direction, for conducting the coolant and said plurality of heavy-current cores are disposed around said hose; and wherein said cooling jacket is one of a plurality of cooling jackets, each of said heavy-current cores has one of said cooling jacket with exactly one said hollow chamber extending in the longitudinal direction.

9. The heavy-current cable according to claim 1, further comprising a connection element with a coolant connection being disposed at at least one end of the heavy-current cable, said coolant connection is connected to said at least one hollow chamber which extends in the longitudinal direction, said connection element is configured for connection to a coolant line, and said connection element is configured as a cable connection element with electrical connection contacts.

10. The heavy-current cable according to claim 9, wherein: said hollow chamber is one of a plurality of hollow chambers; and said connection element has two coolant connections for a feed line and a return line, and said two coolant connections are connected to different ones of said hollow chambers which extend in the longitudinal direction.

11. The heavy-current cable according to claim 1, wherein the heavy-current cable is configured as a charging cable for a hybrid or electric vehicle having at least one charging plug which is disposed at an end of said heavy-current cable, said charging plug has electrical contacts and at least one coolant connection.

12. The heavy-current cable according to claim 1, wherein the heavy-current cable is configured for currents of greater than 100 A.

13. The heavy-current cable according to claim 1, wherein the heavy-current cable is a charging cable.

14. A power supply system, comprising: a heavy-current cable, containing: a plurality of heavy-current cores extending in a longitudinal direction, each of said heavy-current cores having a conductor and a core insulation surrounding said conductor; an outer jacket; and at least one cooling jacket having at least one hollow chamber extending in the longitudinal direction for conducting a coolant; an electrical energy source; an electrical energy sink; a cooling circuit for actively cooling said heavy-current cable; and said electrical energy source and said electrical energy sink are connected to one another by means of said heavy-current cable for transmitting electrical energy during operation, and said at least one cooling jacket also forms said cooling circuit during operation.

15. The power supply system according to claim 14, wherein: said at least one hollow chamber includes a first hollow chamber and a second hollow chamber; and said cooling circuit is configured in such a way that, during the operation, the coolant which is carried therein is carried through said first hollow chamber, which extends in the longitudinal direction and forms a feed line, through said heavy-current cable over an entire length, and that the coolant is returned through said second hollow chamber, which extends in the longitudinal direction and forms a return line, through said heavy-current cable over the entire length.

16. The power supply system according to claim 14, wherein the power supply system is a charging system for a hybrid or electric vehicle.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

[0026] FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic, cross-sectional illustration through a first embodiment of a heavy-current cable according to the invention;

[0027] FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional illustration through a second embodiment of the heavy-current cable;

[0028] FIG. 3 is a side view of a third embodiment of the heavy-current cable with a connection element; and

[0029] FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustration of a charging system with the heavy-current cable.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0030] Parts which correspond to one another are respectively provided with the same reference symbols throughout the figures.

[0031] Referring now to the figures of the drawings in detail and first, particularly to FIG. 1 thereof, there is shown a heavy-current cable 2 which is described by way of example below and is designed, in particular, as a charging cable for a hybrid or electric vehicle and is accordingly designed for relatively high currents, typically of greater than 100 A but generally less than 500 A.

[0032] In this case, that heavy-current cable 2 has a core element which is arranged centrally, extends in a longitudinal direction 4 and is formed by an insulated protective conductor 6. In the exemplary embodiment, five heavy-current cores 8 are arranged around that protective conductor 6, wherein the heavy-current cores 8 firstly bear against the protective conductor 6 and secondly against one another. An outer jacket 12, which closes off the heavy-current cable 2 to the outside, is extruded onto this arrangement of heavy-current cores 8, with the interposition of five filling elements or fillers 10. Here, the fillers 10 are configured as profile strips which extend in the longitudinal direction 4 and serve to implement as round as possible a circumference for the heavy-current cable 2.

[0033] In the exemplary embodiment, each heavy-current core 8 is formed by a conductor 14 and a cooling jacket 16 which is extruded onto the conductor 14. Here, a corresponding cooling jacket 16 has four hollow chambers 18 which extend in the longitudinal direction 4 and through which a coolant can be conducted. As a result, each cooling jacket 16 forms, as it were, a heat exchanger which can be incorporated into a cooling circuit 20. At the same time, the cooling jacket 16 serves as an insulating jacket for the corresponding conductor 14 in the exemplary embodiment, wherein the cooling jacket 16 has, for this purpose, an annular inner section, that is to say a kind of inner ring, which completely envelops the corresponding conductor 14 and, like the entire integral cooling jacket 16, is produced from an insulating material.

[0034] An alternative refinement of the heavy-current cable 2 is illustrated in cross section in FIG. 2, wherein the heavy-current core 8 is arranged centrally as core element and extends in the longitudinal direction 4 here. In the exemplary embodiment according to FIG. 2, six further heavy-current cores 8 are arranged around first the heavy-current core 8, the further heavy-current cores in turn being enveloped by an outer jacket 12 which closes off the heavy-current cable 2 to the outside. Here, the outer jacket 12 is formed by a cooling jacket 16 which has a plurality of hollow chambers 18 which are arranged in a manner distributed over the circumference. In this case, the hollow chambers 18 have an oval, a round or a trapezoidal cross section or a cross section in the form of a segment of a ring, depending on the application and profile of requirements. These four different variants are shown in the four quadrants of the cross-sectional illustration in FIG. 2.

[0035] Irrespective of these refinement features, a corresponding heavy-current cable 2 further preferably has a connection element 24 at at least one end and is accordingly at least partially prefabricated. A connection element 24 of this kind is, as indicated in FIG. 3, preferably designed in the manner of a plug and accordingly has a number of electrical contacts 26. However, furthermore, the connection element 24 further has two coolant connections 28 by means of which a coolant can be introduced into and/or carried out of the hollow chambers 18 of the heavy-current cable 2.

[0036] In this case, those coolant connections 28 are configured for connection to a coolant line 30, so that the heavy-current cable 2 can be connected to a cooling circuit 20 in a simple manner. A corresponding situation is outlined in FIG. 4. Here, a charging station 32, an electric vehicle 34, the heavy-current cable 2 and the cooling circuit 20 form a charging system 36. In the charging system, the heavy-current cable 2 is connected to the electric vehicle 34, for example by means of a plug-in connection, that is to say a plug, for a charging process. Subsequently, electrical power is transmitted from the charging station 32, by means of the heavy-current cores 8 of the heavy-current cable 2, to the electric vehicle 34.

[0037] During this power transmission operation, the heavy-current cores 8 of the heavy-current cable 2 are further cooled with the aid of the cooling circuit 20 of the charging station 32, wherein a coolant is driven through the heavy-current cable 2 for this purpose. Here, the corresponding coolant is driven through the hollow chambers 18 which are present in the heavy-current cable 2, so that each cooling jacket 16 acts as a heat exchanger in the cooling circuit 20, heat being transmitted from the conductors 14 into the coolant by said heat exchanger. In the exemplary embodiment, both a feed line and a return line are realized for the cooling circuit 20 in the heavy-current cable 2 and accordingly the coolant is driven through the heavy-current cable 2 twice over virtually the full length of the heavy-current cable 2 on its way through the coolant circuit 20.

[0038] If the heavy-current cable 2 is configured, for example, in accordance with FIG. 1 here, each cooling jacket 16 is preferably incorporated into the cooling circuit 20 in such a way that at least one hollow chamber 18 of a cooling jacket 16 is used as a feed line and at least one hollow chamber 18 of the corresponding cooling jacket 16 is used as a return line.

[0039] The invention is not restricted to the exemplary embodiment described above. Rather, other variants of the invention can also be derived from the exemplary embodiment by a person skilled in the art, without departing from the subject matter of the invention. In particular, all individual features described in connection with the exemplary embodiment can further also be combined with one another in a different way, without departing from the subject matter of the invention.