Safety apparatus for monitoring charging of an electrical energy store in a motor vehicle, and method for operating a safety apparatus for monitoring charging of an electrical energy store in a motor vehicle

Abstract

The present invention relates to a safety apparatus (20) for monitoring charging of an electrical energy store in a motor vehicle (100), having at least one first sensor device (21a) and at least one second sensor device (21b), the two of which are each designed to capture motion data for the motor vehicle (100) and to provide said motion data as a sensor signal; and a control device (25) that is coupled to the at least one first sensor device (21a) and to the at least one second sensor device (21b) and that is designed to deactivate the at least one second sensor device (21b) while the electrical energy store is being charged and, if the control device (25) detects motion of the motor vehicle (100) on the basis of one of the provided sensor signals, to actuate at least one actuator device (30) of the motor vehicle (100) in order to brake the motor vehicle (100).

Claims

1. A system comprising: at least one first sensor device configured to: detect a movement of a motor vehicle, and generate a first sensor signal in response to detecting the movement of the motor vehicle; at least one second sensor device configured to: detect the movement of the motor vehicle, and generate a second sensor signal in response to detecting the movement of the motor vehicle; and a safety control device coupled to the at least one first sensor device and to the at least one second sensor device, the safety control device configured to: monitor charging of an electrical energy store of the motor vehicle, receive the first sensor signal, receive the second sensor signal, and control at least one actuator device configured to brake the motor vehicle in response to monitoring the charging of the electrical energy store and in response to receiving at least one of the first sensor signal or the second sensor signal.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the safety control device is further configured to alternately activate or to deactivate the at least one first sensor device and the at least one second sensor device to minimize an operating period of the at least one first sensor device and the at least one second sensor device.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the safety control device is further configured to perform an alternating activation and deactivation of the at least one first sensor device and the at least one second sensor device after a predetermined time period.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the safety control device is further configured to perform an alternating activation and deactivation of the at least one first sensor device and the at least one second sensor device on a basis of a predetermined rotation method.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the at least one first sensor device and the at least one second sensor device has a sensor unit and a signal converter unit.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the sensor unit is configured as a rotational-speed sensor.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a memory device which is configured to store in each case a switch-on time which has already been achieved up to now of a sensor unit of the at least one first sensor device or the at least one second sensor device.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one actuator device is an electronic braking system of the motor vehicle.

9. A method for operating a system, the method comprising: detecting, with at least one first sensor device, a movement of a motor vehicle; generating, with the at least one first sensor device, a first sensor signal in response to detecting the movement of the motor vehicle; detecting, with at least one second sensor device, the movement of the motor vehicle; generating, with the at least one second sensor device, a second sensor signal in response to detecting the movement of the motor vehicle; monitoring, with a safety control device, charging of an electrical energy store of the motor vehicle; receiving, with the safety control device, the first sensor signal and the second sensor signal; and controlling, with the safety control device, at least one actuator device configured to brake the motor vehicle in response to monitoring the charging of the electrical energy store of the motor vehicle and in response to receiving the first sensor signal and the second sensor signal.

10. A system comprising: at least one first sensor device configured to: detect a movement of a motor vehicle, and generate a first sensor signal in response to the movement of the motor vehicle; at least one second sensor device configured to: detect the movement of the motor vehicle, and generate a second sensor signal in response to the movement of the motor vehicle; and a safety control device coupled to the at least one first sensor device and to the at least one second sensor device, the safety control device configured to: monitor charging of an electrical energy store of the motor vehicle, receive the first sensor signal, receive the second sensor signal, deactivate the at least one second sensor device in response to monitoring charging of the electrical energy store of the motor vehicle, and control at least one actuator device configured to brake the motor vehicle in response to monitoring the charging of the electrical energy store and in response to receiving at least the first sensor signal.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the safety control device is further configured to activate the at least one second sensor device in response to receiving the first sensor signal to verify the movement of the motor vehicle using the second sensor signal.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the safety control device is further configured to alternately activate or to deactivate the at least one first sensor device and the at least one second sensor device to minimize an operating period of the at least one first sensor device and the at least one second sensor device.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the safety control device is further configured to perform an alternating activation and deactivation of the at least one first sensor device and the at least one second sensor device after a predetermined time period.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the safety control device is further configured to perform an alternating activation and deactivation of the at least one first sensor device and the at least one second sensor device on a basis of a predetermined rotation method.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein at least one of the at least one first sensor device and the at least one second sensor device has a sensor unit and a signal converter unit.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the sensor unit is configured as a rotational-speed sensor.

17. The system of claim 10, further comprising a memory device which is configured to store in each case a switch-on time which has already been achieved up to now of a sensor unit of the at least one first sensor device or the at least one second sensor device.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein the at least one actuator device is an electronic braking system of the motor vehicle.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The appended drawings are intended to provide improved understanding of the embodiments of the invention. They illustrate embodiments and, in conjunction with the description serve to explain principles and concepts of the invention.

(2) Other embodiments and many of the mentioned advantages can be gleaned from the drawings. The elements in the drawings are not necessarily shown true to scale with respect to one another.

(3) In the figures:

(4) FIG. 1 shows a schematic illustration of a safety device for monitoring charging of an electrical energy store of a motor vehicle according to an embodiment of the invention; and

(5) FIG. 2 shows a schematic illustration of a flow chart of a method for operating a safety device for monitoring charging of an electrical energy store of a motor vehicle according to another embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(6) In the figures of the drawing, identical reference signs refer to identical or functionally identical elements, parts, components or method steps, unless stated otherwise.

(7) FIG. 1 shows a schematic illustration of a safety device for monitoring charging of an electrical energy store of a motor vehicle according to an embodiment of the invention.

(8) An electric vehicle or a hybrid motor vehicle or another motor vehicle can be designed as the motor vehicle 100 to be charged which has an electrical energy store that can be charged during a charging process of the motor vehicle 100 from a stationary charging station or from a charging column.

(9) The electrical energy store of the motor vehicle 100 is designed, for example, as a lithium-ion rechargeable battery or as a lithium-polymer rechargeable battery or as a nickel-cadmium rechargeable battery or as a nickel-metal hydride rechargeable battery or as another rechargeable battery.

(10) A safety device 20 for monitoring charging of an electrical energy store of a motor vehicle 100 comprises, by way of example, at least two sensor devices, that is to say at least one first sensor device 21a and at least one second sensor device 21b, and a control device 25.

(11) The at least two sensor devices 21a, 21b can each be designed to detect movement data of the motor vehicle 100 and to provide it as a sensor signal.

(12) Data relating to a position of the motor vehicle 100, data relating to a speed of the motor vehicle 100 or data relating to a presently prevailing rotational speed of an axle of the motor vehicle 100 can be detected as movement data of the motor vehicle 100 by the control device 25.

(13) The control device 25 of the safety device 20 can be coupled to the at least two sensor devices 21a, 21b and be designed to activate or deactivate at least one sensor device 21a, 21b or a subset of the at least two sensor devices 21a, 21b.

(14) Furthermore, the control device 25 of the safety device 20 can be designed to actuate at least one actuator device 30 of the motor vehicle 100 in order to brake the motor vehicle 100, and hence to monitor charging of the electrical energy store of the motor vehicle 100, if a movement of the motor vehicle 100 is detected by the control device 25 on the basis of one of the sensor signals provided.

(15) Moreover, the control device 25 can be designed to activate at least one deactivated sensor device 21a, 21b of the at least two sensor devices 21a, 21b, and hence to verify the detected movement of the motor vehicle 100, if a movement of the motor vehicle 100 is detected by the control device 25 on the basis of the sensor signal provided.

(16) The at least two sensor devices 21a, 21b of the safety device 20 can each have, for example, a sensor unit 22 and/or a signal converter unit 23.

(17) Furthermore, the safety device 20 can have a memory device 28 which is designed to store in each case an operating time which has already been achieved up to now or a switch-on time which has already been achieved up to now of a sensor device 21a, 21b of the at least two sensor devices 21a, 21b.

(18) The control device 25 of the safety device 20 can also be designed to calculate an operating strategy for the further use of the at least two sensor devices 21a, 21b and/or an operating strategy for a rotation method for alternate use of the at least two sensor devices 21a, 21b of the safety device 20 on the basis of the operating times of the sensor devices 21a, 21b stored in the memory device 28.

(19) The at least two sensor devices 21a, 21b of the motor vehicle 100 can also have a rotational-speed sensor or another movement sensor as the sensor unit 22. By way of example, a rotational-speed sensor is formed on a single wheel of the motor vehicle 100, which rotational-speed sensor can detect a rotation of the respective wheel by a predetermined angular range or a rotational speed of the respective wheel of the motor vehicle 100.

(20) The respective signal converter units 23 of the at least two sensor devices 21a, 21b of the safety device 20 are designed, for example, as integrated evaluation devices for evaluating sensor signals of the sensor units 22 of the safety device 20, which evaluation devices are present in a driving dynamics control system which is present in the motor vehicle 100.

(21) The signal converter units 23 of the at least two sensor devices 21a, 21b can be designed, for example, as an electrical amplifier circuit for the sensor units 22 for signal processing and/or signal standardization of the voltage signals generated by the sensor unit 22.

(22) By way of example, the at least one actuator device 30 is designed as an electronic braking system of the motor vehicle 100 or as another system for braking or stopping the motor vehicle 100. Furthermore, the actuator device 30 can be designed as a coupling device of the motor vehicle 100 or as an automatic transmission of the motor vehicle 100.

(23) The actuator device 30 can be actuated by the safety device 20 via a vehicle-internal bus system of the motor vehicle 100, for example a CAN bus system. Likewise, the at least two sensor devices 21a, 21b of the safety device 20 can be coupled to the control device 25 of the safety device 20 via such a vehicle-internal bus system of the motor vehicle 100.

(24) The control device 25 of the safety device 20 can be designed as a program-controlled device or as a microcontroller or as a configurable logic component or as an integrated circuit or as an application-specific integrated circuit or as a computer or as an embedded system.

(25) The memory device 28 of the safety device 20 can be designed as a data memory or as a semiconductor memory, wherein microelectronic memory structures are formed in and on a semiconductor substrate and the data to be stored in the memory device 28 are stored in the form of binary electronic switching states in the integrated circuits designed in such a way.

(26) The control device 25 of the safety device 20 and/or the at least two sensor devices 21a, 21b and/or the memory device 28 of the safety device 20 are designed, for example, as technical components which are connected as a network.

(27) FIG. 2 shows a schematic illustration of a flow chart of a method for operating a safety device 20 for monitoring charging of an electrical energy store of a motor vehicle 100 according to another embodiment of the invention.

(28) As a first method step of the method for operating a safety device 20, movement data of the motor vehicle 100 is detected S1 and a sensor signal is provided using at least one first sensor device 21a and at least one second sensor device 21b.

(29) As a second method step of the method for operating a safety device 20, the at least one second sensor device 21b is deactivated 52 during charging of the electrical energy store.

(30) If a movement of the motor vehicle 100 is detected by the control device 25 on the basis of one of the provided sensor signals, at least one actuator device 30 of the motor vehicle 100 is actuated 53 as a third method step of the method for operating a safety device in order to brake the motor vehicle 100 in order to monitor the charging of the electrical energy store of the motor vehicle 100 as a result.

(31) In this case, the method steps may be repeated in any desired sequence, iteratively or recursively. The method for monitoring charging of an electrical energy store of a motor vehicle 100 can be performed, for example, by the safety device 20 of the motor vehicle 100.

(32) Although the present invention has been described above on the basis of preferred exemplary embodiments, it is not restricted to these but modifiable in many ways. In particular, the invention may be changed or modified in various ways without deviating from the core of the invention.