Electric plug-in connection, in particular for electric vehicles

Abstract

The present invention relates to an electric plug-in connection, in particular for electric vehicles. Said plug-in connection is equipped with a plug-in connector (1, 2) substantially consisting of a socket (1) and a plug (2). The connection is also provided with a locking unit (4, 5) comprising at least one blocking element (4) and a transmission element (5) for detachably coupling the socket (1) and the plug (2). Further, an actuator (8) is provided, for actuating the transmission element (5) together with the blocking element (4) arranged at one end thereof. According to the invention, the transmission element (5) is in the form of a gear arrangement (5).

Claims

1. An electric plug-in connection comprising a socket for receiving a plug; the electric plug-in connection further including: a locking unit for automatic locking of the socket and the plug, the locking unit comprising a blocking element having a gear rod section and a transmission element built as a gear arrangement, the blocking element arranged at a first end of the transmission element; and an actuator for actuating the locking unit when the actuator is electrically actuated, wherein the actuator is arranged at a second end of the transmission element opposite the first end and causes a first linear movement which is translated into a second linear movement perpendicular to the first linear movement via the blocking element.

2. The plug-in connection according to claim 1, wherein the gear arrangement is a deflection gear and/or a transmission/reduction gear.

3. The plug-in connection according to claim 1, wherein the gear arrangement is acted upon by a drive journal of the actuator.

4. The plug-in connection according to claim 1, wherein the blocking element is a locking journal.

5. The plug-in connection according to claim 3, wherein the drive journal contains a gear rod section.

6. The plug-in connection according to claim 3, wherein the drive journal and the blocking element are arranged at a right angle to each other.

7. The plug-in connection according to claim 3, wherein the drive journal and the blocking element are connected by at least one gear wheel as a drive means.

8. The plug-in connection according to claim 1, wherein the gear arrangement is arranged in a housing.

9. The plug-in connection according to claim 8, wherein the housing comprises a support part and a cover part.

10. The plug-in connection according to claim 8, wherein at least one seal is provided between the two housing parts.

Description

(1) Below, the invention is explained with reference to a drawing showing only one embodiment, in which:

(2) FIG. 1 shows an overview of the electric plug-in connection of the invention.

(3) FIG. 2 shows a detailed view of the gear arrangement with a partially opened housing and

(4) FIGS. 3A and 3B show the object of FIG. 2 in different functional positions, i.e. FIG. 3A the locking unit in its unlocked position and FIG. 3B the locking unit in its locked position.

(5) The figures show an electric plug-in connection used in particular for the electric recharging of batteries in electric vehicles. For this purpose the electric plug-in connection contains a plug-in connector 1, 2 comprising essentially a socket 1 and a plug 2. The plug 2 is only schematically indicated in FIG. 3B and is inserted in the socket 1 as per the direction of the arrow in FIG. 1. In order to achieve this, a flap K, closing the socket 1 on the outside, must first be opened against the force of a spring.

(6) The entire socket 1 is accommodated in a power supply unit or power service station 3. This is indicated by FIG. 1. In addition, a locking unit 4, 5 is provided. The locking unit 4, 5 essentially comprises a blocking element 4 and a transmission element 5 for detachably coupling or detachably locking socket 1 and plug 2 together. The figure also shows a battery 6 provided for actuation of the transmission element 5 with the blocking element 4 arranged at its end.

(7) In the embodiment, the transmission element 5 is designed as a gear arrangement 5. In the example, the gear arrangement 5 is a deflection gear 5, which is best apparent from FIG. 2. Alternatively or in addition, the deflection gear 5 can also act as a transmission/reduction gear, which is however not the case in the shown example. In the example, the transmission element 5 or the gear arrangement 5 is finally a gear wheel 5.

(8) The gear wheel 5 or the gear arrangement 5 is arranged in a housing 7. This also applies to a drive journal 8 and the actuating element 4, designed as a locking journal 4 in the example. The drive journal 8 is acted upon by the actuator 6 and carries out a linear movement indicated in FIG. 2 by a double arrow. These linear movements of the drive journal 8 are transformed to linear movements of the actuating element or locking journal 4 by means of the gear arrangement 5. The result is a perpendicular change in direction, as directly apparent from FIG. 2.

(9) In fact the drive journal 8 on one hand and the actuating element or the locking journal 4 on the other hand are arranged to each other at an angle and, according to the embodiment example at right angles. Also, said gear wheel 5 ensures that the drive journal 8 and the actuating element or the locking journal 4 are consequently connected as a drive means. For this purpose, the respective gear wheel 5 is arranged on a respective journal in housing 7.

(10) The drive journal 8 and the locking journal or the actuating element 4 are each equipped with a respective gear rod section 8a or 4a. The gear wheel 5 meshes with both gear rod sections 4a, 8a. For this purpose, gearwheel 5 tangentially engages in each perpendicularly arranged gear rod section 4a, 8a. As a result, actuation of the drive journal 8 in its longitudinal extension by actuator 6 corresponds to the drive journal 8 being moved for instance to the right along the double arrow shown in FIG. 2.

(11) As a result, the thus produced clockwise rotation of the gear wheel 5 ensures that the actuating element 4, meshing with the gear wheel 5, is moved down via gear rod section 4a. This corresponds to the locked position of locking unit 4, 5 shown in FIG. 3B. In contrast, the retracted position of the actuating element or locking journal 4 in relation to housing 7 is part of the unlocked position of the locking unit 4, 5, as shown in FIG. 3A.

(12) The housing 7 comprises a support part 7a and a cover part 7b. The support part 7a does not only provide the support of the gear wheel 5 but only ensures that the drive journal 8 and the actuating element or locking journal 4 are guided and supported in the respective housing 7 or the support part 7a. In order to seal both housing parts 7a, 7b from each other, a sealing 9 is also provided. In the example, the bearing part 7a and the seal 9 define a two-component assembly 7a, 9 made of plastic. For this purpose, the bearing part 7a can be made of thermoplastic plastic, whilst the seal 9 is an elastomeric plastic, as already described in the introduction.

(13) In general, also the cover part 7b can contain a respective seal 9. This is, however, not shown. In addition to the at least one seal 9 between the two housing sections 7a, 7b, the example embodiment also contains additional seals 10, 11. These are sealing rings 10, 11, by means of which a guide 12 for the actuating element or the locking journal 4 in housing 7 is, on one hand, sealed. On the other hand, the further seal or the sealing ring 11 ensures that the actuator 6 is sealed from the housing 7. For this purpose, the bearing part 7a contains a seat 13 for the actuator 6 in the example. The actuator 6 positioned on the seat 13 is now sealed with the aid of the seal 11 or the sealing ring 11 provided at this point from the housing 7 or the cover part 7b of the housing 7.

(14) As a whole, the actuator 6, the transmission element 5 or the gear arrangement 5 including the accommodating housing 7 and lastly the actuating element emerging from the housing 7 or the locking journal 4 form an assembly 4, 5, 6, 7 sealed against environmental influences. This assembly 4 to 7 can be easily mechanically connected to the socket 1 with the seal 10 at this point providing an additional sealing for the respective assembly 4 to 7 in relation to the socket 1 or a respective housing. This simplifies assembly and reduces costs.