Quick charger and quick charging system for electric vehicle

• US 9,061,597 B2
• Filed: 08/06/2012
• Issued: 06/23/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Oda, Masaru, Umezawa, Koichi, Utsuki, Toshiyuki, Sakayori, Yoshitomo, Kawai, Shoji, Horii, Masakatsu
• Primary Examiner(s): Ngo, Brian
• Application Number:
  US13/567,189
• Publication Number:
  US 20130069588A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,051 Days
• Field of Search: 320/108, 320/109, 320/107, 320/101
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/11 DC charging controlled by the charging station, e.g. mode 4
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/18 Cables specially adapted for charging electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/302 Cooling of charging equipment
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/305 Communication interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/31 Charging columns specially adapted for electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/67 Controlling two or more charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/70 Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/7072 Electromobility specific charging systems or methods for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/12 Electric charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/14 Plug-in electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/16 Information or communication technologies improving the operation of electric vehicles

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to provide a quick charger for an electric vehicle in which a quick charging cable can be compactly stored, which is excellent in safety, and in which the burden on a user in operations is lightened.

Provided is a quick charger for an electric vehicle including: an operation panel provided on the front face of a body housing; an outlet for a charging cable provided on one side face of the body housing; a charging connector housing unit that is provided on the other side face of the body housing to hold a charging connector in the body housing; and a charging cable receiver that is provided at a lower part of the body housing, wherein the charging cable receiver has a function of holding an intermediate part of the charging cable.

Claims

1. A quick charger for an electric vehicle comprising:

a body housing including a front face, a side face, and another side face opposite to the side face;

a control unit installed inside the body housing;

an operation panel disposed on the front face of the body housing;

a charging cable connecting the control unit to a charging connector;

an outlet for the charging cable disposed on an upper end of the side face of the body housing;

a charging connector housing unit disposed at a position lower than the outlet for the charging cable, in the vertical direction, on the another side face of the body housing to hold the charging connector in the body housing; and

a charging cable receiver disposed at a lower part of the body housing near a ground surface on which the body housing is installed, wherein

the charging cable receiver is configured to hold an intermediate part of the charging cable.

2. The quick charger for an electric vehicle according to claim 1, wherein

the charging cable receiver is provided at a lower part of the front face of the body housing to hold the intermediate part of the charging cable on the front face of the body housing.

3. The quick charger for an electric vehicle according to claim 1, wherein

a front door is provided on the front face of the body housing,

the operation panel is installed on the front door, and an upper edge of the charging cable receiver is located at a position lower than a lower edge of the front door.

4. The quick charger for an electric vehicle according to claim 3, wherein

the charging cable receiver has a cable receiving unit to hold the charging cable, a cable receiving space is formed between the cable receiving unit and the body housing, and the cable receiving space is surrounded by at least three walls so that the charging cable does not protrude from the cable receiving unit.

5. The quick charger for an electric vehicle according to claim 3, wherein

the outlet for the charging cable is disposed at an uppermost part of the side face of the body housing, and the charging connector housing unit is disposed at an intermediate part of the another side face of the body housing.

6. The quick charger for an electric vehicle according to claim 3, wherein

the height and width of the cable receiving unit are set so that, when the charging connector is held by the charging connector housing unit, the intermediate part of the charging cable is not brought into contact with the ground surface on which the body housing is installed.

7. The quick charger for an electric vehicle according to claim 1, wherein

when the charging connector is held by the charging connector housing unit, the charging connector is oriented orthogonal to the front face of the housing unit.

8. The quick charger for an electric vehicle according to claim 1,

wherein the body housing includes a blower,

wherein a sucking port to intake air into the body housing to cool off the inside of the body housing is arranged at a lower part of the side face of the body housing, a discharging port is arranged at an upper part of the another side face of the body housing to discharge the air

the charging connector housing unit is arranged at a position lower than the discharging port, and

the blower produces air flow distributing the air taken in from the sucking port to the discharging port.

9. The quick charger for an electric vehicle according to claim 3, wherein

the cable receiving unit is provided with a member to reduce friction between the cable receiving unit and the charging cable.

10. The quick charger for an electric vehicle according to claim 1, wherein

a storage space is provided at a lower part of the body housing to store the charging cable receiver, and the bottom face of the body housing is configured to be fixed to a floor face with anchor bolts, and the charging cable receiver is removable from the storage space.

11. The quick charger for an electric vehicle according to claim 1, wherein

the charging cable receiver is disposed on an outer surface of the body housing.

12. The quick charger for an electric vehicle according to claim 1, wherein

the height of the charging connector housing unit is adjustable the another side face of the body housing, and the charging connector housing unit is configured as a movable charging connector housing unit that allows the charging connector housing unit to be positioned at a high position relative to the body housing.

13. A quick charging system comprising:

a converter having a control unit; and

at least one separated quick charging stand connected to the converter through a connection cable, the separated quick charging stand comprising;

a body housing including a front face, a side face, and another side face opposite to the side face;

a control unit that is installed inside the body housing and is connected to the connection cable;

an operation panel disposed on the front face of the body housing and functions as an input/output unit for the control unit;

a charging cable connecting the control unit to a charging connector;

an outlet for the charging cable disposed on an upper end of the side face of the body housing;

a charging connector housing unit disposed at a position lower than the outlet for the charging cable, in the vertical direction, on the another side face of the body housing to hold the charging connector in the body housing; and

a charging cable receiver disposed at a lower part of the front face of the body housing near a ground surface on which the body housing is installed, wherein

the charging cable receiver is configured to hold an intermediate part of the charging cable on the front face of the body housing.

14. A quick charging system comprising:

a body housing including a front face, a side face, and another side face opposite to the side face;

a converter unit installed inside the body housing and has a converter and a control unit for the converter;

a quick charging stand unit installed on the same plane as the converter unit in the body housing and has a control unit;

an operation panel disposed on the front face of the body housing;

a charging cable connecting the control unit of the quick charging stand unit to a charging connector;

an outlet for the charging cable disposed on an upper end of the side face of the body housing;

a charging connector housing unit disposed at a position lower than the outlet for the charging cable, in the vertical direction, on the another side face of the body housing to hold the charging connector in the body housing; and

a charging cable receiver disposed at a lower part of the front face on the outside of the body housing near a ground surface on which the body housing is installed, wherein

the charging cable receiver is configured to hold an intermediate part of the charging cable on the front face of the body housing.