Boat with electric drive and emergency off switch

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9789946-B2
Application number	US-201314442062-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 11, 2013
Priority date	Nov 12, 2012
Publication date	Oct 17, 2017
Grant date	Oct 17, 2017

Abstract

A boat having an electric motor coupled with an electrical store is disclosed. The electrical store includes a storage element, and positive and negative poles in current-conducting connection with the storage element. An isolating circuit element is operatively connected to a user activatable emergency stop switch. The isolating circuit element is configured to, upon activation of the emergency stop switch, isolate the current-conducting connection between the storage element and at least one of the poles.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A boat, comprising:
an electric drive that provides propulsive power to the boat;
an electrical store configured to couple with the electric drive, the electrical store including:
a storage element, and
positive and negative poles in current-conducting connection with the storage element;
a user activatable emergency stop switch, including a magnet and a magnetic field sensing sensor, the emergency stop switch activating when the sensor senses a magnetic field change caused by the magnet; and
an isolating circuit element operatively connected to the emergency stop switch, and configured to, upon activation of the emergency stop switch, isolate the current-conducting connection between at least one of the poles and the storage element.

2. The boat of claim 1 , wherein the electrical store comprises a high-voltage source having a terminal voltage of more than 60 volts.

3. The boat of claim 1 , further comprising:
an outboard drive,
wherein the emergency stop switch is positioned on one or more of a housing and a tiller of the outboard drive.

4. The boat of claim 1 , further comprising:
one or more electrical consumers in respective current-conducting connection with the poles of the electrical store; and
one or more additional isolating circuit elements operatively connected to the emergency stop switch, and configured to, upon activation of the emergency stop switch, isolate the respective current-conducting connection between the one or more electrical consumers and at least one of the poles.

5. The boat of claim 1 , wherein the isolating circuit element further includes a time delay unit.

6. The boat of claim 1 , further comprising:
an electrical consumer in current-conducting connection with the poles of the electrical store, the electrical consumer including a dedicated control unit operatively connected to the emergency stop switch.

7. The boat of claim 1 , further comprising:
an electrical consumer in current-conducting connection with the poles of the electrical store, the electrical consumer including a dedicated control unit operatively connected to a dedicated voltage supply, the dedicated voltage supply in turn operatively connected to the emergency stop switch.

8. The boat of claim 1 , wherein the emergency stop switch is a solenoid switch.

9. The boat of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of sensors configured to detect activation of the emergency stop switch.

10. A method for isolating an electrical consumer from an electrical store of a boat, the electrical store including a storage element, and positive and negative poles in current-conducting connection with the storage element and the electrical consumer, the method comprising:
activating an emergency stop switch operatively connected to an isolating circuit element, the emergency stop switch including a magnet and a magnetic field sensing sensor, the emergency stop switch activating when the sensor senses a magnetic field change caused by the magnet; and
isolating, in response to activation of the emergency stop switch, the current-conducting connection between at least one of the poles and the storage element, via the isolating circuit element.

11. The method of claim 10 ,
wherein the isolating circuit element is electrically activated via a supply voltage, and
wherein isolating the current-conducting connection includes interrupting the supply voltage via the emergency stop switch.

12. The method of claim 10 , further comprising: interrupting the current-conducting connection between the electrical consumer and at least one of the poles.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein interrupting the current-conducting connection between the electrical consumer and at least one of the poles occurs prior to isolating the current-conducting connection between at least one of the poles and the storage element.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the electrical consumer includes a dedicated control unit electrically connected to a dedicated voltage supply, the method further comprising:
interrupting the electrical connection between the electrical consumer and at least one of the poles after isolating the current-conducting connection between at least one of the poles and the storage element; and
subsequently interrupting the electrical connection between the control unit and the voltage supply.

15. The method of claim 10 , further comprising: interrupting the current-conducting connection between the electrical consumer and the poles.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein interrupting the current-conducting connection between the electrical consumer and the poles occurs prior to isolating the current-conducting connection between at least one of the poles and the storage element.

17. The method of claim 10 , wherein the electrical consumer includes a dedicated control unit electrically connected to a dedicated voltage supply, the method further comprising:
interrupting the electrical connection between the control unit and the voltage supply after isolating the current-conducting connection between at least one of the poles and the storage element.

18. The method of claim 10 , wherein providing the emergency stop switch includes:
providing the magnet as a repositionable magnet and the sensor configured to sense the magnetic field of the repositionable magnet set in a predetermined position; and
interrupting the current-conducting connection between the storage element and at least one of the poles when the magnet is not in the predetermined position.

19. A boat, comprising:
an electric drive that provides propulsive power to the boat;
an electric source that powers the electric drive;
a user activatable emergency stop switch, including a magnet and a magnetic field sensing sensor, the emergency stop switch activating when the sensor senses a magnetic field change caused by the magnet; and
a stopping mechanism operatively connected to the emergency stop switch, and configured to, upon activation of the emergency stop switch, stop operation of the electric drive.

Assignees

• Torqeedo Gmbh

Inventors

• Biebach Jens
• Krieger Philipp
• Hartmeyer Marc

Classifications

• H01M10/0525

  Rocking-chair batteries, i.e. batteries with lithium insertion or intercalation in both electrodes; Lithium-ion batteries · CPC title

• B63H21/17

  by electric motor · CPC title

• H01M2220/20

  Batteries in motive systems, e.g. vehicle, ship, plane · CPC title

• H01H47/00

  Circuit arrangements not adapted to a particular application of the relay and designed to obtain desired operating characteristics or to provide energising current · CPC title

• B63H23/24 Primary

  electric {(dynamo-electric machines H02K)} · CPC title