Tesla patents new liquid-cooled charging connector

Tesla has filed for a new patent on a design for a liquid-cooled charging connector, like the one used at its Supercharger stations.

With the advent of faster-charging electric vehicles, charging station manufacturers need to develop higher-powered DC fast charger and those machines generate more heat that needs to be dissipated.

When introducing its new V3 Supercharger, Tesla fixed this issue for the cable with a new “significantly lighter, more flexible, and more efficient” liquid-cooled cable than their previous air-cooled cable found on the V2 Superchargers.

Now it looks like Tesla also made the connector liquid-cooled.

The automaker describes the design in a new patent application called ‘Liquid-Cooled Charging Connector’:

“The charging connector includes a first electrical socket and a second electrical socket. A first sleeve and a second sleeve are provided, such that the first sleeve is concentrically coupled to the first electrical socket and the second sleeve is concentrically coupled to the second electrical socket. A manifold assembly is adapted to enclose the first and second electrical sockets and the first and second sleeves, such that the first and second sleeves and the manifold assembly create a hollow interior space there between. An inlet conduit and an outlet conduit within the manifold assembly such that inlet conduit, the interior space, and the outlet conduit together create a fluid flow path.”

Here are some drawings from the patent application:

It’s not clear if this technology is currently used in the V3 Superchargers or if it’s going to be introduced in future Tesla charging stations, like the Megacharger for Tesla Semi.

Tesla claims that the new design is more efficient:

“The two-part structure of the PCB (A 902) allows for a more efficient routing of electrical wires of charging connector 210, and overall size of charging connector (210) may be conveniently reduced.”

The automaker applied for the patent in March 2019, around the time it presented its Supercharger V3 technology, and the patent application was released last week.