Battery Module Bus Bar Fuse Layout to Prevent Post-Melt Contact
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Solution Overview
Problem
When a current exceeding a prescribed amount flows through a bus bar connecting two batteries, the fuse part melts, causing separation of the bus bar connections and potential contact issues with adjacent components.
Innovation Solution
A flexible bus bar with a meltable fuse part is designed, supported by a cover member with protrusions that maintain a specific positional relationship between the separated parts, preventing contact and penetration of the melted fuse material.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a fuse part is included in the bus bar to suppress excessive current flow, then battery safety is improved, but the melted fuse material may contact adjacent components causing additional hazards
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an insulating member as an intermediary between the bus bar and adjacent components. This insulating member includes a through-hole that allows the bus bar to pass through, and when the fuse part melts and separates, the insulating member prevents the melted fuse material from contacting adjacent components while maintaining electrical isolation. This resolves the contradiction by adding a protective intermediary structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The insulating member is pre-installed in the housing before the bus bar is assembled, creating a protective barrier in advance. The through-hole structure is designed beforehand to accommodate the bus bar and its potential melted state, ensuring that even if the fuse part melts, the harmful effects are cushioned and contained by the pre-positioned insulating member.
2Ease of manufacture
If the bus bar is made flexible to accommodate assembly variations, then ease of assembly is improved, but the positional control of separated parts after fuse melting becomes uncertain
Solution Approach 1:
The insulating member acts as a mediator that constrains the flexible bus bar after fuse melting. While the bus bar remains flexible for assembly, the insulating member's through-hole and surrounding structure provide positional reference and constraint, ensuring that when the fuse part melts and separates, the end portions are positioned predictably without contacting adjacent components.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes the change in physical state of the fuse part (from solid to melted/separated) as a parameter change. The insulating member is designed to accommodate both the normal flexible state during assembly and the separated state after melting, providing positional control in both conditions through its geometric design.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution ensures reliable operation by suppressing contact between separated bus bar parts and preventing the melted fuse material from contacting other components, enhancing the battery module's reliability and safety.
Implementation Method 1
the fuse part is meltable by a lower current than the first and second parts
Implementation Method 2
the fuse part melts when a current that is not less than a prescribed amount flows
Data Source
AI summary
A battery module includes a first battery including a first terminal, a second battery including a second terminal, a bus bar located above the first and second batteries, and a cover member located below the bus bar. The bus bar includes a first part connected to the first terminal, a second part connected to the second terminal, and a fuse part positioned between the first part. The fuse part is meltable by a lower current than the first and second parts. The cover member is insulative. The cover member includes a cover part and a support part located on the cover part. In a state in which the fuse part has melted, the support part supports the first part so that a position of an end portion of the first part is higher than a position of an end portion of the second part.