Battery Cover Venting System Flame Arrest
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional battery covers are prone to explosion due to the ignition of hydrogen and oxygen gases at the vent outlet, leading to potential fires and sulfuric acid release, with existing designs failing to adequately prevent acid spillage and flashback flames.
Innovation Solution
A battery cover with a gas collector system that includes a vent with specific dimensions and a sintered pellet arrangement, where the vent's upper and lower internal surfaces are close together, and a complex path for gases and electrolytes to prevent flashback and acid spillage, ensuring that flames are directed outside and preventing acid from reaching the sintered pellet.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a traditional round vent with diameter of +/- 6mm is used, then gases can be evacuated from the battery, but the vent allows flashback flames to enter the battery and causes acid spillage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the geometric parameters of the vent from a traditional round shape with diameter of +/- 6mm to a slot-shaped vent with specific dimensions: length between 6-15 times the width, width less than 1.0mm, and length-to-width ratio between 2 and 5. These parameter changes create a vent structure that allows gas evacuation while preventing flashback flames from entering the battery and limiting acid spillage during overturning events.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a composite structure combining a sintered pellet (porous material) with the slot-shaped vent. The sintered pellet is positioned to receive gases from the gas collector and direct them through the slot-shaped vent. This composite arrangement of different materials (sintered pellet and molded vent structure) works together to filter gases, prevent flame propagation, and contain acid spillage.
2Productivity
If the vent distance between upper and lower surfaces is increased, then gas flow is improved, but flashback flames can penetrate deeper into the vent structure
Solution Approach 1:
The patent optimizes the vent dimensions by setting the distance between upper and lower internal surfaces to less than 1.0mm, which creates a narrow passage that effectively blocks flashback flames while maintaining adequate gas flow through the slot-shaped configuration. The length-to-width ratio is maintained between 2 and 5, ensuring efficient gas evacuation without allowing flame penetration.
3Productivity
If the sintered pellet is positioned to collect gases efficiently, then gas evacuation is improved, but acid can reach the sintered pellet during battery overturning
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary structure - the slot-shaped vent - positioned between the sintered pellet and the external environment. This vent structure serves as a protective mediator that allows gases to pass from the sintered pellet to the outside while preventing acid from reaching the sintered pellet during battery overturning events. The slot-shaped geometry acts as a physical barrier that blocks acid spillage paths.
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 effectively prevents flashback flames from entering the battery and limits acid spillage, ensuring safer operation by directing gases and electrolytes through a controlled path, thus enhancing safety and preventing battery explosions.
Implementation Method 1
A sintered pellet is housed in the cavity and is arranged such that all gases pass through the sintered pellet and then through the vent to the outside environment
Implementation Method 2
the vent has an upper internal surface and a lower internal surface, the distance between the upper surface and the lower internal surface being less than approximately 1.0 mm
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a cover for a battery comprising at least one gas collector incorporated into the cover in order to communicate with the inside of at least one cell of a battery tank and, extending as far as one of the side walls of the cover, a cavity in the side wall; a plate covering the cavity, the plate being provided with a vent; and a sintered insert housed in the cavity and placed so that all the gases pass through the sintered insert and then the vent to the external medium. The vent has an upper internal surface and a lower internal surface, the distance between the upper internal surface and the lower internal surface being equal to or less than about 1.0 mm and the ratio of the total useful area of the vent (through which the gases pass) to the distance between the upper surface and the lower surface of the vent is between 2 and 5.