Battery Disconnector Fuse Explosive Heat Bridge
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing lithium-ion storage batteries face challenges with fault detection and protection, particularly at low voltage levels, where fuses or circuit-breakers may fail to open or open slowly, leading to potential overvoltage and destruction of accumulators, and existing protection systems induce non-negligible losses in onboard applications.
Innovation Solution
The proposed solution involves a storage battery design with disconnectors and fuses connected in series, where a fusible portion and an explosive form a heat bridge, allowing the fuse to detonate and open the conducting link at a lower temperature than its melting point, ensuring reliable disconnection and protection against short-circuits, and a load balancing management circuit to optimize capacity and detect malfunctions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a fuse is used to protect against short-circuits in accumulators, then reliability is improved, but response speed deteriorates because the fuse may fail to open or open slowly at low voltage levels
Solution Approach 1:
An explosive element is introduced as an intermediary between the fuse and the conducting link. The explosive acts as a mediator that transfers the thermal energy from the fuse to mechanically break the conducting link, enabling reliable disconnection even when the fuse alone would be too slow to respond at low voltage levels
Solution Approach 2:
The explosive element undergoes a phase transition from solid to gas through detonation when heated by the fuse. This phase transition creates a rapid expansion that mechanically breaks the conducting link, providing fast response speed while maintaining the protective function of the fuse
2Reliability
If fuses are used in series between stages of accumulators, then protection against short-circuits is improved, but energy losses increase representing a particular handicap for onboard applications
Solution Approach 1:
The explosive element is extracted as a separate functional component from the traditional fuse design. By separating the detection function (fuse) from the execution function (explosive breaking), the system achieves protection with reduced energy losses, as the explosive provides mechanical breaking with minimal continuous energy dissipation compared to traditional fuse operation
3Strength
If the fusible portion is designed to melt at high temperature, then strength is improved, but reliability deteriorates because the fuse may not open at low voltage levels
Solution Approach 1:
The explosive element serves as an intermediary that amplifies the thermal effect. Even when the fuse heating is insufficient to melt the fusible portion at low voltage levels, the explosive detects the thermal energy and converts it into mechanical force to break the conducting link, ensuring reliable disconnection while maintaining high melting point strength
Solution Approach 2:
The protection system combines two different materials with complementary properties: the fusible portion with high melting point for structural strength, and the explosive with low detonation temperature for sensitive detection. This composite approach allows the system to maintain strength while achieving reliable operation at low voltage levels
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
This design effectively prevents overheating and fire risks by ensuring reliable disconnection of faulty accumulators, maintaining battery functionality, and reducing energy dissipation losses, even in configurations with low voltage levels, while allowing for the use of lithium-ion batteries that can withstand overvoltages without destruction.
Implementation Method 1
a fuse including a conducting link connected in series between the first and second electrodes and including a fusible portion; an explosive, a heat bridge being formed between the fuse and the explosive so that the heating of said fuse forms a detonator initiating the explosion of the explosive
Implementation Method 2
the explosion of the explosive causing said conducting link to open
Implementation Method 3
the heating of said fuse forms a detonator initiating the explosion of the explosive
Data Source
AI summary
A storage battery, including: first and second stages connected electrically in series, each stage including at least first, second, and third batteries connected electrically in parallel; at least first and second breakers by which the batteries of the first stage are connected in parallel and by which the batteries of the second stage are connected in parallel, each one of the breakers including: first and second electrodes; a fuse including a conducting link connected in series between the first and second electrodes and a fusible portion; an explosive, with a heat bridge between the fuse and the explosive causing the conducting link to open, the explosive having an explosion initiation temperature that is lower than the melting point of the fusible portion.