Insulated Bus Bar Coating for Complex Shapes and Corner Peeling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing bus bars with ceramic tapes face challenges in maintaining insulation and heat resistance due to complex shapes, tape peeling, and temperature changes, especially in miniaturized power storage devices, leading to potential insulation failures and safety risks.
Innovation Solution
A bus bar design with an insulating film having a thicker film thickness on corner portions and an R-shaped outer surface, combined with inorganic compounds and a silicone-based material, is produced using dip coating to ensure robust insulation and heat resistance, even in complex shapes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If ceramic tape is wound around the bus bar body to provide insulation and heat resistance, then the insulation property and heat resistance are improved, but the manufacturing complexity increases and the insulating film may peel off when the bus bar has a complicated shape
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical winding process of ceramic tape with a chemical coating process. The insulating film is formed by applying an insulating coating material to the bus bar body and drying it, eliminating the need for manual or automated tape winding operations. This substitution resolves the contradiction by maintaining insulation reliability while significantly reducing manufacturing complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the physical state and application method of the insulating material from pre-formed ceramic tape to a liquid or paste insulating coating material that can be applied conformally to complex geometries. This parameter change allows the coating to adapt to any bus bar shape without requiring complex winding operations, thereby reducing manufacturing complexity while maintaining insulation reliability.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the bus bar is designed with a complicated shape to fit spatial limitations, then the adaptability to installation locations is improved, but the insulating film becomes difficult to apply uniformly and may peel off
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the insulating material from rigid ceramic tape to a flowable coating material that can conform to complex geometries. This parameter change enables uniform coating application on bus bars with complicated shapes, maintaining manufacturing precision while preserving adaptability to various installation locations.
Solution Approach 2:
The insulating coating material forms a flexible thin film that can conform to the complex surface geometry of the bus bar body. This flexible film structure adapts to any shape without peeling, resolving the contradiction between geometric adaptability and coating uniformity.
3Volume of moving object
If the bus bar is used in a narrow region or transported in mass production, then the space utilization is improved, but the corner portions may collide and the insulating film may be damaged
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the insulating coating to the bus bar body in advance during the manufacturing process, forming a protective layer before the bus bar is subjected to transportation or installation. This preliminary protection prevents damage during subsequent handling, resolving the contradiction between compact usage and film integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
The insulating coating material acts as a cushioning layer that absorbs impact energy during collisions of corner portions. This beforehand protection maintains the integrity of the insulating film even when bus bars collide during transportation or installation in narrow regions.
4Adaptability or versatility
If the bus bar operates under repeated temperature changes, then the operational flexibility is improved, but the temperature difference causes the insulating film to peel off
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes from a rigid ceramic tape with poor thermal expansion matching to a polymer-based insulating coating that can accommodate thermal expansion and contraction. This parameter change maintains adhesion stability under repeated temperature changes while preserving operational flexibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The insulating coating material is formulated as a composite containing inorganic fillers (such as alumina, silica, or mica) dispersed in a polymer matrix. This composite structure combines the thermal stability of inorganic materials with the flexibility and adhesion of polymers, resolving the contradiction between operational flexibility and adhesion stability under temperature cycling.
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 design effectively suppresses film peeling and enhances insulation and heat resistance, ensuring high safety in abnormal states by minimizing damage from collisions and temperature changes.
Implementation Method 1
a drying step of drying the insulating coating material to form the insulating film
Implementation Method 2
the bus bar is required to have an insulation property and heat resistance
Data Source
Figure 1
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AI summary
To provide a bus bar in which an insulating film is formed in a desired region even when a bus bar body has a complicated shape, and peeling off or the like of the insulating film can be suppressed, and a method for producing the same. A bus bar (20) includes a bus bar body (25) and an insulating film (10) formed on a surface of the bus bar body (25). The bus bar body (25) includes a pair of main surface portions (25a) facing each other, a plurality of end surface portions (25b) connecting the main surface portions (25a) facing each other, and corner portions (25c) formed between the main surface portions (25a) and the end surface portions (25b). An outer surface of the insulating film (10) formed on the corner portion (25c) of the bus bar body (25) has an R shape. A film thickness of the insulating film (10) formed on the corner portion (25c) of the bus bar body (25) is larger than a film thickness of the insulating film (10) formed on the main surface portion (25a) of the bus bar body (25).