Separated ELT Battery Pack with Honeycomb Isolation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Lithium battery events such as fires or explosions in emergency locator transmitters (ELTs) pose a significant risk to aircraft safety, as they can cause damage and endanger lives due to the high energy release from a single battery event.
Innovation Solution
A physically separated battery pack with smaller individual batteries, each in a protective compartment, using an aluminum honeycomb grid core mesh and over-molded thermal protective material to prevent thermal transfer and explosion propagation, allowing for safe configuration options and venting to relieve pressure, thereby minimizing the impact of a single battery event.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Use of energy by moving object
If lithium batteries are used in ELT for power supply, then the power density and energy storage are improved, but the risk of battery fire or explosion increases
Solution Approach 1:
The battery system is divided into multiple smaller individual batteries instead of using a single large battery. Each battery is physically separated and isolated within its own protective housing, so that if one battery experiences a thermal event, the others remain unaffected. This segmentation reduces the energy release of any single battery event while maintaining the required power density for ELT operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The batteries are extracted from the ELT housing and placed in a separate, externally mounted protective housing. This physical separation removes the batteries from the aircraft structure, reducing the potential damage from battery events. The external housing can be positioned away from critical aircraft systems, further minimizing the impact of any battery fire or explosion.
2Object-generated harmful factors
If multiple smaller batteries are used instead of a single large battery, then the energy release from a single battery event is reduced, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple individual batteries are combined within a single integrated protective housing that provides unified protection for all batteries. The housing includes integrated thermal barriers, explosion containment structures, and a single external mounting interface. This merging approach simplifies installation and maintenance while maintaining the safety benefits of multiple smaller batteries.
Solution Approach 2:
The protective housing utilizes composite material structures that provide both mechanical protection and thermal isolation. The housing may include layers of fire-resistant materials, thermal barriers, and explosion-containing structures that work together to protect against battery events. This composite approach provides comprehensive protection without requiring overly complex individual components.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If batteries are physically separated from ELT housing, then the damage to aircraft from battery event is reduced, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The batteries are extracted from the ELT housing and placed in a separate, externally mounted protective housing. This physical separation removes the batteries from the aircraft structure, reducing the potential damage from battery events. The external housing can be positioned away from critical aircraft systems, further minimizing the impact of any battery fire or explosion.
Solution Approach 2:
A protective housing serves as an intermediary structure between the batteries and the aircraft. This housing contains thermal barriers, explosion containment features, and mounting mechanisms that mediate the interaction between the battery system and the aircraft structure. The intermediary housing absorbs and contains the effects of battery events, preventing direct damage to the aircraft while maintaining a relatively simple overall system configuration.
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 significantly reduces the risk of aircraft damage and enhances safety by containing and isolating battery fires or explosions, allowing for the use of lithium batteries while minimizing the magnitude of an explosion, thus ensuring safer transportation and reducing the likelihood of catastrophic failures.
Implementation Method 1
over mold cast thermal protective material that covers the aluminum honeycomb grid core mesh
Implementation Method 2
The battery pack uses a two phase material system between each battery that prevents the explosive impact from the explosion of one battery from reaching an adjacent battery
Implementation Method 3
The battery pack can have a vent to safely relieve pressure within the battery pack after such a battery event
Data Source
AI summary
An external battery pack for protecting against a battery fire or battery explosion, said battery pack connectable to an emergency locator transmitter (ELT) typically mounted in an aircraft. The external replaceable battery pack has a protective metal enclosure and a removable metal cover. The box includes an aluminum honeycomb grid core mesh with passages, each sized to receive a single battery and a pair of printed circuit boards on top and bottom to receive battery power, voltage and current, from multiple batteries for use with an ELT. By using smaller and more batteries together, the possibility of a catastrophic failure is greatly eliminated or reduced in that a smaller battery have a lesser fire or explosion potential. The batteries are isolated from each other from excessive heat or destruction by explosion.