Extruded Power Bus With Modular Grooves For Flexible Attachment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional electrical distribution bus systems are complex, expensive, and inflexible, requiring substantial changes to accommodate different amperage levels and cabinet arrangements, with cumbersome attachment features that only allow coupling at specific locations.
Innovation Solution
An extruded high power electrical distribution bus with elongate metal extrusions featuring ridges and grooves of specific cross-sections, allowing for flexible configuration and attachment at any location, using machined openings for secure attachment features that can slide and expand, and support brackets that allow the bus to float without rigid attachment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If traditional bus work is manufactured to specific length with punched holes, then attachment features can be coupled at specific locations, but the system becomes complex, expensive, and inflexible requiring substantial changes for different amperage levels
Solution Approach 1:
The bus bar is segmented into modular sections with standardized grooves at regular intervals. Each section can be independently configured and attached to components, allowing flexible assembly for different amperage levels and cabinet arrangements without requiring complete redesign of the entire bus system.
Solution Approach 2:
The bus bar design incorporates universal grooves and attachment features that can accommodate multiple types of connections and configurations. The same bus bar structure can serve different amperage requirements and cabinet layouts through varied attachment placements, eliminating the need for specialized bus work for each application.
2Adaptability or versatility
If traditional bus work uses punched holes for attachment, then attachment features can be secured, but attachment is only enabled at specific locations making the system inflexible
Solution Approach 1:
The bus bar incorporates a dynamic attachment system where grooves are distributed continuously or at frequent intervals along the bus length. Attachment features can be positioned at any desired location by selecting the appropriate groove, enabling flexible configuration rather than being constrained to fixed predetermined positions.
Solution Approach 2:
The attachment system allows variation in attachment location as a configurable parameter. By changing the position along the bus bar where attachment features are coupled to grooves, the system can adapt to different spatial requirements without modifying the bus bar structure itself.
3Ease of operation
If traditional bus work requires fasteners and non-conductive standoffs, then the bus can be affixed to the cabinet, but the attachment system becomes cumbersome and difficult to configure
Solution Approach 1:
The bus bar design merges the attachment function directly into the bus bar structure itself through integrated grooves. This eliminates the need for separate fasteners and non-conductive standoffs, as the grooves provide both mechanical attachment and electrical insulation functions in a single integrated feature.
Solution Approach 2:
The bus bar's grooves are designed to self-align and self-secure attachment features without requiring additional fastening components. The groove geometry itself provides the attachment mechanism, allowing the bus bar to attach to the cabinet and support components through its own structural features rather than external hardware.
Data Source
AI summary
Embodiment relate to an extruded high power electrical distribution. The bus can be employed in a MCC, a drive cabinet, or any such electrical enclosure to facilitate transmission of power. A body of the bus includes an elongate metal extrusion with first and second ridges extending along a length of the body from opposite edges of the body. Further, the bus includes a first groove and a second groove extending along the length of the body and into the body from a face of the body such that each of the first and second grooves comprises a cross-section having a narrow passage extending from the face into a broader cavity within the body. Additionally, the bus includes machined openings into each groove, wherein each of the machined openings is wider than the width of the corresponding groove to which it provides access.