Demountable Insulating Shield for Battery String Safety
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Solution Overview
Problem
Storage battery systems in backup power supply systems face safety hazards due to high voltages, which can be fatal, and require specialized personnel and procedures for maintenance, as the voltage difference between components can exceed safe limits, necessitating a solution to prevent inadvertent contact and ensure safe servicing.
Innovation Solution
An insulating barrier is provided with apertures to prevent inadvertent contact with high voltages, allowing access to battery terminals while maintaining safety by disconnecting series strings into sub-strings with lower voltage differences, enabling safe servicing and replacement of batteries.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Power
If batteries are connected in series to increase voltage, then power delivery capability is improved, but safety risk increases due to high voltage contact hazards
Solution Approach 1:
The battery system is divided into multiple racks, each containing a series string of batteries. The insulating barrier segments the electrical system into isolated sections, preventing continuous high-voltage exposure across the entire system while maintaining series connection benefits within each rack.
Solution Approach 2:
An insulating barrier is introduced as an intermediary element between battery racks and within racks. This non-conductive barrier physically separates conductive components, allowing the system to maintain high voltage series connections while preventing harmful electrical contact with accessible surfaces.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If insulating barriers are added to prevent high voltage contact, then safety is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The insulating barrier serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides electrical insulation to prevent shock hazards, acts as a physical support structure for battery racks, and creates defined accessible zones with voltage below safety thresholds. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate safety components.
Solution Approach 2:
The insulating barrier creates equipotential zones where all accessible surfaces maintain voltage potentials below the 50V safety threshold. By ensuring that any surface accessible without removing the barrier remains at safe potential, the system achieves safety without requiring complex interlocking mechanisms or additional controls.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If voltage is reduced below 50V for safety, then safety risk is reduced, but power delivery capability decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the electrical architecture into high-voltage series strings (for power delivery) and low-voltage accessible zones (for safety). The insulating barrier enables this segmentation by electrically isolating the high-voltage battery terminals while maintaining physical accessibility to the system.
Solution Approach 2:
The solution transitions from a single-dimensional voltage reduction approach to a spatial dimension solution. Instead of reducing voltage throughout the entire system, the insulating barrier creates three-dimensional zones where high voltage exists only in isolated, non-accessible regions, while accessible regions maintain safe voltage levels.
Data Source
AI summary
Storage batteries connected in series in an uninterruptable or back-up power supply system may have voltage potential differences between exposed terminals or conductors that exceed safety limits. A demountable insulating shield having apertures may be positioned so that the series string may be broken into a plurality of series sub-strings having a lesser potential difference has a cover over the aperture through which the series string configuration may be connected and disconnected. The cover may be an insulating material removably fastened to the insulating shield or a sliding cover that is captivated to the insulating shield. When the series string has been divided in to the sub-strings, the insulating shield may be demounted from the structure housing the batteries so that the batteries or their connections may be serviced.