Modular By-Pass Device for Battery Isolation
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing by-pass devices for defective batteries in demanding environments are complex, costly, and difficult to assemble or maintain, lacking flexibility and safety during assembly and requiring complete dismantling for repositioning.
Innovation Solution
A modular by-pass device with a one-piece plunger shaft, adaptable trigger, and reversing switch, featuring a fusible element that melts to change positions, allowing for easy assembly, maintenance, and replacement without complete dismantling, using a cylindrical or threaded adapter for secure attachment and a spring mechanism for transposition.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a traditional by-pass device with separate half-shells and fusible material is used, then the device can provide thermal activation and isolation of defective battery elements, but the device complexity increases and assembly becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the plunger shaft and trigger into a single integrated one-piece component. The trigger is formed as an integral part of the plunger shaft, eliminating the need for separate half-shells and reducing assembly complexity while maintaining the thermal activation function through the embedded fusible material.
Solution Approach 2:
The one-piece plunger shaft with integrated trigger serves multiple functions: it acts as the actuating mechanism, contains the fusible material for thermal sensing, provides the by-pass connection path, and eliminates the need for separate retention devices. This multi-functionality reduces the overall number of components required.
2Reliability
If a traditional by-pass device requiring complete dismantling for repositioning is used, then the device can ensure secure assembly, but the ease of repair and maintenance deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the by-pass device into modular components: the one-piece plunger shaft with integrated trigger, the reversing switch, and the housing with adapter. This segmentation allows individual components to be replaced or repositioned independently without requiring complete dismantling of the entire device.
Solution Approach 2:
The fusible material is designed as a consumable component that can be replaced after activation. When the fusible material melts and activates the by-pass, it can be discarded and a new one-piece plunger shaft with fresh fusible material can be installed, enabling easy maintenance and recovery of the device's protective function.
3Ease of manufacture
If a modular by-pass device with one-piece plunger shaft is used, then the ease of manufacture and assembly improves, but the manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces complex mechanical assembly operations with a simplified one-piece construction. Instead of requiring precise alignment and assembly of multiple half-shells and trigger components, the entire plunger shaft with trigger is manufactured as a single piece, reducing assembly precision requirements while improving ease of manufacture.
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
Enables flexible adaptation and replacement of components, ensuring absolute safety during assembly and maintenance, allowing for repositioning without full dismantling, while maintaining electrical continuity and isolation of defective battery elements.
Implementation Method 1
the trigger is a mechanical device comprising a fusible material, which when subjected to an electric control current producing a rise in temperature will melt or break in order to set free the actuator
Implementation Method 2
when subjected to an electric control current producing a rise in temperature
Implementation Method 3
The spring is thus kept in compression, whilst the shaft is held in sheathed position by the trigger... The latter is then transposed from its sheathed position to the freed position under the pressure of the spring
Data Source
AI summary
A modular by-pass device of an electrical component includes a housing possessing a movable means of sealing, and is equipped with conducting terminals, one of whose ends is connected to one of the terminals of the electrical component circuit, the other end being fastened to the wall of the housing projecting into the interior of the housing and constituting a contact post. An actuator providing transposition between two positions of a control device include a plunger shaft and a spring arranged in the space formed between the plunger shaft and the internal wall of the housing. A trigger includes a retention device of the plunger shaft held in place by a fusible material. A reversing switch includes a contact zone providing electrical continuity between two contact posts of the terminals carried by the housing. The disclosed embodiments finds application more particularly in the isolation and short-circuiting of a battery element, which has become defective.