Non-overlapping Bus Bars for Battery Current Distribution
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing battery pack designs face challenges in simplifying electrical connections, reducing component cost, and improving thermal management, particularly due to complex manufacturing processes and parasitic resistance introduced by thick wires, which also limit efficient heat removal.
Innovation Solution
A battery assembly design where all electrical connections are made at one end of each battery, using non-overlapping bus bars of alternating polarity and current distribution links made of conductive materials like aluminum or copper, with slots to ensure equal current pathways, simplifying the configuration and improving heat management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If thick wires are used to connect batteries, then electrical connections are made, but parasitic resistance is introduced and heat removal efficiency is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the electrical connection function from thick wires and relocates it to bus bars positioned at the ends of battery cells. This eliminates the need for thick intermediate wires, removing the source of parasitic resistance while maintaining reliable electrical connections through direct bus bar-to-terminal contact.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces bus bars as intermediary elements that facilitate electrical connections between battery terminals and the electrical system. These bus bars serve as mediators that provide low-resistance connection paths, replacing the problematic thick wires and enabling efficient current flow without significant parasitic losses.
2Device complexity
If all electrical connections are made at one end of each battery, then configuration is simplified and cooling efficiency is improved, but complex manufacturing processes remain
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the battery pack into modular units with standardized end-connection configurations. Each battery cell or module is designed with terminals accessible at specific ends, allowing systematic arrangement and simplified assembly. This segmentation enables standardized manufacturing processes while achieving the simplified one-end connection configuration.
3Manufacturing precision
If non-overlapping bus bars with alternating polarity are used, then current distribution is balanced and manufacturing is simplified, but material arrangement complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs asymmetric positioning of bus bars with alternating polarity around battery cells, where positive and negative bus bars are placed at different locations rather than symmetrically. This asymmetric arrangement creates balanced current distribution paths of equal length, ensuring uniform current flow while the alternating polarity pattern provides clear manufacturing guidance that reduces actual assembly complexity.
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
This design reduces material and fabrication costs, simplifies manufacturing, and ensures balanced current distribution among batteries, leading to more uniform aging and reduced fusible link sizes, while allowing efficient heat removal and reduced weight.
Implementation Method 1
a first current distribution link electrically connected to a first bus bar of the plurality of bus bars and to a first high current input... electrically connected to a last bus bar of the plurality of bus bars and to a second high current input
Implementation Method 2
the first plurality of slots define a first plurality of current pathways of equal length between the first high current input and each battery of a first battery group
Data Source
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Figure 3
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AI summary
A pair of current distribution links are provided for use with a battery assembly in which the batteries are divided into groups, and where the batteries within each battery group are connected in parallel and the groups are connected in series. The batteries are interconnected using a repetitive sequence of non-overlapping, alternating polarity bus bars. The current distribution links evenly distribute the current among the parallel connected batteries, thereby eliminating the current imbalance that results from the use of a single point electrical connection. By eliminating current imbalance, each battery is subjected to the same load and will tend to heat at the same rate, resulting in the batteries aging at the same rate.