Slight gap in contact, is it safe?

stormizer

10 mW
Joined
Mar 5, 2020
Messages
23
Hi All..
I am building a battery pack of my own design and received an unexpected result from the manufacturer. Mainly my bad for not considering the zero-point-something tolerance in the material. Now I have some doubt about the safety of the contact.

Parts & Assembly:
Its a nickel+copper bus kind of arrangement. Welded to cells using battery spot weld, to create a "module".
Each module then placed back to back to create series connection. Bolted at each end.

nickel copper.jpg
Nickel+copper bus looks almost exactly like this


Worry Points:
1. The nickel tab of each module extend pass the copper. Obviously thats the most effective arrangement from the factory, but I failed to anticipate that during designing.
2. The extended nickels do touch each other (nice?), but it creates a slight gap between the copper (not sure).
3. At the end of the bus the bolt pinch the copper shut (nice), but it create a "gradient" in the connection (not sure)
4. With only 2 bolts (instead of 4) I can not guarantee an always proper contact in the middle of the "module" when the battery vibrate (road condition, shakes, etc.)
cells.jpg

Questions :
1. Will the slight gap between the copper become a problem? (arching? hot? etc.).
2. Will the "gradient" contact near the bolt become a problem? (arching? hot? etc.)
3. Will a possible slight open and close (during vibration) in the middle of the "module" become a problem? Even if the bolt at each end maintain proper contact at all time?

Challenges:
- I've ordered plenty of these nickel-copper bus and can't afford to change the design.
- Expected peak Amp running between these connection is about 200A.


.
Any thoughts, comments, warning, and suggestions will be very appreciated.
 

Attachments

  • 1.jpeg
    1.jpeg
    138.9 KB · Views: 289
  • 3.jpeg
    3.jpeg
    104 KB · Views: 289
If each of the copper bus's are bolted together at each end, and the nickel is spot welded to the cell then I can't see any issue.
The current flow will be from one bus to the other mainly via the bolted ends. Thus the potential difference across those to pieces of copper will be negligible so there will be no current via the nickel projections if they loose contact momentarily (no arcing) . Just make sure there is good contact between the busses, as each end will be dealing with up to100amps. Relying on a pressure type contact is never good imo, so think of the bolts as the main connection. Grit, corrosion warping and uneven wear could affect those nickel tabs and inhibit contact between them. I would just tighten the bolts up to deform the copper into a good contact.
What are the dimensions of the copper at its thinnest point near the bolts... Will it handle 100amps.
They look like a sweet way of doing high current modules...great you got the hard part pre-manufactured for you! I did a DIY version of this few years back and it was a very time consuming project... Specially when I had to redo the entire pack half way through building :cry:
 
Thanks for the encouragement.
Copper contact on both end will be bolted TIGHT.
Will try to solder them tooo, just to keep things TIGHT-er :)

Its hard to measure how much is the contact size, but I would say (from experience, not exactly scientific) it should be enough to deliver 100A.

THANK YOU!!

*I am still welcome for more suggestion
 
The bus bars are fine as long as those nickel cups are well attached. How did the penetration look on their attachment to the bar?
 
Back
Top