High voltage power fuse including fatigue resistant fuse element and methods of making the same
AssigneeEaton Intelligent Power Limited
InventorsRobert Stephen Douglass, Ramdev Kanapady
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A power fuse includes a housing, first and second conductive terminals extending from the housing, and at least one fatigue resistant fuse element assembly connected between the first and second terminals. The fuse element assembly includes at least a first conductive plate and a second conductive plate respectively connecting the first and second conductive terminals, and a plurality of separately provided wire bonded weak spots interconnecting the first conductive plate and the second conductive plate.
Claims24
A compact power fuse comprising:
- a housing;
- first and second conductive terminals extending from the housing;
- and
- a fuse element assembly contained in the housing and being connected between the first and second terminals, the fuse element assembly fabricated to address otherwise expected nuisance operation caused by mechanical fatigue attributable to thermal cyclic stress associated with seemingly random current load cycling that does not present a short circuit or overload condition in an operating power system of an electric vehicle by virtue of at least one prefabricated fatigue resistant assembly including:
- at least a first conductive plate and a second conductive plate arranged in a coplanar relationship to one another;
- a plurality of wire bonded weak spots interconnecting the first conductive plate and the second conductive plate, each of the plurality of wire bonded weak spots being separately provided from one another and having a first end connected to the first conductive plate and a second connected to the second conductive plate;
- a sealing element comprising an arc barrier material and covering only respective ends of the plurality of wire bonded weak spots that are connected to the respective first conductive plate and the second conductive plate, the sealing element not covering a majority of the plurality of wire bonded weak spots;
- and
- an arc quenching media covering the sealing element;
- wherein the power fuse is engineered to provide a current rating of at least 150 A.
A prefabricated fatigue resistant fuse assembly for power fuse comprising:
- a plurality of conductive plates arranged in a coplanar relationship to one another;
- a plurality of wire bonded weak spots interconnecting respective ones of the plurality of conductive plates, each of the plurality of wire bonded weak spots being separately provided from one another and having a first end connected to the first conductive plate and a second end connected to the second conductive plate;
- a sealing element comprising an arc barrier material and covering only respective ends of the plurality of wire bonded weak spots on a portion of the respective ones of the plurality of conductive plates, the sealing element not covering a majority of the plurality of wire bonded weak spots;
- and
- an arc quenching media covering the sealing element and mechanically supporting the wire bonded weak spots,
- wherein the fuse assembly having an improved fatigue resistance at a current rating of at least 150 A and is fabricated to address otherwise expected nuisance operation caused by mechanical fatigue attributable to seemingly random thermal cyclic loading associated with load current cycling that does not present a short circuit or overload condition in an operating power system of an electric vehicle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.