The present disclosure relates to cabinets and methods for removing undesirable gas in cabinets.
This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Cabinets may house components that release undesirable gases. For example, some batteries release hydrogen gas when recharging. This hydrogen gas may cause explosions when, for example, the concentration of hydrogen gas in the cabinet rises above about four percent. Typically, cabinets include perforations near a top portion of the cabinet to allow the hydrogen gas to escape as it rises.
This section provides a general summary of the disclosure, and is not a comprehensive disclosure of its full scope or all of its features.
According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a battery cabinet for housing one or more rechargeable batteries capable of releasing hydrogen gas over time is disclosed. The battery cabinet includes an inlet channel for conveying air from an exterior side of the battery cabinet to an interior side of the battery cabinet, an outlet channel for conveying air and hydrogen gas from the interior side of the battery cabinet to the exterior side of the battery cabinet, and a thermoelectric module (TEM) thermally coupled to the inlet channel and/or the outlet channel for promoting a temperature differential between air in the inlet channel and air in the outlet channel. The temperature differential promotes a flow of air from the interior side of the battery cabinet through the outlet channel to the exterior side of the battery cabinet to thereby remove hydrogen gas from the battery cabinet.
According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a cabinet for housing one or more components capable of releasing an undesirable gas over time is disclosed. The cabinet includes an inlet channel for conveying air from an exterior side of the cabinet to an interior side of the cabinet, an outlet channel for conveying air and undesirable gas from the interior side of the cabinet to the exterior side of the cabinet, and a TEM thermally coupled to the inlet channel and/or the outlet channel for promoting a temperature differential between air in the inlet channel and air in the outlet channel. The temperature differential promotes a flow of air from the interior side of the cabinet through the outlet channel to the exterior side of the cabinet to thereby remove the undesirable gas from the cabinet.
According to yet another aspect of the present disclosure, a method of promoting a flow of air from an interior side of a battery cabinet to an exterior side of the battery cabinet to thereby remove hydrogen gas from the battery cabinet is disclosed. The method includes promoting a temperature differential between air in an inlet channel and air in an outlet channel with a TEM to promote a flow of air from the interior side of the battery cabinet through the outlet channel to the exterior side of the battery cabinet to thereby remove hydrogen gas from the battery cabinet.
Further aspects and areas of applicability will become apparent from the description provided herein. It should be understood that various aspects of this disclosure may be implemented individually or in combination with one or more other aspects. It should also be understood that the description and specific examples herein are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
The drawings described herein are for illustrative purposes only of selected embodiments and not all possible implementations, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
Corresponding reference numerals indicate corresponding parts or features throughout the several views of the drawings.
Example embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Example embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough, and will fully convey the scope to those who are skilled in the art. Numerous specific details are set forth such as examples of specific components, devices, and methods, to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that specific details need not be employed, that example embodiments may be embodied in many different forms and that neither should be construed to limit the scope of the disclosure. In some example embodiments, well-known processes, well-known device structures, and well-known technologies are not described in detail.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular example embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” may be intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. The terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “including,” and “having,” are inclusive and therefore specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. The method steps, processes, and operations described herein are not to be construed as necessarily requiring their performance in the particular order discussed or illustrated, unless specifically identified as an order of performance. It is also to be understood that additional or alternative steps may be employed.
Although the terms first, second, third, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections, these elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections should not be limited by these terms. These terms may be only used to distinguish one element, component, region, layer or section from another region, layer or section. Terms such as “first,” “second,” and other numerical terms when used herein do not imply a sequence or order unless clearly indicated by the context. Thus, a first element, component, region, layer or section discussed below could be termed a second element, component, region, layer or section without departing from the teachings of the example embodiments.
Spatially relative terms, such as “inner,” “outer,” “beneath,” “below,” “lower,” “above,” “upper,” and the like, may be used herein for ease of description to describe one element or feature's relationship to another element(s) or feature(s) as illustrated in the figures. Spatially relative terms may be intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. For example, if the device in the figures is turned over, elements described as “below” or “beneath” other elements or features would then be oriented “above” the other elements or features. Thus, the example term “below” can encompass both an orientation of above and below. The device may be otherwise oriented (rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the spatially relative descriptors used herein interpreted accordingly.
A cabinet for housing one or more components capable of releasing an undesirable gas over time according to one example embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated in
By promoting this temperature differential, air in the inlet channel 102 may become cooler and/or air in the outlet channel 104 may become warmer. As a result, air within the inlet channel 102 may become cooler than its surrounding ambient air (e.g., within the cabinet 100, etc.) and/or air within the outlet channel 104 may become warmer than its surrounding ambient air (e.g., within, adjacent to, etc. the cabinet 100). Because the density of air is inversely related to air temperature, cooler air within the inlet channel 102 (relative to its surrounding ambient air) flows to a lower portion of the cabinet 100 while warmer air within the outlet channel 104 (relative to its surrounding ambient air) exhausts from the cabinet 100.
As air in the lower portion of the cabinet 100 becomes warmer (and less dense) and/or as cooler, more dense, air enters the cabinet 100 via the inlet channel 102, existing air in the lower portion of the cabinet 100 rises. At least some of this air may enter the outlet channel 104 and exhaust from the cabinet 100 (represented by arrow 122) as explained above. Thus, this temperature differential between air in the inlet channel 102 and air in the outlet channel 104 may promote a flow of air into (represented by arrow 124) and out of the cabinet 100 thereby inducing, enhancing, etc. air movement within the cabinet 100.
Because the TEM 106 promotes the temperature differential between the inlet channel 102 and the outlet channel 104, air flow in the cabinet 100 (including the channels 102, 104) may be accomplished without the need of a fan and/or other power consuming and sometimes unreliable components. Therefore, and as shown in
The above example of air flow in the cabinet 100 is sometimes referred to as the stack effect, the chimney effect, etc. The stack effect may be enhanced (e.g., more air flow entering and existing the cabinet 100) by creating a greater temperature differential in the inlet and the outlet channels, increasing the volume of the channels (e.g., increasing the length), utilizing one or more fans (as explained above), etc.
Additionally, the undesirable gas released by components 108 in the cabinet 100 may be forced to flow with the circulating air path and exhaust from the cabinet 100 through the outlet channel 104 as explained above. Further, because the undesirable gas may be less dense than the surrounding air in the cabinet 100 and therefore more buoyant, the undesirable gas may rise to the upper portion of the cabinet 100 as explained above. As such, the concentration of undesirable gas in the cabinet 100 may remain substantially at or below a suitable level (e.g., at or below about four percent, one percent, etc.).
The temperature differential between air in the inlet channel 102 and air in the outlet channel 104 may be promoted by cooling air in the inlet channel 102 and/or warming air in the outlet channel 104. This may be accomplished by applying current to the TEM 106 that in turn moves heat from one side of the TEM 106 to the other side. As a result, one side of the TEM 106 gets cooler (e.g., a cold side, etc.) and/or the other side gets warmer (e.g., a hot side, etc.). Since the TEM 106 is thermally coupled to the inlet channel 102 and/or the outlet channel 104, air temperature in the outlet channel 104 may raise, remain substantially constant, etc. from heat transferred from the hot side of the TEM 106 and/or air temperature in the inlet channel 102 may lower, remain substantially constant, etc. from exposure (e.g., directly or indirectly) to the cold side of the TEM 106.
The TEM 106 may be thermally coupled to the inlet channel 102 and/or the outlet channel 104 in any suitable manner so long as air within one or both channels is exposed to the TEM 106. For example, the TEM 106 may be directly coupled to one or both channels, the TEM 106 may be coupled to one or both channels via an intervening thermally conductive substance (e.g., air, conductive material, etc.), etc. In the particular example of
In some embodiments, the TEM 106 may be positioned (e.g., entirely, at least partially, etc.) within one or both channels, positioned partially between the channels, etc. For example, and as further explained below, the TEM 106 may include one or more heat sinks extending into the inlet channel 102 and/or the outlet channel 104.
In some examples, a temperature differential between air in the inlet channel 102 and air in the outlet channel 104 may not exist. In such cases, the TEM 106 may induce a temperature differential to encourage a flow of air as explained above. In other examples, a temperature differential between air in the inlet channel 102 and air in the outlet channel 104 may exist. In this case, the TEM 106 may enhance the temperature differential to increase a flow of air as explained above.
As shown in
The wall 110 defines an inlet port 120 for coupling to the inlet channel 102 and an outlet port 118 for coupling to the outlet channel 104. As shown in
By having the inlet port 120 adjacent the outlet port 118, an undesirable flow of air caused by a temperature differential between inside the cabinet 100 and outside of the cabinet 100 may be reduced. For example, if the inlet port 120 is positioned near a lower portion of the cabinet 100 and the outlet port 118 is positioned near an upper portion of the cabinet 100, air may flow in the outlet port 118 and out the inlet port 120 if the air temperature outside the cabinet 100 is less than the air temperature inside the cabinet 100. This may reduce the amount of undesirable gas exhausted from the cabinet 100 because while the undesirable gas may be forced upwards (e.g., due to the buoyancy of the undesirable gas as explained above), the air flow path is forcing air downwards in the cabinet 100. Thus, air within the cabinet 100 may become substantially stagnant.
Alternatively, the inlet port 120 may not be positioned adjacent the outlet port 118. For example, the inlet port 120 may be positioned near the lower portion of the cabinet and outlet port 118 may be positioned near the upper portion of the cabinet. In such examples, if the air temperature outside the cabinet 100 is more than the air temperature inside the cabinet 100, air may flow in the inlet port 120 and out the outlet port 118 and thus work with the upward flow of the undesirable gas as explained above.
As shown in
The components may include any suitable component(s) capable of releasing an undesirable gas over time. For example, the components 108 may include one or more rechargeable batteries capable of releasing hydrogen gas.
In the some embodiments, a TEM may be controlled by a control circuit. For example,
In some embodiments, the control circuit 308 may continuously energize the TEM 306 so that a temperature differential is continuously present. Alternatively, the control circuit 308 may periodically energize the TEM 306 to reduce operating costs of the TEM 306, etc. The TEM 306 may be, for example, periodically energized based on one or more of a defined period of time, a defined level of undesirable gas, a defined temperature, a triggering event, etc. For example, the TEM 306 may be energized when batteries in the cabinet 300 are recharging and for a defined period of time after the batteries have recharged, only when batteries in the cabinet 300 are recharging, etc.
The control circuit 308 may also detect whether the TEM 306 is malfunctioning and then activate one or more alarms internal and/or external the cabinet 300 to warn individuals of the malfunctioning TEM 306. As such, the malfunctioning TEM 306 may be replaced, repaired, etc. before the concentration of undesirable gas in the cabinet 300 reaches, exceeds, etc. a defined level. The alarms may be placed in the cabinet 300, attached to the exterior side of the cabinet 300, remote from the cabinet 300, etc.
Additionally, the cabinet 300 includes an inlet channel 302 and an outlet channel 304 thermally coupled to the TEM 306. The inlet channel 302 is coupled to an inlet port 320 and the outlet channel 304 is coupled to an outlet port 318. As shown in
In the some examples, a temperature control device may be employed to maintain a temperature within a cabinet. For example,
Additionally and alternatively, the temperature control device 402 and/or other temperature control devices may be positioned in other portions of the cabinet 400 to maintain a temperature about other components (e.g., heat sensitive components such as converters, rectifiers, control circuits, batteries, etc.) that may be present in the cabinet 400. The temperature control devices may include, for example, fans, heat dissipating components, and/or any other suitable device for maintaining a temperature within the cabinet 400.
As shown in
Similar to the cabinet 100 of
The batteries 508 may release (e.g., outgas, etc.) hydrogen gas when recharging. This hydrogen gas may flow upwards to the outlet channel 504 as explained above. As such, the equipment chamber 510 may be sealed to protect internal components (e.g., converters, rectifiers, control circuits, etc.) from being exposed to the hydrogen gas.
In the example of
Additionally, the inlet channel 502 extends along an exterior side of the cabinet 500. In particular, the inlet channel 502 extends along an exterior side of the side wall 516. Thus, and as shown in
As shown in
By having the outlet channel 504 including its interior side opening 526 adjacent the upper portion of the cabinet 500, an increased amount of hydrogen gas may be exhausted from the cabinet 500 compared to, for example, an outlet channel and opening near a middle and/or lower portion of the cabinet 500. This is because the hydrogen gas rises to the upper portion of the cabinet 500 (as explained above) and thus the upper portion of the cabinet 500 may include a higher concentration of hydrogen gas available for exhausting compared to other portions of the cabinet 500.
Alternatively, the inlet channel 502 may extend along the interior side of the cabinet 500 and/or the outlet channel 504 may extend along the exterior side of the cabinet 500. Thus, the inlet channel 502 and the outlet channel 504 may extend on the same side (e.g., the interior side, etc.), opposite sides (e.g., as shown in
In some embodiments, one or more filters may be employed to substantially prevent undesired contaminants from entering a cabinet. For example,
Alternatively and additionally, one or more filters may be positioned adjacent one or more inlet ports and/or outlet ports that are coupled to the inlet channel 502 and the outlet channel 504, respectively, as explained above. In such cases, these filters may substantially prevent contaminants from entering the cabinet 600 via the inlet channel 502 and/or the outlet channel 504.
In some examples, an outlet channel may include an interior side opening adjacent a top wall of the cabinet. For example,
Additionally, and as shown in
In the particular example of
Additionally, the cabinet 700 includes a thermoelectric cooler (TEC) 712 having a module 718 and heat sinks 714, 716 thermally coupled to the channels 502, 704, respectively, to promote temperature differential between air in the inlet channel 502 and air in the outlet channel 704. Thus, and as explained above, air temperature in the outlet channel 704 may raise, remain substantially constant, etc. from heat transferred from a hot side of the TEC 712 via the heat sink 716 and air temperature in the inlet channel 502 may lower, remain substantially constant, etc. from exposure to a cold side of the TEC 712 via the heat sink 714.
In the example of
In some embodiments, a cabinet may include multiple inlet channels, outlet channels, and TEMs. For example,
Each TEC of
Each TEC of
As shown in
Each TEC of
As shown in
A cabinet including the door 900 of
The channels disclosed herein may be any suitable shape. For example, the inlet channels and the outlet channels may have a substantially rectangular cross section as shown in
Additionally, the channels may be pipes, walls, etc. Additionally, depending on thermal requirements and/or characteristics, the channels may be formed of any suitable material. For example, the channels may be formed of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), metal (e.g., sheet metal, etc.), or another suitable material. In some embodiments, one channel of a cabinet may be formed of a particular material while another channel of the cabinet may be formed of another material.
The TEMs disclosed herein may be any suitable TEM. For example, the TEMs may include a TEC as shown in
The methods disclosed herein may be employed in a wide variety of cabinets including for example, cabinets deployed indoors and/or outdoors. The cabinets may be any suitable cabinet housing components (e.g., one or more batteries as explained below) capable of releasing hydrogen gas and/or another undesirable gas.
The cabinets disclosed herein may be a sealed cabinet (e.g., an environmentally sealed cabinet). For example, the cabinets may not include cutouts (or the like) that allow a free exchange of air including contaminants to enter. If appropriate, the sealed cabinet may include gaskets, seals, potting, filters (as explained herein), etc. to protect the interior of the cabinet from contaminants (e.g., moisture, dirt, air, dust, etc.). In some examples, a sealed cabinet may reduce power required to thermally regulate an interior of the cabinet.
Further, although
Additionally, a cabinet, including the cabinets disclosed herein, may include any one or more features disclosed herein (e.g., control circuits, temperature control devices, position of the TEC relative the channels, configuration of the channels, etc.) in any suitable combination without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.
By employing one or more of the features described above, a concentration of undesirable gas in a cabinet may remain substantially at or below a suitable level. Additionally, because the temperature differential is created in channels as explained above, the warmer air may be limited (at least to an extent) to within the outlet channel. This may isolate the warmer air from other components (e.g., heat sensitive components such as converters, rectifiers, control circuits, batteries, etc.) in the cabinet.
Further, because the temperature differential creates an air flow path through a cabinet as explained above, temperature in the cabinet may be maintained at or below a defined temperature (e.g., ambient environment temperature, etc.). As such, this air flow path may assist in temperature control in addition to or in place of the one or more controllable fans, vents, heat dissipating components, etc.
The foregoing description of the embodiments has been provided for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure. Individual elements or features of a particular embodiment are generally not limited to that particular embodiment, but, where applicable, are interchangeable and can be used in a selected embodiment, even if not specifically shown or described. The same may also be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the disclosure, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the disclosure.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/013,768 filed Jun. 18, 2014 and U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/058,960 filed Oct. 2, 2014. The entire disclosure of each of the above applications is incorporated herein by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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62013768 | Jun 2014 | US | |
62058960 | Oct 2014 | US |