Patent Application
20060216580
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an emergency power supply apparatus, in particular for or in an aircraft, having replaceable rechargeable batteries or batteries.
An emergency power supply unit (EPSU) and, normally, a so-called autonomous standby power supply unit (ASPUS) are provided for safety reasons in an aircraft, in particular in passenger aircraft from the Airbus Company as well, with the aim of ensuring a reliable and in particular uninterruptible power supply for various appliance functions. Emergency power supply appliances such as these are generally fitted with replaceable batteries and/or rechargeable batteries.
When emergency power supply appliances such as these are being used correctly with appropriate battery arrangements, high accelerations during flight result in correspondingly high moments of inertia which are caused essentially by the intrinsic weight of the battery arrangement at accelerations of up to, for example, 6 g. For this reason, there is a requirement to provide suitable attachment means for battery arrangements such as these or emergency power supply appliances, which can absorb and withstand these moments of inertia or accelerations while complying with the safety criteria requirements. Since, furthermore, the life of such rechargeable batteries or battery arrangements is limited, for example, to five years, it is necessary to ensure reliable and fail-safe replaceability of such battery arrangements or battery blocks by maintenance personnel.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
In order to ensure adequate firm seating, particularly at the battery block, on the one hand, and fail-safe replaceability of the battery or rechargeable battery block, on the other hand, a detachable screw connection can be used, but this must then satisfy the stringent aviation safety requirements. In this case, by way of example, it is feasible to use preferably four metric threaded screws with washers or shims as captive, detachable attachment elements on a housing holding the batteries or rechargeable batteries. Corresponding threaded nuts in the form of push-in parts are then pushed in, in a captive form, in an appliance chassis as part of the emergency power supply unit.
Attachment means such as these admittedly comply not only with the requirement for detachability for replacement of the batteries or rechargeable batteries but also provide at least relatively good attachment security, which can also relatively reliably absorb high moments of inertia resulting from high acceleration levels. However, the installation or removal of battery arrangements that have been mounted in this way is complex, not least because the attachment screws must be individually unscrewed and screwed up, and additional tools must be provided for this purpose.
The invention is based on the object of providing an apparatus which can be installed safely and in particular is also convenient to install, for an emergency power supply apparatus of the type mentioned in the introduction.
According to the invention, this object is achieved by the features as described hereinbelow. For this purpose, the battery or rechargeable battery arrangement is provided in a preferably multiple part housing which is equipped on the outside thereof with latching elements which interact with mating latching elements that are provided in an appliance chassis, in the form of a snap-action or latching connection. Particularly preferable detachable locking of the snap-action or latching connection can be achieved in the form of a latching lock or in the form of an additional locking slide.
The invention is in this case based on the concept that a battery arrangement attachment which, on the one hand, is reliable and, on the other hand, can be handled easily, can be produced in an emergency power supply in an aircraft by producing an interlocking connection for a battery housing, which holds the batteries or rechargeable batteries, and an appliance chassis, in preferably two main load directions. The main load directions which are secured by the interlocking connection in this case preferably lie along the X axis and Y axis of a three-dimensional, Cartesian coordinate system. This results in the battery housing already being fixed in a securely installed position, in a captive form, in two of three main load directions.
The captive fixing or securing of the battery housing in the remaining third load direction which, subject to the preconditions mentioned above, extends in the direction of the Z axis, can then be produced in a simple and reliable manner by means of a snap-action connection or a latching lock. A reliable latching lock can in turn be produced in a simple reliable manner by additionally locking a detachable, preferably spring-loaded, latching or snap-action connection in the final installed state. A locking slide is particularly suitable for reliable removal of such a lock, and for ensuring that the latching or snap-action elements can be unlocked easily. This locking slide can be slid along the latching elements in such a way that they are locked or blocked in the locked position, and can move freely in the unlocked position in order to unlatch them.
In one expedient refinement, the battery housing is provided with snap-action hooks on opposite housing faces, which are themselves held at the end on snap-action hooks which can pivot, are at the same time preferably sprung or spring-loaded, and act in the form of lever arms. In order to connect the battery housing in a manner which is on the one hand reliable and on the other hand can be installed in a maintenance-friendly form, the snap-action hooks engage in latching eyes which are provided in a flush-mounted or frame base of the appliance chassis, and act in the form of undercuts. These undercuts are expediently formed into angled latching lugs. These are in turn formed by lugs which are formed from the chassis base or frame base, that is to say they are cut out or stamped out, and are angled in the direction of the battery housing. These (second) latching elements or eyes are in the form of sheet-metal lugs for an appliance chassis which is preferably in the form of a metal sheet, at least in the area of the holding frame for the battery housing.
The latching or lever arms to which the latching or snap-action hooks are fitted are integrally formed, preferably on the upper part of the battery housing, via connecting or fixing webs which run transversely with respect to these arms on the battery housing. This integral formation and configuration of the fixing webs is in this case designed in such a way that they act in the form of torsion springs, thus providing the desired spring effect of the snap-action hooks or of the lever arms. The snap-action hooks are in this case integrally formed on the lever arms, which are held on the battery housing such that they can pivot, at a distance from the pivoting axis of the lever arm. The free end of the lever arm opposite the respective snap-action hook is then used as an operating end for unlatching of the snap-action hooks from the respective snap-action connection or latch. The battery housing can be installed and removed using only one hand in a simple manner as a result of the arrangement of two physically identical lever arms, to which the snap-action hooks are fitted, on opposite faces of the battery housing.
The lever arms to which the respective snap-action hooks are fitted are integrally formed on the battery housing via fixing webs, which act in the form of torsion springs. The restoring force of the resiliently acting fixing webs in this case acts in the direction of the latching of the snap-action hooks with the latching eyes of the appliance chassis.
A contact for the batteries or rechargeable batteries is provided off-centre or asymmetrically on the housing base of the battery housing for correct installation of the battery housing in or on the appliance chassis. This off-centre or asymmetric arrangement of the contact in the area of the housing base defines the installation or joining direction for the battery housing, so that incorrect installation is virtually impossible. The removal direction then runs in the opposite direction to the installation or joining direction.
The battery housing, which is expediently in two parts, comprises a housing upper part and a housing lower part. The snap-action or latching hooks are integrally formed on the battery housing at the side and are thus an integral component of the battery housing. The snap-action hooks which form the first latching elements are in this case expediently an integral component of the housing upper part of the battery housing, which is formed from this and from the housing lower part. The two housing parts of the battery housing are detachably connected to one another, so that the batteries or rechargeable batteries can be replaced easily.
The battery housing is thus expediently composed of plastic, preferably of a glass-fibre-reinforced plastic. The rest position of the spring-loaded latching arms is in this case the latched position. The dimensions of the spring webs are in this case designed in such a way that, on the one hand, they ensure a reliable snap-action or latching connection and such that, on the other hand, the joining force and securing force which have to be applied for handling purposes are not too high to achieve sufficient maintenance friendliness.
The locking element which is associated with each latching element in the form of a snap-action hook and blocks the respective latching element when the battery housing is installed in the appliance chassis prevents inadvertent deflection of the respective snap-action hook when forces are applied during operation. The deflection torques of the sprung fixing webs or torsion elements may thus, as is known, possibly be inadequate on their own in order to ensure attachment of the battery housing such that it is secured in all feasible operating states of an aircraft. However, the additional locking of the snap-action or latching connection between the battery housing and the appliance chassis also reliably satisfies the stringent quality and security demands required in the field of aviation, in a simple manner.
The locking elements, which are expediently in the form of locking slides, are preferably integrated in the housing upper part of the battery housing. The locking elements, which are held on the battery housing at the side such that they can slide are in this case guided in corresponding housing recesses or grooves. The locking slides can thus be moved transversely with respect to the latching direction or latching deflection of the respective latching element in a simple manner, which is particularly maintenance-friendly, between the locked position which blocks the respective latching element and the unlocked position which releases the corresponding latching element for removal of the battery housing.
In one advantageous development, the locking elements or slides are in the form of frames. In the installed position, a lower frame side in this case rests on the respective latching element on its side facing away from the latching point. In the locked position, the respective latching element or the respective snap-action hook is thus blocked against inadvertent deflection with the consequence of undesirable unlatching of the snap-action connection. An upper frame side of the locking element which faces away from the respective snap-action hook engages behind the respective lever arm of the latching element when the battery housing is in the final installed position, at the pivoting or operating end facing away from this, so that the operating end of the lever arm is also blocked, in addition to the respective snap-action hook.
The advantages achieved by the invention are in particular that the design of a snap-action or latching connection which can expediently be locked or blocked between a battery housing and an appliance chassis holding it creates a securely installed attachment, which also complies with the safety requirements in aviation, for an emergency power supply apparatus. Furthermore, this ensures simple installation and removal for reliable maintenance of the emergency power supply. The aircraft emergency power supply designed with this attachment device can be installed and removed virtually without any tools and, in particular, just by using one hand. This leads in particular to a considerable time saving for maintenance of the emergency power supply, allowing a battery or rechargeable battery to be replaced with particularly little maintenance effort and in a particularly short time. In this case, correct installation is ensured by means of feedback, because the latching of the snap-action or latching connection between the battery housing and the appliance chassis can be identified topologically, visually, audibly and/or by touch.
One exemplary embodiment of the invention will be explained in more detail in the following text with reference to the drawings, in which:
Mutually corresponding parts are provided with the same reference symbols in all of the figures.
FIGS. 1 to 3 show an emergency power supply apparatus 1 as is used in an aircraft, with an appliance chassis 2 and with a battery housing 3. The battery housing 3 is used to hold batteries (which are not illustrated), in particular rechargeable batteries A (
A contact-making cap 6 which projects like a dome from the frame or chassis base 5 of the appliance chassis 2 contains a contact-making strip 7, which makes contact with the corresponding contact-making strip (which cannot be seen) on the battery housing 3 in the installed state. For this purpose, a corresponding recess is provided in a manner which is not illustrated in any more detail in the base area of the battery housing 3, and the contact for the batteries or rechargeable batteries that have been inserted into the battery housing 3 is provided in this recess. The installation or joining direction of the battery housing 3, as indicated by the arrow 8, is thus defined by the contact between the battery housing 3 and the appliance chassis 2. The removal direction, which is indicated by the arrow 9, is in the opposite direction to the installation direction 8.
As can be seen in particular from
An attachment in order to avoid movement of the battery housing 3 in the third main load direction, that is to say in the direction of the z axis is ensured by first latching elements 14 being fitted at the side to the battery housing 3, on opposite housing faces 12, 13. These latching elements 14 are in the form of snap-action hooks, which interact with second latching elements 15 that are provided on the appliance chassis 2, in order to produce a latching or snap-action connection.
The second latching elements 15 act like latching eyes, which are formed by lugs that are formed from the sheet-metal base 5 of the appliance chassis 2 and/or of its holding frame 4 and are bent out at right angles. These second latching elements 15, which are referred to as latching lugs in the following text, preferably extend at right angles from the chassis base 5 in the z direction towards the battery housing ˜3. The latching lugs 15 in this case form an undercut for the snap-action hooks 14 which are provided at the side on the battery housing 3.
As can be seen comparatively clearly from
The restoring force FR produced by the respective fixing web 17 in this case acts in the direction of the respective housing or side wall 12, 13 of the battery housing 3, and thus along the x axis as illustrated in
The battery housing 3 has a housing upper part 20a and a housing lower part 20b. The housing parts 20a, 20b are composed of a glass-fibre-reinforced plastic. The two latching elements 14 which are provided on opposite housing faces 12, 13 on the respective lever arms 16 are expediently integrated in the housing upper part 20a. When the battery housing 3 is being fitted in the installation direction 3 and following the self-adjusting joining of the battery housing 3 to the appliance chassis 2, the respective snap-action hooks are automatically latched or snapped to the latching lugs 15. During the process, the fixing webs 17, which act like springs, rotate the respective snap-action hooks 14 back to the rest position after their installation deflection. The fixing webs 17, which act as corresponding spring elements, determine the joining and installation forces that need to be applied, on the basis of their material composition and their geometric dimensions.
These are, on the one hand, matched to adequate attachment security of the battery housing 3 to the appliance chassis 2 and, on the other hand, to a maintenance-friendly handling capability for removal of the battery housing 3.
Since the spring or restoring forces FR of the fixing webs 17 should not be designed to be too high owing to the desired maintenance-friendliness, it is expedient to secure the latching elements or snap-action hooks 14 by means of additional locking elements 21 in order to avoid inadvertent deflection against the illustrated force direction 19 FR. This compensates for possibly inadequate deflection torques of the fixing webs 17 which act like torsion springs, thus ensuring the required aviation quality and/or safety requirements are satisfied.
FIGS. 6 to 8 show the interaction of the locking elements 21 with the latching elements or snap-action hooks 14. The locking elements 21 themselves are in the form of frames—as can be seen comparatively clearly in
The locking element 21, which is referred to in the following text as a locking slide, can thus be moved along the z axis, and in this case in the sliding direction 23, between an unlocked position as illustrated in
In order to remove the battery housing 3, the locking slide 21 is first of all pushed upwards along the z axis in the sliding direction 23, once again using one hand. This opens the lock, so that the respective snap-action hook 14 and the respective latching element 14, 16 can move freely. The snap-action or latching connection is opened by subsequent operation of the latching element 14, 16 at the operating end 18 of the respective lever arm 16, so that the battery housing 3 can be removed.
When the battery housing 3 is subsequently installed again, it is placed on or inserted into the appliance chassis 2, with the interlocking connection being produced first of all, and with contact at the same time being made between the battery housing 3 and the appliance chassis 2. The battery housing 3 is automatically latched to the appliance chassis 2 subsequently or at the same time via the snap-action connection between the latching elements 14, 16 and the latching lugs 15 in the chassis or frame base 5 of the appliance chassis 2. Subsequent movement of the locking slide 21 in the sliding direction 23 blocks the latching or snap-action connection, so that this is locked in the form of a latching lock in order to prevent undesirable deflection of the snap-action hook 14 with the consequence of the snap-action connection 14, 15 being unlatched or opening.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 2005 013351.7 | Mar 2005 | DE | national |
