3D Printed Protection #1

I’ve never been happy with so much exposed bus bar in the battery so I decided to design and print a protection system.

I used the free version of Onshape to design a snap on piece for each module. Each piece is 34mm high (the same height as the module). They snap onto the existing terminals for a snug fit.. There is also upto 4x M3 threaded inserts in each pirce to allow for the cover.

I then designed a cover that spans 7 modules high and has holes that line up with the threaded inserts to make a really strong safe cover.

I printed plenty of prototypes! Getting the clearances and snap fit just right took a while.

I also designed a module snap on with a top cover to protect from the top of the module stack:

My next task is to create some modifications to allow for horizontal bus bars between modules that are stacked side by side.

The design can be found in On Shape here: https://cad.onshape.com/documents/ef92c33af876527c1c16e6eb/w/c77632e1e07896754724a64d/e/ca019587f0f0ea705aa14714

Here are some screenshots:

I also made versions with the left and right sides missing, so horizontal bus bars can be installed. These will fit the long stock Nissan busbars.

I have test fit this onto three separate stacks of 7 modules – and I found that I had to adjust the tension of the threaded rods – I measured the length of the stack and made sure it was exactly 238mm high (7x 34mm).. It can be a mm or two taller for some wriggle room.

I will continue to refine the design and will eventually print enough for every module.

Credit: Note that I was not responsible for the design of the Nissan module in Onshape – I found this design in the Public Onshape repository and imported it into Onshape. This made it a lot easier to design my pieces.