| US4129817A | 1978-12-12 | |||
| US4175846A | 1979-11-27 | |||
| US4272412A | 1981-06-09 | |||
| US4349774A | 1982-09-14 | |||
| US4969834A | 1990-11-13 |
| 1. | A system for alternating the source of additional voltage battery drain from one of at least two battery units wherein a first equipment operation requires the use of the full voltage of the total battery units and a second equipment operation requires less than full voltage by an additional drain on one of said battery units which includes: a reversible releasable electrical coupling means having two positions and interposed between said battery units and said first and second equipment operations; first electrical conduits interconnecting said battery units and one portion of said coupling means; second electrical conduits means connecting another portion of said coupling means and said first equipment operations for passing full voltage; third electrical conduit means connecting said another portion of said coupling means and a second equipment operation for passing reduced additional voltage drain from one of said battery units causing a greater power drain of one battery unit over the other; and connection means in said first and said portions of said coupling means whereby reversal of said first portion for interconnection with said second portion will transfer said additional voltage drain from one battery unit to the other, while permitting full voltage to continue to said first equipment operation. |
| 2. | A system as defined in claim 1 wherein: each of said two portions of said reversible releasable electrical coupling includes a plurality of electrical contacts connected to respective electrical conduits and said contacts are matable with the corresponding contacts in the other of said portions. |
| 3. | A system as defined in claim 2 wherein: each portion is fitted with four electrical 10 contacts; and said second electrical conduit means includes a jumper conduit extending from one contact in said second portion to another contact in said second portion to place said battery units in 15 series so that full voltage may be transferred to said first equipment operation. |
| 4. | A system as defined in claim 3 wherein: two other of said four contacts of each of said two portions are adapted when coupled to 20 transfer said full voltage. |
| 5. | A system as defined in claim 4 wherein: said one of third electrical conduit means extends from said one contact to said second equipment operation; and 25 another of said third electrical conduit means extends from one of said two other contacts to said second equipment operation. |
| 6. | A reversible releasable electrical coupling adapted to be connected to at least two battery units and connected to a first and second equipment operation to allow full voltage from said battery units to pass to said first equipment operation at full voltage, yet capable of passing an additional drain of one half of said full voltage from one of said battery units to a second equipment operation, which coupling comprises: a first insulation block portion having a center wall, a pair of elongated insulation channels formed along each side of said wall, one of each pair above the other and generally horizontally aligned with a counter part on the opposite side of said wall, and electrical contact members mounted in said block portion within each of said channels, each counterpart contact on said side of said wall being of a different polarity, a pair of electrical conduits passing from the positive and negative posts of each of said battery units to the corresponding polarity contacts of said first insulation black portion; a second insulation black portion having a center wall, a pair of elongated insulation channels formed along each side of said wall, one of each pair above the other, each of said channels of a circumference different than the channels of said first block portion whereby said block portions may interfit one within the other, an electrical contact member mounted in said block portion within each of said channels and matable when said blocks are interfitted, each counterpart contact on said side of said wall being of a different polarityyet being arranged to be of the same polarity as the mating contact of said first block portions; an electrical conduit in said second insulation block portion forming an in series battery jumper by extending from a contact of positive polarity to a contact of negative 5 polarity; a further pair of positive and negative electrical conduits passing from the other of said positive and negative contacts in said second block portion to said first equipment operation; 10 a pair of electrical conduits extending respectfully from said positive contact of said jumper and a negative contact of said second block portion to said second equipment operation; and said first insulation block capable of 15 reversal and reconnection with said second insulation block to shift the drainage of said addition voltage from one battery unit to the other. |
| 7. | An electrical coupling of claim 6 wherein 20 said full voltage is 48 voltage. |
| 8. | In an electrical circuit, including at least two battery units, for operating a piece of aerial lift equipment having a power circuit and control circuit, wherein said power circuit 25 requires full battery voltage from said units to operate said power circuit that includes a ground drive motor and function pump motor to move and adjust elevation and direction of said equipment and an additional voltage drain from one of said 30 battery units at one half of said full battery voltage to operate said control circuit that includes at least switches, relays and a control handle, said electrical circuit including electrical positive and negative conduits carrying voltage to said power circuit and said control circuit and also including coupling means that are interfitted in said circuit to alternate the battery unit from which said additional voltage is drawn by reversing a portion thereof, said coupling including: a first insulation block fitted with four electrical contact members and said electrical positive and negative conduits are connected thereto; a second insulation block fitted with four electrical contact member and adapted to be coupled with said first insulation block where said contact members contact corresponding contacts to complete a circuit, a positive and negative contact of said second insulation block being connected together to form an electrical bridge to maintain said two battery units in series, and said other positive and negative contact including conduits to said power circuit to complete a full power circuit thereto, and a positive conduit from said bridge to said control circuit, and a negative conduit from said other negative contact to said control circuit; and said first insulation block being reversible wherein said positive and negative conduits are reversed so that engagement with said electrical bridge of said second insulation block will enable alternation of said additional voltage drain from one battery unit to another. |
| 9. | In an electrical circuit as defined in claim 7 wherein: said full voltage is 48 volts and said additional voltage drawn is 24 volts; and said electrical positive and negative conduits connected to said first insulation block are insulated cables; and said conduits forming said bridge and extending to said power circuit are insulated cables; and. |
| 10. | said electrical positive and negative conduits extending to said control circuit are relatively thin insulated wires, smaller in diameter than said cables. |
| 11. | 10 In an electrical circuit or defined in 15 claim 9 wherein: interposedbetween said cables extending from said second block contacts to said power circuit is a terminal block, said terminal block includes fuse means to break said circuit and electrical 20 distribution contact means whereby said conduit means may be taken therefrom to said ground drive motor and said function pump motor. |
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
- 1. Field of the Invention.
This invention relates to a system and structure to alternate additional battery drain from one of at least two battery packs where the total combination of voltage is needed for one operation and a portion, such as one half of
10 the combination is needed for another additional operation. 2. Description of the Prior Art.
In the field of scissor lifts, industrial boom lifts, knuckle boom lifts, and other aerial lift equipment that are battery operated it is sometimes necessary to use
15 a total voltage of several packs of storage batteries in series to operate the power circuit. This circuit would include the ground drive motors of the units as well function pump motors to elevate the lifts and change direction of the lifts.
20 in addition to the use of the full battery packs in series some of the above equipment requires an additional drainage of one-half of the combined voltage to operate the control circuit. The control circuit would require less voltage and generally relates to switches, relays, control
25 handle to establish height and direction as well as valves. Also the control circuit usually includes the control of signals and communications within the piece of equipment.
Heretofore, the battery pack wiring to the power circuit and control circuits have been fixed so that when
30 the additional one-half voltage has been taken off it has come from only one of the battery packs. Such use has caused sooner than necessary weakness and failure of that particular battery that not only serves in the series total voltage picture but is called upon for further drainage for 35 the additional operational function.
To some extent the excessive drainage on one of the packs of batteries has been lessened by manually reversing wires in the total system to cause the drainage to transfer to the other of the battery pack. Such operation has in cases been cumbersome and requires valuable time to physically effect the circuit change.
SUBSTITUTE SHEET
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is a purpose of the present invention to provide a system for use with a series of batteries the total voltage of which is used for one function that also requires additional voltage drain from a portion of the series for another function to alternate the batteries in the series from which the additional drain comes from.
It is a further purpose of the present invention to provide a quick two position electrical plug or coupling that may be reversed in connections to alternate batteries in series.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a plug or coupling of two piece construction wherein each piece includes four electrical contact members adapted to mate with the electrical contact members of the opposite piece.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a system of battery selection for aerial lift equipment such as scissor lifts, articulated knuckle boom lifts and telescoping boom lifts that operate on battery power.
These and other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following part of the specification wherein details have been described for the competence of disclosure, without intending to limit the scope of the invention which is sets forth in the appended claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS These advantages may be more clearly understood from the following detailed description and by reference to the drawings in which: Figure 1 is pictorial partially prospective representation of the system of the present invention as it may be used on a piece of aerial lift equipment;
Figure 2a is a cross sectional view taken on lines 2a-2a of Figure 1 of one portion of an electrical plug or coupling forming a part of the invention;
Figure 2b is the identical to Figure 2a with the exception that the portion of the plug is rotated 180 x .
Figures 3a and 3b are perspective views of the plug or coupling where one portion of the coupling is reversed in the figures to effect the transfer of battery drainage from one battery to another;
Figure 4a and 4b are schematic drawings illustrating the circuit flow from batteries where the coupling is reversed as shown in Figures 3a and 3b; and Figure 5 is a partial sectional view of one form of electrical contacts that may be used in the coupling pieces to achieve electrical connection and contact.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
In Figure 1 there is illustrated a system to alternate battery voltage drainage generally designated 10. The system 10 is particularly suited for use in aerial lift equipment such as industrial boom lifts (not shown) . In such systems it is desirable to utilize a relatively high voltage such as 48 volts to operate what is generally referred to a power circuit generally designated 12. The equipment therein, to be subsequently discussed would require 48 volts. The reason for such high voltage is that with higher voltage the equipment within the power circuit 12 operates more efficiently, it makes for less lose of circuit during operation.
On the other hand there are electrical elements such as found in the control panel designated 14 such as switches, relays, solenoid coils, controls handles to operate and activate the function pump motor to effect the lift and direction of lift equipment and other signal means therein that only require one-half of the total power circuit 12 voltage. In the illustration such voltage would be 24 volts.
The reason for the need for lesser volts relative to some electrical elements, such as solenoid coils is to prevent "flyback". This is a phenomenon that would increase voltage in the element and would be harmful to the element causing damage and eventually malfunction.
Thus, in the present illustration it is commonly known how a series of batteries may be wired to equipment to utilize full voltage for one operation and additional lesser voltage drainage from one of the series. However, such conventional wiring makes no provision for transferring the additional drainage from one of the series of batteries to prevent premature failure of one of the series over the other. To continue further with the disclosure utilizing a 48 volt battery system there is illustrated in Figures 1,
4a and 4b two conventional electric battery packs 16 and 18. Each battery pack has a positive and negative terminal 20, 22 and 24, 26 respectively and each battery is 24 volts. While single batteries sets 16 and 18 have been illustrated it should be realized that each set may include a number of batteries that are wired in series to make up the needed 24 volts of each total set or pack 16 and 18.
Interposed between the batteries 16 and 18 and the control circuit 14 and power circuit 12 and connected to the respective elements is a reversible electrical couplingmeans generally designated 32. The coupling means 32 includes first and second interconnectable elements 34 and 36 respectively.
The first interconnectable element 34 includes an elongated mounting block, a rear generally rectangular cable receiving section 38, see Figures 1, 3a and 3b. The section 38 includes a front facing wall 40 projecting inward from both sides 42 and 44. Extending forward from wall 40 is the electrical housing 46 having an upper surface 48, bottom surface 50 and side cavities 52 and 54 and a front end 56.
As best seen in Figures 1 and 2a each cavity 52 and 54 includes a pair of upper elongated generally U shaped insulation collars 58 and 60 projecting from a center wall 62. Within the collars 58 and 60 there are elongated tunnels 64 and 66 respectively. Also within the cavities 52 and 54 are a pair of lower elongated generally U shaped insulation collars 68 and 70 projecting from the other side of wall 62. Within each collar 68 and 70 there is an elongated tunnel 72 and 74 respectively. Mounted within the respective tunnels 64, 66, 72,
74 are conventional electrical contact members 76, 78, 80, and 82 respectively. The contacts are resilient and each may have an enlarged contact head 84 such as shown in Figure 5. In this way when the elements 34 and 36 are interfitted as in Figures 3a and 3b the head portions 84 will engage
SUBSTITUTESHEET
springing the contacts outward to ride over the heads and then spring back to interlock for contact. It must also be recognized that any other type of contact may be used without departing from the spirit of the invention. Turning now to the second interconnecting element
36 of the coupling 32 there is a housing 86 with a top surface 88 and the top surface has a front cut out 90 which will mate with the complementary upper surface 48 when the elements 34 and 36 are joined. Also the housing 86 includes four insulation collars. Two upper collars 92 and 94 may be seen in Figure 1. The lower collars are not illustrated. The only difference in the collars in the housing 86 from collars 58, 60, 68 and 70 is that they may be of a larger or smaller cross section so that as the two elements 34 and 36 of the coupling are engaged the opposed collars will slide within or over each other. In this way the contacts within the collars in the housing 86 will mate and contact their opposed counter contact. Tne housing 86 has a back wall 96 with openings aligned with the tunnels and contacts whereby wires and cables may be united with the electrical contacts in any conventional manner. The element 34 also has the same back wall construction. The material of the respective elements 34 and 36 is an electrical insulation and preferably of plastic.
With regard to the element 34, contacts 78 and 80 are positive and contacts 76 and 82 are negative, see Figure 2a. Q The first interconnecting element 36 of the coupling is connected to the batteries 16 and 18 as follows. A cable 100 extends from the positive terminal 20 of battery
SUBSTITUTE SHEET
16 to and is connected to electrical connector 78. A cable 102 extends from negative terminal 22 to negative contact 82.
From battery 18 a cable 104 extends from positive terminal 24 to positive contact 76, and from negative terminal 26 a cable 106 extends to negative contact 80.
Nowreferring to the second interconnecting element 36 of the coupling 32 the electrical contacts, not shown, within collars 92 and 94 are connected together by cable 108 so positive is connected to negative. A cable 110 is connected to the negative contact (not shown) below collar 92 and extends to a negative contact bar 112 of a conventional terminal block 114. A cable 116 extends from a positive contact (not shown) below collar 94 to a second positive contact bar 118. Within the power circuit 12 is the drive panel 120 which controls the ground movement of the vehicle. In addition, within the power circuit 12 is a function pump motor 122, and to control operation of the pump motor 112 is a solenoid starter 124. The block 114 is fitted with an additional contact bar 126. Extending between positive bars 118 and 126 is a conventional fuse 128.
Now to connect the panel 120 and motor 122 cables are used as follows. A positive cable 130 extends from positive bar 126 to the positive contact of drive panel 120. A negative cable 132 then extends between the negative terminal of the panel 120 and negative bar 112.
The motor 122 is connected by means of negative cable 134 extending from negative bar 112 to the negative terminal of motor 122. A positive cable 136 extends to the positive terminal of the motor 122 and is broken by the solenoid starter 124 to control the on-off function of the motor 122.
It is preferred that the aforementioned cables are conventional insulated copper cables that when using a 48
SUBSTITUTESHEET
volt system are preferably on the order of 3/4" in thickness.
In order to put power to the control circuit of 24 volts a positive conduction wire 140 extends from the positive contact (not shown) within collar 92 to the positive terminal 142 of the circuit 14. The negative conduction wire 144 extends to a negative terminal 146. The wire for the 24 volt connection is of much less diameter than the respective cables.
The operation of the system 10 is as follows. Once cables 100, 102, 104 and 106 are connected as previously described the elements 34 and 36 are connected to make the coupling as seen either in Figure 3a or 3b. Initially, the
Figure 3a operation as shown in Figures 1, 2a and 4a will be described. The first position is where the top 48 marked with the letter "A" is on top. In this position it will be seen that the full 48 volts passes to the terminal block 114 to the drive panel 120 and to the solenoid starter 124 to control the motor 122. Also additional drainage of 24 volts will pass to the control circuit 14. In the "A" position positive electric energy passes through cables 100 and 104 to the contacts 78 and 76 respectively. The contacts in turn pass to the positive contact in collar 92 to cable 108. The energy from contact
80 and passes through the contact (not shown) below collar 94. From there cable 116 passes the 48 volt energy to the terminal block 114.
The 48 volt energy is created by the arrangement in series caused by loop jumper cable 108 passing from the positive contact in collar 92 to the contact in collar 94 back to negative contact 76 to the negative terminal 26 of the second battery 18.
The negative cable 110 from the terminal block 114 returns through the coupling 32 and cable 106 to terminal 26 of battery 18.
SUBSTITUTESHEET
From the block 114 current will pass therefrom by cable 136 to the starter 124 and motor 122 and to the panel 120 through line 130.
The negative circuit return from the panel 120 passes through cable 132 to the block 114, cable 110 and cable 102 to negative terminal 22 of battery 16. The negative flow from motor 122 passes through cable 134 to the block 114 and passes back to the battery 16 as just described. In order to take off 24 volts for the control circuit 14 the wire 140 secured to the jumper or loop cable 108 passes the positive flow to the control circuit 14 and back the negative wire 144 to negative contact 82 to negative terminal 22 of the battery 16. Thus battery 16 is being used for the extra voltage drain.
When it is desired to switch extra drainage on the battery 16 to battery 18, the element 34 is rotated 180 so that bottom surface 50 or the "B" position (see Figure 3b) is on top. With the reversal of the element 34 to the position in Figure 2b the contacts 76, 78, 80, and 82 are reversed and the power to loop or jumper cable 108 through the contacts in collars 92 and 94 is now fed from battery 18. The positive contact 68 is now at the top left (see Figure 2b) and the negative contact 70 is at the top right (see Figure 2b) . In this way the cable 108 receives the power directly from battery 18 for the additional 24 voltage takeoff. Of course with the reversal of Figures 2b, 3b and 4b, battery 16 is still in series with battery 18 and the full 48 volts passes through the positive cable 116 and returns through cable 110.
While the reversible electrical coupling means 32 has been illustrated and described as a two piece structure, each of those two pieces could be formed of two pieces wherein each two pieces of a half could be united together without departing from the spirit of the invention.
SUBSTITUTESHEET
The invention and its attendant advantages will be understood from the foregoing description and it will be apparent that various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangements of the parts without departing from the spirit and scope thereof or sacrificing its material advantages, the arrangements herein before described being merely by way of example. I do not wish to be restricted to the specific forms shown or uses mentioned, except as defined in the accompanying claims, wherein various portions have been separated for clarity of reading and not for emphasis.