Connection technology for energy storage systems

Despite occasional reports of fires or other accidents, battery energy storage systems do not pose any significant dangers. State-of-the-art battery energy storage systems are produced by the manufacturers in accordance with applicable directives and standards, and are installed and commissioned by specialists. That said, battery energy storage systems are also to be considered as devices and plants with a very high energy content. Dangerous conditions can arise in the event of unauthorized access, willful destruction, or circumvention of the safety measures and equipment. However, the manufacturers themselves take such scenarios into account with failure mode and effects analyses.

As is the case with most technical devices and systems, battery energy storage systems should also be checked and serviced regularly. Depending on the storage media used, this maintenance work can be reduced significantly to just visual inspections, the tight fit of screw connections, and so on – as is the case with common lithium-ion batteries. With other systems, however, the amount of work can also be higher, for example in lead-acid batteries, where the electrolyte has to be checked and topped up regularly.

The Phoenix Contact battery-pole connectors can be plugged in and pulled out in any orientation. Moreover, they can be rotated through 360° when plugged in. This makes maintenance and troubleshooting so much easier. Moreover, it increases flexibility when designing the system.

Unintentional polarity reversal of the battery connection can cause enormous damage and, in the worst case, endanger life and limb. That is why Phoenix Contact battery-pole connectors are color-coded and mechanically coded. The positive pole only fits into the positive position, and the negative pole only into the negative position. Moreover, it is also ensured that the two polarities cannot be short-circuited. Because of the high energy content of a battery, a fault of this kind would cause the conductors to melt and would very likely result in a fire in the system.