[Karter2]

Teslas battery packs are assembled from thousands of individual small cells each of which has a built in "pressure relief" feature which basicly ruptures the cell canister in a controlled manner and location.
It is not a resetable feature, its a safety relief to prevent a explosive failure, and it renders the cell effectivly permanently defective.
Think of it as like the "ring pull" on a soft drink or beer can,...but on a much smaller scale.
Most 18650, 21700, 26650, and similar cylindrical cells, have that type of pressure safety relief , designed into them.
https://batterybro.com/blogs/18650-...-battery-safety-101-anatomy-ptc-vs-pcb-vs-cid

 

[Kevin Sharpe]

Assuming you're talking about the battery box pressure relief valves then Chris Hazell has created a 3D model (here) which might be helpful.

If you can confirm this is the correct part then I'll look up the Tesla part number for you although I doubt Tesla will sell them Probably your best way of obtaining them is to find someone who's striped down a Tesla pack and ask them for the valves.

 

[Jimbo69ny]

Kevin is correct, that is the part I am looking for.
Kevin, can you or someone else tell me how the design operates?
If a cell blows I assume it creates a pressure not a vacuum, so these would then pop out. Correct?

Kevin, in my thread you posted 2 different colored valves of some kind. Do you know what the difference between the two are?

 

[Kevin Sharpe]

Kevin, in my thread you posted 2 different colored valves of some kind. Do you know what the difference between the two are?

Some good info in Boekel's Tesla battery teardown thread (here)

 

[Jimbo69ny]

Some good info in Boekel's Tesla battery teardown thread (here)

Thanks for that! I just saw the photos and now Ill read the rest of the thread.

So the theory that he posted was that these melt in the case of a fire? Is that people think?

Are those mica sheets? I want to incorporate those too.

 

[Jimbo69ny]

I just found this on page 4 of that thread. Ill have to read that too.

https://patents.google.com/patent/US20120231306

 

[Kevin Sharpe]

So the theory that he posted was that these melt in the case of a fire? Is that people think?

I think that's a sound theory... the two orange 'rubber' valves open to release pressure and the solid plastic valves melt at some point.

iirc it's in one of the Tesla patents.

Are those mica sheets? I want to incorporate those too.

Yes, 1mm mica.

In the next couple of weeks we'll be assembling the main pack on my bus (here) and I'm copying many of the Tesla battery features. Hopefully you can learn from our mistakes

 

[Kevin Sharpe]

I just found this on page 4 of that thread. Ill have to read that too.

https://patents.google.com/patent/US20120231306

Also take a look at Working With Tesla Packs (here) and Tesla BMS (here)

 

[Kevin Sharpe]

What does Tesla call them?

Model S Parts Manual says;

Part Name - "ASY,VENTS,GANGED,HVBATT"
Part Description - "VENT ASSEMBLY WITH UMBRELLAS AND O-RINGS"
Part Number - "1054531-00-A"