Abstract:
The present disclosure relates to a battery box apparatus having a main body defining a battery cavity for removably receiving one or more batteries, the main body having a mounting shoe attached to a first side of the main body for removably mounting the battery box. The battery box also having a cover movable between a closed position and an open position hingedly connected to the main body to selectively close the battery cavity when the cover is in the closed position and to provide access to the battery cavity when the cover is in the open position. A locking mechanism secures the cover in the closed position. The battery box also having a flex circuit received within the battery cavity, the flex circuit comprising a circuit structure carried on a flexible substrate electrically coupling a plurality of terminals within the battery cavity to a plurality of electrical contacts on the mounting shoe.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This application claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) based on U.S. provisional patent application No. 61/332,225, filed May 7, 2010. The aforementioned provisional application is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    The present disclosure relates to an improved battery box and method for providing electrical power to a device. The battery box herein may advantageously be mounted on a helmet such as a military or tactical field helmet for use with a helmet-mounted device or a helmet mounting system for mounting a device such as a night vision device or other optical or viewing device. However, it will be recognized that the present battery box may be used to supply power to all manner of electronic or electrically operated devices. Without limiting the foregoing, the present battery box may be adapted for direct removable attachment to a device to be powered, or, alternatively, may be adapted for remote attachment to the device to be powered, e.g., via cable, circuit board or other circuit carrying substrate for electrically coupling the battery box to a device to be powered. 
         [0003]    In a more limited aspect, a method for supplying power to a device, such as a device attached to a helmet or helmet mounting system from a remote location on the helmet is provided. The improved battery box disclosed herein provides a mounting shoe interface which allows power, ground and/or signal to pass from one device to another through the interface. The mounting shoe interface herein finds utility with the battery box as shown and described herein, however, it will be recognized that the battery pack herein is equally applicable to any type of mounting system which can be used to provide power and/or data or control signal to and from one or more items, wherein the battery pack can readily be connected, disconnected and interchanged. Although the preferred embodiment is depicted wherein the device to be powered is a optical device located on the front portion of a helmet and wherein the battery box is remotely located on the rear portion of the helmet, other applications are contemplated, such as for use with a weapon rail mounting interface, wherein power is supplied from the battery box to one or more devices on the weapon mounting rail via conductors carried on or within the weapon rail interface. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0004]    The invention may take form in various components and arrangements of components, and in various steps and arrangements of steps. The drawings are only for purposes of illustrating preferred embodiments and are not to be construed as limiting the invention. 
           [0005]      FIG. 1  is an isometric view of the battery box in the opened position according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, illustrating the mounting shoe assembly. 
           [0006]      FIG. 2  is an isometric view of the battery box in the closed and locked position, illustrating the mounting shoe assembly. 
           [0007]      FIG. 3  is an isometric view of the battery box taken generally from the bottom. 
           [0008]      FIG. 4  is a cross-sectional view of the power supply, taken generally along the lines  4 -- 4  appearing in  FIG. 2 . 
           [0009]      FIG. 5  is an exploded view of a modular mounting foot assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0010]      FIG. 6  shows the manner of attachment of the battery box  100  herein to an associated mount. 
           [0011]      FIG. 7  is a horizontal cross-sectional view of the battery box herein. 
           [0012]      FIGS. 8-10  are exemplary circuit layouts of the battery box. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0013]    Referring now to  FIGS. 1-10 , and with particular reference to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , there appears an exemplary battery box embodiment  100  of the present invention. The battery box  100  includes a main body  104  and a top or cover  106  defining a housing wherein the top  106  is hingedly connected to the body  104 . When top  106  is closed, the body  104  and top  106  together create a cavity  102 . The body  104  includes a mounting shoe  108 , a locking mechanism  116 , and a locking assembly having tabs  110 , protrusions  112  and an alignment pin  114 . The locking mechanism  116  includes lever locks  118  releasably engaging tabs  126  to secure the top  106  to body  104  in a locked position. The top  106  includes an exterior layer or shell  120  and an insulating layer  122  formed of plastic or other insulating material which are secured together via mechanical fasteners  124 , such as screws, rivets, clips, dogs, pawls, or the like. The exterior layer  120  includes the tabs  126 , a hinge  128  and a protrusion  130 . The insulating layer  122  has apertures  132  and an opening or notch  134 . 
         [0014]    A plurality of batteries  152  are housed in the cavity  102  of the battery box  100 . In the preferred embodiment, each battery  152  is inserted into the cavity  102  in the same direction with respect to polarity, providing ease of use. In the depicted preferred embodiment, the batteries  152  are inserted into the cavity  102  with their negative terminals  154  down leaving the positive terminals  150  to extend through the apertures  132  in the insulating layer  122  and to thereby contact the contact pads  133  disposed in the top  106  when the top  106  is closed and secured to the body  104  via the locking mechanism  116 . The top  106  is secured to the body  104  by moving lever locks  118  from the horizontal open position, shown in  FIG. 1 , to the vertical locked position, shown in  FIG. 2 . When the lever locks  118  are moved to a vertical locked position they engage tabs  126  securing the top  106  to the body  104  of the battery box  100 . When the top  106  is in the closed and locked position the positive terminals  150  extend through the apertures  132  and contact the contact pads  133 . 
         [0015]    The contact pads  133 , in turn, are electrically coupled to a flex circuit  140  which comprises circuit conductors or traces formed on a flexible substrate such as a flexible tape or film material, which may be formed, e.g., of a polymeric material. Commonly, prior art battery pack devices may employ multiple mechanical contacts connecting the battery pack door to the case to send all the positives back down to the negatives. In contrast, the present battery box employs the flex circuit  140  to do the routing, thereby eliminating the need for extra contacts between the door and the housing. 
         [0016]    The thickness of the insulating layer  122  and the diameter of the apertures  132  are selected to allow the positive terminals  150  to extend through the apertures  132  when the cover  106  is in the closed position, while preventing passage of the negative battery terminals  154 . In this manner, contact will not be made with the circuit  140 , thereby preventing incorrect polarity or a short circuit condition in the event one or more of the batteries are inadvertently inserted into the cavity  102  in an inverted orientation. If the batteries  152  are incorrectly inserted a user can reopen the top  106  and fix the incorrectly inserted batteries  152  by disengaging the tabs  126 , which is done by moving the lever locks  118  from the vertical locked position to the horizontal open position. A user can also open the top  106  in this manner to replace batteries  152  that have died. 
         [0017]    The battery box  100  includes exterior electrical contacts  198  and a mounting shoe  108 . The mounting shoe  108  slidably receives a complementary mating mounting foot  109 , which may be secured to, e.g., a helmet mounting system, weapon mounting system, or other mounting system. To secure the battery box  100  to the mounting foot  109 , the mounting shoe  108  contains a locking assembly having tabs  110   a  and  110   b  and protrusions  112   a  and  112   b.  The tabs  110   a,    110   b,  and protrusions  112   a ,  112   b,  are resiliently biased to engage the mounting foot  109  when the battery box  100  is slid into place. The protrusions  112   a  and  112   b  extend into the channel defined by the mounting shoe  108 . The protrusion  112   a  is carried on the sliding tab  110   a  and the protrusion  112   b  is carried on the sliding tab  110   b  such that inward squeezing of the tabs  100   a  and  110   b  caused outward movement of the protrusions  112   a  and  112   b,  thus allowing removal of the battery box  100  from the mounting foot  109 . An alignment pin  114  extends through elongate openings in the tabs  100   a  and  100   b  to align the tabs and limit the extent of sliding movement of the tabs  100   a  and  100   b.  The mounting shoe  108  and mounting foot  109  may be of tapered, dove-tail configuration. In the depicted embodiment, the foot portion includes angled or ramped edges  111  which engage aligned ramped edges  113   a,    113   b  and the protrusions  112   a,    112   b,  respectively, to urge the protrusions in the transverse outward direction to allow the foot  109  to slide therepast when the battery box is connected to the mounting foot  109 . A cross-sectional view illustrating the sliding tabs  110   a,    110   b  and protrusions  112   a,    112   b  appears in  FIG. 7 . 
         [0018]    The battery terminals  150  and  154  are electrically coupled to electrical contacts  198  on mounting shoe  108  via the flex circuit  140 . The electrical contacts  198 , in turn, contact aligned electrical contacts  188 , such as leaf spring contacts, on the mounting foot  109 . The contacts  178 , in turn are electrically coupled to a device to be operated. 
         [0019]    Advantageously, the device to be powered may be an optical device, such as, a monocular or binoculars, a monocular or binocular night vision goggle device, eNVG devices, helmet mounted display screens, head-up displays or any other helmet mounted optical, electro-optical, and/or viewing devices, attached to a helmet mounting system. It will be understood, however, that the battery box herein can be used to provide electrical power to all manner of electrical and electronic devices. 
         [0020]    As best seen in  FIG. 4 , and as schematically illustrated in  FIGS. 8-10 , and with continued reference to  FIGS. 1-3 , the flex circuit  140  extends around the interior cavity and includes circuit conductors to electrically couple the positive battery terminals  150  and the negative battery terminals  154  to the mounting shoe contacts  198 . In the preferred embodiment, the battery box  100  contains four 1.5 Volt batteries  152 . The positive terminals  150  of the batteries  152  pass through the apertures  132  and contact the pads  133  located between the exterior layer  120  and the insulating layer  122 . Likewise, the negative terminals  154  contact spring contacts  200  which, in turn, are electrically coupled to the flex circuit  140 . The flex circuit  140  extends from the top  106  via the cutout  134  and into the cavity  102 . To enable the battery box  100  to be opened and closed, with the flex circuit  140  connected to the top  106  at one end and the spring contacts  188  of the mounting shoe  108  inside the cavity  102  at the other end, the flex circuit  140  may be longer than the distance of its path between the top  106  and the contacts  188  along the wall of the cavity  102 . The additional length of the flex circuit  140  fits into the protrusion  130  when the top  106  is closed and secured to the body  104  portion to prevent the flex circuit  140  from being cut, kinked or damaged when the top  106  is in the closed position. 
         [0021]    The flex circuit  140  extends around the interior surface of the cavity  102  from the top  106 , passing between the conductor springs  200  for coupling the negative terminals  154  of batteries  152  to the circuit  140  and up to the contacts  198  of the mounting shoe  108 . The flex circuit  140  is secured to the bottom of the interior surface of the body  104  via a screw  202  or like fastener. 
         [0022]    Referring now to  FIG. 5 , there appears the mounting foot  109 , which may be integrated into a helmet or other mounting system for connection of the battery box  100  via the mounting shoe  108 . The mounting foot  109  includes a first plate  180  and a second plate  182  which are secured via screws or like mechanical fasteners  184 . The first plate  180  includes an opening  186  through which spring contacts  188  extend. The spring contacts  188  align with the contacts  198  when the foot  109  is received within the shoe  108 . A sealing ring or gasket  190  may be received within groove  191  in the first plate  180  to seal the contacts  188 ,  198  against moisture or other contamination when the foot  109  is received within the shoe  108 . 
         [0023]    The second plate  182  includes a cavity  192  for a terminal connection plate  194 , and alignment pins  196 , which engage alignment openings  197  in the plate  194 . The terminal connection plate  194  is electrically coupled to the device to be operated, e.g., via a cable (not shown) pressing through an opening  201  in the second plate  182 . 
         [0024]    Referring now to  FIG. 8 , there is illustrated an exemplary embodiment of an electrical circuit  220  configuration for the battery box  100  which is capable of being selectively modified for either three or four battery operation. For four battery operation, circuit location  203  is cut. For three battery operation, circuit location  205  is cut. In this manner a single circuit board pattern or layout can be used for three or four battery location, as desired. Alternatively, dedicated three and four battery circuit layouts can be provided. The depicted circuit layout is exemplary only and other layouts are contemplated. 
         [0025]    In the four-battery configuration (i.e., when circuit location  203  is cut), a first pair of batteries  152   a,    152   c  are connected in series. Likewise, a second pair of batteries  152   b,    152   d  are connected in series. The first and second pairs of batteries are, in turn, connected in parallel. In this configuration, employing 1.5V batteries, the battery box  100  provides 3 Volts to a connected device. 
         [0026]    Alternatively, the battery box  100  may be used in a three battery configuration, i.e., wherein the circuit portion  205  is cut. In the three-battery configuration, the batteries  152   a,    152   b,  and  152   c  are connected in series. In the three-battery configuration, the forth battery  152   d  is omitted. In the three-battery configuration, the battery box  100  provides 4.5 Volts to a connected device. 
         [0027]    Referring now to  FIG. 9 , there appears an exemplary circuit layout  230  wherein the batteries  152   a,    152   b,    152   c,  and  152   d  are connected in series. In this configuration, employing 1.5V batteries, the battery box  100  provides 6 Volts to a connected device. 
         [0028]    Referring now to  FIG. 10 , there appears an exemplary circuit layout  240  wherein the batteries  152   a,    152   b,    152   c,  and  152   d  are connected in parallel. In this configuration, employing 1.5V batteries, the battery box  100  provides 1.5 Volts to a connected device. 
         [0029]    It will be recognized that the illustrated electrical circuit configurations are exemplary only and that other electrical circuit configurations, including other numbers of batteries and other series/parallel configurations, etc., may be employed. 
         [0030]    The invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments. Modifications and alterations will occur to others upon a reading and understanding of the preceding detailed description. Therefore, it is not desired to limit the invention to the specific examples disclosed or the exact construction and operation shown and described. Rather, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention.