Battery Rack

I have been working with my family on installing an offgrid solar system at our cabin. Batteries are a vital part of the system. There are two 24 volt strings of 6 volt L16 units which weigh 1,000 pounds.

In SolidWorks I drafted a 3D sketch of where I would need structural members. This stand is really important because the floor of our cabin typically floods, and the batteries need to be spaced apart (Figure 2). I then used the weldments feature to insert different geometries of steel for each member (Figure 1). I chose between square tube, C channel, and angle iron. I did a static simulation using Finite Element Analysis (FEA) to understand where the highest loads were (Figure 3). After establishing those locations, I edited my steel geometries to optimize strength and cost.

Figure 1: battery rack render (ISO view)

Figure 2: battery rack render (Side view)

I am a self taught MIG welder who has previously done low scale projects such as tables, hooks, and small sheet metal projects. The battery rack was a lot of welding, but my brother and I were able to finish it in 3 days. We fabricated the rack at our house, and then transported the behemoth to our cabin. To prevent rusting, we coated it with a rust preventing primer. The installed rack is fully wired up and the system is functional (figure 4).