Battery protected against electric arcs

1. A DC electrical power supply source, comprising:

a protective housing;

electrical energy storage devices disposed in the protective housing, said storage devices being connected electrically in series by way of interconnection elements;

an acoustic sensor disposed in the protective housing, said acoustic sensor configured to measure ultrasounds; and

a filling medium disposed in the protective housing;

wherein the filling medium exhibits a homogeneous acoustic impedance and forms a continuous acoustic link between said interconnection elements and the acoustic sensor; and

wherein the protective housing is leaktight so as to isolate the acoustic sensor from exterior acoustic disturbances.

2. The DC electrical power supply source as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising an electronic circuit configured to detect the occurrence of an electric arc as a function of the ultrasounds measured by the acoustic sensor.

3. The DC electrical power supply source, as claimed in claim 2 , comprising a plurality of acoustic sensors distributed within the protective housing and configured to measure ultrasounds, the filling medium forming a continuous acoustic link between the interconnection elements and the plurality of acoustic sensors, and the electronic circuit being configured to determine the position of the electric arc as a function of the respective measurements of an ultrasound spike by each of said plurality of acoustic sensors.

4. The DC electrical power supply source as claimed in claim 2 , further comprising an electromagnetic sensor disposed in the protective housing, the electronic circuit being configured to confirm a detection of occurrence of an electric arc as a function of the electromagnetic signal measured by the electromagnetic sensor.

5. The DC electrical power supply source as claimed in claim 4 , in which the electronic circuit is configured to determine the position of the electric arc as a function of a duration between an ultrasound spike measured by the ultrasound sensor and an electromagnetic spike measured by the electromagnetic sensor.

6. The DC power supply source as claimed in claim 2 , in which the electronic circuit is configured to calculate coefficient between the ultrasounds measured and a model of vibration generated by an electric arc, the electronic circuit being configured to detect the occurrence of an electric arc when the calculated coefficient exceeds a threshold.

7. The DC electrical power supply source as claimed in claim 2 , in which the electronic circuit is configured to:

control a predefined modulation of an electric load connected to the power supply source;

calculate cross-correlation between the measured ultrasounds and the controlled electric load modulation; and

detect the occurrence of an electric arc as a function of the calculated cross-correlation.

8. The DC electrical power supply source as claimed in claim 1 , in which the acoustic sensor is configured to measure ultrasounds with a bandwidth extending at least between 20 kHz and 150 kHz.

9. The DC electrical power supply source as claimed in claim 1 , in which the acoustic sensor is chosen from the group comprising membrane-based sensors, sensors of MEMS type and capacitive sensors.

10. The DC electrical power supply source as claimed in claim 1 , in which the acoustic sensor comprises a main reception lobe exhibiting an aperture of at least equal to 90°.

11. The DC electrical power supply source as claimed in claim 1 , in which the filling medium is air.

12. The DC electrical power supply source as claimed in claim 1 , in which a part of the acoustic sensor performing an ultrasound wave measurement is in contact with the filling medium.