|Número de publicación||US4418130 A|
|Tipo de publicación||Concesión|
|Número de solicitud||US 06/272,406|
|Fecha de publicación||29 Nov 1983|
|Fecha de presentación||10 Jun 1981|
|Fecha de prioridad||10 Jun 1981|
|Número de publicación||06272406, 272406, US 4418130 A, US 4418130A, US-A-4418130, US4418130 A, US4418130A|
|Inventores||Daniel G. Soltis, Dean W. Sheibley, William J. Nagle|
|Cesionario original||The United States Of America As Represented By The Administrator Of The National Aeronautics And Space Administration|
|Exportar cita||BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan|
|Citas de patentes (7), Otras citas (1), Citada por (9), Clasificaciones (10), Eventos legales (5)|
|Enlaces externos: USPTO, Cesión de USPTO, Espacenet|
This invention was made by employees of the U.S. Government and may be manufactured or used by or for the Government without the payment of any royalties thereon or therefor.
This invention relates to secondary cells and is directed more particularly to alkaline electrolyte cells having at least one zinc electrode.
Because of pollution problems resulting from the various chemicals emitted by internal combustion automobile and truck engines together with several criseses in the abvailability of crude oil in recent years, there has been greatly increased interest in electric automobiles. Because electric automobiles are powered by batteries of electromotive force (EMF) cells, there has been a parallel increase in research and development work on the various aspects of EMF cells.
Lead-acid batteries have been used in the past for powering electric automobiles and are currently in use for various dollies and vehicles used, for example, to move stock in factories. The high weight and expense which result from providing a sufficient number of lead-acid batteries to achieve a practical range of operation for an electric automobile is presently too great to make such vehicles acceptable to the general public.
A desirable alternative to the lead-acid battery is the nickel-zinc alkaline battery. There are, however, a number of problems with zinc electrodes. Among these problems are slumping of the electrode, the formation of dendrites which eventually short out the separators between the electrodes, densification, material loss, and drying out. These deficiencies result in loss of capacity, shorting of the separators, inability to sustain a required current output, and limitation of cycling capability.
Some of the foregoing problems have been ameliorated by improved separators which reduce dendrite formation and minimize slumping of the zinc electrode. Even with improved separators, nickel zinc cells were still handicapped by loss of capacity, increased cell operating temperatures and densification of the zinc electrodes after relatively short periods of operation.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,902,530 to Eisen and U.S. Pat. No. 3,060,254 to Urry both disclose the use of carboxymethylcellulose as a binder or adhesive for anode or cathode materials covering the surface of a fibrous electrode.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,448,052 to Roberts discloses the use of cellulose materials as expanders for cadmium electrodes, the cellulose material swelling when contacted by an alkaline electrolyte.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,519,399 to Roberts, 2,727,080 to Moulton, and 2,870,234 to Moulton all disclose expander materials to be contained in electrodes and including polyvinylalcohol, rubber and polyvinylpyrrolidone.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,053,924 to Strauss discloses an electrode for an alkaline cell wherein cellulosic material is deposited within the pores of the electrode itself to limit dendrite formation or treeing.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,184,340 to Andre teaches that crystalline lithium hydroxide may be precipitated from a lithium hydroxide solution contained in pores of a nickel or silver electrode to be used in an alkaline-nickel or alkaline-silver accumulator.
In accordance with the present invention, up to about 10% by weight of Ba(OH)2.8H2 O powder is mixed with zinc powder and formed into an electrode for an alkaline cell as, for example, by pressing the mixture into a suitable electrode configuration. A suitable binder may also be added to the powdered mixture before the forming step.
According to the invention, zinc powder and Ba(OH)2.8H2 O powder are mixed together, the Ba(OH)2.8H2 O comprising up to about 10% but preferably 5% by weight of the total mixture. The mixture is then formed into a desired shaped electrode by any of the pressing techniques which are well-known in the prior art of electrode forming.
A number of zinc electrodes embodying the invention were installed in alkaline cells and tested against cells having zinc electrodes with no additives and against other cells in which carboxymethylcellulose was incorporated into the electrodes. The results of these tests are shown in Table I below.
The test conditions for the results indicated in Table I were: 6 hours (25 amperes) charge; 2 hours (75 amperes) discharge; and, 50% depth of discharge, 150 ampere hours, cycling continuously. Three types of cells were tested, the type 1 cells having no additives in the zinc electrodes, the type 2 cells including 5% by weight of carboxymethylcellulose, and the type 3 cells includng approximately 5% by weight of the barium hydroxide octohydrate. None of the cells tested included mercury in the zinc electrodes. However, the zinc electrodes embodying the invention can be amalgamated without any problem as is known in the prior art, since mercury will not react with Ba(OH)2.8H2 O.
To increase the accuracy of the results shown in Table I, three cells of each type were constructed and tested. One of the type 1 cells failed before completion of 63 cycles. Further, two of the type 2 cells failed before completing 63 cycles of testing. One of the type 3 cells failed at 163 cycles. The average for the three type 3 cells, including the cell that failed, was 212 cycles.
TABLE I______________________________________Exp. Cycles °C. Temp. Range AHI AHD______________________________________Type 1 8 26-28 147.7 145.7Type 2 8 27-29 147.3 145.7Type 3 8 24-25 149.3 146.4Type 1 63 27-30 143 144Type 2 63 27-30 137.9 128.5Type 3 63 24-25 150 147.8Type 1 141 30-34 146 117.0Type 2 141 31-36 132 42.0Type 3 141 26-27 148 145Type 3 212 28-29.5 148 121______________________________________
It will be understood that changes and modifications may be made to the above-described invention by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the claims appended hereto.
|Patente citada||Fecha de presentación||Fecha de publicación||Solicitante||Título|
|US3639176 *||4 Sep 1968||1 Feb 1972||Esb Inc||Zinc electrode containing an additive to reduce gassing at the zinc electrode in a heat sterilized silver-zinc alkaline battery|
|US3970477 *||7 Dic 1971||20 Jul 1976||P. R. Mallory & Co., Inc.||Mercury trap and contact|
|US3976502 *||17 Dic 1974||24 Ago 1976||Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.||Nickel-zinc alkaline storage battery|
|US4039729 *||7 May 1975||2 Ago 1977||Deutsche Automobilgesellschaft Mbh, Firma||Rechargeable galvanic cell with zinc electrode and auxiliary structure|
|US4124743 *||13 Oct 1977||7 Nov 1978||Yardngy Electric Corporation||Mercury-free secondary alkaline battery and improved negative interseparator therefor|
|US4279978 *||23 May 1980||21 Jul 1981||Energy Research Corporation||Battery separator employing zinc selective additive materials|
|US4312931 *||2 Sep 1980||26 Ene 1982||General Motors Corporation||Zinc electrode containing porous calcium silicate|
|1||*||Hackh's Chemical Dictionary: Grant, Julius, Ed.; 1972, New York, St. Louis, San Francisco, etc: McGraw-Hill Book Company, p. 78|
|Patente citante||Fecha de presentación||Fecha de publicación||Solicitante||Título|
|US4649093 *||14 Mar 1986||10 Mar 1987||Sab Nife Inc.||Corrosion resistant mercury-free zinc anode battery|
|US4913988 *||11 Jun 1987||3 Abr 1990||Eveready Battery Company, Inc.||Li2 CO3 -Ca(OH)2 additive for cathodes in nonaqueous cells|
|US5556720 *||1 May 1995||17 Sep 1996||Energy Research Corporation||Sealed zinc secondary battery and zinc electrode therefor|
|US5863676 *||27 Mar 1997||26 Ene 1999||Energy Research Corporation||Calcium-zincate electrode for alkaline batteries and method for making same|
|US6200699||18 Abr 1997||13 Mar 2001||Varta Batterie Aktiengesellschaft||Mercury-free primary alkaline cell|
|US9048512||5 Jun 2006||2 Jun 2015||Thothathri Sampath Kumar||Nanosized electrochemical dispersion for rechargeable alkaline zinc batteries|
|EP0697746A1||18 Ago 1995||21 Feb 1996||Energy Research Corporation||Sealed zinc secondary battery and zinc electrode therefor|
|EP0802573A2||19 Feb 1997||22 Oct 1997||VARTA Batterie Aktiengesellschaft||Galvanic cell|
|WO2007116413A1||5 Jun 2006||18 Oct 2007||Thothathri Sampath Kumar||A nanosized electrochemical dispersion for rechargeable alkaline zinc batteries|
|Clasificación de EE.UU.||429/206, 429/229, 252/182.1|
|Clasificación internacional||H01M4/42, H01M4/24|
|Clasificación cooperativa||H01M4/244, H01M4/42, Y02E60/124|
|Clasificación europea||H01M4/24C, H01M4/42|
|10 Jun 1981||AS||Assignment|
Owner name: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AS REPRESENTED BY THE AD
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST.;ASSIGNORS:SOLTIS, DANIEL G.;SHEIBLEY, DEAN W.;NAGLE, WILLIAM J.;REEL/FRAME:003895/0121;SIGNING DATES FROM 19810602 TO 19810603
|7 May 1987||FPAY||Fee payment|
Year of fee payment: 4
|3 Jul 1991||REMI||Maintenance fee reminder mailed|
|1 Dic 1991||LAPS||Lapse for failure to pay maintenance fees|
|17 Mar 1992||FP||Expired due to failure to pay maintenance fee|
Effective date: 19911201