BENEFITS OF CONTROLLING PLATE-GROUP EXPANSION - OPENING THE DOOR TO ADVANCED LEAD ACID BATTERIES/

Highly compressed, flooded-electrolyte cells have been constructed wit h pure-lead positive plates prepared from the following starting mater ials: (i) standard positive paste; (ii) standard negative paste; (iii) mixture of lead sulfate and barium sulfate; (iv) active-material remo ved from a cured negative-plate. All the cells return excellent cycle lives under deep-cycle service. The exceptional performance is attribu ted to the high level of cell-group compression that minimizes active- material shedding and maintains electrical conductivity within the pos itive active-mass. The results demand that traditional methods used to process battery plates be reviewed, especially in terms of positive-p aste composition and curing conditions. Cost-effective strategies are identified to assist in the implementation of significant cell-group c ompression into commercial gelled- and flooded-electrolyte batteries. This involves the development of devices that apply accurate support t o the cell group along with a compression-resistant separator system t hat can withstand high levels of compression. (C) 1997 Published by El sevier Science S.A.