MILITARY APPLICATIONS OF RESERVE BATTERIES

Reserve batteries are batteries which do not give power until activate d. They have a long storage life and high power capabilities which mak es them useful for numerous military applications. Designs of reserve batteries include those based on movement of electrolyte (sea water, e nergizers and reserve silver-zinc or lithium-thionyl chloride) and the rmal batteries, which are high-temperature batteries activated by heat ing using an internal pyrotechnic. The increasing shelf-life of lithiu m primary batteries and the higher energy density of lithium reserve ( particularly thionyl chloride) batteries is allowing these to replace aqueous electrolyte reserve batteries in some applications. Increased energy density of recent thermal batteries makes them more attractive for applications which have previously used other reserve batteries.