Simple electrode assembly engineering:Toward a multifunctional lead-acid battery

Electrochemical energy storage is a promising technology for the integration of renewable energy.Lead-acid battery is perhaps among the most successful commercialized systems ever since thanks to its excellent cost-effectiveness and safety records.Despite of 165 years of development,the low energy density as well as the coupled power and energy density scaling restrain its wider application in real life.To address this challenge,we optimized the configuration of conventional Pb-acid battery to integrate two gas diffusion electrodes.The novel device can work as a Pb-air battery using ambient air,showing a peak power density of 183 mW cm^(−2),which was comparable with other state-of-the-art metal-O_(2)batteries.It can also behave as a fuel cell,simultaneously converting H_(2)and air into electricity with a peak power density of 75 mW cm^(−2).Importantly,this device showed little performance degradation after 35 h of the longevity test.Our work shows the exciting potential of lead battery technology and demonstrates the importance of battery architecture optimization toward improved energy storage capacity.

Self-Discharge in Valve-Regulated Sealed Lead-Acid Batteries

Ｓｅｌｆ－ＤｉｓｃｈａｒｇｅｉｎＶａｌｖｅ－ＲｅｇｕｌａｔｅｄＳｅａｌｅｄＬｅａｄ－ＡｃｉｄＢａｔｔｅｒｉｅｓＤＯＮＧＢａｏｇｕａｎｇ；ＺＨＡＮＧＱｉｕｄａｏ；ＣＨＥＮＺｈｅｎｎｉｎｇ（董保光）（张秋道）（陈振宁）（Ｄｅｐｔ．ｏｆＡｐｐｌｉｅｄＣｈｅ...

Pb-Ca-Sn-Ba Grid Alloys for Valve-Regulated Lead Acid Batteries

The effect of barium additives on the process of anodic corrosion of lead-tin-calcium alloys in a 4.8 М sulfuric acid solution was studied. Cyclic voltammetry, impedance spectroscopy, weight loss measurements and scanning electronic microscope analysis have allowed exploring the oxidation process and characterizing the formed corrosion layer. According to our results, barium introduction into lead-tin-calcium alloys increases their hardness, reduces their electrochemical activity, and improves their corrosion stability. Reduction of the calcium content in the alloy can be compensated by adding barium. Barium dopation at lead-tin-calcium alloys decreases the resistance of the oxide layer formed on the grid surface, in a deeply discharged state, and raises its resistance during floating conditions and at a charged state of the positive electrode.

Research on thin grid materials of lead-acid batteries

A detailed investigation on Pb-Ca-Sn alloys was made in order to choose suitable grid alloys materials for thin plate lead-acid batteries. The electrochemical performances of alloys were investigated by electrochemical corrosion experiment, scanning electron microscope (SEM), and cyclic voltammetry (CV) test. The results indicate that Pb-Ca-Sn-Bi-Cu alloys can be used to make the grids used for thin grid lead-acid batteries, the content of bismuth has primary effects on the corrosion resistance of grid alloys, the composition of alloys plays an important role on batteries performance, and appropriate scale of elements can be choosed to obtain optimal electrochemical performance. The lead-acid batteries using this kind of grid show good performance by cycle life test.

Experiments Study on Charge Technology of Lead-Acid Electric Vehicle Batteries

The basic theory of the fast charge and several charge methods are introduced. In order to heighten charge efficiency of valve-regulated lead-acid battery and shorten the charge time, five charge methods are investigated with experiments done on the Digatron BNT 400-050 test bench. Battery current, terminal voltage, capacity, energy and terminal pole temperature during battery experiment were recorded, and corresponding curves were depicted. Battery capacity-time ratio, energy efficiency and energy-temperature ratio are put forward to be the appraising criteria of lead-acid battery on electric vehicle （EV）. According to the appraising criteria and the battery curves, multistage-current/negative-pulse charge method is recommended to charge lead-acid EV battery.

PREPARATION OF LEAD-ACID BATTERY USING ELECTROPLATED RETICULATED SiC AS THE POSITIVE CURRENT COLLECTOR

The possibility of using Pb-electroplated reticulated SiC as the positive current collector for lead-acid batteries was investigated. Reticulated SiC with two aperture sizes (3 and 2mm) were tested as the substrate of positive electrode. It was found that the reticulated SiC has an excellent corrosion resistance in H2SO4 solution, and the Pb layer electroplated on reticulated SiC showed analogous electrochemical behavior to metal Pb. Preliminary test of the battery performance indicated that the utilization efficiency of the positive active mass of new designed batteries are improved compared with the conventional batteries. The improvement could be ascribed to the high specific surface area of the reticulated structured positive current collector, which was further supported by the even better performance of the battery made from a smaller aperture size (2mm) reticulated SiC as the substrate of the positive electrode.

Study of the Charge Acceptance of Small-Size Sealed Lead-Acid Batteries

ＳｔｕｄｙｏｆｔｈｅＣｈａｒｇｅＡｃｃｅｐｔａｎｃｅｏｆＳｍａｌｌ－ＳｉｚｅＳｅａｌｅｄＬｅａｄ－ＡｃｉｄＢａｔｔｅｒｉｅｓＤＯＮＧＢａｏｇｕａｎｇ；ＺＨＡＮＧＱｉｕｄａｏ；ＭＵＪｕｎｊｉａｎｇ（董保光，张秋道，穆俊江）（Ｄｅｐｔ．ｏｆＡｐｐｌｉｅｄ...

Mathematical Model and Experiment of Temperature Effect on Discharge of Lead-Acid Battery for PV Systems in Tropical Area

This paper presents Mathematical Model and Experiment of Temperature effect on Charge and Discharge of Lead-Acid Battery performance in PV system power supply. To test temperature effect on battery discharge cycles, a temperature range of tropical area from 25 - 60 degrees Celsius in a simulator is set up for testing. This temperature range is normally practical for battery usage. This allows the battery to determine the parameters of the battery quickly and high accurate. A Mathematical Model with MATLAB Program is written and constructed as block diagram using the equations of battery the parameters. By running program, the effects of various parameters are investigated. The results showed that time of discharge the battery is longer. Then, the experiment is set up by battery VRLA 12 V 20 AH. The results confirmed the mathematical model simulations.

Potentiometric Measurement of State-of-Charge of Lead-Acid Batteries Using Polymeric Ferrocene and Quinones Derivatives

Measurement of state-of-charge of lead-acid batteries using potentiometric sensors would be convenient;however, most of the electrochemical couples are either soluble or are unstable in the battery electrolyte. This paper describes the results of an investigation of poly (divinylferrocene) (PDVF) and Poly(diethynylanthraquinone) (PAQ) couples in sulfuric acid with the view to developing a potentiometric sensor for lead-acid batteries. These compounds were both found to be quite stable and undergo reversible reduction/oxidation in sulfuric acid media. Their redox potential difference varied linearly with sulfuric acid concentration in the range of 1 M - 5 M (i.e. simulated lead-acid electrolyte during battery charge/discharge cycles). A sensor based on these compounds has been investigated.

Application of a Sulfur Removal Hydrometallurgical Process in a Lead-Acid Battery Recycling Plant in Costa Rica

This study presents the implementation of a desulphurization process for lead recycling under different chemical and physical conditions using pyro-metallurgical processes. Desulphurization was done using a hydrometallurgical process using sodium carbonate as a desulphurization agent and different lead-bearing loads compositions. Waste characterization included: SO2 concentrations in the stack emissions, total lead content in the furnace ash, the total lead content in the slag, and the toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP). A significant reduction in SO2 emissions was achieved (~55% reduction) where mean SO2 concentrations changed from 2193 ± 135 ppm to 1006 ± 62 ppm after the implementation of the modified processes. The desulfurized lead paste (i.e. the metallic fraction lead of the battery) of the modified process exhibited an improvement in the concentration of the lead in the TCLP test, with an average value of 1.5 ppm which is below US EPA limit of 5 ppm. The traditional process TCLP mean value for the TCLP was 54.2 ppm. The total lead content in the bag house ashes shows not significant variations, when comparing the desulphurization (67.6% m/m) and non-desulphurization process (64.9% m/m). The total lead mean content in the slag was higher in the desulphurization process (2.49% m/m) than the traditional process (1.91% m/m). Overall, the implementation of a new desulphurization method would potentially increase the operation costs in 10.3%. At the light of these results, a combination of hydrometallurgical and pyro-metallurgical processes in the recycling of lead-acid batteries can be used to reduce the environmental impact of these industries but would increase the operational costs of small lead recyclers.

PSO-LSSVM-based Online SOC Estimation for Simulation Substation Battery

As the emergency power supply for a simulation substation,lead-acid batteries have a work pattern featuring noncontinuous operation,which leads to capacity regeneration.However,the accurate estimation of battery state of charge(SOC),a measurement of the amount of energy available in a battery,remains a hard nut to crack because of the non-stationarity and randomness of battery capacity change.This paper has proposed a comprehensive method for lead-acid battery SOC estimation,which may aid in maintaining a reasonable charging schedule in a simulation substation and improving battery’s durability.Based on the battery work pattern,an improved Ampere-hour method is used to calculate the SOC during constant current and constant voltage(CC/CV)charging and discharging.In addition,the combined Particle Swarm Optimization(PSO)and Least Squares Support Vector Machine(LSSVM)model is used to estimate the SOC during non-CC discharging.Experimental results show that this method is workable in online SOC estimation of working batteries in a simulation substaion,with the maximum relative error standing at only 2.1%during the non-training period,indicating a high precision and wide applicability.

Simple Rational Model for Discharge of Batteries with Aqueous Electrolytes, Based on Nernst Equation

A simple rational model is proposed for discharge of batteries with aqueous electrolytes, based on Nernst equation. Details of electrode kinetics are not taken into account. Only a few overall parameters of the battery are considered. A simple algorithm, with variable time step-length Δt, is presented, for proposed model. The model is first applied to Daniel cell, in order to clarify concepts and principles of battery operation. It is found that initial pinching, in time-history curve of voltage E-t, is due to initial under-concentration of product ion. Then, model is applied to a lead-acid battery. In absence of an ion product, and in order to construct nominator of Nernst ratio, such an ion, with coefficient tending to zero, is assumed, thus yielding unity in nominator. Time-history curves of voltage, for various values of internal resistance, are compared with corresponding published experimental curves. Temperature effect on voltage-time curve is examined. Proposed model can be extended to other types of batteries, which can be considered as having aqueous electrolytes, too.

Battery Management for the Electric Hydraulic Pump System of a Lifting Trolley

This study proposed a battery management approach for the electric hydraulic pump system of a lifting trolley.The pump system was powered by two 12-V lead-acid batteries in series.Because direct measurement of the actual battery state of charge is unlikely,it has mostly been determined through estimation based on the measured open-circuit voltage.A discharge current will result in a voltage drop and hence a lower voltage during discharge;however,the battery voltage will return to the original open-circuit voltage once the discharge stops.The operating current of the electric hydraulic pump system employed in this study was associated with three factors:the lifting height,lifting load,and battery state of charge.The operating current remained constant during the first half of the lifting phase and increased gradually with the lifting height in the second half.The operating current peaked when the lifting height reached the maximum.The power management approach for the electric hydraulic pump system featured the following basic functions:overcharge protection,overdischarge protection,short-circuit protection,overload protection,and an operating timer established in accordance with the system’s operating current variation.According to the manufacturer-defined maximum lifting load and lifting height of the lifting trolley,this study conducted experiments to obtain the maximum required operating time.An operating time greater than the maximum required operating time indicates the occurrence of an unexpected event,discharge should be stopped until the fault is resolved.

Modeling and Experimental Verification of Electric Vehicles Off-Grid Photovoltaic Powered Charging Station

With the increasing development of EVs, the energy demand from theconventional utility grid increases in proportion. On the other hand, photovoltaic(PV) energy sources can overcome several problems when charging EVs from theutility grid especially in remote areas. This paper presents an effective photovoltaic stand-alone charging station for EV applications. The proposed charging station incorporates PV array, a lithium-ion battery representing the EV battery, and alead-acid battery representing the energy storage system (ESS). A bidirectionalDC-DC converter is employed for charging/discharging the ESS and a unidirectional DC-DC converter is utilized for charging the EV battery. The proposed controllers achieve maximum power extraction from the PV and regulate the DC-linkvoltage. It also controls the voltage and current levels of both the ESS and the EVduring the charging/discharging process. The study has been applied to two caseswith different power levels. Analysis, simulation, and implementation of the proposed system are presented. A 120 W laboratory prototype is carried out to verifythe system performance, experimentally. Design guides for higher power levelsare proposed to help in choosing the proper parameters of the converters. Boththe simulation and experimental results are matched and verify the highperformance of the proposed system.

Analysis of Lead-acid Battery Industry Development Trend in China in 2018

As lead-acid battery market segment shows fierce competition,scale advantage is the key.With high market concentration and fierce competition in chemical battery industry,the price war and cost increase have significantly reduced the net profit margin of major players in the industry.With higher requirements for battery performance by consumers and greater attention paid to environmental protection

Decreasing incidence of cutaneous chemical burns in a resource limited burn centre: is this a positive effect of modernization?

Background: Burns present a devastating injury to patients. Burns caused by chemical agents, present a worse scenario. In a resource limited country like Nigeria, readily available sources of these corrosive agents are mainly from lead-acid battery vendors and to some extent local small scale soap manufacturers who use caustic soda. We hypothesized that with the reduction in small scale soap manufacturing and increasing trend towards modernization in the use of dry cell batteries, chemical burns may be on the decline, and we sought to investigate this. Methods: The records of all acute burn patients seen at the Burns and Plastic Department of the National Orthopaedic Hospital Enugu Nigeria between January 2011 and December 2014 were retrospectively reviewed. The results were compared to similar studies carried out at the same centre. A questionnaire was administered to corrosive chemical (sulphuric and caustic soda) vendors to assess the trends in product sales and use in recent times. Results: A total of 624 acute burn cases were treated during the period;among which, 12 cases (1.9%) were chemical burns. When compared with previous studies at the centre, Chemical burn cases were recorded as the lowest rate. The median age of patients was 24 years. There were eight males and four females. Interpersonal assault was the commonest mechanism of injury with sulphuric acid suspected to be the commonest agent in 83.3% of the cases, while 16.7% of the cases were from accidental use of caustic soda. The head and neck as well as the upper limbs were the most affected (30%). Twenty-six questionnaires to lead-acid vendors were analyzed and revealed that all respondents noticed a marked downward trend in the sale of either sulphuric acid or caustic soda, and they attributed this to the ready availability of imported alternatives to locally manufactured soap or wet lead-acid batteries. Ease of use, durability and convenience of the dry cell batteries were cited as principal reasons. Conclusion: There appears to be a downward trend in the prevalence of chemical burns in our study compared to previous studies in the centre which may be due to reduced availability and access of corrosive chemicals to the general public. Further prospective multicentre studies to confirm this are recommended.