CA1119662A - Industrial battery plate - Google Patents

Abstract

INDUSTRIAL BATTERY PLATE

Abstract of the Disclosure A positive industrial battery plate comprises a lead battery plate; a perforate wrapping material disposed around the longitudinal edges of the plate; and an inert spacing member longitudinally applied over the wrapping material along at least one of the wrapped longitudinal edges of said plate. The spacing member comprising a sub-stantially U-shaped clamp for engaging a portion of the wrapped plate along the wrapped longitudinal edge. Spacing projections are disposed on the clamp for locating the longitudinal edges of the plate so that they are capable of being uniformly, transversely overlapped by a discrete, microporous separator positioned adjacent the plate to form a battery stack. The arrangement preserves and extends the life of the plate, and permits improvements in the alignment of a number of such plates when stacked.

Description

96~2 This application is a division of application Serial No. 297,391 filed February 21, 1978.
Back~round of ~he Invention c, .
The present inven-tion relates generally to the field of industrial battery stacks, and more particuIarly, to a battery plate for use in industrial batte~y stacks wherein the positive plates have been wrapped with a semi-perforate inert material for the purpose of preserving and extending the life of these plates.
It has long been knotJn to the art that one method Oc effectively ~ositioning plates of a storage battery is to pxo-vi~e projections protruding from the plates~which are cast therein for the purpose of spacin~ those plates during stacking ~ and subsequent insertion nto the storage battery case. Similar projections may also be disposed along the bcttom of the battery plates fo~ the purpose of providinq "feet" ~hich are userul in holding the bulk of 'he battery plate material away from a sur-face upon which may ac^umulate residues which, if allowed to contàct the battery plate material, might tend to shorten ~he 20 useful life of the battery. In the construction of automotive ba~teries, 'hese projections which are formed along the longi-tudi~al ed~es of the battery plates used in the battery stack ~ are normally included on both the positive and nega~i~e plates.
; In order to avoid shorting which might be caused by buckling, these p-ojections are often offset so that the various projec-tions within the stack of each positive and negative plates are coaxial, but are spaced apart longitudinal'y by distance suf-ficient to minimize the likelihood of shorting between pla'es. ~;
; One arrangement simila~ to that described with respect to both 30 positive and negative plates and sepa_ators is disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 3,294,~58, entitled Apparatus for Aligninq the Plates and Separators of a Battery Stack. Heretofore it has .

been common to stack ba-tter~ plates, such as those showll in ~;
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U.S. Patent Mo. 3,294,~58, in an alignment bo~ ir. orc'er to produce a battery stac}; which may then be transferred out o the alignment bo~ for the purpose of fo~ming battery straps and lu~s thereon, ei-ther by burning, casting, or som2 other method known to the art.
In the stacking and burning of indust~ial battery pla-tes, various difficulties have beer. encour.tered which differ subst:an-tially from those encountered in the production of battery stacks intended for automoti~re or other non-industrial uses. In partic-ular, the currentc prcduced withill a typical industrial batteryfar excee~ those norrally encountered in an automotive battery, and therefore~ the stresses ~hich are encountered by the bat~ery plates, and particularly, the positive plates, are substantially increased in the typical industrial battery. One method of im-proving the durability of the positive plates incorporated into an industrial hattery is that of wrapping each o~ the positive plates wit~h an inert wrapping film, such as polyvinyl chloride, which wrappin~ film is perforatec~ in the areas o-~er the broad facec of the positive plates, but which is inperforate ~n the portion of the wrappin~ material which overlaps the longi.udinal edgos of the positive pla'es. It has been found tha~ by wrapping the positive plates of an industri-l battery in this manner, that the likelihood of treeing and the damagec which might be expected from warping or shedding are kept -to a minimum. Un-fortunately, the wrapping of positive bat~ery plates in an in-dustria' battery stack brings wi~h it certain problems relating to the stac~ing and positioning of those battery plates, not I only initially within the battery stack prior to burning but I also subse~uently after 'he assembly of the bat~er~ stack into ~ the case in terms of propérly aligning the positive plates with r~spect to the a~]c!cent negative plates and separators, as well ... . .

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as ~Jith r~spect to the si~e w~lls of ~I-e h~t-tery. Projec~ions e~en~ing from -the loll~itu~inal edges of a positive battery plate are f~lrthermcr~
not practical, due to the fact that the wrapping of these batte~y plates with the above d~scribed i~ert materi~l will be int~rf2re~ with. Furthermore, the ~Jrapping o~ 'he ~os tive plates, together ~ith the large size of those plates as normally er.countered in .he pro~uction of a ty~ical indu~rial bat~ery ~Lak~s it very diff cult to efficien~ly utilizc~ a give~. unit ~-olume ~lthin an ind~st~ial ba~tery c~se. That is, ~nli~e ~utomotive batter~es, industrial b~ttery pla~es, due to ~heir relatively gre-ter size and weight, ~nd the attcndallt dimen-~ional irr.egularities which ma~ be c~st or formed th~rein during processing, prevents the typical industrial battery stack from being moved as compactly as that normally e~pected in the automotive battery production.
Summary of the Invention The present invention provides a positive industrial battery plate comprising: ~a) a lead battery plate; ~b) a perforate wrapping material disposed around the longitudinal edges of said plate; and ~c) an inert spacing member longi- .
tudinally applied over said wrapping material along at least ~1 -one of said wrapped longitudinal edges of said plate, said inert spacing member comprising substantially U-shaped clamp means for engaging a portion of said wrapped plate along said wrapped longitudinal edge, and spacing projections disposed on said clamp means for locating said longitudinal edges of said plate so that they are capable of being uniformly, trans-versely overlapped by a discrete ? microporous separator positioned adjacent said plate to form a battery stack.

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These and other objects of embodiments of the present invention ~ill be apparent from the follol~ing dcscription description.
Brief Description of the Drawings Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a battery stack box showing a battery stack disposed therein in a cornpressed condition.
Fig. 2 is a front plan view of the apparatus and battery stack shown in Fig. l in which the original condition of the battery stack prior to compression is shown in phantom.
Fig. 3 is a cross section of the battery stack and apparatus shown in Fig. 2, taken as indicated by the lines and arrro~s 3-3 in Fig. 2. Fig. 3 shows the novel spacing member disposed between a positivc wrapped battery plate and the back wall of the battery stack box. The semi-perforate material used to wrap the positive plate is shown broken away in the upper righthand corner of the plate as viewed in Fig. 3.
Fig. 4 is a cross section similar to Fig. 3, in which a negative plate is exposed and shown di`sposed within the battery stacking bo~. ~
Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the battery stack box in which a negativè plate separator and positive plate in-corporating the novel spacing member are-shown exploded away from the base of the bo~ in a manner intended to represent the process of manually inserting these battery elements into the battery stacking box.
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Fig. 6 is a greatly enlarged foreshortened top view of the battery stack and apparatus as shown in Fig. 3, taken as in~icated by the lines and arrows 6-6 in Fig. 3.
Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the novel spacing member, sho~n on a greatly enlarged scale;
Fig. S is a cross section of an industrial battery jar shol~ing the novel spacing member disposed against the battery jar wall.
Fig. 9 is a cross section of an industrial battery jar 10 showing the interrelationship between a negative plate of the battery stack disposed therein and the wall of the industrial battery jar.
Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments Although specific forms of tlle invention have been selected for illustration in the drawings, and the following description is drawn in specific terms for the purpose o~
describing these forms of the invention, this description is not intended to limit the scope of the invention which is de- ~`
fined in the appended claims.
Referring now to Fig. 1, the battery stack of the present - ` ' ' .
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6~2 invention, designated generally 10, and the battery stack ~o~
of ~he present invention, desisllated generally 12, are repr~-sentecl in perspective. The batter~ st:ac~ bo,~ of the prese~lt invention comprises a base 14, an upstanding back wall 16 ex-tending from the base, and two upstancling end walls lS and 20 e~tending from 'he base 14 and bac~ wall 16. T~^ianaular braces 22 and 24 are shown in the figu~es t~elded to the end ~alls 18 and 20 and to the base 14 to provide ad~.itional rigidity to the end t~alls w~ich is sufficient to counte-ac~ the compress ve forces to be contained therein. Partition 4 is disposed wit}.in the stacking column, which is defined by the end walls 18 and 20 and the bac'~ wall 16. As seen in Fig. 2, the upper end of the stacking column is bisected by a coplanar terminus ~hich is defined by the remote ends of the ~nd walls 18 and 20 and the back ~all 16. A ram, designated ~er.eralli~ 26, e~tends gener-ally parallel to the back wall along an a,~is e~tending a~ially .. .
with respect -to the ba-ttery stack 10. The ram 26 pierces end wall 20 and is held rigidly with respect to that end ~1all by c~ drical bushings 23 and 30 which are bored to receive guide ; 20 rods 32, 34 and 36, which are journaled therein. At substan-tially the center of cylindrical bushings 28 and 3Q is disposed a threaded bore adapted to receive a threaded rod 38, which is rigidly attached to driving wheel 40. A triangular guide plat~
42 is welded to the ends of guide rods 32, 34 and 86, and is bored to allow threaded rod 38 to pass thereth~oush. The end of the r~m within the battery stacking column has disposed there-on compression plates 44 and 46, ~iJhich are adapted to transfer the forces created b~ the ram equally to thc battery stack 10, which ~orce is generally opposed by end wall 18 as braced by 30 triangular brace 22. As seen in Fig. 2, compression plate 44 and triangular guide plate 42 are each welded to guide rods ,2, 34 and 36, which coact wi~.h ~he bores within cylindrical bushings 28 ar~d 30 in order to maintain the compression plate 46 parallel -to end wall 18. ~fter placlng the desired n~lmber of industrial battery ~lates and se~ara,ors wi'hi.l the stacking column, the ra~ 26 is manually activa-ted by rneans of driving wheel 40 ~o Ecrc^ the battery stac'c into a compresseJ condition, as represented in Fig. 2 showing the original position of he battery stack in phantom ~rior to its com2ressisn b~ means of the ram 26.
The batter~ stacking column is bisected on a second plane which is parallel to the coplanar terminus described above by partition 24. Partition 2~1, which acts as the floor of the batter~ stacking bo~ during the stacking and b~rning process, is clisposed within -'he ~atteri~ stacking column hy means of engagement means for engaging the end walls 18 and 20 _s and bac~ wall 16 o~ the battery sta_k bo~ 12. This engagement means comprises spring kiased and pin means for engagins holes definêd in the end walls 18 and 20 and back wall of the battery stack box. Referring now to Figs. 1 and 2, it ma~ be seen that at the various positions which would correspond to the ~ertical sizes of battery plates and separators to be stacked, perfor, ations or holes are defined in the end wal1s 18 and 20 and back wall 16 of the case. In par~icular, in end wall 18 holes 54 and 55 are shown; in end wall 20, holes ~6 and 57 are illus-trated; and in bac~ wall '6 holes 50 and 52 are shown. Spring biased means 58 and 64 are shown rigidly attashed to the under-side of partition 24. These spring biased means comprise ~ins disposed within a plane parallel to the coplanar terminus and oriented trans~ersel~ wi~h respect to the adjaccnt wall which .

66;2 is to be pierced thereby. Tabs 66 ancl 68 are shown in Fiy. 2 for disengagins the pir.s, which are some-~;hat tapered, ~rom the appropriate end ~alls. Pin means 6~ and 60 do not require spring biasing, although spring biasing may nonetheless be ~ro--vided, since upon retraction of pins 59 and 67 the partition 24 may be freely moved along an a~is transve se to the b~ck wall 16.
Referring l~ow lo the positioning of the pla-~es and separators wi~hin the battery stack bo~ of the present invention, Figs. 1 ar.d 2 clearly illustrate that the partition 24 ïs 'o be positioned ~ hin the ba-ttery stacl~ing column by enga~ing the a~prcpriate holes d~fined in the end walls and back wall of the box so that the upper edge o each of the plates and separators, e~clusive of the plate lugs, is disposed within the copla~.ar 'er~.inus defined by the ends of the side walls 18 and 20 and back wall 16 which are most remote from the partiticn 24. ~s seen i~ Figs. 1 and 2, ~he lugs of the positi~e plates 70 and of the r.egati-Je plates 7~ protrude abo~e the coplanar terminus ~nd are therefore easily accessible for burning.
P~eferring now ~o Fig. 3, ~hich is a cross section of the apparatus and battery stack sho~n in Fig. 2 taken as indi-cated by the lines and arrows 3-3 of Fig. 2, a wrapped pGSitiVe plate in accordance wi.h the present inventicn is shown includ-ing the novel spa^ing member 100 which is disposed alcng one of the lcngitudinal edges of the positive battery plates designat-ed generally 102. h`ngagement means comp~ising engagemen~ block 52 is shown having pin 63 ixedly mounted therein, which, as shown in Yig. 3, is adapted to pierce hole Sl defined in back wall 16. Spring bi~as engagement means 6~ with finger tab 65 is also shown fixed1y engaging the underside of partition 24.
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Once the upper eclge of each of the plates and sepa~ators, e~clusive of the plate lugs, is disposed within the coplanar te-minus defined by 'he ends of the side walls and back wall 15, a dam 101 may be slippecl be~ween the upstanding lugs 7Q and 72, which dam need not rest en~irely upon the plates and se?-arators, but ra~her mav be supported by resting upon either or both of the end ~.alls. Consequently, a relatively ~ea~y d~m may be used w~ich adequately protects the plates and separators f~om shorting, which might be caused by ur.wanted flcw of molten lead, without the attendant fear that use of such a dam might inadvertently damage the upper surfaces of the plates and sep-a~ators.
Referrins again to positive plate 10 , which is sho-~7n in Fig. 3, the semi-perforate wrapping material may be seen to envelope the positive plate material lQ4 which is e~posed where the two layers 106 and 108 of the semi-perEorate material are br~ken away. The perforations in material layers 106 and 10Q
are rep-esented by representa-tive holes sho~. in Fig. 3, which holes are generally designated in Fig. 3 by reference r.umerals 20 110. Along each of the longitudinal edges 112 and 114 of the positive battery plat~ designated generally 102 shown in Fig. 3, is a solid portion 116 and 118 of the wrapping material used to envelope the positi~re`plates. Overlapping portions 120 and 122 of the separator designated generally 124 immediately adja-cent to positive pla~e 102 are shown protruding from behind the positive plate designated generally 102. The longitudinal ; edge of the separator 124 which is adjacent to portion 122 of that separator is seen in Fig. 3 abutting the surface of back wall 16, which is adjacent to the battery stacking colum~.
In the absence of spacing member 100 shown in Fig. 3, upon stacking of positive plates designate-l generally 102 into the 6~

stac~ing column, tile longitudinal edge 11~ oE the positive plate would also abut the inner surface of back wall 16.
P~eferring now to Fig. 4, which is a cross section similar to Fig. 3 showing a negat ve pla~e, it ~11 be seen that the negative plate designated-generallv 150 is substan-tially rectansular, having protruding lug 72 disposed along its upper surface as seen in ~ig. 4. The longitudinal ed~es 152 ar.d 15~ run parallel to the bac~ wall 16 and are shown ad-jacent to an ove~lap~ins portion of the ne~t adjacent separator designated generally 156 which is centered behind the n~gative plate designated generally 150, so that overlapping portions 158 and 160 will pro-trude equally beyond edges 152 and 154 of the r.egative plate. Registry ears 162, 164 and 166 are cast i~to negative plates designated senerally 150, which ears are intended to contact the inner surface of back wall 16 and to t~ereby space negative plates 150 away from hack wall 16 to thereby preciseli~ align negative plate 150 and the other nega--tive plates which are similarly constructed in a battery stack with the positive pla~es of the stacl~.
Referring now to Fig. 5, the method of stacking nega-tive and positive battery plates intc tlle battery stacking bo~ of the present invention is illustrated through a diagram-matic exploded view of the batterv stacking box of the present invention ~esignatecl generally 200 and a representa~ive nega-tive plate 02, separator 204 and positive plate 206. Fig. 5 shows the ram designated generally 208 in a generally retracted position so that the plates and separators 202, 204 and 206 can be easily inserted in'o the end of the box which is remote from the ram. As described above, spacing ears 210 on the 30 negative plate 20~ and spacing member 212 on the wrapped posi-z s tive plate 206 will act to precisely align the negative and positive plates to produce precise separator overlap of each of the positive and neqa~ive plates, as well as to accurately align each of the positive and neaative pla'es with respe~t to each other.
Refe-ril.g now to Pig. 7, this ~ie~r shows a greatly en-larged perspective of the spacing mem~er designated generally 30Q of the present in~ention. The spac~ng me~ber com~rises two substantially parallel side walls 302 and 304 which are connected by a curved connecting portion 306 to form a longitudinal mem~2r of su~stantially U-shaped cross section. ~ plurality of substan-tially cylindrical protrusions 308, 31Q and 312 are formed from the c~arved portion 306 of the spacing ~.ember to produce _apped p-ojec,ions terminating in circular surfaces 312, 314 ~nd 316.
Spacing member 3Q0 may be fo~med from any inert material suitable fcr use in a battery. One such material which may be easily formed into the shape shcwn in Fig. 7 is polyvinyl chl~ride.
; Referring now to Fig. 5, the loca~ion and engagement of the spacing member cesignated generally 400 is shown in 20 association with a positive plate 402, two negative plates 404 and 4Q6, two spacers 408 and 410, and the positive plate wrap-ping material 412. The spacing member designated generally 400 is seen e~erting a clamping ~ction ~y means of the engage~ent of a lor.gitudinal end portion 416 of the positive plate 402, ~hich clamping action is effected by the walls 302 and 304 of the spacin~ member, ~hich may been seen to be slightly dis-tended by its introduction around the ~rapping material 412 which is disposed over the longitudinal end po~tion 416 of the plate. The cylindrical portion 308 of the spacing member and the circula~ terminal surface 312 are shown disposed against - 12 ~

the inner surface o~ bac!~ wall 16 of the battery stac~ing box of the present invention, so that the over]ap oE the separato.s ~03 and ~10 beycnd the longitudinal edges of the positive pla~e 402 is identical on ei-ther edge of the positive plate 402. The projecting ears 4~Q and 42~ of negative plates 406 and 404 res-~ectively, si;nilarl~ space the neaalive plates 40~ and 406 away fro~ the inner surface of back wall 16 to similarly dispose the negatiie plates precisely with ~espect to the separator overlap and also to bring the positive and neaative plate material into precise alig~ment with respect to each other.
~ eretofore, it has not been possible to burn industrial battery stacks having wrapped positive plates in -the compressed condition, since the formation of straps along the upper terminal edgc of the battery stack in the compressed condition tends to clam~ the separators therebetween, which separators during the normal stacking operaticn are not centered wi.h respect to t~e longitudinal a.~is of the plates. I~hen external compression, such as the compression produced by the ram on the plates, is relieved, even the accordion-type tendency of -the 'ower extrem-0 ities of the plates to resume the original position shown in Fig. ~ is not suf~icient to allow the reposi-tioning of the sep-arators with respect to the remainder of the battery stack.
Consequently, the use of spacing member 100, in particular, in combination with spacing ears located on the negative plates, results in a prealigned battery stack, which may be burned in a compressed condition and in which there is no further reposi-tioning necessary prior to the introduction of the burned bat-~er~ stac~ into the intended industrial battery case. Further-mor~, it will bc noted that the use of an inert material to form the spacing member which enga~es the positive pla~es makes :, . . . . .

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it unnecessary to stagger the projections e~tencling from that spacing member with respect to the spacing ears located on the negati~e plates. Consequently, the spacing projections can be cent~ally located with respect to the longitudinal axis of the various plates without inc,easing the likelihood of shorting.
Furthermore, the use of two or more spacing membe~s on each of the positive plates on both longitudinal edges of each positive plate will enable the positive plate to -etain its proper spac-ing when inserted into the final battery case.
Referring now to Figs. 8 and 9, a novel industrial battery in accordance with the present invention is illustrated, wherein a spacing member 510 is shown engaging the longi-tudinal edge cf a wrapped positive battery plate 506, which is a portion of a battery stack disposed within an industrial battery jar 518 having a bottom 516 with ribs 514 disposed thereon to hold the battery plates away from the lower surface of the ba-ttery jar.
A spacer 512 is shown in Fig. 8 protruding ~eyond the longitu~
dinal edge of the positive battery plate 506, which spacer 512 engages the side walls of the battery jar 518. Since, at this stage, burning is comple-te, plate lugs 504 and 520 are shown fused with battery terminals 500 and 502. In Fig. 9, which is a cross section~of the same battery jar taken to e~pose.a nega-tive plate, projecting ear 52~ of negative battery plate 522 is illustrated showing the use of that spacing means against the side of the battery jar.
It will ~be understood that various chang-es in the details, materials and arrangement of the ?arts which have b2en herein described and illustrated in order to explain the nature of this invention may be made by those skilled in the art within the principle ~nd scope of the invention as e~pressed in the following claims.

Claims

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows.
A positive industrial battery plate comprising:
(a) a lead battery plate;
(b) a perforate wrapping material disposed around the longitudinal edges of said plate; and (c) an inert spacing member longitudinally applied over said wrapping material along at least one of said wrapped longitudinal edges of said plate, said inert spacing member comprising substantially U-shaped clamp means for engaging a portion of said wrapped plate along said wrapped longitudinal edge, and spacing projections disposed on said clamp means for locating said longitudinal edges of said plate so that they are capable of being uniformly, transversely overlapped by a discrete, microporous separator positioned adjacent said plate to form a battery stack.