WO1987007982A1 - Procede pour eprouver une batterie d'elements en metal alcalin - Google Patents

Procede pour eprouver une batterie d'elements en metal alcalin Download PDF

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Publication number
WO1987007982A1
WO1987007982A1 PCT/GB1987/000426 GB8700426W WO8707982A1 WO 1987007982 A1 WO1987007982 A1 WO 1987007982A1 GB 8700426 W GB8700426 W GB 8700426W WO 8707982 A1 WO8707982 A1 WO 8707982A1
Authority
WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
cells
bank
battery
cell
proving
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/GB1987/000426
Other languages
English (en)
Inventor
Peter John Bindin
Original Assignee
Chloride Silent Power Limited
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Chloride Silent Power Limited filed Critical Chloride Silent Power Limited
Publication of WO1987007982A1 publication Critical patent/WO1987007982A1/fr

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01M—PROCESSES OR MEANS, e.g. BATTERIES, FOR THE DIRECT CONVERSION OF CHEMICAL ENERGY INTO ELECTRICAL ENERGY
    • H01M10/00—Secondary cells; Manufacture thereof
    • H01M10/42—Methods or arrangements for servicing or maintenance of secondary cells or secondary half-cells
    • H01M10/48—Accumulators combined with arrangements for measuring, testing or indicating the condition of cells, e.g. the level or density of the electrolyte
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01R—MEASURING ELECTRIC VARIABLES; MEASURING MAGNETIC VARIABLES
    • G01R31/00—Arrangements for testing electric properties; Arrangements for locating electric faults; Arrangements for electrical testing characterised by what is being tested not provided for elsewhere
    • G01R31/36—Arrangements for testing, measuring or monitoring the electrical condition of accumulators or electric batteries, e.g. capacity or state of charge [SoC]
    • G01R31/396—Acquisition or processing of data for testing or for monitoring individual cells or groups of cells within a battery
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02E—REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION
    • Y02E60/00—Enabling technologies; Technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to GHG emissions mitigation
    • Y02E60/10—Energy storage using batteries

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a method of proving batteries of alkali metal cells.
  • alkali metal cells include sodium sulphur cells employing liquid sodium metal as the anode and sulphur/sodium polysulphides as the cathode, the two being separated by a solid electrolyte material, typically of beta alumina.
  • the present invention is concerned with providing an arrangement which will permit batteries to be made which include banks of single cells all connected in parallel, but reducing the attendant disadvantages.
  • the invention is also applicable to batteries comprising one or more banks of parallel connected strings of series connected cells
  • the present invention provides a method of proving a battery of alkali metal cells including at least one bank of parallel connected single cells or parallel connected strings of series connected cells, each single cell or string of the bank having a series connected fuse arranged to fail in response to a current through the fuse which is at or above a predetermined value for a predetermined minimum time, said predetermined value being greater than the maximum operating current of the cell during normal discharging or charging cycles, wherein the or each said bank of parallel connected single cells or strings is charged to bring all cells in the bank to full charge by applying to the bank a charge voltage selected to produce through each healthy single cell or string of the bank a charging current which is less than said predetermined value of current; and, after charging, a proving voltage in excess of the charge voltage is then applied to the bank for at least said predetermined minimum time, said proving voltage being selected to produce through any failed single cell or string of failed cells of the bank a charge current which is at or above said predetermined value of current, so as to cause failure of the fuse in series with the failed cell or string.
  • the process of proving a battery involves testing the battery to determine that all cells are healthy or alternatively to isolate failed cells within the battery. It will be appreciated that if occasional cells within a large battery are isolated, this may have a relatively small effect on the overall capacity and operational value of the battery as a whole.
  • Proving of the battery as described causes any failed cells or strings of failed cells in each bank of the battery to be isolated from the other cells or strings of the battery, without any deleterious effect on healthy cells. This is because healthy cells become high resistance when they are fully charged, so that application of the proving voltage to a healthy cell or string results in negligible current through the cells and no damage to the cells.
  • the invention is especially suitable when applied to batteries containing banks of parallel connected single cells.
  • the wires interconnecting the parallel connected cells of a bank must be capable of carrying at least the typical charge current produced through a failed cell during application of the proving voltage.
  • the interconnection wires should be capable of handling at least twice and preferably about five times the typical charging current through a failed cell under the proving voltage. Where there are a large number of cells in a battery, such as for a load levelling application, a greater handling capacity would be necessary to allow for greater expectancy of cell failure.
  • the fuse connected in series with each cell of the parallel connected bank of cells may be arranged to fail in response to a current in excess of 30 amps for at least 20 seconds. Then, application of the proving voltage of 10 volts to the bank of cells will result in a charge current causing failure of the fuse in series with a failed cell which has a leakage resistance less than about one quarter ohm.
  • the proving voltage applied to each bank of cells may be 20 volts or more. It has been established that failed cells which still show a relatively high resistance at low charge voltages will develop a low resistance when a proving voltage as high as 20 volts is applied across the cell, resulting in failure of the series connected fuse.
  • Figure 1 is a schematic representation of a battery of alkali metal cells embodying the present invention.
  • FIGS 2 and 3 are views partially in cross- section of a design of fuse which may be incorporated in the battery of Figure 1.
  • a battery is illustrated comprising fully parallel interconnected banks of cells.
  • the battery comprises a series of banks 10, 11... of cells 12 with the cells in each bank connected to each other in parallel.
  • the cells in bank 10 are connected in parallel between busbars
  • discharge current drawn from terminals 16 and 17 results in discharge current flowing from each cell 12 through its series connected fuse 18.
  • the battery will have a maximum discharge current limit so that a corresponding maximum discharge current from each cell 12 can be determined.
  • the fuse 18 is designed so as not to blow in response to such a normal maximum discharge current.
  • the cells of the battery can be recharged and in the present case the battery is designed to enable each parallel connected bank 10, 11... of cells to be topped -up independently by supply of a charging current directly to the busbars between which the cells of the bank are connected.
  • bank 10 of cells can be topped-up by connected a charging current between terminal 16 of busbar 13 and a terminal 19 of busbar 14.
  • Bank 11 of cells is topped- up by applying the current between terminal 19 of busbar 14 and a terminal 20 of busbar 15.
  • the whole battery is first given its main charge by connecting a suitable source of charging current to terminals 16 and 17. Then, the banks are topped-up one by one.
  • the fuses 18 are selected so as to fail only in response to a current through the fuse which is at or above a predetermined value and for a predetermined minimum time, where this predetermined value is greater than the maximum discharge or charging current of a healthy cell during normal operation.
  • a battery made in this way can be "proved" to isolate failed cells within the battery.
  • each bank 10, 11 etc. of cells is first brought to full charge. It is a feature of alkali metal cells, and particularly sodium sulphur cells, that at the top of charge each cell becomes substantially high resistance. By topping -up each bank of cells in the battery separately, it can be insured that all healthy cells in the battery are brought to top of charge at which they become high resistance.
  • a charging voltage substantially in excess of that normally applied during a charging cycle is applied to each bank of cells for a period of time longer than the above mentioned predetermined minimum time for a fuse to blow.
  • This "proving voltage” is set high enough so that any faulty or failed cell in the bank will conduct a current in excess of the aforementioned predetermined value, so that the series connected fuse associated with the failed cell will in due course itself fail, isolating the cell.
  • the useful life of the battery can be substantially extended between periods when the battery must be dismantled for replacement of failed cells. It should be appreciated that with the complete parallel interconnection of cells in the battery, as illustrated in Figure 1, the isolation of a small number of cells in a battery which may comprise many tens or even hundred of cells, has a relatively small effect on the overall capacity and performance of the battery.
  • failed cells in a battery eventually become relatively low resistance, so that the presence of a failed cell which is not isolated provides a discharge route for all the cells which are in parallel with the failed cell in the same bank of cells. It can be seen therefore that failure of one cell can effectively discharge an entire bank of cells, reducing the output voltage of the battery and the remaining capacity of the battery. Indeed, sodium sulphur cells when fully discharged also become high resistance, so that discharge of a bank of cells in the battery of Figure 1 would result in the entire battery becoming inoperative, unless a short circuit is provided around the bank containing the failed cell.
  • the cells may be fitted with a fuse which is designed to blow in response to a current of between 30 to 60 amps applied for a period of 20 seconds. Then a proving voltage of 10 volts applied to the bank for at least 20 seconds would normally result in a current flowing through a failed cell sufficient to blow its associated fuse.
  • busbars and interconnection wires of the cell must be themselves capable of carrying currents likely to flow during the battery proving operation. It may therefore be necessary to provide interconnection wires and busbars capable of carrying 100 to 200 amps for 20 seconds, to allow for the possibility of more than one failed cell in a single bank being proved.
  • proving voltages can be desirable of as much as 20 volts or more. It has been established that the application of a charging voltage of 20 volts to a fully charged sodium sulphur cell has no damaging effect on the cell. However, the application of a proving voltage of this magnitude can be desirable in isolating damaged cells which nevertheless still show a relatively high resistance under lower charge voltages. Then a proving voltage of 20 volts or more causes the damaged cell to develop a low resistance resulting in blowing of its associated fuse to isolate the cell. A proving voltage of 20 volts may be applied to each bank of cells in turn for a period of typically 1 minute to ensure that any damaged or failed cells are duly isolated.
  • FIG. 2 and 3 A particular example of fuse is illustrated in Figures 2 and 3 and comprises a glass tube 21 having a cap 22 at one end of insulating material, typically alumina, and a tie pin 23 located transversely across the width of the tube at the other end.
  • a length of fuse wire 24 extends through a first hole in the cap 22 into the tube 21, forms a loop through a connecting plate 25 and extends out of the tube again through a second hole in the cap.
  • the ends 26 and 27 of the fuse wire 24 are connected respectively to a busbar of the battery (e.g. busbars 13, 14 in Figure 1), and to one terminal of the associated cell.
  • the fuse wire 24 breaks in the region between the cap 22 and the connecting plate 25 allowing the spring 28 to draw the connecting plate 25 towards the tie pin 23.
  • Other structures and forms of fuse may also be used in embodiments of the present invention providing that they have the desired characteristics as described above.
  • the cells may themselves be formed with internal fuse devices which are effective to isolate the terminals of the cell from each other on passage through the cell, at least in the direction of charging of the cell of a current in excess of that experienced by a healthy cell during a normal recharging cycle.
  • the battery to be proved is formed of banks of parallel connected strings of series connected cells.
  • a fuse is provided connected in series with each string and busbars enable charging voltage to be applied independently to each bank. If a single cell in a string should fail low resistance, the remaining strings of the bank will supply charging current through the string with the failed cell until a healthy cell in that string reaches top of charge and goes open circuit isolating the string. Thus the series connected cells of each string protect the rest of the bank. However, in the event that all cells of the string fail, then applying the proving voltage ensures blowing of the fuse to isolate the string.

Abstract

Une batterie d'éléments au sulfure de sodium se compose de rangées reliées en série d'éléments reliés en parallèle. Chaque élément possède un fusible connecté en série. La batterie est éprouvée en rechargeant d'abord complètement une rangée d'éléments et en lui appliquant ensuite une tension de test plus élevée suffisante à faire fondre un fusible monté en série avec un élément défectueux.
PCT/GB1987/000426 1986-06-23 1987-06-18 Procede pour eprouver une batterie d'elements en metal alcalin WO1987007982A1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB8615256 1986-06-23
GB868615256A GB8615256D0 (en) 1986-06-23 1986-06-23 Battery of alkali metal cells

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
WO1987007982A1 true WO1987007982A1 (fr) 1987-12-30

Family

ID=10599928

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
PCT/GB1987/000426 WO1987007982A1 (fr) 1986-06-23 1987-06-18 Procede pour eprouver une batterie d'elements en metal alcalin

Country Status (3)

Country Link
GB (2) GB8615256D0 (fr)
WO (1) WO1987007982A1 (fr)
ZA (1) ZA874477B (fr)

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB2295718A (en) * 1994-12-02 1996-06-05 Silent Power Gmbh Arrangements of batteries comprising an array of cells interconnected to give the required energy storage/operational voltage
EP1026759A1 (fr) * 1998-12-11 2000-08-09 Chaz G. Haba Réseau de batterie à système d'interconnections composées
CN103579568A (zh) * 2012-07-24 2014-02-12 电能有限公司 将可充电电池及保险丝以桥式接法构成的安全电池组

Families Citing this family (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
FR2832856B1 (fr) * 2001-11-28 2005-05-20 Atp Dispositif de batterie 24 volts

Citations (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
FR2020290A1 (fr) * 1968-10-10 1970-07-10 Gould National Batteries Inc
EP0013005A1 (fr) * 1978-12-21 1980-07-09 The Dow Chemical Company Convertisseurs de courant continu et réseaux de puissance électrique à courant continu et multi-terminaux en faisant emploi
US4287267A (en) * 1980-05-27 1981-09-01 Energy Development Associates, Inc. Zinc-chlorine battery plant system and method
JPS59134557A (ja) * 1983-01-20 1984-08-02 Matsushita Electric Ind Co Ltd 集合電池
EP0116960A1 (fr) * 1983-02-18 1984-08-29 Hitachi, Ltd. Batteries sodium-soufre et dispositifs de stockage d'énergie
JPS61133583A (ja) * 1984-12-04 1986-06-20 Matsushita Electric Ind Co Ltd 二次電池の並列接続体

Patent Citations (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
FR2020290A1 (fr) * 1968-10-10 1970-07-10 Gould National Batteries Inc
EP0013005A1 (fr) * 1978-12-21 1980-07-09 The Dow Chemical Company Convertisseurs de courant continu et réseaux de puissance électrique à courant continu et multi-terminaux en faisant emploi
US4287267A (en) * 1980-05-27 1981-09-01 Energy Development Associates, Inc. Zinc-chlorine battery plant system and method
JPS59134557A (ja) * 1983-01-20 1984-08-02 Matsushita Electric Ind Co Ltd 集合電池
EP0116960A1 (fr) * 1983-02-18 1984-08-29 Hitachi, Ltd. Batteries sodium-soufre et dispositifs de stockage d'énergie
JPS61133583A (ja) * 1984-12-04 1986-06-20 Matsushita Electric Ind Co Ltd 二次電池の並列接続体

Non-Patent Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
PATENT ABSTRACTS OF JAPAN, Volume 10, No. 325 (E-451)(2381), 6 November 1986, see the whole Abstract & JP, A, 61133583 (Matsushita Electric Ind. Co. Ltd) 20 June 1986 *
PATENT ABSTRACTS OF JAPAN, Volume 8, No. 264 (E-282)(1701), 4 December 1984, see the whole Abstract & JP, A, 59134557 (Matsushita Denki Sangyo K.K.) 2 August 1984 *

Cited By (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB2295718A (en) * 1994-12-02 1996-06-05 Silent Power Gmbh Arrangements of batteries comprising an array of cells interconnected to give the required energy storage/operational voltage
EP1026759A1 (fr) * 1998-12-11 2000-08-09 Chaz G. Haba Réseau de batterie à système d'interconnections composées
US6465986B1 (en) 1998-12-11 2002-10-15 Planet Electric, Inc. Battery network with compounded interconnections
CN103579568A (zh) * 2012-07-24 2014-02-12 电能有限公司 将可充电电池及保险丝以桥式接法构成的安全电池组

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
GB8714314D0 (en) 1987-07-22
ZA874477B (en) 1987-12-23
GB8615256D0 (en) 1986-07-30
GB2193370A (en) 1988-02-03

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