WO1995006960A1

WO1995006960A1 - Battery feeder

Info

Publication number: WO1995006960A1
Application number: PCT/AU1994/000507
Authority: WO
Inventors: Haig Katazian
Original assignee: Haig Katazian
Priority date: 1993-08-30
Filing date: 1994-08-30
Publication date: 1995-03-09

Abstract

A battery feeder for lead/acid batteries comprising a reservoir for water, which is preferably transparent or translucent, which is attached at one end to a connector, which is adapted to connect to a battery cover, and which is in turn attached to a supply nozzle which penetrates the surface of the electrolyte in a battery cell. This battery feeder allows the water lost during the discharging/charging process to be replaced as required thus maintaining an optimum electrolyte concentration. The connector is provided with means to allow gases to escape during this process.

Description

BATTERY FEEDER

This invention relates to a feeder device for vehicle batteries which acts to maintain an appropriate fluid level in battery cells.

Standard lead acid batteries contain cells which use dilute sulphuric acid as an electrolyte and into each of which are dipped two lead electrodes. The positive electrode is coated with lead peroxide which becomes converted to lead sulphate during discharge and which process is reversed when the battery is charging.

During this process some of the water diluent is decomposed to hydrogen and oxygen gas towards the end of the charging stage resulting in loss of water in the cells and concentration of the sulphuric acid.

Apart from the possibility of battery damage due to low water content in the cells, difficulty can be experienced by vehicle users when attempting to remove cell caps to replace the water. Cell caps themselves may be faulty or difficult to remove and hence result in injuries to vehicle users. In addition, in most batteries, there is no way for the user to determine whether the cells need topping up with water without removing the caps, which at best is an awkward and difficult process. It is the object of this invention to provide a battery feeder device which can remove these difficulties by providing a safe and easy device for topping up the water lost from batteries of all sorts as it is required.

The invention in its broadest sense, is a battery feeder comprising a reservoir for a supply of water, at least one connector to attach to a battery cover, each connector having a supply nozzle attached therebelow which is of sufficient depth to penetrate the surface of the electrolyte in a battery cell when the electrolyte is at its desired level.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention the battery feeder consists of a reservoir integral with a connector adapted to connect the reservoir to the opening of a battery cell and having a supply nozzle, through which the water from the reservoir passes. There is also provided at least one outlet along the side of the feeder to allow gases to escape during charging.

This embodiment is preferably made of some, transparent material such as glass or plastic, so that the level of water in the reservoir can be seen, however the actual material used in its construction is not germane to this invention.

Neither is it essential that the battery feeder be an integral unit and it is envisaged that other embodiments may have some or all of the component parts in a form which can be assembled or disassembled.

In order that the invention may be more readily understood a preferred embodiment will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a side view of the battery feeder inserted into the top of a battery. Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional side view of the battery feeder, with an air vent at the right hand side, inserted into the battery. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of one side and from below the battery feeder. Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional side view of the battery feeder when the reservoir is remote from the battery.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention shown in Figure 1 the reservoir 10 has round sides 11 and a flat top such that it is bottle shaped. The exact shape of the reservoir is however not material to the invention. The base of the reservoir 10 is provided with a collar 131 which rests on the surface of the battery cover 18.

The base of the reservoir is attached to connector 13 which is provided with an air vent 16, terminating in an upper horizontal groove 17, to allow gases produced to escape. In the preferred embodiment of the invention the connector 13 is provided with a screw thread 15 adapted so that the connector may connect directly through the battery cover 18 via internally threaded socket 19. It is envisaged that in the preferred embodiment each cell of a battery would have its own battery feeder.

The base of the connector is attached to the supply nozzle 12, which is preferably tubular and extends downwards from the reservoir, as shown in Figure 2, to a sufficient depth to penetrate the surface of the electrolyte 30 when it is at its desired height in the battery cell.

The water can pass from the reservoir 10 into the electrolyte through slanted outlet 121. During the battery charging process some of the water diluent is decomposed into its constituent gases and as the electrolyte level goes down water can pass through slanted outlet 121 until the electrolyte is again at its required level.

While the preferred embodiment of the innvention is described above it is also envisaged that further embodiments could include battery feeders for single cells in which the connection means was not by the means of screw threads. The same effect could be achieved if the connector portion of the invention was of a similar diameter to the entry hole into the battery cover 18 so that a good press fit could be achieved, this is particularly so in the case of batteries with non-screw threaded battery caps. Further penetration into the battery would be prevented by the collar 131 forming the base of reservoir 10 contacting the surface of the battery cover 18. It is also envisaged that a battery feeder could be designed to penetrate existing battery caps.

The exact means whereby the connector connects to the battery cover is immaterial to this invention except in as much as the connection be firm and that provision be made for the escape of gases from within the cells.

There is also no requirement that each cell of a battery have its own battery feeder as a single reservoir could be used for a row of cells provided it was equipped with appropriate connectors and nozzles or, alternatively connectors and nozzles of the preferred embodiment could be used if means was provided to connect them to a single reservoir.

There is also no requirement that the reservoir be attached directly to the connector when batteries are not actually in use in a vehicle as is shown in a further embodiment of the invention depicted in Fig. 4.

In this embodiment an inlet nozzle 14 is attached to the connector 13 which is attached to the supply nozzle 12. The inlet nozzle 14 is then connected to a feeder tube 151 from the reservoir 10 which may then be remote and of any size desired. It is envisaged that other embodiments of the invention will exhibit any number of and any combination of the features of the previously described embodiments.

Whilst we have described herein one specific embodiment of the invention it is to be understood that variations and modifications in this can be made without departing from the spirit and scope thereof.

Claims

I claim:

1. A battery feeder comprising a reservoir for a supply of water, at least one connector to attach to a battery cover, each connector having a supply nozzle attached therebelow which is of sufficient depth to penetrate the surface of the electrolyte in a battery cell when the electrolyte is at its desired level.

2. A battery feeder as claimed in claim 1 in which the reservoir is a sealed unit.

3. A battery feeder as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 in which the reservoir is transparent.

4. A battery feeder as claimed in any preceding claim in which the connector is provided with a screw thread adapted so that the connector may connect directly with the battery cover.

5. A battery feeder as claimed in any preceding claim in which the connector is provided with means to allow gases to escape from a battery cell.

6. A battery feeder as claimed in any preceding claim in which the supply nozzle is tubular in shape.

7. A battery feeder as claimed in claim 6 in which the outlet of the supply nozzle is oblique in shape or otherwise cut on a slant.

8. A battery feeder as claimed in any preceding claim in which the reservoir, connector and supply nozzle are an integral unit.

9. A battery feeder as claimed in any of claims 1 to 7 in which the reservoir is remote from the connector and connected thereto by a fluid carrying tube.