WO2008130318A1 - Contact element coated by electron beam evaporation of a steel strip with nickel for use in an alkaline battery - Google Patents
Contact element coated by electron beam evaporation of a steel strip with nickel for use in an alkaline battery Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- WO2008130318A1 WO2008130318A1 PCT/SE2008/050454 SE2008050454W WO2008130318A1 WO 2008130318 A1 WO2008130318 A1 WO 2008130318A1 SE 2008050454 W SE2008050454 W SE 2008050454W WO 2008130318 A1 WO2008130318 A1 WO 2008130318A1
- Authority
- WO
- WIPO (PCT)
- Prior art keywords
- contact element
- battery
- substrate
- element according
- steel
- Prior art date
Links
- 229910000831 Steel Inorganic materials 0.000 title claims abstract description 41
- 239000010959 steel Substances 0.000 title claims abstract description 41
- PXHVJJICTQNCMI-UHFFFAOYSA-N Nickel Chemical compound [Ni] PXHVJJICTQNCMI-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 title description 69
- 229910052759 nickel Inorganic materials 0.000 title description 18
- 238000005566 electron beam evaporation Methods 0.000 title description 3
- 239000000758 substrate Substances 0.000 claims abstract description 44
- 239000003792 electrolyte Substances 0.000 claims abstract description 28
- 239000011247 coating layer Substances 0.000 claims abstract description 27
- XLYOFNOQVPJJNP-UHFFFAOYSA-N water Substances O XLYOFNOQVPJJNP-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 claims abstract description 17
- 229910052751 metal Inorganic materials 0.000 claims abstract description 16
- 239000002184 metal Substances 0.000 claims abstract description 16
- 239000000463 material Substances 0.000 claims abstract description 14
- 230000003746 surface roughness Effects 0.000 claims description 10
- 229910052987 metal hydride Inorganic materials 0.000 claims description 6
- 239000002800 charge carrier Substances 0.000 claims description 4
- 101100129500 Caenorhabditis elegans max-2 gene Proteins 0.000 claims description 3
- 238000004519 manufacturing process Methods 0.000 description 10
- 239000000047 product Substances 0.000 description 10
- 239000011888 foil Substances 0.000 description 8
- 238000000576 coating method Methods 0.000 description 7
- 239000000523 sample Substances 0.000 description 7
- 239000010410 layer Substances 0.000 description 5
- 239000011651 chromium Substances 0.000 description 4
- 238000000034 method Methods 0.000 description 4
- 229910021508 nickel(II) hydroxide Inorganic materials 0.000 description 4
- 238000005240 physical vapour deposition Methods 0.000 description 4
- 239000010935 stainless steel Substances 0.000 description 4
- 229910001220 stainless steel Inorganic materials 0.000 description 4
- 238000012360 testing method Methods 0.000 description 4
- VYZAMTAEIAYCRO-UHFFFAOYSA-N Chromium Chemical compound [Cr] VYZAMTAEIAYCRO-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 3
- 230000008901 benefit Effects 0.000 description 3
- 229910052804 chromium Inorganic materials 0.000 description 3
- 239000011248 coating agent Substances 0.000 description 3
- 238000005097 cold rolling Methods 0.000 description 3
- 238000005260 corrosion Methods 0.000 description 3
- 230000007797 corrosion Effects 0.000 description 3
- 230000003647 oxidation Effects 0.000 description 3
- 238000007254 oxidation reaction Methods 0.000 description 3
- 238000005096 rolling process Methods 0.000 description 3
- 238000007789 sealing Methods 0.000 description 3
- UFHFLCQGNIYNRP-UHFFFAOYSA-N Hydrogen Chemical compound [H][H] UFHFLCQGNIYNRP-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 2
- 239000003513 alkali Substances 0.000 description 2
- 238000006243 chemical reaction Methods 0.000 description 2
- 150000001875 compounds Chemical class 0.000 description 2
- 238000006056 electrooxidation reaction Methods 0.000 description 2
- 238000005530 etching Methods 0.000 description 2
- 230000008020 evaporation Effects 0.000 description 2
- 238000001704 evaporation Methods 0.000 description 2
- 229910000734 martensite Inorganic materials 0.000 description 2
- 238000001556 precipitation Methods 0.000 description 2
- 229910000975 Carbon steel Inorganic materials 0.000 description 1
- RYGMFSIKBFXOCR-UHFFFAOYSA-N Copper Chemical compound [Cu] RYGMFSIKBFXOCR-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 1
- 229910002640 NiOOH Inorganic materials 0.000 description 1
- RTAQQCXQSZGOHL-UHFFFAOYSA-N Titanium Chemical compound [Ti] RTAQQCXQSZGOHL-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 1
- CKUAXEQHGKSLHN-UHFFFAOYSA-N [C].[N] Chemical compound [C].[N] CKUAXEQHGKSLHN-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 1
- 239000004411 aluminium Substances 0.000 description 1
- 229910052782 aluminium Inorganic materials 0.000 description 1
- XAGFODPZIPBFFR-UHFFFAOYSA-N aluminium Chemical compound [Al] XAGFODPZIPBFFR-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 1
- 239000010962 carbon steel Substances 0.000 description 1
- 238000010276 construction Methods 0.000 description 1
- 229910052802 copper Inorganic materials 0.000 description 1
- 239000010949 copper Substances 0.000 description 1
- 125000004122 cyclic group Chemical group 0.000 description 1
- 238000005238 degreasing Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000001419 dependent effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000001627 detrimental effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000005516 engineering process Methods 0.000 description 1
- 238000002474 experimental method Methods 0.000 description 1
- 239000011159 matrix material Substances 0.000 description 1
- 150000004681 metal hydrides Chemical class 0.000 description 1
- 239000000203 mixture Substances 0.000 description 1
- 238000012986 modification Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000004048 modification Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000004080 punching Methods 0.000 description 1
- 239000013074 reference sample Substances 0.000 description 1
- 230000002441 reversible effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 235000019592 roughness Nutrition 0.000 description 1
- 238000004544 sputter deposition Methods 0.000 description 1
- 239000002344 surface layer Substances 0.000 description 1
- 239000010936 titanium Substances 0.000 description 1
- 229910052719 titanium Inorganic materials 0.000 description 1
- 238000004832 voltammetry Methods 0.000 description 1
Classifications
-
- C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
- C23—COATING METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING MATERIAL WITH METALLIC MATERIAL; CHEMICAL SURFACE TREATMENT; DIFFUSION TREATMENT OF METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING BY VACUUM EVAPORATION, BY SPUTTERING, BY ION IMPLANTATION OR BY CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION, IN GENERAL; INHIBITING CORROSION OF METALLIC MATERIAL OR INCRUSTATION IN GENERAL
- C23C—COATING METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING MATERIAL WITH METALLIC MATERIAL; SURFACE TREATMENT OF METALLIC MATERIAL BY DIFFUSION INTO THE SURFACE, BY CHEMICAL CONVERSION OR SUBSTITUTION; COATING BY VACUUM EVAPORATION, BY SPUTTERING, BY ION IMPLANTATION OR BY CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION, IN GENERAL
- C23C14/00—Coating by vacuum evaporation, by sputtering or by ion implantation of the coating forming material
- C23C14/02—Pretreatment of the material to be coated
- C23C14/021—Cleaning or etching treatments
- C23C14/022—Cleaning or etching treatments by means of bombardment with energetic particles or radiation
-
- C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
- C23—COATING METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING MATERIAL WITH METALLIC MATERIAL; CHEMICAL SURFACE TREATMENT; DIFFUSION TREATMENT OF METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING BY VACUUM EVAPORATION, BY SPUTTERING, BY ION IMPLANTATION OR BY CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION, IN GENERAL; INHIBITING CORROSION OF METALLIC MATERIAL OR INCRUSTATION IN GENERAL
- C23C—COATING METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING MATERIAL WITH METALLIC MATERIAL; SURFACE TREATMENT OF METALLIC MATERIAL BY DIFFUSION INTO THE SURFACE, BY CHEMICAL CONVERSION OR SUBSTITUTION; COATING BY VACUUM EVAPORATION, BY SPUTTERING, BY ION IMPLANTATION OR BY CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION, IN GENERAL
- C23C14/00—Coating by vacuum evaporation, by sputtering or by ion implantation of the coating forming material
- C23C14/06—Coating by vacuum evaporation, by sputtering or by ion implantation of the coating forming material characterised by the coating material
- C23C14/14—Metallic material, boron or silicon
- C23C14/16—Metallic material, boron or silicon on metallic substrates or on substrates of boron or silicon
-
- C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
- C23—COATING METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING MATERIAL WITH METALLIC MATERIAL; CHEMICAL SURFACE TREATMENT; DIFFUSION TREATMENT OF METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING BY VACUUM EVAPORATION, BY SPUTTERING, BY ION IMPLANTATION OR BY CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION, IN GENERAL; INHIBITING CORROSION OF METALLIC MATERIAL OR INCRUSTATION IN GENERAL
- C23C—COATING METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING MATERIAL WITH METALLIC MATERIAL; SURFACE TREATMENT OF METALLIC MATERIAL BY DIFFUSION INTO THE SURFACE, BY CHEMICAL CONVERSION OR SUBSTITUTION; COATING BY VACUUM EVAPORATION, BY SPUTTERING, BY ION IMPLANTATION OR BY CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION, IN GENERAL
- C23C14/00—Coating by vacuum evaporation, by sputtering or by ion implantation of the coating forming material
- C23C14/22—Coating by vacuum evaporation, by sputtering or by ion implantation of the coating forming material characterised by the process of coating
- C23C14/24—Vacuum evaporation
- C23C14/28—Vacuum evaporation by wave energy or particle radiation
- C23C14/30—Vacuum evaporation by wave energy or particle radiation by electron bombardment
-
- C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
- C23—COATING METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING MATERIAL WITH METALLIC MATERIAL; CHEMICAL SURFACE TREATMENT; DIFFUSION TREATMENT OF METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING BY VACUUM EVAPORATION, BY SPUTTERING, BY ION IMPLANTATION OR BY CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION, IN GENERAL; INHIBITING CORROSION OF METALLIC MATERIAL OR INCRUSTATION IN GENERAL
- C23C—COATING METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING MATERIAL WITH METALLIC MATERIAL; SURFACE TREATMENT OF METALLIC MATERIAL BY DIFFUSION INTO THE SURFACE, BY CHEMICAL CONVERSION OR SUBSTITUTION; COATING BY VACUUM EVAPORATION, BY SPUTTERING, BY ION IMPLANTATION OR BY CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION, IN GENERAL
- C23C14/00—Coating by vacuum evaporation, by sputtering or by ion implantation of the coating forming material
- C23C14/22—Coating by vacuum evaporation, by sputtering or by ion implantation of the coating forming material characterised by the process of coating
- C23C14/56—Apparatus specially adapted for continuous coating; Arrangements for maintaining the vacuum, e.g. vacuum locks
- C23C14/562—Apparatus specially adapted for continuous coating; Arrangements for maintaining the vacuum, e.g. vacuum locks for coating elongated substrates
-
- 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
- H01M10/24—Alkaline accumulators
-
- 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
- H01M10/24—Alkaline accumulators
- H01M10/28—Construction or manufacture
- H01M10/281—Large cells or batteries with stacks of plate-like electrodes
- H01M10/282—Large cells or batteries with stacks of plate-like electrodes with bipolar electrodes
-
- 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
- H01M10/34—Gastight accumulators
- H01M10/345—Gastight metal hydride accumulators
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01M—PROCESSES OR MEANS, e.g. BATTERIES, FOR THE DIRECT CONVERSION OF CHEMICAL ENERGY INTO ELECTRICAL ENERGY
- H01M4/00—Electrodes
- H01M4/02—Electrodes composed of, or comprising, active material
- H01M4/64—Carriers or collectors
- H01M4/66—Selection of materials
- H01M4/661—Metal or alloys, e.g. alloy coatings
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01M—PROCESSES OR MEANS, e.g. BATTERIES, FOR THE DIRECT CONVERSION OF CHEMICAL ENERGY INTO ELECTRICAL ENERGY
- H01M4/00—Electrodes
- H01M4/02—Electrodes composed of, or comprising, active material
- H01M4/64—Carriers or collectors
- H01M4/66—Selection of materials
- H01M4/665—Composites
- H01M4/667—Composites in the form of layers, e.g. coatings
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01M—PROCESSES OR MEANS, e.g. BATTERIES, FOR THE DIRECT CONVERSION OF CHEMICAL ENERGY INTO ELECTRICAL ENERGY
- H01M4/00—Electrodes
- H01M4/02—Electrodes composed of, or comprising, active material
- H01M4/64—Carriers or collectors
- H01M4/66—Selection of materials
- H01M4/669—Steels
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01R—ELECTRICALLY-CONDUCTIVE CONNECTIONS; STRUCTURAL ASSOCIATIONS OF A PLURALITY OF MUTUALLY-INSULATED ELECTRICAL CONNECTING ELEMENTS; COUPLING DEVICES; CURRENT COLLECTORS
- H01R13/00—Details of coupling devices of the kinds covered by groups H01R12/70 or H01R24/00 - H01R33/00
- H01R13/02—Contact members
- H01R13/03—Contact members characterised by the material, e.g. plating, or coating materials
-
- 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 contact element of an alkaline battery having a water-based alkaline electrolyte, said element being made of a material from a metal strip product.
- a current collector adapted to conduct current from an anode of one cell to the cathode of an adjacent cell of a said battery having battery cells connected in series and a so-called contact in such a battery may be mentioned as examples.
- the battery in which said contact element is arranged may be any type of alkaline battery having a water-based alkaline electrolyte, especially such batteries being rechargeable and in particular batteries of battery driven tools, electrical wheel chairs, motor bikes, cars and the like.
- Examples of such batteries are rechargeable Ni-metal hydride batteries having a cathode of Ni(OH) 2 and an anode of a metal hydride.
- the contact element is made of a material from a metal strip product indicates that it is a question of comparatively thin contact elements.
- Such known contact elements are made of Ni, since no other element or compound suitable to be used as a contact element is able to only deliver a current therethrough in a said water- based electrolyte of an alkaline battery without producing hydro- gen gas.
- Nickel has become a very costly element, so that it has been an aim to make such contact elements as thin as possible.
- a lower thickness limit mostly in the range of about 40 ⁇ m - 50 ⁇ m, below which a strip of Ni will be too flabby and easily folded when handled, such as when assembling such batteries.
- contact elements used as current collectors are in some batteries subjected to pressures resulting in comparatively high mechanical loads, so that they have to have a certain stiffness requiring a corresponding thickness thereof.
- a contact element according to the preamble of appended claim 1 is known through US 5 069 989 A1 and EP 0 175 149 A2.
- the object of the invention is to provide a contact element of an alkaline battery according to the preamble of appended claim 1 , which may be manufactured to a lower cost compared to such contact elements already known while maintaining electrical properties and mechanical stability.
- This object is according to the invention obtained by providing such a contact element, in which said strip substrate has a tensile strength of at least 1300 MPa, the strip substrate has been bright cold rolled and the surface roughness Ra of said at least one coating layer of Ni is max 0.2 ⁇ m, preferably max 0.1 ⁇ m, most preferred max 0.06 ⁇ m. It is pointed out that a side of said contact element which may come into contact with the water-based alkaline electrolyte of said alkaline battery has of course to be coated by Ni, but when said contact element is for instance an end plate in a stack of battery cells it would be sufficient to have only one of the two large sides thereof coated by a coating layer of Ni.
- a high stiffness of the contact element may be obtained without any need to make the layer of Ni thick for contributing to this stiffness, but it is sufficient to select such a thickness of the Ni coating layer that it will reliably completely cover the steel substrate so as to prevent this to enter into contact with a said electrolyte.
- the thickness of the Ni coating layer may be chosen to be several times lower than in known contact elements of this type being made of pure Ni and by that considerable costs may be saved.
- the thickness of this contact element may be kept small and a stiffness making it easy to handle such contact elements when assembling a battery and making it able to withstand high pressures possibly applied thereon in a said battery may nevertheless be obtained.
- the bright cold rolling of said strip substrate used for the contact element results in a possibility to apply a coating layer of Ni thereon with a small surface roughness reducing the thickness of such a layer necessary for reliably cover the entire surface of the steel substrate.
- the small surface roughness of said at least one coating layer of Ni means that this coating layer may be given a thickness in the order of 1 ⁇ m while reliably totally covering the steel substrate.
- said substrate is made of steel with a tensile strength of min 1500 MPa, preferably min 1700 MPa and most preferred min 1900 MPa. Such a high tensile strength of the substrate steel makes it possible to make the contact element thin and still obtain a high mechanical stability thereof.
- said steel substrate has a thickness of 20-200 ⁇ m, preferably 30-100 ⁇ m, which results in a contact element having a desired high mechanical stability without any contribution thereto from other layers than said steel substrate thanks to the high tensile strength of the latter.
- said at least one side of the substrate is coated by a coating layer of Ni having a thickness of 0.5 - 10 ⁇ m, preferably max 5 ⁇ m, more preferred max 2 ⁇ m and most preferred 0.5-1 .5 ⁇ m. It has turned out that such a small thickness of said Ni coating layer is suffi- cient to with a high reliability completely cover the steel substrate, which results in a considerable reduction of Ni required for such a contact element with respect to contact elements already known and by that a possibility to substantially reduce the costs of such a contact element.
- said strip substrate is made of a steel with a Cr content of min 10%, preferably min 12%, more preferred min 13% and most preferred min 15%, which means that the substrate material will have a good general corrosion resistance, which is a preferred feature of a substrate used for such a contact element.
- both sides of the strip substrate are coated by a said coating layer of Ni.
- a said coating layer of Ni is a requirement if both said sides may come into contact with said water-based electrolyte of the bat- tery to which the contact element belongs, such as when the contact element is a current collector adapted to conduct current from an electrode of one cell to the electrode of an adjacent cell of a said battery, which constitutes another embodiment of the invention.
- the contact element is adapted to be applied with one side thereof in direct contact to a said electrode of a said one cell and the opposite side thereof in direct contact to said electrode of a said adjacent cell for conducing charge carriers transversely therethrough from one cell to the other, in which it is preferred that said contact element is thin for reducing the electrical impedance of the contact element, at the same time as it may be desired to have a comparatively high stiffness of a contact element in the form of such a bipolar current collector should it be subjected to high mechanical loads, such as for participating in sealing adjacent battery cells with respect to each other.
- the invention also relates to a use of a metal strip product comprising a substrate of steel with a tensile strength of at least 1300 MPa and on at least one side thereof coated by at least one coating layer of Ni for producing a contact element according to the invention.
- a contact element of an alkaline bat- tery having a water-based electrolyte, especially a current collector, may then be produced.
- the invention also relates to a use of a contact element according to the invention as current conducing element in an al- kaline battery having a water-based alkaline electrolyte, and such a use has the advantages mentioned above when discussing a contact element according to the present invention, and a use of the contact element as a current collector for conducting current from an anode of one cell to a cathode of an adjacent cell of a said battery is particularly preferred and constitutes another embodiment of the invention.
- the invention also relates to an alkaline battery having a water- based alkaline electrolyte, which is characterized in that is comprises at least one contact element according to the invention.
- One important feature of such a battery is that the use of a contact element according to the present invention opens up for a possibility to reduce the costs of such a battery.
- said battery is a Ni- metal hydride battery, and it is a rechargeable battery having a capacity of 3-200 Ah, preferably at least 7 Ah.
- Fig 1 shows a schematic cross-section of a contact element according to an embodiment of the invention
- Fig 2 shows schematically a production line for manufacturing of a metal strip product in the form of a coated metal strip material to be used for manufacturing a contact element according to the invention
- Fig 3 shows very schematically the construction of an alkaline battery provided with contact elements according to the invention in the form of current collectors, and
- Fig 4 is a graph of current versus potential in a comparing electrochemical corrosion testing of a Ni-foil and a Ni-coated steel substrate foil according to the invention.
- Fig 1 shows a steel strip substrate 2 which is coated with a metallic coating layer 1 , 3 of Ni on both sides of the steel strip.
- the thickness of the coating of the two sides may be the same or different.
- This steel strip is to be used for producing a contact element of an alkaline battery having a water-based alkaline electrolyte, and in the case that this contact element is a so called end plate in a stack of battery cells or otherwise having only one side thereof exposed to said electrolyte, it is possible to only coat one side thereof by a said coating layer of Ni.
- Nickel is used for contact elements of alkaline batteries having a water-based electrolyte, since presently no other element or compound suitable to be used as a contact element is known, which is able to only deliver a current therethrough in a said water-based alkaline electrolyte without generating hydrogen gas through electrolyte reduction, which would be detrimental to the function of the battery due to drying-out of the electrolyte.
- the contact element according to the present invention By applying a thin layer of nickel onto a steel substrate, as for the contact element according to the present invention, it is possible to combine the unique properties of nickel according to the above with the excellent and versatile mechanical bulk proper- ties of steel, and especially to use only a fraction of the amount of nickel for such a contact element otherwise necessary for obtaining a required mechanical stability of the contact element if it were made of pure nickel. This results in a possibility to reduce the material costs of such a contact element considerably.
- PVD Physical Vapor Deposition
- a contact element thus produced is suitable for use as current collector in alkaline batteries, especially as bipolar current collector applied with one side thereof in direct contact to an anode of a battery cell and the opposite side thereof in direct contact to a cathode of an adjacent battery cell in a rechargeable battery for conducting current transversely therethrough from one cell to the other.
- a battery is preferably a Ni-metal hydride battery.
- the contact element may also be a contact in an alkaline battery and/or a contact end plate of a stack of said battery cells of such a battery.
- the substrate steel material to be coated has preferably a good general corrosion resistance, which means that the material has a chromium content of at least 10% by weight, preferably mini- mum 12%, more preferred minimum 13% and most preferred minimum 15% chromium. Furthermore, the material must be alloyed in a way that allows for a high tensile strength, which shall be at least 1300 MPa, more preferred minimum 1500 MPa, preferably minimum 1700 MPa and most preferred minimum 1900 MPa.
- the mechanical strength may be achieved by cold deformation, such as for steels of the ASTM 200 and 300 series, or by thermal hardening as for hardenable martensitic chromium steels, e.g. certain ASTM 400 series steels.
- suitable substrate materials are precipitation hardenable (PH) steels of the type 13-8PH, 15-5PH, 17-4PH and 17-7PH.
- PH precipitation hardenable
- Yet another group of suitable substrate materials are stainless maragin steels that are characterized by their low carbon- and nitrogen-containing martensitic matrix that is hardened by the precipitation of substitutional atoms, such as copper, aluminium, titanium, nickel etc.
- Hardenable carbon steel such as ASTM 1095, ASTM 1074, ASTM 1055 or equivalent, are also conceivable as material for the steel substrate.
- the coating layer consists of pure Ni and has a thickness of 0.5- 10 ⁇ m, in which it is necessary that it has a thickness being enough for reliably completely covering the entire surface of the steel substrate that may be in contact with said water-based electrolyte.
- the thickness necessary for this is dependent on the surface roughness R 3 of the coating layer. It is an aim to make said coating layer as thin as possible while obtaining said reliable covering and by that saving costs for nickel.
- a surface roughness R 3 of said coating layer of Ni being max 0.2 ⁇ m, preferably max 0.1 ⁇ m, most preferred max 0.06 ⁇ m, and such a low surface roughness of the coating layer is preferably obtained by bright cold rolling the strip substrate used.
- Bright cold rolling is here defined as a rolling process resulting in a surface roughness R 3 being lower than 0.10 ⁇ m.
- the coating process for obtaining the metal strip product to be used for manufacturing a contact element according to the in- vention will now be described with reference made to Fig 2.
- the coating process is carried out in a roll-to-roll strip production line, which is an advantageous solution for high-rate production of coated stainless steel strip.
- This stainless steel strip has preferably a thickness in the range of 20-200 ⁇ m, preferably 30- 100 ⁇ m, and it depends on the mechanical stability requirements of a contact element to be manufactured from said steel strip.
- it has preferably previously been bright cold rolled, and it is now provided by a roll 6 delivered as a metal strip product 20 to another roll 7 after having been coated.
- the substrate should preferably first be cleaned from oil residues resulting from the previous production steps of the substrate, i.e.
- the rolling This may for example be made in a degreasing bath 8. Thereafter, the substrate is introduced into the coating production line. An etching chamber 9 is placed as a first step in the production line, and the strip is here exposed to ion-assisted etching in order to remove the oxide scale on the steel strip and thereby to achieve good adhesion of the surface layer.
- the nickel layer is deposited by means of PVD in a chamber 10 in the second step of the roll-to-roll process.
- the PVD process may preferably be electron beam evaporation.
- the contact elements may then be produced out of said strip through punching etc.
- a coated product makes it possible to combine the excellent inert properties of a nickel surface in an alkaline battery having a water-based electrolyte and the excellent mechanical properties of steel.
- Using a steel with a higher tensile strength than nickel makes it possible to obtain a contact element with an increased mechanical stability for the same thickness. Alternatively, for the same mechanical stability it is possible to reduce the thickness of the contact element.
- a contact element which may be a Ni- metal hydride battery.
- the battery 1 1 comprises a number of battery cells 12, 13, 14, such as for instance 20 such cells, connected in series between a negative pole 15 and a positive pole 16 of the battery.
- Each cell may provide a voltage of 1 .2 V, so that the battery voltage will then be 24 V.
- Each cell consists of two electrodes in the form of an anode 17 and a cathode 18 as well as a water-based electrolyte 19 for conduction of charge carriers therebetween.
- Contact elements according to the present invention in the form of bipolar current collectors 21 are arranged between each battery cell and applied with one side thereof in direct contact to a said anode 17 and the opposite side thereof in direct contact to a said cathode of an adjacent battery cell for conducting charge carriers transversely therethrough from one cell to the other as shown through arrows 22.
- This means that both sides of such a current collector may be exposed to said electrolyte, so that both sides of a said steel substrate of such a contact element are coated by a coating layer of Ni.
- End plates 23, 24 of the stack only have one side thereof exposed to said electrolyte, so that these have only to be coated by a coating layer of Ni on one side thereof.
- a battery of this type has suitably a capacity of 3-200 Ah, preferably at least 7 Ah.
- a contact element according to the invention may be used as current collectors or contacts in other types of alkaline batteries than the one shown in Fig 3, such as in batteries in which the current between adjacent battery cells is not led transversely through a current collector but in the extension thereof in a loop between adjacent battery cells.
- Fig 4 shows a said current I versus the potential P between the reference electrode and the sample during the tenth cycle of said scanning for the two samples, in which the black curve shows the current for the pure Ni foil and the lighter one for the sample according to the embodiment of the invention.
- the scan- ning is started at a sample potential of approximately -1 .2 V and then carried out to a potential of approximately 0.3 V and then back again to the start potential.
- the peaks a) emanate from an oxidation of Ni to Ni(OH) 2 , creating a current peak.
- the peaks b) emanate from oxidation of Ni(OH) 2 to NiOOH.
- the peaks c) show a reversal, i.e.
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- Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Chemical Kinetics & Catalysis (AREA)
- Materials Engineering (AREA)
- Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
- Metallurgy (AREA)
- Organic Chemistry (AREA)
- Electrochemistry (AREA)
- General Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
- Manufacturing & Machinery (AREA)
- Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
- Toxicology (AREA)
- Composite Materials (AREA)
- Cell Electrode Carriers And Collectors (AREA)
- Sealing Battery Cases Or Jackets (AREA)
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
SE0700978-0 | 2007-04-23 | ||
SE0700978A SE0700978L (sv) | 2007-04-23 | 2007-04-23 | Kontaktelement hos ett alkaliskt batteri |
Publications (1)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
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WO2008130318A1 true WO2008130318A1 (en) | 2008-10-30 |
Family
ID=39875741
Family Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/SE2008/050454 WO2008130318A1 (en) | 2007-04-23 | 2008-04-22 | Contact element coated by electron beam evaporation of a steel strip with nickel for use in an alkaline battery |
Country Status (2)
Country | Link |
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SE (1) | SE0700978L (sv) |
WO (1) | WO2008130318A1 (sv) |
Cited By (1)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
JP2019160627A (ja) * | 2018-03-14 | 2019-09-19 | トヨタ自動車株式会社 | バイポーラ型電池 |
Citations (9)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
EP0175149A2 (en) * | 1984-08-21 | 1986-03-26 | RAYOVAC Corporation | Alkaline primary battery containing coated current collector |
US5069989A (en) * | 1982-12-15 | 1991-12-03 | Hitachi Maxell, Ltd. | Alkaline cell |
EP0567149A1 (en) * | 1992-04-24 | 1993-10-27 | Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd. | Nonaqueous secondary battery |
EP0986116A1 (en) * | 1997-05-27 | 2000-03-15 | TDK Corporation | Method of producing an electrode for non-aqueous electrolytic cells |
EP1168472A1 (en) * | 2000-06-30 | 2002-01-02 | Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. | Lithium secondary battery |
WO2005042797A1 (en) * | 2003-11-04 | 2005-05-12 | Sandvik Intellectual Property Ab | A stainless steel strip coated with a metallic layer |
US20050214648A1 (en) * | 2004-03-18 | 2005-09-29 | Boulton Jonathan M | Wafer alkaline cell |
US20050277024A1 (en) * | 2004-06-15 | 2005-12-15 | Wavecrest Laboratories | Nickel precoat for electrode plates |
WO2006130074A1 (en) * | 2005-05-31 | 2006-12-07 | Sandvik Intellectual Property Ab | A metal strip product, such as an electrical contact spring, and the manufacturing thereof |
-
2007
- 2007-04-23 SE SE0700978A patent/SE0700978L/sv not_active Application Discontinuation
-
2008
- 2008-04-22 WO PCT/SE2008/050454 patent/WO2008130318A1/en active Application Filing
Patent Citations (9)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US5069989A (en) * | 1982-12-15 | 1991-12-03 | Hitachi Maxell, Ltd. | Alkaline cell |
EP0175149A2 (en) * | 1984-08-21 | 1986-03-26 | RAYOVAC Corporation | Alkaline primary battery containing coated current collector |
EP0567149A1 (en) * | 1992-04-24 | 1993-10-27 | Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd. | Nonaqueous secondary battery |
EP0986116A1 (en) * | 1997-05-27 | 2000-03-15 | TDK Corporation | Method of producing an electrode for non-aqueous electrolytic cells |
EP1168472A1 (en) * | 2000-06-30 | 2002-01-02 | Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. | Lithium secondary battery |
WO2005042797A1 (en) * | 2003-11-04 | 2005-05-12 | Sandvik Intellectual Property Ab | A stainless steel strip coated with a metallic layer |
US20050214648A1 (en) * | 2004-03-18 | 2005-09-29 | Boulton Jonathan M | Wafer alkaline cell |
US20050277024A1 (en) * | 2004-06-15 | 2005-12-15 | Wavecrest Laboratories | Nickel precoat for electrode plates |
WO2006130074A1 (en) * | 2005-05-31 | 2006-12-07 | Sandvik Intellectual Property Ab | A metal strip product, such as an electrical contact spring, and the manufacturing thereof |
Cited By (1)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
JP2019160627A (ja) * | 2018-03-14 | 2019-09-19 | トヨタ自動車株式会社 | バイポーラ型電池 |
Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
---|---|
SE0700978L (sv) | 2008-10-24 |
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