Molten fluid electrode apparatus

A thermal battery comprising:

• a negative electrode material comprising a portion of negative electrode material in a fluid state and a portion of negative electrode material in a non-fluid state, the portion of negative electrode material in the fluid state and the portion of negative electrode material in the non-fluid state present within a united structure forming the thermal battery at the same time during operation of the thermal battery;
• a positive electrode material comprising a portion of positive electrode material in the fluid state and a portion of positive electrode material in the non-fluid state, the portion of positive electrode material in the fluid state and the portion of positive electrode material in the non-fluid state present within the united structure forming the thermal battery at the same time during operation of the thermal battery;
• and
• a reaction chamber comprising a solid electrolyte positioned in the reaction chamber to form a positive electrode region on a first side of the solid electrolyte and to form a negative electrode region on a second side of the solid electrolyte, the positive electrode region containing at least some of the portion of positive electrode material in the fluid state, the negative electrode region containing at least some of the portion of negative electrode material in the fluid state.

A thermal battery comprising:

• a plurality of negative electrode reservoirs configured to contain a negative electrode material;
• at least one positive electrode reservoir configured to contain a positive electrode material;
• a heating system configured to heat negative electrode material within a selected negative electrode reservoir of the plurality of negative electrode reservoirs to maintain the negative electrode material contained in the selected negative electrode reservoir in a fluid state and configured to heat positive electrode material in the at least one positive electrode reservoir to maintain the positive electrode material contained in the at least one positive electrode reservoir in the fluid state while maintaining, in a non-fluid state, negative electrode material in a non-selected negative electrode reservoir;
• a reaction chamber connected to the plurality of negative electrode reservoirs and to the at least one positive electrode reservoir, the reaction chamber comprising a solid electrolyte positioned in the reaction chamber to form a positive electrode region on a first side of the solid electrolyte and to form a negative electrode region on a second side of the solid electrolyte, the reaction chamber configured to receive fluid negative electrode material in the negative electrode region from the selected negative electrode reservoir and to receive fluid positive electrode material in the positive electrode region from the at least one positive electrode reservoir.

A thermal battery comprising:

• a plurality of positive electrode reservoirs configured to contain a positive electrode material;
• at least one negative electrode reservoir configured to contain a negative electrode material;
• a heating system configured to heat negative electrode material within the at least one negative electrode reservoir to maintain the negative electrode material contained in the at least one negative electrode reservoir in a fluid state and configured to heat positive electrode material in a selected positive electrode reservoir to maintain the positive electrode material contained in the selected positive electrode reservoir in the fluid state while maintaining, in a non-fluid state, positive electrode material in a non-selected positive electrode reservoir;
• a reaction chamber connected to the at least one negative electrode reservoir and to the plurality of positive electrode reservoirs, the reaction chamber comprising a solid electrolyte positioned in the reaction chamber to form a positive electrode region on a first side of the solid electrolyte and to form a negative electrode region on a second side of the solid electrolyte, the reaction chamber configured to receive fluid negative electrode material in the negative electrode region from the at least one negative electrode reservoir and to receive fluid positive electrode material in the positive electrode region from the selected positive electrode reservoir.