Continuous casting machine and method for bipolar battery foils and battery grids

A machine for continuous casting a strip of a plurality of connected bipolar battery foils, the machine comprising:

• a mold ring rotatable about an axis, said mold ring having a mold cavity residing at a cylindrical outer surface of said mold ring, said mold cavity having a plurality of foil molds, each foil mold having a plurality of protrusions or a plurality of depression molds or both a plurality of protrusions and a plurality of depression molds, said mold ring having a runner system fluidly communicating with said mold cavity to facilitate delivery of liquid lead to said mold cavity;
• a movable belt having a face situated in confrontation with a circumferential region of said mold cavity of said mold ring, the liquid lead delivered to said mold cavity via said runner system flows between said face of said movable belt and said mold cavity of said mold ring;
• a heating shoe engaging said movable belt adjacent a location in which the liquid lead is delivered to said mold cavity;
• a cooling shoe situated circumferentially next to said heating shoe and engaging said movable belt;
• and
• a platform carrying both of said heating shoe and said cooling shoe, said platform movable with respect to said mold ring to concurrently bring said heating shoe and said cooling shoe toward and away from said mold ring.

A machine for continuous casting a strip of a plurality of connected bipolar battery foils, the machine comprising:

• a mold ring rotatable about an axis, said mold ring having a mold cavity residing at a cylindrical outer surface of said mold ring, said mold cavity having a plurality of foil molds, each foil mold having a plurality of protrusions or a plurality of depression molds or both a plurality of protrusions and a plurality of depression molds, said mold ring having a runner system fluidly communicating with said mold cavity to facilitate delivery of liquid lead to said mold cavity;
• a movable belt having a face situated in confrontation with a circumferential region of said mold cavity of said mold ring, the liquid lead delivered to said mold cavity via said runner system flows between said face of said movable belt and said mold cavity of said mold ring;
• a first roller and a second roller, said first and second rollers supporting said movable belt as said movable belt engages and disengages with said mold ring;
• a sensing system that monitors a position of said movable belt with respect to said first roller, with respect to said second roller, or with respect to both said first and second rollers;
• and
• at least one actuator engageable with said first roller or with said second roller, said at least one actuator actuatable to move said first roller or said second roller with respect to a frame of the machine in order to adjust the monitored position of said movable belt.

A method of continuously casting a strip of a plurality of connected bipolar battery foils, the method comprising:

• rotating a mold ring about an axis, said mold ring having a mold cavity residing at a cylindrical outer surface of said mold ring, said mold cavity having a plurality of foil molds, each foil mold having a plurality of protrusions or a plurality of depression molds or both a plurality of protrusions and a plurality of depression molds, said mold ring having a runner system fluidly communicating with said mold cavity to facilitate delivery of liquid lead to said mold cavity and to said plurality of foil molds;
• moving a belt over a circumferential region of said mold cavity of said mold ring;
• supplying liquid lead to said mold cavity via said runner system at said circumferential region;
• monitoring a position of said movable belt with respect to a roller of the machine;
• and
• adjusting the position of said movable belt on the roller via at least one actuator engageable with the roller.

A method of continuously casting a strip of a plurality of connected bipolar battery foils, the method comprising:

• rotating a mold ring about an axis, said mold ring having a mold cavity residing at a cylindrical outer surface of said mold ring, said mold cavity having a plurality of foil molds, each foil mold having a plurality of protrusions or a plurality of depression molds or both a plurality of protrusions and a plurality of depression molds, said mold ring having a runner system fluidly communicating with said mold cavity to facilitate delivery of liquid lead to said mold cavity and to said plurality of foil molds;
• moving a belt over a circumferential region of said mold cavity of said mold ring;
• supplying liquid lead to said mold cavity via said runner system at said circumferential region;
• yieldably biasing a heating shoe into engagement with said movable belt;
• yieldably biasing a cooling shoe into engagement with said movable belt;
• and
• moving said heating shoe and said cooling shoe concurrently toward and away from said movable belt via the same carriage assembly.

A machine for continuous casting a strip of a plurality of connected battery grids or battery foils, the machine comprising:

• a mold ring rotatable about an axis, said mold ring having a mold cavity residing at a cylindrical outer surface of said mold ring, said mold cavity having a plurality of grid molds or a plurality of foil molds, said mold ring having a runner system fluidly communicating with said mold cavity, said runner system having a plurality of ribs, said runner system and said plurality of ribs facilitating delivery of liquid lead to said mold cavity;
• a movable belt having a face situated in confrontation with a circumferential region of said mold cavity of said mold ring;
• a first roller and a second roller supporting said movable belt in confrontation with said circumferential region of said mold cavity of said mold ring;
• a heating shoe engaging said movable belt adjacent a location in which the liquid lead is delivered to said mold cavity;
• a cooling shoe situated circumferentially next to said heating shoe and engaging said movable belt;
• and
• a platform carrying both of said heating shoe and said cooling shoe, said platform movable with respect to said mold ring to concurrently bring said heating shoe and said cooling shoe toward and away from said mold ring.