Activatable battery including a heat exchanger

An activatable battery including a heat exchanger, the batter comprising a Volta pile of a plurality of stacked cells enclosed in an insulating envelope, with each cell of the pile comprising a flat porous cathode electrode, a flat separator, a flat lithium anode electrode, and a flat metal collector, each of said flat elements having a thickness of about several tenths of a millimeter or less and being disposed contiguously one against another, and the heat exchanger being constituted by a circuit for forced circulation of an electrolyte through the pile, said circuit comprising:

• electrolyte injection manifolds and electrolyte collector manifolds, extending through the stacked cells, both the injection and collection manifolds having openings to the outside of said insulating envelope;
• and
• means for transferring electrolyte from the injection manifolds through each cell to the collector manifolds, said means including channels formed as grooves in the body of at least one electrode of each cell.