Bipolar plate battery
AssigneeEnsci, Inc.
InventorsThomas J. Clough, Richard J. Moulton
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An assembled battery including a plurality of bipolar cells is disclosed. In one embodiment, the battery comprises a plurality of conduits for introducing electrolyte into the bipolar cells, each of the conduits acting to introduce electrolyte into a different one of the bipolar cells. In another embodiment, the battery comprises at least one spacer element acting to maintain the spacing between plates and/or electrodes in the battery.
Claims29
In an assembled battery including a plurality of bipolar cells, the improvement which comprises a plurality of conduit means for introducing electrolyte into said bipolar cells, each of said conduit means positioned to be in fluid communication with a different single bipolar cell of said plurality of bipolar cells and to cross over at least one other bipolar cell adjacent said single bipolar cell and acting to introduce electrolyte into said single bipolar cell.
In an assembled battery including a plurality of bipolar cells each of which includes a first fluid impervious conductive matrix having a periphery and mutually opposing first and second surfaces;
- positive active electrode material in contact with said first surface of said first matrix;
- negative active electrode material spaced apart from said positive active electrode material;
- non-electrically conductive separator means acting to separate said positive active electrode material from said negative active electrode material and to hold electrolyte;
- and a second fluid impervious conductive matrix having a periphery and mutually opposing first and second surfaces, said negative active electrode material being in contact with said second surface of said second matrix, the improvement comprising at least one fluid impervious spacer element located at least partially away from the peripheries of said first matrix and said second matrix, and being in contact with said first matrix and said second matrix.
The assembled battery element of 9 wherein said first matrix and said second matrix each is part of a bipolar plate which further comprises an acid resistant substrate at least partially coated with an electrically conductive coating, said substrate being at least partially embedded in said matrix.
In an assembled battery including a plurality of bipolar cells, the improvement which comprises a means acting to substantially isolate said bipolar cells so that fluid components from one of said bipolar cells are effectively limited from interfering with the functioning of another of said bipolar cells and further acting to provide a conduit through which electrolyte is introduced into said one bipolar cell.
In an assembled battery including a plurality of bipolar cells, the improvement which comprises a plurality of means for introducing electrolyte into said bipolar cells, each of said means acting to introduce electrolyte into a different one of said bipolar cells and including a conduit which is in fluid communication with the one of said bipolar cells into which said means acts to introduce electrolyte;
- and an end plate having a plurality of apertures each of which being a portion of a different one of said conduits.
In an assembled battery including a plurality of bipolar cells, the improvement which comprises a plurality of means for introducing electrolyte into said bipolar cells, each of said means acting to introduce electrolyte into a different one of said bipolar cells, provided that each of said bipolar cells has a periphery and includes a fluid impervious spacer element located at least partially away from the periphery of said bipolar cell and acting to maintain the spacing between said bipolar cell and an adjacent bipolar cell.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.