Hybrid molten/solid sodium anode for room/intermediate temperature electric vehicle battery
AssigneeCeramatec, Inc.
InventorSai Bhavaraju
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A hybrid battery with a sodium anode is designed for use at a range of temperatures where the sodium is solid and where the sodium is molten. When the battery is at colder temperatures or when the vehicle is idle and needs to be “started,” the anode will be solid sodium metal. At the same time, the battery is designed such that, once the electric vehicle has been “started” and operated for a short period of time, heat is directed to the battery to melt the solid sodium anode into a molten form. In other words, the hybrid battery operates under temperature conditions where the sodium is solid and under temperature conditions where the sodium is molten.
Claims20
A hybrid sodium anode battery for an electric vehicle comprising:
- a sodium anode in contact with a supply of anolyte solution that dissolves sodium ions and is not degraded by sodium;
- a cathode in contact with a supply of catholyte solution;
- and
- a sodium ion conductive solid membrane separating the catholyte from the anolyte;
- wherein the hybrid sodium anode battery operates at a temperature where the sodium anode is in a solid state and a quantity of anolyte solution separates the solid state sodium from the sodium ion conductive membrane and wherein during operation, heat melts the sodium anode to convert the sodium anode into a molten state such that the hybrid sodium anode battery operates at a temperature where the sodium anode is molten.
A method of operating a hybrid sodium anode battery for an electric vehicle comprising:
- obtaining a hybrid sodium anode battery comprising:
- a sodium anode in contact with a supply of anolyte solution that dissolves sodium ions and is not degraded by sodium;
- a cathode in contact with a supply of catholyte solution;
- and
- a sodium ion conductive solid membrane separating the catholyte from the anolyte;
- operating the hybrid sodium anode battery at a temperature where the sodium anode is in a solid state such that a quantity of anolyte solution separates the solid state sodium from the sodium ion conductive membrane;
- heating the sodium anode to convert the anode into a molten state;
- and
- operating the hybrid sodium anode battery at a temperature where the sodium anode is molten.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.