Chemistry: electrical current producing apparatus – product – and – Having movable mechanical means to provide relative motion...
Reexamination Certificate
2001-09-28
2004-02-10
Kalafut, Stephen (Department: 1745)
Chemistry: electrical current producing apparatus, product, and
Having movable mechanical means to provide relative motion...
C429S073000, C429S062000, C429S120000, C429S243000, C429S218200, C429S223000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06689507
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a battery and equipment or device having the battery as part of its structure, and a locally-distributed power generation method and a power generation device therefor. More particularly, the present invention relates to a battery of a three-dimensional structure comprising powdered active materials and capable of storing a large power, and equipment or device having the battery as part of its structure, an alkali primary battery and an alkali secondary battery of long lives in which discharge voltages are less likely to be reduced, and a locally-distributed power generation method which utilizes a power of transfer and transport means such as a power-driven two-wheeled vehicle, a power-driven three-wheeled vehicle, a power-driven four-wheeled vehicle, ship, or the like and a power generation device therefor.
2. Description of the Related Art
The present invention relates to a battery. In view of the prior arts, objectives to be achieved by the present invention are broadly classified into five objectives as follows.
The first objective is to provide a battery which obviates drawbacks of the conventional battery having a structure in which a plate-shaped, solid-cylindrical, or hollow-cylindrical active material that has a certain volume is immersed in an electrolytic solution. The second objective is to provide a three-dimensional battery of a large power capacity which has been unfulfilled in the conventional battery. The third objective is to provide practical use of the battery of the three-dimensional structure as means for achieving the first or second objective. The fourth objective is to provide an alkali primary battery or an alkali secondary battery of long lives in which discharge voltages are less likely to be reduced. The fifth objective is to provide a locally-distributed power generation method utilizing the battery of the three-dimensional structure and a power generation device therefor. Hereinbelow, the first to fifth objectives will be described according to comparison with the prior arts.
1. Prior Art and First Objective
Conventionally, the battery is structured such that the plate-shaped, the solid-cylindrical, or the hollow-cylindrical active material is immersed in the electrolytic solution. The battery has a layered structure with an electrolytic plate sandwiched between a cathode and an anode.
For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. Hei. 7-169513 discloses a method and device that thermally or chemically recovers a battery material after discharge to continuously generate a power by utilizing a combustion heat of a fossil fuel.
However, the conventional battery has the following problems.
(1) Scale up is Impossible.
A current flowing in a battery is directly proportional to an area of a membrane. For example, in case of the battery having a membrane area of 1 m
2
and a power of 1W, an area of one billion m
2
is required to obtain one million kW. This corresponds to a square of approximately 32 kilometer square, and cannot be formed into a flange. Even if the number of membranes is increased as a solution to this, the scale up is unfulfilled.
(2) Degradation of Active Materials or a Catalyst Cannot be Dealt with.
In the conventional battery, since the active materials and the catalyst are used as components of the battery, the entire battery must be replaced when degraded. In actuality, the replacement is impossible and the degraded battery is discarded.
(3) A Heat Transmitter for Heat Generation and Heat Absorption in Association with Charge and Discharge Cannot be Provided.
In view of a battery characteristic in which exothermic reaction or endothermic reaction is conducted in association with charge and discharge of the battery, a power conversion efficiency is reduced with an increase in temperature and a reaction speed decreases with a decrease in temperature, it is necessary to provide a heat transmitter in the battery for adjustment so as to obtain appropriate temperature. However, since the conventional battery is complex in structure, the heat transmitter is not provided. Besides, since the battery is small and a battery surface area with respect to its output is small, it is naturally cooled or heat-absorbed. In some cases, the upper limit temperature is set by using a temperature fuse but any temperature control device is not provided for the battery.
(4) An Energy Density is low.
In the conventional battery, the current is directly proportional to the area of the membrane. For example, in case of the battery having a membrane area of 1 m
2
and a power of 1W, one million membrane batteries each having a membrane area of 1 m
2
and a width of 0.1 m are required and therefore have a volume of 100000 m
3
to create a battery of 1000 kW. Consequently, the energy density cannot be increased.
The first invention has been developed in view of the above-described problems, and the first objective to be achieved by the first invention is to provide a battery comprising powdered active materials in vessels, in which scale up can be achieved, degraded active materials and catalyst can be recovered and replaced, the heat transmitter can be provided in the battery, and the energy density can be increased.
2. Prior Art and Second Objective
Conventionally, the battery is structured such that the active materials are formed to have a predetermined shape such as a solid cylinder or a hollow cylinder and immersed in the electrolytic solution, and the electrolyte plate is sandwiched between a cathode and an anode to have a layered structure.
Specifically, as shown in
FIG. 49
, a nickel hydrogen battery is layered by adhering a current collector
431
, a cathode
432
, a separator
433
, an anode
434
, and a current collector
435
in this order. This example is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. Hei. 9-298067. The battery disclosed in this publication is structured such that a plurality of element batteries (unit batteries) each comprising a cathode mainly composed of nickel hydroxide, an anode mainly composed of hydrogen-occluding alloy, a separator formed of a polymer non-woven fabric cloth, and an electrolytic solution composed of an alkali aqueous solution, are connected in series and stored in a metallic square vessel and an opening thereof is sealed by a sealing plate having a reversible vent.
The conventional battery
430
has a membrane structure (two dimensional), including the above-described structure. To obtain the battery
430
of a large capacity, it is extended to make it thinner as shown in
FIG. 40
or wound, or the unit batteries
430
are connected in parallel as shown in FIG.
41
. Or otherwise, as shown in
FIG. 52
, a plurality of electrode plates
436
are interposed in a number of unit batteries
430
and wirings
437
connected to the respective electrode plates
436
are pulled out of the batteries to allow these electrodes to be connected to electrode plates
438
of another unit batteries that have different polarity, thereby obtaining a layered structure.
However, the conventional batteries of
FIGS. 49-52
, the following problems arise.
(1) Scale up is Limited.
The conventional battery has a membrane structure (two-dimensional), and the current flowing in the battery is directly proportional to the area of the membrane. Therefore, for example, if 1W power is generated in 1 m
2
area, then (100×100)m
2
area is required to generate 10 kW power. Accordingly, the number of membranes may be increased or the membrane may be enlarged and wound. In either case, the battery becomes extremely large and is difficult to practice. Consequently, the batteries must be connected in parallel, and thereby, the whole structure becomes complex.
(2) A Production Cost of a Battery is Extremely High Due to a Large Capacity.
In case of the battery of the membrane structure, if an attempt is made to obtain the large capacity, the area of the membrane must be correspondingly increased, and the production cost becomes higher with an
Atsuta Toshio
Kishimoto Mitsuharu
Kumagai Chikanori
Tsutsumi Atsushi
Tsutsumi Kazuo
Kalafut Stephen
Kawasaki Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
Marshall & Gerstein & Borun LLP
Parsons Thomas H.
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