Metal working – Method of mechanical manufacture – Electrical device making
Patent
1992-01-29
1994-09-06
Skapars, Anthony
Metal working
Method of mechanical manufacture
Electrical device making
29730, H01M 1012
Patent
active
053444663
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to an improved method for the assembly of lead-acid batteries and an apparatus related thereto. More specifically, the invention relates to a flexible, high speed method for the manufacture of lead-acid batteries in a wide variety of sizes and configurations from continuous lengths of battery plate stock and related means.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional lead-acid storage batteries generally consist of a plurality of alternating flat pasted positive plates and flat pasted negative plates which are electrically insulated from one another by a porous separator material. The cell assembly so constituted is placed into a suitable container in which the positive and negative plates are brought into contact with a sulfuric acid electrolyte. In batteries containing free electrolyte, the cell assembly is generally fully immersed in the sulfuric acid. In batteries containing no free electrolyte, the sulfuric acid is fully absorbed in the plates and separator material.
The prior art method of manufacturing storage batteries of the type described hereinabove, generally involves alternately stacking cured pasted positive plates and cured pasted negative plates to form a cell assembly in which each positive plate is separated from each negative plate by a porous separator material. The cell components are aligned such that all of the positive current collecting lugs are aligned with one another. All of the negative current collecting lugs are aligned with one another in a region significantly separated from the plane of the aligned positive lugs. The porous separator material overlaps the plates on four sides to provide effective electrical insulation. The positive lugs are electrically connected to one another and the negative lugs are electrically connected to one another by means of separate electrically conductive plate straps. The completed cell assembly is placed in a battery container. If the battery contains more than one cell, intercell electrical connections are then made and the battery container and cover are sealed together. The sulfuric acid electrolyte is next added to the battery and the plates are electrochemically formed. Following electrochemical formation, the acid used for formation may be removed from the battery and replaced with sulfuric acid of a different specific gravity. The battery is then washed and dried, vent caps are installed, and the final production steps are completed.
An alternative method of manufacture involves the use of individual positive and negative plates that have been electrochemically formed, washed and dried prior to cell assembly. This method eliminates the need to electrochemically form the plates in the battery container, thereby increasing the speed and minimizing the cost of final assembly. These cost savings are generally offset, however, by the added cost of additional handling of the very large number of individual plates involved prior to the cell assembly operation.
Generally, pasted battery plates are cured and, if electrochemically formed prior to assembly, formed as "doubles", i.e., two attached plates which must be separated prior to the cell assembly step. One method of separating paired battery plates which is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,285,257, involves a rotary cutting blade which separates a stack of paired plates into two stacks of individual plates of the same polarity which represent the starting material for commonly used cell assembly processes, such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,784,380, 4,720,227, 4,728,093, 4,534,549, 4,168,772, and 3,982,624. All of these methods and related apparatus utilize feedstock consisting of stacks of singular negative plates, stacks of singular porous separator pieces, and stacks of singular positive plates which are automatically combined on a conveyor to progressively form cell assemblies containing the desired number of positive plates, negative plates, and separator pieces which normally overlap the positive and negative
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Rose Michael V.
Smith Daniel E.
Radack David V.
Sealed Energy Systems, Inc.
Silverman Arnold B.
Skapars Anthony
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