Chemistry: electrical current producing apparatus – product – and – Deferred action type – Responsive to addition of liquid
Utility Patent
1998-08-18
2001-01-02
Kalafut, Stephen (Department: 1745)
Chemistry: electrical current producing apparatus, product, and
Deferred action type
Responsive to addition of liquid
C429S118000, C429S009000, C429S006000, C320S118000
Utility Patent
active
06168882
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a seawater electric power system for supplying electric power for a long term in a marine ambient wherein regular maintenance is difficult to achieve for the seawater electric power system.
(b) Description of the Related Art
A seawater electric power system implemented by a seawater battery system is described in JP-A-8(1196)-17446, for example.
FIGS. 1 and 2
show a block diagram and a schematic perspective view, respectively, of the seawater battery system described therein.
The seawater battery system includes a seawater battery
40
for generating an electromotive force by reducing the oxygen dissolved in the seawater, a booster
41
for boosting the electromotive force of the seawater battery
40
, a secondary battery
43
, charged by the boosted electromotive force from the booster
41
, for supplying the output DC power thereof to a load
42
, and a control circuit
44
driven by the output of the secondary battery
42
for controlling the booster
41
.
The seawater battery
40
has an anode plate
40
a
made of a first metal having a smaller ionization tendency or an alloy containing the first metal as a main component thereof, a pair of cathode plates
40
b
made of a second metal having a larger ionization tendency or an alloy containing the second metal as a main component thereof. It is described in the publication that the seawater battery system is capable of supplying a stable DC power to the load
42
for a long term by the configuration employed.
However, the seawater battery system is liable to an external mechanical force because of absence of a housing or protective member, which generally necessitates regular maintenance for every half a year due to the damages of the anode plate
40
a
and the cathode plate
40
b
. In addition, it is difficult to reduce the size and increase the output power of the seawater battery system due to its configuration of the anode plate
40
a
and the cathode plate
40
b.
On the other hand, electric double layer capacitors are widely used recently as auxiliary batteries for personal computers and memories. A conventional electric double layer capacitor is described in JP-A-4-288361, JP-A-4-206916 and JP-A-64(1989)-53406, for example.
A typical electric double layer capacitor includes a plurality of basic cells, one of which is shown in FIG.
3
. The basic cell has a porous separator
30
having a function for permitting ion permeation therethrough without electron permeation, a pair of polarized electrodes
31
for sandwiching therebetween the porous separator
30
and each made of activated carbon soaked with electrolytic solution, a pair of collectors
32
each disposed in contact with the outer surface of a corresponding one of the polarized electrodes
31
, and a gasket
33
disposed between the peripheries of the pair of collectors
32
for sealing therebetween the polarized electrodes
31
and the separator
30
. Sulfuric acid is generally used in the electric double layer capacitor as its electrolytic solution.
The conventional electric double layer capacitor generally suffers from degradation of charge/discharge characteristics due to the stop of ion conduction, which results from evaporation of water from the sulfuric acid, after the electric double layer capacitor is subjected to a high temperature ambient, such as direct sunshine, for a long time. The problem degradation may be prevented by improving the sealing of the gasket, which raises the costs of the electric double layer capacitor, however.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved seawater electric power system capable of reducing the number of times for maintenance per unit term by keeping excellent charge/discharge characteristics after the seawater electric power system is subjected to a high temperature ambient for a long term.
The present invention provides a seawater electric power system comprising an energy converter for converting energy other than electric energy to electric energy, a battery for storing the electric energy obtained by the energy converter, the battery having seawater as an electrolytic solution for storing the electric energy, and a seawater replenishment section for replenishing seawater to the battery.
In accordance with the seawater electric power system of the present invention, the charge/discharge characteristics of the seawater electric power system are not degraded because seawater is replenished to the battery by the seawater replenishment section. In addition, the interior of the battery need not be sealed, which does not raise the costs for the seawater electric power system.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more apparent from the following description, referring to the accompanying drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3884216 (1975-05-01), McCartney
patent: 3908548 (1975-09-01), Wedding
patent: 4184009 (1980-01-01), Armstrong
patent: 4763126 (1988-08-01), Jawetz
patent: 5006872 (1991-04-01), Hammond et al.
patent: 5009757 (1991-04-01), Riffe et al.
patent: 5663628 (1997-09-01), Fujii
Inagawa Masako
Inoue Yoshiki
Alejandro Raymond
Kalafut Stephen
McGinn & Gibb PLLC
NEC Corporation
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