| abstract |
The Battery Plates with Lightweight Cores disclosed and claimed above solve the problems encountered by previous attempts to construct practical bipolar plates for lead-acid batteries. The preferred embodiment (10) includes a thin, lightweight, inexpensive metal core (12) with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. The lower or negative side (12b) of the core (12) is covered with a negative side protective layer (16) which defends the core (12) from an acidic environment. The upper or positive side (12a) of the core (12) is covered with a positive side protective layer (18) which safeguards the core (12) from a hostile oxidizing electrochemical environment. In the preferred embodiment, the core (12) is aluminum, the negative side protective layer (16) is lead and the positive side protective layer (18) is doped stannic oxide. Intermediate layers (14a & 14b) of copper or nickel may be placed between the core (12) and the negative and positive protective layers (16 & 18) to promote adhesion. Various alternative embodiments (20, 32, 42) that employ different combinations of materials are described in the specification. The invention may be implemented using positive and negative side seals (58 & 68). |