Maintenance-free, deep-discharge, lead-acid battery for photovoltaic applications

Technical Report · Thu Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1982

OSTI ID:5335377

Szymborski, J

Progress in the development, design, fabrication, and testing of totally maintenance-free sealed lead-acid batteries suitable for the deep-discharge regimes of solar photovoltaic applications is reported. The 6-volt, 100-ampere-hour battery was designed to meet these additional key design goals: 6-h nominal discharge rate; 80% depth-of-discharge daily duty cycle; 2000 cycles to an 80% depth-of-discharge; recharge in less than 8 h; 80% roundtrip energy efficiency; and self-discharge rate of less than 1% per week. Totally maintenance-free sealed operation was achieved by designing the cells so that only oxygen is generated on charge. The cells in this battery are fabricated with positive grids cast from a low antimony alloy in order to achieve both maintenance-free operation and good deep-cycle performance. Various cycle life tests and tests to determine the tolerance of the battery to operation and storage at various states-of-charge and over a wide range of temperatures were performed. The storage tests demonstrated the ability of this sealed battery to survive storage at 100, 50 and 0% (i.e., fully discharged) state-of-charge for extended periods at temperatures ranging from -18 to 50/sup 0/C. The charging parameters to adequately recharge the battery while minimizing overcharge and gassing have been extensively studied. Results of these experiments indicate that a fully discharged battery can be completely recharged in less than 10 h using a voltage-regulated, current-limited charging device. The capabilities of this new battery design which permit deep-discharge cycling, rapid recharging, operation and storage in less than a fully charged condition, and totally maintenance-free operation will eliminate one of the major problems in demonstrating the viability and practicality of solar photovoltaic and other renewable energy source systems.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (USA); Gould, Inc., Rolling Meadows, IL (USA). Gould Labs.
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-76DP00789
• OSTI ID: 5335377
• Report Number(s): SAND-82-7026; ON: DE82014614
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
140501 -- Solar Energy Conversion-- Photovoltaic Conversion
25 ENERGY STORAGE
250900* -- Energy Storage-- Batteries
ALLOYS
ANTIMONY ALLOYS
BATTERY CHARGING
DATA
DESIGN
ELECTRIC BATTERIES
ELECTROCHEMICAL CELLS
ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
EQUIPMENT
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FABRICATION
INFORMATION
LEAD-ACID BATTERIES
NUMERICAL DATA
PERFORMANCE
PERFORMANCE TESTING
PHOTOVOLTAIC POWER SUPPLIES
PNICTIDES
POWER SUPPLIES
SERVICE LIFE
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
SPECIFICATIONS
STORAGE LIFE
TEMPERATURE EFFECTS
TESTING