Battery electrode plate reinforcement mat having improved wettability characteristics and methods of use therefor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10062887-B2
Application number	US-201314048771-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 8, 2013
Priority date	Oct 8, 2013
Publication date	Aug 28, 2018
Grant date	Aug 28, 2018

Abstract

According to one embodiment, a nonwoven fiber mat for reinforcing a plate or electrode of a lead-acid battery includes a plurality of glass fibers and an acid resistant binder that couples the plurality of glass fibers together. The nonwoven fiber mat also includes a wetting component that is applied to the glass fibers and/or nonwoven fiber mat to increase the wettability of the nonwoven fiber mat such that the nonwoven fiber mat exhibits an average water wick height of at least 0.5 cm after exposure to water for 10 minutes conducted according to method ISO8787. The wetting component may be dissolvable in an acid solution of the lead-acid battery such that a significant portion of the nonwoven fiber mat is lost due to dissolving of the wetting component.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A nonwoven fiber mat for reinforcing a plate or electrode of a lead-acid battery, the nonwoven fiber mat comprising:
a plurality of glass fibers;
an acid resistant binder, wherein the acid resistant binder couples the plurality of glass fibers together to form the nonwoven fiber mat;
a hydrophilic binder blended with the acid resistant binder, the hydrophilic binder comprising an poly acrylic acid based binder, and wherein:
the hydrophilic binder increases the wettability of the nonwoven fiber mat such that the nonwoven fiber mat has or exhibits an average water wick height of at least 0.5 cm after exposure to water for 10 minutes conducted according to method ISO8787, wherein the hydrophilic binder is dissolvable in an acid solution of the lead-acid battery such that between about 5-85% of the mass of the nonwoven fiber mat is lost after the hydrophilic binder is dissolved;
the nonwoven fiber mat is configured to reinforce an electrode of the lead-acid battery after the mass of the nonwoven fiber mat is lost; and
the acid resistant binder and the hydrophilic binder are applied to the nonwoven fiber mat up so as to have exhibit a loss on ignition (LOI) of up to about 20%.

2. The nonwoven fiber mat of claim 1 , comprising a plurality of cellulose fibers that are bonded with the nonwoven fiber mat.

3. The nonwoven fiber mat of claim 2 , wherein the cellulose fibers form a cellulose fiber mat that is bonded to at least one side of the nonwoven fiber mat.

4. The nonwoven fiber mat of claim 2 , wherein the cellulose fibers are entangled with the glass fibers to form the nonwoven fiber mat.

5. The nonwoven fiber mat of claim 1 , comprising a starch solution that is applied to the nonwoven fiber mat such that the starch solution saturates the nonwoven fiber mat or is disposed on at least one surface of the nonwoven fiber mat.

6. The nonwoven fiber mat of claim 2 , wherein the significant portion of the nonwoven fiber mat that is lost due to dissolving of the cellulose fibers comprises between about 5-85% of the mass of the nonwoven fiber mat.

7. The nonwoven fiber mat of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of glass fibers comprise first glass fibers having fiber diameters between about 8 μm and about 30 μm, and wherein the nonwoven mat further comprises a plurality of second glass fibers that are entangled with the first glass fibers, wherein the second glass fibers have fiber diameters between about 0.01 μm and about 5 μm, and wherein the addition of the second glass fibers increases the wettability of the nonwoven fiber mat such that the nonwoven fiber mat has or exhibits an average water wick height of at least 1.0 cm after exposure to water for 10 minutes conducted according to method ISO8787.

8. The nonwoven fiber mat of claim 1 , wherein the nonwoven fiber mat has or exhibits an average acid solution wick height of at least 0.5 cm after exposure to the acid solution for 10 minutes conducted according to method ISO8787.

9. The nonwoven fiber mat of claim 1 , wherein the lead-acid battery comprises an Absorptive Glass Mat (AGM) battery or a flooded battery.

10. An Absorptive Glass Mat (AGM) lead-acid battery comprising:
a positive plate or electrode;
a negative plate or electrode;
a separator that is disposed between the positive plate and the negative plate to electrically insulate the positive and negative plates;
an electrolyte that is absorbed within the separator; and
a nonwoven fiber mat that is positioned adjacent either or both the positive plate or the negative plate so as to reinforce the positive plate or the negative plate, wherein the nonwoven fiber mat comprises:
a plurality of glass fibers;
an acid resistant binder that couples the plurality of glass fibers together to form the nonwoven fiber mat; and
a hydrophilic binder that is blended or combined with the acid resistant binder, the hydrophilic binder comprising an poly acrylic acid based binder, wherein:
the hydrophilic binder is applied to the nonwoven fiber mat to increase the wettability of the nonwoven fiber mat such that the nonwoven fiber mat comprises or exhibits an average water wick height of at least 0.5 cm after exposure to water for 10 minutes conducted according to method ISO8787;
the hydrophilic binder is dissolvable in an acid solution of the lead-acid battery such that between about 5-85% of the mass of the nonwoven fiber mat is lost after the hydrophilic binder is dissolved; the nonwoven fiber mat is configured to reinforce the electrode after the mass of the nonwoven fiber mat is lost; and
the acid resistant binder and the hydrophilic binder are applied to the nonwoven fiber mat up so as to have exhibit a loss on ignition (LOI) of up to about 20%.

11. The AGM lead-acid battery of claim 10 , wherein the acid resistant binder comprises a hydrophilic functional group.

12. The AGM lead-acid battery of claim 10 , comprising a plurality of cellulose fibers that are bonded with the nonwoven fiber mat.

13. The AGM lead-acid battery of claim 10 , comprising a starch solution that is applied to the nonwoven fiber mat such that the starch solution saturates the nonwoven fiber mat or is disposed on at least one surface of the nonwoven fiber mat.

14. The AGM lead-acid battery of claim 10 , wherein the glass fibers comprise first fibers having fiber diameters between about 8 μm and about 30 μm or second fibers having fiber diameters between 0.01 μm and 5 μm.

Assignees

• Johns Manville

Inventors

• Guo Zhihua
• Nandi Souvik
• Asrar Jawed
• Dietz Iii Albert G

Classifications

• H01M50/437

  Glass · CPC title

• H01M10/06 Primary

  Lead-acid accumulators (semi-lead accumulators H01M10/20) · CPC title

• H01M2/145

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01M2/1613 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• Y02T10/7016

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic