Fiber mat for battery plate reinforcement

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9425460-B2
Application number	US-201514800875-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 16, 2015
Priority date	Jul 31, 2012
Publication date	Aug 23, 2016
Grant date	Aug 23, 2016

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention provide batteries, electrodes, and methods of making the same. According to one embodiment, a battery may include a positive plate having a grid pasted with a lead oxide material, a negative plate having a grid pasted with a lead based material, a separator separating the positive plate and the negative plate, and an electrolyte. A nonwoven glass mat may be in contact with a surface of either or both the positive plate or the negative plate to reinforce the plate. The nonwoven glass mat may include a plurality of first coarse fibers having fiber diameters between about 6 μm and 11 μm and a plurality of second coarse fibers having fiber diameters between about 10 μm and 20 μm.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of manufacturing a plate of a lead-acid battery, the method comprising:
providing a grid of lead alloy material;
applying a paste of an active material to the grid of lead alloy material to form a battery plate or electrode; and
applying a nonwoven fiber mat to a surface of the paste of the active material, the fibers of the nonwoven glass mat being composed entirely of a blend of coarse glass fibers having average fiber diameters of between 6 μm and 20 μm including:
a plurality of first coarse glass fibers having fiber diameters between about 6 μm and about 11 μm; and
a plurality of second coarse glass fibers having fiber diameters between about 13 μm and about 20 μm;
wherein the nonwoven fiber mat comprises between about 25% and 75% of the first coarse glass fibers and between 25% and 75% of the second coarse glass fibers.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the nonwoven fiber mat is applied to a bottom surface of the grid of lead alloy material prior to application of the paste of the active material, and wherein the method further comprises:
applying a second nonwoven fiber mat to a top surface of the paste of the active material so that the grid of lead alloy material is disposed between two nonwoven fiber mats.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
providing an additional grid of lead alloy material;
applying a paste of an additional active material to the additional grid of lead alloy material to form an additional battery plate or electrode, the additional active material being either a lead based material or a lead oxide material;
positioning a separator mat between the battery plate and the additional battery plate to form a battery cell assembly;
positioning the battery cell assembly within a casing; and
saturating the battery cell assembly with an electrolyte.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the nonwoven fiber mat has a thickness of 0.009 inches or less and a tensile strength of at least 30 lbs/3 inch.

Assignees

• Johns Manville

Inventors

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

Classifications

• H01M50/494

  Tensile strength · CPC title

• H01M50/454

  comprising a non-fibrous layer and a fibrous layer superimposed on one another · CPC title

• H01M50/42

  Acrylic resins · CPC title

• H01M50/417

  Polyolefins · CPC title

• H01M50/489

  Separators, membranes, diaphragms or spacing elements inside the cells, characterised by their physical properties, e.g. swelling degree, hydrophilicity or shut down properties · CPC title