Frangible Electrode Plate for Flowing Electrolyte Battery Testing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for manufacturing and testing electrode plates for flowing electrolyte batteries, such as those in lead-acid batteries, face challenges due to complex shapes and lack of effective testing protocols, leading to inefficiencies and potential environmental hazards.
Innovation Solution
The electrode plate design incorporates frangible portions with grooves or small indentations, allowing for easier testing and assembly, featuring a planar shape with a flat periphery for sealing and using HDPE material, enabling efficient testing and integration with manifolds in a flowing electrolyte battery.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If electrode plates are manufactured with complex cut-away regions to accommodate manifolds, then the battery can be assembled with proper manifold integration, but testing of individual electrode plates becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The electrode plate is divided into a main body portion and separate frangible portions. The frangible portions are designed to be broken away after testing, separating the testing function from the final battery assembly configuration. This segmentation allows the plate to be tested in its complete form while enabling proper manifold integration in the final assembly.
Solution Approach 2:
The frangible portions are pre-formed on the electrode plate before testing and final assembly. These portions allow the plate to be tested in a complete, sealable configuration, and are then removed to create the necessary cut-away regions for manifold integration. This preliminary action resolves the contradiction by enabling testing before the cut-away regions are needed.
2Adaptability or versatility
If electrode plates use complex shapes with cut-away regions for manifold accommodation, then battery assembly is enabled, but manufacturing and testing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The electrode plate structure is segmented into a simple main body and separate frangible portions. The frangible portions are added temporarily to enable testing, then removed to create the cut-away regions needed for manifold accommodation. This segmentation reduces the inherent complexity of the electrode plate while maintaining adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The frangible portions are discarded after serving their purpose in enabling testing. Their temporary presence allows the electrode plate to be tested in a complete configuration, and their removal creates the simplified structure with cut-away regions needed for manifold integration, reducing overall device complexity.
3Reliability
If electrode plates are tested before assembly, then defect detection is improved, but complex shapes make testing difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The frangible portions are pre-formed on the electrode plate to enable testing before the cut-away regions are created. This preliminary configuration allows the plate to be sealed and tested for defects, and only after successful testing are the frangible portions removed to create the final manifold-compatible shape.
Solution Approach 2:
The frangible portions act as an intermediary element that enables testing. They are temporarily attached to the electrode plate to create a testable configuration, facilitate defect detection, and are then removed. This intermediary structure resolves the contradiction by enabling reliable testing without requiring the final complex shape during the testing phase.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This design facilitates robust and efficient testing and assembly of electrode plates, ensuring defect detection and improved performance by allowing for the removal of frangible portions to accommodate manifolds, enhancing the manufacturing process and reducing environmental impact.
Implementation Method 1
the frangible portions are removed from the electrode plate to define one or more cut-away regions
Implementation Method 2
applying a gas adjacent a surface on a first side of the electrode plate; detecting whether there is a presence of the gas adjacent a surface on a second side of the electrode plate
Implementation Method 3
providing a seal around a periphery of the electrode plate
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3A~3C
Figure 4
AI summary
An electrode plate, method for manufacturing an electrode plate, and method of testing an electrode plate enable efficient production of robust flowing electrolyte batteries. The method of testing an electrode plate includes forming a frangible portion in the electrode plate; providing a seal around a periphery of the electrode plate, wherein the periphery extends across the frangible portion; applying a gas adjacent a surface on a first side of the electrode plate; and detecting whether there is a presence of the gas adjacent a surface on a second side of the electrode plate, if the electrode plate passes testing, the frangible portion is removed from the electrode plate to define a cut-away region. The electrode plate is then positioned in a battery cell stack including a plurality of other electrode plates. A manifold is then attached to the cell stack adjacent the cut-away region of the electrode plate.