Carbon honeycomb grids for advanced lead-acid batteries. Part III: Technology scale-up

The carbon honeycomb grid technology employs new carbon/carbon composites with ordered 3D structure instead of the classic lead-acid battery current collectors. The technology is laboratory scaled up from small size grids corresponding to electrodes with a capacity of 3 Ah to current collectors suitable for assembly of lead-acid batteries covering the majority of the typical lead-acid battery applications. Two series of 150 grids each (one positive and one negative) are manufactured using low-cost lab-scale equipment. They are further subjected to pasting with active materials and the resulting battery plates are assembled in 12 V AGM-VLRA battery mono-blocks for laboratory testing and outdoor demonstration in electric scooter replacing its original VRLAB pack. The obtained results demonstrate that the technology can replace successfully the state of the art negative grids with considerable benefits. The use of the carbon honeycomb grids as positive plate current collectors is limited by the anodic corrosion of the entire structure attacking both the carbon/carbon composite part and the electroplated lead-tin alloy coating.