Advanced state of charge measurement technique for silver-zinc batteries

AlliedSignal has developed innovative battery analysis and charging technologies for lead acid, nickel cadmium, and silver-zinc battery families, under the Navy´s new technology development initiative. Commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) equipment has been used to develop and implement technologies to meet the growing analysis and maintenance needs of secondary batteries. One highlight of the capabilities developed under this program, is a technique for electrochemically measuring the state of charge (SOC) of silver-zinc (Ag-Zn) batteries. This paper presents the developed technique and outlines a three-stage test procedure for determining SOC. The technique takes a minimal amount of time and provides results of high accuracy. This development meets a longstanding need for the immediate verification of Ag-Zn battery readiness.