Recent developments in common pressure vessel nickel hydrogen battery technology at Johnson Controls Inc

The standard nickel/hydrogen technology is composed of individual cells, each contained in its own Inconel pressure vessel. The Johnson Controls Incorporated (JCI) common pressure vessel (CPV) design varies from this individual pressure vessel (IPV) standard by incorporating multiple cells in a single vessel. Although the potential advantages of the CPV concept had been recognized for some time, practical application was inhibited by several design issues. Parallel design efforts at JCI have overcome these issues while maintaining, and in several areas improving upon, the low cost features required for terrestrial applications and the high reliability design required for aerospace application. A series of aerospace prototype CPV cells and batteries have been fabricated and tested. Both low-earth-orbit (LEO) and geosynchronous-Earth-orbit (GEO) designs are being evaluated. Four 2 kWh terrestrial CPV batteries were fabricated for delivery. These batteries are being evaluated for terrestrial photovoltaic applications