Increasing material utilization of lead-acid batteries using BPI technology

The lead-acid battery technology developed at Bipolar Power International (BPI) is the outcome of its 10 years of research work in developing bipolar lead-acid batteries. This work has resulted in new paste compositions for both positive and negative plates, which provide higher material utilization and better capacity-maintenance during cycling. The new positive paste is water-based using a pre-sulfated lead compound, with a conductive additive which improves the charge efficiency during formation. The negative paste is also water-based paste, using a pre-sulfated lead compound, and has a modified expander to improve formation efficiency. The material utilization efficiencies of both negative and positive active mass as obtained from the bipolar work are described. An initial experiment using this new paste on grid-type plates in a 12V/26Ah battery has demonstrated significant performance improvement over an identical commercial battery. Simplification and improvement of VRLA manufacturing processes also appear possible using the BPI paste.