Performance characteristics of a gelled-electrolyte valve-regulated lead-acid battery

[摘要] 12 V/25 AH gelled-electrolyte valve-regulated lead-acid batteries have been assembled in-house and their performance studied in relation to the absorptive glass-microfibre valve-regulated and flooded-electrolyte counterparts at various discharge rates and temperatures between –40°C and 40°C. Although the performance of the gelled-electrolyte valve-regulated battery is similar to both the absorptive glass-microfibre valve-regulated and flooded-electrolyte lead-acid batteries at temperatures above 0°C, it is superior to both the flooded-electrolyte and absorptive glass-microfibre valve-regulated lead-acid batteries at temperatures between 0°C and -40°C. The latter characteristic is attractive for expanding the application regime of valve-regulated lead-acid batteries. The corrosion rate for the positive grids in the gelled-electrolyte is also lower than both the flooded-electrolyte and absorptive glass-microfibre configurations.

[学科分类] 材料工程

[关键词] Valve-regulated lead-acid (VRLA) batteries;Peukert plots;corrosion.