Abstract: An electrical system having a battery system and a control system. The battery system may include a first switching device, a first battery electrically coupled in series with the first switching device, a second battery electrically coupled in parallel with the first switching device and the first battery when the first switching device is in a closed position, and a second switching device coupled in series with a load. The control system may perform diagnostics on the battery system.

Abstract: The present disclosure relates generally to a battery module having a housing and a stack of battery cells disposed in the housing. Each battery cell has a battery cell terminal and a battery cell vent on an end of each battery cell, and the battery cell vent is configured to exhaust effluent into the housing. The battery module has a vent shield plate disposed in the housing and directly along an immediate vent path of the effluent, a first surface of the vent shield plate configured to direct the effluent to an opening between the shield plate and the housing, and a second surface of the vent shield plate opposite the first surface. The battery module also has a venting chamber coupled to the opening and at least partially defined by the second surface and a vent configured to direct the effluent out of the battery module.

Abstract: The present disclosure includes an automotive battery system that uses switching devices to increase operational performance and reliability. The battery system includes a battery cell, a primary switching device electrically coupled to a terminal of the battery cell, and a secondary switching device electrically coupled to the terminal of the battery cell and in parallel with the primary switching device. The primary switching device includes an electromechanical switching device that enables charging or discharging of the battery and generates a boosted voltage. A secondary switching device includes a solid-state switching device and a diode, electrically coupled in series, which detect short circuit conditions in a power-efficient manner and remove the short circuit condition by using the boosted voltage to actuate the armature.

Abstract: A battery system includes a housing configured to receive a battery cell, where the battery cell is configured to output thermal energy as a byproduct of electrical energy generation and/or consumption, a wall of the housing positioned proximate to the battery cell, and a plurality of fins extending from the wall, where the plurality of fins is configured to absorb thermal energy from the battery cell and dissipate the thermal energy to air, or a heat sink, or both, and where a fin of the plurality of fins comprises a channel configured to facilitate a flow of the air between the fin of the plurality of fins and an adjacent fin of the plurality of fins.

Abstract: A lead-acid battery is disclosed. The lead-acid battery has a container with a cover and includes one or more compartments. One or more cell elements are provided in the one or more compartments. The one or more cell elements comprise a positive electrode, the positive electrode having a positive substrate and a positive electrochemically active material on the positive substrate; a negative electrode, the negative electrode having a negative substrate and a negative active mass on the negative substrate, wherein the negative active mass comprises a leady oxide, a synthetic organic expander, a very fine particle barium sulfate, and plurality of conductive carbons; and an absorbent glass mat separator between the positive plate and the negative plate. Electrolyte is provided within the container. One or more terminal posts extend from the container or the cover and are electrically coupled to the one or more cell elements.

Abstract: The present disclosure relates generally to systems and methods for recycling lead-acid batteries, and more specifically, relates to purifying and recycling the lead content from lead-acid batteries. A system includes a reactor that receives and mixes a lead-bearing material waste, a carboxylate source, and a recycled liquid component to form a leaching mixture yielding a lead carboxylate precipitate. The system also includes a phase separation device coupled to the reactor, wherein the phase separation device isolates the lead carboxylate precipitate from a liquid component of the leaching mixture. The system further includes a closed-loop liquid recycling system coupled to the phase separation device and to the reactor, wherein the closed-loop liquid recycling system receives the liquid component isolated by the phase separation device and recycles a substantial portion of the received liquid component back to the reactor as the recycled liquid component.

Abstract: Present embodiments include a series of lithium battery modules having a plurality of electrochemical cells having different electrical characteristics such as voltages and/or capacities. The battery modules are each constructed using components, architectures, production methods, among other things, in common with each other. The lithium ion battery modules may include a first battery module type having a first capacity and a first voltage, a second battery module type having a second capacity and a second voltage, and, in some embodiments, additional battery module types (e.g., a third battery module type having a third capacity and a third voltage) having different voltages and/or capacities. The lithium ion battery modules may all have the same footprint.

Abstract: An electrochemical cell is provided. The electrochemical cell includes a positive electrode including a first lithium metal-based material, the first lithium metal-based material including one or more transition metal ions, and wherein the positive electrode has an operating voltage of 4.5 volts versus lithium metal potential or greater. The electrochemical cell also includes an electrolyte formed from ingredients comprising a solvent and lithium salt. The solvent includes at least one carbonic ester. The electrochemical cell further includes a negative electrode including a second lithium metal-based material, the second lithium metal-based material including one or more transition metal ions.

Abstract: Relays having internal connections on both sides of their switches may be used in conjunction with a connector that integrates both the normal relay switch control lines with the sensing conductors of a control module for a battery module of an energy storage device. In this manner, sensing conductors may be routed along with the switch control lines for the relay instead of separately as described above. This integration reduces the complexity and cost associated with the energy storage device, because it reduces the number of separately routed lines and also eliminates the external connections for at least some of the sensing conductors.

Abstract: A battery module includes a housing having an opening and an electrochemical cell disposed in the housing. The electrochemical cell includes a first cell surface having electrode terminals and an second cell surface substantially opposite the first cell surface. The battery module also includes a heat sink integral with the housing and a thermally conductive adhesive bonded to the second cell surface and a heat sink surface that is facing the second cell surface. The thermally conductive adhesive can include a bonding shear strength and bonding tensile strength between the electrochemical cell and the heat sink of between approximately 5 megaPascals (MPa) and 50 MPa.

Abstract: A lead-acid battery is disclosed. The lead-acid storage battery has a container with a cover, the container including one or more compartments. One or more cell elements are provided in the one or more compartments. The one or more cell elements include a positive plate, the positive plate having a positive grid and a positive electrochemically active material on the positive grid; a negative plate, the negative plate having a negative grid and a negative electrochemically active material on the negative grid, wherein the negative electrochemically active material comprises barium sulfate and an organic expander; and a separator between the positive plate and the negative plate. Electrolyte is provided within the container. One or more terminal posts extend, from the cover and are electrically coupled to the one or more cell elements.

Abstract: A battery system includes a lithium ion battery configured to couple to an electrical system, and a battery management system configured to electrically couple to the lithium ion battery and to control one or more recharge parameters of the lithium ion battery. The battery management system is programmed with an electrochemical model, and the battery management system is configured to monitor parameters of the lithium ion battery, and to control the one or more recharge parameters of the lithium ion battery based on the electrochemical model and the one or more monitored parameters. The electrochemical model determines lithium plating reaction kinetics at an anode of the lithium ion battery, determines a quantity of plated lithium at the anode of the lithium ion battery, or both, and indicates a relationship between the one or more monitored parameters and the lithium plating reaction kinetics, the quantity of plated lithium, or both.

Abstract: A system includes a vent housing configured to be installed on a lower housing of a battery module at a first side of the vent housing. The vent housing has a main body having an opening on a second side of the vent housing and an internal chamber coupled to the opening. The internal chamber includes a first wall having an internal burst vent configured to open at a first pressure threshold and a second wall having a ventilation vent comprising a gas-selective permeability layer.

Abstract: A battery plate assembly for a lead-acid battery is disclosed. The assembly includes a plates of opposing polarity each formed by an electrically conductive grid body having opposed top and bottom frame elements and opposed first and second side frame elements, the top frame element having a lug and an opposing enlarged conductive section extending toward the bottom frame element; a plurality of interconnecting electrically conductive grid elements defining a grid pattern defining a plurality of open areas, the grid elements including a plurality of radially extending vertical grid wire elements connected to the top frame element, and a plurality of horizontally extending grid wire elements, the grid body having an active material provided thereon. A highly absorbent separator is wrapped around at least a portion of the plate of a first polarity and extends to opposing plate faces. An electrolyte is provided, wherein substantially all of the electrolyte is absorbed by the separator or active material.

Abstract: A vent adapter for a lead-acid battery includes a first side configured to mate with a vent port of the lead-acid battery via a first connector having a first geometry; and a second side in fluid communication with the first side and configured to mate with a vent passage of an automobile via a second connector having a second geometry, wherein the first and second geometries have respective shapes that are different from one another.

Abstract: The present disclosure relates to methods by which lead from spent lead-acid batteries may be extracted, purified, and used in the construction of new lead-acid batteries. A method includes: (A) forming a mixture including a carboxylate source and a lead-bearing material; (B) generating a first lead salt precipitate in the mixture as the carboxylate source reacts with the lead-bearing material; (C) increasing the pH of the mixture to dissolve the first lead salt precipitate; (D) isolating a liquid component of the mixture from one or more insoluble components of the mixture; (E) decreasing the pH of the liquid component of the mixture to generate a second lead salt precipitate; and (F) isolating the second lead salt precipitate from the liquid component of the mixture. Thereafter, the isolated lead salt precipitate may be converted to leady oxide for use in the manufacture of new lead-acid batteries.

Abstract: An electrical storage device includes high surface area fibers (e.g., shaped fibers and/or microfibers) coated with carbon (graphite, expanded graphite, activated carbon, carbon black, carbon nanofibers, CNT, or graphite coated CNT), electrolyte, and/or electrode active material (e.g., lead oxide) in electrodes. The electrodes are used to form electrical storage devices such as electrochemical batteries, electrochemical double layer capacitors, and asymmetrical capacitors.

Abstract: A closed-loop system of tracking and managing the recycling and manufacturing a lead acid battery is described herein. The system includes collecting one or more used lead acid batteries, collecting data related to the one or more lead acid batteries, and processing the one or more lead acid batteries. Processing the one or more lead acid batteries includes separate the batteries into lead, polymer, acid, and separator components and isolate the components. The lead and polymer are then recycled, and data is collected related to the recycled lead and recycled polymer. A new lead acid battery is created using the recycled lead and the recycled polymer and provided to a point of sale location.

Abstract: The present disclosure provides a battery pack including a housing, wherein the housing has a bottom portion and side walls extending upward around a periphery of the bottom portion; an upper portion opening is formed at top ends of the side walls extending upward; an upper cover is mounted on the upper portion opening of the housing; and the battery pack comprises: multiple flat battery cells; and a first end plate and a second end plate, wherein when the multiple battery cells are sequentially arranged and mounted into the housing from the upper portion opening, the first end plate and the second end plate are located at two end sides of the sequentially arranged multiple battery cells to laterally fix the sequentially arranged multiple battery cells. The two end plates may absorb deformation of the battery cell while expanding.