Alternative energy company Power Technology, Inc., Houston, TX, (OTCBB: PWTC.OB) announced that it has begun the manufacturing of its patented current collectors in its new pilot plant. The plant has successfully manufactured reticulated vitreous carbon onto which a custom designed plating system applies a lead tin alloy to create patented current collectors for use in the company’s advanced batteries. They had previously received formal written notice from the United States Patent and Trademark Office of the Allowability of a Patent for its core battery technology. Joey Jung, Chief Technology Officer of Power Technology, is an inventor and developer of the technology.
The Power Technology battery is claimed to have the following advantages:
4 times greater surface area for electroplates
60-68% efficiency (compared to 30-40% for conventional batteries)
30-50% smaller and lighter
Environment friendly - Uses significantly less lead then typical lead-acid batteries
Recharge quickly at any standard household outlet
Utilizes same external case as conventional batteries
Can instantly increase energy output and replace conventional battery with no retrofitting of vehicle
These advantages are discussed on the Technology page of their website.
The manufacturing process to create a current collector includes manufacturing the reticulated vitreous carbon (“RVC”) plates, casting a top frame and tab, side frames and bottom frames on the individual RVC plates, depositing the lead tin alloy on the RVC plate by electroplating, applying battery paste onto the individual RVC plates, and curing them. Once this process has been completed, the individual plate is suitable for use as a current collector. The system is designed to permit production of 5000 reticulated vitreous carbon plates of 6 inches by 6 inches by 3 mm per month.
RVC is an electrically conductive, highly porous, rigid, open cell, pure carbon, foam structure with a high melting point, high chemical inertness, and low bulk thermal conductivity. RVC has an exceptionally high void volume (97%), a high surface area combined with self supporting rigidity, low resistance to fluid flow, an ability to hold infused materials, and superior resistance to very high temperatures in non-oxidizing environments.
A lead tin alloy is deposited by electrolysis on the pure carbon foam. In their current collector, the higher surface area and the shortened distance between the current collector wires and the active material particles, generate a higher utilization efficiency of the active material, which is a key parameter for the improvement of the lead-acid battery.
The company is in the early stages of commercializing its technology, and has designed equipment and systems to manufacture its patent pending batteries.
This technology seems very similar to the technology being developed by Firefly Batteries, earlier post.
Source : The Energy Blog
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