Continuous grid production

Fig. 13.21. Expanded-metal grid ribbon used for continuous plate production of automotive batteries.

General scheme of the most common methods for continuous grid and plate production. 

Expanded metal grid strip used for continuous plate production in the automotive battery... 

Contemporary continuous grid- and plate-manufacturing processes are highly improved and use optimized grid designs and fuUy automated machines and production lines. 

Principle of grid production by continuous electroforming and strip galvanizing process. The structured cylinder (shown in insert), the strip passing through the equipment and the upper system of rolls form the cathode. The bold lines indicate the anodes [100]. 

There is no doubt that the continuous grid/plate production technology is most convenient for the manufacture of standard plates for SLI batteries and will certainly compete with the existing casting methods. However, the latter will preserve positions in the battery industry, provided the process is sufficiently flexible with regard to grid size/geometry. 

Plug Power (USA) is producing a range of PEM-based products for the UPS market. Included in these is a unit for primary off-grid power. A recent financial filing of the company did state that it was also developing additional products, including a continuous power product, with optional... 

The third major grid production method is circumferential continuous casting onto a mold cut into the surface of a drum. Successful high-speed production of up to 150 grids per minute has been reported. Continuous-cast grids are not symmetrical about a central planar axis and need to be overpasted to hold the active material in place. 

Boundary conditions are 5T/0n = 0 (n is the normal to interface surface) on the gas-solid interface and on the symmetry lines as far as on the external wall surface (for case of channel with heat production in the wall) continuity both of heat flux and temperature on solid-liquid interface and the continuity of temperature on gas-liquid interface. Gauss-Zeidel iterative procedure has been used to solve the heat problem numerically. We used a non-uniform grid pattern near the vapor-liquid interface for higher computational accuracy. 

The emphasis on production of pure plutonium for weapons continued throughout the Cold War period. The successful control of the chain reaction to power submarines to cruise underwater for weeks rather than hours for the diesel-electric powered substitutes opened up a new option. The contractors that built the nuclear reactors and steam turbines for submarines also served the electric power utilities. Extension of this nuclear technology to domestic electric power production was obvious. President Eisenhower s Atoms for Peace initiative in 1954 opened the way for the nuclear power plants that followed that currently supply about 20% of the electric power to the U.S. power grid. 

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