Reserve batteries lithium thionyl chloride

B. Ravid, A Reserve-Type Lithium-Thionyl Chloride Battery, Tadiran Israel Electronics Industries, 1979. 

Lithium-thionyl chloride cells are also constructed as reserve batteries... 

Operating Temperature Limits. Like most other batteries, the performance of liquid-electrolyte reserve batteries is affected by temperature. Military applications frequently demand battery operations at all temperatures between -40 and 60°C, with storage limits of -55 to 70°C. These requirements are routinely met by the lead/fluoboric acid/lead dioxide systems and, with some difficulty at the low-temperature end, by the lithium/thionyl chloride and zinc/potassium hydroxide/silver oxide systems. Provision is occasionally made to warm the electrolyte prior to the activation of the two latter systems. 

FIGURE 19.7 Quarter cross-sectional view of the cell stack of a lithium/thionyl chloride reserve battery. Courtesy of Alliant Power Sources Company.)... 

J. Nolting and N. A. Remer, Development and Manufacture of a Large Mirlticell Lithium-Thionyl Chloride Reserve Battery, Proc. 35th International Power Sources Symp., 1992. 

Eagle Picher also manufacture lithium-thionyl chloride reserve batteries. Three types of electrolyte reservoir configurations are available, as shown in Figure 24.9, with the following characteristics ... 

Reserve batteries Gas-activated lithium-thionyl chloride reserve batteries are now supplied by Eagle Picher. It will be recalled that Honeywell supply lithium-sulphur dioxide and lithium-thionyl chloride gas-activated reserve batteries. Some of the advantages claimed for this battery design concept are as follows ... 

The reserve configuration eliminates most safety concerns associated with lithium-thionyl chloride active batteries. 

No-load conditions can be safely tolerated by lithium-thionyl chloride reserve batteries. 

Eagle Picher develop and manufacture reserve batteries for a wide range of both military and aerospace applications. Eagle Picher lithium-thionyl chloride reserve batteries have found applications in mines, missiles, and re-entry vehicles where high-power, high energy density and multi-secdon, multi-tap configurations are required. 

Other suppliers of lithium-thionyl chloride cells include reserve type Yardney GJS), Philips USFA BV (Holland), Power Conversion Ltd (US), SAFT. Silberkraft, (Germany) and Sonnenschein, (Germany) active type Battery Enginccnng Co. (US), Crompton Eternaceil (UK), Electrochemical Industries (Japan), Hitachi Maxell (Japan), Power Conversion Ltd (US), Tadiram (Korea), Yardney (US) and Eveready (US). 

Lithium batteries use nonaqueous solvents for the electrolyte because of the reactivity of lithium in aqueous solutions. Organic solvents such as acetonitrile, propylene carbonate, and dimethoxyethane and inorganic solvents such as thionyl chloride are typically employed. A compatible solute is added to provide the necessary electrolyte conductivity. (Solid-state and molten-salt electrolytes are also used in some other primary and reserve lithium cells see Chaps. 15, 20, and 21.) Many different materials were considered for the active cathode material sulfur dioxide, manganese dioxide, iron disulfide, and carbon monofluoride are now in common use. The term lithium battery, therefore, applies to many different types of chemistries, each using lithium as the anode but differing in cathode material, electrolyte, and chemistry as well as in design and other physical and mechanical features. 

More recently, spin-dependent liquid-electrolyte reserve batteries employing lithium anodes have been developed. The most promising system is that in which thionyl chloride serves in the dual role of electrolyte carrier and active cathodic depolarizer (see Chap. 20). The accepted cell reaction for this system is... 

---