Sodium-Beta Batteries

Refs. [i] Julien C (1997) Solid state batteries. In Gettings PJ, Bouwmeester HJM (eds) The CRC handbook of solid state electrochemistry. CRC Press, Boca Raton, pp 374-410 [ii] Braithwaite [W, Auxer WL (2002) Sodium-beta batteries. In Linden D, Reddy TB (eds) Handbook of batteries, 3rd edn. McGraw-Hill, New York, pp 40.00-40.31... 

The U.S. DOE, as a major participant in the USABC and PNGV programs, has been working to address infinstructure barriers to the commercial acceptance of EVs since the early 1990s. As an outgrowth of a workshop held in 1991 on sodium-beta batteries... 

P. Patil, G.L. Henriksen, D.R. Vissers, and C. Christianson, "Shipping, Use and Disposal/Recycle Considerations for the Sodium/Beta Batteries in EV Applications," presented at the DOE/EPRI Beta (Sodium/Sulfiir) Battery Workshop VIII, Chester, England, June 1990. 

The sodium/beta battery system includes designs based on either the sodium/sulfur or the sodium/metal chloride chemistries (see Chapter 40). The sodium/sulfur technology has been in development for over 30 years and multi-kW batteries are now being produced on a pilot plant scale for stationary energy storage applications. At least two 8 MW/40 MWh sodium/sulfur batteries have been put into service for utility load leveling by TEPCO in Japan. 

TABLE 40.3 Principle Sodium-Beta Battery Developers... 

FIGURE 40.6 Modem sodium-beta battery cells (a) 3 NGK sodium/sulfur cells (left to right—T4.1, T4.2, T5.1), and (h) an MES-DEA sodium/nickel-chloride cell (ML3). For reference, the dimensions of the largest NGK cell are 91 mm in diameter x 515 mm long while the MES ML3 cell is 36 mm square x 232 mm long. (Photographs courtesy of Tokyo Electric Power Company and NGK Insulators, Ltd. (a) and MES-DEA... 

FIGURE 40.18 Two sodium-beta batteries foUowing safety/abuse testing that was performed while the batteries were charged and at operating temperature (a) an SPL HP sodium/sulfur battery dropped onto a steel pole, and (b) a Zebra battery after a steel beam was pushed through its mid-section (Photograph (b) is courtesy of MES-DEA SA). 

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