In July, l986, a high-voltage nickel-hydrogen battery was assembled at the NASA Lewis Research Center. This battery incorporated bipolar construction techniques to build a 50-cell stack with approximately 1.0 A-hr capacity (C) and an open-circuit voltage of 65 V. The battery was characterized at both low and high current rates prior to pulsed and nonpulsed discharges. Pulse discharges at 5 and 10 C were performed before placing the battery on over 1400, 40% depth-of-discharge, low-earth-orbit cycles. The successful demonstration of a high-voltage bipolar battery in one containment vessel has advanced the technology to where nickel-hydrogen high-voltage systems can be constructed of several modules instead of hundreds of individual cells

Cataldo, Russell L.

Gahn, Randall F.

Gemeiner, Russel P.

Gonzalez-Sanabria, Olga

Manzo, Michelle A.

English

NASA Technical Reports Server

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i 
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NASA Technical Memorandum 89927 
AIAA-87-9262 
Test Results of a 60 Volt Bipolar 
Nickel-Hydrogen Battery 
(bASA-TB-83927) !IES% R k S L L l S  CE A 60 VCLX N8 7- 2 4 0 29 
E I E O L A R  N I C K E I - E Y L l i G G E B  E 1 1 T E 6 Y  (NASA) 7 p 
A v a i l :  NTIS bC IC;Z/HF A 0 1  C S C L  1oc 
Unclas 
H1/44 00797 10 
Russell L. Cataldo, Olga Gonzalez-Sanabria, Randall F. Gahn, 
Michelle A. Manzo, and Russel P. Gemeiner 
Lewis Research Center 
Cleveland, Ohio 
Prepared for the 
22nd Intersociety Energy Conversion Engineering Conference 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, August 10- 14, 1987 
f cosponsored by the AIAA, ANS, ASME, SAE, IEEE, ACS, and AIChE 
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19870014596 2020-03-20T11:00:59+00:00Z
TEST RESULTS OF A 60 VOLT BIPOLAR NICKEL-HYDROGEN BATTERY 
Robert L. Cataldo, Olga Gonzalez-Sanabria, Randall  F. Gahn, 
M i c h e l l e  A. Manzo, and Russel P. Gemeiner 
Nat ional  Aeronautics and Space Admin i s t ra t i on  
Lewi s Research Center 
Cleveland, Ohio 44135 
SUMMARY 
F 
m 
9 
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w 
4 
I n  Ju ly ,  1986 a h igh  vo l tage nickel-hydrogen b a t t e r y  was assembled a t  t he  
NASA Lewis Research Center. This ba t te ry  incorporated b i p o l a r  c o n s t r u c t i o n  
techniques t o  b u i l d  a 50 c e l l  stack w i t h  approximately 1.0 A-hr capac i t y  ( C )  
and an open c i r c u i t  vo l tage o f  65 V.  The b a t t e r y  was cha rac te r i zed  a t  both 
l o w  and h igh  c u r r e n t  r a t e s  p r i o r  t o  pulsed and nonpulsed discharges. Pulse 
discharges o f  5 and 10 C were performed before p l a c i n g  t h e  b a t t e r y  on over 
1400, 40 percent depth-of-discharge, l ow-ea r th -o rb i t  cyc les.  The successful  
demonstrat ion o f  a h igh  vo l tage b i p o l a r  b a t t e r y  i n  one containment vessel has 
advanced t h e  technology t o  where nickel-hydrogen h igh  vo l tage  systems can be 
const ructed o f  several  modules instead o f  hundreds o f  i n d i v i d u a l  c e l l s .  
INTRODUCTION 
B i p o l a r  nickel-hydrogen b a t t e r i e s  t h a t  have been p r e v i o u s l y  const ructed 
a t  NASA Lewis and by Lewis Contractors have had a maximum o f  10 c e l l s .  A l t e r -  
n a t i v e l y ,  h igher  vo l tage b a t t e r y  designs were addressed because an o p p o r t u n i t y  
f o r  a f l i g h t  b a t t e r y  was presented t o  t h e  Energy Storage Branch, which has 
pioneered t h e  m a j o r i t y  o f  e f f o r t s  i n  the  b i p o l a r  nickel-hydrogen area. This 
miss ion requ i red  a 480 V b a t t e r y  w i t h  pu l se  discharge c a p a b i l i t i e s  and r e l a -  
t i v e l y  s h o r t  c y c l e  l i f e  (1000 cyc les) .  
m iss ion  scenar io  o f  several  7 day s h u t t l e  f l i g h t s  manifested two t o  t h r e e  t imes 
d u r i n g  a 6 year per iod.  
r e q u i r e d  a maximum o f  e i g h t  modules, o r  approximately 60 V pe r  vessel. 
The c y c l e  l i f e  was de r i ved  f rom the  
B a t t e r y  volume and f o o t p r i n t  were design d r i v e r s  t h a t  
The SEPAC (Space Experiments wi th  P a r t i c l e  Accelerators)  experiment had 
f l own  on Space Lab I aboard STS-9 i n  1984. The b a t t e r y  used f o r  t h a t  f l i g h t  
was a 4.0 A-hr, nickel-cadmium, 320 c e l l  b a t t e r y  pack. A ma l func t i on ing  com- 
p u t e r  severe ly  l i m i t e d  experiment operat ion t o  on l y  two t e s t s .  When t h e  
re tu rned  b a t t e r y  was inspected, leak ing te rm ina ls  were found, p rec lud ing  t h e  
b a t t e r y  f rom f u r t h e r  serv ice.  Another b a t t e r y  was b u i l t  w i t h  redesigned t e r -  
minal  seals,  however, i t s  age w i l l  be i n  excess o f  7 years when SEPAC i s  mani- 
f e s t e d  again i n  1991. 
Discussions were c a r r i e d  out  t o  d e f i n e  how NASA Lewis might  h e l p  upgrade 
A b ipo la r  nickel-hydrogen b a t t e r y  was consid- t h e  exper iment 's power system. 
ered an i d e a l l y  s u i t e d  technology for t h i s  a p p l i c a t i o n  f o r  severa l  reasons: 
(1) 320 c e l l  cans would be replaced by e i g h t  vessels, ( 2 )  pu l se  discharges 
r e q u i r e d  about 16 A ( h i g h  r a t e  f o r  4 A-hr), (3 )  low cyc le  l i f e  mission, and 
( 4 )  f a s t  recharge and deep discharge c a p a b i l i t y  compared t o  t h e  nickel-cadmium 
b a t t e r y .  
Therefore, SEPAC experiment requirements were  used as a g u i d e l i n e  i n  
e s t a b l i s h i n g  t h e  t e s t  cond i t i ons .  
assemble a 50 c e l l  b a t t e r y  stack t o  determine b a t t e r y  performance r e l a t i n g  t o  
The 40 c e l l  module prov ided d i r e c t i o n  t o  
pu lse  discharging, cyc le  l i f e ,  se l f -d ischarge,  and anomalous behavior. The 
b a t t e r y  was constructed w i t h  hardware Ilon-hand" a t  t h e  t ime. 
could accommodate a 2 by 2 i n .  e lect rode,  which r e l a t e s  t o  a capac i t y  o f  
1.0 A-hr. 
was n o t  considered as a problem because b i p o l a r  designs a r e  e a s i l y  scaled w i t h  
on l y  mlnor design changes. 
The hardware 
The scale-up d i f f e r e n c e  o f  t h e  t e s t  b a t t e r y  t o  t h e  f l i g h t  b a t t e r y  
BATTERY DESIGN 
Timely v e r i f i c a t i o n  o f  a h igh  vo l tage  b a t t e r y  precluded any spec ia l  design 
e f f o r t .  For tunate ly ,  a q u a n t i t y  o f  c e l l  and b a t t e r y  components were on hand 
t o  cons t ruc t  a b a t t e r y  o f  t he  requ i red  vo l tage  w i t h o u t  procurement o r  f a b r i c a -  
t i o n  delays. 
edge coated w i t h  Tef lon,  which had been shown t o  i n h i b i t  o r  prevent  shunt cur-  
r e n t s  and eventual e l e c t r o l y t e  t r a n s f e r  ( r e f .  2). However, c o n s t r u c t i o n  pro- 
ceeded as planned under t h e  assumption t h a t  performance r e s u l t s  would p rov ide  
a "worst  case" s i t u a t i o n  regard ing shunt cu r ren ts .  C e r t a i n  d e l i b e r a t e  d i f f e r -  
ences i n  c e l l  t o  c e l l  components e x i s t e d  which might have compromised b a t t e r y  
l e v e l  r e s u l t s ,  but  would n o t  a f f e c t  t he  pr imary goal  o f  v e r i f y i n g  h i g h  vo l tage  
operat ion.  Spec l f i c  d e t a l l s  o f  t h e  design and c o n s t r u c t i o n  techniques a r e  
g iven i n  d e t a i l  i n  re ference 1, which descr ibes eva lua t i on  o f  t he  var ious 
design d i f ferences a l s o  evaluated i n  t h i s  b a t t e r y .  
The b i p o l a r  p l a t e s  a v a i l a b l e  f o r  t i m e l y  c o n s t r u c t i o n  were n o t  
TEST PLAN 
The b a t t e r y  discharge power p r o f i l e  used f o r  t e s t i n g  t h e  b a t t e r y  was pa t -  
terned a f t e r  the a n t i c i p a t e d  s h u t t l e  experiment load p r o f i l e .  This p r o f i l e  
cons is ted o f  pulse sequences o f  e i t h e r  1.0 sec on, 4.0 sec o f f ,  o r  5.0 sec on, 
20 sec o f f ,  w i t h  equal p r o b a b i l i t y  o f  o c c u r r i n g  f o r  a d u r a t i o n  o f  5 min. A 
s e t  o f  5.0 min r e p e t i t i o n s ,  c a l l e d  f u n c t i o n a l  ob jec t i ves ,  could occur a maxi- 
mum o f  t h ree  t i m e s  du r ing  the  30 min dark p o r t i o n  o f  t h e  s h u t t l e  o r b i t .  The 
power l e v e l  requirements t r a n s l a t e s  t o  approximately a 20 A discharge, which 
was about a 5 C d ischarge r a t e  on the  4.0 A-hr f l i g h t  b a t t e r y .  When t h r e e  
f u n c t i o n a l  ob ject ives a re  se lected d u r i n g  one o r b i t  a "worst-case" depth-of- 
d ischarge (DOD) would be 25 percent o r  1 A-hr. Nine f u n c t i o n a l  o b j e c t i v e s  
could be accomplished before recharging a t  75 percent  DOD. 
The t e s t  plan consisted o f  constant c u r r e n t  c h a r a c t e r i z a t i o n ,  pu l se  t e s t s ,  
and 40 percent DOD low-ear th-orb i t  c y c l i n g .  The discharge r a t e s  used f o r  t h e  
b a t t e r y  t e s t s  dupl icated the  f l i g h t  b a t t e r y ' s  p r o j e c t e d  load requirements. I n  
a d d i t i o n ,  open c i r c u i t  stand per lods were performed t o  determine when and i f  
shunt cu r ren ts  developed. 
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 
Fol lowing b a t t e r y  assembly and i n s e r t i o n  i n t o  the  t e s t  chamber, t h ree  
i n i t i a l i z a t i o n  cycles a t  0.15 A a t  a 16 h r  charge and a 0.75 A d ischarge were 
performed. The capaci ty  removed, t o  a c u t o f f  o f  40 V, was 0.85 A-hr. Dur ing 
subsequent cycles b a t t e r y  capac i t y  increased t o  about 1.0 A-hr, which was 
designated as t h e  b a t t e r y  capac i t y  ( C )  subsequently used f o r  determin ing d i s -  
charge ra tes .  
Character izat ion t e s t s  were performed t o  generate a f a m i l y  of d ischarge 
curves r e l a t i n g  b a t t e r y  capac i t y  t o  c u r r e n t  r a t e s .  F igu re  1 d i s p l a y s  t h i s  
r e l a t i o n s h i p  f o r  d ischarge r a t e s  o f  0.25 A, (C/4), 0.50 A, ( C / 2 ) ,  1.0 A, ( C ) ,  
2 
2.0 A, (2C),  5.0 A, (5C) ,  and 10 A, (1OC); c a p a c i t i e s  removed t o  a 40 V l i m i t  
were 1.06, 1.05, 1.03, 1.0, 0.76, and 0.30 A-hr, r e s p e c t i v e l y .  F igu re  2 d l s -  
p lays b a t t e r y  discharge capaci ty  u t i l i t y  f a c t o r  ( c a p a c i t y  removed a t  var ious 
r a t e s  as a percent o f  r a t e d  capac i t y )  as a f u n c t i o n  o f  d ischarge r a t e ,  normal- 
i z e d  a t  t he  1.0 A r a t e .  This curve depic ts  p ro jec ted  u t i l i t y  o f  t h e  b a t t e r y ' s  
capaci ty  a t  var ious discharge ra tes .  
Pulse discharges were performed a t  both 5.0 and 10.0 A. Timing regimes 
o f  1.0 sec on 4.0 sec o f f  and 5.0 sec on, 20 sec o f f  were used t o  evaluate 
pu lse performance. There was no e f f e c t  on pu lse  discharge capac i t y  as a func- 
t i o n  of these pulse sequences. However, an increase i n  b a t t e r y  capac i t y  u t i l -  
i t y  was observed a t  both the 5.0 and 10.0 A pu l se  discharge r a t e s  compared t o  
the  equ iva len t  nonpulsed ra tes .  The greatest  increase was seen i n  t h e  10.0 A 
r a t e ,  A t  t h i s  ra te ,  a t h r e e - f o l d  increase i n  d e l i v e r e d  capac i t y  was observed 
and i s  shown i n  f i g u r e s  1 and 2 f o r  comparison t o  t h e  nonpulsed discharges. 
Only a 1 5  percent  Increase i n  capaci ty was seen i n  comparing 5.0 A pulsed t o  
nonpulsed discharges. Several explanations can be o f f e r e d  f o r  t h i s  observa- 
t ion :  ( 1 )  t h e  more severe 10.0 A r a t e  depletes a g rea te r  amount o f  ions i n  
the  e lec t rode  pores, thus t h e  r e l a x a t i o n  t i m e  a l lows e l e c t r o l y t e  concen t ra t i on  
gradients  t o  equal ize i n  t h e  t h i c k  e lect rode (40 m i l s )  and ( 2 )  more hydrogen 
gas f l o w s  i n t o  the  e lec t rode  gas c a v i t y  d u r i n g  the  r e l a x a t i o n  pe r iod ,  thus 
ma in ta in ing  a h igher  discharge voltage. F igure 3 shows a t y p i c a l  b a t t e r y  d i s -  
charge vo l tage  response t o  a 1.0 sec on 4.0 sec o f f  5.0 A pu lse sequence. The 
vo l tage p r o f i l e  i s  t y p i c a l  f o r  b i p o l a r  nickel-hydrogen b a t t e r i e s  under pu lse 
discharge load. However, a number o f  t he  more r e s i s t i v e  c e l l s  were observed 
going negat ive which probably caused a decrease i n  a v a i l a b l e  capaci ty .  
Temperatures were a l s o  recorded I n  t h i s  pass i ve l y  cooled b a t t e r y .  The 
s t a i n l e s s  s t e e l  vessel was a t  ambient room temperature o f  23 "C. The heat 
removal mechanism was conduct ion and convection v i a  the  hydrogen gas (200 p s i ) .  
The d i s tance  between t h e  b a t t e r y  and the vessel w a l l  was about 7 i n .  (18 cm), 
which presented a poor heat f l o w  path. F igure 4 shows b a t t e r y  temperature 
increases f o r  var ious constant current  discharges. Reasonable temperatures 
were maintained up t o  the  1.0 A discharge r a t e ,  b u t  h igher  discharge r a t e s  
r e s u l t e d  i n  temperatures above 40 "C. 
Open c i r c u i t  stand t e s t s  ranging from about 60 h r  t o  several  weeks were 
performed p e r i o d i c a l l y  t o  determine i f  any e l e c t r o l y t e  b r i d g i n g  had occurred. 
Normal losses o f  30 percent i n  capaci ty were observed d u r i n g  t h e  3 day stands. 
During stand t imes l a s t i n g  a week o r  more, b a t t e r y  vo l tage  dropped from 65 t o  
40 V, i n d l c a t i n g  t h a t  perhaps some e l e c t r o l y t e  f i l m s  had developed across the 
noncoated b i p o l a r  p l a t e s  causing p a r a s i t i c  l o s s e s  i n  the  form o f  shunt cu r ren ts  
i n  a f f e c t e d  c e l l s .  
Charge/discharge c y c l e  t e s t s  were done t o  e s t a b l i s h  a l i f e  t ime and per- 
formance p r e d i c t i o n  f o r  a h igh  vol tage b i p o l a r  b a t t e r y .  
h a l f  hour discharge regime was used I n  these t e s t s  t o  s imulate p r o j e c t e d  m i s -  
s i o n  operat ions.  
40 percent  DOD. 
expected c y c l e  l i f e  of t h e  mission. 
components of t he  var ious c e l l  groups r a t h e r  than f u r t h e r  c y c l i n g .  
o f  t h e  a n a l y s i s  i s  repor ted i n  reference 1. 
p o r t i o n  of t h e  t e s t i n g .  
was observed. 
o f  asbestos separator, w h i l e  c e l l s  w i th  z i r c o n i a  c l o t h  separators e x h i b i t e d  
A one hour charge and 
A discharge r a t e  o f  0.8 A r e s u l t e d  i n  removing 0.4 A-hr o r  
Cyc l i ng  continued for 1500 cycles,  which exceeded t h e  t o t a l  
F igu re  5 summarizes t h e  c y c l i n g  
A d e c i s i o n  was made t o  analyze i n d i v i d u a l  
The r e s u l t s  
A steady dec l i ne  i n  end o f  d ischarge b a t t e r y  vo l tage 
This d e c l i n e  was p r i m a r i l y  seen i n  c e l l s  c o n t a i n i n g  two laye rs  
3 
l i t t l e  vo l tage  degradation. I t  was hypothesized t h a t  d r y  separators  caused 
the  d e c l i n e  and the re fo re  e l e c t r o l y t e  was added t o  th ree  c e l l s  o f  t h e  f i v e  
c e l l  asbestos group. The th ree  c e l l s  s i g n i f i c a n t l y  improved i n c r e a s l n g  b a t -  
t e r y  vo l tage  by about 4 . 0  V and recover ing  most o f  the  vo l tage  degradat ion.  
CONCLUSIONS 
A successful demonstrat ion o f  a h i g h  vo l tage b i p o l a r  nickel-hydrogen ba t -  
t e r y  was accomplished. 
requirements could be s a t i s f i e d  w i t h  a gener ic  design. 
a n t i c i p a t e d  by se lec t i ng  t h e  optimum combination o f  c e l l  components and a spe- 
c i f i c  des ign f o r  t he  miss ion.  Shunt cu r ren ts ,  i f  present ,  d i d  n o t  l i m i t  c y c l e  
opera t ion ;  however, e l e c t r o l y t e  t r a n s f e r  can occur over t ime and hydrophobic 
t reatment  t o  c e r t a i n  components should e l i m i n a t e  t h i s  problem. 
The pu lse  and c y c l e  performance showed t h a t  miss ion  
Improvements cou ld  be 
REFERENCES 
1. Manzo, M.A.,  Gahn, R.F., Gonzalez-Sanabria, O . D . ,  Cataldo, R.L., and 
Gemeiner, R . ,  "Component Va r ia t i ons  and The i r  E f f e c t s  on B i p o l a r  
Nickel-Hydrogen C e l l  Performance," A I A A  Paper 87-9260, NASA TM-89907, 
Aug. 1987 ( t o  be presented a t  t he  22nd I E C E C ) .  
2. Cataldo, R.L., " L i f e  Cycle Test Resul ts  o f  a B i p o l a r  Nickel-Hydrogen Bat-  
t e ry , "  Energy-for t he  Twenti-JFirst Century (20 th  IECEC) ,  Vol .  1, SAE, 
Warrendale, P A ,  pp. 1.346-1.351. 
8o r 
1 OA 10ACP) 5A 5A(P)  2A 'LIA 
30 
.2 .4 .6 .8  1.0 1.2 
CAPACITY. AMP-HR 
FIGURE 1. - BATTERY DISCHARGE CAPACITY VERSUS DISCHARGE 
RATE. 
4 
125 
100 
M 
+ 75 t 
;1 
I- a 
50 
5 
25 
0 
- 
PULSED 
- 
- 
I 
5 10 
DISCHARGE CURRENT. A 
FIGURE 2. - PERCENT CAPACITY U T I L I T Y  VERSUS DISCHARGE 
CURRENT. 
110 
L L  
- 100  
I 
TIME,  HR 
FIGURE 4 .  - BATTERY DISCHARGE TEMPERATURE FOR VARIOUS 
NONPULSED DISCHARGES. 
8o r OPEN C I R C U I T  
W 
A D M D  ELECTROLYTE 
TO 4 CELLS 
4 8 12 16 
CYCLE NUMBER, HUNDREDS 
FIGURE 5. - BATTERY END OF DISCHARGE VOLTAGE (40 PER- 
CENT DOD LEO REGIME) VERSUS CYCLE NUMBER. 
5 
Test Results of a 60 Volt Bipolar Nickel-Hydrogen 
Battery 
I. Report No. NASA TM-89927 
A I AA- 87 -9 262 
2. Government Accession No. 3. Recipient's Catalog No. 
506-41 -21 
4. Title and Subtitle 
I 
7. Author@) 8. Performing Organization Report No. 
5. Report Date 
Robert L. Cataldo, Olga Gonzalez-Sanabria, 
Randall F.  Gahn, Michelle A. Manzo, and 
Russel P. Gemeinerf 
E-3631 
9. Performing Organization Name and Address 
11. Contract or Grant No. National Aeronautics and Space Administration 
Lewis Research Center 
Cleveland, Ohio 44135 13. Type of Report and Period Covered 
2. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address Technical Memorandum 
National Aeronautics and Space Administration 
Washington, D.C. 20546 14. Sponsoring Agency Code  
I 
5. Supplementary Notes 
Prepared for the 22nd Intersociety Energy Conversion Engineering Conference, 
cosponsored by the AIAA, ANS, ASHE, SAE, IEEE, ACS, and AIChE, Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania, August 10-14, 1987. 
6. Abstract 
In July, 1986 a high voltage nickel-hydrogen battery was assembled at the NASA 
Lewis Research Center. 
niques to build a 50 cell stack with approximately 1 .O A-hr capacity (C) and an 
open circuit voltage of 6 5  V. 
high current rates prior to pulsed and nonpulsed discharges. Pulse discharges 
of 5 and 10 C were performed before placlng the battery on over 1400, 40 percent 
depth-of-discharge, low-earth-orbit cycles. The successful demonstration of a 
high voltage bipolar battery in one containment vessel has advanced the tech- 
nology to where nickel-hydrogen high voltage systems can be constructed of sev- 
eral modules instead of hundreds of individual cells. 
This battery incorporated bipolar construction tech- 
The battery was characterized at both low and 
7. Key Words (Suggested by Author(@) 18. Distribution Statement 
High voltage; Nickel-hydrogen; 
Batteries; Bipolar construction STAR Category 44 
Unclassified - unlimited 
3. Security Ciassif. (of this report) 20. Security Ciaasif. (of this page) 21. No. of p g o s  22. Prlce' 
Unclassi f 3 ed Unclassif led 6 / A02 
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Test results of a 60 volt bipolar nickel-hydrogen battery

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