Progress in the development of 5.5 inch nickel-hydrogen battery cells

A series of 5.5 inch diameter nickel-hydrogen battery cells is being developed and tested at Eagle-Picher Technologies. These individual pressure vessel (IPV) designs are larger in diameter from the more commonly found 3.5 inch design, but provide capacities which exceed the limits of the smaller diameter cells. The current series of Eagle-Picher designs include cells capable of capacities from 100 Ah to 375 Ah. Life tests at Eagle-Picher are in process, and current results are available, demonstrating nominal performance after 6000 cycles on two designs, and nominal performance after 9200 cycles for another of the designs. Several of the 350 Ah cells have been provided to and are being evaluated at a customer's facility. Progress in the area of manufacturing and testing is described in this presentation.