An Electrochemical Generator Containing Cylindrical Aluminum-Air Cells

The article considers matters concerned with optimizing the design and technology of aluminum-air electrochemical generators for emergency and backup power supply to different consumers. The physicochemical principles used to construct such generators are briefly described. Owing to the absence of self-discharge in the energy storage mode, aluminum-air generators can remain in the waiting mode for a longer period of time as compared with electrochemical storage batteries or hydrogen-air fuel cells. The source is activated by adding water to it. To obtain better specific parameters of aluminum-air cells and improve their manufacturability, a cylindrical cell design is proposed. One-off cells and a battery have been developed, fabricated, and tested. The obtained results are compared with the data from testing a battery and cells having a flat design. The possibility of obtaining essentially better specific characteristics due to making a shift to a cylindrical design is shown. Owing to the proposed design, more efficient use of aluminum has been achieved along with simplifying the system for maintaining the thermal balance of the cell and battery. The article presents the results from testing a single aluminum-air cell and a four-cell battery, which showed the need to adjust the concentration of electrolyte in cells and batteries of this type. The obtained data are compared with the results from tests of previously fabricated aluminum-air elements of the classical flat design. For determining the prospects for using generators of this type, their technical and economic characteristics were compared with those of the main competing sources of emergency and backup power supply, including lead-acid and lithium-ion storage batteries, and with hydrogen-air electrochemical generators. The characteristic time of power source operation and the frequency of its coming into action for which the use of aluminum-air electrochemical generators is economically justified are determined, and recommendations on extending the range of these parameters are given.