摘要 |
A battery charge indicator is permanently incorporated into a battery to indicate the state of charge. In one embodiment, the indicator includes a compressible chamber which is filled with a viscous gel and which is exposed to the expandable cathode of the battery. As the battery discharges, the cathode expands thus causing the gel within the chamber to be extruded out through an outlet into a viewing channel in an overlying disk. The amount of gel flowing into the viewing channel is proportional to the amount of expansion of the cathode and, thus, indicates the amount of discharge and, conversely, the remaining life of the battery. In a second embodiment, a piston assembly is caused to move with a deformable end wall of the battery and indicia on the side wall of the piston assembly is viewed through a lens as a measure of the remaining amount of expect expansion of the cathode. |