Device for recombing hydrogen and oxygen released in lead-acid storage batteries

摘要

A device for recombining hydrogen and oxygen released in maintenance-free lead-acid storage batteries as well as their electrochemical conversion is composed of electrodes employed in a stack enveloped in a sheath of microporous material with the individual electrodes also being separated by such material. The device may be employed in sealed storage batteries when connected through a diode to the negative pole of a cell of the battery. A stack of electrodes may be divided in two parts, one part connected through a diode to the negative pole and the other part connected through a diode and a resistor to the positive pole, at which time the device is immersed partially in the electrolyte of the cell. The electrodes contains a catalyst from a combination of tungsten carbide and the active or activate carbon and a polymeric binder on a support grid of lead or lead alloy, the catalyst/binder mixture having been pressed onto the support grid or forming two layers situated at the surfaces of the electrode. Between these two catalytic layers a third layer composed of carbon black and binder, and containing the support grid, is situated.