Metal-air fuel cell battery system having means for bi-directionally transporting metal-fuel tape and managing metal-fuel available therealong

• US 6,410,174 B1
• Filed: 07/22/1998
• Issued: 06/25/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Reveo, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Reveo, Inc.
• Inventors: Faris, Sadeg M.
• Primary Examiner(s): KALAFUT, STEPHEN J
• Application Number:
  US09/120,583
• Time in Patent Office: 1,434 Days
• Field of Search: 429/13, 429/22, 429/27, 429/61, 429/68, 429/127
• US Class Current: 429/404
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/4214 Arrangements for moving electrodes or electrolyte
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/44 Methods for charging or discharging circuits for charging H02J7/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 12/06 with one metallic and one gaseous electrode
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 12/08 composed of a half-cell of a fuel-cell type and a half-cell of the secondary-cell type
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 2004/024 Insertable electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 2300/0085 Immobilising or gelification of electrolyte
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 4/42 Alloys based on zinc
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 4/8605 Porous electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 50/46 Separators, membranes or diaphragms characterised by their combination with electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 6/5011 for several cells simultaneously or successively
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 8/184 Regeneration by electrochemical means
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 8/186 by electrolytic decomposition of the electrolytic solution or the formed water product
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 8/22 Fuel cells in which the fuel is based on materials comprising carbon or oxygen or hydrogen and other elements; Fuel cells in which the fuel is based on materials comprising only elements other than carbon, oxygen or hydrogen
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00 Circuit arrangements for charging or depolarising batteries or for supplying loads from batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/10 Energy storage using batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/50 Fuel cells

Abstract

Disclosed is a metal-air fuel cell battery system, wherein metal-fuel tape can be transported through its discharging head assembly as well as its recharging head assembly in a bi-directional manner while the availability of metal-fuel therealong is automatically managed in order to improve the performance of the system.

Claims

1. A metal-air fuel cell battery system having a discharging mode of operation, comprising:

a supply of metal-fuel tape wound on a supply spindle and taken up on a take-up spindle, and having a plurality of zones predefined along the length of said metal-fuel tape, each zone representing at least a portion of the metal-fuel tape for having association with metal-fuel availability information;

power supply terminals for delivering to an electrical load electrical power generated from said supply of metal-fuel tape at a specified output voltage;

a discharging head assembly for producing electrical power from said supply of metal-fuel tape as said metal-fuel tape is transported through said discharging head assembly during said discharging mode of operation;

a bi-directional tape transport mechanism for transporting said metal-fuel tape through said discharging head assembly at a selected speed and direction relative to said discharging head assembly;

a metal-fuel determination mechanism for determining the availability of metal-fuel along said zones of metal-fuel tape during said discharging mode of operation; and

a programmed controller for controlling said bi-directional tape transport mechanism in response to said fuel determination mechanism.

2. The metal-air fuel cell battery of claim 1, wherein said bi-directional tape transport mechanism transports said metal-fuel tape is transported through said discharge head assembly at a speed and direction relative to said discharging head assembly that ensures that metal-fuel of sufficient quantity is present along said metal-fuel tape for use in generating electrical power across said power supply terminals.

3. The metal-air fuel cell battery system of claim 1, wherein said discharging head assembly comprises:

a cathode support structure supporting an electrically-conductive cathode element pervious to oxygen;

an anode-contacting structure supporting an electrically-conductive anode-contacting element for establishing electrical contact with said metal-fuel tape; and

an ionic medium for providing a source of ions between said electrically-conductive cathode element and electrically-conductive anode-contacting element associated with said discharging head assembly.

4. The metal-air fuel cell battery system of claim 3, wherein said bi-directional tape transport mechanism comprises means for transporting said metal-fuel tape past each said cathode support structure and said anode-contacting element, while said ionic medium is disposed between said metal-fuel tape and said electrically-conductive cathode element.

5. The metal-air fuel cell battery system of claim 1, wherein said supply spindle and said take-up spindle are driven by a motor.

6. The metal-air fuel cell battery system of claim 5, wherein said motor is an electric motor.

7. The metal-air fuel cell battery system of claim 1, wherein said supply of metal-fuel tape to be discharged comprises multiple metal-fuel tracks for use in generating different output voltages from said metal-air fuel cell battery system.

8. The metal-air fuel cell battery system of claim 1, wherein each said zone of metal-fuel predefined along the length of said metal-fuel tape is labeled with a digital code, through optical or magnetic means, for enabling the recording of discharge-related data and the computation of metal-fuel availability along said supply of metal-fuel tape during said discharging mode of operation.

9. The metal-air fuel cell battery system of claim 8, wherein said discharge-related data is recorded a memory storage device.

10. The metal-air fuel cell battery system of claim 9, wherein said memory storage device is operably connected to said programmed controller.

17. The metal-air fuel cell battery system of claim 1, wherein metal-fuel tape to be recharged comprises multiple metal-fuel tracks for use in generating different output voltages from said metal-air fuel-cell battery system.

11. A metal-air fuel cell battery system having a recharging mode of operation, comprising:

power supply terminals for receiving electrical power supplied from an electrical power supply at a specified input voltage;

a supply of metal-fuel tape wound on a supply spindle and taken up on a take-up spindle, and having a plurality of zones predefined along the length of said metal-fuel tape, each zone representing at least a portion of the metal-fuel tape for having association with metal-oxide presence information;

a recharging head assembly for receiving electrical power from said electrical supply as said metal-fuel tape is transported through said recharging head assembly during said recharging mode of operation;

a bi-directional tape transport mechanism for transporting said metal-fuel tape through said recharging head assembly at a selected speed and direction relative to said recharging head assembly;

a metal-oxide determination mechanism for determining the presence of metal-oxide along said zones of metal-fuel tape during said recharging mode of operation; and

a programmed controller for controlling said bi-directional tape transport mechanism in response to said metal-oxide determination mechanism.

12. The metal-air fuel cell battery of claim 11, wherein said bi-directional tape transport mechanism transports said metal-fuel tape through said recharge head assembly at a speed and direction relative to said recharging head assembly that ensures that metal-oxide of sufficient quantity is present along said metal-fuel tape for conversion into metal-fuel during said recharging mode of operation.

13. The metal-air fuel cell battery of claim 11, wherein said recharging head assembly comprises:

a cathode support structure supporting an electrically-conductive cathode element pervious to oxygen;

an anode-contacting structure supporting an electrically-conductive anode-contacting element for establishing electrical contact with said metal-fuel tape; and

an ionic medium for providing a source of ions between said electrically-conductive cathode element and electrically-conductive anode-contacting element associated with said recharging head assembly.

14. The metal-air fuel cell battery of claim 11, wherein said bi-directional tape transport mechanism comprises means for transporting said metal-fuel tape past said cathode support structure and said anode-contacting element, while said ionic medium is disposed between said metal-fuel tape and said electrically-conductive cathode element.

15. The metal-air fuel cell battery system of claim 11, wherein said supply spindle and said take-up spindle are driven by a motor.

16. The metal-air fuel cell battery system of claim 15, wherein said motor is an electric motor.

18. The metal-air fuel cell battery system of claim 11, wherein each zone of metal-fuel predefined along the length of said metal-fuel tape is labeled with a digital code, through optical or magnetic means, for enabling the recording of recharge-related data and the computation of metal-oxide presence along said supply of metal-fuel tape during recharging operations.

19. The metal-air fuel cell battery system of claim 18, wherein said recharge-related data is recorded a memory storage device.

20. The metal-air fuel cell battery system of claim 19, wherein said memory storage device is operably connected to said programmed controller.

21. A metal-air fuel cell battery system having a discharging mode of operation, comprising:

a tape transport mechanism for transporting metal-fuel tape through a discharging head assembly in a bi-directional manner; and

a metal-fuel management computer subsystem programmed for automatically managing the availability of metal-fuel along said metal-fuel tape in order to improve the performance of the system during said discharging mode of operation,

wherein said metal-fuel management computer subsystem comprises means for recording discharging-related data indicative of the discharging of metal-fuel along the length of said metal-fuel tape, and computing the availability of metal-fuel along said metal-fuel tape using said discharging-related data.

22. A metal-air fuel cell battery system having a recharging mode of operation, comprising:

a tape transport mechanism for transporting metal-fuel tape through a recharging head assembly in a bi-directional manner; and

a metal-oxide management computer subsystem programmed for automatically managing the presence of metal-oxide along said metal-fuel tape in order to improve the performance of the system during said recharging mode of operation,

wherein said metal-fuel management computer subsystem comprises means for recording recharging-related data indicative of the recharging of metal-fuel along the length of said metal-fuel tape, and computing the presence of metal-oxide along said metal-fuel tape using said discharging-related data.

23. A method of generating electrical power from a metal-air fuel cell battery system having a discharging mode of operation, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) supplying metal-fuel tape wound on a supply spindle and a take-up spindle, and having a plurality of zones predefined along the length of said metal-fuel tape;

(b) producing electrical power from said supply of metal-fuel tape as said metal-fuel tape is transported through a discharging head assembly during said discharging mode of operation;

(c) transporting said metal-fuel tape through said discharging head assembly at a selected speed and direction relative to said discharging head assembly;

(d) determining the availability of metal-fuel along said predefined zones of metal-fuel tape during said discharging mode of operation; and

(e) controlling said bi-directional tape transport in step (c) in response to said metal-fuel determination in step (d) so that metal-fuel tape is transported through said discharging head assembly at a speed and direction relative to said discharging head assembly that ensures that metal-fuel of sufficient quantity is present along said metal-fuel tape for use in generating electrical power from said metal-air fuel cell battery system.

24. A method of recharging metal-fuel tape using a metal-air fuel cell battery system having a recharging mode of operation, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) supplying metal-fuel tape wound on a supply spindle and a take-up spindle, and having a plurality of zones predefined along the length of said metal-fuel tape;

(b) receiving electrical power from an electrical supply as said metal-fuel tape is transported through a recharging head assembly during said recharging mode of operation;

(c) transporting said metal-fuel tape through said recharging head assembly at a selected speed and direction relative to said recharging head assembly;

(d) determining the presence of metal-oxide along said predefined zones of metal-fuel tape during said recharging mode of operation; and

(e) controlling said tape transport in step (c) in response to said metal-oxide determination in step (d) so that metal-fuel tape is transported through said recharging head assembly at a speed and direction relative to said recharging head assembly that ensures that metal-oxide of sufficient quantity is present along said metal-fuel tape for conversion into metal-fuel during said recharging mode of operation.