Efficient, high power battery module; D.C. transformers and multi-terminal D.C. power networks utilizing same

Claim 2

A high power battery module adapted for use in D.C. transformers and multiterminal D.C. power distribution systems based on such transformers, said module comprising: (a) a battery of series-connected, rechargeable cell units, said battery having an open circuit voltage (E oc ) of at least 400 volts and each of said cell units consisting of a single cell or a plurality of cells in parallel and being capable of maintaining an electrical efficiency of about 95% or more while being continuously cycled for a period of at least 1000 hours, from the open circuit voltate (e oc ) it has when fully charged to a lesser e oc , and back, at an average rate of at least 80 watts per pound of electrochemically reactive materials in the cell unit, said efficiency being defined as 100 (W o /W i ), where W o is the total watt-hours delivered by the unit and W i is the total watt-hours supplied to it, (b) an individual means associated with each of said cell units and adapted to respond automatically to development of an excessive load voltage across said cell unit by establishing a by-pass connection across it so that the series circuit through the battery is maintained, (c) individual fuse means connected one to one in series with each of said cells, (d) switching means operable by control signals to make or break a discharge circuit through said battery and to break or make a charging circuit through said battery, said switching means comprising two connect/disconnect switches and a solid state load breaker, one of said switches being connected directly to one of the poles of said battery and the other switch being connected to the other pole through said load breaker, (e) automatic monitoring means for determining the voltage across said battery and the current therethrough, the latter means being adapted to supply an output, characteristic of the magnitudes of said voltage and current, to a means for developing said control signals, when a latter such control means is connected to said monitoring means, (f) connecting means by which said switching and monitoring means can be connected to said control means.

Claim 3

A D.C. transformer comprising a plurality of high power battery modules and a control means, each of said modules comprising: (a) a battery of series-connected, rechargeable cell units, said battery having an open circuit voltage (E oc ) of at least 400 volts and each of said cell units consisting of a single cell or a plurality of cells in parallel and being capable of maintaining an electrical efficiency of about 95% or more while being continuously cycled for a period of at least 1000 hours, from the open circuit voltage (e oc ) it has when fully charged to a lesser e oc , and back, at an average rate of at least 80 watts per pound of electrochemically reactive materials in the cell unit, said efficiency being defined as 100 (W o /W i ), where W o is the total watt hours delivered by the unit and W i is the toal watt-hours supplied to it, (b) an individual means associated with each of said cell units and adapted to respond automatically to development of an excessive load voltage across said cell unit by establishing a by-pass connection across it so that the series circuit through the battery is maintained, (c) individual fuse means connected one to one in series with each of said cells, (d) switching means operable by control signals to make or break a discharge circuit through said battery and to break or make a charging circuit through said battery, said switching means comprising two connect/disconnect switches and a solid state load breaker, one of said switches being connected directly to one of the poles of said battery and the other switch being connected to the other pole through said load breaker, (e) automatic monitoring means for determining the voltage across said battery and the current therethrough, the latter means being adapted to supply an output, characteristic of the magnitudes of said voltage and current, to said control means, (f) connecting means connecting said monitoring and switching means to said control means, said modules being so interconnected with each other--through said switching means--and so connected with said control means--through said monitoring and connecting means, as to be operable as a self-regulating, D.C. step-up or step-down transformer having electrically separate primary and secondary circuit sections, one of said circuit sections comprising a plurality of short legs connected in parallel and the other comprising a plurality of long legs connected in parallel, each short leg comprising one of said modules or a plurality of same in series connection, the total number of the latter modules therein being x, and each long leg comprising a series string of N of said modules, the number of legs in each of said primary and secondary sections being at least equal to the ratio of the total current through the section to the maximum permissible current through the individual component cell units in said modules, said switching means being adapted so as to be able, upon receipt of said control signals, to: (a) disconnect one or more discharged secondary legs at a time and to subsequently connect the modules of which the latter legs consist to form at least one new leg for the primary and connect said new legs in the primary, (b) disconnect one or more old primary legs at a time and to subsequently connect the modules of which the latter legs consist to form at least one new secondary leg and connect said new secondary legs in the secondary, said control means being adapted to (1) determine, from the information provided by said monitoring means, what the open circuit voltage and internal resistance of each battery in the transformer is, (2) in accordance with said pre-established criteria, including the permissible internal volt-amperes losses, the relationship between e oc and ampere-hours capacity during charge and discharge of the cells of which the batteries are composed and the magnitude of the discharge current through the secondary, to determine when each of said legs should be taken off or put on discharge or charge, (3) to develop said control signals and to provide same, through said connecting means and at appropriate intervals, to said switching means, so that the batteries comprised in said short and long legs are repeatedly and alternately charged and discharged between preselected, higher and lower, open circuit voltages.

Claim 4

A D.C. transformer comprising a plurality of high power battery modules and a control means, each of said modules comprising: (a) a battery of series-connected, rechargeable cell units, said battery having an open circuit voltage (E oc ) of at least 400 volts and each of said cell units consisting of a single cell or a plurality of cells in parallel and being capable of maintaining an electrical efficiency of about 95% or more while being continuously cycled for a period of at least 1000 hours, from the open circuit voltage (e oc ) it has when fully charged to a lesser e oc , and back, at an average rate of at least 80 watts per pound of electrochemically reactive materials in the cell unit, said efficiency being defined as 100 (W o /W i ), where W o is the total watt hours delivered by the unit and W i is the toal watt-hours supplied to it, (b) an individual means associated with each of said cell units and adapted to respond automatically to development of an excessive load voltage across said cell unit by establishing a by-pass connection across it so that the series circuit through the battery is maintained, (c) individual fuse means connected one to one in series with each of said cells, (d) switching means operable by control signals to make or break a discharge circuit through said battery and to break or make a charging circuit through said battery, said switching means comprising two connect/disconnect switches and a solid state load breaker, one of said switches being connected directly to one of the poles of said battery and the other switch being connected to the other pole through said load breaker, (e) automatic monitoring means for determining the voltage across said battery and the current therethrough, the latter means being adapted to supply an output, characteristic of the magnitudes of said voltage and current, to said control means, (f) connecting means connecting said monitoring and switching means to said control means, said modules being so interconnected with each other--through said switching means--and so connected with said control means--through said monitoring and connecting means, as to be operable as a self-regulating, D.C. step-up or step-down transformer having electrically separate primary and secondary circuit sections, one of said circuit sections comprising a plurality of short legs connected in parallel and the other comprising a plurality of long legs connected in parallel, each short leg comprising one of said modules or a plurality of same in series connection, the total number of the latter modules therein being x, and each long leg comprising a series string of N of said modules, the number of legs in each of said primary and secondary sections being at least equal to the ratio of the total current through the section to the maximum permissible current through the individual component cell units in said modules, said switching means being adapted so as to be able, upon receipt of said control signals, to: (a) disconnect one or more discharged secondary legs at a time and to subsequently connect the modules of which the latter legs consist to form at least one new leg for the primary and connect said new legs in the primary, (b) disconnect one or more old primary legs at a time and to subsequently connect the modules of which the latter legs consist to form at least one new secondary leg and connect said new secondary legs in the secondary, said control means being adapted to (1) determine, from the information provided by said monitoring means, what the open circuit voltage and internal resistance of each battery in the transformer is, (2) in accordance with said pre-established criteria, including the permissible internal volt-amperes losses, the relationship between e oc and ampere-hours capacity during charge and discharge of the cells of which the batteries are composed and the magnitude of the discharge current through the secondary, to determine when each of said legs should be taken off or put on discharge or charge, (3) to develop said control signals and to provide same, through said connecting means and at appropriate intervals, to said switching means, so that the batteries comprised in said short and long legs are repeatedly and alternately charged and discharged between preselected, higher and lower, open circuit voltages.

Claim 5

A module as in claim 1, wherein said cells are alkali metal/chalcogen battery cells.

Claim 6

A module as in claim 3, wherein said cells are of the hollow fiber type.

Claim 7

A D.C. transformer, according to claim 2, in which said cells are alkali metal/chalcogen battery cells.

Claim 8

A D.C. transformer as in claim 5, in which said cells are of the hollow fiber type.

Claim 9

A D.C. transformer, according to claim 2, in which each of said long legs additionally comprises from one to several such modules, connected in parallel with one or more of the modules in said leg.

Claim 10

A D.C. transformer, according to claim 7, in which the number of said additional modules is such that, when all of the modules in the leg are connected in series, (E p -NE oc )÷NR B at a preselected, minimum fractional value of L, will have essentially the same value as when L=1 and each of the additional modules is connected in parallel with another of said modules, and N is the total number of said modules connected in series, R B is the average resistance of the batteries in said N modules, E oc is the average open circuit voltage of the batteries in said N modules and L is the load and is 1 at full load.

Claim 11

A D.C. transformer, as in claim 2, constituting a terminal or sub-terminal in a D.C. power distribution system.

Claim 12

A multiterminal, D.C. power network comprising terminals which are D.C. transformers, each comprising a plurality of high power battery modules and a control means, each of said modules comprising: (a) a battery of series-connected, rechargeable cell units, said battery having an open circuit voltage (E oc of at least 400 volts and each of said cell units consisting of a single cell or a plurality of cells in parallel and being capable of maintaining an electrical efficiency of about 95% or more while being continuously cycled for a period of at least 1000 hours, from the open circuit voltage (e oc it has when fully charged to a lesser e oc , and back, at an average rate of at least 80 watts per pound of electrochemically reactive materials in the cell unit, said efficiency being defined as 100(W o /W i ), where W o is the total watt-hours delivered by the unit and W i is the total watt-hours supplied to it, (b) an individual means associated with each of said cell units and adapted to respond automatically to development of an excessive load voltage across said cell unit by establishing a by-pass connection across it so that the series circuit through the battery is maintained, (c) individual fuse means connected one to one in series with each of said cells, (d) switching means operable by control signals to make or break a discharge circuit through said battery and to break or make a charging circuit through said battery, said switching means comprising two connect/disconnect switches and a solid state load breaker, one of said switches being connected directly to one of the poles of said battery and the other switch being connected to the other pole through said load breaker, (e) automatic monitoring means for determining the voltage across said battery and the current therethrough, the latter means being adapted to supply an output, characteristic of the magnitudes of said voltage and current, to said control means, (f) connecting means connecting said monitoring and switching means to said control means, said modules being so interconnected with each other--through said switching means--and so connected with said control means--through said monitoring and connecting means, as to be operable as a self-regulating, D.C. step-up or step-down transformer having electrically separate primary and secondary circuit sections, one of said circuit sections comprising a plurality of short legs connected in parallel and the other comprising a plurality of long legs connected in parallel, each short leg comprising one of said modules or a plurality of same in series connection, the total number of the latter modules therein being x, and each long leg comprising a series string of N of said modules, the number of legs in each of said primary and secondary sections being at least equal to the ratio of the total current through the section to the maximum permissible current through the individual component cell units in said modules, said switching means being adapted so as to be able, upon receipt of said control signals, to: (a) disconnect one or more discharged secondary legs at a time and to subsequently connect the modules of which the latter legs consist to form at least one new leg for the primary and connect said new legs in the primary, (b) disconnect one or more old primary legs at a time and to subsequently connect the modules of which the latter legs consist to form at least one new secondary leg and connect said new secondary legs in the secondary, said control means being adapted to (1) determine, from the information provided by said monitoring means, what the open circuit voltage and internal resistance of each battery in the transformer is, (2) in accordance with said pre-established criteria, including the permissible internal volt-amperes losses, the relationship between e oc and ampere-hours capacity during charge and discharge of the cells of which the batteries are composed and the magnitude of the discharge current through the secondary, to determine when each of said legs should be taken off or put on discharge or charge, (3) to develop said control signals and to provide same, through said connecting means and at appropriate intervals, to said switching means, so that the batteries comprised in said short and long legs are repeatedly and alternately charged and discharged between preselected, higher and lower, open circuit voltages.

Claim 13

A multiterminal, D.C. power network comprising terminals which are D.C. transformers, each comprising a plurality of high power battery modules and a control means, each of said modules comprising: (a) a battery of series-connected, rechargeable cell units, said battery having an open circuit voltage (E oc of at least 400 volts and each of said cell units consisting of a single cell or a plurality of cells in parallel and being capable of maintaining an electrical efficiency of about 95% or more while being continuously cycled for a period of at least 1000 hours, from the open circuit voltage (e oc it has when fully charged to a lesser e oc , and back, at an average rate of at least 80 watts per pound of electrochemically reactive materials in the cell unit, said efficiency being defined as 100(W o /W i ), where W o is the total watt-hours delivered by the unit and W i is the total watt-hours supplied to it, (b) an individual means associated with each of said cell units and adapted to respond automatically to development of an excessive load voltage across said cell unit by establishing a by-pass connection across it so that the series circuit through the battery is maintained, (c) individual fuse means connected one to one in series with each of said cells, (d) switching means operable by control signals to make or break a discharge circuit through said battery and to break or make a charging circuit through said battery, said switching means comprising two connect/disconnect switches and a solid state load breaker, one of said switches being connected directly to one of the poles of said battery and the other switch being connected to the other pole through said load breaker, (e) automatic monitoring means for determining the voltage across said battery and the current therethrough, the latter means being adapted to supply an output, characteristic of the magnitudes of said voltage and current, to said control means, (f) connecting means connecting said monitoring and switching means to said control means, said modules being so interconnected with each other--through said switching means--and so connected with said control means--through said monitoring and connecting means, as to be operable as a self-regulating, D.C. step-up or step-down transformer having electrically separate primary and secondary circuit sections, one of said circuit sections comprising a plurality of short legs connected in parallel and the other comprising a plurality of long legs connected in parallel, each short leg comprising one of said modules or a plurality of same in series connection, the total number of the latter modules therein being x, and each long leg comprising a series string of N of said modules, the number of legs in each of said primary and secondary sections being at least equal to the ratio of the total current through the section to the maximum permissible current through the individual component cell units in said modules, said switching means being adapted so as to be able, upon receipt of said control signals, to: (a) disconnect one or more discharged secondary legs at a time and to subsequently connect the modules of which the latter legs consist to form at least one new leg for the primary and connect said new legs in the primary, (b) disconnect one or more old primary legs at a time and to subsequently connect the modules of which the latter legs consist to form at least one new secondary leg and connect said new secondary legs in the secondary, said control means being adapted to (1) determine, from the information provided by said monitoring means, what the open circuit voltage and internal resistance of each battery in the transformer is, (2) in accordance with said pre-established criteria, including the permissible internal volt-amperes losses, the relationship between e oc and ampere-hours capacity during charge and discharge of the cells of which the batteries are composed and the magnitude of the discharge current through the secondary, to determine when each of said legs should be taken off or put on discharge or charge, (3) to develop said control signals and to provide same, through said connecting means and at appropriate intervals, to said switching means, so that the batteries comprised in said short and long legs are repeatedly and alternately charged and discharged between preselected, higher and lower, open circuit voltages.

Claim 14

A D.C. transformer, according to claim 7, constituting a terminal or sub-terminal in a D.C. power distribution system.

Claim 15

A multiterminal, D.C. power network wherein all of the terminals are D.C. transformers according to claim 10.

Claim 16

A multiterminal, D.C. power network as in claim 12, wherein, in said D.C. transformers, each of said long legs comprises additional such modules connected in parallel with one or more of the modules in said leg, the number of said additional modules being such that, when all of the modules in the leg are connected in series, (E p -NE oc )÷NR B at a preselected, minimum fractional value of L, will have essentially the same value as when L=1 and each of the additional modules is connected in parallel with another of said modules, and N is the total number of said modules connected in series, R B is the average resistance of the batteries in said N modules, E oc is the average open circuit voltage of the batteries in said N modules and L is the load and is 1 at full load.

Claim 17

The transformer of claim 11 in which said cells are hollow fiber type, alkali metal/chalcogen battery cells.

Claim 18

The power network of claim 10, in which said cells are alkali metal/chalcogen battery cells of the hollow fiber type.

Claim 19

The D.C. network of claim 15, wherein said chalcogen is sulfur.

Claim 20

The D.C. transformer of claim 11 in which said cells are sodium/sulfur cells of the hollow fiber type.

Claim 21

The D.C. network of claim 13, in which the cells are sodium/sulfur cells of the hollow fiber type.