Individual rechargeable electric cell

Claim 1

Individual rechargeable electric cell with liquid sodium as the negative electrochemical material and liquid sulfur absorbed in graphite as the positive electrochemical material which comprises a metallic tubular housing, a tubular container of a sodium ion-conducting solid electrolyte open at one end disposed in the housing with space between the inner housing surface and the outer container surface for one said electrochemical material and the container interior for the other said electrochemical material, a current collector extending into said container interior, a first flexible flange connecting the current collector to the container, a second flexible flange connecting the housing to the container, an alpha-Al 2 O 3 ring fused-on to the open end of the electrolyte, said ring connected to said two flanges via thermocompression seals, the first flange connected to the current collector by a weld, the second flange connected to the housing by a weld, said first flange containing bellows or flexible sleeves to allow lateral movement of the solid electrolyte relative to the current collector, and said second flange containing bellows or flexible sleeves to allow vertical movement of the electrolyte relative to the housing.