BCI INNOVATION AWARDS: 2016–2019 Abertax
Advanced Battery Concepts
Ever inventive, ever attentive to detail
The joys of bipolar batteries
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bertax has been nominated three times in the awards for a wide variety of submissions. In 2019 the company patented an innovation aiming to give the optimal charging regime, involving Abertax Battery Management Systems (e2BMS). It was designed to identify wirelessly which battery, from a number of batteries, has been connected to a charger, and also gather relevant battery data allowing it to programme the most efficient and economic charging profile possible as well as extending the battery lifetime. It was developed in collaboration between the R&D team at Abertax with charger manufacturer Industrie Elektronik Brilon in Germany. “Having a battery communicating with its charger to provide the required data to charge it at the right charging profile will have a huge impact on the lifetime and battery performance besides saving time and energy,” the company said. In 2018 the firm applied for the BCI Innovation Award on the basis of the one-valve battery lid for VRLA batteries, which it says will mean a more reliable and better performing lead acid battery. Abertax developed a valve with extreme low opening pressure tolerances of +/-25mbar. (The standard is more than +/-50mbar.) However, different opening pressures result in different gassing rates and water loss and leads to premature failure. This new lid design guarantees the same pressure in each cell.
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In 2018 the firm applied for the BCI Innovation Award on the basis of the one-valve battery lid for VRLA batteries
The firm believes this design will eventually be used in all VRLA batteries. It will also mean cost savings, making it even more appealing to manufacturers. In 2016 Abertax displayed a new patented gel filling process for use in PzV and OPzV cells, which could make the manufacturing process cleaner, safer and cheaper while improving the quality of the batteries. One of the reasons for gel batteries having a slightly higher price than AGM has been the cumbersome process associated with their filling, formation and finishing processes, and this alleviates some of the problems.
2019: Battery Monitoring System – ABERTAX® e2 BMS
Gel transport tubes
Acid tank Gel mixing tank
Dead end plug
Pump
Filling plugs OPzV cells
Valve
In 2016 Abertax displayed a new patented gel filling process
46 • Batteries International • BCI 2021 Yearbook
dvanced Battery Concepts is one of two firms pushing the boundaries of bipolar batteries. In 2016 it won an honourable mention from the BCI judges and it returned the following year showing improvements in its GreenSeal technology. This was a suite of patented technologies and simplified production processes, to enable the construction of reduced lead content, high performance, lower cost lead batteries in existing formats for today’s and newly enabled future markets. Advanced Battery Concepts said at the time it was close to full scale production and a global roll out of its bipolar technology. Seven battery firms have subsequently joined ABC as licensees. The battery industry has always recognized that if a bi-polar lead acid battery could be manufactured successfully it would have significant advantages for the battery manufacturer and the end user. “Bi-polar battery designs eliminate grids and top lead and utilize the active chemistry far more efficiently thereby reducing the lead content for the same energy. They would be cheaper to make, smaller and lighter, better for the environment, have a faster recharge rate and greater cycle life,” the firm says. “To be successful a bi-polar battery needs to be commercially scalable, recyclable and robust. We have concentrated our business focus on simplifying materials, product designs and manufacturing processes and are taking bi-polar lead acid batteries to a new level at ABC.” Previous attempts at making a commercially viable bi-polar battery at scale have met with limited success because of a number of problems, including the inability to seal between cells and failure to seal to the external environment, Continued on page 48
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