Properties
Traction batteries, also known as Motive Power batteries,
are commonly used as power sources for fork lifts or other
light transportation vehicles operating with an electric motor
in a closed area where exhaust can not be tolerated.
These batteries are designed for deep cycling and are
expected to be fully discharged on each cycle. Generally,
plates are relatively thick and large (flat in North America
and tubular in the rest of the world) and the battery is
expected to achieve a long cycle life.
The Amersil ‘‘S’’ corrugated separator has been tested in
two different types of traction flooded batteries. In the first
accelerated life cycle test performed at 47 8C, three 120 Ah
traction cells with tubular positive plates have been
assembled with corrugated S separator of 2 mm thickness
(Table 1) and compared to three identical cells assembled
with standard Amersil ribbed separator of the same thickness
(Table 1). The discharge has been achieved during 1.8 h at 1.66 I5 (39.8 A) and the charging procedure was with
constant current of 1.25 I5 (30 A) until voltage reached
2.40 Vpc, then 0.25 I5 (6 A) with a charge factor of 1.20.
The results on Fig. 4 show that 7–10% additional capacity
was available with the corrugated separator. The cells have
reached 950 cycles and have still 105% of nominal capacity
compared to 99% with ribbed DC200 separator.
In the second test, PzS 360 Ah cells have been assembled
with corrugated TK210 separators and compared to standard
ribbed competition. The testing procedure was a standard
DIN for the beginning, then a cycling procedure as follows:
3 cycles per day at 47 8C, discharge at 1.66 I5 during 1.8 h
and charge factor of 1.20.
At the beginning, with the DIN algorithm, the cells using
TK210 separators showed 2% additional capacity (Fig. 5).
Then, during 600 cycles, the capacity of cells with TK 210
was alternately slightly higher or lower than standard cells.
After 600 cycles, however, the capacity of cells with standard
ribbed separators started to decline, whereas cells with
TK separators recovered slightly between cycle 600 and