Lead-acid battery: Positive grid design principles

In this paper, we present accelerated test data which show the superior anodic corrosion and growth behavior of pure lead as compared to lead calcium and lead-antimony positive grids for lead-acid batteries in float service. We relate differences in growth behavior to differences in metallurgy for these three alloy systems. Pure lead has been incorporated into circular grid designs and tests show these to be a substantial improvement over conventional rectangular grids. A novel grid design concept has been developed and applied to the design of pure lead circular grids. The rate and direction of growth in the grids are controlled by appropriate geometrical design of the grid members. Batteries incorporating these circular grids increase in capacity with age rather than decrease in capacity as do rectangular grids. The circular grids can be designed to provide lifetimes of several centuries.