The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 04, 1979
Filed:
Nov. 20, 1978
John P Mathews, Mississauga, CA;
Michael J Smith, Mississauga, CA;
P. R. Mallory & Co. Inc., Indianapolis, IN (US);
Abstract
A metal-air battery usually comprises a plurality of air-depolarizable cells within a battery case. The present invention provides that the battery case has a vent and a vent cover, where the vent cover is associated with an electrical actuator so as to open only when the battery is supplying electrical power to a load. In this manner, the metal-air battery is open to the atmosphere only when it is operating, and consequently is open to the possibility of harsh ambient conditions such as very high or very low ambient relative humidity, prolonged carbon dioxide exposure, and so on; and as a consequence, a long operating life for the battery which operates only intermittently during that life can be expected. In general, the vent cover is a flexible element which may either be a bimetal element or one having an elastic memory, and is biased to the vent-closed position but is associated with an electrically powered actuator so that, upon actuation of the battery to supply power to its own load, the vent cover actuator operates to cause movement of the vent cover to the vent-opened position. The source of electrical power for the vent cover actuator may be the battery itself, or it may be an auxiliary primary cell. Where the vent cover comprises a bimetal element, it is preferably an electrothermal actuator having a feeder element physically secured to the bimetal element.