A nickel/hydrogen battery for PV systems
Abstract
The nickel/hydrogen battery was developed in the early 1970's as an energy storage subsystem for commercial communication satellites. The advantages offered by nickel/hydrogen batteries, including long life, low maintenance and high reliability, make it very attractive for terrestrial applications such as stand-alone photovoltaic systems. The major drawback to the wider use of the nickel/hydrogen battery is its high initial cost. Sandia National Laboratories has placed cost-shared contracts with Comsat Laboratories and Johnson Controls, Inc., to reduce the cost, and a battery consisting of prismatic cells in a common pressure vessel has evolved. A 7-kWh battery has been on test at Sandia since January 1988 using a flat-plate photovoltaic array for charging.
- Publication:
-
Presented at the 5th Annual Battery Conference on Applications and Advances
- Pub Date:
- January 1990
- Bibcode:
- 1990apad.conf...16B
- Keywords:
-
- Cost Analysis;
- Nickel Hydrogen Batteries;
- Performance Tests;
- Photovoltaic Cells;
- Maintenance;
- Prismatic Bars;
- Reliability;
- Spacecraft Power Supplies;
- Electronics and Electrical Engineering