Long since “SWEL Energy Ltd.” has been investigated the problems of electrochemical cell efficiency improvement. We have worked out an algorithm which helps to reduce internal resistance of a electrochemical cell during its charge or discharge, and we have obtained numerous experimental data which prove the practical perspective of this algorithm.
The internal resistance of an electrochemical cell, for example, of an accumulator, is a sum of active (ohmic) resistance and so called polarization resistance related to complex electrode reactions. The size of accumulator ohmic resistance is defined by its construction and cannot be reduced. On the contrary, the polarization component can be dramatically directly during charge or discharge of the accumulator.
The most important feature of our algorithm is the separation in time of electric and chemical processes with the help of a special external effect on them (periodic connection and disconnection of an electrochemical cell to/from load or external power supply). Optimizing the parameters of this effect, it’s possible to dramatically reduce the polarization component of internal resistance in an electrochemical cell and significantly increase the efficiency of energy extraction and redistribution. This algorithm can be realized during charge as well as discharge of an electrochemical cell. The results, obtained in our experiments, prove that effective energy capacity of an electrochemical cell can be increased by 15% - 50% according to its type and operating mode.
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