OPERATION AND CONSTRUCTIONDOE-HDBK-1084-95Lead-Acid Storage BatteriesBatteriesPage 14Rev. 0 Figure 4. Typical planté plate.NegativeandPositivePlateConstructionMethodsThe simplest method for the construction of lead-acid battery electrodes is the planté plate,named after the inventor of the lead-acid battery. A planté plate is merely a flat platecomposed of pure lead. Since the capacity of a lead-acid battery is proportional to the surfacearea of the electrodes that is exposed to the electrolyte, various schemes are employed toincrease the surface area of the electrodes per unit volume or weight. Planté plates aregrooved or perforated to increase their surface area. A typical planté plate is shown in Figure4.The most commonly used method to increase surface area is to make the active material into apaste that acts like a sponge where the electrolyte fills all the pores. The paste, or activematerial, is mounted into a frame or grid structure that mechanically supports it and serves asthe electrical conductor carrying the current during both the charge and discharge cycle. Themost commonly used plate today is the pasted plate, also known as the flat plate. This gridstructure is a lattice-work that resembles the cross section of a honeycomb, with the pastefilling all of the rectangular windows on the structure. Figure 5 shows a typical constructionof a pasted plate grid. The flat plate construction is used as the negative electrode plate inalmost all cases, and serves as the positive plate in most standby applications.
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