Nickel Iron Battery Association HomePage

Permanent Storage for Renewable Energy

Edison's Nickel-iron Battery

Thomas Edison with his Nickel Iron Battery in 1910

The nickel-iron battery (NiFe battery) is a storage battery having a nickel(III) oxide-hydroxide cathode and an iron anode, with an electrolyte of potassium hydroxide. The active materials are held in nickel-plated steel tubes or perforated pockets. It is a very robust battery which is tolerant of abuse, (overcharge, overdischarge, and short-circuiting) and can have very long life even if so treated. ^[6] It is often used in backup situations where it can be continuously charged and can last for more than 40 years.   Due to  its high cost of manufacture, other types of rechargeable batteries have displaced the nickel-iron battery in most applications.  Because of their long life NiFe batteries are ideal for backing up renewable energy applications.  The reason for their disappearance in the North American market is largely due to the Exide Corporation's decision to abandon the technology in 1975 after purchasing it from the Edison Storage Battery company for several million dollars.   The reason for acquiring the manufacturing process to make NiFe batteries and then simply abandoning the technology is unknown.   Exide remains the second largest manufacturer of lead acid batteries in the world. 

Charging Parameters

The proper float voltage is 1.45 volts per cell.    If 10 cells were used, the proper charge voltage would be 14.5 volts. 

Durability

The ability of these batteries to survive frequent cycling is due to the low solubility of the reactants in the electrolyte. The formation of metallic iron during charge is slow because of the low solubility of the Fe₃O₄. While the slow formation of iron crystals preserves the electrodes, it also limits the high rate performance: these cells charge slowly, and are only able to discharge slowly. ^[6] Nickel-iron cells should not be charged from a constant voltage supply since they can be damaged by thermal runaway; the cell internal voltage drops as gassing begins, raising temperature, which increases current drawn and so further increases gassing and temperature.

Nickel-iron batteries have long been used in European mining operations because of their ability to withstand vibrations, high temperatures and other physical stress. They are being examined again for use in wind and solar power systems and for modern electric vehicle applications.

Electrochemistry

The half-cell reaction at the cathode:

2 NiOOH + 2 H₂O + 2 e⁻ ↔ 2 Ni(OH)₂ + 2 OH⁻

and at the anode:

Fe + 2 OH⁻ ↔ Fe(OH)₂ + 2 e⁻

(Discharging is read left to right, charging is from right to left.)^[7]

The open-circuit voltage is 1.4 volts, dropping to 1.2 volts during discharge. ^[6] The electrolyte mixture of potassium hydroxide and lithium hydroxide is not consumed in charging or discharging, so unlike a lead-acid battery the electrolyte specific gravity does not indicate state of charge. ^[6] Lithium hydroxide improves the performance of the cell. the voltage required to charge the cells is between 1.6 and 1.7 volts.  Most people use 1.65 volts.

History

Swedish inventor Waldemar Jungner had invented the nickel-cadmium battery in 1899. Jungner experimented with substituting iron for the cadmium in varying proportions, including 100% iron. Jungner had already discovered that the main advantage over the nickel-cadmium chemistry was cost, but due to the poorer efficiency of the charging reaction, Jungner never patented the iron version of his battery.

The nickel iron battery was developed by Thomas Edison in 1901, and used as the energy source for electric vehicles, such as the Detroit Electric and Baker Electric. Edison claimed the nickel-iron design to be, "far superior to batteries using lead plates and acid" (lead-acid battery).  Both Edison and Ford worked together on electric cars prior to the World War One.

Jungner's work was largely unknown in the US until the 1940s, when nickel-cadmium batteries went into production there. A 50 volt nickel-iron battery was the main power supply in the World War II German V2 rocket (together with two 16 volt accumulators which powered the four gyroscopes), with a smaller version used in the V1 flying bomb. (viz. 1946 Operation Backfire blueprints.)

Nickel Iron Battery Still Functioning after almost 100 years

Manufacturing from 1903

Edison's batteries were made from about 1903 to 1972 by the Edison Battery Storage Company located in East Orange, NJ. They were quite profitable for the company. In 1972 the battery company was sold to the Exide Battery Corporation, which discontinued making the battery in 1975.   The Eagle-Picher Company of the UK advertised in 1970 a nickel iron car battery that would "last as long as all the cars you own in a lifetime".  They purchased the cells for their battery from Edison's company.   They also proposed their application in all electric vehicles in the early 1990s.  Perhaps this was the stimulus to bury the Edison Storage Battery Company.   No one really knows why the Exide Battery Company killed the technology in North America by 1975.

It is interesting to note that all railways from 1910 to 1965 or so used nickel iron batteries in the caboose to run all the lights on the train. Yet technical literature on batteries such as Audel's New Electric Library only mention lead acid batteries starting in 1945.  It is even erased in Audel's guide from the section on the history of batteries.   So it would appear that nickel iron battery knowledge was no longer being published in technical guildebooks by the end of the second world war.    Yet V2 rockets during the second world war were nickel iron battery powered.  The reason for this disappearance from the technical literature is a mystery.

Edison was disappointed that his battery was not adopted for starting internal combustion engines and that electric vehicles went out of production only a few years after his battery was introduced. He actually developed the battery to be the battery of choice for electric vehicles which were the preferred transportation mode in the early 1900s (followed by gasoline and steam). Edison's batteries had a significantly higher energy density than the lead acid batteries in use at the time, and could be charged in half the time, however they performed poorly at low ambient temperatures.   The battery enjoyed wide use for railroad signalling, fork lift, and standby power applications.  By simply changing the electrolyte to a higher concentration of KOH the modern manufacturers have achieved low temperature operation.   In situations where a lead acid uncharged battery might suffer freezing damage, a nickel iron battery will not be damaged at all.

There are now USA, Chinese and Russian manufacturers of NiFe batteries.  Nickel-iron cells are currently made with capacities from 5 Ah to 1000 Ah. Many of the original manufacturers no longer make nickel iron cells but new manufacturers started appearing in the last 20 years.

Environmental impact

Nickel-iron batteries do not have the lead or cadmium of the lead-acid and nickel-cadmium batteries, which makes them a lesser burden on human and ecological health.  There are in use for solar homes today mainly in Australia.

Example Chicago USA Off Grid with Nickel Iron Batteries

            (some from 1930s and still ticking!)
Click to Read Report

Example Canadian Solar Home with Nickel Iron Storage

700 Watts of Solar Panels                     200 Amp Hour Nickel Iron Cell

Maximum Power Point Controller set to Nickel Iron          Nickel Iron Battery Bank in Garden Shed

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Remote Village Power in China
Project costs are much lower with NiFe as compared to lead acid battery systems
when you take into account the replacement of spent batteries.  NiFe cells
will last 20-40 years in this application. even with deep discharges.

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Historic Technical Literature on NiFe Batteries
1/ Edison published a nickel iron maintenance guidebook in 1914 ... click here to download his manual.
2/ Eagle-Picher advertsement for their Nickel Iron car and Electric Car batteries.

Current Research on Nickel Iron Batteries
The University of Michigan and the University of Victoria are doing research on the application of Nickel Iron Batteries.   The University of Victoria is doing research on the use of magneto-hydrodynamic (magnetic agitation) processes to increase the efficiency into the 90% range for NiFe batteries through the work of Dr. Robert O'Brien.    The University of Michigan is doing research on the local manufacturing of NiFe batteries in developing countries because of the environmentally friendly chemistry.   The results of these research projects will be reported here during 2010.

Open Source Concepts for Future Research on the Edison Cell
1/  Storing the Hydrogen
Another new area that a number of people are working on is the re-design of the Nickel Iron battery case so that the hydrogen generated during the charging of a nickel iron battery can be collected and saved for cooking, lighting or fuel cell operation to generate electricity from the stored hydrogen.  Thus the generation of hydrogen during charging can become an asset.

This was Ian Soutar of Microsec R&D Inc.'s idea originally and is being published here as a "public disclosure" to prevent the possibility of anyone patenting the concept.   These few paragraphs constitute the first public disclosure. 

Nickel Iron batteries are based on a Potassium Hydroxide (KOH) solution for the electrolyte.    Hydrogen generators that are commercially avaiable also use a KOH solution and nickel or stainless steel electrodes.  Thus the Edison cell almost certainly could be able to double as a hydrogen generator as well!   Anyone is free to fly with this idea ... as long as they realize that this concept is now in the public domain and will not be patentable.    If anyone can master it this will be a great breakthrough that can provide for reliable and limitless decentralized local storage of electricity.  The Nickel Iron battery can be overcharged for decades without damage as it merrily bubbles out its hydrogen.    We only need to figure out how to collect it without affecting the battery function.

-Ian Soutar of Victoria BC Canada holds the copyright (Sept 2009)) for these ideas to be distributed for free public use subject to the restrictions of the GPL3.


2/ Stopping the Generation of Hydrogen
Microsec R&D Inc. is also doing research in Victoria BC Canada on the use of catalytic caps (containing platinum wool) for the battery cells that recombine the hydrogen and oxygen released during charging into water and allows it to drip back down into  the cells.    This may eliminate the need to water the batteries regularly.   These caps are available for lead acid batteries but have a short lifespan due to the sulphur present in the sulphuric acid electrolyte.    However the Nickel Iron chemistry contains no poisons for the platinum catalyst and they might last indefinitely with NiFe.   If this works it would open the way to manufacture sealed nickel iron batteries.  Attempts to create sealed Nickel Iron Batteries have so far not been found due to the release of hydrogen.   This is the first public disclosure of the concept and it is open to everyone to play with without patenting issues holding back the research.    This application would preclude the collection of hydrogen of course.

-Ian Soutar of Victoria BC Canada holds the copyright (April 2010) for these ideas to be distributed for free public use subject to the restrictions of the GPL3.

These concepts are presented in the spirit of the General Public Licence or GPL3 that is usually applied to software. Below is a link to the licencing concept to be used for the above ideas.

http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html

Everyone is encouraged to add to this collection of research ideas for the improvement of the Edison Cell.

The reason for this public disclosure is evident in the new Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries, where the chemical patent is owned by  A123Systems (http://www.a123systems.com/).   The ownership of this amazing chemical invention remains locked into ownership by one group and the result is a very expensive battery that will remain expensive for 20 years.   This inhibits the adoption of alternate energy technologies at a time when their adoption is critical.

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Nickel Iron Battery Supplier Homepages

http://www.beutilityfree.com/Electric/Ni-Fe USA supplier of NiFe batteries

http://www.zappworks.com/ USA manufacturer and supplier of NiFe batteries in Montana

http://www.microsec.net   Canadian Supplier of ChangHong batteries, Victoria BC

www.changhongbatteries.com Changhong Battery Manufacturer in China

http://www.agofuelcells.com AGO Environmental Electronics in Canada (custom orders, also sells hydrogen fuel cells)

http://www.accumkursk.ru   Kursk Accumulator Plant NiFe Manufacturer in Russia

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Small Sized NiFe Samples 10AH @ 1.2 volts
(for Educational and Industrial Battery Researchers)

Newly manufactured samples of nickel iron cells nominally 1.2 (one point two volts) available for $50 each including shipping within North America to researchers.  These samples are filled with freshly mixed electrolyte but are shipped with the electrolyte moved to a high pressure plastic bottle.   This service is being offered only to battery researchers.   Charging and maintenance instructions shipped with each and technical assistance is available.  For those that want to mix their own electrolyte the charge is $40.

Please write to Ian Soutar of Microsec R&D Inc ...   isoutar@microsec.net

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Exciting Research on Nickel Iron Batteries
Journal of IEEE 1995 showing that cycling of the battery does not reduce capacity.
(Shows that scienfic tests validate the long lifespan of NiFe cells.)
Journal of Applied Electrochemistry 2005 ... First Sealed Nickel Iron Battery Design Successful.
(Shows that NiFe cells can be sealed like rechargeable flashlight batteries.)

External Links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel-iron_battery Wikipedia Article on NiFe Batteries